Chapter Five
It was late when Mac got home that night. He was tired and he couldn't get the case out of his head. He lay awake on the couch thinking. They were still no closer to finding the kids and he had learned from the hospital that Madison and her son had checked out and disappeared. He hoped she would stay in touch but then thought that was ridicules. Of course she would stay in touch. She wanted to find her children.
His mind strayed to her and he wondered why. She was stunning he had to admit. He mentally slapped himself for thinking like that. She had just had her three children kidnapped and her fourth nearly beaten to death. But he couldn't help but remember her features. He sighed; it would be a long night.
He got up and poured himself a glass of water and sat back down on the couch. He set the glass on the table and stared at it for a while. He wasn't thirsty and he wasn't sure why he got the glass. He looked for the remote and finally found it flipping on the television. He found the most boring thing he could and left it on, hoping it would help put him to sleep. Too bad he couldn't tear his mind from Madison Campbell…Beale.
Madison finished up in the bathroom and came out of the room. She was looking down and didn't notice that Kolby James was no longer on the bed. She walked back towards the phone still fidgeting with her belt. She grabbed the receiver up and stared at the buttons. Two calls and no one had seen Robbie. Or at least they weren't speaking.
"Kolby James, you need anything else?" She asked softly. He didn't answer her. "You asleep?" After she asked it she felt stupid for asking it. Of course if he was asleep he wouldn't answer her. She glanced up at the bed to see and panic hit her like a freight train. Kolby James was no longer on the bed. She scanned the room quickly checking to see if he had moved and she didn't find him. She looked at the door and noticed the chain hanging limply. She struggled to clear her brain. She was positive she had chained the door. She was sure of it.
Fear and panic coursed through her veins as she pulled the door open. She looked both ways out the door and didn't see him. She didn't know how long he had been gone but knowing her son he slipped out just after she went into the bathroom. He had a good ten minute head start on her. She felt her heart pounding. She didn't know what to do or who to call. She called out for him, almost screaming his name. An old man stuck his head out of his door and yelled at her. She frantically asked if he had seen her son and he replied no and slammed the door. She went down to the lobby.
"Have you seen my boy? Have you seen him come this way?" she frantically asked the night manager. The young man only shrugged.
"No, ma'am, no one came this way."
"You're sure."
"Yes, ma'am, I've been sitting at the desk all night. No one came through the parking lot this way. I would have seen 'em."
"Thank you," she said softly and felt the tears coming again. She was frazzled and went back to the room. She rifled through her stuff and a card fell from her pocket. She picked it up. It was Detective Mac Taylor's card. He had hand written a number on the back with Cell written under it. She snatched the receiver up and held it to her ear as she punched the number in. The phone was making strange sounds and it occurred to her that it hadn't been on the cradle.
She hurriedly slapped at the buttons to hang up the line so she could try again and was rewarded with a dial tone. She nearly broke the phone as she manically punched in Detective Taylor's number. She waited.
Mac nearly jumped out of his skin with his cell phone rang. He was almost asleep and he groaned. Whatever this was it better be important he thought. He flipped the phone open and stared at the number. He didn't recognize it. He checked the time and wondered who was calling his cell at this time from a number he didn't know. He answered it.
"Detective Taylor," he said cautiously.
"Detective Taylor, you have to help me," a frantic but familiar voice said to him. He couldn't place it though.
"Ok, what can I help you with?"
"My son. He's missing. This is Madison Beale," she said in a strangled voice as she lost the battle with her tears.
"Calm down, Ms. Beale. What's going on?"
"Kolby James, he left. I went to the bathroom and when I came out he was gone. He wasn't in the room anymore. Detective he's going after Robbie. Oh my you have to find him. I don't know what to do."
"Calm down. Tell me where you are."
"I'm in a motel…umm, the Blue Light Motel. Room 205"
"I know it. Stay put I'll be there shortly."
Mac hurried to get dress and then on his way to the Blue Light Motel he made a couple phone calls. As he pulled into the parking lot two uniform police officers were approaching the door Madison had told him. He got out of his car and hurried to catch up. They were already knocking on the door when Mac reached them. The door flew open and Madison stepped aside.
