by Lauren Algeo
‘Perfect.’ Brewer took a slice of steaming pepperoni.
They ate in silence for the next few moments.
‘Did I miss anything?’ Mitch asked with his mouth full.
‘No, she’s still in there,’ Ellen said.
The hiker stayed in the diner for another fifteen minutes and by the time she came out, the pizza box was long empty and it had grown dark outside. They trailed her down some more random streets then she baffled Brewer again by going into a bar.
‘But I’ve never seen one drink before?’ he stuttered. ‘These American hikers are all wrong!’
‘Hey, don’t blame us,’ Mitch said. ‘Maybe your British ones were just too stiff!’
He sniggered to himself but Brewer wasn’t really paying attention. He seemed to have spent the day in a perpetual state of confusion. This female appeared to be doing whatever she wanted and not adhering to the usual rules. Was the Grand allowing her to get away with this?
She stayed in the bar for the next half an hour and Brewer became more agitated with just waiting outside.
‘I have to go in,’ he said. ‘I need to see what she’s doing in there.’
‘I’ll go,’ Ellen said. ‘I need the toilet so I can have a quick check while I’m in there.’
Brewer had a brief internal struggle before replying. He wanted to see for himself what the hiker was up to, yet he was also part of a group now and had to share responsibilities.
‘Ok,’ he relented. ‘Be careful, though. Don’t get too close to her.’
‘I won’t.’
Ellen walked up to the bar and paused by the door briefly then she stepped inside. The bar was small and dingy, and there was a strong smell of old beer. There weren’t many people in there so she walked quickly to the toilets before the bartender spotted her. She relieved her bladder then stood at the sink to steel herself to go back out there. The sensation of the hiker’s power this close by was making her feel weak and sick. It twisted her stomach into a tight knot.
She left the safety of the bathroom and stood in the shadows to assess the room. The bartender was busy serving someone so she had a minute before he registered her as a non-paying customer. Her eyes scoured the tables and came to rest on a booth in the corner. The hiker was sitting right there. She had a glass of white wine on the table in front of her although it looked untouched.
She was gazing intently towards a couple of men who were sitting at the bar. Her head was cocked at a slight angle, as though she was listening to a conversation. She looked like a normal woman, either having a drink alone or waiting for someone, but a sense of danger radiated out from that area of the room.
No one was paying any attention to the hiker, despite the fact she was the only woman besides Ellen in the place. Her dark hair and dress blended into the shadows but her pale skin glowed. Ellen’s mouth felt dry even though the rest of her body was sweating. She knew she should leave right away only she was transfixed.
The female seemed to register that someone was watching her and her eyes began to roam the room quizzically. Those dark ovals settled on her for one split second before Ellen hurriedly looked away and walked briskly towards the door. She made for the car without turning back. She walked purposefully, with her head up and back straight, and tried to keep her mind blank.
Had the hiker known who she was? Could she read anything from her thoughts? There was a rising panic inside and she kept it at bay. She ran through mundane topics in her mind: did she have any unpaid bills at home, or forgotten debits? Had she left the garage door open? She kept going until her hand gripped the comforting door handle. She got in the car and immediately drove down the street, to Brewer and Mitch’s confusion.
‘What happened?’ Brewer asked. ‘Was she in there?’
Ellen stopped a little way down in the pizzeria car park. Her held in emotions overflowed and she let out a long, shaky breath. It felt as if her entire body was vibrating.
‘She was in there,’ she replied, her voice not sounding entirely steady. ‘She was just sitting in the corner, observing people. She looked over at me so I had to get out fast. I thought it best to drive away in case she was watching through the window.’
‘Good idea,’ Brewer nodded. ‘Did she try and get inside your mind?’
‘Not that I felt, no. We locked eyes for a millisecond then I got the hell out of there.’
‘I wonder what she’s doing?’ Brewer mused.
‘Her body language hinted that she was listening to something,’ Ellen said. ‘Maybe she’s trying to find another vessel.’
