Vanished

Clouds rolled in beneath a massive star-filled sky. Below, the world was shielded from the abyss of glimmering lights as the streetlights brightened, porch lights came on, and traffic slowed to a crawl. On the corner of town, a playoff game was ending. The high school was invigorating its local fans, and the opposing team was about to go home dejected. Friday night in the middle of the world was going exactly the way the kids had planned.

River City had very few problems, and that made any trouble stand out. The sleepy little river town was known for being quiet, healthy, and a good place to raise a family. There were problems, but they were normally few and far between. So as the game ended and fireworks erupted over the high school stadium, the local police were ready to control traffic and keep the peace.

Two of the kids at the game, Jackson Keller and his brother Lucas, were walking afterward. Lucas kept recounting the amazing game that Jackson and the varsity kids played. They brought the crowd to their feet several times, and Jackson hit a grand slam to seal the game in the fifth inning. Little brother Lucas looked up to Jackson and knew their time was short. His hero was off to college in the fall.

“You could skip college and go right to the big show if you keep hitting like that,” Lucas bragged.

“Yeah, but what would I know how to do, other than baseball?”

Jackson knew that if he didn’t want to end up back in River City, eventually becoming a river rat, like so many others, he had to get an education. He put his arm around his little brother's shoulder and told him not to worry. Jackson was going to miss Lucas. They were the Keller boys around River City, and he wanted them to remain the Keller boys.

“Hey,” Jackson promised, “I’ll come back and visit as often as I can.”

“You promise?”

“I promise,” he assured Lucas.

Across town, Pete Ross was getting into a squad car. He was working on a case, and the kids at the high school were pivotal to solving things. As he noticed the clouds beginning to cover the area, he knew he was late, but he was going to try to show some pictures around. There was always a chance that a light-hearted conversation might get one of them to think of something.

Pete was good with the kids. He’d been a school resource officer for ten years before returning to patrol. He was one of those guys who reached a point where he needed to start thinking long-term rather than what was the most fun about the job. Pete still managed to get out to the games occasionally. He still stopped and talked to the kids when he saw them out in the community.

As he patrolled toward the game, not far from where he lived, Pete stopped alongside the road. Jackson Keller was frantically turning around in circles, looking for something.

“Hey!” yelled Pete. “What’s the problem? You would think you’d be happy after that game to be so serious.”

“Mr. Ross,” sighed Jackson. “I can’t find Lucas.”

Lucas was nowhere to be seen. Jackson told Officer Ross how they’d left the game and were walking toward home. Lucas fell a little behind Jackson along the way. He was singing along to something on his headset and lost sight of him, so he turned to look for his brother. So far, he’d had no luck.

“Listen,” he told Jackson, motioning him to come toward the car. “Get in. We’ll work our way back toward the school. I’ll put the spotlight on, and I bet we find him.”

Jackson did as he was told, still staring into the distance as he looked for his little brother. As the car pulled away, Pete positioned his spotlight along the side of the road they were walking. He told Jackson to watch the other side of the street. As Pete’s heart began to race, he cautioned the young man in the passenger seat not to overreact.

Pete grabbed his radio and put out a call for assistance. The thought was that Lucas could have stumbled off in the wrong direction. At least, that was his hope. But in case there was more to the story, he called for additional units.

“What was he wearing?”

Jackson told him that Lucas had on blue jeans, a baseball cap, and a T-shirt, and what colors they were. He was yelling out the window for his little brother as the car rolled slowly down the road. It took moments for other cars to begin arriving. Jackson could see the spotlights from the patrol cars, going both directions along Park Lane.

When Pete and Jackson got back to the high school, Pete asked the boy if Lucas would return there. It didn’t make any sense why he’d come back to school, especially so late. Pete pulled over and told Jackson to sit there. He stepped out in front of the squad car and spoke to someone on his cellphone. As Jackson was responsible for his little brother, he got out of the car and started yelling Lucas’s name. He overheard Pete say something he didn’t understand.

“Yes, sir,” said Pete. “The younger Keller boy this time.”

“What?” Jackson looked horrified. Were there others that had disappeared? He knew his parents had gone to a couple of events.

“What do you mean, this time?”

Pete turned and faced Jackson. He hadn’t meant to alarm the young man, but the truth was the truth. Lucas Keller was the sixth young person to vanish in the past twelve days.

“Sir, I suggest you get the dogs out, and we call in extra help. Call the Sheriff’s if you must, otherwise the parents in this town are going to want blood.”

By morning, Pete was back at the station. There was no sign of Lucas Keller, and an investigator was questioning Jackson and his parents. Officers had begun a door-to-door search along the corridor, the Sheriffs had run dogs through the area, and the State Police assisted by bringing in their infrared drones in case the boy had fallen, or was hurt, and couldn’t respond. All in all, 200 people were looking for Lucas Keller. Like the last ones, he seemed to have just vanished into thin air, and the local chief was using platitudes to calm the waters of the concerned parents.

