S.P.I.R.I.T (16 page)

SssAAmm,
her voice whispered as her mouth moved. It was like a strange dream; the word started out quietly, moved into a high note and then faded out once again. My breath quivered as I heard it repeat.
SssAAmm, heelp himmm.

“Zander?” I questioned, and watched her look down the hill.

Heelp himmm,
she pleaded once again and then suddenly an explosion rocked the world around me.

“
NO!”
I screamed going to my knees as the strength gave out on them. My Zander held me tightly, wrapping his arms around me as I sat shaking and sobbing, my eyes tightly shut. I could still feel the heat as the car burned before me, and there was nothing I could do to shake the images, not until her life and her memories were done.

It stopped as abruptly as it started. There were no more feelings of death and loss, no more images of the burning car, and no more voices from the other side. I sat up slowly, as my heart began to slow along with my breathing, and I wiped the tears from my eyes.

“You’ll never know how strong I think you are,” Zander whispered against my ear. His voice filled with the tears that I knew he shed. “I could never do what you do, see what you see, and be able to continue being as strong as you are.”

“She told me to help him,” I said softly, turning towards him from where we sat on the damp ground.

The pine needles were crisp under my fingers and the earth smelled musty, reminding me of a place that we had been in not that long ago. I stood slowly and watched as he followed suit, staying close enough behind me to catch my arm if I slipped down the embankment, until we came to the river’s edge. The pulse was strong there, as I glanced over the rock to look into the pond below.

“There’s something down there,” I whispered, watching the water ripple. Deep within the pool, where the liquid was the deepest, I saw a sparkle of something and it blinded me for a moment.

“It’s the pyrite; the mountain is made of it,” Zander said as he looked over.

“It can’t be, it’s only in that one spot,” I insisted and moved closer to the edge, going so far as to lay on my belly to avoid falling in myself. “Look, the way the sunlight reflects off the surface, it’s not even hitting that spot. What could be making that light?”

“When we get back to the car, I’ll call it in. We can get Harris down here and check it out. He’s an expert at diving and can avoid stirring up the muck at the bottom.” Zander sighed, sitting back on his bottom as he scratched his head. “Do you feel him at all?”

“Just down there.” I sighed, glancing over at him. “And even then, who’s to say that he’s down there, the feeling isn’t that strong.”

“She said to help him,” he whispered, and looked up the hill. “But, if he’s not here, how are we going to do that?”

“I don’t think she meant help find his body.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “She knows where his soul is. She knows the torment that it’s in. You said demons come when a soul is dying to replace it with their own. Can you imagine the anguish that he was in, had he survived the fall, had he laid down here with no voice until he passed?”

“You’re right.” Zander inhaled deeply. “That feeling is just what would have called the demon, and he would have been stuck here alone.”

“We should get back.” I glanced down at the water once again, at the small shiny object that twinkled up at me. “I can’t do anymore until I know what that is.”

“Right,” he smiled, taking my hand. “Come on, I’ll help you up the hill.”

Everett looked at me as he sat down in front of us, shaking his head.

“You want me to send in one of my men to a swimming hole to get a piece of something that may or may not even be of value to what’s going on around here?” He chuckled behind the cigar and placed his hands over his stomach. “And what happens if this little gem isn’t even related to what you’re going after?”

“It has to have something to do with the two of them!” I snapped and slammed my hand down on the table. “She wouldn’t have led me to it just for it to be some sort of bullshit fool’s gold!”

“Sam,” Zander warned.

I shot him a glance, fed up with being hushed, and pointed a finger at Everett. “You quarantined me here against my wishes, you locked me in a fucking cave with my hands tied behind my back! I have gone through hell and back because you won’t help me find a way home. Now, when I tell you that this may help lead to the answer you need to get rid of your little ‘SPOOK’ problem, you’re going to giggle at me because I’m a girl. You’ve got a lot of balls, mister, and if you don’t help me out here by letting me borrow one of your ‘Ghost Busters’ for a half-a-freaking-hour, then I’m just going to have to do it myself!”

Everett sat there completely stunned as I stood, avoiding Zander’s hand, and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind me. I paced back and forth, the other four men watched with caution as I mumbled curses under my breath. Then, after a minute or two, the door opened and Zander walked out. He gestured with his thumb for the guys to head back in and he stopped and looked at me, arms crossed.

“I think when we get out of here I’m going to put in a recommendation to my commander that you be hired as Everett’s higher up,” Zander said softly.

“This is not a game, and I’m not playing,” I snapped, as the anger inside me was fueled by his joke.

“I can see that in your eyes, baby, they’re growing redder by the second. You have to understand that Everett has never dealt with anyone outside the team before, as far as input and communication with the other side. He’s having a hard time following the fact that a person who has been dead for three years told you where to find her lover.”

“And, what about you?” I questioned, stopping to stare at him. “Do you think I’m making this all up? That I’m doing this to get attention?”

“Sweetie, I was there in the house when your father handed you a photograph of the two of us, taken before we even knew each other. There is no way I’m going to dismiss what I saw through you today,” he answered and I froze in my shoes.

“You didn’t tell me that you saw her,” I whispered and watched him shake his head.

“It was hard enough to see you go through it, I couldn’t have imagined what would have happened if I decided to let you in on the information that I was seeing her too.” He sighed. “You would have broken down even more, thinking that you weren’t protecting me, even though this has been my job for many years.”

I took in a deep breath, dousing the flames within my chest. Once calm I was able to step closer to him and watched, with a small smile on his face, as his arms relaxed to his side. Gently, I raised my arms and stepped up to put my head upon his chest as he pulled me close to him.

“You certainly made an impression on the old fart!” Zander laughed, his voice echoing over the beat in his chest. “I’ve never seen him so speechless.”

