“Not for everything.” Molly felt the fight finding its way back to her. The energy felt wonderful, like she was less of a victim. “We share custody of Joey until that last visit. Isn’t that what she said?”
“True.” Jack thought for a moment. “In that case, it just might work.” He tapped his knee a few times, something he only did when he was excited or nervous. “I went online and looked at work trips to Haiti. You know, the sort of trip Beth and Bill are taking with their church.”
Molly felt a chill pass over her arms. Were they really doing this? Really having this conversation about how they could find their way out of the country? The temperature was over eighty degrees that afternoon, but she was suddenly cold. “Okay.”
“Anyway, I was looking for a humanitarian group, the Red Cross or one of the international groups for humanity. Because it might look funny for two people who’ve stayed away from church to have a sudden interest in missions.”
“True.”
“Except here’s the problem.” He turned his hands over, baffled. “I couldn’t find any in our area taking a trip in the next few months.” He chuckled. “The only groups I could find were a handful of churches.”
“Hmmm.” Molly wasn’t sure why, but she felt vindicated. At least on Beth’s behalf. “Maybe we’ve been wrong about church.” She thought about Joey’s recent conversations with God. “About God, too.”
“Maybe.” Jack waved his hand, clearly anxious to move on. “We can talk about that later. The point is, most of the work trips won’t let volunteers bring children younger than twelve.”
Molly was confused. “So how is this going to help us?”
“One church in our area is doing a trip over Labor Day—it’s an outreach to an orphanage.” His eyes danced, and he lowered his voice. “People are encouraged to bring their whole families. That way the American children can play with the Haitian children while work is being done on the building.”
Again Molly’s heart beat harder than before. Jack had never looked more serious. “What church?”
He looked intently at her. “Bill and Beth’s.”
She froze for a moment. “You’re kidding.”
“No.” He shook his head. “So first thing when we get home, you need to call Beth and tell her we’d like to come to church with them next Sunday.” He covered her hand with his. “I know the two of you are close, but you have to do your part here, Molly. You can’t give her a reason to suspect anything.”
“Oh, sure.” A sarcastic laugh came from her. “Just call her up and tell her we’ve changed our minds? After a decade of thinking they’re weird for going to church and believing in the Bible, all of a sudden we’re supposed to want to go to Sunday service?”
Twenty yards away, Joey waved at them. “Hey! Guess what?”
“What, sport?” Jack instantly turned his attention to their son.
“I’m gonna land this plane and go on that rocket ship.” He pointed to the jungle gym, the one with two slides built into it.
“Sounds good!” Jack kept his tone cheerful. If anyone was watching them—even someone who knew them well—no one would have guessed they were making plans to leave the country, to run from the authorities and start life over again.
Joey slowed down, jumped from the swing, and ran to the jungle gym. He would be busy for another fifteen minutes at least.
“Yes, Molly.” Jack turned back to her. His voice was quietly urgent. “That’s exactly what you do. We’re in the middle of the biggest crisis of our lives. People go to church when they’re in crisis, right? Isn’t that what they do?”
Molly thought about that. He was right. After September 11, record numbers of people filled churches for months. Tragedy, she remembered hearing a newscaster say, is the open door to finding faith. From the first day she’d learned about the fraudulent adoption papers, she’d discussed the matter with Beth. Her sister was praying for her and with her. Maybe she wouldn’t think it was so strange that now they wanted to go to church.
“Okay, so I call Beth.” She was still confused. “Then we become members and get involved in a work trip all in the same afternoon? We don’t have a lot of time.”
“I know.” Jack didn’t look worried. Whatever he had in mind, he’d thought through the details. “You said Beth’s family is going, right?”
“Right. Last I heard.”
“Okay . . . so let’s just ask about it. It would be the last time our families could all be together before we had to give up Joey—barring some change by the judge.” He sat back a little. “I don’t think that’s so strange. We could even say that we’re thinking about adopting again—this time internationally. We’ll say we want Joey to be part of the process.”
“And the judge is going to let us go? Let us leave the country?”
