Desperate

She sat down and smiled as she dialed the number. Her heart was pounding as she heard it ringing. "Come on, pick up, Mom!" she said after the fourth ring.

"This number is only known to one person. If it's you calling, I'm sorry I missed your call. Please let me know you're safe and try again later when you can. I love you!"

Skylar was crestfallen when she didn't get to speak to her mother, but at least she'd heard her voice. After the beep, she said, "Hi, Mom! It's me. We're okay. We found a very cozy little place in Billings, Montana. I have a job and Benjamin is starting in daycare at a place called The Honey Tree. I'll call again soon so we can talk. Thank you so much for the money and the car. We both love you very much."

She paused then added, "Oh. It's way too early to tell, but I may have met someone. Talk to you soon. Love you! Bye!"

She sat her phone down and in spite of her disappointment was still on an emotional high after Aaron's visit. She hadn't had feelings for anyone in so long and whatever this was it felt amazing. She had to admit that other than fear, she really hadn't had any feelings in quite some time. Yes, he was very young, but he was nice and...so good looking! And if that wasn't enough, he'd taken such an interest in Benjamin who had had the most fun she could ever remember her son having.

Skylar knew not to get her hopes up too high, but just having hope of any kind was such a great thing, and she wanted to bask in it for as long as she could.

*****

"Stupid fucking bitch," he said when he finished listening to the voicemail.

"You see, Skylar, the problem with old people like your mom is they don't handle technology very well. I bet that poor old cunt doesn't even know her phone is missing yet. But that doesn't really matter. What does matter is I know where you are now and that means I know where my son is, too."

The line about her having met someone pushed him over the edge and he drove his hand through the drywall opening a huge hole.

Doug sat down the phone he'd stolen from his mother-in-law and laughed before saying again, "It's payback time. You think you can get away from me, you stupid bitch?"

He drained the rest of his beer, crushed the can and tossed it on the floor before grabbing another one from the refrigerator.

"Looks like I'll be heading to Montana," he said before chugging half the can in one gulp before belching loudly then killing the rest.

*****

Three Days Later in Billings

"Hey, buddy! How was your second day at The Honey Tree?" Skylar asked as she walked Benjamin out to the car.

"I had so much fun! We played and colored and listened to stories and sang songs! And Colton is my best friend! Colton and Aaron," Benjamin told her.

"Wow! What a great time," she said. "So...do you like any of the girls?"

"I like Chloe. She's really nice to me. But Ophelia is mean. She says mean things so I don't like her."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe she just doesn't know how nice you are yet."

"Colton says she's mean, too. I don't like her," he insisted again.

"Okay, just try and be nice to her no matter what, okay? We have to get along with people even if we don't like them."

"Okay," he said already forgetting what it was they were discussing. Oh to be so young and naive and carefree again.

Neither of them saw the beat-up dark-blue sedan sitting across the street from the daycare center. The man inside was sitting down low, his head barely visible to anyone looking his way. The passenger side had a dozen or so empty, crushed beer cars on the floor and he was nursing another one as he watched.

"There's my boy," he said killing the beer. "Don't worry, buddy. Daddy's here, Benjamin. And he's taking you home with him real soon. We just gotta get rid of Mommy first."

That evening after dinner, Skylar decided to give her mother another call. This time she head, "We're sorry, the number you have dialed has been changed to (360) 555-1742. For one additional dollar I can connect you."

She hit the button to be connected and after just one ring her mother picked up. "Hello?"

"Mom? Mom, is that you? It's Skylar!"

"Skylar! Oh, honey. I'm so glad to hear your voice!"

"Everything's okay, Mom. Just like I told you in my voicemail."

"Voicemail? What voicemail?"

"The one I left a couple of days ago. On your old phone."

"I lost that phone, Sky. I didn't know it was missing until this yesterday morning. I never use it and I guess I just didn't notice it was gone. It's funny, though. It sits on the kitchen countertop and I never move it. I had to spend a bunch of money to get it replaced. Thank the Lord they were able to give me a forwarding message or something. I've been waiting for you call since..."

"Mom? Was anything else missing besides the phone?"

"Um...no, I don't think so," she said. "But come to think of it, it seemed like things had been moved around. Nothing big, mind you. Just little stuff. Out of place."

