The Summerland (15 page)

Arden had never considered herself to be a tactile sort of person, but it seemed today she was just that. She reveled in the sensation of the sun raining down upon her, the fresh, warm air whipping through her hair. It was freedom she felt, and it was wonderful. Gone were all thoughts of Sam and mysterious callers and her undeniable, ever-increasing attraction to the Sheriff. Just as when she ran, her problems faded away and the world became hers.

She traversed the narrow road, looking for the landmarks Tony and Ynes had described to her. There it was up ahead. A dilapidated old building on the other side of the river. Squeezing the car onto the side of the road, she took the business card out of her pocket, squinting at the address that had been painted onto the rock wall aeons ago. Yes, it matched. Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath and crossed the highway to the swaying bridge, preparing to enter the world of a Wiccan coven.

* * * *

Teddy drove past the bridge, doing a quick reconnoiter. There, just up the road was another turn out. The assassin expertly maneuvered the sedan into the tiny space, then eased out the door, making sure that the target was still on the bridge. Sure enough, she was. Pulling the .38 from its holster hidden inside the windbreaker jacket and hiding it against a denim-encased leg, Teddy glided toward the gently swaying bridge, quickly catching up with the woman feeling her way for each step.

* * * *

Arden was surprised to hear a voice calling to her from the road. Turning carefully, she glanced back at the woman approaching her. She was young and attractive, with curly auburn hair and a wide, welcoming smile. She was dressed in loose-fitting blue jeans and a windbreaker, which seemed odd on a summer day, but different strokes for different folks. She also seemed to be holding onto her leg, although she didn’t walk with a limp.

Arden smiled, maybe this was Josie Galloway. What a break that would be.

“
Hello, I’m Arden Jones. Are you Josie?” She asked hopefully.

The other woman smiled. “No Arden, my name is Teddy. I’m glad I finally get to meet you in the flesh. You’re much prettier in person than on TV.”

Arden froze, looking at the woman in uncomprehending shock. She knew that voice. It was the voice from yesterday, the voice that had promised to find her, the voice that was looking for Samantha. How could those silkily dangerous sounds come out of such an ordinary looking woman?

“
Listen,” she said shakily, “I have no idea where Samantha is. I want to find her just as badly as you do. Please…” she began, then was cut off by the cold muzzle of an enormous gun that magically appeared directly in front of her nose. Her mind whirled, running over every scenario ever taught to her in the military, ever seen on television, ever read in a crime novel. She came up devastatingly empty.

“
Walk. We’ll talk about Samantha and money and Carlos to your heart’s delight in a moment. Just keep walking.” Gone was the warm sexless voice she’d been greeted with. The cold, measured tone of a person more than ready to do as she said took its place. Arden looked at the woman’s uncompromising face, swallowed, then nodded and began her careful traverse of the bridge once more.

* * * *

Stumpy saw the two women on the bridge before he even reached Arden’s car. They seemed to be talking, and then he saw the shape of what was unmistakably a gun in the shorter woman’s hand. Cursing, he swerved to the side of the road, putting on his flashers and thumbing open the cell phone. Taking deep breaths to clear his clouded head, he quickly reported what he’d seen, then snapped the phone shut, turned off the volume and began a hunt of his own.

* * * *

Oh Jesus, Oh Jesus. That was the only thought that seemed to run through Stumpy Goltree’s mind. He’d never had to throw down on a woman before. Shit, he’d never had to draw on a man either. But sure as Christ coming, he was gonna have to now. Pulling his backup gun from the holster strapped to his left calf, he crab-walked sideways, putting his back to the wall of the ancient house. He heard the rumble of an engine and quickly glanced over his shoulder, over the sluggishly drifting waters of the Merced, past the swaying bridge, praying that backup was here. Instead, a motorhome crawled past, beetling it’s way up the river road toward Yosemite.

