Twenty-Seven
Jade jerked awake, opened her eyes, and then sighed with disappointment. Every time she’d woken up over the past few hours, she’d immediately prayed she’d be back in her bedroom and none of this would be real. And the only thing on her agenda for the day would be hanging out with Tyler. But each time reality hit, she felt devastated. She rubbed her face in her hands to try to wipe off the fog and then gradually moved up toward the front of the van. She could see it was raining outside. Her mom sat in the front passenger seat staring intently out the wet windows.
“Where are we?” Jade asked.
“El Paso. Your dad ran inside the mall to get new phones.”
“Oh.” Jade grimaced. Her back was really hurting. She felt it the most while lying stationary for an extended time. It had been frustrating waking up with aches up and down her back every morning before school. It would sometimes take a couple of hours to work it out to where she could focus in the classroom.
Her mom turned fully to face her. “You okay?”
“No. What’s going to happen with my surgery now?”
Her mom sighed. “I don’t know, honey. But we’ll figure it out. I promise.”
“Are we really going into Mexico?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
She huffed. “Nobody seems to know much of anything. And that just sucks.”
“Yes, it does.”
Jade was surprised how her mother’s response lacked much positivity. Her mom had been mostly reassuring for a majority of the trip, but she seemed to be losing her optimism. Or maybe she was just tired. Since they were alone, Jade decided to press her for more information.
“What did Dad do, Mom? You can tell me.”
Her mom looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“All of this? Everything that’s happened. It’s because of Dad, right?”
She shook her head. “No. Your dad is a wonderful man.”
“So then, what, it’s you? You caused this? The FBI is after you?”
“It’s neither of us, Jade.”
“Then why all the secrecy? Why won’t you just tell me why this is happening?”
“Your dad and I were just talking about that. We plan to tell you everything as soon as we get into Mexico. I promise.”
“But we have time right now. We’re just sitting here doing nothing.”
“I know. But your dad needs to be part of this conversation.”
Jade huffed again, stared through the windshield at the Red Lobster in front of them. “Can I run inside the restaurant real quick and go to the restroom?”
Her mom glared at her. “Are you going to try to call Tyler again?”
“How? I don’t have access to a phone.”
“That didn’t stop you before.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “I’m just going to the restroom, that’s all. I swear. You can come with me, if you want.”
“No, I need to stay here and keep watch. Just hurry.”
Jade pulled open the sliding door of the van, got out, and shut it behind her. She briskly walked toward the restaurant, weaving in and out of about a dozen other vehicles, the sprinkling getting her wet. She stepped inside and asked a hostess about the restrooms. After getting directions, she crossed through the restaurant toward the back corner. About half the tables were already filled with early birds grabbing lunch. Most were gray-headed. A couple of other people sat on stools in the bar area. The food smelled good, even though she didn’t care much for seafood. She’d eaten nothing but snacks since dinner last night and craved real food. After finding the restroom, she grabbed a stall, quickly took care of her business, washed her hands, and returned to the restaurant.
Jade froze next to the bar area in the middle that had several mounted TVs. A photo of her family was currently situated on the center screen. The sight of it shook her. She recognized the photo. It was one they’d had framed on their fireplace mantel—the three of them in Aspen last summer, standing on the sidewalk outside Hotel Jerome. She was still wearing her ugly braces. She moved closer to get a better look. The TV was tuned to a national news station. She spotted the logo in the corner. It looked like a press conference had just started. An older, heavyset, gray-bearded man wearing a cowboy hat and a black jacket stood behind a podium. A digital tag at the bottom of the screen read: Lee Jackson, chief of police, Fraser Winter Park Police Department. Closed captions scrolled across the bottom, tracking what the police chief was currently saying.
While fleeing last night, one of our fugitives, Cole Shipley, shot and killed one of our officers in an alley two blocks over my shoulder here. We are devastated. Deputy Tommy Johnson has been with our force for the past four years.
Jade’s jaw dropped. Had she just read that right? Did it say her dad had shot and killed a police officer last night? She watched as a photo of Deputy Johnson in uniform appeared on the screen. The closed captioning said he had a wife and two young children. A bartender came over to ask Jade if she needed anything, but she was in too much shock to even acknowledge him, her eyes glued to the screen. The TV went back to the police chief behind the podium, who continued to speak.
Cole and Lisa Shipley have lived in our community for the past ten years. They have a fourteen-year-old daughter named Jade. We didn’t know they were wanted fugitives on the run from the Feds for the past thirteen years until around nine o’clock last night when officially informed by the FBI.
Another photo appeared on the screen, this one of her parents when they were much younger. Her dad was heavier, with short hair and no beard. Her mom’s hair was longer and blond. She’d never seen the photo before. An older newsreel began rolling. It was from a TV news station in Austin, Texas. A woman with a microphone stood outside a nice home with a lot of police activity going on behind her. A tag at the bottom said Austin couple Greg and Amy Olsen suspected in murder of 21-year-old mother and kidnapping of her infant daughter.
She gasped. Reading those words sent a shiver straight through her. Were her parents Greg and Amy Olsen? She’d never heard those names before. Was this real? Could her parents be murderers? Could she possibly be the baby they’d taken thirteen years ago in Texas? Was that why they refused to tell her the truth?
Jade felt her body trembling. She looked around, realized a couple of people sitting at the bar were staring over at her. This freaked her out even more. She spun, raced for the front door of the restaurant. When she hit the sidewalk, she froze again. She could see their van three rows back, sitting behind several other vehicles. Her mom was currently blocked from view by a big truck. Jade couldn’t fathom climbing back inside right now. What was she going to say to her mom? Was she supposed to sit in the back of the van and simply cross over the border with two people who suddenly felt like dangerous strangers? She couldn’t process any of this. It felt like a nightmarish out-of-body experience. She glanced over to her left at the shopping mall. She needed space to think about what she’d just discovered. She needed to be able to catch her breath and figure out what to do next. Her parents were going to be pissed, but she didn’t even care right now.
Screw them. Screw the FBI. Screw everyone.