Her mother was nearly obsessive-compulsive about such things. She didn't just put stuff away, she had to have them perfectly straight or aligned with other items. Just the slightest little change in the angle of something drove her crazy.

"What kind of things, Mom?" she asked, her blood running cold.

"Oh, well, let's see. The silverware drawer was open and it looked like the utensils had been jostled around. Then there was the cookie jar. The owl's head wasn't sitting straight on his body when I came home."

"Anything else?" she asked almost afraid to find out.

"Oh, yes. The TV remote was on the couch and all cockeyed. It was like the Gremlins got in and moved stuff around. Nothing else valuable was missing, though, thank goodness," she told her daughter.

She knew Doug had a key to her mom's place and in spite of asking her to change the locks more than once, she'd refused saying it was too much money. Besides, she'd told Skylar, Doug was no threat to her so why bother? She also remembered how Doug took cookies out of her mom's cookie jar every time they went to visit. He never asked, he just took off the lid—a ceramic owl's head—and helped himself.

"Okay, well Benjamin and I are in Billings, Montana," she began. She repeated everything she'd said on the voicemail but left out the comment about having met someone. She chatted with her mom for a few more minutes then let her son talk with his grandmother before telling her they had to go.

"Okay, honey. Well you take care and call when you can," her mom said.

"Mom? Could you do me one favor?"

"Sure. Just ask," she said.

"Can you drive by my old place and see if Doug's car is there? No need to knock. Just let me know if our blue Toyota is sitting in the driveway."

"Well, okay. I can do that. Did you need me to go right now?"

"Just whenever you can, okay? But soon, okay?"

"I'll drive by on my way to work in the morning. How's that sound?"

"Great, Mom. And call me either way, okay?"

"Okay, will do. Love you, honey," her mom said sweetly.

"Yeah, I love you too, Mom," she said before ending the call.

Her heart was racing again but for a very different reason. She scrolled through her contacts and found Aaron's number and almost called him but decided to take a breath, relax, and wait for her mom's call the following morning.

Skylar barely slept that night and found herself watching over her shoulder the next morning as she headed off to work. She was an hour ahead of her mom now so she didn't expect a call until around 9am Montana time. She dropped Benjamin off at daycare right at 6:30 and made sure hers was the only name on the list of authorized people to pick up.

"Is it possible to have you specifically exclude someone from picking my son up?" she asked.

"It isn't necessary," the woman told her. "Unless their name is on this list, it doesn't matter who they are. Why? Is there someone you think might try?"

"Um...no. That's okay. Thank you for your help," she said nervously.

At 9:15, her phone rang. It startled her so much she nearly dropped it.

"Mom? What did you find out?" she asked.

"I'm going to let this nice police officer tell you himself," she said.

"Mom? What police officer? What..."

"Mrs. Lawrence? This is Officer Sheldon with the Buckley Police Department."

She didn't bothering correcting him. "Officer? What's going on?"

"Your husband, Douglas James Lawrence, is wanted in connected with the robbery of a convenience store two days ago. Do you have any idea where he might be, Mrs. Lawrence?"

Skylar began shaking.

"Mrs. Lawrence? If you know where he is and don't tell us, that's aiding and..."

"No. No, I...I don't know where he is. But my mom's phone was stolen and I left a voicemail telling her where I am."

"I don't understand," the police officer replied.

Skylar explained their estrangement, why she left, her past involvement with the police, and where she was staying.

"So you believe he's there now? In Billings?"

"I...I don't know. I haven't seen him, but if he had my mom's phone and if he heard that voicemail..."

"We'll contact the police in Billings and give them his license plate number and physical description. And ma'am? It goes without saying you need to be very careful."

"Isn't there something the police here can do?" she said, her fear growing by the second.

"If they see him they'll arrest him based on the warrant that's been issued for armed robbery. If he's our guy, they'll book him and send him back here. But as far as protecting you goes, unless he's hurt you or unless you have a restraining order there's really not much they can. I will, however, ask them to send a patrol car by your place as often as possible, if you'd like. "

"Yes, please, and can you put my mom back on the phone?" she said as she tried to think.

"This is all my fault," her mom said immediately. "I don't know how I could be so careless!"

"Mom. Don't be ridiculous," Skylar said. "Doug is the one who stole your phone. He's the cause of all of this. Not you. You've been wonderful through all of this so please, do not beat yourself up for that, okay?"

