Now their rationale seemed infinitely feeble because, facing what they were facing, theyd have given the world to go back in time and get him another phone.
No. Faith blinked back tears. He doesnt have a phone.
Kings Adams apple rose and fell. He removed his sunglasses and his blue eyes were tinged with concern.
Im sorry, folks, but we cant seem to find him.
4
Cal couldnt accept what Vaughn King was implyingthat somehow Gage had vanished.
Thats ridiculous. He didnt just disappear, Cal said. Hes in there.
Faith cupped her hands over her face. Where else could he be?
King stared at Cal, then Faith.
Our people have already searched. Are you certain he didnt exit ahead of you and wander down the midway?
He was with us in the spinner! Faith said. Let us search for him.
King removed his hat, drew his forearm across his brow, a gesture suggesting that allowing the public access during a Code 99 was against company policy. A second later, as if hed convinced himself that this situation was exceptional, or maybe to diminish potential liabilitywe did everything to help those parentsKing found himself nodding and clicking the speaker on the small walkie-talkie again.
This is Vaughn. Im bringing the parents inside to search. To Cal and Faith, he said, All right, lets go.
His radio crackled. But, Mr. King, the policy prohibits
I know what the policy says. King cut the speaker off. Im bringing them in!
The key ring on Kings belt jingled as they all hurried toward the entrance. Moving around the other side of the attraction, Cal saw the Chambers of Dread for what they were: a series of interconnected truck trailers, forming an interlocking network that claimed to be Americas Biggest Traveling World of Horrors! He noticed the empty stool belonging to the fat ticket taker whod eyed Faith and wondered if he was helping search for Gage.
King led them through the jaws of the Demon King. There was no fog when they entered; bright lights lit the inside. Their footsteps echoed as they rushed through the spinning portal, which was now stationary. Gage had to be in here. The ever-present thud of the midway outside hammered a deadened rhythm as Cal and Faith looked for their son.
Gage! Faith called. Its okay! Come out now. Its Mom and Dad!
All the interior walls were painted black; so were the floors and ceilings, where Cal noticed nozzles of the sprinkler system and the surveillance cameras. Suddenly the air exploded with ear-piercing staccato beeps. A side exit door opened and closed as a young woman in an Ultra-Fun shirt holding a walkie-talkie stepped inside.
We checked the area around this exit, Mr. King. We didnt find him.
Thank you, Hayley.
Cal looked at the small exit light overhead and how the door was also painted black. It blended in with the walls, like camouflage, almost invisible.
Hold on, I want to look out there, he said.
The girl let Cal step through the door. The alarm bleated as he took stock of the backside of the structure, one not seen from the midway crowd. His heart was thumping faster now as he saw tentacles of huge power cables flowing on the ground and breathed in the smell of diesel and hydraulic fluid wafting from the generators and the pumps powering the rides nearby. The area was congested with an array of truck trailers, positioned to form narrow walkways leading to RVs and campers where Ultra-Fun staff lived while on the roada netherworld of latter-day gypsies. Cal scoured the area, then the alarm bleated and King appeared on the stairs with Faith.
Mr. Hudson! King shouted. The alarm wouldve been activated if your son used one of these exits!
Cal took a second sweep under the trailers for anything that would lead him to Gage. Finding nothing, he conceded Kings point and returned.
Resuming their hunt in the Chambers, Faith and Cal came to the large cloaked figure theyd encountered earlier, the one toting a head. The figure had adjusted the costume. In the naked light, Cal and Faith saw that he was an acne-faced young man of linebacker proportions.
Hi, Mr. King. Weve searched everywhere in our section. Hes not here.
Thanks, Lonnie, King said, moving on to the area smelling of rotten eggsthe Dungeons of Dread. Opening a door, he led the Hudsons down a few short steps to a cramped dugout set behind prison bars where actors with clawlike prop hands shook their heads.
Hes not with us, sir, a young womanone of the damnedsaid.
Cal, Faith and King kept going, coming to another exit door, tripping the alarm. At this one, Faith exited and took the stairs, which landed tight to a chain-link fence. Trailers were backed against it. An empty lot stood on the other side of the fence, earthen, muddied and pot-holed with discarded tires, a stove and a filthy sofaa menacing patch of misery.
