The Light at the End of the Tunnel (26 page)

She released a breath as she turned the key
and brought the little vehicle to life. Cassandra could end up in
the same town as Les Paul. She turned down the street, and soon
onto the highway and drove close to in a daze for several miles. Up
ahead was a small cluster of trees near a highway approach. She
turned onto it, rolled into the trees and shut off the engine, then
just sat, thinking,
trying
to think,
I think we’re
getting close to something…but what?

She reached under the passenger seat and
pulled out the gun locker. She couldn’t imagine shooting someone,
but then just a half hour earlier she also couldn’t have imagined
having to defend herself, much less easily win, which she had. She
lifted the locker into the passenger seat, reached into her purse
to the key pouch she had sewn into the lining and removed the key,
then for a full minute looked at the key.

If her little gun was in her purse how would
she feel? Safer? But she didn’t feel unsafe, and if the gun was in
her purse she might sometime feel more inclined to use it. She
unlocked the box and removed her gun…
my little Walther
. She
ejected the magazine, then ejected the shell already in the firing
chamber and put it back into the magazine. She then checked the
tension of the load. It was ready. She pushed the magazine back
into the handle, pulled the slide back and held onto the hammer
while she pulled the trigger.

It will kill now
. All she had to do
was pull the hammer back and squeeze the trigger.

She put the gun back into its metal box,
locked it and slid it back under the passenger seat, then opened
her purse again, returned the key, removed her cell phone, and
speed-dialed her man.

He answered on the second ring, “Hello, my
darling, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Rad.” Then she spent two minutes
bringing him up to date.

“I’m really proud of you, Nicole, and I knew
you would have no trouble. I watched you train, you know, and
Sheldon told me more than once,
‘She’ll be fine.’
”

“That’s good to hear, Rad. So, you’re not mad
that
you
didn’t get to beat Franny up yourself?”

“I did a couple times imagine myself doing
something like that, but, truthfully, my dear, I don’t think I’ve
ever been that upset with somebody.

Nicole laughed, “Not even toward Les
Paul?”

Then the chaplain laughed, “Funny you should
say that, Nicole. I’ve never felt violent toward Les Paul, not even
the idea of him.”

“Really…!”

“Really. You see, unlike you—before we saw
him in that jail—I had never had
any
contact with him,
except as a chaplain the night of his execution. I don’t even know
what he did in his prior life to deserve execution. I had never
desired even to know, although I did have access to records.
Strange, huh?”

“Very. And do you think he didn’t deserve
execution?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. I’m sure he deserved
it all right. But like I said, I have no idea what he did, I didn’t
even try to find out, not for any of the men we executed. It didn’t
matter what they had done, you see, because smarter people than me
had made their decision. The thing is, Les Paul deserved what he
got, but now….”

“Yes. Now he’s back out free in the world,
and he’s in the same town that I think Cassandra is probably on her
way to. I’m worried about her, Rad.”

“So am I. When you get to Brentwood talk to
Sikorsky. Ask him to put out an Amber Alert.”

They both became silent for a moment. Nicole
spoke first, “I will, Rad.” She hesitated, “I just wanted to hear
your voice, my man. You know, we haven’t spent any time away from
each other in over nine years.”

“I’ve been thinking about that too, Nicole,
and I miss you, and…and, I love you.”

“I love you too, Rad. Hurry back.”

“I will.”

Chapter 42
Back Room
Prostitution

Far ahead Cassandra could see city lights.
She had no idea what town. She didn’t even really have a good
concept of town just that people went to town to buy stuff. She had
never gotten to go, not to buy stuff anyway. She had ridden through
many times, just seeing buildings go by and people walking, and
kids running and shouting. She didn’t even know what a town should
look like, just those glimpses. But now she was seeing lights, lots
of them—they had even lit up the sky for miles back—so it must be a
big town.

She didn’t know what was ahead for her and
sometimes got to the point of not caring. She had been kicked
around so much, and had found no adults—
Nicole
—she figured
she could truly trust. Strange she would again think of Nicole,
that nice lady with the pretty eyes…but she often wondered if that
was all life was. Just moving around and trying to stay out of
trouble.

