Stolen Omnibus – Small Town Abduction (2 page)

Kaley avoided the boot prints that stained the carpet, and walked softly on the tips of her toes toward the bedroom’s door. From her sister’s room her eyes followed the trail of dirt to the front door, where she saw the deputy lying in the grass. Red goo covered his face, and his tongue hung from his mouth. A rush of wind rustled the grass and blew some strands of the officer’s hair. He looked dead. And not like a TV dead, but a real dead. Like her Grammy Shelly. Except she never saw Grammy like that. She was scared, but despite the fear, she felt herself pulled toward the dead body and didn’t stop until she reached the screen door.

Maybe he’s just sleeping.
Kaley raised her tiny hand up to the screen door’s handle and pulled it open. But when she took her first step outside a hand reached for her neck. She screamed, but it was cut short as fingers curled around her throat and mouth. All she saw when she was lifted off the ground were the pair of worn black boots that carried her away.

***

1 hour ago

Main Street was still littered with the trash and destruction from last night’s riots. Broken glass shimmered on the sidewalk under the afternoon sun. Windowless storefronts were gutted of their goods, and what loot couldn’t be carried was left on the pavement, strewn about in the street.

The shells of blackened and charred cars that had been burnt the night before were still parked in the road. The tires melted to the asphalt and glued the vehicles into place. Dozens of uniformed workers with FEMA vests scoured the streets, taking stock of the damage with city officials and business owners.

An armored Humvee rolled down the center of Main Street, a soldier manning the fifty-caliber rifle mounted on the roof. It patrolled the area slowly, part of the National Guard’s efforts to deter any citizens from inciting further damage.

News vans were clustered outside of two locations. The first was the sheriff’s office where deputies and emergency personnel heavily trafficked the area. The second was a smaller building where Lena Hayes Law Firm was written over bullet-riddled windows.

One of the reporters near the law firm office thumbed through a few notes then handed them over to her field producer. She cleared her throat as the cameraman counted her down.

“Mary Kentos reporting for ABC nightly news. The town of Barta, North Dakota, has fallen under siege. And it’s not from a foreign invader, but by the very citizens of the town itself. Last night a vote was held regarding state legislative bill forty-five C, which would tighten regulations on oil companies looking to exploit the state’s natural resources, but more specifically the millions of barrels of oil nestled in the Bakken Oil shale right beneath my feet. Currently, there is only one major oil company in North Dakota, which quickly purchased the majority of the land rights the state made available to frack—New Energy Incorporated. The company has been under fire for the past two years and was brought to civil court by over sixty families who say that their children grew sick after the chemicals used in the fracking process leaked into their water supply. It was a long, drawn-out court battle, but in the end it was New Energy Incorporated who won the fight.

“The lawyer for that case was Lena Hayes, and if her name sounds familiar it’s because she was recently elected to the state legislature just a few months ago. The one issue she championed for during her campaign? Fracking reform. One of the main reasons for her running for public office was the lack of regulations to hold companies like New Energy accountable. But while State Representative Hayes may have had the fight of her career against the company in the courtroom, she’s having the fight of her life against them with her proposed bill. But this time it’s not just the oil company that’s been against her, but also the families of the employees of New Energy. Here, now, is one of the women leading the charge against Mrs. Hayes, Becky Foreman. Becky, thanks for speaking with us today.”

Becky Foreman smiled when the camera panned out and included her in the shot. When she leaned into the microphone she nearly knocked it with her teeth. “It’s my pleasure.” She flashed a bright smile that popped against the dark tan of her skin. The heavy layers of makeup meant to conceal her age only added years to her face.

“You disagree with the bill that Representative Hayes is introducing, and that was passed during last night’s town hall.”

Becky’s large-hooped earrings dangled back and forth as she nodded. “One hundred percent disagree. The oil companies have brought us jobs, income, and a chance to better ourselves and our families.”

“One of Representative Hayes’s counterpoints to that argument is the damage done to the environment. In fact, since 2006, there have been over eighteen million gallons of oil and chemicals spilled, leaked, or misted into North Dakota’s air.”

