The bound men realized that something was terribly wrong when Layla and Ramon climbed into Mina’s car to leave. “Hey! You can’t just leave us here!” the crying one called out.
His partner’s eyes bulged in anger, but his curses were muffled through his taped-up mouth.
“Like hell we can’t.” Ramon waved out the window. “Adios.”
“Angeles National Forest,” Layla repeated what the man had confessed. “Do you know how to get there?” she asked.
“It should take us about an hour,” Mina replied, pulling out onto the street and driving away fast. She kept stealing glances over her shoulder to Layla, trying to reconcile what she’d just witnessed in person. She was clearly in awe, and practically rendered speechless by what she could no longer deny.
“It’s a lot to process,” Ramon said sympathetically.
Mina nodded in agreement, driving along with a thoughtful look on her face. She finally gathered herself together to ask what seemed to be the obvious question.
“Layla … Have you ever considered a career in law enforcement?”
~
Chapter Ten
MAULED
~
Caledonia continued on, working her way back down the hillside towards the cover of the trees. She stopped every so often to try and catch her breath and listen for the three men still coming after her. Stress, hunger, and fatigue continued taking their toll, and despite her best efforts, her pace slowed. She was more tired than she could ever remember being, and she knew they were going to catch her if she didn’t think of something fast.
Her first impulse was to hide, so she cast about frantically for a thicket of brush that would be dense enough to conceal her sparkling dress, but the plants were sparser close to the top of the ridge, and would only provide scant cover.
Then she looked up.
Using all the strength she could muster, she started climbing a pine tree, lunging from branch to branch to get as high as she possibly could. When the men drew near she froze, hugging the trunk on the opposite side of them, praying that they would not look up. She could hear their voices as they passed beneath her, holding her breath and praying.
“This way!” one of them said, tromping off to continue along the path she’d been taking.
She listened as their footsteps lumbered away, peeking around the trunk to catch a glimpse of them heading away from her. She started to ease back down the tree, her legs shaking with fatigue. She was almost there when she slipped, landing hard on the lowest branch and snapping it with a loud cracking sound.
She tumbled a few feet down onto a bed of pine needles, just in time to hear the men change direction and turn back towards her. By the time she’d scrambled to her feet she could see them, acid green excitement exploding all around them when they spotted her.
They had all of the energy and she was completely drained.
She bolted away again, this time going straight downhill and letting gravity carry her, slipping and sliding on the pine needles until she was unceremoniously deposited on her rear end, face to snout with a startled young bear. It couldn’t have been more than a few months old, and it cried out in alarm at the horrifying spectacle of a human being in a glimmering cocktail dress.
Panting with exhaustion, bruised and battered, Caledonia gathered all her remaining strength to generate a soothing color to cast over the young animal, but it was too late. The snapping of twigs in the distance heralded the arrival of its nearby mother, and Caledonia knew that there was nothing more dangerous than a mama bear protecting her cub.
She scuttled backwards towards some bushes, putting a few yards between herself and the cub just before an enormous black bear arrived, sniffing the air all around, its poor eyesight failing to spot the girl holding perfectly still in the shadows. Caledonia held her breath, knowing that she would be unable to summon the power to pacify such a powerful animal. She knew that if she ran it would trigger the bear to chase after her.
The sound of the three men coming closer caught the bear’s attention, and she started huffing and snorting in agitation. They all came bursting into the clearing, stopping short when they saw the bear. She reared up on two legs, baring her teeth and roaring with anger. Caledonia picked up a rock and flung it at the baby bear, making it bawl out in fear once more.
Now the mother bear was completely enraged, all of her protective fury focused directly on the men who could see Caledonia crouching just beyond the angry beast.
“Shoot it!” one of them cried, just as she lunged towards them. One man reached for his gun, but was unable to draw it before a vicious swipe from a massive paw tore the scalp from his skull, sending his blood splattering onto another man who turned and ran, sealing his own fate. There wasn’t a human being on earth that could outrun an angry bear.
Caledonia backed away, retreating from the man’s bloodcurdling screams as the bear started mauling him. She continued her descent, putting as much distance between herself and the carnage as possible. She huddled behind the rotted out stump of a fallen tree, straining to listen for footsteps.
When the forest grew silent again she doubled back as swiftly as she could, making a straight line to where Michael still lie hidden. When she pulled the fern back from his face it was so ghostly white that for a split second she thought that he might be dead.
“Michael?” she reached out to touch his cheek, relieved to find it was warm. Too warm. His eyes opened, blinked, and struggled to focus.
“Cali?”
“I’m back,” she forced a smile, trying her best to send him all of the courage she could manage.
“Where’s Layla?” he asked, confused.
“We have to keep moving,” she told him.
She lifted him to his feet, brushing the leaves from his bloodstained clothes and circling her arm around his waist to prop him up. “C’mon, I saw another cabin a few miles from here. Let’s go find some help.”
By the time they descended from the hillside and found the second cabin they were both completely spent. There were no cars parked on the long driveway, but Caledonia still approached it with caution. She had Michael stay out of sight while she circled around, peeking in all of the windows to see if anyone was inside.
