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Ashley burst out laughing. “Fifteen! Come on, Lucky. He’s only twelve.”
Jack stammered, “I’m practically thirteen.”
“Practically? Oh, yeah, right,” Ashley snorted. “You won’t be thirteen till—”
Before Ashley could finish, Lucky broke in, “I bet I thought you were older because you’re so tall. You’re a whole lot taller than I am. You could pass for high school, easy.”
He straightened his spine as far as it would go until he realized that stretching himself made his too-short jeans rise up even higher above his ankles.
“I bet you’re glad you came to meet her now, aren’t you?” Ashley snickered, “Some dog, huh, Jack?”
Still smiling, but looking puzzled, Lucky asked, “Dog? What do you mean?”
“Oh, just that my dumb brother Jack said that with a name like Lucky, you must be a—”
Jack leaped to his feet so fast he felt his own teeth rattle. He grabbed his sister’s arm and growled, “Come with me, Ashley. Now!”
“Why? Where?”
“We’re going to get Lucky a drink.”
“That would be great,” Lucky murmured. “A Coke, if you’ve got one. Or, water’s fine.”
Ashley writhed under Jack’s grip as she argued, “Both of us don’t need to go….”
“Yes, we do!” Eyes blazing, Jack dragged his sister into the hall.
“What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. “What did I do?”
He lit into her with a hissing tirade of furiously whispered words, telling her how she’d humiliated him and that she’d just better figure out when to keep her mouth shut if she knew what was good for her. Stung, Ashley looked at him, wide-eyed. “I was only teasing, Jack. Geesh, when did you get so sensitive?”
Clamping her arm even tighter, Jack ordered, “I don’t want you embarrassing me in front of Lucky. Now, you go back into that living room and talk nice to her while I get the drink. But don’t you say one word about me to her. Don’t even think about it. Got it?”
“Who wants to?” For the third time in an hour, Ashley flounced off. Glowering, he watched her go. Then he turned toward the kitchen. Almost at the door, he stopped abruptly because he heard the social worker mentioning Lucky’s name.
“…such a beautiful girl,” Ms. Lopez was saying. “That hair—all those auburn curls!”
“Yes, she’s very pretty,” Olivia agreed.
Ms. Lopez continued, “And as striking as Lucky is, you’d think someone somewhere would have noticed her and remembered her. But the police can’t track her, and she won’t tell us anything about herself except for that ridiculous name. Lucky Deal—what kind of a name is that?”
“Obviously fake,” Steven answered.
“Making it impossible to trace,” Ms. Lopez added.
Jack knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t stop himself. He stayed hidden behind the wall, listening intently as Ms. Lopez talked to his parents.
“She’s a charmer, but at times she can act quite odd. We’d interrogated her—unsuccessfully, I might add—and we’d begun filling out the papers to bring her here. All of a sudden she jumped up and demanded to make a phone call. It had to be right then, she insisted, that very minute. She created a huge fuss, yelling that even if she was a juvenile, she was entitled to one phone call.”
“Was she?” Olivia asked.
“No, but we let her use the phone anyway. Since she refused to tell us who she was calling, we wanted to trace it.”
“Who was it to?” Steven wondered.
“We didn’t find out. But we do know she dialed the number of a phone booth in Park City, Utah.”
Hesitating, Jack decided this was not the time to walk into the kitchen and rummage through the refrigerator for a soft drink. The last words he heard as he turned away were a warning from Ms. Lopez.
“It sounds as if your assignment at Mesa Verde is an important one, Olivia, and I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you’re willing to include Lucky in your plans at the last minute like this. Our agency is hoping that a trip to a beautiful park might be just the distraction she needs to let down her defenses and tell you about herself. But….”
“But what?” Olivia asked.
“You’ll need to be careful. There’s something not quite right about Lucky.”
“Meaning?” Steven asked.
“Meaning—watch your back. Lucky’s a handful. Cougars aren’t the only creatures that can turn on you.”
