Below the Surface

by Tim Shoemaker

  “Not unless you want to get wet,” Gordy said. “You can do it. Just like that guy who did the tightrope walk across Niagara Falls.”

  “Nik Wallenda,” Hiro said. “And he had a safety line.”

  “But he never needed it,” Gordy said. “And he walked on a wet steel cable in gusty winds. You’ve got a nice big, dry pipeline to walk on — and it isn’t exactly high off the ground.” But for a girl with a fear of heights, it was high enough. She couldn’t climb a six-foot fence without getting dizzy. No sense in reminding her of that now, though.

  Cooper held out his arm. “You’ll be fine.”

  She grabbed his hand. Coop started slowly walking backward. Hiro took a step onto the pipe. “I do not like this. I. Do. Not.”

  Gordy snickered and jogged in place. “What’s the matter, Hiro? Just pretend you’re one of those Flying Wallendas.”

  Hiro shuffled a few steps. “If I fall, Gordon Digby, you’re going to go flying.”

  Gordy waved her off and hustled down the pipeline all the way to the railroad bridge. He moved fast — just to show off.

  Lunk took the pipeline at an easy pace with his hands in his pockets like he didn’t need them for balance. Cooper walked backward, holding both of Hiro’s hands in his.

  Hiro was bent over at the waist with her arms straight out in front of her. “I. Do. Not. Like. Heights.”

  Gordy watched her cross the pipeline. It was nice to see her so far outside of her comfort zone for once. “Think this is worse than the tunnel?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing’s worse than the tunnel.”

  By the time she got close, even Gordy could see that she was shaking. Now he felt kind of weird about showing off.

  “The pipeline gets a little trickier under the bridge,” Gordy said. “Just keep your back against the concrete wall and you’ll be fine.”

  Hiro watched Gordy demonstrate. “No. Not a chance. I’m staying right here.” She let go of Cooper’s hands and sat on the pipe where it angled under the bridge.

  “Okay, you can skip the pipeline,” Gordy said. “From here we can walk in the river.”

  “Not me,” Hiro said. “I’m good.”

  She was going to spoil everything. “But we’ve hardly seen any of it. You’ll like it downriver a lot better.”

  She shook her head. “You guys go ahead without me. I’ll be right here when you come back.” She smiled and used her hands to brush them away. “Go.”

  Gordy didn’t like it. Cooper didn’t look too wild about the idea either. Lunk was already standing in the river, picking his way around some larger rocks.

  “If I need you, I can call.” Hiro held up her phone. “I’m a big girl.”

  Big girl. That made Gordy smile just a bit. He let her comment go. “Okay. If you need us, we’ll come running.” He hopped off the pipe and landed on the riverbed with both feet. The water rushed past his legs like it was trying to take him down at the knees. He loved it.

  Lunk was already fifty feet downstream. “What’s the plan?”

  “Explore!” Gordy said. The water was a little higher than the last time he’d been here. The trees on both banks met overhead, making a dense canopy over the river. If Hiro had come with them, he’d have hidden his phone somewhere along the bank and picked it up on their way back so it wouldn’t get wet. Then he could have picked up his feet and ridden the river on his back. But with Hiro staying behind, he’d have to keep his phone on him, just in case.

  Walking with the current was easy — and fast. He glanced back at Hiro one last time before they reached the bend in the river, where the thick trees and brush on the banks would hide her from view.

  She waved at them, looking happy. Okay. Good.

  Coop hung back a little, like he was still unsure about leaving Hiro. But her smile seemed to set him at ease. He picked up his pace and caught up to Gordy.

  “It’s nice to be back here,” he said.

  Gordy agreed. They’d had good times on the river. It was always different — yet always the same.

  They finally caught up to Lunk where a tree had fallen across the river and worked like a dam, snagging sticks, branches, and small trees. All kinds of debris swirled around tiny whirlpools and made strange sucking noises.

  “Don’t get too close, Lunk,” Coop said. “Sometimes the bottom hollows out and gets deep. With all those branches, you could get hung up on something.”

