Page 35 of Not Our Daughter

“He doesn’t know anything, Dad!”

Cole’s mind was swirling. The FBI could be monitoring the boy’s phone. Which meant they could be currently tracing the location of his daughter’s phone call.

“We have to go!” he said to Jade, his eyes flashing.

She crossed her arms in defiance. “I’m not leaving until you start telling me the truth.”

“I can’t right now.”

“You keep saying that. Then I’m not goinganywhere.”

Cole thought about the police officer who’d just driven by the gas station a few minutes ago. He was nearby. All it would take was one quick phone call from the FBI for the officer to zip right back over. They had to run.

“Jade, I’m sorry.”

She remained rigid. “Sorry for what? Screwing up my life?”

“No, for this,” he said, reaching down and lifting her over his shoulder. He spun around and hustled back over to the van. Jade was yelling and hitting him on the back the whole way, which caused Lisa to pop out of the van.

“What the heck is going on?” she asked.

“Get the van door open,” he instructed. “We have to get away from here right now. And our daughter is not cooperating!”

Lisa reached up and pulled open the van door, and Cole set Jade down inside.

“Did something happen?” Lisa asked.

“Yes!” Jade yelled. “Dad is acting like a lunatic! I’m going to jump out!”

Cole turned to Lisa. “Get in there with her and stop her from being an idiot. I’ll explain when we get on the road.”

Lisa climbed into the back, tried to get Jade to calm down. But their daughter only continued to lash out at them. Cole slammed the door shut behind him and swiftly circled the vehicle. Realizing he still had the burner phone Jade had just used, he pulled it from his pocket, reared back, and tossed it across the parking lot. He then reached into his other pocket, pulled out his own burner, and did the same. The two phones could somehow be tied together through his store purchase a few months ago. He couldn’t take any chances. He would pick up new phones somewhere along the way. He climbed behind the wheel, started the van, and stomped on the gas pedal. The van bounced through potholes in the parking lot before reentering the street.

Cole was only fifty yards from the gas station when he saw a police car in his rearview mirror with its red and blue lights blinking. He gripped his steering wheel tightly, wondered if he was about to go on a high-speed chase. But thankfully the police car pulled into the same gas station parking lot they’d just left. His panic now exploded. The Fedswerelistening. The FBI knew exactly where they were at this very moment. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor and crossed a bridge over the Rio Grande into the middle of town. He spotted more red and blue lights up ahead, coming straight toward them. Cole quickly turned onto the next street, pulled into an alley between a dry cleaner and a liquor store, and turned off his headlights. He could feel his heart in his throat as he watched his mirrors, wondering if he’d made the right choice. Seconds later, a police car pulled onto the same street as them, but quickly passed by the dark alley without noticing them.

Cole exhaled, but his chest felt so tight. The police car was clearly coming after them. Because there were so few cars on the road at this hour, the police were probably going to start stopping everyone theyencountered in hopes of finding them. And Alamosa was no small town—he guessed around ten thousand people—which meant they had a significant police presence. There were likely more police officers out and about right now beginning to circle the streets looking for moving headlights.

“What is happening, Cole?” Lisa said from the back. “Why are there so many police cars all of a sudden?”

“They know we’re here,” he admitted.

“What? How?”

“We made a mistake, Lisa. They’re tracking our phones. That’s why I got rid of them.”

He glanced at his daughter in the rearview mirror. She no longer looked angry. Her face was sunken with guilt. There was no reason to beat her up about it.

“Did you call someone?” Lisa yelled at him. “Are you crazy?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We just have to get out of here.”

He slowly backed out of the alley but kept the headlights off. Pausing, he searched both ways up and down the street. No sign of the cops. While it was dark out, Cole had just enough surrounding streetlight to make several more turns, which he swiftly did. He was back on the main street, driving with his headlights off. His speedometer hit sixty and then seventy. New headlights up ahead. Cole quickly pulled off the street again and stopped in a small parking lot in front of an auto mechanic, which had a dozen other cars parked out front. This time, it wasn’t a police vehicle. It was a black Jeep Wrangler. When it passed, he pulled back into the street and floored it again. He passed by several more retail strips and followed the signs leading them out to Highway 285, which would take them south into New Mexico. As they left the lights of the inner city, the streets grew darker, so he was forced to turn on his headlights again. Once on 285, his foot grew even heavier on the gas pedal. They hit eighty miles per hour, which started to make the van vibrate a bit. But he didn’t slow down until Alamosa had completely disappeared in his rearview mirror.

Lisa remained agitated. “Do the police know we’re in this van?”

“I don’t think so. The security cameras weren’t working at the gas station.”

“What about the clerk? Can he identify it?”

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