River of Secrets (15 page)

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I am, too.” She flinched at the coldness in his voice.

What do I do, Lord? He hates me now. Help me.
Her heart cried out to the God who’d never let her down.

“I don’t know what to say to you, Amy.” A ragged sigh escaped him. “I don’t know what to think. I was out of line with that accusation and for that I’m sorry. And I don’t necessarily blame you for your mother’s actions, but I don’t know that I can get past it, either.”

“I should have told you. I wish I’d told you, but I can’t change that any more than I can change what my mother did.” She beseeched him, hand out, palm up.

“Mentally, I know that.” He paced, up one side of the stainless steel counter, then back down toward her. She watched his restlessness, wishing she had the magic words, but try as she might, she couldn’t find them in her overloaded brain. He raked a hand down his face. “I have to go.”

“No, wait,” she scrambled up, still swiping her endless supply of tears, shoving aside her need to curl up into a ball and weep herself into unconsciousness. “Wait, I need to ask you something.”

“You don’t think you’ve said enough?”

Another splintering pain shot through her, but she ignored it. She had to be strong, had to ask him for his help now that she’d torn his world apart.

A knock on the door startled them both. Anna poked her head around and grimaced. “I hate to interrupt, but I’ve got a sick kid on my hands. I really need one of you to go find Lucas and fast. I can’t get him on his satellite phone and I think Maya is having an allergic reaction to something. I’ve given her an antihistamine, but this qualifies as an emergency.”

Amy didn’t bother to hide her blotchy face, red eyes and tearstained cheeks from her friend. Anna would get it out of her eventually, anyway. Micah, on the other hand, immediately volunteered to go find Lucas.

No doubt, he was concerned for the little girl, but this was also his way to escape an emotionally charged situation. Amy watched him leave, deciding that it was probably for the best. Maybe after they’d both cooled down, they could try to talk again.

Micah hurried past Anna. Anna then turned to Amy with a raised brow, the questions on her pretty face nearly caused Amy to break down once again. She held up a hand, forestalling anything Anna might say. “I can’t talk about it right now.”

Compassion softened her friend’s face. “Sure. You come tell me when you can. I’m here to listen, you know that.”

Tears threatened to overflow once again, but through sheer force of will, Amy managed to keep them from falling. “Thanks,” she whispered, and headed to her room.

Maya would be fine and Anna was still waiting to talk. Amy didn’t want to talk. Not to Anna anyway.

The next day, Amy went through her tasks mindlessly, performing her duties as best she could, trying to focus, but was constantly distracted with thoughts of Micah. Finally, supper had come and gone. Micah had avoided her all day and Amy decided her best course of action was to let him have his space. Only minutes before he’d passed by her, started to say something, then turned on his heel, his body language practically shouting that his anger still seethed.

Needing something to do, she busied herself in the medical center stocking the shelves, thinking and praying.
Lord, there’s nothing more I can do. I’ve told him everything about my mother…now…what do I do, God?

Find him.

Amy placed the package of bandages on the shelf. “I don’t want to find him, God. My heart’s already in pieces, why give him the opportunity to shred what’s left?”

She felt herself being called to find him.

“Are you insisting I do this?”

The command still echoed in her mind.

“Okay,” she grumbled, thinking. Where would he go?

The workout room in the gymnasium.

What about his rib? Wouldn’t that hurt?

Tossing the rest of the bandages back into the box, she left the room to exit the lobby doors, running down the covered walkway to the gymnasium. Darkness had already fallen and although it was still raining, it seemed to be slacking off. She pulled open the heavy doors and listened.

Thunk, grunt. Thunk, grunt.
Yep, he was definitely working out his anger.
Okay, God, I’m here. What now?

Hurrying down the hall, she decided to ask Micah for help in getting her cousin out of the country. She’d convince him to do something for someone instead of holding his anger in—or taking it out on the weights, or her. Specially trained, his skills would enable a rescue to go much more smoothly than if she tried to do this alone or with hired help.

Besides, she’d promised to tell him when she had any more ideas that had
stupid
written all over them. And this one had
stupid
written in big bold letters. Following the sounds coming from the weight room, she hurried down the hall. Thunder sounded in the distance. She shivered in the eerie stillness.

