Lara turned on the radio and fidgeted with the dial, then pressed the microphone: “Elise, can you hear me? This is Lara. Elise? Can anyone hear me, sweetheart?”
She kept trying for a few minutes, stopping every twenty seconds or so to adjust the dials back and forth in case Elise had accidentally changed hers. After five minutes of no response, she put down the mic but didn’t turn off the radio. Worry clouded her face.
“She’s fine,” he said. “There are a lot of explanations why she’s not answering. We’ll go there and get her and her brother and bring them back with us and it’ll be fine.”
“She should have answered, Will.”
“Maybe she’s busy. She said her brother was hurt. Maybe she had to take care of him and wasn’t around to answer the radio. Or maybe she heard something and had to turn it off. Maybe the battery she was using died. Who knows how long she’s been using it. There could be a thousand reasons why she’s not answering, Lara. Have faith.”
She nodded, but he didn’t think she really believed it.
“She must be a tough kid,” he added. “She’s survived for months with her brother. I think she’ll be fine for another day.”
“You’re probably right. There could be a thousand reasons why she’s not answering.”
He wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince him or herself. He didn’t really believe his own explanations. Lara was right — the girl should have answered.
They drove in silence the rest of the way to Dansby, Texas.
Dansby was a small town of “300 or so people.” There was a sign introducing the town as they arrived. A gas station sat alongside what looked like City Hall, next to the highway. Other than that, Dansby was an unremarkable patch of land, alongside a state highway that saw thousands of cars pass by every day, none of which probably gave the small community a second look — if they even gave it a look at all.
They took the off-ramp and turned left under the highway, with Danny moving ahead in the Ram, Davies providing driving directions. A two-lane road led them into the housing area of Dansby, essentially twenty to thirty houses spread out within a two-mile stretch. Dansby High School loomed in front of them, next to a wide football field that was easily the most prominent structure within the entire city limit.
Texas and football. Almost as big as God and Country. Sometimes it was bigger, depending on the town and that year’s team.
Davies’s voice came through the radio: “Came here to watch a football game a time or two. For the size of the place, they’ve actually fielded some pretty good teams over the years. They had a kid a few years back who was highly recruited. Went to the University of Texas at Austin to play ball, but busted his knee in his sophomore year and didn’t really do much after that. I heard he got a free education, though, so you can’t beat that.”
“And ladies and gentleman, that awesome bit of Dansby, Texas football lore comes to you courtesy of Davies,” Danny chimed in.
“Bite me,” Davies replied.
Will and Lara exchanged a brief smile. Danny had that effect on people.
“Did you go to school?” she asked him.
“I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Greek History from UT, actually.”
“No kidding. Greek History?”
“Yup.”
“What do you do with a degree in Greek History?”
“Teach Greek History. Or go into the Army.”
“How does a guy who spent four years studying Greek History end up in the Army?”
“Boredom.”
“Perfectly good reason to me.”
“How does someone get interested in medicine?”
“Curiosity. That, and my mom didn’t think it was the right career path for me and tried to discourage me every step of the way. You put those two things together, and it was a no-brainer.”
“Would your mom have approved of me?”
“Not in a million years. Which is why I like you.”
He laughed. “I can live with that.”
“What did you do in the Army when you weren’t out saving America?”
“Sleep.”
“Sleep?”
“You don’t get a lot of sleep in the Army when you’re in-country. There have been times when I’ve gone days without sleeping. So you learn to grab shut eye whenever you can, which usually means when someone’s not shooting at you.”
“How do you ever get used to something like that?”
“You don’t have a choice. Adapt or perish.”
“Maybe that’s what we have to do now. Adapt or perish.”
“We’ve adapted, Lara. That’s how we’ve survived this long.”
“We’ve survived, Will, but survival isn’t living.”
“That can change.”
He reached over and put his hand over hers. She slipped her fingers through his until they were entwined.
“That was very slick,” she smiled.
“I have my moments,” he smiled back.
They drove past the overgrown football field, spread out underneath the sky. The bleachers, along just one side of the field, were empty.
Dansby High School was slightly under a kilometer from the highway, though the trip along the small, bumpy road felt longer. They pulled into the parking lot. The sprawling one-story school was much bigger than he had expected. The uncut grass swayed in the breeze, but it was easy to tell that the school grounds used to be well maintained, with a series of winding concrete walkways leading from the parking lot to two front doors. The American flag was still flying when they arrived, the metal latch that held it in place banging against the steel pole, the only sound in the whole town other than their engines.
“How many people did Davies say lived here?” Lara asked, leaning forward to take in the sight of the school.
“Apparently just three hundred or so,” Will said.
“That’s a pretty big school for 300 or so people.”
“Maybe they’re really serious about their education. Or they had more money than they knew what to do with. A lot of small towns along the state highways don’t even have land taxes. All of their money comes from speeding tickets.”
“Really?”
“There are speed traps everywhere. It’s great if you live in those towns, not so much if you’re just driving through and happen to be going five miles over the speeding limit.”
“Are we speaking from personal experience?”
“My heart says no, but my wallet says yes.”
Will climbed out, snatching the Remington 870 and M4A1 from the back. Lara followed, leaving the ham radio behind. They met Danny and Davies in front of the trucks and looked over the neighborhood around the school. There were a dozen houses on the other side of the street.
Danny looked over at Davies. “Three hundred or so, huh? How many of those 300 or so are kids? Two hundred and ninety-nine?”
Davies shrugged. “Look, that’s just what someone told me, okay? There might be more, I don’t know. Shit.”
Danny rolled his eyes. He looked back at Will. “Okay, boys and girls, so we’re here. What’s the plan?”
“Go in, get the girl and her brother, go home,” Will said.
“Just like that, huh?”
“Just like that.”
“Uh huh.”
“What?” Davies said, seeing Danny’s doubtful expression. “Is there something going on I should worry about?”
Danny jerked a thumb at Will. “It’s just that whenever he says something is going to be a walk in the park, it usually ends up being anything but.”
“I take offense to that,” Will said.
“Shut up. You know I’m right.” Danny looked back at the school. “Okay then, might as well get this adventure over with. It’s just a walk in the park, right?”