Taking a deep, silent breath, he slid further down the wall. Hazarding a quick peek, he poked his head around the corner of the decaying old building. There she was. She was pointing a monstrous handgun at Captain Jones and speaking so quietly he couldn’t hear a word she said, even though he was less than ten feet away. Goddamn. Pulling on a reserve of strength and courage he’d never known he had, he stepped around the corner, bringing his weapon to bear.

“
Freeze. Sheriff’s Department.” He stood in that wide-legged pose taught to law enforcement officials from day one, his tall, sturdy body as fixed as an oak. Everything moved in slow motion. The woman began to spin around, bringing up the deadly handgun. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Captain Jones moving, trying to bring down her stalker.

“
Nooooo,” he yelled, watching as the gun arced toward him, watching as the military officer tried to tackle her assailant and missed, watching as the assassin’s finger tightened on the trigger.

He threw himself across the dusty yard toward Arden, attempting to cover her with his body or deflect the assassin’s attention, firing as he did so. The shots deafened him as the tiny semi-automatic SIG Sauer he held stitched bullet holes across the woman’s chest, bringing a look of shock to her uncomprehending face. Her finger tightened again on the trigger of her pistol as she began a slow turn, the first act in a ballet of death.

He hit the ground with a dull thud, jacking the clip out of his weapon and slapping a new one in even as he scrambled to put himself between Miss Jones and the shooter. The would-be killer was writhing on the ground, but still held the gun in a deathly grip.

“
Drop your weapon, now!” Stumpy roared, centering his sights on the center of her forehead. He watched in disbelief as she fumbled with the weapon, then took one quick step forward and kicked it out of her hand.

Teddy looked up at him, really seeing him for the first time, then passed out, knowing even as she dropped off that she was dead, and that Samantha had won, again.

“
Captain Jones, are you OK? Ma’am?” Risking a quick glance behind him he saw Arden sitting in the dust, leaning up against the side of the house. She clutched one shoulder, trying to stem the flow of blood as it blossomed across the blinding whiteness of her tee shirt. “Shit, shit, shit. Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I really need your help here. Can you get up?”

Arden struggled to stand, leaning heavily on the grayed and peeling siding of the building. “Yeah, hold on just a second.” She pushed away from the building, then walked unsteadily to where the big man was standing over the unconscious woman. He shrugged out of his western-style shirt, then began to peel off the tee shirt he wore beneath. “What do you need me to do?”

“
First, let me look at your wound.” Keeping an eye and his pistol trained on the prone woman at his feet, he inspected Arden’s wound with his free hand. He grunted. “Bullet’s still in there. Here.” He handed her his tee shirt. “Hold this against your shoulder to staunch the bleeding.” He pressed Arden’s hand hard against her blood and gore-stained shoulder.

She swayed alarmingly, grabbing onto his arm to regain her balance. This close to him she could smell the sour odor of last night’s whiskey and the sweat that always accompanies a good drunk. She closed her eyes until the grayness and it’s accompanying dizziness retreated, then pushed away from the big deputy. “I’m okay now. Really. What should I do?”

Stumpy looked at her for a long second, trying to tell if she was bullshitting him, or if she really could stand. With a short nod of approval, he refocused that half of his attention on the wounded woman on the ground. Reaching into his back pocket, he withdrew a tiny cell phone. “Call 911 now. Tell the dispatcher that I’ve got your stalker contained, but that we need an ambulance right now, or she’s never gonna make it out of here alive.”

The peace officer dropped to his knees, training his weapon on the woman with one hand and prodding her wounds with the other. There was no response. She was clearly unconscious.

Arden stood over the deputy, absently looking down at her bloodstained shoulder as she dialed 911 with the other hand. As the dispatcher came on the line, Arden relayed his request, stopping only when the operator asked which deputy she was referring to. She looked down at him, the beginning of a smile combating the lines of pain surrounding her mouth. “They want to know who you are.”

“
Just tell them its Stumpy.” He said without glancing back at her. “Never mind. Do you know how to use one of these? Okay, then hang on to it while I try to stop her bleeding.” He handed her the SIG and took back the telephone, tossing it to the ground next to him as he began to work on Teddy, leaving the connection open so the dispatcher could hear everything that transpired.

