When Desperation Meets Opportunity Chapters 24–26 (The End!) — A #NaNoWriMo 2015 Story
Chapter 24 — Maggie
As soon as Jim leaves the vehicle, my phone rings with a call from Lance.
“Make it quick, we don’t have much time.” I hurriedly spit out.
“So hasty! But, yes, I understand. This will all be over soon and you’ll be with your son within the hour. You will need to head to the Midwest Refrigerated Services building in Pleasant Prairie. That is where the exchange will take place.”
“This doesn’t happen unless I get his share too. And you need to promise me it’ll be painless.”
“Woah, slow down there. First of all, you should be happy to get your son back, so don’t be making demands on me. Secondly, Jim actually told me that he wanted to give you his share, based on his little predicament. I’ll take care of Jim, don’t you worry about that. The exchange will happen an hour from now. Don’t be late. If I see you are up to any tricks, the deal is off and I’m leaving with Brayden.” And thus the conversation ends.
I barely put the phone in a cup holder when Jim flies back into the car. “Go go go go!!” he screams at me. I put my foot to the gas, squealing the tires before gaining traction and zooming towards our final destination. That is something I’ve never done before. In the rearview mirror, I see a small plume of smoke emit from our target building and the lights around the building, which are visible on this cloudy day, are now out.
“I think it worked. We’ve done it!” Jim is actually excited in the backseat. I’m not so sure I would be. Between the two of us, we’ve been involved in death, sabotage, theft, and vandalism, to name a few. Was it worth it? I don’t think so. Even if it was, this isn’t a time to celebrate. I certainly won’t be. “Any word from Mr. Man yet?”
“No, not yet. I’m sure he is listening in right now and waiting for the right time. I’m going to try and get us across the border for now before we stop and game plan.”
“Sounds good.”
I want to tell him so bad. The only route I have to save Jim involves Jake finding out some kind of proof against Lance that would give us something to tell the police. I can’t say I feel confident this will happen, but I’ll be sending the address as soon as I get Brayden back, and hoping for the best.
The remainder of the drive is quiet. A lot of thinking and contemplating taking place. As we take the exit toward Pleasant Prairie, I begin to feel pains in my stomach as the anxiety of what is about to happen hits me. I’d like to believe that getting Brayden back is all that matters, but if it weren’t for the risks that Jim has taken, I wouldn’t be here. If there was some other way out of this, some way for us to have everything and each other, I’d love to see it. But my mind comes up blank. This is the only way.
We pull into the Midwest Refrigerated Services parking lot, and I stop the car. Lance should be here any minute now. Jim is curious and speaks up.
“Why are we stopped here? Is everything okay?”
I stare straight ahead, waiting to see any sign of Lance. The silence is killing me, I can only imagine how it is making Jim feel.
“Maggie. What is going on? Why aren’t you talking to me?” His voice is getting louder and more harried. It is so hard to sit here knowing what I know. Tears start flowing. But, I continue to look straight ahead, even though I can no longer see.
“You have me freaking out Maggie! Why are we here? What do you know? Is it Brayden? You can talk to me. Please talk to me. Please!” His pleading has me about to break. I’m not strong enough for this. Everything is hitting me all at once. My dead mother. My missing son. The destroyed lives and broken bridges we’ve created. As I feel I can’t take another minute, through the blurriness of my eyes, I see a dark SUV show up. This is it.
“Maggie? Who is this? You are scaring me.” Jim continues to plead with me. Finally, he grabs my shoulders with his arms and pulls me toward him. I don’t fight it. “I don’t know what is happening, but it will be okay. I’m here for you.” I don’t want him to let go. Maybe this moment could last forever. His imperfection and my imperfection and all of our mistakes frozen and in the past. But, Jim pulls away as the SUV has now pulled directly in front of us about 15 yards away. A man gets out of the passenger seat and opens up the back door. Out bounds the most beautiful thing in the world.
My baby boy Brayden.
Chapter 25 — Jim
I’ve never seen him before, but I know he is mine. He was made from me. How I could have ever turned my back on these two is baffling my mind. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. Seeing Brayden makes me realize the truth now. Maggie has been lying to me. It must have been to protect Brayden. But why?
“He is so beautiful.” is all I can manage to say.
“Yes. Yes he is. And he is so worth it. I wouldn’t be doing this if he wasn’t worth it.” That’s new. What could she possibly mean?
“Wouldn’t be doing what? Maggie, for the last time, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Get out of the car, Jim” she says, muffled by the tears and sobs. It is finally dawning on me what is happening She isn’t here to pick up Brayden. She is here to trade me for him.
“Maggie, there must be another way, right? Tell me there was another way?” All of the ideas in my head and the conversations that we had, yet she has known that this was the outcome. That there was no future for us. The sad part is, I don’t deserve it. However, it doesn’t make this hurt any less.
She just repeats herself. “Get out of the car Jim. It is time for me to get my son back.”
I try and correct her. “You mean our son.”
“He has never been our son. Please, Jim. Get out of the car. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.” It is like she has gone cold. She is focused on one thing and one thing only — Brayden. It is now that I realize how frightened I am. If he wants me this bad, I can’t imagine it is for anything good. I oblige and open the car door and slowly step out. The man has his hand on Brayden’s shoulder, but isn’t appearing to be too careless with him. He is also holding a large duffle bag in his left hand.
