Private Rogue

Chapter 2

Some of the other parents were gathered beneath the gnarly, bare branches of the old oak tree, but Beth wanted as much sun as possible. It was brutally cold and the air had a razor-sharp bite. The sunlight seemed as faint and unwarming as a refrigerator bulb and would soon be gone, but it was better than nothing. Beth patted her sides and shuffled on the spot, willing the sun to slow its descent behind the roof of Garrison Elementary School. She watched some younger kids running around the basketball court, skipping and skidding across the ice, laughing as they waited for their older siblings. She remembered when Daniel and Marianne had been that age, and while toddlers were cute, they were also exhausting. She preferred her kids at their current ages, still cute, but a little older and a lot more independent. Now seven years old, Danny had all the confidence and charisma of a future president, and Beth sometimes felt he already believed he’d attained that high office. Maria was two years older and was blossoming from a quiet, thoughtful little girl into an assured, intelligent child.

Some of the other parents obsessed over grades, but Beth and her husband didn’t care how the kids did at school, as long as they were happy. Maybe that’s why she didn’t click with the other moms. She glanced over at Laura Fox-Ryan and her little gang of five, who were part of the group huddled under the tree, and got a couple of polite nods in reply. We’re not going to ignore you, because that might be awkward, but we’re not inviting you into the circle.

It reminded Beth of high school. Boasting, envy and competitiveness were the game there, and her casual indifference to the things others considered measures of success threw them off. She was almost certain they considered her a bad parent, and she knew there were whispers about the apparent lack of a man in her life.

If they knew the truth, Beth wondered how eager they’d be to make friends. Better a true enemy than a false friend, she thought, recalling her father’s sound advice.

Her eyes were drawn toward the daily ritual of kids being unleashed on the world. After the first flurry of youngsters surged out in a melee of bags and coats, she saw Danny and Maria walking out together.

“Hey, guys,” Beth said. “What news?”

“He’s talking Lego again,” Maria replied.

“Is there any other subject?” Beth asked.

“No,” Danny chuckled. “Where would we be without Lego?”

“Come on,” Beth said, ushering them toward the parking lot.

Minutes later, they were heading north along Bear Mountain Highway, past high mounds of blackened snow. Beth engaged in the daily interrogation of her children, while they acted like mobsters on a witness stand, divulging as little information as possible.

“Stuff,” Danny replied after Beth asked him to clarify what he had done that day.

She rolled her eyes and glanced at Maria, who sat in the passenger seat of their white GMC Yukon.

“What about you?”

“Other stuff,” Maria replied with a smile.

Beth couldn’t help but grin.

She switched on the radio as she made a right on Indian Brook Road. Maria immediately started singing along to Ariana Grande as Beth followed the winding route into the pine forest that surrounded Garrison.

As they passed the Mullers’ house, Beth noticed a black-and-gold police cruiser parked on a track to their right. She wondered what the State Police were doing out here and glanced in her rear-view to see the car pull onto the road behind them.

A moment later, there was a flash of blue and red. Beth glanced back to see the officer in the passenger seat was signaling for her to pull over.

Beth was religious about vehicle maintenance, but had one of her brake lights blown?

“What do they want, Mom?” Danny asked, craning round to see the cop car.

“Probably nothing,” Beth replied, but her stomach was tightening into a knot.

She turned off the radio and pulled to the side of the road.

“Are we in trouble?” Maria asked.

“No, honey,” Beth assured her as the police car rolled up behind them.

Suspicion kicked in the moment the two men stepped out of the car. They didn’t move like cops, and the driver, a tall man with paper-white skin and a thick black goatee, kept glancing up and down the otherwise deserted road. His passenger, a blond-haired man, had his hand on his holstered gun, which was nickel, like an old Smith & Wesson or maybe a Walther P88 — both extremely powerful firearms, and neither permitted for state troopers’ use.

Beth’s mind conjured up her darkest fears. She had lived in dread of this day ever since she and her husband had first planned for it.

“Have you got your seatbelts on, guys?” she asked.

The men were a few yards from her vehicle.

Danny and Maria nodded.

“I’m going to need you to switch off the engine, ma’am,” the blond man said loudly, drawing his pistol.

Beth threw the Yukon into drive and stepped on the gas. She watched in the rear-view mirror as the two uniformed men ran back to their car. Beth turned her eyes on the road as she built speed.

“Mommy!” Danny cried as the Yukon flew round a bend.

Beth glanced at Maria, who gripped her seatbelt fearfully.

“It’s OK, kids,” Beth said. “We’re going to be OK.”

She glanced in the rear-view mirror and saw the police car gaining, but speed wasn’t the only advantage out here.

The first gunshot startled her, but it sailed harmlessly past. Danny started crying, and Beth glanced back to see her son’s bright eyes shedding tears.

She swerved across the road, aiming at a gap between the trees. It marked a logging trail they’d walked a few times in summer. Beth didn’t slow as the road gave way to rutted track, and she kept her foot on the gas as the Yukon hit frozen mud. The big SUV bounced around violently as it climbed the steep track and threw chewed-up mud and slush into the air behind it.

Maria yelped and squealed but Beth kept going, pushing the Yukon to the limit. The suspension crunched and groaned, and the engine growled, but the large car roared on. Beth checked behind her to see their pursuers weren’t so lucky. The patrol car made it about ten yards before getting stuck on the steep slope.

They soon crested a rise that took them out of sight of their pursuers, and Beth eased off the accelerator.

“It’s OK,” she said, reaching round her seat to squeeze Danny’s leg. “It’s over. We’re safe. Is anyone hurt?”

“No,” Maria replied.

Danny shook his head.

“Those weren’t real police, were they?” Maria asked. Her face was rigid with worry.

“No, honey, I don’t think so,” Beth replied. She kept stroking Danny’s leg and his crying turned to shuddering, uneven gasps. “But it’s OK. We’re prepared for this, remember?”

Beth hoped the children wouldn’t connect the dots and realize what this meant for their father. She could hardly bring herself to think about it either.

Maria nodded uncertainly, and when Beth glanced back she saw Danny doing the same. She was so proud of her kids. Their father would be too.