1
Michael arrived the following Tuesday evening at five. He rented a car and drove over to the Meyers house, arriving a little after six o’clock.
“Hi, Michael,” Karen greeted as she opened the door. “How was your flight?”
“Just wonderful,” he told her as he politely kissed her cheek. “Is Jamie home?”
“Sure. She’s in the kitchen eating dinner.”
Karen led Michael into the kitchen and Jamie jumped up to hug him the moment she saw him.
“I’m almost done eating,” she informed him. “I’ll take the rest of it with me so we can leave right away. I’m so anxious to see Maria.”
Michael eyed her suspiciously, wondering what was really going on. He had been a nervous wreck ever since her call the previous week. He couldn’t wait to get an explanation.
“I guess we’re on our way, Karen,” announced Michael. “Maybe I’ll see you when we get back.”
“Jamie’s planning to take you to UCLA after you visit Maria,” Karen informed him. “I’ve already given her permission to stay out past midnight. I’m sure I’ll be sound asleep when you get back. Take good care of her, Michael.”
“You bet!” he assured her.
The two of them scurried out the door and into Michael’s rental car. They were on the Freeway minutes later.
“Where are we headed?” Jamie inquired.
“Maria’s at Francine Sullivan’s sister’s place,” explained Michael. “I had her taken there the same day you called me.”
“I hope you didn’t call her...”
“No,” interrupted Michael, “I called from a pay phone and talked with Francine at her home. I was very cautious.”
“That’s a relief,” Jamie replied. “How far away does she live?”
“Only a few more miles if I have the directions straight. Can you tell me what this is all about, Jamie?”
“I told you that there were four devil-children born the same time as Maria was,” began Jamie. Carefully concealing the matter of Donald Perry from Michael, she continued, “We found Larry and Brian already, leaving two more out there still looking for Maria. The devil-children had no way of knowing about me, Michael, and I thought that Maria would be very difficult for them to find. I have a hunch that maybe they found each other first, though.”
“I don’t understand, Jamie.”
“I think that when you took care of Larry Hunt or Brian Murphy, one or both of the others may have seen you. Maybe they followed you or something. Anyway, I have a feeling they may have tapped your phone and heard you talking about Maria. I have to assume they know about me too. We were pretty careless in some of our conversations, Michael.”
He thought about her last statement. “Yeah, I guess we were. Now what?”
“We have to be very careful from here on out, Michael. They mustn’t find out where Maria is. We’ll even have to watch out for ourselves. It’s a race now. We have to find them before they find us.”
“Oh, God! You’re really scaring me, Jamie.”
“They obviously didn’t know for sure about Maria,” Jamie reassured Michael. “You have to remember that they were only asking questions so far. If they knew for sure, Maria would probably be dead already. Let’s just hope they know less than I’m speculating, but let’s play it extra safe anyway.”
Jamie was having a difficult time keeping her story straight. Concealing things from Michael was starting to be emotionally draining on her. She couldn’t wait to locate Mason and get this thing over with. She really wished she didn’t have to lie to Michael. He was such a wonderful man and a great, loyal friend.
Michael exited the Freeway and turned right. Following the directions he had memorized, he drove to the second traffic light and turned left. He followed the winding road for seven miles, just past the fourth traffic light, then took the third right after that. He stopped in front of the fifth house on the right.
“This must be it,” he announced as he read the street number on the curbside mailbox.
“Can we just check on her real quick and then get back on the road, Michael? We need to get over to UCLA and do some planning.”
“What sort of planning?” asked Michael.
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
They knocked on the door and Cathy let them in.
“Michael Pearlstein,” he said as he extended his hand. “And this is Miss Jamie Meyers.”
“Cathy Rhodes,” she replied. “Nice to meet you.”
She led them to the back bedroom where Maria sat quietly staring at her own image in the dresser mirror.
.....
Frank and Mason sat in the van about two hundred feet from the house. Frank turned the engine off.
“What do you think they’re doing here?” asked Mason.
“Beats me,” answered Frank. “Anyway, the important thing is that it doesn’t look like they saw us following them.”
“Why don’t you turn the van around, Frank? My guess is they’ll make a U-turn to get out of here. We’re in no man’s land.”
“Sounds good to me, Mason.”
