Back Before Dark (5 page)

A
n unscheduled assembly took the place of seventh period. Any kind of assembly was usually a reason for Cooper to celebrate. But not today.

Hiro sat beside him, and it didn’t take long for Lunk to find them. He lumbered up the bleachers and nodded but didn’t say anything. He sat on the other side of Cooper like a personal bodyguard.

Mr. Shull took his job as principal seriously. He covered the same ground Cooper had heard in every class he’d been in that day. Be careful about helping someone that you don’t know—even if they seem to be in need. Don’t go to the park after dark. Don’t ride your bike after dark. Stay away from strangers. Don’t go anywhere alone.

Like that had done Gordy a lot of good. He was lured out of a group of four. Cooper had nearly made it to the van before the scumbag pulled away. Whoever grabbed him didn’t seem to care if friends were nearby. But Cooper should have seen the danger sooner. Should have ridden with Gordy all the way.
Eh, amigo?

Lunk leaned toward Cooper. “He forgot one.”

“One what?”

“Safety tip,” Lunk whispered.

Hiro glanced his way. “So what is it? The safety tip.”

“Carry a weapon.”

Cooper looked at Lunk. He was serious. What? Had Rolling Meadows turned into a Wild West town all of a sudden?

Hiro leaned across Cooper. “Great idea, Lunk.” She made the shape of a handgun with her thumb and forefinger. “Maybe my brother will let me borrow his Glock. And I’ll grab my dad’s old Smith & Wesson for Coop.”

Hiro’s sarcasm didn’t seem to faze Lunk. “Would have saved Gordy.”

Cooper couldn’t even imagine the thought of carrying a handgun—much less using one.

The principal went through a whole PowerPoint presentation. Good information—every bit of it. Just too little, too late to help Gordy. Why did the school wait for a kidnapping before they took time to warn other students? Or was it just that students never paid attention until something bad happened? Likely it was the second option.

Would any of this have helped Gordy? Cooper wasn’t sure it would have made any difference. Gordy would never have approached a van like that. Nobody in his right mind would. But that lousy backpack trick proved to be a perfect decoy. A trap set for any decent kid who might care enough to help.

And now Gordy needed his help.
God, what am I supposed to do?

The principal introduced Officer Sykes, a policeman assigned to Plum Grove. Hiro had talked to him before and thought he was a good cop. And not the kind of guy to mess with. He’d been around since January. Patrolling the halls during classes. Standing at the doors when kids came into the school and when they left. Beefed up security. A sign of the times.

A picture of Gordy flashed on the screen. White, blonde hair blowing. Grinning just the way he always did. Like he did when he took the challenge to chase the van. Tears blurred Cooper’s vision. He tried blinking them back, but they kept coming.

Cooper’s body shook in sobs that he fought to keep silent. He felt kids turning and looking at him. But he didn’t care. Okay, he did care, but he
wished
he didn’t. He felt a strong arm around his shoulder. Lunk.

Officer Sykes took the mike. “You’ve all heard some really solid information about how to keep safe. Not much I can add to that. But there’s more for you to do than just keep safe. We need your help to find Gordon Digby.”

He had Cooper’s full attention now.

“And it doesn’t matter if you know Gordon well or not. He is one of our own. One of
you.
And if someone messes with one of us, they’ll have to deal with
all
of us.”

Cheers and applause erupted. Sykes held up one hand to quiet the students. Cooper hadn’t paid much attention to the policeman when he’d seen him in the halls. He seemed friendly enough, but to Cooper the whole idea of having a cop around full time seemed like overkill. Especially at Plum Grove Junior High. Obviously Cooper had been wrong. About a lot of things.

Somebody snatched a Plum Grove student—and Officer Sykes took it personally. He looked like he’d like to get his hands on the guy who did it. Cooper hoped he’d get to see that happen.

“We start with awareness.” Sykes held up a flyer with the grinning picture of Gordy on it. “I’m going to have flyers at each door on your way out. Take as many as you’re willing to distribute. Put one in the front window of your home. Ask local businesses if you can put one on their doors. I want at least one picture of Gordon Digby on every light pole in Rolling Meadows. I’m going to be out there after school today with a roll of tape and an armful of posters. Show of hands … who else can I count on?”

Hands shot up all over the bleachers. Cooper stood and held up his hand. He felt something stirring inside him. Not one person sat with their hands on their lap. Whether they felt pressure to raise their hands or it came from the heart, Cooper felt encouraged by the number of volunteers.