“Micah?”

No sooner had the word left her mouth than darkness dropped over her like a blanket. She stopped moving, reached out a hand to touch the wall. What happened? Had the storm knocked out the power?

A scrape sounded in front her, then running feet. Fear darted through her, causing her to tremble. Fumbling in the pocket of the raincoat she’d worn for her meeting with Maria last night, she gripped the flashlight and pulled it out. Flicking the switch, the beam cast a bright light on the wall. “Micah? Who’s there?”

It was awfully quiet. Why wasn’t he answering? A sound coming from the weight room caught her ear. Cautiously, she approached trying to identify the noise. Again, she heard it. Something scraped along the floor. She whispered, “Micah, are you all right?”

Still no answer. Should she go forward or go find help? No, she couldn’t leave now. What if he was lying there hurt and needed help immediately?

Another sound followed by an indrawn breath reached her straining ears.

Drawing on every ounce of courage she possessed—and some she didn’t—Amy turned the corner and swung the beam of light inside. She reached out a hand to flick the light switch.

Nothing.

Waving the flashlight around the room, the beam flickered cross Micah. He lay still on the bench, his arms fully extended above him, quivering, sweat pouring from him like the rain outside. Light from the lamppost outside the window illuminated the room in an eerie glow.

“Micah?” she whispered again. Then noticed his eyes fixed on the bar above him. She raised the light and gasped.

A snake stretched the length of the bar, forked tongue flickering with lazy disdain for the man struggling not to disturb it. She dropped the beam to the floor. Another snake slithered under the bench. Muscles quivering Amy did her best to ignore the instinct that wanted to send her screaming from the room.

Oh, please, Jesus, not snakes.

“Micah, I’m going to get help. I can’t help you on my own.”

“What do you need help with,
senhorita?
”

Amy froze. Jonathas. Relief nearly wilted her. “S-s-snakes,” she stuttered.

Jonathas moved from behind her, his eyes followed the beam of her light and stopped. “Oh, not good.” The boy had the gift of understatement.

“This crazy man is lifting weights with a bruised rib,” she muttered under her breath. Louder, she said, “We’ve got to do something fast. Micah can’t hold that bar up much longer.” In fact, his arms seemed to be quivering a lot more than when she’d first walked in.

Jonathas scanned the room. “The Sucururu snake. Very dangerous. Run. Get a gun.”

Without hesitation, Amy handed Jonathas the flashlight and sped from the room, into the dark hall, trailing her fingers along the wall to help guide her out the door and to the next building into the main lobby. Her mind registered the brightly lit room. Why was the power on here and not in the other building? She dashed down the hall to Anna’s office, burst in and stopped short. Lucas held Anna, who’d obviously been crying, in a tender hug. Flabbergasted, she gaped, but gasped, “I need a gun.”

The two stumbled apart. Lucas cleared his throat. Anna gaped. Amy teared up, desperate. “Please, Micah’s in danger. Snakes. I need a gun.”

Lucas snapped into action. “Anna, give me the key.” She did.

He hurried to the cabinet behind Anna’s desk, opened it and pulled out a pistol. Amy grabbed it from his hand, ignored his surprised yell and took off back down the hall toward the gym.
Please, God, please.

Thundering footfalls followed her, but she never slowed. Less than a minute later, she stood shivering next to Jonathas. Micah looked ready to pass out. The snake on the bar had moved to one end, curled around the weight. Micah struggled to hold it upright, but the snake was large and heavy, pulling the weight down toward his face as he grew weaker. Bobbing and weaving, the snake’s head moved right, then left, the tongue flickering, testing the air. Amy shoved the gun into Jonathas’s hand and took the flashlight from him, keeping it trained on the reptile. Jonathas raised the revolver, took aim and pulled the trigger. The snake’s head disappeared.

She didn’t flinch, her concern and attention focused on Micah.

Micah slowly lowered the bar to rest on the Y-shaped arms. A small grunt escaped him, his breath coming in quick pants along with a few short groans. The other snake on the floor curled around one of the bench’s legs, close to Micah’s right leg. The reptile turned, slithered up over his leg; Amy bit her lip to hold back her cry.