"You reported a missing child, Ma'am?" the first officer asked. Madison looked past the two uniforms to Mac. She gave him a pleading look as he quickly scanned the room.
"You guys look around, maybe the boy left something," Mac said as he nudged them into the room. He came up beside Madison and motioned she take a seat on the edge of the bed. He sat down next to her and waited until she had herself under control again.
"Tell me what happened?"
"We had this talk. He, uh, told me Robbie wasn't done. He told me that he would come back for me. Kolby James said that I wouldn't be safe. I tried to tell him it was ok, that…that it would be ok. He was adamant. He was sure that Robbie would come for me. Something about him seeing me and the other children as property. He said he read it in a book about abusive men. I don't know. Then I went to use the bathroom and when I came out he wasn't here anymore. You have to find him, Detective, you have too."
"We'll find him, and you can call me Mac."
"I don't know where he would go. I'm sure he's looking for Robbie. God anything could happen to him. He's so young, he…"
"From what I've seen, ma'am, he's tough. I think he'll be ok until we can find him."
"Please call me Mady. And he will be unless he finds Robbie first."
Mac only nodded. That was a possibility but he didn't want to upset her even more. He looked around the room and sighed. This was no place for the two of them to stay. He looked at her.
"Do you have somewhere else to stay?"
"No. I'm here because it was what I could afford. I have to pay cash or he can…he finds us."
"I'll find you someplace to stay but for tonight you can come down to the station. You'll be safe there and when we find Kolby James we can bring him there too."
"Thank you. Please hurry. I can't lose my boy. Not after losing…"
"We'll find him and your other children, Mady," Mac said laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She only nodded. He motioned for one of the uniforms to come over and he got up from the bed. He told the uniform to take her back to the lab and put her in a room. He instructed him to make her comfortable. He then looked around the room for any clue as to where the boy might have gone. He had the other uniform but a lookout for the boy. It was going to be a long night.
Kolby James was quick. Even with the head injury and the intermittent bursts of nausea and dizziness he was making good time. He knew his mother had discovered him gone and he worried about her. He wished it could be done another way, he hated putting her through more than needed, but this was his job to handle. He had lost them therefore it was his job to find them. He made his way up the unfamiliar streets. He needed to find Gerald Cooper but he didn't know where to start looking. He guessed he needed a computer or a phone book. The library he thought. He would sit outside and wait for it to open. They were bound to have computers. He could look him up on the computer.
Kolby James felt the cold nip at him and he pulled his damaged left arm into his sleeve more for better support. It was in more pain now that the medication they gave him was wearing off. He concentrated on ignoring it. His long sleeve t-shirt was almost too warm for the night air. He removed it carefully and then made a makeshift sling from it for his arm. The arm felt better after it was supported. He sat down on the steps outside the library and waited. It would be morning soon he thought.
He felt the presence before he saw the man. He was on his feet instantly. He moved swiftly into the shadow but he knew he had already been spotted. He just hoped it was a homeless bum that was passing by. He waited and the feeling deepened. He was being watched. He took a breath as a wave of dizziness hit him. He steadied himself against the wall of the building until it passed.
As he came out of it his senses returned but it was too late. He felt the knife make gentle contact with his ribs from behind. He felt the hot breathe of someone standing very close behind him. He stilled his body. His muscles coiled inside him as he prepared to strike. He took stock and remembered his left arm was useless, unless you counted the hardness of the cast. He knew it would hurt but it could also become a weapon it he needed it.
"Wallet and cash, boy," the man behind him hissed in his ear. Kolby James did not move, nor did he answer the man. "What you deaf? You din't hear me?"
Kolby James felt the knife pressure increase on his ribs and the t-shirt he was wearing tore. He still made no move nor did he speak to the man with the knife.
"Don' try to be a hero idiot. Cough up yer money," he said in a harsh whisper against Kolby James' check. The boy was a still as a statue. The knife pressure increased again and Kolby James felt the hot stickiness of blood on his side. He sensed the man with the knife was thrown off by his reaction and he took that moment as an advantage.