Arden started to laugh. Hysterically laugh. The deputy looked over his shoulder at her as he ripped his overshirt into strips. “What’s so damned funny?” he growled.

“
You’re Stumpy? Oh, this is priceless. What a perfect end to my day.” She sat down hard in the dirt, tears rolling down her cheeks as she alternated between hysterical crying and laughter. She took one hard look at the woman who had wrought such destruction in her life in such a short amount of time. All because she was Samantha’s sister. All because they must have known that she would never let it go, not until Samantha was found, dead or alive.

She could hear the dispatcher hollering at them through the phone then heard her screaming, “Officer needs assistance, officer needs assistance.” They’ll be here soon, she thought, Oh God, I hope they’re here soon. Stumpy, she hysterically thought, then the world grayed out.

The Fourth Fold

It is the end of her first week. Of course she doesn’t know that.

Samantha sat in the chair, brooding over the hundreds of books staring back at her. She was getting a damn headache. She’d been reading entirely too much and what she read just confused her. She knew that this was his purpose, but there was nothing else to do besides read, or go slowly out of her mind.

She’d already eaten her afternoon meal and was feeling restless. She knew what part of it was. She hadn’t had any exercise since she’d come here, however long ago that was. It felt like a month, but she knew it had to be closer to a week, maybe two. Her eyes were drawn once again to the yoga book on the second-to-last shelf. She’d never been a workout freak, in fact, she’d been high for the last several years, on and off, and had burned off any excess pounds that way.

She knew, though, that if she wanted to be able to confront her abductor when he eventually came to her, she needed to stay in shape, and unless he wheeled a TV and VCR in here, it looked like the books were going to be her only resource.

With a sigh she pulled herself up and selected the yoga book. This should be interesting, she thought, as she looked at the various pretzel-like contortions illustrated within. She sat down in the middle of the room, assuming the classic lotus pose, and went to work.

* * * *

Oh, she is amazing. She is beginning to get an inkling, but will not know inner peace and cannot enter the Astral Plane until she looks deep into herself and accepts the wrongs and rights she has committed in the past. When she is ready, I will speak to her again.

* * * *

Three weeks later…

Deep, cleansing breaths drove her deeper and deeper into a meditative state. Toned muscles flowed from one position to the next, a smooth, supple ballet performed to the soothing chants of Enya. As she settled into the lotus position and took a deep cleansing breath, she sensed his presence at the camera. It was bizarre, she KNEW he was there. What came next surprised her.

“
Hello Diana. You are progressing admirably, even faster than I thought you might. Your body is beautiful, it flows just as a woman’s body should. Are you faring as well on your lessons? Do you have any questions?” His voice was smooth, cultured, and, she admitted with a tiny shock, oh so welcome.

Her mind spun, looking for purchase and not finding any. She took a deep cleansing breath, and asked the most important question. “Why?”

As her ears hungrily caught and devoured the sounds of another human voice, he began his lesson and she began the walk down the road to enlightenment.

Chapter Sixteen

“
Goddamn it, I’m fine.” Arden snapped. “I’d be even better if you’d quit poking and prodding at me.” The glare she was shooting at the uniformed medical technician didn’t seem to faze the airman one bit.

“
Just hold still Captain, this won’t take long. I just need to make sure this is healing okay.” The tech looked quickly at Arden’s face, trying to bolster the courage to ask if the rumors about how she’d been shot were true. The clinic at L.A. Air Force Base didn’t get to treat gunshot wounds very often, in fact the tech couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen one outside of training videos.

Arden took one look at the expression on the airman’s face, sighed, and then relented. “What do you want to know?”

“
They’re saying that you threw your body in front of a cop and took a bullet for him. And that some psychopath killed all those women and then went after you. Is it true?” The tech spoke in a hushed, slightly awed voice.