“Work trips to Haiti happen all the time.” He pinched his lips together, determined. “We’ve always been involved in civic groups, Molly. Of course we might want a trip to Haiti to be one of our final memories with Joey.”
Molly had her doubts, but she didn’t say anything.
“Besides, we won’t be telling Allyson Bower.” Jack leaned over and dug his elbows into his knees. “The social worker said nothing about leaving the country, no rules or mandates from the judge.” He looked at the ground for a minute. “They aren’t checking up on us, right? We haven’t heard from Mrs. Bower since Joey’s visit.” He straightened again. “I say we just go. She and the judge won’t figure out what happened until we’re long gone.”
She heard the bitterness in his voice, but his idea made sense. She and Jack were adventurous, and they loved taking on civic projects. They had helped raise funds for the YMCA building in West Palm Beach, and they’d taken part in several 5- and 10-K runs to raise money for a local homeless shelter. Taking a trip to Haiti to help repair an orphanage was something they would have done.
Beth and Bill wouldn’t think that was strange, certainly.
It would be only natural that they’d want to get in on the work trip. The adventure would give them something to look forward to while they hammered away every day at the task of finding an attorney to fight for Joey’s custody.
“Okay . . .” Molly was still shivering, but she was catching on, understanding what Jack was thinking. “Then what?”
“By the time we’d leave for the trip, we’d have to have all the details in place. Our ultimate destination—at least for the first couple years—would be the Cayman Islands.”
“Cayman?” Molly had to hold onto the edge of the bench. Again she felt like she was in some strange dream or acting out someone else’s life. She’d been to Grand Cayman once with Jack. The place was beautiful, surrounded by gorgeous beaches and endless blue-green water. But could she spend two years there? She steadied herself. “Where would we live?”
“I’ll take care of that.” He was still composed, still anxious to tell her the rest of what he’d been thinking. “We’ll need fake passports, but I made a few phone calls. There’s a guy in Miami who’ll work with me. He thinks we’re missionaries.”
“Why would missionaries need fake passports?” Molly’s head was spinning faster than ever. It was all she could do to keep up with the conversation.
Jack made an effort to slow down. “Some missionaries visit countries that are hostile to the Christian teaching. If missionaries become targeted, they might need to flee the country under a different identity.” He shrugged one shoulder. “The guy I talked to says he believes in freedom of speech. If we need fake passports to further freedom of speech, he’ll do them half-price.”
Molly pressed her hands to the sides of her face. “I can’t believe this . . .”
“Hey, look at me!” Joey was standing straight up at the top of the highest slide. “I’m a fireman!” He slammed an invisible helmet onto his head and plopped down hard, sending himself flying down the slide. At the bottom he looked in a dozen different directions, spraying invisible water at what must’ve been ferocious invisible flames.
“You’re a hero, Joey!” Jack paused for a few seconds. “Mommy and I are still talking, okay?”
“Okay!” He raced up the ladder on the opposite side of the structure. “Now I’m going to the moon!”
Another couple strolled by on the sidewalk that wound through the park. Jack waited until they had passed before starting in again. “So we have our fake passports, and the day before the trip, we transfer funds to an account in Cayman. It’s the world’s second largest offshore financial center. Then”—his voice grew more tense—“on, say, the third day of the trip, we’ll take an excursion into town and we’ll disappear. By the time they realize we’re missing, we’ll be on a plane with our new identities, headed for Europe. We’ll stay there for a few weeks—just to make sure no one’s onto us—then we’ll fly to Cayman.” He lifted his hands. “What do you think?”
What did she think? She had a thousand questions, all of them firing at her from different areas of her heart and brain. She opened her mouth and asked the first one that came. “Why
wouldn’t
they be onto us?”
“We’ll be using new identities. The authorities in Haiti won’t have any trouble letting us through, and then we’ll become part of the throng of millions of people in Europe. It’s not like our faces will be plastered up in every police station in England. The authorities won’t have a clue where to look for us.” Jack’s expression told her this was obvious. “See, we leave for a day trip, and we’re never heard from again.” He hesitated. “After awhile, they might even assume we were victims of foul play.”
“We disappear a week before losing custody of Joey? The story’ll make national news!”