“Well, I’m breathing just fine.”

“And what do you make of the sixty children that have grown ill over the past two years, half of which are still hospitalized with organ failures?”

“Look, what happened to those kids was tragic. But they’re getting the help they need. It’ll build character for them.”

Mary paused a moment before she continued. “Another stat we found from Mrs. Hayes’s depositions was the number of workers killed in the Bakken oil shale field, which has risen to seventy-four deaths in the past eight years. In fact Reese Coleman, an employee of New Energy, was found dead on their property just this morning.” Mary turned back to Becky. “Doesn’t that concern you since your husband works in those fields? Shouldn’t the companies be liable for these deaths if they’re happening on their property?”

“Our men know what they’re getting into.” Becky lifted her chin then gave a curt nod as she faced the camera. “In fact, our—”

Mary pulled the microphone away, pressing her finger to the device in her ear. “I’m sorry, Becky, but we’re going to have to stop you there.” The camera zoomed back in on Mary’s face. “I’m getting reports that shots were fired at Lena Hayes’s home, and an officer has been killed. I’ve also just learned that Lena Hayes’s daughter, aged seven, has been taken from her home.”

***

Present

The front yard was filled with squad cars, their red and blue lights fighting for attention under the bright sun. Dozens of officers stood in the grass, every eye transfixed on the body on the ground, concealed under a white sheet. Stains of red spotted the lawn, and the yellow evidence markers highlighted the brass shell casings ejected from the murder weapon.

Flashes of cameras captured the evidence, and forensic techs dusted the squad car and front door handle for fingerprints. Another tech snapped a picture of the tire tracks that had left a divot in the front yard during the getaway.

Lena Hayes stood in the kitchen, watching the scene unfold through her front windows. Her eyes drifted to the dirty boot prints on the polished wooden floor, each one tagged as evidence, which led through the living room and down the hallway to the bedrooms.
To Kaley’s bedroom.

“Mrs. Hayes?” The deputy with the notebook and taking her statement touched her on the elbow, and she jumped slightly, forgetting he was there.

“What?” Lena asked.

“I asked if you remember what your daughter was wearing when you left this morning.”

Lena rubbed her forehead. “Um, she had on a light-blue dress. With, um”—she squinted her eyes shut, trying to remember, her voice quivering—“green tights.”

The deputy nodded and scribbled the description down. “And do you have any family members in the area that may have taken her, or—”

“That’s enough, Deputy.” Sheriff Jake Cooley placed his arm on the officer’s shoulder. “I’ve already filled out a description detail for the Amber Alert. Why don’t you go and help finish tagging evidence.” The deputy nodded and left. Jake tilted the tip of his cowboy hat up and reached for Lena’s hand. “How you doing?”

Lena started to speak but stopped herself when she realized that the word that almost left her lips was “fine.” It was an engrained response that she’d forced herself to spew over the past few weeks—the past few years, if she was being honest. But right now, she was far from fine. “I don’t know.”

Jake pulled her close, and she curled her arms up along his back and clutched his shoulders. “We’re gonna find her, Lena. I promise you that.”

“Hey! Don’t touch that!” The angered boom echoed down the hall from the bedrooms. Lena was the first to move, and Jake wasn’t far behind.

A cluster of forensic techs stood outside Kaley’s door, all of them with their gloved hands raised defensively in the air. “Mr. Hayes, we need to get in your daughter’s room.”

Lena pushed them aside and saw her husband hovering over the coloring book and crayons that Kaley had left on the floor. His hand was clenched over one of the stuffed animals the techs had tried to bag for evidence. “Honey, we need to let them in.”

“Give us a minute, guys.” Jake motioned the techs to hit the road, and he mouthed, “Let me know if you need me” to Lena as he left.

Lena mouthed a silent thank you and then took a step forward and joined Mark on the edge of the bed, where he’d sat down. She placed her hand on his back and massaged the tense muscles along his neck. She placed her other hand on the stuffed elephant’s head, smiling. “This was her favorite.”

