Daisy Zhou
DAISY RAN PAST the others, watching the van as it cut around the corner and disappeared from view.
She turned to John, Susan, and Kat, the three of them dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe that they were standing there like that. It had been scary enough when Scott was holding a gun on them. It made her blood run cold and her body seize up, to see that monster wielding the power of life and death over them.
But now he was gone. And Paul was with him.
For as much as she wanted to put faith in her husband, she found that faith flagging. Paul wasn’t a man of action. He was a man of thoughtfulness. And thoughtfulness didn’t mean much against a loaded weapon, or a man desperate enough to use it.
She hated thinking that. She hated doubting her husband. But she couldn’t help herself. Every second the van got further away, it made her feel more and more like she might not see him again. At least, not alive.
Daisy put her hands up in the air, trying to snap the other parents out of their stupor. “We have to do something!”
“Okay, okay, let’s check on Hanlon first,” John said. “I’ll do it. The rest of you stay here.”
John ran around the side of the building as Daisy stood there, bouncing on the toes of her feet. She didn’t know what to do. Her van was gone. Her husband was gone. She felt empty.
All that doubt and uncertainty about her marriage were suddenly erased. She couldn’t lose Paul, too. She wouldn’t know what to do. She couldn’t bear the prospect of raising Jian by herself.
She went over to the other women. Kat was shaking her head, clearly frustrated, while Susan had wrapped her arms around herself, sobbing silently. It seemed like the gravity of the situation was pulling them apart.
Maybe Paul was right. Maybe this wasn’t the right thing to do.
Kat put her hand on Daisy’s arm. “It’s going to be okay,” she said.
“How do you know that?” Daisy asked. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because Paul is a smart man. He’s a cautious man. He won’t do anything that’s going to get himself killed.”
Daisy nodded. Kat was right. Maybe the thoughtfulness would save him.
Then she got an idea. She reached around to her back pocket, thinking maybe she would text Paul, try to communicate with him some way, find out where the van was.
But the phone was in the bag, with all the rest.
The bag was in the van.
So Scott had the van, her husband, and all their cell phones.
She wanted to scream.
John and Hanlon reappeared, jogging around the side of the building. Hanlon was huffing, his hair unkempt, his clothes ruffled. And more than that, he looked pissed. John was running him through what happened, about Scott taking off.
As soon as they got close, Daisy dove forward and slapped Hanlon hard across the face. Her hand stung from the impact. The blow seemed to stun him. He staggered back and hit the wall, putting one hand to his cheek, eyes wide.
“What the hell happened in there?” Daisy asked. “Can’t you do anything right?”
“Now hold on,” Hanlon said, rubbing his face.
“No, no holding on,” Daisy said. “We have to go after them right now. You have to call the police. Let them know.”
“That’s not going to happen,” John said.
Hanlon nodded. “Do you know what kind of hell we’d be in?”
“My husband is in the van,” Daisy said. “I don’t know how to make it clearer.”
“And I can’t make this any more clear,” John said, talking slowly, like she was a child. “Now shut up and let’s go get into Hanlon’s car. We’ll go after them and we’ll fix this.”
“But—” Daisy said.
John drew himself up so that he seemed a few inches taller. He stepped toward Daisy, his face suddenly set in stone. The words that came out of him bubbled from someplace deep and scary.
“No more buts,” he said. “Get moving.”
Daisy tried to hold his gaze, but his eyes were like chips of granite. John was an angry man, and the way he directed his anger at her shook her to her core. She looked over to Susan, thinking his wife would support him, but she was looking down at the pavement.
Their relationship seemed suddenly cast in a new, disturbing light.
Daisy couldn’t believe it. She wanted to reach up and slap John, too, but in that terrible moment, she got the feeling like he might hit her back.
“Okay, fine, let’s go to the car,” she said, not wanting to waste any more time.
They ran for the parking lot, making their way to Hanlon’s car. The wide bench seats gave them enough room—Hanlon driving, John up front, and the women in the back. Kat in the center, with Susan on one side and Daisy on the other. They barely had the doors closed before Hanlon started the engine and whipped it out of the parking lot.
He seemed to be driving with a purpose, and before Daisy could ask where he was going, John did it for her. “What’s the plan?”
“He said he was leaving, right?” Hanlon asked. “He said that?”
“Yes.”
“He’s panicking,” Hanlon said. “He knows he’s not safe here. I bet he’s aiming for the expressway. There’s a ramp not too far from here. It’ll be the first thing he comes across, and it’s going to look awful inviting.”
“And what do we do when we catch up to him?” Susan asked.
“We’re playing this one by ear,” Hanlon said.
Daisy tried to formulate a plan on her own, the whole time staring at the back of John’s head. What kind of man was this? And what path had he put them on?