by Alexie Aaron
“Here, let me help. I wanted to keep you warm,” he explained.
“Cid’s okay,” Mia said.
“I know. I’ve got to get to the hospital, but I wanted to wait for you.”
“You go ahead. I won’t be walking for a while. Just send Beth out here with a cup of coffee before you leave,” Mia said and started to rub her legs. She caught him looking at her and said, “Go. Honestly, I’ll be fine. Tell Cid, Mia says hi.” She gave him a wide grin. She waited until he bounded out of the truck before lying back exhausted. Her head pounded and her nose started to bleed. “Bloody hell,” she complained as she got up, limped over to the command console and grabbed a few tissues. She rolled her head backwards and rested it on the back of the chair while she applied pressure. She thought about how sexy Whit looked in his uniform. He was cold and cranky but sexy as fuck. Murphy flashed into her mind. He had an appeal all his own. And there were the PEEPs men. All of them different, all of them appealing in her eyes.
She heard the door slide open, but it sounded like it was very far away. She tried to pull herself from her daydreams but couldn’t. She smelled coffee but couldn’t turn her head. She wasn’t even sure her eyes were open.
Large hands moved to her face. She thought she heard the flapping of wings but she wasn’t sure. Had she transformed back into the owl?
Angelo looked down at her as he rushed her into the warm building. Martha had run into the house looking for help after she discovered Mia having a seizure in the back of the truck. Beth and Ted had already left for the hospital.
Martha had found him as he was walking in the front door. She explained what was happening. He moved so fast she wasn’t sure she was seeing things correctly. He was back in the house with Mia in his arms seconds after he left. She watched as he pulled off her clothing and moved his large hands over her body trying to calm the cramping muscles.
“Run a warm bath,” he instructed. He waited until she left before he took off his clothing. He stood up and flexed his shoulders until his tattooed wings started to move. He picked Mia up in his arms, and the lines of ink became black feathers. He breathed deeply before wrapping his black wings around both of them and disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-two
Mike had just picked up Burt from the motel when both of them received a text message from Ted. “Cid found alive! B & I on way to hsp.”
“That leaves who at the farm?” Mike asked Burt.
“Mia. Angelo is supposed to be on his way, last I heard. When I called him to update him on the search for Cid, he wasn’t too happy to find out Mia had been bilocating again.”
“What do you mean again?” Mike asked. “She’s not supposed to do it at all until she’s finished with her tests.”
“It was her choice. You know how she is,” Burt defended himself. “Ted said she can move at an amazing speed. Fly too if she has mind to. Just not over water.”
Mike wrinkled his brow. “I’m surprised Ted let her.”
“Again, you think that any of us have any control over Miss Cooper?”
“She listens to Ted though. In some warped way he is her father figure,” Mike commented.
“No wonder he hasn’t landed her yet,” Burt commented.
Mike’s next comment was stopped by Burt’s phone ringing.
“It’s Martha,” he explained. “Martha, how are you? I hear Cid’s been found.”
Mike kept his eyes on the road but his ears on Burt’s conversation.
“What happened? A seizure? Who? Angelo did what? Where is he? Okay. Yes, we are on our way.”
“Five minutes,” Mike said.
“We are five minutes away. What about his driver? He’s the one who suggested you call. You did the right thing. Hang on. Stay away from the back of the house and put all the lights on.” He hung up. “Time to break some speed laws.”
“In this snow? Better to arrive in one piece. What’s going on?”
Burt told Mike about Ted leaving for the hospital and Mia’s condition at that time. “Evidently, Beth insisted on going with him, so Martha volunteered to bring Mia some coffee. She gets to the truck and finds Mia having a seizure of some kind. Martha runs inside to call the EMTs when Angelo arrives. He brings Mia in and tells Martha to run a warm bath for Mia. She comes in to tell him it’s ready and he’s gone. Mia’s gone and standing there instead is the driver. He’s got a pile of clothes under his arm, she assumes they’re Mia’s. He tells her that there is no one watching the house and instructs her to call us. He leaves the house and drives off.”
