Manhunt (2 page)

Michael navigated his car into the sleazier part of Hershey. Nikki’s eyes grew wider and more worried by the minute.

“Don’t worry, Nikki. We won’t be here for long. We’re just visiting an old friend.”

He turned abruptly down an obscured dirt road, surrounded by broken beer bottles and other such miscellaneous trash. The brush on either side was an unkempt mess of forsythia and ditch lilies. After two or three miles, the weeds and trees gave way and what looked like an abandoned campus of sorts appeared. Most of the buildings reached two to three stories high with boarded up doors and windows, but only two of them had lights on.

The compound gave Michael the creeps from the outside, even during the day, but more so once he found out it used to be an insane asylum. At night, the place sent chills down his spine. Nikki had once called it nostalgic. She said even if the house was haunted, there were no two better people to bring a little joy to tortured souls than Christian and Sophie. Nikki was always one to look for the brighter side of things.

Not at the moment, though. Nikki’s eyes darted around the unfamiliar surroundings, as if she expected Freddy Krueger or Cujo to appear any second. Her scream could have traveled for miles when a large, but definitely not rabid, Saint Bernard came barreling off the old wooden porch towards them.

Christian appeared in the doorway, a huge smile on his face as he realized who was approaching. Michael turned to Nikki and put his hand over hers, trying to ignore it when she flinched.

“These are our friends, Nikki. No one here is going to hurt you, okay? Not even the dog.”

Chapter 3

Nikki nodded at the man in the driver’s seat, not fully understanding why she put her trust in this stranger. She couldn’t even justify to herself why she had let him take her from the hospital. He was gorgeous, admittedly, but serial killers could be good looking too. Still, his potential status on the FBI Most Wanted list didn’t stop her from peeking at him from the corner of her eye. He was tall, probably around 6’1”, with well-defined muscles, fit without being brawny, dirty blonde hair just long enough to run her fingers through, with crystal blue eyes, a strong jaw and cheekbones, not to mention the tattoo circling his bicep which peeked out from the short-sleeved, white undershirt. Such a plain garment, but it accented his chest in a way that made Nikki’s breath catch. She groaned, frustrated with herself for ogling when what she needed to do was figure out who the hell he was. Or better yet, who the hell she was. Luckily, he mistook the groan to mean she was in pain, and she didn’t bother to correct him.

She didn’t remember much about herself or how she ended up in the hospital, but at least there she felt certain she could trust the doctor who had been with her when she woke up. He was going to help her remember, he’d said. What about this man’s intentions? Before Nikki could sort things out in her head, the passenger door opened and a hand was extended to her. She tentatively took it for support as she carefully got out of the car. The hand belonged to the man who had been on the porch a moment ago. Like her mystery companion, he had classic good looks, but with wavy golden blonde hair instead of dirty blonde, and probably a good two inches taller.

“Nikki! How’s my second favorite girl in the whole world? Lay some sugar on me, sugar.”

He turned his face to the side, tapping his cheek with the index finger of his free hand. Obviously, he expected some type of response, but Nikki had no clue what. When he didn’t get what he was looking for, he turned back to her, horror overtaking his features as he took in her disheveled state—the partially buttoned shirt which revealed the bandages covering much of her upper body, the cuts and bruises she was certain covered her face.

“Nikki?” His voice cracked, thick with concern, and she had an odd urge to hug him and tell him that everything was all right, even though it most definitely wasn’t.

“She doesn’t remember you, Christian. She doesn’t remember anyone right now, not even herself, I don’t think. Let’s go inside. I need to talk to you and I’d rather Nikki not be on her feet too long.”

Christian nodded without another word, wrapped his arm around Nikki’s waist and threw her arm over his shoulders to help her walk inside. She moved at a snail’s pace, whimpering under her breath. After only a few steps, he gave up with helping and just picked her up to carry her up the three steps to the porch.

