Tomorrow's Sun (Lost Sanctuary) - By Becky Melby Page 0,118

Or break something. She held her breath and opened her phone.

ARE KIDS WITH YOU? MOM’S FRANTIC.

ANSWER. PLEASE.

CHAPTER 32

In one mile, take ramp right.”

The techno-British voice of Adam’s GPS used to be funny. From the backseat of Ben’s smelly Suburban, Lexi glared at it through tears, wishing she could smash it.

“Are we having fun yet?” Ben’s words slurred. The right front tire vibrated on the rumble strip.

He’s gonna get us killed. She fought the urge to grab Adam’s hand. She turned to him and he nodded. He was being brave for her, and she knew his thoughts were racing, trying to come up with a plan. His foot jiggled a small flowerpot. One of them had fallen out when they stopped at the restroom and Ben had sworn up a storm. His stupid plants.

Adam’s hands kept going to his pockets, but Ben had made him empty them. All his stuff, including his knife, was in his backpack, too far back to reach.

Ben had stood and watched while she and Adam hauled the way-back seats out of the Suburban. “You want to go camping? Let’s go camping,” he’d said. “Nice little birthday trip.”

He was drunk. But not drunk enough. Either one of them could outrun him, but Ben did what he always did—he threatened. If one of them left, or screamed, or tried to grab the phone, he’d hurt the other one. The whole time they’d packed the SUV, he’d had his fat hand on one of them. When they stopped at a rest area, he grabbed Adam’s arm before he let her out of his sight and stood at the open door, watching her go in and out of the stall. Then he took Adam with him into the men’s restroom and made her stand close enough to answer him when he called her name. Lexi put her hand over her mouth. What would he do if she threw up all over him? Maybe it would be the perfect distraction.

The headlights reflected off a sign that said thirty-two miles to St. Louis. Ben waved at the sign. The tires on his side swerved over the white line. A car horn blared. “So what’s in Fredwhatever, Missouri, that you’re so anxious to see?”

“Letters.” Adam spat out the word.

Ben laughed. “Stupid kid.” He let go of the wheel to scratch his head then jerked it back.

Lexi’s forehead knocked against the window. “The police are probably already looking for us.” Her hand slid into her sweatshirt pocket and wrapped around her inhaler. Would it sting if she shot it in his face?

“They won’t look until a person’s gone for twenty-four hours. We’ll be in Texas by then.”

“That’s not true. Not with kids.”

Ben swore and called Adam a stupid kid again. Lexi wondered when the last time was he’d called Adam by his name. She wrapped her arms tight across her stomach. “He’s not the stupid one,” she whispered, then raised her voice. “You coulda won custody, you know. Now you’re gonna get slammed in jail for a long, long, long time.”

It was the first happy thought she’d had all night.

“What happened? Where are the kids?”

Emily’s voice quivered. Jake cupped one hand over his ear to hear her over his mother’s crying and Wayne and Topher on their own cell phones. As he grabbed the piece of notebook paper from his mother, a squad car pulled up in front of the house. He crossed the kitchen in two strides and walked outside. “They’re not with you?”

“With me? Why would they be with me? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” He ran his hand across his eyes. “They’re gone, you’re gone, Ben’s gone. You tell me.”

“How could you think—”

“I’m not thinking!” He slammed his fist on the top of the grill. “Mom said maybe you ran off with them like she said she wanted to, thinking you were helping—”

“No. I would never—I left because of what your friend, your lawyer, said last night about me being your lottery ticket.”

“Oh man. Em…it was all a joke. I told them things were getting serious with us and he made this big thing out of it. You have to know I’m not like that.”

“But you were desperate and…” Her voice cracked. He could hear the tears.

“Where are you?”

“South of St. Louis. Could Ben have taken them? That doesn’t make sense. How do you take two kids?”

Jake clenched his eyes against the sting. “They were gone this morning when we got up. And Ben’s not home. His car is gone. We