Frank started the engine, swung the van around and parked on the opposite side of the road. He turned off the engine, adjusted the side mirror so he could see the house, and slumped down in the driver’s seat to be a little less conspicuous.
It wasn’t even five minutes before Michael and Jamie came back out and jumped into their car. They turned the car around and drove right past the van.
“See! I told you they’d make a U-turn,” Mason gloated.
“Good thinking,” admitted Frank as he started the engine.
.....
Jamie turned to Michael as they pulled away from Cathy’s house. She stared at him for a while as she figured out exactly what she should tell him about Mason.
“I think I may have a lead on one of the devil-children, Michael.”
“Really? What kind of a lead?”
“Well, there’s not too much to go on, but I have an idea he might live in Maryland.” She didn’t want to tell Michael much more than that for now.
“How do you know that?” inquired Michael.
“I’ll explain when we get to UCLA.” She began to think up a story that Michael might believe.
“Oh, damn!” barked Michael. “How stupid can I be?”
“What’s wrong?” Jamie asked quite concerned.
“I have to pee,” admitted Michael. “I should have gone at Cathy’s place. I don’t know where my head is. I feel like such a dope.”
“We passed a gas station on this road on our way up,” Jamie recalled. “It should be right around here on the right side.”
Michael slowed down so he wouldn’t pass right by the gas station on the winding road.
“There!” Jamie shouted as she pointed to the sign up ahead. “But the light’s out in the sign. It was lit when we passed it before.”
“Well, maybe there’s someone still there,” Michael responded. “We’ll know in a second.”
He pulled into the station and could clearly see that it was locked up for the night with no lights in the office or bays.
“That’s okay, kid,” he laughed. “I’ll use the special bathroom. You know, the tree around the back.”
Jamie laughed as Michael stopped the car, jumped out and disappeared around the side of the building.
.....
Frank switched off his headlights the moment he saw the car pull off the road ahead. He slowed down and drove the last hundred feet on the shoulder of the road. When he reached the station, he saw that Michael’s car was alone in the lot and he saw Michael get out and walk around the building.
“Perfect!” Frank declared. “Should we do it?”
Mason scanned the scene and quickly determined that the station was closed. “Do it!” Mason ordered. “I’ll take the little one!”
.....
Michael walked slowly in the darkness behind the building trying to find an appropriate spot to relieve himself. He stopped and reached down to unzip his fly. The pipe came smashing down on his head. His knees collapsed as he fell to the ground unconscious. He never felt a thing.
Jamie was leaning against the passenger door when it suddenly opened. She let out a sudden yelp of surprise before the hand covered her mouth and nose with the damp cloth. She kicked valiantly as she was dragged out of the car, but the first breath of ether she inhaled was all it took. She fought a few seconds more, but Mason was easily twice her weight.
.....
Michael came to and felt the back of his head. He could tell he was bleeding, but he knew it wasn’t too bad a gash. As his head cleared, he started to remember where he was. He slowly got himself to his feet and staggered around to the front of the building. As soon as he saw the opened passenger door, he knew what had happened.
He looked around and saw the phone booth near the road. He walked over as fast as he could and dialed the operator. He glanced at his watch and figured he must have been out for around ten or fifteen minutes.
“Operator, I need the police.”
Minutes later the police arrived at the scene. Michael called Karen and told her what happened. He told her that there was no trace of blood anywhere, so he was hopeful that Jamie was okay.
As soon as the police realized that Jamie was a well-known child actress, they assumed it was a kidnapping and called in the FBI. Michael refused to let the police take him to the hospital until he could speak face to face with Karen and Vic. Within ten minutes, Michael was in the back of a police car on his way back to the Meyers’ house, and the FBI had three men on their way to meet him there.
As he arrived, Karen and Vic ran outside to meet him. From the two plain cars in the driveway, Michael deduced that the FBI was already there.
“God, are you all right, Michael?” screamed Karen.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s Jamie I’m worried about.” He made eye contact with Karen and gestured to get her aside.
“What, Michael?”
“Karen, I can’t explain now, but don’t even mention Maria Cortez to anyone. I think she may be in danger.”
“What kind of danger?” she insisted.
“I don’t know for sure. Please, can you keep her name out of all this?”
“What kind of danger is my Jamie in?” she demanded.
