Whirlwind (28 page)

67

Near Afton, Texas

M
ason was going to sell the baby then kill me. That was his plan
.

And to think I’d loved him and dreamed we could have a life together.

Remy tasted the salt of her tears as she fled across the scrubland.

After she’d overheard Mason’s phone call, she’d moved quickly, holding the baby with one arm, grabbing what she could, strapping one bag over her shoulder and carrying a second one. Using trees and brush as cover while walking and trotting, she’d put as much distance between her and the cabin as possible.

Her heart nearly burst when she’d spotted that green car approaching the property in the distance. She’d crouched down with the baby in a gulley and watched a man and woman steal up swiftly to the cabin. Were they police coming to arrest them, or drug dealers coming to kill them?

She was right to leave Mason.

When it was clear the strangers couldn’t see her, Remy continued as the weather worsened.

Clouds were churning overhead.

She shielded the baby as wind-driven branches rocketed by her.

Remy needed to get back to that man at the store before the storm broke. She could do it; it was only a mile. He seemed nice; maybe he could drive her to Lubbock? From there she could take a bus to Tulsa. Her girlfriend lived there. All she needed was a place to stay with her baby.

The bags were heavy, the baby was fussing, Remy’s arms were aching, the sky was growing darker and the wind was getting stronger. The gusts were nearly knocking her over.

Something underfoot crackled.

In a heartbeat Remy realized she’d stepped on the rotting wooden cap of an old well. With nothing but air under her she fought to keep from falling into the blackness with the baby.

* * *

“Look!”

As Blake guided their SUV toward the old Dixon place, Jenna spotted a flash of color far off in the brush and low-lying trees.

“It’s somebody walking, holding something in a bundle,” Kate said.

“That’s a woman with a baby!” Jenna said.

Blake cut the wheel, driving the SUV off-road over the vast field at top speed. As it bumped and bounced, they lost sight of the woman.

“She disappeared!” Blake said.

“To the left!” Jenna pointed. “I saw her there! Go! Go!”

Blake shoved the accelerator to the floor. They roared up to the spot, but nothing was in sight. As the black sky seethed they got out and searched the brush.

“Help! Please, help!”

Behind a thick stand of scrub, they found a woman nearly swallowed by the mouth of a well. She was clinging to the rusted anchor for the rotted well cap with one hand while a baby squirmed and cried in her other arm.

“Oh, help me! I can’t hold on much long—”

Jenna dropped to her knees, recognizing the woman under the blond wig as the one who’d taken Caleb at the flea market.

“Give me my son!”

“Get Caleb, Jen!” Blake shouted, dropping to the ground, and in one smooth motion he yanked the woman up to safety as Jenna took the baby from her.

As huge as the scene playing out in front of her was, Kate was transfixed by something else.

The cabin behind them exploded into confetti of wood, shingles and debris as a colossal tornado roared toward them. Black clouds boiled in a swirling, towering wall that stretched from the earth to eternity. The ground quaked as if a speeding locomotive were pounding straight at them.

Kate saw the strange woman running alone across the flat land in a futile attempt to escape the monster. Her arms swung wildly in a futile attempt to fend off the overwhelming force as it lifted her off her feet. It shot her skyward as if she were a tissue in a gale before it swallowed her and she vanished in the vortex.

“Kate! Down here!”

Blake had sheltered Jenna and the baby on the slope of a small ravine by wedging them under an enormous rock that offered a lip overhead. He drew up all of his strength to pack them against the rock until the screaming whirlwind passed over them.

When it ended, Jenna Cooper stared at her baby son then kissed him.

Caleb was alive and safe in her arms.

She turned to Blake and Kate and wept as they smiled.

68

Afton, Texas

K
ate, Blake and Jenna, with Caleb in her arms, walked to Afton.

The tornado had picked up their SUV and dropped it on its roof one hundred yards away. Everywhere they looked the earth had been savagely plowed as if forces had clawed at the planet in anger.

Crossing over the torn-up terrain, it took them half an hour to get to the hamlet. Their cell phones didn’t work—the storm had taken out towers, but it had spared the tiny community. Broken branches, fence posts and muddied clumps of grass littered the main street, but buildings were untouched.

Several people had gathered at L. T. Smith’s Store and Gas. They were exchanging stories by the time Kate and the others got there. When they entered, relief blossomed on the manager’s face.

“Thank the Lord, I’m so glad to see you folks!” he said. “We sent some guys to check on Dixon’s because people had gone out that way. We haven’t heard back on everyone yet. Is there anything I can get you?”

