Deadly Shadow

by Kim Cresswell

  Her phone vibrated. She kept her voice low, not to disturb Derrick. “Ryan. Anything?”

  “Nothing. We still have three more warehouses to check. We’ve got a lot of boots on the ground, canvassing the areas where we think Elder may haven’t taken Jade. But things aren’t looking good, Vic.”

  She didn’t want to say it aloud because then it would be real. But it was the grim reality. Her voice faltered. “I—know.”

  “Anything happening with your lead?” Ryan asked.

  She glanced at the hallway toward her bedroom and fought to find her voice. “Not yet. I’ll let you know. Keep looking, Ryan. We can’t give up. We can’t let Jade down. I can’t let her down.”

  “We’re not going to give up. Not until she’s home.”

  Victory ended the call and put the phone down on the table. The phone vibrated, and she scooped the phone up again. “Sean. Did you—”

  “Just hang on, Vic.”

  There was a lengthy pause on the other end.

  She kept pacing.

  “We’ve got something. One sec.”

  A chill blasted through her. Victory held her breath, bracing for possible bad news. She heard voices in the background. She wanted to scream, “Hurry up!”

  “We just located Jade’s cell phone,” Sean said.

  She let out the breath she was holding. There was still hope. “Where?”

  “In a snow bank about four miles west of your apartment.”

  “What about the traffic cams?”

  “We lost his vehicle about three miles out. Several cameras around the city have gone down due to the high winds. There’s a massive storm blowing in.”

  Reality hit. Her heart sank for the hundredth time. “Keep me posted.” She disconnected and tromped down the new round of anxiety.

  Elder had discarded Jade’s cell phone much like his victims. He wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what he was doing. The man savored power. He hadn’t taken Jade to use as leverage. He had taken her for revenge. He planned on killing her—if he hadn’t already.

  In the bedroom, Victory sat in the chair beside the bed where her husband used to sit every morning while he dressed for work. Derrick was sound asleep on his back with his arms at his sides. He had said being on his back was the best position for him to make a connection. She didn’t fully understand how etheric traveling worked. He had explained that there were seven planes of existence, that we live in the physical plane and we can travel to the astral plane. In between, is the etheric plane.

  Victory had stopped him, not wanting to know more. She was still trying to digest what she had witnessed earlier. Derrick could move objects with his mind. He seemed proud of the fact that he killed people for a living. He might not be a serial killer like she had first thought but he was just as bad. He was too arrogant for his own good. It was difficult to believe he had paranormal powers that defied logic and probably science. Victory would never have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. The whole situation was unreal, unbelievable. Could Derrick find Jade? What if he couldn’t? What if she had made the wrong decision? She tried not to think about it and watched Derrick’s chest rise and fall.

  Victory searched his face. His features were relaxed. He looked kind. Not the same man who’d killed dozens of people and assured her he could kill her if she told anyone about him or the Elara Project. Jade’s life was on the line and Victory kept wondering if she was wasting valuable time.

  Derrick’s eyelids twitched. His body rolled gently back and forth as if he was rocking. His breathing became louder.

  She didn’t move. He had told her she needed to stay quiet, so nothing interrupted him while he did his thing. Had he connected with Elder?

  Victory sat ram-rod straight and tapped her foot silently on the carpet. The muscles in his arms and legs tensed, and then released. Sweat glimmered on his forehead in the moonlight filtering through the blinds.

  Suddenly, Derrick’s eyes popped open. He stared at the ceiling.

  She leaned forward and grabbed his arm. “Did you find them?”

  He sat up slowly. “Elder’s asleep in his car, inside a building. He woke up seconds after I connected with him. That’s never happened before. It was like he sensed my presence.”

  Victory was quickly losing hope that she’d see Jade again. “Did you see anything else? Did you see Jade?”

  He shook his head and put his hand on hers. “I’m sorry.”

  She slid off the chair to her knees. She’d beg if she had to, anything to find her daughter. “You have to try again.”