‘She could be.’ Brewer wasn’t convinced but he had no other suggestions.
They stayed in the car and tracked the hiker again when she came out a while later. She walked around for an hour then disappeared down a side alley.
‘I can still feel her,’ Ellen said. ‘She must have stopped down there.’
‘Presumably she’s hiding to sleep,’ Brewer said. He glanced to the back seat where Mitch had begun to doze off with his head propped against the window. ‘Maybe you two should go back to the motel and do the same.’
‘Will you be ok on your own?’ Ellen asked.
‘I was alone for a long time,’ Brewer said. ‘I’ll be fine. I can follow the hiker on foot. She doesn’t seem like she’s going far. I’ll take Mitch’s phone with me. You guys drive back and you can call me tomorrow when you’ve got the venom, and I’ll let you know where I am.’
Ellen agreed although she still looked reluctant to leave him there. Brewer got out of the car and took his bag from the boot. He hunted around in the side pocket of Mitch’s pack and found his mobile. He tapped on the hood to let Ellen know he was all set and she drove slowly away.
He stood on the pavement in the cool air and waited until they disappeared from view. Then he crossed briskly into the dark alley to begin his stalking.
Chapter 18
Brewer stifled a yawn and checked his watch again. It was 9am and he’d had no call from Ellen yet. The battery on Mitch’s phone was holding out for now although it wouldn’t last all day. He’d turned it off for a few hours in the night to conserve the power.
The hiker had slept for nearly five hours behind a dumpster in the alley then resumed her aimless walking in the early hours. Brewer had tried to have a nap too but he kept jolting awake, panicking that she’d moved on without him knowing. Now there was no longer Ellen’s ability to feel her, and no whispering to a vessel, it was hard to keep track of her.
He tried to follow from a safe distance, but not stay back too far in case she slipped away. He had one scare around 6am, when he thought he’d lost her, however he picked her up in the distance two roads later.
She’d settled on an area of grass opposite a high school and had been sitting on a bench for the last two hours. It was as if she was waiting for something. He’d stopped by some trees near the main road to keep an eye on her and was sitting on the hard ground with his back against one of the tree trunks.
He thought about calling the motel and asking them to get Ellen or Mitch from the room but decided he didn’t want to waste the battery if there was no news. They would call when they had the delivery.
He sat there for another half an hour, watching the hiker watch the school. The phone in his pocket suddenly began to vibrate and beep a loud, tinny tune. He answered it swiftly before the sound alerted the hiker to his presence.
‘Hello?’ The number on the screen was unknown.
‘It’s me,’ Ellen said, sounding excited. ‘We’ve got the venom!’
‘Great, head over here when you’re ready.’ He gave her some directions to the high school.
The hiker had doubled back on herself and was in East Longmeadow again. He was confused as to why she was remaining in the same area.
It would only take about fifteen minutes for Ellen and Mitch to get to him. It’d ease the pressure on him when Ellen got there as they’d no longer need to keep the hiker in sight, and he might be able
to get a power nap. He closed his eyes and massaged the tension in his temples.
The hiker began to whisper softly and his eyes flew open. It was rare to be present at the exact moment one chose a new target. He could still see her sitting there and now he could hear her too.
‘No one wants to listen again today,’ she sighed in his mind.
Who was she talking to? The outside of the school was quiet as lessons were well underway. Was she speaking to someone inside?
He waited for her to whisper again but she remained stubbornly silent. Twenty minutes later, he saw Ellen’s car pull into the side road in front of the school and he realised he’d forgotten to tell her to park on the main road.
He staggered to his feet and jogged over to the car. The hiker was still staring at the school, and he was too far over to be in her line of sight, however he didn’t want her catching a glimpse of Ellen after the bar encounter last night.
Mitch and Ellen were both getting out of the car as he approached and he hissed for them to get back in. Mitch was by the front passenger seat so Brewer hopped in the back.