“She’s all alone.”
“Yep.”
“Mia’s in peril.”
“I’d say so, but there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“So the assumption is that Angelo has her.”
“I hope so. Either that or something has the both of them, and the driver has departed.”
“Call Angelo.”
“Not answering.”
“Father Santos.”
“Doing that right now.” Burt listened a moment and left a brief message for the priest to call him.
Mike pulled into the drive and sped up to the house. He dropped Burt at the door and proceeded to the back to secure the command center. He found the sliding door up. He climbed in and began to check the systems. Everything looked okay. There were a few bloody fingerprints on the tissue box. He assumed correctly that they were Mia’s. He opened the icon, that Ted called Patty Cake, that would give him the ability to monitor everything from the iPad. He grabbed the iPad, shut the truck and headed inside.
He found Burt comforting the clearly distraught Martha.
“First the young man I hired is kidnapped. Then they find him. I thought, hey, things are going to be fine. Then that poor girl…” she trailed off and began to cry.
Mike mouthed, “I got this.” He was a pro when it came to dealing with women of all ages. Burt moved away and accepted the iPad from Mike.
“Martha, Mia’s survived things that would make your hair curl. Not that you need to curl your hair, mind you. She’s a fighter. If Angelo left with her, it means that he thought she needed help. He’s a very powerful man and will get the right help for her. I’m sorry you were left alone. I will be talking to Beth and Ted about this.”
“Oh don’t get them in trouble. Ted’s friend…”
“Yes, Ted’s friend but not Beth’s,” Mike said looking at Burt and mouthed, “Strike two.”
“I’m going to do a perimeter search. Make sure all our protections are in place. We won’t leave you,” Burt said.
“I appreciate that. Can I get you boys some coffee?”
“That would be wonderful. Is there any of that pie left?” Mike asked and explained, “Don’t tell my mother, but it’s better than hers.”
Martha sniffed and smiled. “Would you mind checking out the kitchen first?”
“No problem,” Burt said and left the room.
“I feel so responsible,” she admitted. “It’s all my fault.”
“I don’t think so, and I’m the first to pass the buck,” Mike said to cheer her. “There are no rules when it comes to dealing with the paranormal world. When we were young in our evolution, we were more in tune with this world. We gathered clues and watched for omens thought to be given to us from this dimension. As we became a civilized society we looked to science, rightly so, but we lost our connection. Mia and Angelo are our connections. Mia is a flesh and blood woman that was born with an ability to bilocate.”
“What is that?”
“Sorry, do you remember in the seventies when the in thing was out of body experiences, soul walking, that kind of thing?”
“Oh, that, mumbo jumbo.”
“That’s it. It wasn’t for some. Mia can push out of her body and move at an amazing speed. Burt said she can transform into images like birds, mice, and she does a pretty cool dragon. She uses this gift when speed is needed. We helped in an Amber Alert not long ago. She used this to help find the
little girls.”
“I remember reading about that. An asylum was involved.”
Mike nodded and continued, “Unfortunately, our minds aren’t geared for this, and Mia was suffering some side effects, so she rarely bilocates anymore.”
“She was worried about that young man too. That’s why she did it. I bet that’s how they found him in time.”
“Could be. Ted will know.”
“Why did Ted leave her alone?”
“I’ll ask him that. But I have a feeling she was fine when he left. Ted’s mind was on his friend. Mia probably volunteered to watch the console, thinking Beth was inside to back her up.”
“Oh, dear.”
Burt came back in. He had an EMF reader in his hand. “As far as I can see, the kitchen is fine but maybe have your electrician check out the outlets by the toaster.”
“Oh them, yes, I’ve gotten a shock there before.” Martha got up and smoothed her skirt. “Gentlemen, pie and coffee in ten minutes.”