  Lunk took a step backward.

  There wasn’t a clear way to climb over, so they walked to the bank and worked their way around it.

  In the next fifteen minutes, they passed three more blockades. Gordy noticed Coop checking his phone each time. He’d texted Hiro at least once.

  The current helped them get farther than Gordy had even hoped to get.

  Lunk looked around. “Kinda getting dark out here, don’t you think?”

  Maybe Gordy’s eyes had gotten used to the light, because he hadn’t noticed the darkness before now. But Lunk was right. It was no longer the familiar White River that he’d tromped through so many times before. The trees formed dark shadows over them, but there was something more. He felt out of place. Like the three of them didn’t belong here. “Maybe we should head back.”

  Coop nodded. “And we’ll be fighting against the current all the way. It’ll take us longer.” He checked his phone again. “Let’s go.”

  Gordy didn’t argue. They all turned and headed upstream. The water seemed higher — and faster now. Making headway was a lot slower than Gordy had anticipated. His shoes turned to lead. Every time he lifted a foot, the river tried to drive him back downstream. He swung his shoulders, trying to get some momentum.

  Coop checked his phone again. “I haven’t heard back from Hiro yet. That’s not like her.” He was moving faster now, and even Gordy had a tough time keeping up.

  The shadowed river looked like a giant black snake hissing past them. It was definitely taking longer to get back. Way longer.

  Lunk plodded along beside him, breathing heavily.

  Coop steered wide of the fallen tree and log blockades, taking to the banks. But Gordy wasn’t sure Coop was making any better time that way. The brush was dense and tangled, and the muddy banks were slick.

  Lunk must have thought anything would be better than fighting the current. He joined Coop on the riverbank but went down hard within seconds. He was back on his feet again without a word. Normally there would have been some friendly teasing. But nobody said anything. They were too focused on the same thing — getting out of there.

  The fun of the river had faded with the daylight. Now the place had an eerie feeling. Like they’d gone too far. Stayed too long. Like they needed to get back. There was a sense of urgency that Gordy couldn’t explain, but he wondered if Coop felt it too.

  “She must be getting worried,” Coop said. “Why hasn’t she answered me?”

  As if on cue, his phone chirped. Coop smiled and swung the phone to his ear. “Hiro?” His smile disappeared.

  “Where are you?” Eyes wide, Cooper started running. “Stay there! We’re coming!” He pocketed the phone and splashed back into the stream.

  Gordy plowed through the current to catch up. “What happened?”

  “Some guy is stalking her.”

  Lunk jumped back into the river too. All three of them charged upstream, kicking their knees higher, trying to get some speed. Which wasn’t working.

  “I’m gonna try running on shore,” Lunk said.

  Coop didn’t answer but ran along the shallow edge of the river. He ducked under some branches and plowed through others. Gordy kept up, his legs churning the water into a frenzy.

  He glimpsed Lunk thundering through the brush, his arms swinging. He was having as hard a time with the branches as Gordy was with the stream.

  Gordy tried to make his legs go faster, but he couldn’t. He hooked his foot on a rock and stumbled, windmilling his arms to keep from going down. His knee sunk into the mud bank. The river
was their enemy now, bent on holding them back.

  Cooper’s route gave him a nice lead. He rounded the last bend. “Hiro!”

  The concrete bridge stood like a giant graveyard monument. The space underneath looked as dark as the river itself.

  “Hiro!” Cooper didn’t slow his pace but gave an extra burst of speed where the river ran a bit shallower. He disappeared into the shadows under the bridge.

  Lunk was nowhere in sight. Gordy raced under the bridge and found Coop standing in the middle of the river — staring at the empty spot on the pipe where they’d last seen Hiro.

  Coop shook off his dark thoughts and ran to the pipeline. “Hiro!” He paused to listen. Nothing. Just the sound of rushing water.

  “Hiro!” Gordy joined him, turning in a slow circle midstream and scanning the shoreline and the woods beyond. He held up his hand. “Listen!”