‘Quick, drive down a bit,’ he panted. ‘The hiker is over there.’
Ellen started the engine without a word and stopped the car 200 metres further away from the school.
‘Some greeting that was!’ Mitch snorted. ‘You look rough, man.’
‘Thanks.’ Brewer already knew he looked terrible.
He was bleary-eyed from a lack of sleep, he had a coating of rough stubble on his face, and his clothes were crumpled. He also hadn’t washed or changed since yesterday morning.
None of that really mattered. He looked pointedly at Mitch. ‘So…?’
The kid broke into a broad smile. ‘Dylan came through, we’ve got it!’
He passed a thick, brown envelope between the seats and Brewer opened it eagerly. Inside, there were two small pots filled with white powder. They had labels on only the writing was in Chinese.
‘There’s about a gram and a half there, I reckon,’ Mitch said.
Brewer eyed them suspiciously. The powder could have been anything. ‘So what type of venom is this? Did he say?’
‘No, he couldn’t really remember. He didn’t think it was Cobra as that was more expensive but they’re definitely snake venom.’
That wasn’t very helpful. The dose could be a lot weaker from other snakes. There was no way for them to decipher the Chinese symbols quickly on the internet either.
‘I guess we could try it all,’ Brewer said. ‘See if it works. Hopefully it’ll give us a window of opportunity to interrogate that hiker about the Grand.’
‘Where is she?’ Ellen asked.
‘She’s in front of the school, over there. I didn’t want her to catch sight of you and remember you from the bar.’
Ellen didn’t want that either; it could cause her a lot of unwanted attention. ‘What’s she been doing?’
‘Not a lot,’ Brewer said. ‘Sleeping and walking. She’s just found a new vessel in the school though, I heard her whisper.’
‘Really?’ Mitch looked intrigued. ‘Do you think it’s a school kid?’
‘I’m guessing a teacher. She said something about them not listening today so I assume she meant the pupils.’
‘Do you think she could have found the person in the bar last night?’ Ellen asked. ‘One of the men she was watching?’
‘Who knows, I think we should do this quickly before she gets them in her clutches, or moves onto another location.’ He studied the powdered venom. ‘We need to get this reconstituted and load the tranquiliser gun.’
‘I saw a Walgreens down the street,’ Ellen said. ‘We can get some water from there?’
She drove to the store while Brewer thought. The website he’d read before had said that people mixed powdered venom with alcohol to get high – just a pinch in one drink. If they mixed a lot of the powder in a strong spirit it should be lethal.
‘Ok, we can try this two ways,’ he said. ‘We can mix half of the powder with boiling water for one go and the other half with alcohol. If one doesn’t work, or the venom isn’t potent enough, then at least we have another go to fall back on.’
Mitch went to the store with Ellen to try and get the hot water from a coffee machine, and a bottle of spirits.
‘Hang on!’ Brewer shouted to Mitch as they walked away from the car. ‘Get some rope or something too.’
Mitch gave him an odd look but nodded and they disappeared into the store. They would need to restrain the hiker if they were going to transport her somewhere while the venom took hold. Brewer wished he had his old handcuffs here with him.
He got out of the car and moved the bags from the boot onto the backseat. The boot was fairly spacious so she’d have some room to move around, which wasn’t a good thing. They would have to tie her tightly and try to keep her quiet.
Brewer took his laptop from his rucksack and began to check the local area for places they could take the hiker. It had to be a quiet location where they would be undisturbed. An abandoned building would be perfect but there was no way of telling where one was on a map. There were plenty of parks and conservation areas close by, which one should they go to? He saw a place called Minnechaug Mountain in nearby Hampden that looked like it might be secluded.
Ellen came out of the store, closely followed by Mitch, who was holding two carrier bags. They crossed quickly to the car. Mitch looked a little put out at being relegated to the backseat again.
‘What are the bags doing here?’ he asked.
‘We need the boot for the hiker,’ Brewer said.
‘Oh.’