“Yes. In time.” His words were coming faster, as if he’d thought through even this detail. “By then we’ll be in Europe with new identities. Tourists, mixing with other tourists. When the commotion in the press dies down, we’ll fly to Grand Cayman.”
The plan sounded plausible, but still she had more questions than answers. “Why would we take our four-year-old son into the streets of Haiti? Isn’t it dangerous?”
“Yes, I’ve thought about that, too. These work trips include day excursions, trips to small villages to pass out food—that sort of thing.” Jack wouldn’t be swayed. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a reason to get us out on the streets. Then we’ll find a ride to the airport. Once we get to Haiti, that’ll be the least of our worries.”
“All right.” She would have to trust him. What else could she do? Another question hit her. Maybe she was wrong about her sister—maybe Beth would be suspicious after all. “What if Beth thinks it’s strange, taking a trip out of the country right before Joey goes?”
He raised his brow. “You’ll be in charge of that, of making her see things our way.” He put his hand on her knee. “You can handle that, right?”
A man and his little boy came up along the sidewalk from the other direction, carrying a baseball and two gloves between them. Jack waited for them to pass. He dropped his voice another notch. “Of course it’ll be suspicious, but Beth will believe what you tell her. Don’t you think so?”
“Maybe.” Fear built in her again, and the fight took a backseat. “But maybe not. Maybe we’ll do something that causes Allyson Bower to suspect what we’re up to. Then we could get caught.” She nodded in Joey’s direction. “Our little boy could be turned over to the Porters and we could go straight to prison. Have you thought about that?”
“Of course.” Jack’s tone was just short of angry. “Listen, Molly. We won’t be traveling under our own names. We’ll have new identities, new passports. We’ll leave Haiti under those names, arrive in Europe, and buy a few Eurail passes. We’ll travel the region like a family on vacation, and at every hotel we’ll check the news and the Internet. When the search dies down, we’ll get over to the Cayman Islands.”
“What about our money?” She was shaking now, trembling from her fingertips to her toes. “Couldn’t they trace the money? You said we transfer it to Cayman, so once they find out, they’ll put a lock on our funds and that’ll be that.” She hated that she was making this difficult for Jack, but if she didn’t talk about her doubts now, she’d never feel right going through with the plan. “If they find the money, it’ll just be a matter of time before they find us.”
“I’ve got that figured out, too.” He leaned forward again. His eyes were sharp and intelligent. “We’ll move the money through a series of transfers. It’s complicated, but when it’s all said and done, the money will be in an account in Cayman under our new identities.” He gave her a single nod. “Leave that part to me, Molly.”
She felt weak, nauseous. Were they really going through with this? It was much more than she could handle or imagine. She looped her arm through his and leaned into his shoulder. “How much money?”
“That’ll take some work.” He kissed the side of her face. “But I’ve thought about that, too. We’ll pull the equity from our rentals and from our own house. It should be more than a million.”
“A million dollars?” The amount raised another list of questions, but she didn’t have the strength to ask them.
“Yes.” He put his arms around her and stroked her gently. “We’ll be fine, Molly. We will. Once we’re in Cayman for a few years, when the search for us has grown completely cold, we can travel under our new names. We could go anywhere, really. Just not back to the United States.”
“And not back to Jack and Molly Campbell.”
He gave a slow nod. “Right.”
Molly closed her eyes and took a long breath through her nose. “Jack . . .” She clung to him. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Me, neither.” Jack held her tight, and for a long time they said nothing.
What was left to say? The judge had made his decision, and now they had made theirs. They would set the plan into motion, and they would have to hold discussions like this one often, making sure the details were coming together. They would say good-bye to everything they knew and loved about their lives as Jack and Molly Campbell, and they would start over again. If the courts wouldn’t look out for the best interests of their child, then they’d have to take the matter into their own hands.
Whatever they had to pay in the process, the cost would be worth it.
All for the love of Joey.
M
olly made the phone call that afternoon, when Beth and Bill would be home from church. She had practiced her part in her mind enough times that when Beth answered the phone, Molly kept her voice casual, normal.