Before they could respond, four men rushed in behind them, carrying an injured woman on a door. She was on her back, alive and moaning, her face a veil of blood and dirt.

“Call an ambulance, L.T.!” one of the men said. “Ebb Davis found her in the hay beside his barn! The winds musta dropped her there! Buddy and Toby are still out at Dixon’s—it got hit real bad.”

“Put her down here.” The manager arranged storage crates near the bread shelf, and the men set the door holding the woman upon them. Then, as the manager used his landline to call, Jenna, holding Caleb, moved to the injured woman to take a close, hard look at her.

Recognition registered.

“This is the woman who took Caleb,” Jenna said. Then, to the woman: “Why? Why did you steal my baby?”

“I’m sorry,” she groaned.

The manager was still on the phone when Kate went to him and grabbed his arm. “Call the sheriff’s office right now!” To the men who’d brought her in she said, “Where’s the man who was with her?”

They shook their heads. “Never saw anyone else,” one of the men said.

Blake and Jenna recounted their ordeal while more people arrived. As awareness dawned on those listening, murmurs rippled around the store.

“That’s the flea market baby from the Dallas tornado...” “They’re the parents...” “They found him, here...” “She said that woman took him...”

* * *

Pavel Gromov and Yanna Petrova were among the people in the store who’d endured the storm. When the tornado had reached the cabin, they’d managed to get down on the floor. They’d survived the destruction with a few cuts on their arms and faces. Their car was also miraculously not damaged and they drove away unnoticed along a path that twisted through a back section of the Dixon property. They made their way to town where they told local residents that they were tourists on holiday when the storm hit.

Now, after hearing the Coopers tell their story, and prompted by the distant wail of sirens, Gromov and Yanna approached the injured woman. A man in his early twenties with first-aid training said that she had fractured ribs. He was cleaning her face with a towel.

Gromov leaned down, kept his voice soft and took her hand. “Are you Remy Toxton?” he asked.

She didn’t answer.

The sirens got closer.

“Now is not the time to lie.” He squeezed. “Are you Remy Toxton?”

“Yes.”

“Did you become pregnant at a Moscow clinic?”

Remy nodded.

“Where’s the baby from that pregnancy?”

“Louisiana.”

“Shreveport?”

Her chest heaved as she let out a sob. “Yes, that’s where he died.”

The sirens were getting louder.

Gromov stood. His face was creased.

He turned to Yanna and then he looked thoughtfully at the Coopers before he stood next to Jenna and studied Caleb.

“This is your son who was missing?” Gromov said.

“Yes,” Jenna answered.

“He’s a beautiful baby.”

“Thank you.”

“I see the resemblance to his father.”

Jenna smiled.

Gromov’s eyes filled with sadness as he accepted that his dream had turned to dust, then he and Yanna left the store and got in their rented car. Driving carefully around debris, they left Afton.

* * *

As the paramedics and Dickens County Sheriff’s deputies arrived, two other men pulled alongside them in a farm truck and rushed into the store.

“The Dixon place is gone. We found a dead man in the rubble,” one said. “Must’ve been out there hunting.”

“Looks like he tried to tie himself down. He was all tangled up in the debris,” the other added, breathless.

The deputies called for assistance to get a car out to the Dixon ranch as the paramedics began assessing Remy Toxton. Her injuries were not life threatening.

When the deputies obtained the preliminary details of what had transpired from Jenna, Blake and Kate, they requested the paramedics hold off taking Remy to a hospital.

After a quick series of calls to their dispatcher and computer checks, confirming details through NCIC, Remy Toxton was charged and read her rights.

She remained silent throughout the process, never once asking about Mason, or for an attorney. She stared at the ceiling as the deputies handcuffed her to the gurney, then cleared the paramedics to take her to hospital with a deputy as her escort.

FBI case agents Phil Grogan and Nicole Quinn were alerted and on their way from Lubbock. Kate called her friend Heather in Ohio to let her know what had happened then joined Jenna and Blake on the bench at the front of the store, where they waited for the FBI agents.

As word spread, local residents approached them with praise and congratulations.

“Something positive has come out of the storm,” L.T., the store’s manager, said as he took their picture.

Jenna Cooper couldn’t take her eyes off Caleb, but when she finally did, she turned to Kate.

“We would have lost him forever without you. I know that in my heart. You’re a good person, Kate, and a pretty good reporter, too. You never gave up...you never let go.”