CHAPTER TWO
Jack tossed restlessly. Lying flat on the edge of the cliff, he clutched brittle rock with his fingernails as he stared down a vast chasm to the canyon floor. Then the rock crumbled into sand, shattering his safe handhold, plunging him into peril. He was falling. He heard the wind, heard Lucky’s voice whisper, “Mesa Verde.” Or maybe it was the wind that sighed the words as they streamed around him: “Flying. Flying. To Colorado.”
With a start, he rose out of the terrifying plunge of his dream to find his fingers curled stiffly around the edge of his quilt. Still, the soft voice whispered inside his head, even after he convinced himself he was awake and was no longer dreaming. Jack rolled out of his bed onto his feet and padded to the bedroom door, opening it just a crack.
A small, arched alcove in the hall held one of the Landons’ telephones. Lucky stood there, hunched over, cradling the receiver, speaking in low tones with her back turned toward Jack’s door. Barefoot, she’d wrapped herself in a terry cloth robe Olivia had lent her. As she pressed the phone against her ear, the robe’s full sleeve slid back to reveal her wristwatch. Jack had noticed the watch earlier in the evening. He remembered thinking then that it was a large, chunky-looking one for a girl to wear. More like a man’s. Now he could easily read the glowing digital numbers: 2:10 a.m. The middle of the night.
“It’ll be OK,” she was saying softly. “Don’t worry so much. I can handle them.”
She hung up then. When she turned around and noticed Jack, she jumped in surprise. No smile this time: Her startled eyes turned as cold as green ice. “What did you hear?” she demanded.
He stammered, “Nothing. Just, like, something about you can handle—I don’t know what.” His eyebrows drew together as his mind focused on her and on the telephone that now lay back in its cradle. She shouldn’t be here, calling someone in secret. The last of his sleepiness evaporated as his mind finally comprehended what was happening. “Wait, what are you doing? Who were you calling?”
It seemed to Jack that a lot of different looks flitted across Lucky’s face, as if she were searching for the right one. Suddenly, her face turned soft, pleading.
“Shhhh!” She pointed toward Steven and Olivia’s bedroom door. “Quiet! Please?” Then, gesturing toward the living room, she tiptoed down the hall, away from where the rest of the Landons were sleeping. Jack followed, not sure what he should do, but knowing he could call out for his folks in an instant if he needed them. For now, he wanted to understand what Lucky was up to.
She motioned for him to sit on the couch, then perched on a footstool opposite him, gazing at him like someone about to ask a favor. Keep it together, Jack warned himself. Stay cool. Get information. “So,” he asked softly. “What’s going on?”
“I…I don’t know if I can tell you,” she whispered. Then, a beat later, she added, “I don’t know if I should.”
“What is it?”
Lucky stayed silent.
“Is it something bad?”
“Yes.”
Bad! Jack’s stomach squeezed. With a foster kid that could mean all kinds of things, problems that Jack wouldn’t know how to deal with. “Listen,” he began, “maybe I should get my folks—”
“No!” Lucky said the word with such force that Jack blinked. “I’m sorry, it’s just—I need to tell someone, and I thought, since you’re so….” She took a breath, then shook her head. “But not anyone else—not your folks and not the social workers. Your mom’s already all upset about the cougar and all the problems at Mesa Verde. She couldn’t handle this, too. She’d send me back, and that could get me killed.”
“Killed! Wait a minute, wait a minute. I don’t get this. I need to go one step at a time. Who was on the phone?”
“Maria. She’s my friend from where I used to live.”
Jack turned on a small table lamp, which sent a flare of light through the room. He had to be able to see her better, to make sense of the words going into his head. “Maria—is she the one who’s trying to hurt you?”
“No. Jack, Maria was almost killed by gang members.”
“Gang members?”