Michael began to weep. He knew he couldn’t tell her what he feared the most. He had to just wait with the rest of them and pray for the best. He knew Jamie was a resourceful young lady.
“I know she’ll be okay,” he lied in an effort to reassure Karen and Vic.
“Damn it!” Vic yelled. “There’s too many friggin’ crazies in this world. I knew we shouldn’t have brought Jamie out here to California.”
Karen put her arm around Vic and whispered, “She’s going to be all right, honey. It’s nobody’s fault.”
The FBI took immediate control of the situation. They set up a command center in the Meyers’ living room. One of them went out to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. They were all convinced it was going to be a long night.
Karen sat on the sofa with Vic and silently prayed that God would watch over her precious little girl. Vic had his first craving in ages for a stiff drink. Michael finally agreed to let the police drive him over to the emergency room to take care of his head.
“I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” he assured Karen and Vic. He leaned over and put a hand on each of their shoulders and added, “She’s going to be all right.”
2
Jamie awoke and found herself lying on the floor in the back of a van. Her mouth was taped. She looked around and saw that her ankles were bound together with duct tape. She felt her wrists bound behind her back the same way. The back of the van had no windows and the light was very low. They were parked somewhere. She saw trees through the front windshield. The voice beside her startled her.
“Did you have a nice rest?”
She turned to face a young boy. She was almost certain who he was.
“Is everything okay back there?” a man’s voice asked from the driver’s seat.
Jamie turned her head and saw the elderly man looking back at the two of them.
“Just fine, Frank. Why don’t you take a little stroll or something? This girl and I have a few things to talk about alone.”
Frank opened the door and got out. He slammed it closed and Jamie saw him walking away. She was petrified. She knew in her heart that they had no intention of letting her get out of this alive.
“Well, Jamie Meyers, you and I have a lot of things to discuss.”
He reached over and grabbed the corner of the tape that covered Jamie’s mouth. He tore it off slowly. The pain wasn’t as bad as Jamie had anticipated.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked.
“You already know my name,” she answered. Her mind was desperately seeking a way out of this situation. “Who are you?”
“I’m the tooth fairy. Maybe I can knock a few of your teeth out for you. Would you like that, Miss Jamie Meyers?”
Jamie said nothing. She stared into his eyes, trying not to show fear or weakness.
He asked, “What’s your connection with Brian Murphy?”
“Who’s that?” she replied.
He slapped her across the face so hard that she almost passed out. When she looked back into his eyes, she could see the rage that was building.
“Let’s try another one. Who’s Michael Pearlstein?”
“Just a friend. Where is he? Is he all right?”
“Come on Jamie,” he urged. “You’re really wasting all of our time. Why don’t you just answer the questions so we can all get out of here?”
“What did you do with Michael?” demanded Jamie.
He raised his hand to slap her again, but thought twice about it. He put his hand back down at his side. Instead he told her, “Fair enough! We can do this your way. One question for you, then one for me. Michael’s fine. My man Frank out there just knocked his lights out so we could grab you. Now I’ve got a question for you. How do you know Brian Murphy?”
“I don’t!”
His hand came down and slapped her again. He smiled at her and cautioned, “No fair, Jamie. No lying allowed. But I’m feeling very generous today. I’ll give you a second chance. Once more, how do you know Brian Murphy?”
Jamie was reeling. She was desperately trying to figure out how to handle the situation. “I don’t know Brian Murphy,” was all she could manage to say.
This time the slap was even harder. Jamie was afraid she might pass out.
“Listen to me, you bitch,” he screamed into her face. “I’ll kill you and your friend Michael in a heartbeat if I have to. I’m losing my patience.” His expression suddenly changed and a hint of a smile appeared on his face. “Oh, yes! We mustn’t forget your other little friend. Maria Cortez was the name, wasn’t it? Would you like to watch how we kill her?”
Jamie was starting to lose it. Adrenaline pumped through her body. The irony of it was too much for her to bear. She had been so concerned about finding Mason, yet he had found her instead. But she had to be absolutely certain that it was him.
“You’re Mason, aren’t you?” she asked.
The sudden look of shock in his eyes was all the confirmation Jamie needed. As his shock turned to anger, she knew this was the final showdown. She had to figure out some way to stay alive; to buy time.
“You are Mason,” she blurted out. “My girlfriend told me about you.”