She could hear her mom starting to cry as she said, "If anything happens to you or that baby of yours..."

"I've gotta go, Mom," Skylar said as she shuddered again just thinking about Doug taking Benjamin or worse. She didn't think Doug would hurt him, but she wouldn't put it past him to do so if it meant hurting her.

"Come on! Let's back to work here!" Vern boomed.

"Sorry!" Skylar said as she put her phone away and looked around.

The last thing she needed was to lose her job. Then again, if something were to happen to her son, losing a lousy job would pale in comparison.

"Sherry?" Skylar said as the older woman walked by.

"What is it, dear?" she asked as she carried out two plates of food.

"Can you cover for me for a few minutes?"

"I'll try, but we're slammed right now. Since you showed up every unmarried guy in town seems to be showing up around here," she informed her with a smile. "I might even get lucky with all the traffic!"

Skylar tried to smile but wasn't paying attention as she replied, "I'll just be a minute. I need to use the restroom."

"Okay, hon. Just hurry, please."

Skylar sat in one of the stalls and got out her phone. She didn't need long to convince herself to call this time.

"Hello?" she heard him say.

"Aaron? It's Skylar. I...I hate to bother you, but I really need a favor."

He was right in the middle of teaching a class, but the moment he hung up he told the group, "Sorry, folks. I've got a personal emergency. Just go over the materials I handed out and we'll make this up tomorrow."

Five minutes later he pulled up in front of the restaurant, jumped out of his vehicle, and headed inside. Unlike Skylar, Aaron did see the dark-blue Toyota Corolla parked across the street and it caused his hackles to go up immediately.

Skylar saw him as soon as he walked in and waived to get his attention. She started trying to explain her fears and Aaron gently asked her stop talking and come with him.

"What's going on?" she asked.

He took her to the window and said, "Just peek out and tell me if you recognize the blue car across the street."

Skylar's heart stopped when she heard 'blue car'. She carefully looked around the edge of the window and the moment she saw it, she pulled back so fast and so hard she hit Aaron with her upper body.

He caught her and steadied as she said, "That's him. That's Doug. My husband."

"Okay. What is it you think he wants?" Aaron asked.

"I...I don't know. It could be me. It could be..."

She turned around and said, "Benjamin. He wants Benjamin!"

Skylar was shaking with fear so Aaron put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Listen to me. It's gonna be okay. Do you trust me?"

Shaking hard she nodded her head and said, "Yes."

"All right. Go grab me a cup of coffee to go. I'm gonna go outside and sit in my car and wait. If he comes in here, I'll be right behind him. If he takes off, I'll follow him. In the meantime, you call the police, and let them he's in town and where he's sitting. Can you do that?"

"Yes. I think so," she said as she fumbled for her phone.

Vern called out again and when he did Aaron walked over and explained what was going on.

"Jesus H. Christ! I don't want no trouble," he told his nephew.

"Everything's gonna be just fine, Uncle Vern. I can handle this. Just stay calm and take care of business."

Aaron looked around and said, "I've never seen this place this full before."

"Yeah, your new neighbor is a big hit with the single guys around here. And a few married ones, too, I might add. Don't tell your Aunt Hattie, but I do my share of lookin', too!"

Vern ran a hand through his hair then got serious again and said, "Just be careful, okay? Let the cops handle this."

"They're on the way, but sometimes they take too long," Aaron said as he saw Skylar on the phone and peeking out of the window again.

"No guns. You hear me?" his uncle warned.

"That's up to him," Aaron said calmly.

With that he went back over to Skylar who was just finishing explaining what she was looking at to the police. She had no idea Aaron was behind her again and when she turned around she nearly screamed causing every head to turn and look.

"It's okay," Aaron said as he reached out to comfort her. "Come here."

He held her for a few seconds then said, "I still need that coffee, okay, beautiful?"

Skylar tried to smile as he let go, but she was shaking pretty hard.

"Coming right up," she told him as he moved to the window to watch.

"Never mind!" Aaron called out. "He's on the move."

"The Honey Tree!" Skylar called out as she ran toward him.

"No! You stay here," Aaron insisted.

"Like hell I will!" Skylar said as she followed him out the door.