The place looked completely deserted, but she went to the front door and rapped on it just in case. She finally went around the back and forced a window open, climbing inside and snooping around a little before coming back out through the front door to fetch Michael.
“There’s no one here,” she said, “and there’s electricity.”
The cabin looked very much like the one they’d just escaped from, with lots of wood finishes and a similar massive stone fireplace. Soft overstuffed couches were strewn with Indian blankets, and the mantle over the fireplace boasted family vacation pictures, souvenirs, and mementos. Caledonia hoped this one didn’t come complete with a basement chamber of horrors.
The first thing they did was fall upon the sink in the kitchen, drinking and splashing water on their faces. Michael slumped with fatigue, stumbling to a seat at the kitchen table while Caledonia hunted around the downstairs rooms, frowning. “There’s no telephone here.”
She looked in the refrigerator, finding it empty except for a case of soft drinks and a few withered apples. She rifled through the pantry, pulling out a couple of large cans and scrutinizing them with furrowed brows. “Spaghettios?” she asked.
Michael shrugged, as unfamiliar with it as she was.
Caledonia popped the top on a soda can and handed it to Michael. “Drink this.” She reached over to feel his forehead. “You have a fever,” she said, reaching for his hand to inspect the filthy rags tied around his finger. “I need to change this dressing right away.”
“Can we eat first?” he asked weakly.
She searched for a can opener, finally resorting to using a dull knife to punch out the top of the cans. Within a few minutes she handed Michael a spoon and a can, joining him with the same. They ea
ch scarfed the contents cold, washing it down with a soda.
“Not bad,” Michael said, smiling wanly.
Caledonia was relieved to see some color coming back into his cheeks, and she got up to search the house again, going up the stairs to find a basic first aid kit in a cabinet under a bathroom sink. When she returned and unwrapped his bandage she was dismayed to see that the skin around the stump of his missing finger was red and swollen. She led him to the sink, carefully washing the wound and applying antibiotic ointment before wrapping it up.
“I’m sorry if that hurt. You’ve been very brave,” she said, patting his wrist.
“Thanks.” She saw him color with relief when she was finally done. “What should we do now?” he asked.
“Let’s lay low and get some rest,” she replied. “We should start walking out of here tonight after it gets dark. If we can stop someone with a car and I can make them help us.”
When their eyes met they smiled at each other, their faces scratched and dirty, leaves and twigs stuck in their matted hair. Michael was covered with dirt and grime, and Caledonia still sported a tattered cocktail dress. They both looked like they’d been to hell and back, because for all intents and purposes, they had.
He started laughing first, and she couldn’t help but join in. They had survived. They had faced down death, and it was only just now sinking in that they’d lived to tell about it. They were alive, and for the moment, they were safe. When they finally caught their breath Michael saw Caledonia’s eyes cloud over, and he knew she was thinking about Calvin.
“If we can make it, he can too,” he told her.
She nodded. “I know.”
He inspected his torn and bloodstained clothes. “I could really use a shower.”
“Me too,” she said. “Why don’t you go ahead? I’ll keep an eye out.”
She rifled through the kitchen drawers until she found a plastic bag, tying it around his bandaged hand to keep it dry. “I’ll go look around for some clean clothes,” she said.
Michael disappeared into the bathroom while Caledonia hunted upstairs, searching through the bedroom closets and dressers for some clothes. She found gloves and hats in a children’s room, but nothing else.
Disappointed, she went back downstairs, where her eye fell on the door that led to a basement. She gathered her courage to check it out, turning the knob slowly and flipping on the light switch with her heart pounding. When she descended the stairs she found a room completely different from the one they had just been liberated from.
This space was clean and brightly lit, with a homey looking rag rug brightening up the cold cement floor. The far wall was lined with all kinds of sleds, discs and snowboards. Snow boots in all sizes were stacked on racks on the opposite side of the room, along with children’s ski jackets, sweaters, and snow pants that hung on pegs affixed to the wall.
She sorted through the clothes, doing her best to find something for them to wear. Frustrated by the small sizes, she marched back up the stairs to knock on the bathroom door. “Michael? You alright in there?” she asked.
“Yeah, but there’s no hot water,” he answered.
She frowned with disappointment, reminding herself that it was a luxury that she’d done without for most of her life.
“I’m leaving some clothes by the door… okay?”
“Thanks,” he replied.
When he came out of the bathroom Caledonia was peeking out the front window. She turned around to see him wearing a too-tight sweater with a pair of too-short overalls that ended before his Argyle patterned socks and high-top sneakers began. He had on a knit cap with long earflaps that terminated in puffy yarn balls.
“At least the sweater matches the hat,” he managed to joke.
She tried not to laugh. “I’m sorry, it was the best I could do.”
“Your turn,” he said.
She got up, trying to comb her fingers through her hair, but the sticky pitch she’d picked up from climbing the tree made it impossible. “Can you keep an eye out in case anyone comes around?”
“Sure,” he nodded, pulling a chair up in front of the window.
