Finders/Keepers

Twelve

They had just crossed the state line when Hank looked over at Lucy, drawn by the relentless tap-tap-tap of her fingers dancing across the tablet’s screen.

“Did Allie finally call back?” he asked.

“No,” the girl said. “I’m just looking over a map of the state again, familiarizing myself with what’s out there. I have to tell you, there’s not much.”

“No, but it’s a quiet place to live. Or, well, it used to be.”

There was some kind of fancy color map on her screen as she scrolled back and forth, then up and down. If he lived another ten years, Hank would never get used to that kind of technology. Maybe he really was just a relic whose time had passed. Maybe the head honchos were right to push him out of the job. And maybe he had no business running around out here with a hole in his leg, trying to help some woman save a bunch of kidnapped kids.

So why did it feel so good?

Hank couldn’t remember another day that had been this exhilarating, and he had barely done anything except talk to the kid and get on the phone with Jane a couple of times. But it wasn’t the action, really, it was just the knowledge that he was back in the thick of it.

Goddamn, he had missed this. He had missed this a lot.

Lucy was leaning back in her seat, and she let out what sounded a lot like a sigh of relief.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“This is the first time Allie and I have been apart for this long for almost a year now. It feels weird.” She glanced back at Apollo. “It feels weird for him, too.”

Apollo, lying with his chin on the backseat, let out a whine of…agreement?

I swear that dog understands everything.

“It’s a hell of a thing she’s doing,” Hank said. “Risking her life for people she doesn’t even know.”

“Someone has to do it. Why not us?”

“Is that her or you talking?”

“Both. I’m the one who introduced Allie to Faith’s mother. We were in the same group…” She stopped, seemed to think about it, then finished with, “We knew each other from this place we used to attend. One day she told me about her daughter and how the cops weren’t doing anything, and I just knew we had to, because we could. And Allie agreed.” The kid looked over at him. “You did it too, right? Back when you were a cop?”

“I guess you could say that, but there’s a big difference. I was paid to do it. It was my job. Allie and you, on the other hand, you guys are doing this because you want to, on your own dime. That’s pretty goddamn impressive, kid. Excuse my French.”

“I don’t think that was French,” she smiled.

He chuckled. “Probably not.” Then, “I’m sure Allie’s fine.”

“I know she is,” Lucy said without hesitation. “She’s probably the toughest woman I know. If it weren’t for her… Well, I owe her a lot.”

“You said before she was your guardian?”

“I remember saying she was my unofficial guardian.”

“Yeah. So what does that mean?”

“Didn’t your cop friend tell you?”

He looked over at her. “What cop friend?”

“When you left the motel room. I saw you go into the manager’s office. I’m assuming you went there to use his phone since you were in there for a while.”

He grunted. “And here I thought I was being clever.”

“Nope.”

He sighed, then said, “She couldn’t find anything on you because she doesn’t know your last name. You wanna fill me in?”

“Nah,” Lucy said.

“Figures. By the way, aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“I’m on summer break.”

“Summer came and went months ago.”

“I’m on a long summer break,” Lucy said. “Relax; I’m going back to school. Eventually. I’m not going to drop out or anything. That would be stupid. It’s just that Allie needed my help on this one.”

“What did the school say?”

“They think I moved.”

“So you lied.”

“Well, duh. Otherwise they’d send cops or something to my official guardian’s house.”

“They don’t send cops, kid. They send truant officers.”

“Same difference.”

“I know you’re a tough kid and you have Underdog back there to keep you safe, but didn’t Allie think this might be a little too dangerous for you? She just left you behind at the motel and ran off with two killers.”

“I can take care of myself. Allie’s taught me a few things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Fighting, shooting, evading capture… Those sorts of things.”

“Shooting? She taught you shooting?”

“It’s not that hard.”

“Learning to pull a trigger is the easy part,” Hank said. “It’s the pointing it at a real-life person and then pulling the trigger, that’s where things get more difficult.” He looked down at the backpack crumpled at her feet. “So you know how to use the Glock in there?”

“Yup,” she nodded.

“Have you ever shot anyone with it?”

“Not yet…”

“I hope you never have to, kid.”

Lucy didn’t say anything.

“You haven’t…?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not yet.”

“Good,” he nodded. “Good…”

She didn’t reply, and Hank didn’t know what else to say to fill the silence. He had never been particularly good at shooting the breeze with strangers, much less with a sixteen-year-old girl and her dog sitting in the back of his car looking bored. If dogs could be bored, that is.