Pete went to the chief’s office to talk to him. It was his least favorite place in the entire department, and on nights like this, he missed being assigned to the high school. As he approached the office door, he saw Chief Henderson talking to someone on the phone. Pete stood there, half listening to the discussion and half watching the office area, still hoping someone would get a call that Lucas had been located.

“Jesus,” sighed Bill Henderson. “Come on in, Pete.”

With a bit of anxiousness, Pete walked into the office and took a seat. He waited for the Chief to give his usual routine bullshit. Today wasn’t the day for that, however. Even Bill Henderson was feeling the pressure, and now that they were six deep in missing kids, the head of the department was about to share something with Pete.

“I’m at a loss for words,” he told his officer.

“Really,” sighed Pete.

“This has never happened around here. There have been kids who went missing, but usually sixteen, seventeen years old or older. Jesus, the oldest is sixteen. I can’t figure it out,” admitted Chief Henderson.

“Sir,” Pete hesitated.

When the chief told him to spit it out, Pete asked him why the department hadn’t called for the F.B.I. or called for assistance from the Sheriff’s Department sooner than this. He wanted to know why the department had waited. It wasn’t an answer that Bill Henderson could explain to him, at least not any better than he’d explained it to Mr. Keller and his wife. When Pete heard him utter the words, I thought we could handle it, he wanted to come unglued on his boss.

“Listen, now’s not the time for hindsight. If they want to fire me later, they can. For now, I’ve got to figure out some way of finding these kids, or at least, what the hell happened to them.

The two sat there, looking back and forth at each other. Pete fired back at his boss, demanding to know if he was looking at him for answers. While Chief Henderson couldn’t put it all on Pete, he admitted he was open to suggestions. He was showing his desperation and tipping his hand. The call Pete interrupted had to have been from one of the city councilmen or the mayor’s office.

“We don’t have anyone who can do what needs to be done,” admitted Pete.

“And what’s that?” asked Chief Henderson.

Pete admitted that he believed that when it came to kids, no options should be left off the table. It wasn’t a normal investigation. He remembered the stories his father told him. Stories about the old days and the old ways of doing things. Pete wondered out loud. Was it time to consider utilizing a different approach?

“You’re suggesting I let people go rogue?”

It wasn’t Pete’s suggestion. There were people, people who knew how to get things done in a world of restraints and government overregulating the police. In the case of six missing children, all within such a short period of time, he told the chief he wondered if it wasn’t time to take the gloves off.

“You?”

Pete thought about it and knew he’d never been shown how to conduct himself the way things once were done. But he did have a person in mind, someone who’d been around before Bill Henderson was appointed Chief. As he explained the solution he had in mind, Bill Henderson grimaced.

“I don’t know,” sighed Chief Henderson. “It could be more problems than it’s worth.”

“When would you know, exactly? Seven, eight, ten, a dozen?” asked Pete.

Henderson wanted to know if it was realistic. Would the person Pete referred to even be willing to come on board and work with the police again? He’d heard stories, and none of them were flattering. Bill Henderson was a more modern officer. He believed in falling in line with expectations and had his sights set on bigger offices than the River City Police. But, then again, if he didn’t find out what was behind the disappearance of these children and put a stop to it, he wasn’t going to be chief for much longer.

“Do you know how to find him?”

Pete shook his head, suddenly nervous about the suggestion, and surprised that his boss wasn’t dismissing it out of hand. He knew that it would take more than a local cop asking him for help. He’d need to be approached by someone with authority, someone from the city who could make things official.

“See if you can get me a meeting with your friend. I’ll bring him back on a provisional basis, I’ll get the city to indemnify him, and we’ll see to it that he gets a gun and a badge,” explained the chief.

“I don’t think you’ll have to give him a gun,” laughed Pete.

Pete knew how many guns the man owned. He knew of his disdain for predators that hunted children. The check and the appointment were all he needed. After that, he told his boss, it would be a good idea if everyone just got the hell out of the way.

“Pete,” asked the Chief, “Why this guy?”

Pete shrugged his shoulders. He looked at his boss as he headed out to his desk. The answer was easy.

“This one feels weird, and if there’s anyone I’ve ever heard of who’s capable of dealing with weird, it’s Chase Morrow.”

Pete left the office and headed for his desk as the Chief watched him pick up the phone. Bill Henderson sat there. He had heard stories about Chase Morrow, but most of them were from the old Chief. The guy, as he was known to the old command, was an armchair genius, and not afraid to cross the lines men tend to fear crossing. Bill Henderson wondered to himself if he had just made a mistake.

Lucas Keller awoke, cold and frightened. He tried to move, but something kept him frozen in place. Looking around, he could see nothing but darkness in the distance. Darkness, and a bright light shining over him. It was so bright, it was nearly blinding. Lucas attempted to scream for help. The poor kid’s voice muffled. Something was holding his mouth wide open. As his muffled cries for help went nearly unnoticed, his eyes darted around the room, desperately looking for anybody who might get him back to his family.

What he saw was startling enough that his heart raced so fast and hard it felt as if it would burst through his chest.