The Variables

“Let me go to him,” Lindsey whispered and Darla loosened her grip. She let Lindsey slip forward. She sat next to him on the bed, the bed springs calling out as she sat down, and she put an arm around his shoulders. He continued to cry.

Darla lowered the gun. She walked calmly over to the night stand and opened it. There were several sets of keys and instead of trying to ascertain which one was better, she grabbed them all. She looked at Lou and Lindsey, huddled together on the bed.

“They kidnapped my son,” Darla said slowly, but loud enough for the family to hear over Lou’s sniveling.

The old man lifted his head. His eyes were red.

“I’m not telling you where I’m going or what I know. But I’m telling you that. The people that did this to us…they took my child. And you’ve prevented me from going to get him…”

“You could have told me,” Lou said. “I only wanted to know if we were in danger.”

“You could have trusted me,” Darla replied. “You didn’t tell me about the other people or what you were going to do after you knew the truth…you don’t deserve peace, Lou.” She looked at him and backed her way to the door, the gun still firmly in her hand. “You deserve to live in fear. You have an amazing house and prepared for your family…but I can’t…”

Downstairs Darla could hear shouting. There was a rumble of footsteps and then the sound of glass breaking. In an instant, she heard footsteps on the stairs. Darla looked at Lou and his face had gone ashen; a look of terror on his face.

“Sweepers,” he breathed. “You lied!”

Then he launched himself at her, his ski

“You called them to kill us! You signaled them to kill us!”

“Dad! Dad!” Lindsey screamed from the bed and she jumped up and tried to pry him off of Darla, but Lou was determined.

Darla rolled and then kicked wildly, catching Lou in the stomach and she pushed herself away. The door to the bedroom swung open and a very tall man in a button-down fla

“Ray,” Cricket yelled.

Lou turned. He was breathing heavily against the floor. His right hand covered in Darla’s blood.

“Ray,” he repeated.

The man named Ray surveyed the room. “This isn’t good, Lou,” Ray said in a deep drawl. “I warned you.”

“They escaped. I thought you were…” Lou didn’t even finish his sentence. He nodded slowly and his shoulders sunk to the floor. He resumed blubbering into the carpet. Darla didn’t know if she should comfort the man or spit on him. She looked down at her hand and then looked away. It was a bloodied mess of torn skin.

“We’re taking them.”

“I don’t know you,” Darla started and she say Ray’s eyes go to the gun in her hands.

“Well, Darla, I don’t know you either. But your traveling companions, Dean and Ainsley, have already crawled into the back of our pickup truck. So, unless you imagine you’d like to stick around here for a bit longer, I’m thinking you’ll probably want to join us.”

“Wait,” Lindsey said and she stepped forward. “Wait. Just wait.”

Ray took a step inward and motioned for Darla to step out of the room.

“I’m sorry, Lindsey,” Ray said.

“But I wanted to go with you,” she said in a whisper. “Please?”

Ray looked at Cricket and Lou, then back at Lindsey. “Sorry, Lindsey. We think it’s best that the entire Hales family just take some time to reevaluate. We’ll stop on by later to discuss it.”

“Later?” Lindsey looked panicked.

“You had a chance to make the right choice.” He bowed his head. “Lou. Cricket. Lyle’s downstairs. You folks…” he started, but then he didn’t finish his sentence. He just waved his hand and looked at them with a sad, disappointed glare. Then he walked back down the hallway where Darla was already waiting for him, slipped by the framed pictures and down the stairs.

Right on his heels, Darla followed him out of the house and into the thick darkness of the country night. There were two trucks waiting for them—Dean sat in one and Ainsley sat in the other. Wordlessly, she climbed into the truck closest to her and sat down in the center of the bed. Ainsley was there with her back against the edge.

Darla looked at the driver of her own truck; it was a woman, her hair tucked up into a baseball cap. A young man sat next to her, big and balding. In the bed of the other pick-up were two teenage girls, huddled together holding rifles.

“Ray and Jillian and friends,” Ainsley offered with a weak smile.

“Yeah,” Darla replied. “To our rescue.”

“Everything okay up there? We heard shouting.”

“Everything will be okay,” Darla said. Then she added, “For us, at least. Everything will be okay for us.”

She looked back at the Hales’ house and she could see the silhouettes of Lou and Cricket in their upstairs bedroom; they had removed the coverings to watch their captives go. The truck engine roared and they started to roll down the long driveway. Then, Darla gasped. Lindsey was ru

The truck maneuvered through the small neighborhood, back past the grocery store where they had tried to spend their first night, and then up to the highway. The farmhouse was long gone out of view before the truck slowed to a stop and pulled to the side of the road. The second truck sped up and stopped in the road. Ray threw the pick-up into park and slid out of the cab.

Dean sat in the passenger seat. Unharmed and calm, he opened the door and walked over to them.

“You okay?” he said. “You two okay? Oh man, oh man. Darla...your hand...”

Darla looked down. A steady stream of blood trickled down her arm. She ignored Dean and wrapped the hand in her shirt, and then she got a better look at the man standing next to him—a tall cowboy-type with graying hair and a thin beard. Ray.

“So, who are you?” she asked. “And what the hell just happened back there?”

“That’s what happens when Lou Hales has some trouble living in the real world,” the man said. “Just stopping by for a little climate check tonight…and it seems like our timing was spot-on. We’ve been having some disagreements over his decision to keep you in the basement…but looks like you solved that issue on your own.” He winked at her. She didn’t crack a smile back.

“You are the people we heard? The ones who visited the Hales? You got a place up in Montana?”

The man nodded.

“He didn’t attack me until he thought you were Sweepers. I had the keys.”

“Sorry about that,” Ray said and he smiled. “But Lou keeps his car keys in a safe in the kitchen. Those are all decoys. Wouldn’t have made it very far.”

“Lindsey set me up?” Darla asked and she didn’t feel as badly about the image of Lindsey ru

“No, darlin’,” Ray replied. “Lou doesn’t even trust his own daughter not to make a run for it. I imagine she told you honestly what she thought.”

Darla nodded. She looked down and closed her eyes.

“Look, Lou told us he thinks you know something about the people who did this...the terrorists...”

“Oh,” Darla sighed, her stomach sank and she felt ill-at-ease. Her eyes went to the young vigilantes in the other truck. Their vacant stares scared the shit out of her. “I see…so, this rescue is far from altruistic in nature? We don’t know anything…so, I’m sorry if you wasted your time. You wa