“What else did she teach you—” he started to ask when the tablet resting on her lap flickered on by itself, the bright LED screen lighting up the Bronco’s dark interior. “Why did it just do that?”

The girl didn’t answer him. She was already too busy leaning over the device and tapping and flicking and stretching things around on the screen. Hank had to drive, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening and having almost no success.

“What is it?” he asked instead. When she still didn’t respond: “Lucy.”

“It’s Allie,” Lucy said. “She just texted me.”

“Texted you? Why didn’t she just call you?”

“I don’t know. I guess she can’t, for whatever reason.” As she talked, Lucy was typing and he kept hearing a swoosh! sound over and over again. “She’s at a truck stop with them.”

“Who is them?”

“The two guys she was with before. And the girls.”

“The girls?”

“The kidnapped girls. In the back of the semitrailer.”

“Jesus Christ. What’s the name—”

“Andy’s Gas N Eats,” Lucy said before he could finish.

“I know that place.”

“Is it far from here?”

“It’s on the other side of the state.”

“So, really far.”

“Yeah. What about the shooters? The ones that killed the troopers?”

Lucy typed briefly, there was a swoosh, then, “She doesn’t know. They separated after the shooting.”

“What else did she say?”

“She wants us to call the police, get them over to the truck stop, and prevent the big rig from leaving with the girls.”

“What about Faith?”

“I don’t know. I think she’s just focusing on saving the girls for now.”

“That’s the right move,” Hank nodded.

“Are you going to call your friend?”

“I don’t carry a cell phone, kid, remember?”

“I know,” Lucy said. She typed something very quickly, and it was followed by another swoosh!

Even Apollo, in the backseat, seemed to understand the urgency of the moment and rose from the seat to watch the two of them, swinging his head left, then right as they took turns talking, or whenever he heard another swoosh coming from Lucy’s tablet.

“Kid,” Hank said urgently.

“I know, I know,” she said before pressing a button. The tablet went into phone mode and dialed a number.

“Who are you calling?” Hank asked.

“Your friend at the state police,” Lucy said.

“Good, good…”

The call connected, and he heard a male voice that definitely wasn’t Jane say, “State Police. Where can I direct your call?”

Lucy had undone her seatbelt and was leaning across the front seats so he could talk into the tablet while still driving. He fought back the urge to tell the kid to put her seatbelt back on and said instead, “I’m looking for Detective Jane Mayer.”

“Detective Mayer isn’t here,” the man said. “Would you like to leave a message—”

“Who is this?”

“Trooper Harrison.”

“Harrison, I want you to get a message to Mayer.”

“Uh, I don’t know where she is, sir. Maybe if you told me who you are, I could get someone to talk to you—”

“The men who shot the troopers this afternoon,” Hank said.

That got Harrison’s full attention and he said, with a noticeable increase in focus this time, “What about them?”

“I know where they are. Andy’s Gas N Eats. Get everyone you have over there now.”

“How do you know this?”

“Because I’m Mayer’s CI.”

“I need a name—”

“Harrison!”

“What?”

“Andy’s Gas N Eats!” Hank said, practically shouting now. “Get everyone out there before the murdering fucks that killed your friends get away!”

“Okay, okay,” Trooper Harrison said. “Stay on the line—”

But Hank nodded at Lucy, and she pulled the tablet back and pressed the button to kill the connection.

“Nice,” she said. “I think he might have pissed his pants at the end there.”

Hank grinned, then thought about pouring on the gas to get to Andy’s, but he hadn’t lied to the girl when he said they were on other side of the state. At this rate, it would take them well past midnight just to reach it, and by then everything would be over.

In the backseat, Apollo had moved over to the right-side window to scan the dark trees outside as they continued driving up the interstate. Lucy, next to him, was doing the same thing as the dog — staring outside, as if she could see something (someone) out there.

“She’ll be okay,” Hank said. “Allie, I mean. If she’s even half as well-equipped to deal with all of this as you keep telling me, she should come out of it fine. The cops will get there and corral everyone. I’ll call Jane and tell her about Allie, and I’ll even conveniently forget to tell her that it was Allie who shot me.”

Lucy nodded, still looking out the window. “I’m not worried about Allie. I’m just thinking about what kind of shit those guys she’s stuck with are in.”

“She’s that good?” Hank asked.

“Especially when she’s pushed into a corner.” Lucy looked over and smiled at Hank. “One thing I’ve learned: You want Allie on your side when the chips are down.”