“Hello, Leland the Greatest Papa in the World speaking.”
“Leland, I think someone is following us?—”
My stomach clenches and I’m surprised by the feeling. “Send me your location right now,” I say as I run for my guns while I wave Jackson after me. “Do you know what the person following you looks like?”
“No, I’m probably just being paranoid, but this guy in a dark getup came up behind us, and I just felt weird about it, so I turned but he turned as well.”
“Are you near any stores?”
“No, it’s that stretch between the school and the mall that’s a bunch of parking spots for the nearby offices.”
“Get in one. I don’t care what business it is, you get inside, you tell them someone is following you, and then you wait for us. Be prepared for him to try to pressure you into going in the direction he wants you in. He’ll likely try to get you to go somewhere secluded. Don’t let him. Who are you with?”
Waylon hesitates. “Just Cam… I know you said not to hang out with him but?—”
“You have that knife I gave you?”
“I can’t take a knife to school!”
“Well, you don’t wave it around and advertise that you have it! What about the brass knuckles?”
“I… no…”
This child! “Do you at least have the pepper spray?”
“I do. But how do I use it?”
“Just don’t spray it into your own face,” I say as I rush out the door with my guns and Jackson.
“Leland, there’s more people… they’re coming toward us… I think they saw that we were trying to go for one of the offices… what do I do?” Waylon asks. Then I hear something that sounds like the phone hitting the ground. That ball of anxiety in my stomach tightens when I hear shouting.
“Waylon? Waylon!” I shout, but I get no answer as I jerk the car door open and slide in.
I see a car pull into the driveway and realize it’s Everly, here right on time to punch me in the face.
“Everly, get in the car, someone’s following Waylon,” I call.
He doesn’t ask any questions, just gets in the car before Jackson throws it in reverse and peels out of the driveway. The car flies toward the direction of the school as I anxiously sit in the passenger seat. Would Sophia have sent someone after Waylon? Would she have directed her son to do something that would lead Waylon into danger?
I’m fiddling with my gun while Jackson pushes the car as fast as it’ll go. Realizing that the more people who can help the better, I send a message out to Cassel and Jeremy, planning on using absolutely anyone I can find to keep Waylon safe. And then I decide that I might as well use everyone I know and throw it into the group text I have between Tavish, Ellis, Henry, and Micah, including the five of us who are already aware of what’s happening. I will literally take anyone at this point.
Using the GPS tracker that Waylon has on his phone, Jackson follows his last known location, reaching it in record time.
“Where should I go?” Jackson asks since there’s no sign of them anywhere now that we’re here. All I’m greeted with are parking lots and vehicles.
“Drop me off here, I’ll go on foot. You take the car and head down the street and see if you find anything that way,” I order as I throw open the car door before it even stops moving.
“Leland, careful!” Jackson says.
“I’m being very careful,” I respond as I get out, and Everly gets out with me.
I can see Waylon’s phone lying in the middle of a fairly empty parking lot, so I rush over and pick it up.
“I’ll split off this way, you go that way,” Everly says, heading off a moment before I hear sirens. I know it’s Jeremy and hope he can assist.
I had told Waylon to move toward a building he could enter, but it sounds like these people did what they could to direct him away. They would try their best not to let him get anywhere near someone who could help them, and instead move him to somewhere secluded where they could grab him or hurt him.
Scanning the area, I see an alley to the right. Quickly, I take out my phone and pull up the map. I find that the alley leads to an open area, probably another parking lot, but that one connects to a main road. It would have been a perfect place to direct him so they could force him into their vehicle.