Suddenly Jamie remembered something that she had almost forgotten in the confusion. She struggled to free her hands behind her while she distracted Mason.
Mason stared into her eyes. “What girlfriend?” he demanded.
The story just materialized out of thin air. “I met this girl a while back,” she began. “An older girl, like maybe around your age.”
Jamie watched Mason’s eyes as she felt around behind her back. There was a metal structural support behind her and she could feel the threads of a small bolt sticking out through it.
Mason asked, “What about this girl?”
“She told me this story about devil-children,” Jamie continued as she began to rub the duct tape back and forth over the threads of the protruding bolt. “She said they had to be killed or they’d take over the whole world.”
Mason’s face revealed his fascination with the story. “Keep going,” he insisted. “What else did she tell you?”
“She begged me to help her.” Jamie continued to work away at the duct tape, never allowing her eyes to leave Mason’s for a moment. “She met Michael through me and...”
The driver’s door opened and Frank stuck his head in the van. It startled both Mason and Jamie.
“Are you done in there, yet?” Frank asked.
Mason was obviously upset. He shouted, “Leave us alone, damn it! Take a longer walk or something.”
“Okay, okay!” agreed Frank. “I’m walking! I’ll see you in a while.”
Frank slammed the door closed and left. Jamie’s heart was pounding. She had to focus back on the story she was telling.
“Go on,” insisted Mason.
“Where was I?” asked Jamie, trying to buy every last second she could.
“This friend of yours,” he repeated. “You said she met this Michael through you.”
“Oh, yeah! Well, like I was saying, she told Michael this whole story of the devil-children and then she got him to kill this Brian Murphy kid.”
“Just like that?” Mason asked skeptically. “How did she get this Michael guy to believe her?”
“She had all this information about these kids who were all born the same day. They were all smart like adults from the time they were born. It was really creepy.” She felt the tape begin to yield. Her heart was beating so hard she thought it would burst. “Anyway,” she went on, “the girl told me the other day that one of the devil-children was coming out to California.”
Mason’s eyes reflected his astonishment. He wondered how this girlfriend could have known he was coming to California?
“What else did she say?”
Jamie could hardly believe how well the story was coming out. Mason was swallowing it hook, line and sinker. She knew she had to keep it going, though. She had to hold his attention so he wouldn’t have a chance to figure out flaws in the story.
She continued, “She said the one coming out was named Mason.”
“And you think that’s me?” he asked.
Jamie knew she had to carry this off believably. “I just assumed.” She felt the tape begin to tear. With all of her strength, she pried her wrists apart and felt the tape tear completely through. From Mason’s eyes she could tell that he was oblivious to her success. “But you don’t look like the person she described to me.”
With this, Mason’s eyebrows raised almost imperceptibly. “What did she describe?”
“Well, let me try to remember exactly.” She worked her wrists completely apart and peeled the tape off. “She said he had blonde hair and was real fat. That sure doesn’t sound like you.”
“What’s this friend’s name?” demanded Mason.
“Her name is Paula Austin.”
“Tell me all about her.”
Jamie had a captive audience and she intended to keep him captive. “She’s seven years old. I even remember her birthday. It was January the fifth, three days after another friend of mine.”
Mason almost froze with anticipation. “Where does she live?”
“I have her address and phone number at home.” She shifted her position slightly so Mason couldn’t see her slowly reaching her hand into her pocket. “It’s in the South. Someplace in Alabama.” Her fingers found the syringe and twisted it around in her pocket so that her thumb was near the plunger. “Let me think for a minute. It starts with the letter ‘H’ I think.” She gently worked the plastic protector from the needle, wrapped her fingers around the body and positioned her thumb on the plunger. “Oh, yes! I think it’s called Huntstown or something like that. I know it’s not a listed number.”
The look on Mason’s face changed slightly the moment Jamie said the number wasn’t listed. She knew she had just bought the extra few minutes she needed.
“Where do you keep her address and number?”
“I told you! I keep it at home.” She slid the syringe out of her pocket and adjusted her grip.
“No,” Mason corrected. “I mean where in the house do you keep it?”
Jamie planned her response carefully. “Oh, God! If I tell you, will you promise not to hurt me?” She made use of her acting talents and forced tears to flow down her cheeks. “Please promise me you won’t hurt me,” she begged.
