JESSICA DONOVAN’S LIFE changed at 9:03pm in a Walmart parking lot. She was loading bags of groceries into the back of her Toyota Sienna, explaining to her son why Grand Theft Auto V was not a video game that she wanted him playing, when she noticed that her daughter had not made one sarcastic comment since climbing into the backseat. She stopped talking mid-sentence and it became very quiet. Jess peered into the back seat of the van and realized that there was a man inside the car with her children.
“Get in.”
He waved a gun at her, making sure she saw it. He repeated those two words.
“Get in.”
Jess gave the cart a furious push away from the back of the van and she hurried to the driver’s side door, squeezing between the van and a dark blue Town Car that parked too close. She opened the door and slid into the driver’s seat, turning to face the man. He was barely twenty, a Hispanic man, wearing jeans and a wife beater tank. He had a blue and white braided baseball necklace around his neck, and a gold chain with a huge crucifix hanging down the front of his shirt. He wasn’t a big man, but the gun he carried was. He made sure that he saw it, the black barrel pushed hard into her daughter’s side.
“Where’s your purse.” He had a gruff voice, a little raspy. She could smell cigarettes on his breath and his hands. She silently handed him her purse. He didn’t take it, instead flicking his gun barrel at her.
“Open it.” She pulled it back and unzipped it, holding it open for his inspection. It was a small purse – just big enough to hold a wallet and the few other odds and ends that inevitably ended up in her purse. He grabbed it with one hand and dumped it out on the center console, keeping one eye on her as he raked through her belongings.
“Where’s your cell phone?”
Jess cleared her throat nervously. “I forgot it at home.”
The man shook his head. “Everyone carries a cell phone. Where is it?”
Jess started shaking her head and allowed a note of panic to enter her voice. “It needed to be charged! I forgot to take it off the charger when I left!” The cell phone was currently sitting in Jess’s left back pocket. It was a small basic talk and text phone and it was currently turned on. She prayed it wouldn’t ring.
The man swung his barrel back at the kids. “They got one?”
Her eight year old daughter shook her head in a panic, tears spilling out of her eyes. Her eleven year old son bravely spoke up. “No. I don’t get one until I’m twelve.”
Jess didn’t allow her surprise to show. Her son did have a cell phone and she knew he was carrying it. He was a smart boy. He knew she had one and he knew she lied about it, so he lied about his, too.
The family sat still, barely moving, barely breathing while the gunman thought. He motioned to the children. “Stand up.”
Jess turned to look at him. “Please take my money and credit cards and let us go.” She spoke calmly. “My husband will be out of the store in just a minute. If we aren’t here, he will know what happened and call the police. We won’t even be out of the parking lot before you’re caught.”
The man smiled at her wryly. “Liar. You came here by yourself. We followed you.”
Jess felt the air leave her lungs. They followed her. This was not a random carjacking. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “Why? Who are you?”
She received no answer.