"Now how I am supposed to pick up the slack?" Sherry said standing there all alone as the door closed behind them.

Seconds later they were in Aaron's Jeep and making a U-turn to follow Doug.

"Call the cops again and let them know what we're doing," Aaron said as he kept an eye on the little sedan that was a couple hundred yards up ahead.

When he turned left at the light, Aaron knew he was heading toward the daycare center, and ran the red light while honking his horn as he blew through the intersection.

"What did the police say?" he asked as they careened around the corner.

"They said they have a car en route. Oh, they said to tell you they'll handle this," Skylar told him.

"Uh-huh. Sure they will," Aaron said as he closed the gap with the Corolla.

Doug pulled into the Honey Tree's parking lot and Aaron pulled in right behind him but parked three stalls away.

"Duck down," he told Skylar as Doug got out of the vehicle.

Aaron sized him up and could tell he was about the same height, but that's where the similarities ended. This Doug guy was clearly out of shape and looked like ten gallons of shit in a five-gallon can.

When Aaron went to get out, Skylar said, "No! We have to wait for the police."

He turned to her and asked her again, "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," she said, her face filled with fear.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to Benjamin or any other child. I promise," he told her. "You stay here and do not come inside for any reason, okay?"

"Okay," she told him as she continued to shake.

Aaron turned the engine back on so the heater would keep the Jeep warm for her.

"Everything will be okay," he said just before closing the door.

He smiled then said, "You have my word."

Aaron quickly walked to the front door and looked inside and saw Doug at the front desk. He opened the door and casually walked inside.

"I'm sorry, sir. You are not on the list of people authorized to pick him up," the woman sitting up front told him firmly.

"I'm not asking you, you stupid bitch! You bring me my son or I'll go get him myself," Doug yelled as he bent down and got in her face.

The woman glanced over at Aaron who nodded letting her know he knew what was going on. He indicated with another nod toward the back she should head that way and he could tell she understood.

"Okay. Just wait here. I'll go get Benjamin," the woman said remaining very calm. "Just give me a few minutes, okay?"

"Thirty seconds! You got thirty seconds to get my boy out here!" Doug hollered.

For the first time, Doug turned around and when he saw Aaron he said, "What the fuck are you lookin' at, asshole? Mind your own fuckin' business!"

Aaron put his hands up and said, "I'm just here to get my kid, okay?"

In the brief moment Doug turned his way, Aaron saw the handle of the weapon Doug was carrying and recognized it as a Sig Sauer P320. Knowing where the weapon was and what he was carrying gave Aaron all the advantage he needed.

The thirty seconds came and went and Doug was now even more visibly agitated.

"Where the fuck is my son?" he yelled out loudly enough that everyone in the building would have heard it.

What he didn't know was that the woman he'd spoken to was evacuating all of the children out the back and to another building next to the Honey Tree.

After another fifteen seconds, Doug lost his patience and reached for his weapon. The moment he pulled it out he hollered, "I told you thirty seconds, you fucking bitch!"

As he stepped around the counter, Aaron quickly and calmly drew his MP 40 and said in a loud, clear voice, "Don't take another step, Doug."

The other man stopped in his tracks and as he went to turn his head toward Aaron, the younger man said, "Don't even think about it."

He knew Doug had turned far enough to see his weapon drawn and pointed at the other man's left side.

"I never miss, Doug," Aaron told him. "Now lay your weapon on the ground in front of you. Nice and slow."

"I want my boy!" Doug hollered.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Aaron told him.

"You're in way over your head, kid," Doug told him. "I was the Army."

"Uh-huh. Same here. Straight-leg infantry and then a Ranger Regiment. Don't make me shoot a fellow soldier, okay, Doug?" Aaron said calmly.

The first sounds of a siren were audible as Doug momentarily debated turning and firing. He was shit-faced drunk as usual and felt like he'd lost everything. With nothing to live for there was no reason he could think of not to.

"Doug! Don't do it!" Skylar called out.

Aaron was too well trained to turn around and look. It was obvious Skylar had decided not to sit tight.

"Sky?" he said stopping himself before turning too far.

"Yes. I'm here. So is Benjamin. He needs his father, Doug. Please...don't."

"Why did you leave me?" he cried out in anguish.

"I...had to," she told him.

"I...loved you so much!" he said as his voice began to crack.