  “I can’t. It drains my energy. I need to rest for a bit first.”

  “How long?”

  “At least an hour.”

  Her eyes snapped to the clock on the nightstand. Ten-forty-five. They didn’t have an hour. The numbers stared back, reminding her every minute that passed meant the difference between life and death. Tears gathered. Victory held them back. She swallowed hard. “He always kills between midnight and three. Jade doesn’t have much time. Please.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at her.

  His eyes illuminated bluer than usual, almost as if they were supercharged. They looked different. Weird. Creepy.

  “Does he have to be asleep for you to find him?”

  “No. It’s more difficult.” He rubbed his forehead. “I need a couple of Aspirins or something for this monster headache and more whiskey.”

  While Derrick rested, Victory poured another drink for him in the kitchen and quickly checked her phone. There was no news from Ryan or Sean. She rushed into the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of headache medication. As she headed back to the bedroom, sickness rose in her stomach. Derrick was Jade’s only hope.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Derrick popped two pills in his mouth and downed the glass of whiskey, then laid back in the bed. He knew they didn’t have much time. It concerned him that Elder had woken up. His presence usually went undetected. It made him wonder if the killer was sensitive to paranormal events. He had to keep trying even though he knew his energy would be depleted and he’d be too weak to try again for hours. Then it might be too late. He had to make it work. He needed to kill Jeremy Elder. It was Jade’s only chance.

  Derrick closed his eyes and took in repeated deep breaths, visualizing the killer and his vehicle. As his body relaxed, he controlled his breathing until he fell asleep. Minutes later, he felt himself lift, exiting the physical plane. His astral body floated, hovering above his abandoned body. A powerful force sent him spinning and twisting. Vaporous luminosity burst into a long trail of effervescing light, and then he was in a dark tunnel.

  He flew with ease at the speed of light. The peaceful sound of rushing water mixed with tormented cries. Echoing trumpets blared like something from a sci-fi movie. A sharp sense of reality and familiarity hit him as he rushed by, and through, other travelers. Derrick sensed that most were friendly, others quite sinister. He knew to stay away from the sinister ones because a dark entity could attach its self to him. He didn’t need to be bringing back a malicious entity. The smell of something sweet invaded his senses. Baby oil. He traveled through a brick wall.

  He was inside a building, the same structure he’d visited earlier. Diffused light poured out from a fixture suspended from the ceiling. He slowed his speed. He spotted the blurry and wavy outline of a woman inside a metal pen. Jade. He couldn’t tell if she was alive or not. Derrick kept moving, taking in all he could. The outline of Elder’s vehicle came into view, parked in front of loading bay door. Above the door, hung a worn blue, white, and red oval-shaped sign. He moved closer to read it. Lornestown Assembly. Then he was suddenly being pulled back, like an impregnable magnet, tugging him backwards at warp speed. He spiraled into inky blackness.

  Derrick’s astral body melded with his physical body with a loud bang in his head and bucked him back into the bed with such force, the bed jolted. His arms and legs tingled and vibrated as
if the adrenaline had been sucked from them. Sweat poured down the sides of his face. The muscles in his legs flinched in a weird rhythm, a symptom he hadn’t experienced before. Dinging and thumping exploded in his head. Then came the pain. He put his hands over his ears. A hand touched his shoulder.

  “Derrick?”

  He opened his eyes to Victory’s voice. His headache intensified, drumming behind his eyes, cutting deep into his forehead from temple to temple. The energy drained from his body. He forced himself to turn his head. Victory was staring at him as if he was crazy.

  “Did you find Jade?”

  Her voice was electrified with concern, and loud. He couldn’t answer. His skin felt hot as if he was running a high fever.

  She shook his arm. “Did you find Jade? Is she alive?”