  Cooper heard it too. Somebody, or something, was crashing through the brush and obviously not concerned about stealth. He looked around for something, anything, to defend himself with. He groped along the bottom of the river, pulled up a rock the size of a Burger King Whopper, and advanced to the shoreline.

  Whatever it was, it was coming fast — and right toward him. Cooper braced himself and raised the rock, ready to use it.

  Suddenly, Lunk crashed out from under the cover of thick brush. “Find her?”

  Cooper let out his breath. He didn’t even know he’d been holding it. “Split up,” he said. “Gordy, take the path back up to the road. Lunk, search the woods on this side of the river.” He looked up. “I’ll climb to the top of the railroad bridge.”

  The guys scattered. Cooper sloshed through the river, ducked under the pipeline, and scrambled up the embankment on the other side. God, please protect Hiro. I shouldn’t have left her behind. The soft ground gave way under his feet. He climbed up on all fours, using saplings and roots for handholds.

  “Hiro!” Lunk’s voice came from somewhere below him, across the river.

  Cooper hesitated, listening for Hiro’s voice to respond. Nothing. He clawed his way up the final ten feet and stepped onto what was once the bed of the railroad tracks. Now it was a hiking path. No railroad ties. No rails. And no Hiro.

  He dashed halfway across the bridge and looked over the crumbling concrete wall to the river fifty feet below. “Hiro!” Nothing but whitewater — and dark fears.

  Cooper’s phone chirped. He whipped it from his pocket and read Gordy’s text. “Got her. She’s fine. By the street.” Thank God.

  He scanned the woods beyond the shoreline. “Lunk — we got her!”

  Some brush moved and Lunk stepped into view. He spotted Cooper and waved.

  Cooper pointed to his own chest and then back to the river.

  Lunk nodded as if he understood.

  Cooper headed down the embankment, which felt like plodding down a steep sand dune. The soil collapsed under his feet and started mini avalanches. Twice he lost his footing and slid on his seat for a yard or two. When he got to the river, all the mud on his shoes made crossing on the pipeline too dangerous. He needed to clean off a bit anyway. He slipped back into the river and worked on getting the mud and dirt off his legs, hands, and swim shorts.

  Lunk splashed across the river to meet him. “So where is she?”

  “With Gordy.” Cooper pointed up the path. “By the street.”

  “Did he say what happened?”

  Cooper shook his head. “We’re sure going to find out, though.”

  They quickly cleaned up and ran up the path.

  Cooper was happy to leave. The river, bridge, pipeline — all of it had changed. He looked back to be sure they weren’t being followed. Their old secret place had secrets of its own. By the time they got to the road, Cooper had imagined all kinds of scenarios. None of them good.

  Hiro stood next to Gordy, hugging herself. She was facing their direction, watching for Cooper and Lunk to appear. She gave Cooper a half-smile as he hustled over to her.

  “Are you okay?” Cooper said.

  She nodded. “Just scared.”

  “What happened?”

  Hiro shrugged. “I was just trying to explain it to Gordy.” She pulled her braid in front of her shoulder and fidgeted with it. “It seemed like you guys had been gone a long time. And it was getting dark.”

  Cooper felt a twinge of guilt. She was right. They’d left her alone too long.

  She looked toward the path heading to the river. “I was getting a bad feeling.”

  Cooper studied her eyes, which still looked haunted. “Like you thought something had happened to us?”

  She shook her head. “No, nothing like that.”

  Cooper stayed quiet, which took some effort. He wanted her to get to it. But if he let her tell it in her own way and at her own speed, he’d probably learn more.

  “There was something bad about the place. Dark.” She hesitated, like she expected one of them to make a joke about it.

  Nobody said a word.

  Hiro shrugged. “Like something awful had happened there before. And would again.”

  “Like what?” Gordy’s eyes got wide.

  “I don’t want to know. But the feeling grew worse. I kept watching for you guys to come back.” She paused like she was reliving the whole thing. “I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to get out of there.”

  A chill crept over Cooper. He’d sensed something about the area just as they were leaving, hadn’t he? Hiro had obviously experienced something too. Only worse.