Continuing over the lower part of his leg, the snake moved on, up over his knee. Micah’s thigh muscle jumped, quivered. The snake drew back, up, opened its mouth, fangs bared. Amy heard the click of the hammer on an empty chamber. Jonathas muttered, “No.”

Before she could think twice, she let the flashlight fly.

Micah’s muscles could stand no more. The pain in his side drummed.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Who lifts weights with a cracked rib? The feel of the snake creeping over his right leg had him clenching his jaw even tighter. Jonathas couldn’t shoot the snake without putting a bullet in his leg. Would it be better to be shot or bitten? Probably shot. Less internal damage.

“Shoot it,” he grunted.

Then his thigh muscle gave an involuntary jump, bumping the snake’s underbelly. That made the reptile mad. Again, the muscle spasmed. The snake’s brown-and-black head rose, the mouth opened, and Micah stared into the fangs, already expecting to feel the bite. Better to let it sink its teeth into his upper thigh, not his hand. Farther away from his heart.

Absently, he heard the click of Jonathas’s gun. Then something flew right into the snake’s head knocking it sideways off his leg. Micah rolled to the left and landed on the floor with a thump. He had no strength to do anything else. Then the crack of a gun shattered the silence and the snake lay still.

Without moving any muscles except the ones in his neck and eyes, he glanced toward the door.

Lucas.

Jonathas’s shot had failed, but Lucas had nailed the reptile. Micah lowered his head back to the floor, gasping, forcing oxygen into his lungs—and prayed. His rib still throbbed, sending pain shooting through him, up into his shoulder, across his back.

But he was alive. Again.
Thank You, God, one more time.

He felt a hand on his arm. Forcing his eyes open, he stared into Amy’s tear-soaked eyes. She asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks. This time I’m grateful for your softball days.” He shoved himself into a sitting position, barely able to command his Jell-O-like muscles. As he shifted, his gaze scraped across an object under the window. “Look.”

Amy followed his gaze. “What is it?”

A brown cloth bag lay underneath the window. The screen that had been replaced after the dart incident had been pulled away. “Somebody let those snakes loose in here.”

Anna hovered in the doorway with Jonathas. Lucas walked over and kicked—gently—at the bag with the toe of a boot. “No more snakes. Just those two.”

“But you weren’t planning to be in here,” she blurted to Micah. “This isn’t your normal workout time. How would this person know…?”

“He’s watching me. Waiting for the chance.” Micah clenched a fist and smacked it into his open palm. “This guy is really starting to make me mad.”

“You didn’t hear him? When he opened the window? Took the screen off?” Amy stared at him.

Micah’s jaw jumped. “I let my guard down…again. I wasn’t hearing much of anything when I entered this room. The guy could have sent a marching band through here and I wouldn’t have noticed. I only noticed the snake from the bar as it crawled up the side of the bench. I thought it was going for my head, but it kept going up my arm and settled itself on the bar.”

Amy shivered. “Who’s after you, Micah?”

He glared at her. “I don’t know, Amy. Why don’t you tell me?”

Placing her hands on her hips, she stamped a foot. “I didn’t have anything to do with it and you know it!”

“Hey, what’s going on with you two?” Lucas asked.

Dropping his head to his chest, Micah sighed. “Nothing.” He looked at Amy. “Yeah, I know. I’m just…Never mind. I’m wondering if somehow the family of the man that I killed two and a half years ago is involved.”

“But how would they know where to find you? How would they know you’re alive?”

Jonathas laughed, but the sound lacked humor. Everyone stared at him. He shrugged. “It would be easy to find this one. Anyone who goes into town would see his picture on all the flyers posted everywhere. Anyone who knew him could find him.”

Lucas sighed. “I’ll call the chief.”

After the excitement of the night before, Amy awoke late, although she didn’t mean to. Surprised she’d slept at all, she squinted at the digital clock. Eight o’clock! Why hadn’t her alarm gone off? A closer look revealed she’d forgotten to set it. Breakfast started at seven-thirty.

Tossing back the mosquito netting and the covers, she popped out of bed. Hurrying into the bathroom, she took a quick shower, brushed her teeth and dressed, all in under fifteen minutes.