The woman driver glanced back. An approaching
car’s lights hit her face. There were no feelings on that face,
just a mask, an adult mask.

“Ya stayin’ awake, honey?” the woman
asked.

“Yes…I’m all right.”

“I didn’t ask if you was all right, honey,
but I guess it’s okay that you told me.”

Cassandra glanced at Mandy. Mandy’s face also
was momentarily brightened by an approaching car’s lights. Her eyes
were big, and shining. There was no smile on Mandy’s face, nothing.
She wished she and Mandy could run away together, and she wondered
if Mandy ever smiled.

“Mandy,” the woman said, “When we get there
you hang onto her tight till we’re in the room.” Mandy didn’t
answer right away. “Mandy! Did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did, and I will.”

The woman in the passenger seat turned and
looked back too, first at Cassandra, then at Mandy. Cassandra
didn’t know what to think of her. She was Mandy’s mother but she
didn’t appear to have any say over anything.

“Where are we going?” She asked Mandy.

“I’ll let you know where we’re going when you
need to know,” the woman in the driver seat said, “Until then you
just sit there and be quiet.”

They entered the city and drove for a while
down a brightly-lit main street. Cassandra felt half safe where the
lights were. Then they turned onto a street that wasn’t bright at
all. They began passing a long low one-story building, and a sign
that said Brentwood Juvenile Detention Center. She wondered what
Juvenile Detention meant. They went three more blocks, then turned
onto a street that appeared to have only one faraway, dim,
light.

The woman driver began slowing the minivan
down, then she turned into an alley, then looked back. Cassandra
barely made out the ugliness on her face, “You won’t have to work
tonight, little honey, but you watch good, cause you will have to
work soon!” Then she turned to Mandy’s mom, “Can’t believe our luck
to run into a nine-year-old girl—that’s about what you are, right,
Honey?”

“Yes, I’m nine.”

A flash of light showed the woman smiling, at
least a change in her expression, “There’s men that’ll pay…” The
woman stopped and turned around, evidently wasn’t going to
finish.

Pay
what
? She wondered, and
for
what? She also wondered what was special about being a
nine-year-old. Her life sure didn’t
feel
very special.

They finally pulled into an empty lot behind
a small darkened house, and stopped. The woman shifted into park,
turned off the engine, then looked back, her eyes…maybe kind of
wild-looking, like she was expecting something, “Mandy, you hang
onto her. Your mother will unlock the door, and I will bring in our
luggage.”

“All right,” Mandy said, then slid the door
open, stepped to the ground, turned back and held out her hand,
“Take my hand, Cassandra, and hang onto it, okay?”

“Yes.” She was fine with hanging onto Mandy’s
hand, as she still trusted Mandy over either of the adults, but she
suspected Mandy would turn on her too should she try to run away,
or anything. She stepped out to the ground and felt her shoes sink
into sand. The lot wasn’t even paved. “Are we going to eat?” she
asked.

“We might,” Mandy said, “Later.”

The woman driver must have good hearing,
becuse she said from the rear of the minivan, “We won’t be eatin’
till morning, and don’t worry. You’ll get used to it.”

She wasn’t so sure about that, “I haven’t ate
since yesterday. I’m hungry.”

The woman approached carrying a large purse
and a small suitcase. Not a lot of stuff for the three of them,
“Hey, little one, if you’re hungry, too bad. I didn’t ask you to
run away from your home—“
Home? That place wasn’t my home
.
“—So just suck it up! You’ll live till morning!”

****

Cassandra hung tight onto Mandy’s hand as
they walked down a narrow and dark hallway. She heard Mandy’s
mother turn what sounded like a key in a lock. A door came open,
and then a light came on from the room. They entered the room.
There were two beds, two small chairs, and that was all. The place
was not even as nice as her last foster home, and somehow that
didn’t surprise her. She wondered where they were.

The woman driver entered the room and put the
suitcase in the corner, but hung onto that big purse. She wondered
what could possibly be in it. It didn’t even look very heavy.

