Page 88 of Blind Trust
Gripping his cell phone, Brooks forced himself not to be short with her. “Try to remember. Did she say she saw him go with me or get into my car?”
As he waited for her to remember, a message pinged on his work phone. He almost ignored it until he saw the first part of the message.
We’re at the school.
“I think she said she saw Anthony go to your car.”
Brooks’s throat grew raw with anger. “Okay, baby. Tell Mom I’ll be home with Anthony soon.”
“Okay,” Tori said, her chirpy tone rivaling the dread coiled around his gut. Then she ended the call.
It was nearing four o’clock, and in Pentagon time that meant rush hour. With over twenty-three thousand employees working various hours, most began their commute home around three thirty, congesting the Metro, buses, and parking lots.
He had to get out of there. Had to get to Anthony. Pushing his way down the escalator, he tried to apologize and then stopped. He didn’t have time. Cutting across the throng of people waiting for the slug line, he stepped up to the first car he saw and got in, ignoring the unkind comments from those behind him for breaking the carpool system’s rules.
The driver was in an Air Force uniform and was looking at him like he was crazy or about to call the Pentagon police over.
Brooks pulled out his wallet and counted his money. “I’ll give you three hundred and eighteen dollars if you take me to my child’s school.”
The airman hesitated.
“Please, the nurse called, and he fell at the playground, and they think he may have broken his arm.”
A few more seconds passed, and Brooks was about to get out of the car and commandeer the next one when the driver shrugged. “Okay, but I don’t talk.”
Fine by him. There were rules for commuters using the slug line. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Don’t mess with the air, window, radio. Don’t talk on the phone. Brooks flipped his phone over inhis hand and sent a quick message to his executive assistant letting him know an unexpected emergency had come up.
Call the police.
That would be the smart thing to do. The appropriate thing to do. But Brooks was in too deep, and he had no idea what she would do to Anthony. He couldn’t take the risk. Glancing over to the speedometer, he was at least thankful the driver had a bit of a lead foot.
Gripping the phone in his hand, he sent a message back to her.
On my way. Please don’t hurt him.
It made him sick that he’d even have to ask that of her. But he’d known her long enough, seen what she was capable of, and knew the compassionate, maternal instinct he loved about Lydia was glaringly missing from the woman he’d just asked to protect his son.
By the time the airman pulled up in front of Eisenhower Elementary, Brooks’s emotions were fluctuating between fear and fury. He hopped out of the car and saw that the cement bench in front of the oak tree where Anthony would’ve been waiting for Tori was empty. A handful of cars were still in the parking lot and one, a black sedan, flashed its lights at him.
Brooks jogged over, looking for a brick or stick he could use to smash the window and grab his son. He slowed when he saw the man in the driver’s seat. He didn’t need to know his name or be introduced. Something in the man’s sinister glare told him he was the one behind the phone call the other night, behind the death of Genevieve Miller and who knew how many others.
He needed to tread lightly.
The back window rolled down. “Dad!” Anthony stuck his head out, a ring of ice cream circling his lips. “Look what I got.”
Next to Anthony, Brooks’s boss, Christine León, smiled like she hadn’t just lured his son with dessert like some kind of psycho kidnapper.
“Buddy, you know Mom doesn’t like you eating snacks before dinner.”
He tilted his head to the side. “She said I don’t have to tell.”
Anger pumped through his veins. “What’s the rule about secrets, Anthony?”
Dipping his chin, he sighed. “We don’t keep secrets from Mom and Dad.”
“You have a smart boy, Brooks.”
He itched to open the door and scoop his son into his arms. “I’m going to have to remind him about getting into cars with strangers.”