  He choked out the words as weakness took over. “Lornestown…Assembly.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Victory squinted through the windshield of Derrick’s SUV. He had convinced her to take his vehicle instead of her car. She was glad she had. Headlights bounced and stabbed through the driving snow. The wind howled like an invisible monster hidden in the shadows, blowing a wall of white across the road. Drivers were being advised to stay off the streets. Most of the local cops and state troopers were busy dealing with hundreds of traffic accidents all over of the city.

  Ahead, emergency vehicles’ flashing lights were scarcely visible through the blinding snow. Another accident. Another roadblock.

  She eased her foot down on the brake and came to a stop. She wheeled the SUV around, drove in the opposite direction, and then turned right at the intersection, praying the street wasn’t closed due to another accident.

  The deteriorating weather made it difficult to drive anywhere quickly enough. Even though her nerves were shot, adrenaline burned through her, keeping her focused. She had to get to Jade in time.

  She glanced at Derrick, then back to the road. He looked exhausted and weak. “You didn’t have to come with me.”

  “I had to. You’re driving my vehicle.”

  She knew by the tone of his voice he was trying to keep things light even though the situation was deathly serious. “What else did you see inside the building?”

  Derrick looked out the side window. She could sense he wasn’t telling her everything. “I need to know.”

  “He’s keeping Jade in a pen. Some sort of a large metal cage.”

  Victory was terrified for her daughter, and afraid to ask again. “Was she alive?”

  “I couldn’t tell. Not everything I see is in focus. Things can sometimes be blurry and out of shape.” He looked at her. “I was going to kill him but something or someone pulled me back.”

  Victory wished he’d killed the man. “Someone or something?”

  “Maybe another traveler. I don’t know. I’ve never experienced such a powerful force before.”

  Victory continued to make small talk to save her sanity. The thought of losing Jade shredded her heart piece by piece.

  Before they’d left the apartment, she’d searched through numerous databases looking for Lornestown Assembly. She had learned the mid-sized automotive parts assembly warehouse was located on Bathgate Street. The business had closed ten years ago and was rented to Jeremy Elder.

  “He planned everything right down to renting the warehouse to take his victims to torture and kill them.” The echo of her own words turned the blood in her veins to ice. Her stomach lurched. She needed to change the subject before she threw up for the third time in days. “Can you bring back things with you when you travel?”

  Derrick turned his head and looked at her. “Small items, like coins. It requires a lot of energy and concentration.”

  None of her questions about etheric traveling mattered at the moment. Her focus was getting to her daughter. Nothing else mattered. “Does your father have paranormal abilities, too?”

  “He does. He hasn’t used them in a long time. So, did my grandfather. He worked for the CIA and was part of the original Elara Project.”

  Anger welled in Victory’s chest. “They both killed?” She said it more as a statement than as a question on purpose.

  His eyes flashed. His voice remained calm. “I know you’ll never going to understand. Let’s leave it at that.”

  Victory couldn’t leave it. Did he forget she was an FBI agent? He had threatened to kill her if she crossed him. That didn’t sit well even if he had used his strange paranormal skill to help find Jade. “How can you not feel any remorse or guilt for what you have done over the past twenty years?”

  She felt his gaze bore into her.

  “Who says I don’t feel anything? I’m not a monster, Victory. I was doing my job just like you do yours. You took an oath to serve our country and so did I.”

  He was right. She didn’t understand. Never would. Her gaze moved to the clock on the dash. Her pulse sped up. It was eleven-thirty.

  Her phone rang. Victory dug it out of her pocket and passed it to Derrick. “Put it on speaker for me, please.”

  Derrick took the phone.

  “Vic?”

  Victory gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Ryan. Are you and Sean at the warehouse?”

  “No. We’re stuck behind a four-car pileup on Lincoln Avenue. Both lanes are closed. We aren’t going anywhere in a hurry. Curtis sent you backup. They’ll be there soon. He said not to go into the warehouse until they arrive. It’s too dangerous.

  Victory wasn’t waiting. She couldn’t. Ryan would do the same if were his child.

  “Backup better hurry.” Her eyes drifted to the clock and then to the GPS. “I’m less than a mile out.”

