CHAPTER 29:


Out of nowhere, bright light lit up the truck from behind. Kayden and Jack both jumped. "Whoa, where did they come from?" Kayden asked.

Jack wasn't sure. There hadn't been anyone behind them for miles and now a truck that had to have had its lights off was suddenly there. She continued to drive at her current speed, which was somewhat slow compared to what she would normally do down through there during the day.

The truck that now seemed to be tailgating Jack flashed its lights as if they wanted Jack to either stop or go faster. She knew better than to pull over and stop, so Jack rolled down her window some and stuck her hand out. With a waving motion, Jack tried to tell the person to just go around her.

Kayden turned around to look back at the bright lights. "Why don't they just go around, mom?" he asked her.

Jack shook her head, "I have no idea. But make sure your seat belt is tight, okay?"

He nodded and checked it like she told him to.

They both gasped when they felt the second truck bump into the back of the one they were in. "What the hell is their problem?" Jack asked out loud.

Still buckled in, Kayden tried to turn somewhat in the seat to see if he could see into the truck behind them. "If only he would shut his lights back off," Kayden told Jack. "Then I could see who the hell it is."

Jack glanced over at him, "Given the situation I'm going to let that word slide." There was a bigger jolt this time as the truck nudged them again. "Kayden, can you see any driveways or houses up ahead?" she asked, knowing he could see into the darkness beyond their headlights.

Kayden sat straight in his seat and stared first at one side of the road and then the other. "I don't know, mom," he said but kept looking. "The weeds on the sides of the road are too tall for me to see any openings."

With a sigh, Jack nodded and did her best to keep concentrating not only on driving, but on the asshole behind her. With God as my witness if you hurt my kids, there's nothing that will keep you safe from me and Riddick, she thought.

"Mom!" Kayden said to bring her out of her thoughts. "I think he's going around us," he told her, while watching the truck behind them.

Jack glanced into the driver's side mirror. "When the truck passes us, Kayden, I want you to try as hard as you can to get a good look at who's in the truck," she told him.

Kayden sat up straight and turned his head towards his mom's window. He watched as the truck started to pass them.

As the other truck became somewhat even with theirs, Jack glanced over, but could only see a dark figure. "Can you recognize the person?" she asked just as she stepped on the brake to slow down; she hoped the asshole would just pass and leave them be.

Right as Kayden opened his mouth to answer her, the second truck made a sudden jerk to the right and slammed into them. Kayden screamed for his mom.

Jack did the only thing she could think of: slam on her brakes and turn the steering wheel away from the impact.

When she turned the truck to the side, the soft dirt on the edge of the road caught the tires. Before Jack could get the truck back onto the hard gravel they were pulled into the ditch; thankfully they were still upright and hadn't flipped over.

Since the ditches on this road were shallow, the truck went down into it and stopped with its nose in the air on the other side.

Rori, who had been asleep, woke when the collision occurred. Being scared and confused, she immediately started crying.

Jack's first reaction was to ignore the small pain in her neck and check on her kids. "You okay?" she asked Kayden while already trying to see Rori.

Kayden answered her with a quiet, "Yes."

The frightened little girl in the backseat was doing her best to reach for her mommy. "Mama," she screamed, sobbing now.

"Mommy's going to get you out in just a minute," she told her. "Kayden, did you recognize who was driving?"

He didn't answer at first; his eyes were locked back on the road.

Jack reached over and touched his shoulder, thinking he might be going into shock over what happened.

Kayden's hand raised up and pointed at the other truck that had stopped further down the road. "It's coming back," he screamed.

Looking back to the road, Jack saw the back up lights shine in the darkness as the truck began to slowly back up towards them. "Shit," she said. "Hold on, kids!"

Since the truck was still in gear, Jack stepped on the gas; the truck rocked a little front to back as the engine roared and the tires spun, but they didn't move anywhere. Reaching over onto the console, she turned the dial from two wheel drive to four wheel drive.

She looked back to the other truck and saw how close it was. Again she pumped the gas and this time, after a moment of slight shaking, the tires got traction. Jack drove the truck out of the ditch and into the recently harvested field.

"Where are we going?" Kayden asked, while sitting sideways in his seat to see if they were being followed.

Jack's hands gripped the wheel tightly. "Towards that house," she told him; keeping her eyes on the lights ahead of them. "Are they coming?"

"No. Shh, Rori, it's okay!" he told her as she kept crying. "Mom has to get us someplace safe."

Sure enough, a few yard ahead the soft dirt field turned into a hard driveway. Jack spun the steering wheel, getting the truck to go towards the house. As they came closer to it, she pressed her hand against the horn button and didn't let up.

She pulled their truck up into the grass that was in front of the house. Once stopped she began flashing the headlights while still blasting the horn.

"Please be home! Please be home!" she chanted out loud.

Within seconds an older man with a large gun opened the front door and stepped onto his porch.

Jack threw the truck into park and tried to get out her door. When the door wouldn't budge she groaned in frustration and hit the window with her open hand. "I'm going to climb over you," she told Kayden as she was already doing it. "Please call the sheriff, someone just ran us off the road," she yelled as she opened the passenger side door.

The man, who was in a white wife beater with pants held up by suspenders, stopped pointing the gun at her. "They did what?" he asked.

The man's wife, who was in her night gown and house coat, was right behind him. "For pete's sake, Henry, get them inside and call Chester." She motioned to Jack. "Come in here, you'll be safe until Chester gets here."

Jack didn't waste any time getting her kids inside the house. Once inside, Jack and the kids sat on the couch. Kayden was sitting real close to his mom while she tried to soothe Rori as she clung to her mommy.

"Thank you, Chester," Henry said into the phone before hanging up. "He's on his way." He walked over to the front window and peeked out the curtain, his gun was leaned against the wall by the door.

