Promises Pt. 10

I note that the cars seem to be circling around, looking for empty spots in the still crowded lot, but then I see that a dark blue minivan with heavily tinted windows is heading purposefully toward the exit. It's the only vehicle moving that has room for the box that Teri described. That's got to be him. I turn on the burners and go flat out, hoping to get there first. If I can't stop him there, there's no way I'll catch him when he hits the highway.

I surprise myself by getting to the exit well ahead of him, but the question now is how exactly am I going to stop a car? There's a steel gate, but it's being held open by a chain and padlock. I look down in desperation as the minivan approaches and spot a large, jagged rock, five pounds if it's an ounce. I snag it and leap to the middle of the exit lane, blocking it, then cock my arm to throw the rock as hard as I can, hopefully with enough velocity to smash through the laminated glass of the windshield.

I look into the driver's eyes as the vehicle screeches to a halt, ten feet away from me. Her eyes are huge, and her kids' are even bigger. Shit, wrong car.

From the corner of my eye, motion draws my attention. About a hundred yards away, where a ficus hedge had blocked my view earlier, there is indeed another exit to the parking lot. A solid stream of cars, including minivans and SUV's, is leaving. Our bad guy may well be gone by now.

I sigh and toss the rock back over to the side of the exit, then clear out of the way, giving the poor woman and her kids an apologetic smile and wave as I jog away. They're gone like a shot, to the accompaniment of a full-throttle engine and squealing tires.

I run down to the other exit and watch for a few minutes as cars come and go, but I feel like it's futile because the guy could drive right by me and I wouldn't know it was him. Finally, I give it up and hurry back to the RV. This had been a fool's errand.

"How is she?" I ask as I duck through the door. Anna's beach bag is sitting on the table and I begin to rifle the side pockets for my phone.

Anna's standing outside the closed bedroom door, giving me the "hush" sign. Oops. I can well imagine that Teri is traumatized enough without me causing a ruckus.

Anna comes over closer to me and speaks in low tones. "Physically speaking, I think she's going to be fine. She was hysterical, though, as you might imagine. She wants to be alone right now. We need to give her some room."

Now that I'm listening, I can hear Teri sobbing. "Sorry, Anna" I murmur. "I fucked up. I shouldn't have let Teri swim in by herself, and I should have chased that guy down when I had the chance."

She shakes her head. "Teri told me what happened, and I wouldn't begin to fault you for anything you did, Peter. Besides, you did stop him. And if I hadn't fallen asleep, Teri would never have been alone in here."

"But-"

"Peter, you allowed Teri the chance to spread her wings a little, and that was good. There was no way to predict that her abductor would come all the way from Minnesota to attempt to kidnap her again."

"Can we be sure it was the same guy?"

Anna nods. "Teri swears it was him. He... well let me start from the top. She said she was planning on having me walk with her up to the motorhome, but when she got close, she decided to let me sleep. She snagged the keys out of my bag and went by herself.

"She had just gotten done and was stepping out of the bathroom when he grabbed her from behind. He used the same hold and he had a rag soaked in some sort of liquid. Peter, he would have been successful, except that you were there to stop him this time."

Well, when you put it that way, maybe I wasn't totally irresponsible. Anna has a way of making me feel better. It's one of the things I love about her.

I have my phone in my hand now, but I pause before calling the police, thinking it through. What would we gain, I ask myself, by getting them involved? They would want to question Teri about what happened, but she most certainly wouldn't want to talk to them.

I quickly share my thoughts with Anna. "I agree," she says. "No police."

Then it belatedly occurs to me that the cops are likely already on their way. They'll be looking for a seven-foot-tall man who menaced a family with a rock. We really don't want to be here for that.

"Anna," I say, "I'll explain later, but I've just realized that we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Why don't you go warn Teri, then fire up the coach while I snag our stuff? We need to roll the instant I come back in the door." Anna impresses me by not questioning that. She nods and gets right to it.

My first thought was to leave everything behind, but I don't know if Anna might have put our names on our stuff. A quick getaway won't do us much good if we leave evidence of our visit behind.

I sprint to our spot on the beach and gather our towels, chairs and awning into my arms, being none too careful about how I fold them, then race back and throw the sandy lot of them in through the open door. There's no time to put them neatly into their designated compartments now.

I leap in myself, slamming the door behind me, then have to brace myself against the kitchen cabinets as Anna guns it. She's taken me seriously, and she weaves the coach through the parking lot like she's Steve McQueen. I'm impressed because she's never driven this rig before. I guess if you've grown up driving a triple-axle grain truck, a small motorhome is nothing. I hang on and hope we're not tossing Teri around too badly.

Thirty seconds later, we're rolling down the highway. I make my way forward to take the shotgun seat. Thirty seconds after that, we see two cop cars go by in the other direction, sirens wailing. Another close call, but we're clear.

End of Part Ten

Next: Part Eleven -- Homegoings and Danger Close