Once inside, he sat her down at the kitchen table and opened the fridge, pulling out two beers, a diet cola, and a vitamin-enhanced water. Christian tossed Michael one of the beers and set the cola down next to Nikki. Nikki thanked Christian for the drink and snorted to herself at how ridiculous it was that this stranger seemed to know what she liked to drink when she didn’t. He smiled sadly and disappeared up the stairs, returning a few minutes later empty-handed. He and Michael headed for the living room, telling her they’d be right back, to sit and relax.

Nikki took a moment to take in the kitchen. It surprised her how homey this place looked from the inside. White wallpaper with tiny yellow flowers which bloomed from ivy in vertical stripes went perfectly with the white eyelet valances on the windows. The house was old, with a wood burning stove and a white antique refrigerator and icebox. Two oak hutches flanked either side of the entryway leading into the living room. One held china, with cups on hooks and saucers standing on their side, displayed perfectly behind the glass on one shelf, stacks of dinner plates and serving pieces on another. Like the wallpaper, the china was adorned with tiny yellow flowers. The other hutch concerned her, though. It was a gun case, with several guns that Nikki suspected were not for hunting deer. Like the china, they were hanging on hooks and displayed perfectly behind the glass. It seemed so out of place with the rest of the house, and yet in an odd way, fit right in.

Now Nikki was scared. She glanced over at Michael and Christian sitting on a red velvet sofa in front of a brick fireplace, through the entryway. She wished they hadn’t excluded her from the conversation. The dog nuzzled her leg, distracting her, putting his head under her hand and pushing upwards in a manner which clearly stated his desire. Nikki chuckled in spite of herself and started scratching the dog behind his ear.

“Nana, leave her alone already, will you? You’re going to give Nikki carpal tunnel making her pet you like that every time she visits.”

A gorgeous girl with stylish shoulder length, ebony hair plopped down unceremoniously in the chair next to her before taking a huge drink of her vitamin-enhanced water.

Nikki overheard Christian speaking louder than a moment ago. “Sit back down. She’s fine. She’s a little nervous and confused, I’m sure, which is understandable considering the circumstances, but she’s fine. I warned Sophie about the amnesia. Now how about you tell me what the hell is going on.”

Sophie eyed Nikki up and down for a moment before speaking. “Sorry, Nikki, I didn’t realize we had company. I’m Sophie, your best friend. Well, besides them two.” She pointed her thumb at the men in the other room. Somehow, Nikki believed her. “You really don’t remember... anything?”

“I wish I could. I don’t remember you or Christian. I wouldn’t even be able to tell you my own name if not for the doctor who told me. I woke up in the hospital with severe injuries and no memory. Then this guy shows up telling me we needed to leave, and like an idiot, I followed him. He brought me here.”

Nikki studied Sophie’s expressions, happy to find no pity in her eyes. Sorrow, worry and then determination flitted across Sophie’s features, but definitely no pity.

“I’ve been working on the nursery, wanna see?”

Nikki had a hard time imagining a nursery in this odd place. Plus, she found it a rather sudden and odd change of subject.

“Um… sure?” She got up and followed the girl, who didn’t look at all pregnant. Nana tagged along, sticking by Nikki’s heels the entire time it took her to climb the staircase to the second floor. Nikki had to stop several times on the way up the stairs to rest, giving her an opportunity to check out all the framed pictures on the wall. The largest was a wedding portrait of Sophie and Christian, with Nikki and the man downstairs standing at the altar with them. In fact, she and that man were prominently featured in most of the pictures.

“That one’s my favorite of you and Michael,” Sophie mused, tapping on the glass of a 4x6 picture of her with the guy from downstairs.

Michael. At least she knew his name now. Michael. Something about his name soothed her a little, but she couldn’t explain what. She gazed at the picture again. They were at a beach, Michael was holding a volleyball under one arm, his other arm around Nikki’s shoulders. They were both covered in sand just about everywhere. They seemed happy.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened to you, but I can tell you one thing. You can trust Michael. If he said you needed to get out of there, well, then, you needed to get out. Simple as that.” Sophie’s eyes clouded over for a moment in what seemed like anger, but then cleared again. “We’ll figure this out, okay? Everything will work out somehow.”

