For a moment, Dak simply sat with his hands on the wheel, staring at the door to the McDowell's room. He imagined the gambit of emotions pummeling their souls with every waking second. This week had been their own personal hell. As a guy with no children, he couldn't truly reach the point of utter anguish they'd been living in for the last several days. He felt even worse for the other kids' parents, though he'd never met them.
After neutralizing Nate, Dak helped the McDowell boys back to his SUV. It took him nearly an hour to reach the vehicle due to the distance and the younger McDowell boy's sprained ankle. Dak had given Oliver a quick check and suggested that it wasn't broken, though the kid would need an X-ray to confirm it. He took it as a good sign that Oliver's ankle wasn't turning black and blue, though that wasn't always an indication of a fracture.
When they arrived back at the SUV, Dak was pleasantly surprised to see the other six boys waiting for him. The oldest one held up a stick when Dak and the McDowell brothers approached. The kid was brave. Dak had to give him that.
The second the boy saw it was Dak, he lowered his "weapon" and let out a sigh of relief.
Dak dropped the other kids off first, just outside the police department, with a request they not tell the cops who brought them there. At the moment, only two officers occupied the building, the rest of the department had been dispatched with a group of firefighters to investigate a potential wildfire at a farm near the Daniel Boone Forest.
The boys agreed, though Dak wondered how long they could keep his secret. He'd be leaving town that evening, after he dropped the McDowells with their parents and picked up his meager belongings.
He turned and looked over his shoulder into the back seat. The two kids wore sheepish looks of trepidation. Dak didn't know why. They should have been relieved, overjoyed, happy, any number of positive emotions. Instead, they appeared afraid.
"You boys okay?" Dak asked.
He'd never been the best at understanding emotions. That played no small part in the destruction of his relationship with Nicole. He knew that now. He wished he knew it back then.
"Yeah," Jamie said after a second of thought. "I just never realized how much I took our parents for granted. Our lives, too." He looked over at his brother then back to Dak. "We're definitely going to be better from now on."
Dak snorted and smiled at the boys, resting his elbow on the top of his seat so he could see them both better. "I have a feeling you two were already pretty good kids. Everyone makes mistakes. The great thing about moms and dads, as far as I understand them, is that they will always forgive you."
"They didn't want us to leave the campsite," Oliver muttered. "We told them we'd be okay."
"And you are," Dak said. "No one can hurt you now."
"We should have listened to them," Oliver whimpered. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes. "We shouldn't have wandered off."
"Hey, it's okay, kid." Dak tried to use a comforting tone, but that wasn't really his style. With every syllable, he felt like he was doing it wrong—another flaw that probably sabotaged his relationship. "Everyone makes mistakes. Your parents are going to be so happy to see you. That's all they are going to feel. Okay? No guilt. No punishment. Just love."
Oliver accepted his words with a nod.
"Go on," Dak encouraged. "Go give your parents the biggest hug you've ever given them."
Oliver opened the door first, then stopped when he realized his brother still hadn't moved.
"Thank you," Jamie said, looking at Dak's face as if studying it, searching for answers. "I don't know who you are and I know you said we can't know your real name. But you saved our lives. And those other kids, too. I will always appreciate that."
Jamie's comments overflowed with the purest sincerity. Dak felt something strange. The sensation accompanied a thought that was equally bizarre. Kids like these two still held onto something pure, a fragment of innocence the world had yet to rip from their soft hands. In the distant hopes of his mind, Dak wondered what it would be like to work for a kid, to be some kind of bodyguard or… he didn't know what.
He'd considered the private security industry a few times in the past. It was a pretty standard fallback for a guy with his kind of resume, but he'd let those thoughts go.
He didn't want to be a babysitter for some rich pop star whose one smash hit skyrocketed them to overnight stardom. Dak would be miserable working for someone like that. He didn't see himself serving any adults in that capacity, either.
A young person, though, he could see that. They needed protecting and guidance. It would have to be the right circumstances, though, and he had a feeling those stars would never align.
"Take care, kid," Dak said to Jamie. He turned to Oliver. "And keep watching out for your big brother. He needs all the help he can get." He winked at Oliver. The gesture produced a meek smile from the kids. Then Jamie rushed around to help his brother hobble to the motel room door.
Dak shifted the vehicle into reverse and slowly backed away. He turned the SUV around, pointing it toward the road to the left, and then watched as the door to the motel room opened.
The reaction on Mrs. McDowell's face was one Dak would never forget. Utter confusion, then pure ecstatic joy washed over the woman's face. Timothy McDowell joined her in the doorway mere seconds later, and the two scooped up their sons in their arms.
Dak didn't dare linger another breath. He stepped on the gas and eased the SUV out onto the road, disappearing around the corner where a thick