They watched her walk into the kitchen before talking.
“We were lucky. What if Chenille came a visiting or worse her chief,” Mike said. “We have to set some protocols in regards to leaving an investigation.”
Burt nodded. “Yes we do, but in their defense, who would have ever imagined the circumstances we are dealing with here. We are set up for simple ghost hunts and perhaps a few poltergeists, not pissed off Native Americans from the 1600s!”
Mike had to give them that. “So what do you think happened to Mia?”
“I’m going to check out the house and see if I pick up anything. But realistically, I think that Angelo drove off with her to get her some specialized help. He’s not a bad guy.”
Mike harrumphed, “I’m not sure he’s a guy.”
“He’s not a female, look at the size of him,” Burt argued.
“Nah, I’m not sure he’s human. Come on, you have to be aware he’s different.”
“I just thought it was because he was foreign. Italian,” Burt said, letting his ignorance show.
Mike laughed and got up and patted him on the back. “Check out the house. I’m going to call Ted. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell him about Mia being M I A,” he gave Burt a silly look as they both made the correlation of her name and missing in action. “Hurry up or we’ll be late for pie.”
~
Ted and Beth arrived and were directed to the emergency room. Whitney and Tom where waiting for transportation back to Big Bear Lake and were killing time bothering the nurses. “Ted,” Whit said in acknowledgment.
“Whit, Tom, thank you. Cid’s mother would have my nuts if anything happened to him.”
“All in a day’s work,” Whit said smugly.
Tom rolled his eyes and said, “He’s doing fine, just cold and blind. Did any of you bring the kid his glasses?”
Ted reached into his pocket. “These are his spare. The Wheybridge cops took his main pair with them,” he explained.
“We’ll see if we can get them back. Good thing we nipped this in the bud. Once the feebs get involved, it wouldn’t be possible.”
“Are they really that bad? The few we had down south…” Whit glared at him. Ted retracted his statement with a shake of his head. “You’re right. Thanks again for going the extra mile, guys.”
“We are law enforcement professionals. That’s what we do,” Whit said and flashed Ted his newly scrubbed smile. “Any of you know why Mia’s not picking up her phone?”
Guilt flashed through Ted.
“Probably up to her armpits with maintaining the command center,” Beth said. “She’s not real good at computers. She’ll call you back.”
Whit seemed to accept the explanation. Ted read something else on Tom’s face. He gave Beth a look of, “Why is she by herself then?” Ted had a sudden bad feeling and vowed to call her and check up on the farm after he saw that Cid was doing okay.
A nurse came out and invited Ted in. Beth remained with Tom and Whit.
He walked by a few cubicles until he found Cid. Ted shined up the lenses and gave them to his friend.
Cid put on the glasses and sighed. “I got to get the surgery, dude. I was nearly in Wisconsin, and I thought I was headed west!”
“It was a miracle you were found, considering the snow. Next time you go for a stroll take a GPS,” Ted teased. “Oh, Mia says hi.”
A strange look came over Cid’s face. He looked around and motioned for Ted to come closer. “Something strange happened in the woods,” he whispered. “I heard someone call my name. I swear it was Mia. You want to explain that?”
“Um, not here.”
“She told me to stay, and I did. Next thing I know is Mia’s boyfriend and another cop are slogging through the snow to find me. They saved my ass.”
“Did you tell the cops about, well, you know, hearing Mia?”
“No.”
“Don’t.”
“Gotcha. I hear the Wheybridge guys have to interview me before I can leave. The deputies have my captors in custody someplace in the hospital. The big dude took a taser shot to the nutsack and herniated. The other guy is having heart palpitations. There is a subtle pressure being put on me to not press charges. Some relative of a mayor involved. I was going to discuss this with Mia and you PEEPs first. They took her truck.”
“Yes, but she was more worried about them taking you,” Ted confided. “Are you moving in on my would be girlfriend?”
