Hostage Read Free

them climbed in after it. Then another one slammed the door in the back and came around to jump into the driver’s seat, and another one scrambled for the opposite door. They took off, leaving the house behind them wide open.
    Alarmed, I turned toward the darkened hall, where I heard Dad coming out of his bedroom. He must have pulled his pants on over his pajama bottoms and stuck his feet into shoes without socks, because he’d only been gone a matter of seconds.
    â€œDad, whoever it was just left!” We heard the squeal of tires as the truck went around the corner. “I don’t see Jeff anywhere!”
    â€œCall 9-1-1!” Dad said, and clattered down the stairs without turning on a light.

Chapter Two
    The police car arrived just as I reached the front door. Mom was calling down from upstairs, wanting to know what was going on, and I turned long enough to reply, “Jeff and Dad are over at the Andersons’, and the police are here!” before I ran outside in my bare feet.
    An officer unfolded himself from the front seat of the patrol car and turned to look at me. “You the one who called 9-1-1?”
    â€œYes, sir. The truck that was here just left in a hurry, with three men in it, and my dad and my brother are over there somewhere!”
    â€œGo back into your house, please,” the officer said. He didn’t wait to see if I obeyed but approached the open door of Andersons’ house. I retreated as far as the end of our sidewalk and stood waiting.
    The officer called out, and I heard a voice responding. Mom spoke behind me, and I turned to see that she was still wrapping a robe over her nightgown as she emerged from the front door. “Kaci, what’s happening? Where’s Dad?”
    â€œOver there.” It wasn’t cold, but I was shivering. I explained to her why there was a patrol car across the street. “The cop told me to stay here.”
    â€œHe didn’t give me any orders,” Mom said, and started across the street in her slippered feet. After a moment of hesitation, I decided that I’d probably get away with joining her.
    As we neared the Andersons’ open doorway, we heard men’s voices and detected a light somewhere in the back of the house. Mom hesitated and called out. “Ken?”
    â€œBack here, Eve. Jeff’s okay, he just has a knot on his head.”
    We made our way toward the voices, through the house that I’d been in many times. Tonight nothing looked familiar, and it wasn’t just the lack of lights. I rubbed my arms where the hair was standing on end, and looked into theliving room as we passed the doorway. For a moment I didn’t realize what was wrong, and then I did.
    â€œThe TV’s gone,” I said as I moved into the lighted kitchen area where the uniformed officer and Dad were holding my brother by the arms as he struggled to stand up. “Those guys in the truck must have stolen it! What happened to Jeff?”
    â€œThey hit me over the head. From behind,” Jeff said painfully. “Knocked me out for a few minutes, I guess.”
    â€œI thought you were going to be careful,” I said.
    â€œI thought I was being careful,” he told me. “Let me sit down a minute, Dad.”
    They lowered him onto a kitchen chair, where he felt around on the top of his head, wincing. “I sneaked up on the back of the house and peeked into a window, but I couldn’t see anything. It was pitch-black in here, so I thought they must be working upstairs, where Kaci and I saw the lights moving around. I decided I’d go back home and call the police, and I had the license number of that truck parked out front. . . .”He drew his fingers away from his head and looked at them, tinged with red. He scowled. “The minute I got to the front corner of the house, somebody lunged out of the shrubbery and hit me with something hard. Real hard.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t