Chapter 5


The first sign of trouble was when Rusty showed up. At first, Shannon had not even realized that was the case. Dog’s had been known to find their masters in even extreme cases. Shannon did not figure why Rusty should be any different. The fourteen year old just petted her furry friend and was very happy to see him even if it was unexpected. Shannon almost went right back to fishing in the shallow, little , sandy bottomed creek. Then she realized that Rusty was not alone.

Jake sat down on the log that Shannon was using. He pointed out to the stagnant water and asked, “you sure you even want to catch anything that comes out of that?”

Shannon could not help but stare at the guy. Then she asked, “how did you find me? How did you even know I was out here?”
“I run every morning Shannon,” Jake replied as he tossed a thumb back towards the road. “I just noticed that your tracks never reached the hard top. Hell, you never even walked as far as the fork. As for the rest,” Jake nodded to the dog who was now busy looking for wildlife in the coarse sand, “he did all the work.”

Shannon nervously licked her lips and then with gritted teeth she asked, “you’re not going to tell Mom, are you?”

“Right now,” Jake told the girl, “I’m more interested in knowing why you’re doing it.”

Shannon looked back towards the water and huffed, “I can’t do it.”

Jake just shrugged, “you can’t do what?”

A tear was starting to form in her eye, “I don’t want to leave home. I’m scared.” When he said nothing in return, Shannon’s head snapped around and in an almost accusing tone she said, “you’re not going to tell me that we can protect you and all that crap? That, oh, you got to get on with your life stuff?”

“No,” Jake told her as he picked up a small rock and tossed it at something in the water. “I been there Shannon. You don’t get over trauma, not like that.”

“Oh I see,” Shannon replied, “so it’s the give it time speech.”

“Shannon,” Jake looked the girl in the eye, “I’m not going to blow sunshine up your ass. I’ve had some pretty close calls and I remember every last one of them like they were yesterday.”

Shannon’s neck tightened. She made her next statement like it was a closely guarded secret, “I have dreams.”

“So do I,” Jake admitted.

“Yeah but,” the kid came back in a snap with, “you’re not scared.”

“Who told you that,” Jake asked her. “I’ve had plenty of people try and kill me over the years Shannon. It doesn’t change a thing. I was just as scared the last time as I was the first. I’ll probably be just as scared the next.”

“I don’t understand,” Shannon admitted. “Amy said that when you guys came and got me, that, well, she said you rushed off on your own and took out that big gun all by yourself. That doesn’t sound scared to me.”

“And,” Jake pointed out, “you disarmed a bomb with your teeth. A bomb that was about to blow up right in your face.”
Shannon shrugged it off, “I did what I had to do.”

“So did I Shannon,” came Jake with the admission now. Then he pointed out, “is there any difference?” Jake then stood up and he did not pretend that his leg was not getting stiff this time. Then he told the teenager, “speaking of what has to be done. Your mother sounds like she’s freaking out right now. She sent Tony and Garcia to go bring you home from school and, if they don’t get arrested, I’m pretty sure they’ll figure out you’re not on that bus.”

Now Shannon stood up and her motion was generated more by alarm than anything else, “what? If Mom knows that I’m not in school then why did she… I’m missing something here.”

“Yeah me too,” Jake said as he started walking back in the direction of the road.

Shannon was now even more confused, “you’re not going to tell me I have to come?”

Jake stopped, turned to face Shannon, and then leaned against a tree to the take the pressure off of his bad leg. He then told the kid, “nope. I don’t figure I have too Shannon. Despite the way everybody around here treats you, you’re not a kid anymore. You’ve already showed me you’re more mature than half the people that work here so, I don’t figure I have to tell you anything. You already know the right thing to do. All it takes is for somebody to just tell you what’s going on. I think I just did that.”

As he turned to walk off again, Shannon called out, “well in that case you can come back with me.”

Jake stopped once again. He looked over his shoulder and said, “the road is this way. I’m not a total moron, you know?”

“Yeah,” and Shannon pointed about forty five degrees to the north of Jake’s direction of travel. She then told him, “but that’ll also take you a long way out of your way. The station is just about a hundred yards through that brush.”

Jake changed his direction and when the teen caught up with him, he began mumbling, “damn smart ass kids.”