Listen

35

“Sir, there’s paperwork. We’re waiting for a fax from the DA’s office.” The plump woman behind the desk turned at the sound of a fax machine nearby. “Don’t have a cow. I’ll go look.”

Damien watched her take her sweet time as she wove around three desks to get to it. She pulled the paper off the machine, took a long look at it, and then nodded. She ambled back over, accompanied by a skinny man and his superlarge key chain. Without much effort, he picked the right key and unlocked the cell door.

Damien’s heart raced as if he’d been running for miles, except all he’d been doing was standing at the bars, gripping them as though he might be able to break through. His ears burned bright red. His fingertips tingled.

The woman gestured. “Right this way, sir. We need you to fill out-”

“Where’s my stuff?”

The woman made no attempt to hide her annoyance. “Sir, just sit down here. We’re working as fast as we can. This isn’t the Marriott.” She headed toward some file drawers but got sidetracked by a fellow jailer. She stopped to chat.

Damien realized what he was about to do was probably the stupidest thing he’d ever done, but at the moment he seemed incapable of being rational. Suicide by cop, SWAT team, be with your family-the words throbbed and pulsed like a bad headache.

It was almost like watching himself in a movie. He bolted from his seat and ran toward the front door, half-expecting a group of people to pounce on him. He was a free man, but was it before or after the paperwork?

He heard the woman shouting, “Sir! Sir!”

He shoved the front doors open and rushed down the irritatingly long front steps of the police station, his feet moving like he was running tires at football practice.

Old Morgan Road was at least five miles from the police station. He didn’t have a car or his wallet. He didn’t even have a coat. He was going to have to hitch a ride. Squeezed into his half-baked plan to get to his son was a frantic prayer to God, with no real words able to express what he needed. Still, he was pretty sure it was coming in loud and clear.

He glanced behind him. Nobody was coming out of the police station after him. He turned and headed south toward Old Morgan Road.

Kay tried one more time to text Jenna. She pushed Send, then stared at her phone. She’d tried calling minutes before, but there was no answer. Now she was unable to get ahold of a single person in her family.

“I’m so afraid,” Kay said between the sobs. “I feel like something is really wrong.”

Jill stretched her hand across the car and grabbed Kay’s. “I know. But it’s going to be okay. We have to trust God that-”

“Damien!” Kay gasped. “Jill, slow down!” She unsnapped her seat belt and leaned toward the dash of the car, peering out into the cold, black night. Someone was running toward them on the side of the road. When the car’s headlights bounced off him, she swore it looked like Damien.

Jill pulled to the curb. Kay opened her door.

“Kay!” Jill yelled.

But Kay ignored her, hurrying toward the dark figure approaching them. She could tell it was a man and his hand was now in front of his eyes, shielding them from the headlights.

“Damien!” Kay rushed into his arms, crying. “Where have you been?” She backed away from him and looked him over. His somber expression terrified Kay instantly.

“The kids? Where are they?”

“I don’t know,” Kay cried. “I thought maybe Hunter was with you. I went to pick him up after school, and he wasn’t there. The teacher said there was no science fair project going on.”

“Get in the car!” Jill yelled. “It’s freezing!”

Damien held up a finger to Jill and looked at Kay, his thumbs stroking her cold, wet cheeks. “They arrested me tonight. I’ve been in jail.”

Kay was nodding but not really understanding.

“They just released me because the person doing this said he’d reveal himself tonight on Old Morgan.”

“I know. What does that have to do with us?”

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to have to say it, okay?”

“Okay.” The strength that Kay had felt only moments ago upon seeing Damien now slid right out the bottom of her feet. She was pretty sure all that held her up were Damien’s hands, now holding each of her elbows.

“Hunter is the person behind the Web site.”

Kay was nodding again, not because she understood, but because she was trying to digest it while thanking God Damien hadn’t just told her one of their children was dead. Yet as the words sank in and as Damien looked deeply into her eyes, the gravity of what was spoken hit her hard. “Hunter…”

“We have to get to Old Morgan Road. I don’t know what Hunter’s planning.”

“You’re sure it’s Hunter?”

Damien took her by the shoulders and helped her into the car. He climbed into the backseat. Jill had the heat cranked but Kay couldn’t feel her hands or feet, and she didn’t think it was because of the cold.

Kay turned to Damien. She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. They stared at each other until Jill said, “Damien, I’m so glad you’re-”

“Take us to Old Morgan Road. And hurry.”