“Thank you.” Officer Sykes nodded. “Now this investigation is officially being handled by the police, and you’re not to get in their way.” He brought the mike closer to his mouth. “But you’re not going to sit around with your hands in your pockets either.”

A burst of applause. Cooper’s whistle pierced the air right along with the others.

Officer Sykes raised his hands to quiet the students. “Save your energy for posting flyers. We want people to see Gordon’s face. Read the description of the van. Especially that detail about the backpack on the roof. If anybody saw that van, we want to know about it. But we need to do this fast.”

Finally, something he could do to help. Seated, Cooper looked from Lunk to Hiro.

“We don’t need to meet at
The Getaway.
I think we have a plan. Want to do it together?”

“It’s safer going as a group anyway,” Hiro said.

Lunk seemed to be thinking about that. “I’ll be there.”

The clock dragged during the last period of the day. The teacher droned. And all Cooper could think about was his cousin.

Officer Sykes had flyers by the doors just like he said. Cooper picked up a huge stack and stuffed it in his backpack.

“Hang on there, pal,” Sykes stepped up. “You going to post
all
those?”

“We’re working together.” He motioned to Lunk and Hiro.

“Take as many as you want.” He looked skeptical. “As long as you’re really going to post them.”

Lunk jerked a thumb toward Cooper. “He’s Gordo’s cousin.”

Officer Sykes stared at him. “Are you the one who was with him when he was abducted?”

“All three of us were.”

Sykes let out a low whistle. “Hold on a second.” He hustled against the flow of students leaving the building and ducked into the office. Moments later he was back with a roll of duct tape.

“Here. Take this.” Sykes tossed the roll to Cooper, then clapped
him on the back. “You’ll need it.” He walked them through the doors. “Listen, we’ll find your cousin. And putting these flyers up is going to help.”

Cooper wanted him to be right. Wanted to believe this wasn’t just another adult telling him what he wanted to hear.

The bus driver stood on the walk, talking with other drivers. Hoskins. That was her last name. That was all he’d ever made out from the ID that hung from the lanyard around her neck. Cooper slid the pack off his shoulder and pulled out two flyers. “Lunk, give me a hand.”

After walking around the front of the bus, Cooper pointed at the stop-sign arm folded against the side. “Let’s get Gordy’s picture on there, front and back.”

Lunk smiled just slightly. “Every time we stop and the arm swings out …” he ripped off a length of duct tape, “drivers will see Gordy’s picture. Nice.”

Lunk helped Cooper secure the flyers.

“Hey!” The bus driver yelled.

Lunk and Cooper both jumped.

“What do you think you boys are doing?” Ms. Hoskins stood by the front bumper with her hands on her hips. “Remove it. Now.”

Cooper stepped forward. “Can we leave it here, just for a day or two?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t think it’s legal.”

“Just for today. Please. This is my cousin.”

“Sorry, son.” Ms. Hoskins marched over and reached for the sign. Lunk placed his hand over the flyer, effectively blocking it from her grasp.

She sucked in her breath and eyed him for a moment. Lunk stood taller than she was—a fact she couldn’t have missed. “Remove that sign,” she said. “Or move your hand and I will.”

Lunk swallowed but didn’t budge.

A horn beeped behind them. Other buses clearly wanted to leave, but Cooper’s bus sat at the front of the line.

“You’re holding up traffic.” Ms. Hoskins pointed. “Sign. Off.”

Lunk held his ground. Stared at her. Even Cooper felt uneasy and sensed Hoskins felt more than a little intimidated. Several buses were beeping.

Officer Sykes stepped around the front of the bus. He recognized the boys immediately. “What’s the holdup?”

Ms. Hoskins looked relieved. “They covered my stop sign—which is a violation of safety regulations. They’ve refused to remove it.”

Officer Sykes sized up the sign. “Clever.”

The woman snorted. “I’d call it stupid. I could get fired.”

Sykes smiled. “C’mon. Let’s not make a big deal about this. It’s a way you can help.”

“Then why not make all the bus drivers help?” The woman sure didn’t try to hide her sarcasm. “Why just single out my bus?”

If Sykes picked up on her attitude, he didn’t show it. He looked at the row of buses. “Excellent suggestion. They won’t fire
all
of you. We’ll do the same for each of the buses. How’s that sound?” He smiled slightly. “And if they question me about it, I promise not to say you gave me the idea—unless you’d like me to.”