“Shut the door,” the woman said to Mandy’s
mother, then she looked at Cassandra, who instinctively tried to
shrink behind Mandy. The woman laughed, “Come here, honey, I want
to talk to you.” She gestured with her finger, “Come on,” and
suddenly seemed half nice.

She approached. The woman held out her arms,
grasped her and pulled her into a hug, “I’m going to be your mommy
for a while—“ She smelled like…She didn’t know…sweat and something
else. She didn’t like it, and barely returned the hug. She just did
not
like
this woman, and for sure didn’t trust her, “Well,
like it or not, honey, I’m now your mommy, or your boss, however
you want to see me.” Then the woman released her, just kind of
brushed her away.

Cassandra didn’t run—although she wanted
to—when she returned to Mandy, and stood beside her and a little
behind.

A knock.

“That’ll be the boys,” the woman driver said,
“Open the door.”

Mandy’s mother obeyed. Two young boys came
in. A taller one, probably thirteen or fourteen, the other younger,
and…looked familiar. Cassandra couldn’t help herself. She stared at
the younger boy. Something about the eyes…cold, and empty, as if
nobody was inside. She knew she knew him, but from where?

The older boy approached the woman driver and
handed over something…money!—what…?

“Mandy, get undressed.”

What?Why?

“Lola,” the woman driver said to Mandy’s
mother, and pointed to the other bed, “You too, you know what to
do. Honey, you go over in the corner by the suitcase, and you watch
closely to see everything that happens!”

Cassandra hurried to the corner, and squeezed
herself in as tightly as she could and held tightly to Rachel
Ray—
What’s going to happen?
—And suddenly she just knew as
the memories came flashing back, and that was where she had seen
the smaller boy. She remembered those eyes; she would never forget
them!

****

Nicole didn’t reach Brentwood until late,
and, of course, she came across no young girl hitchhiking.

“I guess I knew I wouldn’t find her,” she
said to herself, “But I had hoped….”

****

Cassandra remained in her corner, wedged so
tightly she feared she might not get out again, and still, she had
not gotten far enough away from what had happened. She couldn’t
believe
what had happened. The larger boy had done to Mandy
what had happened to her two years ago, and the smaller boy had
done the same to Mandy’s mother.

Yet it didn’t
seem
the same. Mandy and
her mother didn’t seem to like what happened to them, but they
didn’t fight, or scream. They just laid there, with their eyes
open, just staring at the ceiling till it was over. Then the boys
had withdrawn, pulled their pants up and left, quickly, and both
Mandy and her mother had gotten dressed again, so quickly, and then
laid down and covered themselves. Would they sleep in their
clothes? As if…what? Their clothes and the blanket would stop what
happened from happening again?

She was certain neither had liked what
happened to them. And the woman driver, she had just stood and
watched, not smiling, not…anything.

The woman driver had turned to her, “Did you
watch closely, honey, like I told you to.”

She didn’t want to even answer, but did,
“Yes….”

Good, because tomorrow night we’ll get a boy
for you too, if not before.” The woman’s face went cold as she
turned away and said not very loudly, but Cassandra heard clearly:
“I’ll put the word out on the street that there’s a nine-year-old
girl available. That’ll bring’em out’a the woodwork.”

Cassandra began making plans. If she could
get the woman to trust her, and not always hang onto her, or have
Mandy hang onto her, or as soon as that door was left open, she
would run, fast and far, and maybe find Nicole. How she wished she
could find Nicole—
Nicole
—the only grown up woman who had
ever been nice to her. Nicole did have a man with her, but he
seemed nice too. In fact, if he wasn’t nice, Nicole wouldn’t be
with him. So, he was. He was
nice
! She was
sure
.

Chapter 43
He Remembers Her

On the way back to juvie Les Paul was having
his thoughts. He remembered the young girl. Those blue eyes and
that light brown hair, and the way she held her mouth. Oh yes, he
remembered her. He also remembered she didn’t smile much, and how
she tried to protect those other girls. Even though he didn’t look
directly at her or make close eye contact, he remembered her, how
she screamed
‘He reaped me!’
He was also pretty sure that
she
remembered
him
.