Blindside

truck in gear and started up. She had to watch her speed; the heavy rain made the road a river. As they passed where the men had disappeared into the trees, she looked carefully, but saw no sign of them.
    She picked her cell phone out of her breast pocket and called Wade at the station house.
    “Hello, Wade, it’s Katie. No, don’t tell me anything about the storm just yet. This is urgent.” She told him about Sam and his kidnappers, the two men who’d beenchasing him, and how she’d shot the fat one in the arm. “I’m on the south end of Delaware. Sam came out of the woods in nearly a straight line from the road to Bleaker’s cabin—I’ll bet that’s where they were holding him. They’re armed, they tried to kill me. Take three deputies and get out there fast.” She gave them descriptions, then said, one eye on Sam’s white face, the other on the woods, “I’m taking Sam to Doc Flint’s. I’m on my cell. Let me know what you find. Did you hear any names, Sam?”
    “Fatso and Beau.” Just saying their names made Sam so afraid he had to concentrate not to pee again in his jeans.
    “The one in the black leather coat is Beau, the other one is Fatso, that’s Sam’s name for him. Put out an APB on them, Wade. The one with the bullet in his arm—chances are he’ll need some medical attention. Maybe the other one, too. Alert all medical facilities in the area. I’ll tell Doc Flint. I’ll bet he’ll be putting in some calls himself. I’ll check in again after I make sure the boy’s all right.”
    She looked one last time toward the woods. No sign of either man. She pressed harder on the gas. She couldn’t go any faster, it was just too dangerous. “Sam, you keep bundled up. Don’t worry about talking right now. Just get yourself warm, that’s right. You can tell me everything in a little while. Right now, you just think about how you saved yourself. My goodness, you’re a hero.”
    Sam nodded. It made him feel woozy. A hero? He didn’t feel like much of a hero. His teeth were chattering and that made him feel like a baby. He hadn’t been a baby for longer than he could remember. And there was that little girl Keely pressed against him, two fat braids the color of wheat toast hanging over her shoulders, touching his face she was so close. He closed his eyes. He wasn’t about to cry in front of the little girl. He wanted his father.
    It took them nearly twenty minutes to get to Doc Flint’s office in the rain. Katie kept talking to both children,keeping her voice calm and low, telling Sam about how the weather was going to be really bad until some time tomorrow, telling him how Keely was five, not as old as he was, and about how Keely could play “When You Wish Upon a Star” on the piano. Keely chimed in and told Sam she’d teach him how to play it, too, and the C scale.
    Sam looked bad, Katie thought, worrying now as she pulled in front of the small Victorian house that stood at the corner of Pine and Maple, two blocks off Main Street. It was tall, skinny, and painted cream with dark blue trim. Jonah Flint lived upstairs and had his examination rooms and office downstairs. She said, “Keely, I want you to stay put until I get Sam into the office. Don’t move, don’t even think about moving. I’ll come back for you with the umbrella.”
    She and Sam were already soaked, steam rising off their clothes because of the hot air gushing out of the truck heater. The little boy’s face was sheet-white and his dark pupils were dilated. There was blood oozing down his cheek from a cut on his head.
    She eased him across the front seat, raised the umbrella, and whispered against his small ear, “Grab me around the neck, Sam, it’ll make it easier.” When she straightened, he wrapped his legs around her waist. “That’s good, Sam. Now, it’s going to be all right, I promise you. You’re with me now and I’m as tough as an old boot and meaner than my father, who was meaner than anybody before he died. You know something else, Sam? Since you’re a hero, I’m not the only one who’s really proud of you. Your folks will be proud, too. Don’t worry now, everything’s going to be all right.”
    She kept talking, hoping she was distracting the boy as she carried him into the empty waiting room. Katie wasn’t surprised there wasn’t anybody there, not even Heidi Johns, Dr. Flint’s receptionist and nurse. Who would want to be out in weather like this except for Monroe Cuddy,who might