  Lunk stood next to Cooper. “What was that about a stalker?”

  “I heard someone — in the woods.”

  Cooper waited.

  “It was coming toward me. At first I thought it was you guys. That you’d given up on the river. But it was coming from the wrong direction. And slowly. Like he didn’t want me to hear him.”

  Lunk eyed the path back to the river, like he expected somebody to appear.

  Cooper scanned the street in both directions.

  “That’s when I called you, Coop.”

  Cooper nodded. He hated to think of her being scared and him not being there.

  “I know you told me to stay there, but the sound was coming closer. I was afraid to move. But I was more afraid to stay. I could feel someone watching me,” she whispered. “He was coming for me. If I’d stayed there, I . . .” Hiro stared past Cooper like she was a zombie — or imagining one.

  “Hokey smokies,” Gordy said. “Why didn’t you call 9 – 1 – 1?”

  Hiro stared at the ground. “I didn’t even think of it. I was clutching my phone in my hand. I wanted to call Coop again — but I never thought of calling the police.”

  Lunk shook his head. “Hiro didn’t think to call the cops? You really were scared.”

  Cooper checked over his shoulder toward the river. “So then what?” She was giving details way too slowly.

  “I crawled back across the river on the pipeline.”

  “But what about the guy?” Cooper asked. “Did you get a good look at him?”

  Hiro shook her head. “Once I got over the pipeline, I hit the path running. I didn’t look back until I got to the street. Then I just stayed here until Gordy found me.”

  “You never saw him?” Cooper said.

  Hiro shook her head. “I felt him. Close.”

  “What did he feel like?” Gordy said.

  She turned pale. “Evil.”

  Gordy swallowed hard and looked back toward the river.

  So much for Gordy’s plans for fun at the river. Would his cousin ever want to go back there? “You wanna get out of here, Hiro?” Cooper said.

  She nodded.

  “Me too.” Cooper hooked her arm through his and headed toward town. Gordy did the same with her other arm — like she was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Lunk walked directly behind them. The rear guard.

  The farther from the river they walked, the more she seemed to relax. She looked up at Cooper. “Where are we going?�
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  “Scoops.”

  He watched them from the cover of the trees along the river. He’d shaken her up pretty good, hadn’t he? She never saw him — but he made sure she heard him. And he couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. She’d taken off like a scared rabbit.

  And she was still spooked. He noticed her body language. The way she moved her hands when she talked. Oh yeah. He’d scared her good. It was as obvious as the black braid hanging down her back.

  Fear was the ultimate weapon. No license required. No state registration needed. He was an expert shot — and he’d hit his target.

  And the beautiful thing about fear was that it was contagious. Even now the boys kept looking back toward the river as they walked toward town.

  “Afraid somebody’s going to sneak up on you, fellas?”

  He chuckled. “You should be.”

  The more distance they put between them and the river, the better. Hiro’s oppressive feelings were gone. And so was her hope of enjoying a “normal” vacation. This mystery — if she could call it that — seemed to follow her everywhere, no matter whether she was playing or investigating. She’d rather be working the investigation.

  A flier about Wendy Besecker was taped to Scoops’ door.

  Hiro imagined the tattoo on the girl’s ankle. Why would she pick a pair of dice for a tattoo? Obviously she was a girl who liked to gamble — or live dangerously. Was she the one Hiro had seen on the boat yesterday? If so, she’d gambled with the wrong guy, hadn’t she?

  Katie was working behind the counter again. Everybody ordered their usual. But along with his Yippee Skippee, Katie handed Gordy a taster spoon of Halley’s Comet. Maybe she wanted him to broaden his tastes.

  The boys sat at one of the tables, but Hiro stayed at the counter.

  “You have a picture of a missing girl posted on your door,” Hiro said. “Do you know her?”

  “Wendy?” Katie nodded. “I do.”

  Hiro waited, hoping Katie would say more. Nothing. Time for a little prodding. “Is she a nice girl? Good?”

  “Nice,” Katie said. “But not necessarily good.”

  “There’s a difference?”