Claire, Henry's wife, returned from the kitchen with a towel that had ice in it. "Here you go, young man," she said and gave him the towel.

"Thank you," Jack told her and helped Kayden hold the ice on his elbow that he had hit on the door when they went into the ditch.

"Is there anyone else I can call for you, Mrs.," Henry trailed off, since he hadn't even asked their names.

"Mrs. Richards," she informed him quietly. "I need to call, um," she paused, wishing she could call Riddick. "I need to call my neighbor."

Claire gestured to the phone, "Call anyone you need to."

Jack moved and Rori freaked out. She hugged her mommy's neck even tighter. "No, mama," she begged not to be put down.

"I'm not putting you down, baby girl. Mommy has to call Brent and Marcy," Jack took Rori with her to the phone.

When Claire softly smiled at Rori, Rori quickly laid her head down on her mommy's shoulder and continued to watch the older woman.

As Jack pushed the numbers that dialed Brent and Marcy's number, her hands began to shake. Normally, she prayed that Riddick could make it home on time, but tonight she prayed that Imam would somehow help him make it home fourteen hours early.

"Hello?" Brent's voice brought her our of her thoughts again.

She cleared her throat before she spoke quietly, "Hi, Brent."

"Jack? Where you calling from, I don't recognize the number," he stated.

Moving Rori more onto her hip, Jack took in a deep breath, trying to steady her voice. "The kids and I had some trouble and we ended up at a nice couple's house," she said, suddenly remembering something. "I didn't even ask the address." She turned and looked at Claire, who recited it for her.

After he was told the address, Brent spoke again, "What kind of trouble did you have?"

"Someone purposely ran us off the road on our way home. We ended up in the ditch and I had to put the truck in four wheel drive just to get us out of it and through a field," she told him.

Brent sighed, trying to keep calm. "Are you three okay?" he asked, but didn't wait for her answer. "Never mind, regardless if you are or not, Marcy and I will make sure you get to the hospital and then back to our house safely."

She could hear the rustling of clothes as she listened to Brent move around on the other end. Jack adjusted Rori again, just holding her was making Jack's neck ache even more. "Okay. Sheriff Chester was already called and should be here soon. Can you guys meet us at the address I gave you?" she questioned.

"We will be there real soon, Jack," he told her before they both hung up.

After Jack put the phone down, she walked back over to the couch and sat next to Kayden again. "Thank you for taking us in and I'm sorry if I scared you with the horn," she looked at Henry.

Henry waved her off with his hands, "Now don't you worry about that."

Her attention went to Claire as she came in from the kitchen; she hadn't even noticed when she had left the room, "We are just glad we were home tonight to help you." She put a tray of cookies and cold tea on the coffee table. "Normally, we would be at the Net Club playing cards, but Henry has been fighting off a cold," she said as she offered a napkin with two cookies on it to Kayden who took it and thanked her.

"I was fine two days ago, Claire. No need telling the world I'm sick; People get pale looking when they get old, that's all," Henry told his wife before he looked out the window again.

Claire rolled her eyes before holding out a napkin with a cookie on it to Rori, "Would you like a cookie, little one?"

Rori, who was still holding onto her mommy's shirt with one fist, looked at the napkin. "Den tow tooties, Wowi un tootie?" she asked Claire.

A small smile graced Jack's lips. "Rori, you only get one cookie right now because you only have one hand free to hold the cookie," Jack mentioned, gently tapping Rori's fist that held her shirt.

Jack tensed up when headlights from outside flashed across the room.

Henry picked up his gun and looked out the window again. "It's just Chester," he said with a nod in Jack's direction. "No need to worry."

She nodded back at him while she watched him put his gun back down before opening the door.

The sheriff was greeted by Henry and Claire as he entered the house and took off his hat. "Mrs. Richards," he said as he stepped more into the living room. "I hear you had a mishap with someone tonight."

Kayden wiped his mouth off with his napkin and looked at the sheriff. "I believe the word mishap isn't what you should call it, sir," he told him in a quiet voice while reaching to put the towel with ice back on his elbow.

"Now isn't the time, son," Jack whispered to him.

Chester raised a hand to stop her, "It's alright, Mrs. Richards." He took out the same notepad from his shirt pocket that he had the day he had returned Rori to them. "What might be a better word for what happened?"

Looking back up at him, Kayden spoke in his normal pitch, "Intentional, deliberate, premeditated; take your pick, just don't call it an accident."

Jack nodded in agreement, "It wasn't an accident." Her face became serious as she looked from Kayden to the Sheriff. "And I do believe you and I both know who did it."

There was another flash of light from the front windows. Both Chester and Henry walked to the window and looked out. "Did you call Mr. Overly?," the sheriff asked Jack as he moved to open the door.

"Yes. My husband is away on business and won't be back until tomorrow morning," she told him.

"I'm looking for my friend, Jack," Brent said from the front porch.

When he was let in, Jack felt some relief come over her, even though her neck was killing her now. "Robbie's going to be so mad," she said to him before she could stop herself.

Brent came over to them and squatted down. "I'm pretty ticked off myself and you aren't even my wife and kids," he said with a smile. "So I know Robbie's going to be more than mad."

Sheriff Chester walked back to where he had been standing before Brent had arrived. "I was just starting to ask what happened, but judging by the way Mrs. Richards is holding her neck, I think we should have them checked out at the clinic," he said, figuring if there was a need for it they could send for an ambulance from the hospital in Springers.

Standing up, Brent agreed with him, "I wasn't leaving my wife and three kids at home alone with some maniac on the loose, so I don't exactly have room for them in my truck."

"Not a problem," Chest said. "Ever been in a sheriff's car while the lights and sirens are going?" he asked Kayden with a smirk.


To Be Continued...