Ms. Hoskins’ jaw dropped open.

“Don’t leave until I have flyers on every bus.”

She turned on her heels and stomped back around the front of the bus.

Lunk leaned close. “Sykes is okay.”

Cooper’s thoughts exactly.

Officer Sykes signaled all the buses to stay where they were. He pointed at Cooper. “I need more flyers. And that tape. If you two will give me a hand, we’ll only delay them a couple minutes.”

Cooper ran for his backpack. The three of them worked together, covering the stop signs on each of the other buses. They even put a couple on the back doors.

Minutes later, Lunk and Cooper hustled onto their bus to the cheers of the students inside. Fuming, the driver closed the door behind them—hard. Lunk sat beside Cooper and grinned.

As the bus slowed for the first stop, Gordy’s picture swung out to halt traffic. The students cheered again. Ms. Hoskins wouldn’t even think of pulling the picture off now. Cooper clapped and whistled, but the sight of his cousin’s grinning face stopped him cold.
Where are you, Gordy?

Hiro peeked from around the seat in front of them. She looked directly at Cooper like maybe she guessed what he was thinking.

“He’s going to be okay. I can feel it.”

Cooper nodded. He wanted to feel it. To believe Gordy was going to be okay. Wanted to believe he’d already been found. But right now he couldn’t feel anything but a sick dread churning in his stomach.

The moment the bus stopped rolling, Jake Mickel and Kelsey Seals hurried past them and disappeared out the front door. Ms. Hoskins waited longer than usual. Like she wanted to make sure they got safely to their homes without somebody trying to kidnap them. Maybe she had a heart after all.

Cooper stared out the window at the picture of his cousin. The door whooshed closed, the bus lurched forward, and the stop arm yawned back into place. And once again, Gordy disappeared.

T
he note on the kitchen table confirmed Cooper’s fears.

He got the hug part. Truth was, she was scared something might happen to
him.
His mind went back to the drive home from the police station. Dad had some new rules. Call or text every thirty minutes if Cooper wasn’t in school or with one of his parents. He could live with that.

Cooper skimmed the note again. Cooper was just glad Mom wasn’t forcing him to stay close and go over there. He couldn’t
imagine being there with Gordy gone, but he couldn’t stay home either.

Fudge bounded over and nuzzled him. Cooper knelt down in front of her and scratched behind her ears. “Hi, girl. Holding down the fort again, eh?”

The chocolate Lab’s tail wagged, but her ears were flat back against the sides of her head. It was like she knew, like she understood something was very wrong.

“I need to text Mom,” he said. Texting was safer. If he phoned Mom, there was always the chance she’d insist he stay with her. Cooper grabbed his phone and tapped out a quick message.

Going out with Hiro and Lunk to post flyers in town. Have phone. Back before d

He stopped mid-sentence and stared at his writing.
Back before dark.
One of the last things Gordy said to him. His hand started shaking. Dinner.

Back before dinner.

He made the changes and sent it.

“I gotta go, girl.” He smoothed the fur on the crown of her head. “Gordy’s in trouble,” he whispered. “We gotta find him.” He pulled a flyer out of his backpack and showed her. “A very bad man took him, Fudge.”

Cooper replayed the fraction of a second the kidnapper stared directly at him—with Gordy on the ground, convulsing. Fudge stretched forward, sniffing the flyer.

“You wouldn’t have let the guy take Gordy, would you, girl? No, you’d have taken his arm off.” He pictured the scene, wishing Fudge had been with them. Maybe she could have helped in a way that Cooper failed.

He thought about bringing her, but he’d be on his bike, which would make holding a leash really tough, especially with his hands full of flyers.

“Next time, girl. Keep holding the fort.” He gave her a hug.

He placed a flyer on the table next to Mom’s note. The word
kidnapped
was written above Gordy’s photo in bold, capital letters. It seemed unreal—like a joke or something. It’s just the kind of thing Gordy would do. Put up some flyers about a bogus abduction. Only there wasn’t anything bogus about this.

Mom’s reply vibrated the phone in his pocket.

Be careful. Stick together. Call me back in 30.

Cooper nodded and pocketed the phone, making mental note of the time. He grabbed Dad’s heavy-duty stapler and another roll of duct tape. Ten minutes later, Cooper approached the rendezvous spot on his bike: Kimball Hill Park.