After Caledonia left Michael did some snooping around too, hoping to find some better fitting clothes in the upstairs bedrooms. By the time she came back, freshly scrubbed and clad in an equally ridiculous outfit, he was sitting at the kitchen table, engrossed in some kind of electronic device.
“Everything alright?”
He didn’t look up. “Uh huh.”
She looked out the front window and came back to search the pantry again, climbing on a chair to reach into the depths of the cabinets.
“Aha!” she announced triumphantly, pulling out a box of stale crackers and a can of tuna.
“Michael? Are you still hungry?”
He ignored her, completely intent on the device in front of him.
“What do you have there?” she asked, sliding into a chair opposite him..
“It’s a tablet. I found it upstairs.”
Caledonia came over to sit down across from him. “Is that a video game?” she asked.
“It has one of the games I play loaded onto it … and …” He chewed on his lip, concentrating with intensity. “YES!” he cried out, startling her.
“What?”
“I got it to connect! If I can log on, I can leave a message for Mina on her board. Maybe I can get her to call Layla and tell her we got away. Maybe it won’t be too late!”
Caledonia watched his fingers scramble to type in a message. He clicked “send” and looked up at her with a flicker of pale pink hope in his eyes. “It’s a long shot, but she might just check it eventually.”
~
When they got up into the mountains Mina had Ramon take over the wheel as she typed away on her laptop from the passenger side. She was looking at satellite imagery of the remote area, pinpointing the exact location of the cabin from above. Layla sat in the back seat, guiding Ramon from the explicit directions she had extricated from her would-be kidnapper.
When a mail alert popped up on Mina’s screen she drew in a sharp intake of breath.
It was from Wall Street Wizard.
“Oh my God!” she blurted out.
“What?” Ramon asked.
“It’s not possible …”
“What’s wrong?” he asked again, trying to keep his eyes on the road.
“It’s Michael! He’s sending me a message on a game board!”
“Are you sure it’s him?” Layla looked over her shoulder anxiously. “What does it say?”
“He wants me to call you and tell you not to turn yourself in.”
Layla’s eyes flew open. “Where is he?”
Mina typed in the question, and the three of them waited anxiously for an answer. When it came up she read it out loud, “I’m in the middle of nowhere and there’s no phone. Please call Layla now and tell her that me and Cali got away.”
“Tell him I’m okay!” Layla cried, “Ask him where they are!”
Mina typed in, “Layla is here with me and Ramon.”
Michael looked up at Cali. “Layla is with Ramon and Mina!”
“Thank God!” Cali’s eyes blazed with intensity. “Ask her about Calvin!”
Michael looked down to read the next message had already come in. “We are in LA. Where are you?”
“They’re in LA! They want to know where we are!”
He started typing, “Not sure. We got away and broke into a cabin …” Caledonia watched as he colored a putrid green with dread and alarm, “No… No… NO! NO! Goddammit!”
“What? What?!” Caledonia was beside herself.
Michael groaned, “The battery is too low … I just got knocked off.” He jumped up and bounded up the stairs. Caledonia followed behind, watching him in the doorway as he desperately searched through a child’s bedroom. “There has to be a charger!” he moaned. After a few minutes he gave up, falling onto the bed in exhausted defeat. He sighed, and she watched all of the e
xcited energy drain out of him. She came over to pull a blanket over him.
“Get some rest. At least we know Layla is safe, and we’ll find a way to contact them when we can get to the city. We’ll start walking out of here as soon as it gets dark.” She turned to leave, pausing at the door when he called out to her.
“Cali …”
“Yes?” she asked.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find out about Calvin.”
She nodded, trying not to let him see her bitter disappointment. “I’m sure he’s going to be okay.”
She went downstairs and curled up in the chair next to the front window, looking out over the driveway. An icy cold fear squeezed her heart, and she had to admit to herself that she wasn’t sure of anything. She missed Calvin with a fresh pang of pain, and rocked back and forth, arms wrapped tight around her body. Tears rolled from her cheeks, leaving dark splotches on the puffy neon green snow pants she wore.
She struggled to stay awake but eventually slipped into an uneasy sleep Her dreams were filled with visions of Calvin, smiling, laughing, and then falling, always falling, a dark red stain blooming on his chest.
The sound of a car engine startled her awake, and she was up on her feet groping for an imaginary knife before she came fully awake. She ducked down, peeking over the windowsill to see a car pulling into the driveway. She squinted to see who might be behind the wheel, casting about for something to barricade the doors with if it was Frank and what was left of his men.
When Mina and Ramon got out warily with their hands on their weapons her eyes blasted wide. She ran to the door, bursting out of the house. The car’s back door flew open and Layla flew out, a cloud of red hair radiating a riotous palette of swirling colors. Caledonia ran straight to her, their exploding hues visible only to each other.
“Is Michael here?” Layla asked breathlessly.
Caledonia nodded yes. “He’s inside,” she said, just before Layla threw open her arms and crushed her in a hug, brilliantly colored with love and relief. Caledonia pulled back from the embrace, overcome by emotion. Her throat constricted, and she took Layla by her shoulders to look into her eyes.
The Redcastle Redemption (The Athena Effect) Page 9