Dale thinks about it. "Very fair," he says. "What do you say we get this kiddo to his dad, then both of them up to Arden to see his mom?"
"Good," Jack says. "I only wish Henry was here, too."
"That makes us a pair," Dale says, and slides back behind the wheel. A moment later, they are rolling up the lane.
"What about all those kids?" Ty asks, looking out through the back window. "Are you just going to leave them?"
"I'll call WSP as soon as we're back on the highway," Dale says. "I think they should get on this right away, don't you guys? And the Feebs, of course."
"Right," Beezer says.
"Fuckin' A," Doc says.
"An excellent administrative call," Jack says, and sits Tyler down on his lap. "In the meantime they'll be fine," he says in the boy's ear. "They've seen a lot worse than Wisconsin."
Let us slip now from the driver's window like the breeze we are and watch them go — four brave men and one brave child who will never be so young (or so innocent) again. Behind them, the now harmless and un-magicked yard of Black House is alive with children, their faces dirty, their eyes wide with wonder. English is a minority tongue here, and some of the languages being spoken will puzzle the world's best linguists in the years ahead. This is the beginning of a worldwide sensation (Time's cover story the following week will be "The Miracle Children from Nowhere") and, as Dale has already surmised, a bureaucratic nightmare.
Still, they are safe. And our guys are safe, too. All of them came back in one piece from the other side, and surely we did not expect that; most quests of this type usually demand at least one sacrifice (a relatively minor character like Doc, for instance). All's well that ends well. And this can be the end, if you want it to be; neither of the scribbling fellows who have brought you this far would deny you that. If you do choose to go on, never say you weren't warned: you're not going to like what happens next.
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX
FRENCH LANDING PD CHIEF REFUSES TO CANCEL PRESS CONFERENCE, CITES SUPPORT OF TOWN OFFICIALS; SOURCES CONFIRM CELEB L.A. COP WILL ATTEND; FBI, WISC S.P. EXPRESS STRONG DISAPPROVAL
* * Exclusive * *
One of them, Tyler Marshall, is from French Landing itself. Another, Josella Rakine, is from Bating, a small village in the south of England. A third is from Baghdad. All told, 17 of the so-called Miracle Children have been identified in the week since they were discovered walking along a rural highway (Rte 35) in western Wisconsin.
Yet these 17 are only the tip of the iceberg.
Sources close to the joint FBI/WSP (and now CIA?) investigation tell the Drudge Report that there are at least 750 children, far more than have been reported in the mainstream press. Who are they? Who took them, and to where? How did they get to the town of French Landing, which has been plagued by a serial killer (now reported deceased) in recent weeks? What part was played by Jack Sawyer, the Los Angeles detective who rose to stardom only to retire at age 31? And who was responsible for the massive explosion that destroyed a mysterious dwelling in the woods, reputedly central to the Fisherman case?
Some of these questions may be answered tomorrow in French Landing's La Follette Park, when P.D. Chief Dale Gilbertson holds a press conference. His longtime friend Jack Sawyer — reputed to have broken the Fisherman case singlehandedly — will be standing next to him when he takes the podium. Also expected to be present are two deputies, Armand St. Pierre and Reginald Amberson, who participated in last week's rescue mission.
The press conference will take place over the strong — almost strident — objections of an FBI/WSP task force headed by FBI agent John P. Redding and Wis-consin State Police Detective Jeffrey Black. "They [task force leaders] believe this is nothing but a last-ditch effort on the part of Gilbertson to save his job," a source said. "He botched everything, but luckily has a friend who knows a lot about public relations."
French Landing town officials sing a different tune. "This summer has been a nightmare for the people of French Landing," says town treasurer Beth Warren. "Chief Gilbertson wants to assure the people that the nightmare is over. If he can give us some answers about the children in the process of doing that, so much the better."
Interest focuses on Jack "Hollywood" Sawyer, who got to know Chief Gilbert-son and the town of French Landing during the case of Thornberg Kinderling, the so-called Prostitute Killer. Sawyer was urged by Gilbertson to take an active role in the Fisherman case, and apparently played a large part in the events that followed.
What events, exactly, were they? That is what the world is waiting to find out. The first answers may come tomorrow, in La Follette Park, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi.
Developing . . .
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