The Black Coats(38)
“How’s he doing?” whispered Louise.
“Drugged,” responded Thea. “I would almost feel bad for him were it not for the fact that he raped women who were in the same state that he’s in right now.” She lifted his head. “Jonathan, do you consent to jumping off a bridge?”
He nodded sleepily, his words badly slurred. “If that’s what you guys are doing.”
Thea’s eyes narrowed. “See? How can you consent in a state like this? The women he raped were like pliant children. That’s what the drug does.”
Casey gripped the steering wheel hard. “He’ll learn his lesson soon enough. We’re almost there.”
Thea checked his pulse again; it was strong. They had been lucky—sometimes people who were roofied became aggressive and excitable. That would have been a problem.
Casey slowed the car, and Thea watched as the headlights bounced off the visitors’ center at the Barnpiper Park entrance. It was almost midnight, and the park was closed and empty. They passed the playgrounds and parking lot and neared the curb where the park turned wilder, accessible only by a walking trail. Old ash junipers rose up on either side of them as the car moved farther into the darkness. Thea winced as the tires bounced over the rugged terrain. “Not too far in,” she said softly.
“Why?” snapped Casey. “We don’t want to make this easy for him.”
“We won’t, but I don’t want him to die,” said Thea firmly. “Remember what Nixon said: a Balancing cannot turn into hiding a dead body. What if he finds his way to the highway and gets hit by a car?”
“Or steps on a rattlesnake. Or walks into a river,” added Louise.
Casey braked hard. “If he had been as concerned for the women he raped as we were for him now, those girls’ lives would have gone on as usual. He’s in a park. After he wakes up, he’ll think he’s in the woods for about an hour or so until he makes his way out and is greeted by moms holding sippy cups.”
“This is my call, Casey,” Thea said firmly. “Drive in maybe another half mile.” She expected a fight but got none. Casey respected her position and stayed silent. The car continued through the black night, the only illumination the car’s headlights rolling over the trees around them. It was as if the eerie stillness of the park had swallowed them whole.
“This seems a little like the beginning to a horror movie,” uttered Mirabelle, saying what everyone was thinking.
Casey gripped the wheel. “Yeah, except this time we’re the things people should be afraid of.”
“I’m not afraid of you!” crowed Jonathan, drugged out of his mind. “I think you’re my friends. You’re my best friends.”
“We’re not,” replied Louise, pulling her hair back. “You’re actually terrible.”
Thea sat forward as they drove past a long-abandoned set of wooden benches. “Here! Stop here, this is good. Yes! Let’s roll him out.”
Casey screeched the Audi to a stop. Mirabelle flung open her door and ran around to Thea’s side of the car. When she opened the door, Jonathan flopped over onto the ground, hanging his head. “I like you guys, but I don’t think you’re good.” He moaned, but when Mirabelle told him to get up, he did it so obediently that it made Thea’s heart hurt.
The rest of Team Banner climbed out of the car. “Walk over here, Jonathan,” Louise ordered. He shuffled his way over to where Thea was standing. He leaned heavily on Casey, who turned her head away from his alcohol-soaked breath.
Jonathan walked up to the park bench. “You guys aren’t leaving me here, right?”
Bea followed behind him, her voice low. “Jonathan, take off your clothes.” She raised a hand, but there was no need. Grinning like an idiot, Jonathan began unbuttoning his pants. Everything he was wearing fell to the ground. Bea spun and looked at Thea, her face reddening at his sudden nudity. Thea had a hard time not laughing at her teammate’s utter shock. Bea turned back to him. “Lie down,” she commanded, “and stay there.” Thea watched for a moment before raising her eyes to take in the incredible sky. There were no lights out here; the stars blazed so brightly that it was like she had never seen them before.
As she watched, a memory came, uninvited:
She and Natalie are camping out in her backyard, looking at the stars until they fall asleep. Their sleeping bags are huddled together, the girls whispering back and forth in an effort to avoid sleep.
“Do you think we’ll be safe out here?” Thea asks, worried about sleeping away from her parents.
Natalie takes her hand. “As long as we’re together and we have Alma, we’ll be safe.” They both look over at Alma, then still a puppy and lost in a pile of blankets, before bursting into giggles.
Thea blinked away the sudden tears. “Let’s head out,” she ordered, but the team didn’t move. Mirabelle was twisting her hair; Bea softly shuffled her feet on the ground.
“It feels weird to leave him,” Louise finally said softly.
Thea nodded, glad that someone had vocalized what she was feeling. She stepped forward, gathering the girls around her. “Look, at ten tomorrow I’ll call from the burner phone to make sure someone found him. I know he seems vulnerable and innocent right now, but he’s not.” Thea stepped over to him, brushing aside the lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. “When Jonathan wakes up with no clothes on and no recollection of what happened to him last night, he’ll be as scared and feel as violated and confused as the girls he raped. That’s what happened to them; that’s what he did. And unlike his actions, we did him a kindness: we didn’t hurt him, though we could have. Trust me, Jonathan Samper has gotten a very gentle taste of what it’s like to be roofied.”