“She is cute, but I owe that cop for finding me. I’ll have to leave you two to joust over the fair maiden. Me, I’m getting my eyes fixed then watch out women of the world. I’m going to break some hearts.”
Ted tapped the IV. “Did they give you Demerol or something? You’re delusional.”
Cid laughed. “Maybe.” He dropped his voice lower and asked, “Hey, dude, I need some pants and underwear. I pissed myself when I was tasered.”
“I’ll take care of it. You call your mom yet?”
“No. I have insurance through the union. So she really doesn’t need to know about this. Unless the cops called her about my kidnapping. I don’t want her to worry.”
“I’ll tiptoe in and see what she knows. We’ll try to keep her out of it. I remember when you stubbed your toe playing kickball. She was a wreck.”
Cid nodded. “Let’s not go there, dude.”
Ted nodded. “Tell me what happened, if you’re up to it.”
Cid smiled. “It all started with Himalayan Java Jump…”
Chapter Twenty-three
Mia opened her eyes and felt a warm breeze move over her naked skin. Beneath her body she felt cool polished stone. Looking up, her eyes focused on a painting she thought she should know. “This dream is filled with so many images,” she thought. Had she fallen asleep at the console? If so, she hoped nothing bad happened on her watch. She heard a rustling beside her. With great difficulty she turned her head. It seemed to be in some kind of cradle. She managed to move it enough to see a procession of gray-cloaked people. She thought they must be women because their graceful movements gave them away. Each held a jar or bottle in their hands.
“Good, you are awake,” Mia heard Angelo’s voice from behind her.
She tried to lift her head back to see him but felt his soft hands restricting her movement.
“Stay still. Let them nurse you. You have sustained great trauma. You need to heal.”
“Where am I? Why are you in my dream?” she asked.
He laughed. She found it was rich with tone and timbre. “Too many questions. Soon you will get your answers. Close your eyes, Mia Cooper.”
Mia did as she was told. She felt many hands smoothing oil and balms on her body. She felt the potions sink beyond the skin into sinew and bone. As sleep overcame her, she heard Angelo chanting something she couldn’t quite understand. Her last thought was, “If I am dreaming, why then am I falling asleep?”
~
Beth was not happy. She was getting bawled out over the phone by Mike. Why was
she at the hospital? She started to answer that Ted needed a ride. But he hadn’t asked for one. She wanted to help Cid. But she really didn’t know him. Truth was, she wanted to score points with Ted. Mia, for whatever lame reason, didn’t want to go to the hospital. Turns out she had just come back from OOBing and couldn’t walk and didn’t want to hold Ted back. “Damn!” Beth said, attracting attention in the waiting room.
Mike coldly informed her that her actions may have put Martha in danger. “Mia’s there,” she argued.
“Mia had a seizure and Angelo took her away, leaving Martha to fend for herself until Burt and I arrived.”
“Then it’s Mia’s fault. She volunteered. How the hell was I to know she was going to fry her precious brain?”
“What is the number one rule of an investigation?” Mike asked.
“Never investigate without a partner,” Beth recited.
“If you were there, then Mia would be in the hospital where she belongs, not missing. You with your superior organizational skills would have had us there to protect Martha and our equipment and EMTs on the way to help your fallen partner. Get your fucking head in the game, Beth, or leave,” he said coldly.
“How dare you talk to me this way? Ted left too. He didn’t think about precious Mia or the equipment. He’s just as guilty. Plus, Mia’s not a member of PEEPs and won’t be if I have a say in this,” Beth said in anger. “Who are you to tell me about responsibility? Have you fucked the lady of the house yet?” She didn’t actually mean what she said. Her only thought was to wound Mike as he wounded her.
A shadow fell across her. She looked up to see Ted standing there. “What’s going on?”
“Can’t you see I’m on the phone?” she snapped.
“Who are you talking to?”
“None of your fucking business,” she said and waved him off.