“We were together—Maria and me—when we saw the gang do a crime. They found us out.” Lucky squeezed her eyes shut, but continued. “We tried to run, but they caught us and said that if we ever told, they’d find us both and kill us. Maria started screaming. They didn’t like that. They beat her up real, real bad.” She shuddered, barely whispering the last words. “I was faster. I got away.”
“Gang members?” Jack knew he sounded incredulous, but he couldn’t help it. Ms. Lopez had warned his parents to be careful of Lucky. Maybe he should be, too. His thoughts must have shown on his face, because suddenly, her green eyes pierced him like a laser. “You think I’m lying? You think I’m making this whole thing up?”
Now it was Jack’s turn to stay silent.
“You want me to prove it? Is that what it takes for you to believe?” Pulling up the right sleeve of the robe, Lucky revealed a nasty bruise, like an ugly shadow, on her forearm. “They gave me this,” she told him.
She must have been hit, and hit hard. Nothing short of a hard punch could have left such a mark. Quickly, Lucky pulled the sleeve back down and looked up at him again with her eyes wide. Stunned, Jack stared back. “I’m sorry,” was all he could think to say.
“When I first met you, Jack, I thought I could trust you. But I guess you’re not any different from everyone else. You need proof. If a bruise is what it takes for you to know I’m telling the truth, then I guess that’s what it takes. I want you to believe me. I need you to.”
“I do.” Living in Jackson Hole, Jack didn’t see much of the harsher side of life that some of their foster kids had dealt with every day. Jack’s own life was safe and well ordered. His mother and father cocooned him in love in a way that seemed quite ordinary to Jack, until he peered into others’ lives and saw the turmoil and pain. He should never forget just how fortunate he was.
“You know what bothers me the most?” Lucky asked him.
“What?”
“It bothers me when I think that it should have been me that’s in the hospital. Not Maria. I got away because I’m quick.”
“Lucky, you can’t feel bad about that. Things just…happen. I’m glad you made it.”
“But it’s not fair,” she wailed softly. “That’s why I have to call her, so I know she’s OK. I feel so guilty!” Hugging her sides tightly, Lucky crumpled into herself. “You know what just happened? Maria told me that the gang left a message. She said they’re still looking for me, and if I come back, I’m dead. That’s when I told her not to worry, that I could handle them. But the truth is, I’m scared.”
Perplexed, Jack asked, “What about the police? Tell them what’s going on. They’d protect you.”
Lucky shook her head and gave Jack a look full of pity. “You don’t know much about gangs, Jack. They have spies everywhere. You might not believe this, but some cops are gang members. I don’t trust anyone anymore.” She drew in a breath, then placed her hand lightly on his. “Except, maybe, you. I think I can trust you. You won’t tell anyone about Maria, will you Jack?”
“But my parents—”
“If you tell them, they’ve got to go to Social Services. It’s their responsibility. If you don’t say anything, then they won’t have to make that decision. It’d be like you’re protecting your parents, too.”
Jack figured that if his mother and father found out Lucky had made a call, they’d be bound by law to tell Ms. Lopez. It was better, Jack decided, to protect all of them. “I won’t tell,” he promised.
“Not Ashley, either? She seems sweet, but I don’t want her to worry—”
“Especially Ashley,” Jack added hastily. “You don’t know her yet, but she’s a blabbermouth. No, I won’t tell a soul.”
“Good. Thanks, Jack,” she breathed. “You just saved my life.”
What was he supposed to say to that? “Uh…I didn’t really…I mean…. Hey, is all your stuff packed? We’re leaving for Mesa Verde pretty early, like in five hours. We ought to get some sleep.”
“All right. Good night, Jack,” she answered. “And…thanks! So much.”
Jack hurried down the hall to his room. Now it was 2:35 a.m. The red digital numbers on his bedroom clock pulsed second after second; he squeezed his eyelids tight, wondering how he’d ever get back to sleep.