‘Did you get everything?’ Brewer asked.
‘Kind of.’ Ellen passed him the bags. ‘We’ve got a bottle of vodka but we had to get cold bottles of water. I guess it doesn’t make much difference if it’s sterile or not, as long as the powder dissolves.’
‘I guess.’ Brewer opened the other bag and felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. ‘And these?’ He pulled out the two packaged skipping ropes.
‘It was the only thing they had!’ Mitch exclaimed. ‘They’re leather jump ropes so they should be strong enough to tie someone with.’
‘There really wasn’t much else,’ Ellen added.
‘They’ll have to do then.’ Brewer ripped off the plastic so they were ready to use. ‘Has anyone got any tape or material to use as a gag? I have a feeling that one will be loud.’
The best they had was a couple of clean socks but there was no time to get anything else. The hiker wouldn’t stay sitting there all day.
‘I can still feel her,’ Ellen said as they drove back to the high school.
They heard her again as they got closer.
‘You’re so undervalued,’ the hiker sighed. ‘They hardly even know you’re here.’
They stopped the car by the side road to the school and Brewer came up with a quick plan of action.
‘We’re only going to get moments to do this,’ he said. ‘The school entrance is quiet for now but anyone could be watching from the windows, and there are people driving past on the main road. We have to get in and out lightening fast, before anyone has a clue what’s happened.’
He gestured for Mitch to hand him the holdall with the guns. They carefully loaded a dart with a mix of powdered venom and vodka, and another with venom and water.
‘Ellen, do you think if we drive a little closer you can shoot her from here in the car?’ Brewer asked.
Ellen glanced across to the school and gauged the distance. ‘Yes.’
‘Good. I think you should stay in here and shoot through the window,’ Brewer said. ‘It’ll be safer than risking someone seeing you carrying the gun near a school. Then you can remain in the driver’s seat ready to get us out of here.’
‘What are you going to do?’ Ellen’s tongue was bone dry and she struggled to form the words.
‘Me and Mitch are going to get the hiker and bring her to the car.’
‘What!’ Mitch screeched. ‘You want me to actually touch that thing?’
‘Well, she’s not going to put herself in the boot, is she?’ Brewer said.
‘Is it safe?’ Ellen asked.
‘If we do it quick, it should be fine. We can creep up from behind, then while she’s distracted by the dart you hit her with, we can grab her and bundle her to the car before she realises what we’re doing. We should be able to get her out of sight pretty rapidly.’
‘I don’t like this…’ Mitch started.
‘There’s no time to think about it,’ Brewer cut in. ‘We’ve got to do this right now. Are you both in?’
‘Yes,’ Ellen said.
‘Do I have a choice?’ Mitch asked.
‘Not really,’ Brewer said. ‘I need your help, she’ll be too strong for just me.’
‘Then I guess I’m in,’ he shrugged.
‘Shall we?’ Brewer asked and Ellen hit the accelerator.
She stopped a little way down the road that would take them around the green and past the school. ‘I can hit her from here.’
She took the gun from Brewer and loaded one of the darts; he wasn’t sure which as both clear liquids were equally as cloudy. He noticed her hands weren’t shaking this time, she was confident she could make the shot.
He picked up the skipping ropes and got out of the car. Mitch reluctantly followed his lead. Brewer opened the boot in preparation and nodded to Mitch. They were behind and to the right of the hiker, who was still facing forward towards the school. She hadn’t once turned to check her surroundings.
‘Mitch, you go to the other side of the green and I’ll take the middle,’ Brewer said in a low voice. ‘We approach slowly but the second Ellen hits her, we run. If we take an arm each, we should be able to drag her to the car. I’ll tie her when we get there.’
Mitch nodded stiffly. His eyes were wide and he looked terrified. Ellen was leaning out of the car window to peer at them and Brewer gave her a brief tilt of his head. They were ready. He and Mitch crossed the green until they were fully in the hiker’s blind spot, then Mitch began to flank round to the left.