Mason wasn’t about to lose this opportunity. “Of course I won’t hurt you. Now that you explained everything to me, I can see it was all a big mistake.” He put his hand under her chin and tried to reassure her by adding, “I promise I won’t hurt you, Jamie.”
She stopped her tears and faked a few sobbing gasps. She pouted for effect and then slowly lifted her eyes to meet his. Just as he started to form a reassuring smile on his face, she swung her arm around and plunged the needle toward his gut.
Instinctively Mason deflected her arm and the syringe flew out of her hand. He wrestled her down and shouted at her.
“You friggin’ bitch! I ain’t afraid of your Paula friend and I ain’t afraid of you. I’ll kill you right here, then I’ll kill your friggin’ parents and get Paula’s address without your help.”
She put up much more of a fight than Mason was expecting. He started to shout, “Frank, get over here. I need...”
Jamie slammed her knees up into his stomach as hard as she could and knocked the wind out of him. He started choking, but maintained his wits enough to roll her over on her belly and pin her down with his weight. He wrapped both hands around her neck and squeezed off her air supply as she squirmed helplessly under his weight.
Jamie was petrified. The more she fought, the worse it got. She couldn’t breath and she knew she was going to die. Her arms flailed around as she tried unsuccessfully to break his strangle hold. Then her eye caught the shape of the syringe just a foot or so from her face. She struggled to reach it with her left hand. It was a race against time and she felt herself losing. She was losing her grip on consciousness.
Her fingers touched the syringe and groped around trying to get a grip on it. She managed to wrap two fingers around the shaft and manipulate it around so her thumb touched the plunger. With every ounce of energy left in her body, she swung her arm around, stabbed the needle into Mason’s side and jammed the plunger down with her thumb. She felt herself begin to lose consciousness just as Mason’s grip on her neck began to loosen. She sucked in a breath of air and collapsed just as Mason’s body went limp on top of her.
She lay there gasping for what seemed like hours. Then she suddenly remembered that Frank was still outside. She rolled out from under Mason’s body and looked all around the back of the van. She spotted the spare tire and crawled over to it. It sat in a small well that she slid her hand down into. She fumbled around and felt the lug wrench wedged between the tire and the floor of the well. She struggled unsuccessfully to wiggle the wrench free, then sat back and looked at the tire. She saw the huge wing nut threaded over the shaft that held the tire in place. She struggled with both hands to loosen the nut and remove it. Then she pulled back the tire, reached under and forced the lug wrench loose.
She crawled over and positioned herself just behind the driver’s seat. She waited quietly as she gradually regained her strength.
.....
Frank Collier looked at his watch and got annoyed. He thought to himself that Mason should have had more than enough time to finish up with his questioning. Besides, the night air was chilly and he was uncomfortable. He decided that he was getting back in the van whether Mason liked it or not.
He made his way through the underbrush and walked up to the van. He tried to look through the driver’s window, but it was too dark to see anything. He listened and heard nothing, so he opened the door and stuck his head inside.
The lug wrench slammed against his face. It struck him just below the eye, broke his nose and ripped open a gash in his upper lip. He reeled back and struck the back of his head against the doorframe. Then he pulled himself back out of the van and fell flat on his back. As his eyes focused, he saw Jamie’s small frame jump out of the van. Then he saw her arm swing forward as the lug wrench pierced his right eye and shattered his cheekbone. He was unconscious as the next twenty slams of the wrench shattered his entire skull and snuffed out his life.
.....
Jamie was completely covered with Frank’s blood. She dropped the lug wrench beside his body and breathed a sigh of relief. She climbed back into the van and found the syringe. She carefully wrapped the fingers of Mason’s right hand around it and squeezed. She took his thumb and pressed it down on the plunger. Then she took it from him and wrapped her own right hand around it before tossing it on the floor of the van.
She went through Frank’s and Mason’s pockets looking for anything that might not be appropriate for the police to find. She knew she couldn’t possibly cover their entire trails, but there was no sense in spoon-feeding the police information that they might not otherwise find. She could hear Mason’s breathing as she searched his pockets and it somehow made her feel wonderful. She smiled, climbed out of the van and stood there for a moment.
She went over things in her mind to make sure she had a plausible story. When she was convinced, she headed back along the dirt road looking for help. She was totally exhausted and she barely had the strength to make it to the main road.