“The whole town showed up,” Damien whispered as they pulled to the side of the road. The abandoned factory, which looked more like a warehouse, glowed in the darkness from all the car lights shining on it. It seemed hundreds of cars surrounded the warehouse.

Damien jumped out of the car and opened Kay’s door, pulling her out. “Come on!”

He held her hand as they hurried toward the large crowd. Eight police cars were parked nearby, their blue and red lights silently strobing.

Damien pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get to the front. Whatever was happening, it was going down fast.

Captain Grayson shouted through a megaphone, “Come out with your hands up!”

Kay gripped Damien’s arm. “Don’t let anything happen to him!”

“I know,” Damien said, pulling her through the tight crowd. He had to shove a few people out of the way just to get through. He bumped into a large shoulder.

“Damien,” the man said.

Damien looked over at him. Bruce, from work. “Sorry. I need to get by.”

Bruce nodded, then pointed to the warehouse. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”

“Why?” Heads were still in the way to a clear view of what was going on. He let go of Kay’s hand and used both hands to part a way for himself. He emerged from the sea of people being held back by police tape and noticed first Grayson and his team of cops with their guns drawn. Four had SWAT team jackets on, the only ones in their town. Damien had once written an editorial raising the question, Do we need SWAT? And then reversing the dilemma: Don’t we need more?

“Come out now!” Grayson hollered.

Damien glanced toward the factory, searching frantically for Hunter. He prayed Hunter would come out, give himself up. And not do something stupid like come out with a gun. Where in the world would he get a gun? From Frank?

He wanted to make it over to Grayson, tell him it was Hunter and to not shoot. But he was squeezed between people and police tape and police officers, all trying to control the crowds.

A few people down, on the left, was Reverend Caldwell, his Bible clasped in his arm.

Kay came up behind him and gasped, just as Damien noticed what everyone was staring and pointing at. His gaze stopped on the spray paint across the large brick wall of the factory. Expansive purple and green letters glowed against the light. They might as well have been written in blood.

Jenna Underwood is a virgin.

A list of words went on with such vulgarity that Damien’s stomach turned over.

Kay gripped his arm, crying. “That’s what this has been all about? That Jenna’s a virgin? They’re crucifying her for being a virgin?” She covered her mouth. “And this whole time I thought… she wasn’t.”

“Stay here,” Damien commanded, then shoved past the police tape.

The nearby officer caught him with a strong arm and his stick. “Get back!”

Damien tugged against his strength. “That’s my daughter! Jenna! Where is she?”

The officer let go of him but grabbed his shirt. “Sir, calm down. We don’t know what’s going on yet. Nobody has come out, but we saw movement inside just moments ago.”

“That’s my daughter,” Damien repeated, staring again at the crude words spray-painted around her name.

“Sir, have you seen your daughter today?”

“Not since she left for school.”

Grayson suddenly noticed him. No words needed to be exchanged. They instantly understood each other. Grayson issued a signal with his hand, and the men in bulletproof vests and helmets began inching forward, their automatic weapons poised to strike.

Damien found himself unable to watch. He turned his head, scanning the crowd for Jenna, hoping she was not inside. Then he saw him.

Hunter.

He stood on the other side of the large crowd, pushed against the police tape, bundled up in a hat and coat and gloves, watching with a somber expression. There was too much chaos to call out to him, and he was too far away anyway. Police movement kept impairing Damien’s view. He was even afraid to blink for fear he would lose sight of his son.

“Stop right there!”

Damien’s attention jerked toward the warehouse. He tore away from the officer’s grip but stayed next to him, watching, with the rest of the crowd, as two shadowy figures emerged from the gaping hole that was once a large door to the factory. Their silhouettes were created by the car lights shining in through the broken windows at the back of the warehouse.

Their hands were raised over their skinny bodies, and soon they stepped into the light provided by the police and the other nearby cars.

“Is one of those your daughter?” the officer asked.

Damien shook his head. He recognized one as a cheerleader. He thought her name was Madison. The other girl didn’t look familiar.

“Get down on your knees!” Grayson shouted at them through the megaphone.

They both dropped quickly, keeping their hands up. A group of police rushed toward them.

Damien tried to find Hunter. He still stood in the crowd, watching. Was he wrong? Were these two girls responsible for the Web site? Or was something else going on?

