"It's okay," said a soft-spoken man to the little boy. He was short man, balding with tired eyes. Yet, he seemed harmless, almost timid. There were two others with him. An woman, who appeared to be his age and a younger man, the man Henry had seen put the little boy into the van.
"We are going to fix you," he said trying to smile at the frightened little boy.
"No, No, No. Mommy, here, mommy here." the little boy said repeatedly. Autistic children tend to be mockers, repeaters. They repeat what they hear many times focusing on the same words or phrases, things familiar to them. This was often how they communicated, their only way to communicate. He was strapped the the table so that he could not move. He had electrodes attached to his head, which were in turn attached to a machine the was performing an E.E.G., a test that measures braing wave functions among other things. There was various and asundry medical equpiment everywhere.
"I just want to help you," the man was so soft-spoken you almost couldn't hear him. He stroked the boy's hair while the other man and woman were peparing iv's and tools.
Vicki and Henry arrived first.
"Wait," Vicki grabbed Henry's wrist as he went to exit the vehicle.
"We need to get in there Vicki. We can't wait, at least we could stall until Mike arrives, then slip out back." Henry was desparate.
"I know, but I need to say something to you."
Although she knew the urgency of saving little Braidon, she had to say this Henry to help ease his soul. She took his face in both hands turning him to face her.
"YOU are not a monster." he started to speak and she stopped him, "No, listen. Whatever you think you might be or were, you are not. You are so far from that. You did what you needed to do at the time to survive, that's all. And there's no guarentee that you would have found him before it was too late. I never want to hear you call yourself a monster again. If you are a monster, then so am I and so are our children. Do you think we are monsters?"
"No." he said quietly, his voice betraying his emotions.
She leaned in and kissed him chastely.
"Thank you." he said.
"For what?" she asked quizzically.
"For loving me for the way I am." he answered.
"Are you kidding?! I think you might be the one that got shafted!" and with that they exited the vehicle.
Only she would know in her heart how she was the lucky one, to have someone like Henry. She accepted that he had done what he needed to do for survival while he accepted her stubborness and independence as wonderful personality traits rather than faults, as everyone else in her life had done. He took her emotional reluctance and opened her up enough to be happy for the first time in her life. Albeit, it might have taken a few years, but she was getting there. She would never admit out loud that she needed anyone, not even Henry, but he somehow knew she was sure of it.
"I sense four, a small fast heartbeat, three adults." That never ceased to amaze Vicki, Henry sorting out adults from children.
They peered into a window, seeing almost exactly what Ward had drawn. Vicki glanced over and sure enough, there was the salmon boat sitting on Lake Ontario.
The police would come with no sirens but Vicki didn't want to wait either. They were afraid of something bad happening.
"Executive decision?" Vicki asked Henry.
He nodded.
"Let's roll..." and in they went...