  “Promise you’ll wait.”

  “I have to go, Ryan.”

  “Vic…”

  Victory reached and took the phone out of Derrick’s hand, ending the call. She dropped the phone in her lap at the same time the vehicle ahead of them slid off the road, jumped the curb, and came to a stop in front of a gas station.

  “He does make a good point,” Derrick said.

  Victory checked the rear-view mirror. She didn’t need or want Derrick’s opinion. “Not this time.”

  The closer they got to the warehouse, the faster and harder her heart pounded. She needed to prepare herself for the worst. The thought made her pulse sped up. Victory took in small gulps of air, letting them out, trying to calm her pulse.

  Minutes ticked by like hours.

  Victory’s eyes darted to the clock.

  Eleven-fifty.

  She slowed the SUV and flicked on the turning signal. A sick dread settled in the pit of her stomach and wouldn’t let go. The rear of the vehicle fishtailed around the corner onto Bathgate Street. “I pray you’re right.”

  The industrial area came into view. The clutter of buildings in various shapes and sizes helped to block the driving snow. Normally, she would do a drive-by first, check out the area, look for multiple entry points. There wasn’t time. Victory threw the vehicle into park and shut off the ignition in front of the warehouse.

  The only light came from two large open windows near the roof of the brick structure. She spotted the shiny glint of a padlock on a door next to a battered gray loading bay door. She jumped out of the SUV and shielded her face from the biting snow with her shoulder as she peeled off her coat and tossed it inside the vehicle.

  Her ponytail whipped at her face. “Stay here and wait for backup.”

  “No way. I’m going with you.” Derrick opened the door and climbed out. “My abilities will come in handy.”

  She didn’t have time to argue with the man and didn’t need anyone else to look after, either. “Fine. Stay close.”

  Victory opened the door to the back seat and pulled out her black canvas duffel bag. She opened it and hastily put on the bulletproof vest. She checked her weapon then pulled out the bolt cutters and flashlight from the duffel bag. Victory wished Ryan was here with the shotguns. Her Glock would have to do. Her heart thumped. She shoved an extra magazine
into the back pocket of her cargo pants.

  “Do you always carry those around?” Derrick asked, eyeing the bolt cutters.

  She handed him the cutters. “I do when I need to break into a warehouse and kill a serial killer.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Victory’s hand shook noticeably. Light from the flashlight bounced erratically against the door. She was terrified of what she might discover inside the warehouse. While Derrick cut the heavy lock secured at the top of the door, she said a silent prayer.

  God couldn’t possibly destroy her twice. Jade had to be alive.

  The lock fell silently into the snow built up against the door and disappeared. She shut off the flashlight. Going in blind with no backup wasn’t helping matters.

  As she spoke, breath frosted in front of her like steam, her voice a little louder than a whisper. “Once we’re in, stay behind me. Elder might have weapons.”

  Victory wouldn’t put anything past the killer. He could have an arsenal of guns and booby traps inside for all she knew. She wasn’t sure why she was worried about Derrick. Maybe because he still seemed weak from etheric traveling. It had taken a lot out of him. She knew he could look after himself. He’d shown that during his magic gun show.

  Derrick set the tool on the ground. “Be careful.”

  A rush of adrenaline blasted through her. Victory placed her hand on the doorknob and forced back the escalating fear clawing deep within her. She turned the knob. With her gun raised and the flashlight on, she eased open the door with her foot and they slipped inside.

  She kept the Glock trained in front of her along with the flashlight, not sure what to expect. Cavern-like walls surrounded her, spilling into a dark constricted corridor. At the end, dim yellowy-orange light radiated a strange glimmer. A chill ran through her and her heart raced. Victory glanced over her shoulder at Derrick and nodded in the direction of the light.

  As they stalked closer to the light, the heels of Victory’s boots tapped lightly on the concrete floor. She ignored the queasiness stirring in her stomach and kept moving.