He couldn’t erase the image of Lucky gazing up at him with those big green eyes, looking so defenseless—on the outside. But what was she like on the inside? He remembered Ms. Lopez telling his parents they should watch her. He pictured prim, kindly, gray-haired Ms. Lopez—not the kind of woman to make things up, but, then again, not a woman who’d known the whole story. Lucky could have confided in Ms. Lopez, but she hadn’t. She’d trusted Jack. Only him.
Flipping onto his stomach, he burrowed his face deep in the pillow. Whatever happened, he knew he was on Lucky’s side.
CHAPTER THREE
They flew in a deHavilland jet from their hometown of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to Denver, Colorado. That particular plane had eight rows of two seats each on both sides of the aisle. “Would you rather have an aisle or a window seat?” Lucky asked Jack. Did that mean she wanted to sit next to him? he wondered.
“Go ahead, sit right there, Jack,” his mother told him. “Dad and I will be across the aisle from you two, and Ashley can have the seat in front of you. There are plenty of empty seats.”
Feeling awkward, noticing how bony his knees looked—why had he worn shorts?—Jack slid into the seat next to Lucky. “Good. We can talk,” she said, feeling for the seat belt. Jack moved away from her, mashing himself against the armrest.
She stayed silent while the plane took off from Jackson airport, while the flight attendant went over all the instructions about what to do in case of an emergency, and even after the Fasten Seatbelt sign went off. Jack searched his brain for something to say, something that wouldn’t sound stupid. He thought of giving Lucky more details about the cougar attack at Mesa Verde, but he remembered Lucky’s bruise and decided he didn’t want to talk about any kind of assault. Maybe he could ask her about Maria. No, Jack doubted he could talk without being overheard, which meant he’d better save that topic for another time. He was just about to ask Lucky if she’d been following the NBA basketball play-offs when Ashley’s face popped up over the back of the seat in front of them.
Ashley crossed her arms on the top of the seat, planted her chin on her arms, looked brightly at Lucky, and asked straight out, “How’d you ever get a nickname like that? Is it your real name? I never heard of anyone named Lucky.”
Jack gave Ashley his fiercest, big brother “keep quiet” stare, but Lucky only laughed and answered, “I never heard of anyone else either. I’ll tell you how it happened: I was about five years old. We were living in Las Vegas, and I wanted to play one of the slot machines because they looked really fun. You know—all those cherries and plums and lemons whirling around. You know, Jack?”
He really didn’t. He’d never seen an actual slot machine—only a video game his friend had.
Lucky went on, “My dad said, ‘Lacey, the slots are a sucker’s game. Don’t waste that shiny quarter I gave you on the slots. Buy a pack of gum. At least you’ll have something for your money.’”
Jack and Ashley exchanged glances. So her real name was Lacey! Their parents didn’t know that, and even the social worker, Ms. Lopez, hadn’t been able to find out Lucky’s name. And now she’d slipped up and said it right out loud.
“But I kept begging my dad—please, please, please!—and finally he let me play a quarter. ‘Just one quarter,’ he said. ‘That’s all.’”
“So what happened?” Ashley asked, wide-eyed.
“I hit a hundred-dollar jackpot. All these quarters came tumbling out of the machine and fell all over the floor.”
“Wow!” Ashley exclaimed, impressed, but Jack asked, “Isn’t it illegal for kids under eighteen to gamble in Las Vegas?”
“Sure,” Lucky answered, grinning at him. “But the guards didn’t catch me—my dad made sure of that. So then, while we were picking up the quarters, my dad told me, ‘From now on I’m going to call you Lucky. You’re my good-luck charm.’ Right after that he bought me this.” She touched the four-leaf clover pendant that hung around her neck.
From across the aisle Olivia said, “Ashley, sit down the right way. You need to face forward.”
“I will in a minute, Mom. Just give me one more minute.” Grimacing, Ashley said, “Moms! They’re always bugging you. Hey, Lucky, what did your mom think? I mean, did she get mad ’cause your dad let you do something illegal?”
For a long moment Lucky looked out the window. When she turned back toward them, her large green eyes brimmed with tears. “My mother was already dead by then.”