“I know it’s early,” Sophie lilted lightly, again changing the subject as she continued down the hall, stopping at the second door on the right, “with me still being in my first trimester and all, but I was just too excited to wait.” Sophie opened the door and turned on the light. “You gave me the inspiration.”

“I did?” Nikki stepped into the room. It was a child’s dream, a fairy tale come to life, complete with Big Ben, pirate ships, and a crocodile clock. Gauzy, white linens floated suspended across the ceiling, lending to the appearance of clouds. It was magnificent.

“Sure! You named my dog Nana. You said it was the perfect name for the dog of the boy who would never grow up. So of course I had to do the room in a Peter Pan theme! I figure it’ll work regardless of whether I’ve got a Peter or a Wendy cooking up in here.” Sophie rubbed her belly and Nikki laughed.

Sophie took Nikki by the hand and led her into the master bedroom. Befuddled, Nikki was left in the middle of the room while Sophie dug through her closet, throwing clothes over her shoulder as she went until she found what she wanted. She handed Nikki a soft lavender cardigan set and a pair of yoga pants.

“These might be a little short on you, but at least they’re clean.”

Nikki smiled gratefully at her, and changed her clothes. She considered briefly that she should feel exposed, changing in front of this person she barely knew, but she didn’t. Sophie went back to digging in the top of her closet, pulling out a shoebox.

“Aha!” Sophie walked over to Nikki and opened it the way a man might open a velvet box holding an engagement ring. Inside lay a pair of pretty, black, ballerina flats. Nikki looked up, confused. “I was saving these for you for Christmas.” She rolled her eyes and dropped to her knees to put them on her friend. “My shoes would be too small. You’re lucky there was a sale!”

Sophie took her hand again and started to lead Nikki back downstairs. She paused at another picture, one of the four of them, early teens if she had to wager a guess, together at a playground which had seen better days. A basketball hoop with no net and faded markings hung over a concrete court, weeds forcing their way to the sun through the many cracks, a rusty chain link fence behind them which turned up on a corner by a dilapidated metal post. Once again, they appeared happy. Sophie took the frame off the wall and took out the picture, handing it to Nikki.

“I’ll print another copy. Until you can remember for yourself, you can look at this picture and it will remind you that you are loved. That’s something you didn’t remember nearly well enough when you had your memory, but somehow I think you need to remember now more than ever.”

When they got back downstairs, Michael and Christian were waiting for them in the kitchen. Nikki handed Michael back his shirt, and they both blushed a little as he put it back on. Michael hugged Sophie, half-whispering thanks in her ear for whatever she had done to make Nikki smile, but Nikki still heard. Michael released Sophie with one last squeeze, then took Nikki’s hand.

“Time to go, Sunshine.”

They followed Christian out to the only other lit building in the complex, a large garage which housed several cars and a couple of motorcycles.

“Take your pick, Michael,” Christian said, his overwhelming emotions bleeding into his voice.

Without thinking, Nikki let go of Michael’s hand, took the few painful steps to Christian, and gave him a hug. Tears landed in her hair as they embraced, but neither one spoke.

Michael went about the business of choosing a vehicle. “If you were in better shape, I’d take the bike. It’s a crotch rocket, but would get good gas mileage. You always wanted to go cross country on a bike.”

Nikki scoffed. She could barely walk, let alone ride a piece of shit motorcycle to God-knows-where. In the end, he choose an old sedan, saying it was inconspicuous, would get decent gas mileage, and the backseat was large enough for Nikki to be able to lay down and rest. Christian flipped through a stack of license plates in a cardboard box on the workbench until he found the one he wanted and fastened it on the car’s back bumper before trading Michael car keys and handing him a wad of dollar bills wrapped with a rubber band and what appeared to be two driver’s licenses. Michael and Christian linked forearms and nodded at one another before saying goodbye. Nikki waved to her new, yet old, friends as they drove away.