Kidnapped

Chapter 3

It had been simple for Daniel to learn Max's room number. After he found Rita's address in the telephone directory, he called the school district office and asked which school kids in that area would attend. Next he had called the school and said he was Maximilian Sanders' uncle.

"I want to send balloons to his classroom on his birthday," Daniel had said, "but I don't know which room he's in."

The student who had answered the phone looked up Max Sanders and the told Daniel everything he needed to know, including what time all-day kindergarten started and let out, and where Room 27 was located. She called the boy Max, rather than Maximilian. Useful information.

Jefferson School sat on the corner of Milton Street and Seventh, a sprawling one-story structure that had overflowed its quota of children years ago and now depended on portable buildings to house the extra students.

For the last three days, Daniel had parked in front of the school every afternoon, in the line of cars that arrived to pick up children who spilled out the doors like popcorn from a popper promptly at two thirty-six.

Until now Daniel had left the school by himself. Today he would have a passenger.

Daniel glanced at the car's clock. The twenty-three. he was right on schedule.

The first day Daniel had wondered how he would know which one was Max. It seemed impossible that he wouldn't know his own son, but one kid looked pretty much like the next to Daniel, and he'd never actually met max or even seen any pictures of him. He hadn't wanted to, until recently.

Maybe the kid resembled him. Ted and Tommy, Daniel's nephews, looked a lot like Daniel's brother-in-law, Walter, so Max would probably look like Daniel. The boy might be a real chip off the old block, Daniel had thought, and i'll know him the second I see him.

He had watched the children rush outside, but none of them seemed even slightly familiar. Maybe Max was absent. As Denny watched the children line up for the school buses, or head to the waiting cars, he saw Elizabeth join a small blond boy in the second bus line.

Daniel hadn't seen Elizabeth since the divorce, but she had been six or seven during his brief marriage to her mother, so he recognized her instantly. She was taller, of course, and more slender, but she still had thick, curly brown hair and a lopsided smile. The boy showed Elizabeth a drawing, and she gave him a thumbs-up.

Daniel stared at the boy with Elizabeth. He wore a Donald Duck T-shirt and jeans. That must be him, Denny thought. That's Max. My son.

The same scene repeated the next day, and the next, as Daniel parked near the school, watched for Max, and made his plans.

After the second day, Daniel knew which boy was Matt, even before Elizabeth came.

Max always arrived first and got in line. Then Elizabeth dashed across the playground and rode home with him. The trick would be to coax Max into the car quickly, without alarming the bus driver or the other kids, and drive away before Elizabeth got there. He planned to wait outside Room 27 and intercept Max the second he emerged.

Daniel had come back to the school one night and walked around, deciding where to park so that he wouldn't be seen by the other parents or the bus driver. That's when he saw the notice on the front door: ALL SCHOOL VISITORS MUST SIGN IN AT THE OFFICE AND GET A VISITOR'S BADGE.

He couldn't take a chance on being stopped for not wearing a badge, but he didn't want to sign in, either.

Daniel had soon figured out what to do.

Now he was finally putting his plan into motion. He had rehearsed the whole thing in his mind do many times that when he began to do it for real, he felt as if he were merely repeating actions he had already taken.

Instead of parking where the parents lined up, he stopped on the side street, close to the door Max always came out. He opened the trunk of his car, then took out a clipboard and a cardboard box addressed to the school library. Carrying the box under one arm, he walked around to the front entrance, past the flagpole, and into the school office.

"UPS," he said to the woman behind the counter. "I have a delivery for the library."

The woman glanced at his brown uniform. "You need to sign in, please," she said, "and wear a visitor's badge. The library is down the hall, on your left."

Daniel scrawled UPS on the sign-in ledger, thanked the woman, hung a badge around his neck, and walked out of the office. Instead of heading for the library, he went straight for the door at the end of the hall, the one next to Room 27.

Then something happened that Daniel had not planned for- a lucky break he had never imagined as he mentally rehearsed this day's activity.

The door of Room 27 opened, and Max stepped into the hallway. He closed the door behind him and headed straight toward Daniel.

"Max," Daniel said.

"I'm going to the bathroom," Max said. He held a piece of yellow paper toward Daniel. "I have a hall pass."

"I was coming to get you out of class," Daniel said. "You're supposed to come with me. Right now."

The boy shook his head, frowning.

"It's an emergency," Daniel said. "Poochie got hurt, and I'm taking him to the vet. Your mom wants you to go along so Poochie won't be scared."

Max's eyes grew wide. "Poochie's hurt?"

"He got hit by a car. i stopped to help, and when i called the number on Poochie's tag, your mom asked me to get you and then take Poochie to the vet. She's going to meet us there." Denny held out his hand to Max. "We have to hurry!"

Max shook his head again, putting his own hands behind his back. "I don't know you," he said. He took a step backward. "I'm not supposed to go anywhere with someone I don't know."

"You're right to be cautious," Denny said. "It shows you're a smart kid. but i checked in at the office; see my visitor's badge? That's how I knew where to find you. If you walk outside with me, you can see my car from the playground. You'll see I'm helping Poochie."

Daniel went out the door, holding it open for Matt.

Max followed Daniel out the door to the playground.

Daniel pointed. "That's my car," he said. "Poochie's in the backseat."

Max looked toward the green sedan. He saw the dog's nose pressed against the side window of the man's car.

"Poochie!" Max said. "How bad is he hurt? Are his legs broken? Is he all bloody? Is he going to die?"

"He might, if we don't get him to the vet right away. Poochie's scared. He needs you to ride along to the vet, so he won't be afraid." He extended his hand again.

Max hesitated, glanced again at the dog, took the man's hand. Together they ran across the playground toward the street.

While the boy climbed in beside the dog, Daniel tossed the box and the clipboard into the trunk, his heart thumping in triumph. his plan had worked perfectly. The woman in the school office never suspected that a fake UPS logo had been stitched on last night by Daniel himself. Max had seen the dog in the car and left the school without a whimper.

As Max hugged Poochie in the backseat, Daniel started the engine and drove away, being careful to stay within the speed limit. The last thing he needed was to get pulled over for a traffic violation.

He rounded the corner as the first school bus pulled into the drive. The car clock said 2:34.