Mark lowered his head, silent tears bursting from his eyes, and his face twisted into an ugly scrunch from grief. He leaned into Lena, and she held him, the two grasping on to one another, and the stuffed elephant hit the floor. The outburst only lasted a short while, and once finished, Mark lifted his head from her shoulder, wiping his eyes. “Why would anyone take her?”

Lena shuddered. The past two years had garnered her more enemies than friends. She wasn’t sure if Kaley’s abduction was linked to the tension created from the bill. She hoped it wasn’t. Her family had been through enough since her inauguration. Both she and Mark had been attacked, her office in town had been shot up, and Gwen had suffered bullying at school.
Gwen.
Thank God she wasn’t at the house. If she hadn’t left, Lena would be missing two daughters instead of one. “Jake has every officer across three counties searching for her. With all those eyes someone will see something.”

But even she wasn’t sure if all those eyes would be enough. The state was sparsely populated, and it wouldn’t be hard for whoever took Kaley to stay off the radar. “C’mon.” She held out her hand, and he reached for it, both of them leaving the room together.

In the hallway, Mark pulled his hand back, rubbing the gold wedding band on his finger. “I’m gonna go take a walk out back.”

“Okay.” As Lena watched Mark walk out the door she felt her fingers twitch. For her, idle hands were never good in times of stress. While Forensics flooded Kaley’s room she went to her own bedroom to assess the damage.

The bed was flipped up against the wall. The oak dresser had been tossed to its side, with the drawers yanked out and smashed to pieces. Her clothes were strewn about the floor. The lamp was broken, the mirror shattered, and broken picture frames and jewelry littered the carpet. The only thing that hadn’t been moved was the gun safe in the closet, which was too heavy to be lifted by one person. It was as if a tornado had blown through, but the only thing it had taken was the only thing that mattered.

Lena scratched the crook of her left arm, feeling the light bumps and permanent scars that rested just beneath the cloth of her blouse. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, ignoring the lumbering beast locked away in the cage of her mind, its hot breath tickling her repressed desires. It made her sick that even now her mind returned to that weakness.

She bent over and picked a few pieces of clothes off the floor. She flipped the mattress down from the wall and piled the strewn clothes across it. When she fisted a cluster of socks she felt the hard, rounded edge of something inside.

When Lena pulled out the heavy gold-plated coin, the rest of the clothes slowly spilled from her fingertips and back into the messy piles on the floor. It’d been ten years since she satisfied that itch, let the beast out of the cage to run free. Kaley wasn’t even born yet. Her oldest daughter, Gwen, had taken the brunt of that trauma, and though those days were long past, the nightmares kept those memories fresh.

Lena had convinced herself that all of the late nights and missed weekends to work on her case against New Energy was her penance. She wanted to provide justice to the victims and their families, keep their community, and her family, safe. It could have easily been one of her own children in a hospital bed, fighting for their life while the New Energy executives used every legal loophole in the system to keep from footing the bill. But maybe even after all of those fights it still wasn’t enough to rid herself of the mistakes of her past. She just never thought this would be the price.

“Lena.” Jake popped his head in the bedroom. “We found something.”

Hope lifted her off the bed. As she rushed to the hallway she imagined Kaley sprinting through the living room. But when she stepped from her room the only thing she saw was a plastic bag that Jake clutched wearily. “What is it?” Lena felt her skin flush cold, and she shivered uncontrollably.

“We found this on Deputy Keen’s body. It looks like it was left by the kidnapper.”

With a shaking hand Lena grabbed the evidence from her brother’s fingertips and flipped it over in her palm so she could read the message written hastily on the strip of paper. The demand was short and simple.
Kill the bill in thirty-six hours, or I kill the girl.
She re-read it a few more times, the flood of anger thawing the icy grip of fear. By the time she lifted her head her cheeks were flushed red. “You know who did this, Jake.”

Her brother was never much of a talker, but he shared the same stoic rage of their father when he was upset. The muscle along his jawline twitched as he ground his teeth. After a moment he turned to his deputies. “I want a unit over to New Energy’s headquarters, and I want a search warrant for the facility. Now!”