“There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”
Tears filled Maya’s eyes. “Mom, please.”
“I’ll be here when you get back. Have faith. Go get your kids.”
Maya hugged her mother, gripping the back of her shirt tightly as she cried into her shoulder. Then, she walked outside and her mom followed, staying on the porch while Maya headed to the pickup truck. She threw her bag in the passenger seat, then looked back towards the patio. She wanted to ask her mother once more to come with her, but realized that it wasn’t going to happen.
“Get your kids. I’ll see you when you get back.”
Maya wiped her eyes and nodded. “I love you.”
“And I love you.”
Maya ducked into the vehicle. She took a deep breath, stealing one last glance at her mother. Her mom waved, and Maya blew her a kiss.
She pulled out of the driveway, taking off and crying as she avoided one more look at the house.
7
Ignoring the interstates, Maya headed north on Highway 258. With the dome down, she knew the interstates would be crammed with emergency crews trying to get into the city. She’d seen some flashing lights on the back roads, too, but nothing that would slow her down.
Gerald lived on the other side of the Tennessee-Kentucky state line in the town of Bowling Green, which was about an hour’s drive in normal conditions. But, with few people on the road, she was able to drive faster than she ever had, holding at around 90 miles per hour. The quicker she could get there, the sooner she could put him in his place and get her kids back. As the sun dropped below the western horizon, she turned on her headlights and the high beams, hoping a curious deer wouldn’t meander out into the highway.
She drove with the air conditioning cranked, which raised a chill on the back of her neck as she pondered what she would do once she got to his house. The safety of Maya’s children came first. But she couldn’t just ignore what he had done. And the kids needed to know the truth about their father. She’d done well to respect Gerald, even though there had been times when she’d wanted to curse him out or even hit him. She would never have done anything like that with the kids around, but things were different now. Laura and Aiden had seen how Gerald had treated their grandmother when he’d come and snatched them from her home, and they’d understand why their mother wasn’t putting up with the bullshit anymore.
She barreled around a slow bend, easing off the gas and leaning forward to get a better look at what was ahead in the darkening twilight. A quarter mile up the road, several vehicles stretched across the highway, blocking it. They appeared to have been parked that way deliberately. Men stood in front of the cars, but from what she could see, they weren’t armed.
Scanning the area, she hit her brakes and tried to decide whether she should take another road which cut across the highway in front of the blockade or stop and see what this was all about.
One of the men smiled and waved as she slowed down further on approach, clicking off her high beams.
You’re being paranoid, Maya.
She came to a stop about five feet in front of the vehicles, but kept her doors locked and her truck running. A large man with shaggy blonde hair who was wearing a Kentucky Wildcats shirt approached her door. He wasn’t carrying a gun, and she didn’t see one bulging underneath his shirt or in a holster on his waist. Maya dropped her window.
“Good evening.” The man grinned, and she could see he had several gold teeth.
“Evening.”
“What’s a pretty thing like you doing out here by yourself?”
That’s not a great way to start a conversation, Maya thought. She gripped her steering wheel with both hands.
“I could ask you the same, even though you’re not alone. Why do you have the road blocked?”
“We’re locals. Wanted to keep tabs on who’s coming through. White House was a quiet little town until a few days ago.”
“There were a lot of quiet towns a few days ago. But I promise you that I’m not a thief or a looter. Now, if you wouldn’t mind letting me continue on my way?”
The man’s smile widened, and she thought she saw a sparkle in his eye, although it could have been a reflection of her headlights. He looked past her, trying to see what she had in the passenger seat.
“You pack light. Where you headed?”
“No offense, but I don’t see a badge on your chest, nor anyone else’s.” She used her index finger to point at the other men standing around with their hands in their pockets and their eyes fixed on her. “I don’t have to answer to anyone. Now, again, if you’d please let me pass.”
The man clicked his tongue. “That ain’t no way to talk to a man. Kinda rude. Wouldn’t you agree, Rodney?”
The waif of a man who had to be Rodney stepped forward. He wore a gray shirt with sweat stains under each arm and had greasy, dark hair.
“I’d say so, Gill. I can’t say I like the way she’s talking to you one bit.”
“Not one bit,” Gill said, staring at Maya.
Maya sighed and looked quickly into her rearview mirror, calculating how far back she’d have to floor it in reverse before she could turn around and speed off down one of the side roads, then jumping back on 258 ahead of the roadblock or going straight through to the interstate and north on 65 to Bowling Green.
Sweat collected on her brow as she looked back at Gill, keeping the others in her peripheral vision. Her right hand reached for her bag on the passenger seat, knocking it to the floor and grabbing the pistol beneath it. She fumbled the grip, and by the time she’d raised it, she’d heard the clicks of metal on metal coming from outside.
“No way, sweetie,” Gill said.
Maya looked up. Every man had a pistol or a rifle pointed at her, and she felt cold steel. Gill had reached through the open window and touched the sharp edge of a buck knife to her throat.
“Get the fuck out of the truck.”
With their guns still aimed at her, the men led Maya inside White House High School. They escorted her through one of the side doors and then stopped.
“Cover her eyes,” Gill said. “We don’t need her knowin’ the way.”
Rodney pulled a bandana from his back pocket and wrapped it around her eyes. Maya coughed at the closeness of him, his breath reeking of chewing tobacco and cigarette smoke. She gagged, trying not to think about what he’d done into or with that bandana.
Someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along as they walked deeper into the school. Maya could smell sour milk mixed with bleach, two odors common to most schools even during times when people maintained the buildings.
They walked, taking several turns. She heard the thunk of someone hitting a door’s push-bar followed by a hiss as it slowly crept shut behind her. Suddenly, a pair of hands shoved her in the middle of her back as Gill ripped the blindfold from her face.
Maya stumbled forward and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the eerie darkness of the school’s gymnasium, a space that would normally have been bright, loud, and smelling like teen spirit. Several women sat in the bleachers to her left. Instead of cheering for the varsity White House basketball team, they now looked down at the tops of their shoes, not even bothering to make eye contact with her.
One of the men slapped Maya on her right butt cheek and she jumped. She turned around to see Gill grinning, nudging her toward the bleachers.
“Get that cute little ass up there with them.”
Maya glared at the man. Touch me again, and I’ll kill you.
“Go on, girl. Get.”
Unblinking, and looking only into his eyes, Maya walked to the stairs before turning away and climbing the bleachers. She sat at the end of the second row, away from the other women.