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t hold it in anymore,” I apologized and listened to the deep-throated chuckle that vibrated through him.

“Woman, I would hate to be on your bad side.”

“Are we moving out or are we going to say here and watch the two of you make googly eyes at each other?” Everett’s voice picked up behind me and I turned to watch the SPIRIT men exit the house, all set up for a nice swim in the river. I felt the smile spread across my face and Everett winked in my direction.

Together, we piled into the two vehicles we had acquired and started the drive back out to the lake road. My fingers tightly woven in with Zander’s, the two of us sat in silence once again, as we made our way to the spot where the lives of two people had ended.

The trek down to the river below the road was just as slippery as it had been earlier that afternoon, but now it seemed much darker and dangerous with the men behind me carrying several different kinds of diving equipment.

The pond itself couldn’t have been more than twenty-feet deep, but Harris slipped on SCUBA gear, with Rodriguez’s help, on the rocks below the landing. I stood and watched, my arms crossed tightly against me, and Zander squatted to look over the edge as Harris slowly slipped into the water. I couldn’t believe how clear he kept it, making only small waves with the motions of his body, and my heart leapt as he approached the shiny treasure.

His body blocked the light from view for only a few moments and then he surfaced just as slowly as he had descended. He removed the mask, taking the breathing apparatus from his mouth, and he looked down at the hand that was still in the water.

“Did you locate the item?” Zander questioned.

“There wasn’t a skeleton down there, no sign of human remains of any kind, but it’s been three years and this is a public swimming hole, as remote as it is.” Harris sighed, his hand dipping back in the water to brush off the little trinket.

“So what is it?” Everett asked and watched as Harris placed one hand over the other and raised it out of the water.

My eyes widened as he removed the top of his cupped hands, and I could feel Zander’s hand gently settle on my shoulder as my own moved up to my mouth.

16

The little black box was intact, except for the few small pieces of felt that were missing, but the diamond ring inside was in perfect condition. Harris set it down in my palms, still damp from the time that it sat in the river, and then he gave me a half-smile, friendly and apologetic, as I ran my finger over the large stone.

“It’s got to be at least two, maybe three carats,” Walters whispered and I could hear Daniels whistle in the background.

“There is no way that this has been sitting here for three years!” Rodriguez mumbled. “Look at the size of that thing, why wouldn’t anyone have brought it up out of the water to cash it in?”

“Sammy, my beloved always,” I read aloud and handed the ring back to Zander, who closed his eyes and held the precious gift in his hand. I watched him blink quickly as his eyes grew red and he handed it back to me, turned and walked up the hill a bit. I looked down stream and shook my head. “He’s not here, but he was.”

“So where do we look now?” Daniels questioned and I glanced up at him, tucking the ring into my coat pocket.

“We have to walk along the riverbank,” I replied and glanced up at Zander, who stood behind the pack. He was still swallowing back his tears, but he smiled at me and winked, which gave me the courage to continue talking. “I think he’ll let me know when we’re getting close.”

I sighed as I stood, the ring securely in my pocket. Then I turned to look fully at Zander, who walked over and started to help me down the steep embankment to the riverbed below. We walked in silence, one team of three on the far side and three of us on the other with Everett waiting back at the SUV.

He is an old man, you know.
Zander’s thoughts tickled my own as I tried not to focus on how he backed out of the manual labor part of this exercise.
Besides, with all of his military training, I don’t really believe that he puts stock in all of this paranormal stuff.

Yet he commands an elite group of SPIRIT men.
I laughed.
Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd?

When you’ve been in the service as long as he has, I think it’s more of what you are ordered to do, not so much what you believe in.
He sighed. I could feel his thoughts turning in a dismal direction and to counter it I tossed my own thoughts about the night before at him.
You know, that really isn’t fair. I’m a very outdoorsy type of nature guy and having the others around kind of makes me antsy for some alone time. You and me up against a Maple tree.

I nearly choked on the small drink of water than I held in my mouth, as I stopped abruptly and looked back at him. A wide smile cracked across his face and I shook my head, not sure that I even wanted to know just what he was thinking. His laugh broke the sad mood that surrounded us but it also brought with it the feeling of a pulse coming from in front of me.

I turned to stare at the rapidly moving water as it flowed down stream, and cautiously made my way over to several rocks that formed a pyramid. At the base of the formation was a small entrance, and as I squatted down in the water, with it running just up passed my knees, I slowly reached in blindly.

“You don’t know what’s in there, Ms. Ricketts, maybe you should let us do that,” Harris spoke up, a comment that I ignored when I heard Zander pat him on the stomach with the back of his hand and shake his head.

The pulse was strong as I dug around in the moist dirt before my fingers brushed against something cold and metallic. It sent shocks through me, like Zander liked to do when he was playing with his powers, just little zaps to catch my attention. I glanced up at him as I reached my hand in deeper to untangle whatever it was from the rock it was caught under. Slowly I pulled it out.

I washed off the dirt and muck from the shining gold piece and then from the chain necklace that held it. Slowly, I turned holding the crucifix up to show the men around me. Zander stepped forward, his hand stretched out, palm up and watched as I let it slowly lay within his grasp.

He brushed it gently with his fingertips, turning the cross over in his hand to look at the inscription before he looked up at me shaking his head.

“I lost this years ago, around Christmas time. It just fell off,” he whispered, smiling as he glanced down at it once more. “My father gave it to me after my communion in our church, even had it inscribed with the date. It was one of those things that you couldn’t do again, like my graduation from high school and boot camp.”

“It means that he came by here,” I said, as I looked down river once again. “I don’t know how far he’s gone though. What can we do to help if he’s in the middle of the lake by now? Three years of storms and thaws could do anything.”