Gage! Its Mom, honey! Gage!
The fear that had seeped into her voice was unmistakable, Cal thought, joining her and searching the confined area for several minutes before returning inside. Once more theyd activated the alarm, underscoring their desperation on their way to the next set.
The air smelled as if a gas stove had been switched off when they got to where the burning witch queen had cursed them. The rooms temperature had dropped a little from the oven-level it had been during the act. The actress had left her stake and was still searching the edges of the prop wood pile.
Im sorry, maam. The witch shook her head. Hes not here but Im sure youll find him, dont worry.
Moving quickly to the next set they were greeted by the insane butcher still clad in his bloodstained apron and surrounded by props of limbs. Faith was thankful theyd stopped twitching. Still, the scene sent a shiver coiling up her spine. She dropped to her hands and knees, looking under the table and around the suspended torsos. Cal crawled on the floor from the opposite side, the chains creaking as they brushed against the props, which marked them with streaks of stage blood.
Gage! Gage, come out, son! Cal called as the butcher and King exchanged a look.
Theyd found nothing here.
The butcher shook his hideous face, telling the Hudsons, We looked everywhere in this section, folks. Hes not with us.
Cal and Faith hurried ahead with King, stopping to inspect the areas surrounding every exit that they came to. They didnt find Gage with the fanged clown, whod hefted the organ from a wall in order to look behind and under it. There was nothing to search at the river of snakes and the cavern of bats and spiders. Those areas had been filled with computer-generated images. Under the lights, these sets were void of anything searchable.
Gage was not among the tombstones in the graveyard. There, the wretched zombie woman offered a sympathetic smile, shaking her headHes not herebut with her makeup she came off looking like the possessed girl in The Exorcist.
In the spinner, the large round floor was motionless. At the six curtained exits leading to the slides, they saw the chain-saw executioner. Hed pushed his mask up to the top of his head, revealing the face of a handsome man in his thirties.
Im so sorry if I scared your little boy. He offered the Hudsons a small, warm smile. Hes not here but Im sure youll find him.
In the spinner, the large round floor was motionless. At the six curtained exits leading to the slides, they saw the chain-saw executioner. Hed pushed his mask up to the top of his head, revealing the face of a handsome man in his thirties.
Im so sorry if I scared your little boy. He offered the Hudsons a small, warm smile. Hes not here but Im sure youll find him.
They didnt.
Cal and Faiths search of the Chambers had proven to be fruitless.
This way. King led them to one of the exits, and the outside stairs down, returning them to the chutes to where a small group of Ultra-Fun staff had gathered.
Amid the chattering walkie-talkies, some of the staff cast looks of awkward pity at the Hudsons standing helplessly at the slidestheir faces bearing small smears of stage blood. It had now been nearly half an hour since Cal and Faith had last seen Gage, yet all around them the fair kept going, people kept squealing with joy, the thrill rides kept spinning and twirling, the music kept rocking, as if nothing had changed.
But everything had changed.
Faiths breaths started coming in gasps; her hands started shaking. Cal, this cant be happening, not to us!
Take it easy.
Maybe, maybe Marshalls and Coltons families are here and this is a big joke to scare us? Thats got to be it, right?
Faith, I dont think so.
No. No! Faiths knees buckled and Cal caught her. Gage!
Gage couldnt be missing, Cal thought. It couldnt be true. Maybe it was part of some pranking TV show? He struggled to grasp it all but their futile search of the Chambers with its grotesque faces and sets was a descent into Dantes circles of hell.
Cal felt something monstrous had raked a claw across their lives while the screams of the midway grew louder and he reached for his phone. His fingers were trembling when he pressed the numbers for 911.
River Ridge Emergency Dispatch, whats your emergency?
My son is Cal started but his heart was hammering in his chest and his mind was swirling with disbelief. He glanced at Faith, her anguish piercing him. He couldnt believe this was happening. What kind of parents lose their kid? He had to stop thinking that way and stay in control.
Sir, whats your emergency?
Cal gripped his cell phone with such force he nearly cracked the casing. My son is missing. He resumed reporting Gages disappearance, but for one burning instant he felt trapped in a dream.