“Well, well. We finally get to meet, Jim! This has been a long time coming. I’ve been watching the both of you for a while now. Quietly, patiently waiting to make sure you both were to right choices. It turns out that you did perfectly. Better than I expected! Sorry about getting the boy mixed up in this, but that had to happen sooner or later. I knew one of you wouldn’t cooperate without a little extra incentive. After all, money can only go so far.” My blood boils. I see him now, a tall, slender man with a bald head and sun glasses on, even though it is overcast.
“Why did you do this to us? Why us?” I plead. If my road ends today, I want to know why.
“You will never fully understand. Building a business is like raising a baby. Of course, you abandoned this one, but I wasn’t going to abandon mine. I made a bad decision, and needed to clean it up. As luck would have it, one of my trusty partners recommended you to be the perfect candidate. It couldn’t have worked out better with having the connect you had to Maggie. Oh, by the way, you can come out now.”
The other rear passenger door opens. I can’t believe my eyes.
It’s Jake.
“Hey buddy! You look a little surprised. Haha! Dude, I wanted to tell you, but then I thought, nah. Lance here has been paying me to try and keep that crappy app company afloat. I am basically carrying that place. Thankfully, you came along, just desperate enough to take the bait, and smart enough to learn the skills, and stupid enough to not see this coming.”
I’m still stunned. I can’t move. No wonder we weren’t making any progress. It wasn’t because we couldn’t. It was because he didn’t want me to. Any chance of escaping this scenario is gone. I try and force my head to look back at Maggie — she seems as shocked as me. Yet, she opens the door, and gets out. She has fire in her eyes. She wants her son back.
“Heyas Maggie! I’m guessing that you aren’t going to be texting me any info about this are you?” Jake chides at her. I look at Maggie.
“What is that about?” I whisper to her.
“I wanted to try something. I thought I could trust him…” She responds with complete sadness in her voice.
Lance speaks up. “I can hardly blame her for trying. It is tough raising a little boy alone. Trust me, I’m ready to say bye bye to little Brayden here. I’m going to walk him halfway. Jim, you need to walk halfway as well. This is a deal after all. Maggie, even though you tried my patience and my trust, a deal is a deal. This duffle bag has your money and Jim’s. Don’t forget that I know where to find you.”
This is really it. The end of the line. I look at Maggie. I have no idea how, but tears are still streaming down her face. The thought of leaving her behind again is causing me such pain. The knowledge that Jake has been working against me this entire time. She just mouths “I’m sorry” like that is all she can do.
With that, Lance begins his walk to the middle with Brayden. The boy is now crying, as he is seeing his mother shed tears. “Mommy!” he cries out. My heart breaks for them. I slowly take my steps toward the middle. Jake approaches me, meeting me in the middle. He grabs me by the shoulder, and walks me back to the car. I’m trembling, not knowing what is coming next, expecting the worst.
I look over to see Brayden back in the arms of Maggie, and the bag of money that will never buy her peace. That is the last thing I see as Jake puts me in the car. I watch as Maggie gets in the car with Brayden, and drives away.
Lance gets back in the front passenger seat, and turns around.
“I don’t want to die!” I plead with him. I’m terrified that my short life will be coming to an end. It might sound stupid, but I never considered death. Ever. At least not this young.
“Who said anything about dying?” he responds. My eyes grow wide. “You are a loose end, for sure, but you’ve shown yourself to be a fast learner and reliable to a fault. It didn’t do us any favors that you got caught on that camera, but I think you could serve us well in a capacity where no one knows you are working for us. This isn’t the end, Jim. It is just the beginning.”
I look at Jake, who nods.
“Yes, you can thank your friend Jake. Turns out he saw a lot of potential in you, and didn’t think we should waste your talents. Don’t let me down Jim. You know I’m a serious man.”
Chapter 26 — Maggie
ONE WEEK LATER
I wake up in a cold sweat again. Another nightmare. The images of my mother lying dead on the floor still scalded in my brain.
Thinking of what else the nightmare contained, I look beside me. There is Brayden, sleeping silently. I check the clock in this hotel room — it is almost 7am. Time to hit the road again.
I’m not sure where we are headed. We have two million dollars and we have each other. I thank my lucky stars everyday that I have my baby back. Where the road leads us from this small town Idaho AmericInn, who knows. Oregon always seemed like a nice place. Maybe we’ll try and settle there.
It is hard to think of what we’ve left behind, but too many memories and concerns live back in Stetford. I can’t face my dad knowing how I ruined his life, twice. On the way out of town, I left him a hundred thousand dollars as a parting gift. Hopefully he can find some solace in the money, or at least enough alcohol to drown out the pain.
I think back to Rodger. I scanned the papers from back home, but didn’t find any mention of him. His apartment was empty and unlocked, and it didn’t like look he had been there since we had last been together. Hopefully he is safe somewhere. I wish I could have brought him with, or at least been able to give him something.
Lastly, I think of Jim. I never thought I would mourn him. I never thought I would miss him. But I do. We made a lot of promises to try again during our short time together. It was likely fueled by lack of sleep, intense stress, and the loneliness both of us know too well. I’d like to think that somehow he escaped and is trying to find his way to me. Maybe it was all a big show and they just let him go. But, I have to confront the very harsh reality that he is probably gone, another person I had a hand in destroying.
Every morning I reserve time to think of these things. Not because I want to, or because it makes me feel better. But because I don’t want to forget how little value this money has. Sure, we can buy food, clothes, shelter, and a tiny bit of security. But it can’t buy back the lives of those lost. It can buy back the crimes we committed.
When desperation meets opportunity, the only loser is you. You might think having the money is nice. But if you had to trade in everything and everybody that you ever knew or loved, and in return were left with the abscess of horrible memories, would you still do it? I know my answer.
THE END
