Next

CHAPTER 085

Okay, we got action,” Vasco said. Two young kids were coming out of the Kendall house. One was a dark kid in a baseball cap, sort of bowlegged. The other was fair, also in a baseball cap. Wearing khakis and a sport shirt.

“Looks like Jamie,” he said, putting the car in gear.

They drove slowly forward.

“I don’t know,” Dolly said. “Doesn’t look quite the same.”

“It’s the baseball hat. Just ask him,” Vasco said.

Dolly rolled down her window. She leaned out. “Jamie, honey?”

The boy turned. “Yes?” he said.

Dolly jumped out of the car.

Henry Kendall was working at the computer, activating the TrackTech, when he heard the high-pitched scream from outside. He knew at once that it was Dave. He bolted up and ran for the door. Behind him was Lynn, running from the kitchen. But he noticed that Alex stayed in the kitchen, with her arms around her son, Jamie. She looked terrified.

Dave was confused by what he saw. Jamie spoke to the woman in the big white car, and then she jumped out and grabbed him. Dave was not inclined to attack females, so he watched as the woman scooped up Jamie, took him to the back of the white car, and opened the back doors. Dave saw a man inside in a white coat, and he saw lots of shiny equipment that frightened him.

Jamie must have been frightened, too, because suddenly he was screaming, and then the woman slammed the back doors shut.

Before the car started moving, Dave screamed and leaped onto the back, grabbing the handles on the door. The white car accelerated forward, going fast. Dave held on, struggling to keep his balance. When he had a good grip, he pulled up, so he could look through the rear windows. He saw the man in the coat and the woman pushing Jamie onto a bed, trying to tie him down. Jamie was screaming.

Dave felt rage flood through his body. He snarled and banged at the doors. The woman looked up in alarm. She seemed shocked to see Dave. She yelled something to the driver.

The driver started to swerve the white car. Dave was flung sideways, barely able to hold on to the recessed door handles. When the car swung him back once more, he reached high, grabbing the lights above the doors. He pulled himself onto the top of the ambulance. The wind blew hard. The surface was smooth. He lay flat, inching forward. The car straightened out, drove more slowly. He heard yelling inside.

He crept forward.

“We lost him!”Dolly yelled, looking out the back window.

“What was it?”

“Looked like an ape!”

“He’s not an ape; he’s my friend!” Jamie yelled, struggling. “He goes to school with me.”

The kid’s baseball cap fell off, and Dolly saw that he had dark brown hair. She said, “What’s your name?”

“Jamie. Jamie Kendall.”

“Oh no,” she said.

“Aw Christ,” Vasco said, driving. “You got the wrong kid?”

“He said his name was Jamie!”

“It’s the wrong kid. Jesus Christ, you’re an idiot, Dolly. This is kidnapping.”

“Well, it’s not my fault-”

“Whose fault do you think it is?”

“You saw the kid too.”

“I didn’t see-”

“You were looking right out there.”

“Christ, shut up. Stop arguing. We gotta take him back.”

“What do you mean?”

“We gotta take him back where we found him. It’s goddamn kidnapping.”

And then Vasco swore, and screamed.

Dave was on the roof of the cab, wedged between the light bar and the slope of the ambulance. He leaned over the driver’s side. There was a big side mirror there. He could see an ugly black-bearded man, driving and shouting. He knew the man was going to hurt Jamie. He could see the man baring his teeth in a sign of rage.

Dave leaned down, resting his weight on the side mirror, and swung his arm in through the open window. His strong fingers grabbed the bearded man by the nose, and the man yelled and jerked his head. Dave’s fingers slipped, but he lunged back and bit down hard on the man’s ear, and held on. The man was screaming at him in rage. Dave could feel that rage, but he had plenty of his own. He pulled hard, and felt the ear come away with a gush of hot blood.

The man screamed, and spun the wheel.

The ambulance tilted, the left wheels came up off the ground, and the vehicle slowly turned over and crashed down on its right side. The sound of screeching metal was incredibly loud. Dave was riding the ambulance down as it fell, but he lost his grip on impact. His feet slammed into the face of the bearded man and one of his shoes went right into his mouth. The vehicle slid to a stop on its side. The man was biting and coughing. The woman inside was screaming. Dave pulled his foot out of his shoe, leaving it in the bearded man’s mouth. Blood was gushing everywhere from the man’s ear.

He yanked off the other shoe, scampered around to the back of the ambulance, and managed with some effort to get the doors open. The white-coat man was lying on his side, bleeding from his mouth. Jamie was underneath the man, yelling. Dave dragged the white-coat man out of the car, dropped him onto the street. Then he went and got Jamie, put him on his back, and ran, carrying him back to their house.

Jamie said, “Are you hurt?”

The ear was still in Dave’s mouth. He spit it into his hand. “No.”

“What’s that in your hand?”

Dave opened his fist. “It’s an ear.”

“Ugh. Eeeew!”

“I bit his ear. He was bad. He hurted you.”

“Uck!”

Up ahead, they saw everybody standing out on the front lawn of their house. Henry and Lynn and the new people, too. Dave put Jamie on the ground, and he ran to his parents. Dave waited for his mother, Lynn, to comfort him, but she was entirely focused on Jamie. It made him feel bad. He dropped the ear in his hand on the ground. Everybody was swirling around him, but nobody touched him, nobody put their fingers in his fur.

He felt more and more sad.

Then he saw the boxy black car barreling down the street toward them. It was huge, high off the ground, and it drove right up onto the lawn.