Wake up, go to Gages roomyoull see hes there. Wake up!
But Cal didnt wake up because he wasnt dreaming.
5
Four minutes after Cals call, River Ridge police officers Angie Berg and Erik Ripkowski arrived at the chutes. Already briefed by their dispatcher, they wasted no time and followed procedure.
We need to talk to you separately, folks, said Berg, reaching for her notebook before taking Cal aside while her partner stayed with Faith.
The two officers had been close by. Today was their third shift on midway patrol, which was considered a semivacation usually involving nothing more than community relations duty. Berg had become partial to the fudge, while Ripkowski loved the Polish dogs. Up to now, their most serious call had been a woman whod attempted to steal a fifteen-year-old girls phone. Turned out the woman was the intoxicated mother of the boy the girl had dumped. The womans husband, who was embarrassed, apologized and took his wife home.
But the Hudson call was different.
It went well beyond a midway nuisance, and of all the young officers on the River Ridge force, Berg and Ripkowski were two of the brightest.
Take a breath, sir, start at the beginning, Berg, her sandy hair pulled up in small bun, told Cal, her pen poised.
At this point Gage had been missing for almost forty-five minutes.
Nearby, Ripkowski, whose bodybuilder arms strained his uniform, was taking careful notes as Faith recounted to him what had taken place. At the same time the officers had requested that Vaughn King, who was watching from the distance, keep the Chambers of Dread closed and keep all staff on hand.
We mean everybody. Ripkowski pointed his pen. Nobody leaves.
After obtaining the Hudsons initial statements, details on Gages height, weight, hair and eye color, Berg and Ripkowski moved fast, making a number of transmissions on their shoulder microphones and calls on their phones, to their sergeant, and to the River Ridge Fairgrounds security and operations people.
Do you have a recent photo of your son? Ripkowski asked. We need to get it circulated as soon as possible.
Faith rummaged through her bag, seizing her phone. Last Saturdayno, sorry, it was SundayGage went to his friend Ethan Clarks birthday party. Ive got a picture. She swiped through images, stopping at Gage smiling for the camera while behind him some joker, likely Marshall, was holding up two fingers bunny-ear-style above his head. See, hes wearing the same blue Cubs shirt. Its got the mustard stain from his hot dog at the party. I told him to put it in the wash. Faith was almost embarrassed. I wanted to get the stain out but its his favorite shirt.
Okay, send it to me now. Ripkowski held up his phone displaying his email. His phone chimed receipt of the picture after Faith, fingers shaking, typed it into her email app and sent the photo. Ripkowski then forwarded it to a number of addresses and made a call, speaking urgently to a fairgrounds person while nodding to the billboard-size TV screen suspended high above their section of the midway.
The sign was flashing with ads, selfies and images of people having fun at the fair, much like the giant screens at Times Square. There were four screens overlooking the grounds, one at pretty much every compass point.
Here we go, Ripkowski said.
Faith gasped when the screen suddenly went blank, then popped to life with Gage smiling down at her, the words Lost/Missing shouted above his head. Gages name and description appeared next to his face, in missing-person poster-style with a message urging anyone whod seen him to call 911.
Thats up now and will stay up on all the screens, Ripkowski said. Ill send copies to you and your husband to spread the word, too.
* * *
In the minutes that followed, Cal and Faith called the parents of Gages friends hoping that by some wild coincidence they were in fact also here, and maybe Gage had seen them and joined them.
Hey, Pam, its Faith. This is going to sound weird, but are you guys at the fair today?
No, Im home doing a wash. Deans with Colton at Walmart looking at fishing rods, or reels, or some man-thing. Why, whats up?
Faith stifled her tears, cupping her hand to her face as she spun around in the chaos, seeing Cal on his phone, hearing him speaking to their friends the Thompsons.
Jack, any chance you, Michelle and Marshall are down here at the fair right now? he was saying.
Those calls and the others theyd made didnt yield Gage, but their friends, shocked by the gravity of Gages disappearance, began mobilizing to come to the fairgrounds to help. Cal and Faith, both ashen-faced, watched from a few yards away as the search for Gage continued widening with great speed. There was one thing that could help.