Hiro and Lunk straddled their bikes, waiting.

Lunk gave Cooper a single nod. “How’d you want to do this?”

On the bus ride home, Cooper had worked out a plan. “We want everybody to see the flyers—and fast, so we hit all the shops and light poles downtown first.” He handed the stapler and a roll of duct tape to Lunk. “How about you get all the telephone and light poles along Kirchoff Road. Hiro and I will cover the stores and put flyers in their windows.”

“Done.” Lunk tucked the flyers under one arm. “I’ll catch the library, gas station, and both banks while I’m at it.”

Cooper looked at his watch. “We’ll circle to the other side of the street and finish at Frank’n Stein’s.”

Hiro and Cooper started at the combined Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin’s 31 Flavors ice cream store. The owners seemed genuinely sympathetic and allowed Cooper to tape flyers in each of their front windows.

The manager at the dollar store helped them put flyers up on every door and window. The Jewel grocery store did the same and told them to tack a flyer on a cork message board—which was a good thing because the flyers seemed lost in the front windows of the store.

Every other store showed the same support. Several managers read the flyer and got a distant look in their eyes. Cooper could almost feel their minds churning, imagining what it would be like if one of their kids had been abducted.

Cooper and Hiro crossed the street to the shops on the other side of Kirchoff. Clearly Lunk had been busy. Pictures of Gordy plastered both sides of every pole in sight. Lunk had placed them nice and high too, so they were less likely to be torn down anytime soon.

The manager at Taco Bell recognized his picture. And she should, as often as Gordy stopped in there for cinnamon twists. She shook her head and teared up. “Definitely, put flyers up wherever you want. I hope it helps.” But the look on her face didn’t reflect any confidence at all.

Hiro taped one flyer on the face of the machine for pop refills. “Everybody will see it here.”

Gordy certainly would have. “Good thinking,” Cooper said. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the look on the manager’s face. Now she was pointing out Gordy’s picture to another worker—who didn’t look any more encouraging than the manager.

Cooper had to get out. Keep moving. Do something, anything that might make a difference.

The strip mall behind Taco Bell was nearly empty. A retail graveyard. Cooper and Hiro headed for
Global Gamer
, one of the few remaining stores on the strip.

Cooper grabbed the door and followed Hiro inside. They entered another world. Swords and gorgeous, medieval-looking things hung on the walls.

“What kind of game requires players to have swords?” Hiro whispered.

“Who needs a game?” Cooper didn’t take his eyes off the wall of weapons. He’d love to have any one of them hanging on the wall in his room.

He gave the rest of the store a quick scan. A huge display of puzzles. Board games. Card games. Book racks with online game lore. And posters. Framed prints of medieval fantasy and futuristic sci-fi scenes–muscled fighters carrying swords or battle-axes, battle scenes with some serious weaponry.

“I was expecting something a little more—” Hiro seemed to be searching for the right word. “Family-friendly?”

“Checkers?”

Hiro gave him an exasperated look, but there was a hint of a smile.

“Clue? Operation?”

She laughed. And in that moment, Cooper realized he’d been distracted from Gordy. He felt a stab of guilt for forgetting his cousin, even for a moment.

“Let’s get this done with,” Cooper said.

Hiro nodded. And the smile disappeared. Maybe she’d forgotten too.

A clerk leaned on a display counter of knives, lighters, and Gothic jewelry—rings and necklaces covered in skulls and demons. Death seemed to be a common theme. Cooper didn’t want to think about death, even in just a game.

“Help you?” The clerk smiled. He might have been seventeen, maybe eighteen. He didn’t look like a typical, die-hard gamer in his black company T-shirt. More like one of those muscle-bound warriors on the fantasy posters.

Cooper flew through an explanation and asked permission to post the flyer.

The clerk studied it like he was reading a legal document.

What is there to think about
? Cooper just wanted to get to the rest of the stores on the strip.

“Interesting ring,” Hiro said.

Terrific. Now she was going to slow the guy down. She always seemed to have no problem starting up conversations.

“Like it?”

The clerk appeared pleased and held it up for her to see, a silver skull wearing a crown. Creepy.

“Tyler King.” The clerk extended his hand to Hiro.

He pointed at the ring as if his name would explain it.

Hiro shook his hand and gave the slightest bow. “Okay. King. A crown,” she said. “I get it. Why the skull?”