Kate nodded, but her smile faded as she looked into the distance and deeper into the clearing sky. She reflected on all that the Coopers had suffered, and all that she’d endured up to that moment in her hard life. The outcome had restored Kate’s faith to never ever give up, whatever the odds. For in Jenna and Blake’s miracle, Kate had found reason to hope that maybe, just maybe, her little sister had somehow survived that night in the river all those years ago.

Kate almost laughed for she was suddenly haunted by an unresolved aching, yet comforted by an irony.

It was her sister’s tragedy that led to her becoming a reporter.

And here I am, an unemployed one, sitting on a huge story.

But it doesn’t matter right now. It’s not what I need right now.

She cupped her hands over her face and let the tears flow.

What Kate needed more than anything was to get back home to Ohio and hold her daughter.

Epilogue

I
t was late that night when Kate got back to Newslead’s Dallas bureau.

Expecting that her ID and swipe card had been invalidated, she’d intended to give it to the security guard then have him escort her to clean out her desk and leave a note.

“No, miss,” he said after taking her ID and checking his screen. “It’s still good for Kate Page. Want me to go with you? No one’s up there—they all went home long ago.”

“Yes, thanks. I want to do this right.”

“Sure, I don’t mind stretching my legs.”

As the elevator rose, Kate looked back on her day. After telling the FBI everything that had happened in Afton, Blake and Jenna had driven her to Lubbock, where they did network interviews...but without Kate.

She’d slipped away for a flight to Dallas.

Before she’d left Lubbock, Grogan and Quinn said the evidence team had finished processing her car after the murders in Fate. She could pick it up at the FBI’s office in the morning. That was good, because she wanted to start driving home to Ohio the next day.

In the cab from the airport to the Dallas bureau, her phone showed messages from Dorothea Pick, Chuck Laneer and about a dozen news organizations wanting to interview her for her part in the story.

She ignored them all, but one name caught her eye: David Yardley with
USA TODAY
wanted to interview her for a story. Kate’s heart warmed with memories. He was the reporter at the
Chicago Tribune
who’d helped get her started in journalism.

I owe him. I’ll call him when I get to my hotel room. Maybe he can mention that I’m looking for a job in the business?
She laughed to herself.
Funny how things have gone full circle.

The elevator doors opened to the dimmed lights of the bureau.

“I won’t be long,” she said.

The guard sat at the empty desk next to hers. Kate’s computer account had not been closed. She’d received nineteen emails from news organizations wanting interviews. Ignoring them, she typed a short note thanking Dorothea and Chuck for considering her for the internship and the job. After sending it, she wondered for a moment what had happened for Dorothea to replace Chuck.

She sent a goodbye note to Tommy Koop, thanking him for being her friend and helping her. Then she cleaned out her desk, putting her coffee mug and dictionary, along with a few personal items, into a small garbage bag, thinking it a metaphor for her career as she left with the guard.

* * *

The next morning, Kate checked out of the hotel, took a cab to the FBI to get her car. Before starting for Ohio she checked her phone. More messages for interview requests from NBC
and
ABC.

She ignored them.

When she got her third message from Chuck, she decided to return his call. Somewhere on the I-30 East near Union Valley she pulled over. He answered on the second ring.

“Kate, I’m sorry things ended the way they did.”

“Me, too.”

“Managementwise, our bureau was in disarray when you arrived. As you’ve probably heard, my wife is ill. I tried to keep that private, but it got out in the bureau. I was distracted during your internship and for that I apologize.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s okay, I understand. I’m so sorry to hear about your wife.”

“We just learned that it’s very serious. Cancer.”

“Oh my God, Chuck—that’s terrible.”

“That’s why Dorothea took over. There’s no question she had an agenda. I’ve since learned that you had two strikes against you, as far as she was concerned.”

“What were they? I don’t understand.”

“Mandy Lee’s father worked at the
Dallas Morning News
and had given Dorothea her first job. Guess she’s quietly guaranteed him that she would return the favor and hire Mandy Lee, not counting on you being so good.”

“She used that to terminate me?”

“Yes, she set everything in motion while I was in the hospital and she was acting bureau chief. In our time together, Dorothea and I never saw eye to eye, but that can’t be helped right now. I’ve got to take some time off to be with my wife.”

“Yes, of course.”

“I know this is cold consolation, but you were by far the best candidate for the position, and I made that known to New York. But Dorothea made her move to use the insubordination matter against you and hire Mandy. Dorothea had a weak case but you were an intern with no protection and human resources approved. I tried to intervene but was overruled.”

“Thank you, Chuck. Again, I’m so sorry for your wife and you. I’ll keep you both in my thoughts.”