“Damien! Where’s Jenna?” Kay cried from the front of the crowd.

Damien intended to find out. Without any more hesitation, he bolted for the factory. He heard Grayson shouting at him, but he didn’t stop. What were they going to do? shoot him?

He stumbled over the gravel, barely keeping his balance, twisting his right ankle. Pain shot up his leg, but he didn’t slow down.

“Underwood, get out of the way!” Grayson yelled.

But Damien ran right up to the girls, who were still on their knees, their hands raised, their bodies shaking in the cold. Both grew even more fearful as Damien approached.

The girl on the right, with her pink-streaked ponytail and overdone makeup, boasted a dark purple bruise on the side of her face, which bled into a greenish yellow toward her mouth. The other girl didn’t look much better. Her bottom lip was split open. Dried blood trickled down her chin.

Suddenly Damien was shoved out of the way, thrown to the ground by one of the SWAT guys. Grayson stood over him.

“Where’s my daughter?” Damien called out to the two girls, who’d been yanked to their feet and were now being frisked. “Where’s Jenna?”

Neither answered. One glared at him as if he’d spit at her.

Damien turned his focus toward the factory.

A hand grabbed his shoulder. “Damien, don’t. We haven’t secured the building. We don’t know who or what else is in there.”

“I can’t stay here, Lou, and wonder-”

Both men saw it at the same time. A crackling, breaking sound, then a flash of orange.

“Fire!”

“It’s not safe,” Grayson said. “We don’t even know if she’s in there!”

Damien took one more look at the girls’ bruised and bloodied faces. “She’s in there.” He ran through the open factory door. Thick, black smoke climbed the walls, blocking the car lights that had once streamed through the open windows.

Grayson came up beside him, covering his mouth with his jacket.

“She could be anywhere,” Damien said. He didn’t have one clue which way to go. Above him, fire danced across the beams. They ducked against loud popping.

“Jenna! Jenna!” Damien choked on the thick smoke. He wrapped his arm across his mouth and tried to look for any movement or hear any sound besides the strange and low groan of the fire.

“Dad!” Her voice was distant, muddled.

“This way!” Damien shouted to Grayson. They made their way along a wall where a tiny sliver of light led the way. Deep against the shadows of the far corner of the building, Damien saw movement. “Jenna!”

“Dad, over here!”

Flames roared nearby. The heat, though a few feet away, seemed to scorch his face. Damien made it to Jenna, who was huddled in the corner. He pulled her to her feet. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and cried, pointing to a boarded-up window. “I tried to get out this way, but I can’t get the wood off the window!”

Grayson handed Jenna his flashlight, and he and Damien tried to pry the boarded-up window.

“It’s not budging!” Grayson yelled. “Let’s go back the way we came!”

They all turned, but the fire had shifted and now blocked the path they’d used to come in.

“Is there another way out?”

Jenna shook her head. “That door over there is steel, and it’s locked.”

Grayson hurried over, tried to kick it in, but with no luck.

“I’m sorry.” Jenna clung to Damien. “I’m so sorry!”

“We’re going to get you out of this. Lou, over here! Let’s try this board again!”

The smoke hung low against the ceiling. Damien coughed as he tried to breathe. Each man grabbed a side and they tried to pry it again, but it wouldn’t move. Damien turned, grabbing the flashlight from Jenna. He scanned the floor for anything that could help. Then he saw a small steel pipe near the wall.

He rushed over and grabbed it. His hand sizzled. The fire was three feet away from it, but it had already acquired its heat.

Damien handed over the flashlight. Grayson lifted the wood just enough to slide the metal bar in. With every ounce of muscle he had, he pried the wood. Within ten seconds, the board popped and now hung by only two screws. They easily pried off the other side. Damien shouted for Grayson to climb through and help Jenna out. He lifted Jenna and dumped her through the window. Grayson caught her and then reached for Damien’s hand.

But suddenly a searing pain shot up Damien’s arm. He caught a glimpse of Grayson’s eyes, wide with fear. He lost his footing. Tried to scream. A horrendous smell and unbearable heat stopped his breath. He reached for Grayson but instead fell backward. As he hit the ground, he saw it… his arm was on fire.

But his baby girl was safe.

And even as agony like he never imagined existed overtook every one of his senses, Damien knew he could die with peace. He wanted to say good-bye, but there was no time.

He closed his eyes. The pain fled.