“My online game screen name is
Deathking.
”

He said it like he expected that to explain everything. Which struck Cooper as kind of funny since Hiro hated video and online games—especially anything that had to do with battle. “Nothing but pointless violence,” isn’t that how she put it? He enjoyed the clueless look on her face.

“You create your own characters with online games.” King smiled, obviously picking up on her blank expression. “It helps to use an intimidating name.”

“So,” Hiro said, “that’s what you call your, um—” she stacked her fists on top of each other like she was holding an invisible sword and slashed back and forth—”your game
avatar.
”

Tyler King nodded. “
Deathking.
Deadly. Powerful.”

“Sounds like a lethal combination,” Hiro said.

“Exactly.” Tyler balled his hand in a fist and kissed his own ring. “In my other life, I’m King.” He smiled again.

Right now Cooper didn’t care about Tyler King’s other life. In
this
life, he just wanted to post the flyers so they could move on to the next store.

King held up the flyer. “You two friends of his?”

Cooper nodded.

Deathking
looked at the flyer again. “Maybe he just ran. Got upset with his parents or something.” He shrugged. “I took off once when I was fourteen.”

He was probably trying to be encouraging. But he didn’t know anything about Gordy’s abduction, and Cooper wasn’t exactly in the mood for this guy’s speculation, no matter how helpful he was trying to be.

“I hung out at a friend’s house for two days.” The clerk actually looked sympathetic. “He’ll be back.”

Hiro shook his head. “We were there. Saw the guy grab him.”

The clerk’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

She motioned toward Cooper. “We were all together.”

Tyler swore under his breath. “You can put flyers on the door,
the windows—anywhere you want. I’ll get it okay’d by the manager later.”

“Thanks.” Cooper pulled the tape out of his pocket and walked back to the front door. He posted the flyer right at eye level. Nobody could walk in the store without seeing it.

“You have a digital file for that picture?”

Cooper shook his head.

“I’ll ask the boss if I can scan a flyer and post it on our website, too. The image won’t look great, but it’s something.”

Hiro smiled. “Brilliant idea. Thanks.”

Now it was King’s turn to bow. “If you come up with an original picture, or a better file, bring it in.” He held up the flyer. “I’ll get this on the website for now, though.”

Cooper hoped they would find Gordy long before anybody had time to look for a better picture.

Cooper hustled across the street toward Rolling Meadows Fire Station 15—the older of the two fire stations in town.

“Did you actually
like
that ring?” Cooper asked.

“No.
” Hiro laughed. “When he held out his hand to me—I wasn’t sure if his highness wanted me shake it or kiss it.”

A couple of firefighters stood in the open bay in front of Engine 15.

“I remember you.” One of them stepped up to Cooper. “Frank’n Stein’s. Halloween night. I checked you out after your little adventure in the freezer.” He held out his hand to Cooper. “Dave Rill.”

“I remember,” Cooper said. “And thanks again.”

The other firefighter extended his hand. “Mark Hayden.”

Cooper shook his hand.

Mr. Rill scanned the flyer. “This a friend of yours?”

“My cousin.”

Rill winced. “This hasn’t been your lucky year.”

Cooper shook his head and stared at the floor. “Worst year of my life.”

The fireman took a handful of flyers. “We’ll get them on the
back of every engine, ambulance, and ladder truck. At Station 16 too.”

Hayden grabbed a few and put them on the driver’s seat of the ambulance. “I’ll post them in the emergency room at Northwest Community hospital.”

“Thanks, Mr. Hayden,” Hiro said.

Rill’s face looked hard. “I’d like to get my hands on the guy who grabbed him.”

Cooper’s throat burned. No words came.

The firefighter seemed to understand. “After we get the flyers on the truck we’ll drive around town a bit. Make sure people see it.”

Cooper nodded and headed out with Hiro at his side. He glanced back. The guys were already taping flyers to their trucks.

Lunk had already covered the gas station. Every pump had a flyer by the gas nozzle. He was waiting outside when Cooper and Hiro wheeled in to Frank’n Stein’s parking lot.

The three of them walked in together. The smell of fries, Italian beef, and Chicago-style hotdogs greeted Cooper like an old friend. Normally he’d be walking in here with Gordy. This time he carried a stack of his pictures in his backpack.

For an instant he thought about the index card in his pocket and wondered if he’d ever get the chance to use it.
Don’t go there, Cooper. Do not go there.