“Thanks.” He cleared his throat. “Now, Kate, you can hate me for this, but I’m still a news reporter. Would you grant me a short interview about the Cooper baby case for a story for Newslead?”

“Well, I already spoke to
USA TODAY
as a favor for an old friend.”

“I understand, but would you also consider talking to Newslead?”

“I’ll talk to you, Chuck.”

“Thanks, Kate. Oh, before we start, I took a call for you from a young man named Cody Warren. A while back you did a small story about the search for the person who hit his dad in a traffic accident.”

“I remember.”

“Guess the person who did it saw your item and turned themselves in. We’re going to follow that up.”

“Good,” she said. “That’s good. I’m happy to hear it.”

As cars and big rigs thundered by her along the interstate, Kate talked to Chuck for nearly twenty minutes. Then she wiped away her tears, got back on the highway and drove out of Texas.

* * *

Before returning to Russia, Pavel Gromov and Yanna Petrova went to Shreveport, Louisiana. After making some gentle enquiries, they visited a small cemetery where Gromov’s grandson was buried. They found a marker for Baby Toxton.

They left flowers.

* * *

Remy Toxton was moved to Dallas, where she cooperated with the FBI’s investigation into Caleb Cooper’s kidnapping. Remy faced twenty-five years in prison. In a bid for a lighter sentence, she’d given evidence which led to Chicago and a federal investigation of Hedda Knight’s law firm.

At first Hedda denied knowing Remy, noting that she’d never set foot in Texas. Agents discovered Hedda’s recent airline ticket to Dallas for a flight that was canceled because of bad weather. They found other records and moved to charge Hedda for her national and international baby-selling activities.

* * *

Back in Lancaster, Texas, Jenna and Blake underwent the process of rebuilding their home and their lives with Caleb and Cassie, who never wanted to let go of her baby brother’s hand.

“I don’t want him to fly away ever again.”

Throughout it all, Jenna kept in touch with Kate Page.

* * *

As time passed, Kate recovered.

Being home with Grace was a balm for both of them. And although Kate was still unemployed with bills to pay, she also knew she was blessed.
Our lives are fragile things,
she thought,
leaving us vulnerable to forces beyond our control that can destroy everything we cherish.

In the weeks after her return, Kate wrote a long article for
Vanity Fair
about her experience in Texas and the Caleb Cooper case. It paid very well, allowing her to take care of some bills. Her ordeal also led to a few job offers at news organizations across the country.

She was not sure what she was going to do.

Nearly two months after she’d returned to Ohio, Kate was giving serious consideration to accepting a job in Minneapolis with the
Star Tribune
when Chuck Laneer called her with good news. His wife had recovered. The doctors were confident they’d gotten it all, but the best treatment and therapy she needed was in New York.

“We’re moving there, and Newslead has given me a new senior editor’s position at world headquarters in Manhattan, and authority to build a new reporting team.”

“That’s so great,” she said. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Kate, I’d like to offer you a job with Newslead in New York. The pay is very good. We’ll help with moving costs and you’ll never have to worry about Dorothea Pick. She’s resigned to pursue a career in politics.”

“I don’t know what to say, Chuck.”

“Take some time to think it over.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Kate’s heart lifted with excitement as she walked through the house, considering the possibilities. Her dream to work for a major news agency in New York was coming true. Somehow she found herself in her room on her bed holding Chilly, the stuffed polar bear that had belonged to her sister. Moments later, she was looking at the tiny guardian angel necklace with Vanessa’s name engraved on it.

A storm of memories swept Kate back through time, across all she’d endured in her life, and tears filled her eyes.

Grace walked into the room.

“Are you sad, Mommy?”

Regaining her composure, Kate brushed her cheeks then pulled Grace up onto the bed and into her arms. “Just thinking about things.”

“What things?”

“How lucky I am to have you as my kid and stuff.”

“Is that because of the phone call you just got?”

“I guess so. It gave me a lot to think about.”

“Like what?”

“Like moving to New York City.”

“Oh, where Stuart Little lives? With all the really tall buildings?”

“Yes, and Central Park and subway trains that run underground and the big Santa Claus parade and the toy store with the Ferris wheel inside.”

Grace’s eyes grew wider.

“Think you’d like that, sweetie? Living in a great big city like that?”

She nodded big nods. “But I’d miss my friends
so much.
”

“Me, too, but we’d make new friends.”

“Like Stuart Little.”

“Exactly—like Stuart Little.”

Kate tickled Grace and their laughter filled the room.

* * * * *