Kolby James thrust his weight backwards into the man with the knife causing the knife to cut deeper into his ribs but also throwing the man holding it off balance. He then planted his left foot firmly and spun around out of the man's grasp. As he spun he lifted the cast and swung it with his body weight into the man's head. Pain exploded inside his arm and Kolby James felt the nausea and dizziness return. The man fell to the ground with a grunt; his head split open from the impact of Kolby James' arm.
He reached down and pulled the knife from his ribs and quickly glanced at the wound. There a good sized circle of blood on his shirt and his rib ached as if the knife had gone deep. He held the knife in his right hand and gripped the handle tightly. The rage of the day and the moment was evident in him and he stared with cold eyes at the man holding his head at his feet. Kolby James coolly squatted down next to the man that had attacked him and cocked his head to one side. He could feel the blood continue to leak from his wound on his side and his arm felt like it was in two pieces.
The man on the ground looked up into the cold eyes staring back at him and felt his blood run cold. He was sure the kid was going to kill him on the spot. He was shaking from the fear and nearly wet himself.
"Please, Kid, please. Don' kill me, please," he pleaded quietly. The boy only watched him with those cold dead eyes and the man struggled to his feet. As he rose the boy rose with him, still staring at him. He felt marked. He felt like he was already dead. He wondered why the boy was only staring at him.
The man slowly took a step back and the kid let him. He swallowed hard and turned. The man sprinted away from the boy, his head laid open, blood was clouding his eye. He was frightened and he had lost his knife. But he had his life. It would be a while before he mugged someone else. He would have to beat the fear and nightmares first.
Kolby James felt sick. The pain in his arm was over powering. He couldn't move it at all. He could barely use his right arm to put it back into the make shift sling he had made. His head was swimming from the pain and probably the hits he had taken earlier that day. His side was burning where the knife had penetrated and he could tell he was still bleeding. He looked around.
He had dropped the knife when he had manipulated his left arm back into his shirt sling and he looked at it now. Most of the blade was covered in his blood. It was a deep wound, he would need medical attention. He tried to clear his head. He gained some bearing as to where he was and started to walk out towards the main street. He stumbled twice and caught his balance. He was walking on the edge of the sidewalk trying to remember where the closest hospital was when he felt weak.
He knew he would lose consciousness soon and he prayed someone found him before he bleed to death. He staggered between two cars and then stumbled into the street. His senses were so dulled with the pain he was in he hadn't noticed the car coming at him. The blaring horn snapped him out of the haze but it threw him off balance. He fell into the street as the car came to a sliding halt inches from him.
Kolby James looked up to see a face coming towards him as everything else around him faded. He tried to tell the face what happened but he couldn't make his voice work. The world was fading for the second time that day. He was struggling to maintain his control but the pain was overpowering and finally he gave into the darkness.
The cop stood over the boy with his heart pounding. He had had his partner radio for an ambulance already and he was assessing the wounds. He shook his head at the sight. The boy had obviously been in an earlier altercation with the cast and stitches to his head, but the blood on the boy's rib cage was fresh. His partner came out of the car and stood next to him.
"Bus is on the way," he said.
"This kid is seriously fucked up. Look at those injuries, and new too."
"You know this kid matches that lookout we got earlier tonight. Should radio it in. Might be the one they were looking for."
"Yeah, I'll watch him till the bus shows."
The officer nodded and walked back to the car. He radioed in that they found a kid matching the description given on the missing boy from the Blue Light Motel and that he was being taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
Mac's cell phone rang as he was bringing coffee to Mady. He juggled the two cups he was carrying and grabbed his cell phone. He flipped it open and almost spilled one of the cups of coffee.
"Taylor," he said.
"Detective Taylor, a uniform officer just found a boy matching the description of the one you put out. They are taking him to Queen of Mercy hospital."
"Is it serious?" Mac said coming into the room where Mady was sitting. He set the coffee cups down on the table in front of her. She picked one up attentively watching him on the phone. "I'll bring the mother for an ID."
TBC…