The Forgotten

by Linda S. Prather

  A sound outside had her heart thumping and her legs moving as she ran for the living room. Her hands were shaking, and she dropped the receiver, a wave of dizziness washing over her as she bent to pick it up, hurriedly dialing 9-1-1.

  “9-1-1, where’s your emergency?”

  “This is Dr. Mary Coomer, and I’m at 2975 South Fork Road, George Bledsoe’s old place. I need an ambulance and the police, and you need to hurry.”

  “Hold on.”

  “I can’t hold on, damn it. There’s a killer outside, and he’s gonna kill me and my granddaughter any minute. Now you get me an ambulance and some police out here right now. We’re in the basement.”

  Mary slammed down the phone and breathed deep. The pain inside her chest was almost unbearable, and the walls were beginning to spin. She took a step toward the basement as her knees gave out, and she fell to the floor, the knife flying out of her hand and disappearing under the couch. Don’t make no never mind, Lord. I won’t need the knife now. Help’s on the way for my baby.

  She moved toward the basement door one inch at a time, holding on to the deep shag carpet. Sirens blared in the distance, and she closed her eyes, a tiny smile lifting the corners of her lips. “They’re coming, Anna Claire. You’re gonna be fine, honey.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Any word from the others?” Jake moved to sit up, and Karen pushed him down.

  “Try to sit up again, and I’ll pour more alcohol on that wound.” Karen checked his bandage. “Wilkes called, and they’re on their way back. The house was empty.” She shot a glance at Grace sitting near the hallway. “Except for Harriett’s body. You were right Grace, he killed her.”

  Bruiser growled low in his throat and lunged at Grace, pushing her chair over.

  “Bruiser!” Jules moved to grab him as the window glass shattered and a bullet struck the hallway wall where Grace had been sitting.

  “Everybody down!” Karen jerked her gun from the holster and hit the light switch, sending the room into darkness as Jules covered Grace with his body. “Is anybody hit?” Karen asked, moving to the door and checking the lock.

  “No,” Grace whispered.

  “I smell kerosene.” Jake rolled off the couch, moaning loud as he hit the floor. “And the bastard has grenades, Karen. Give me a gun and get the others out of here. Jules knows the forest. You’ll be safer there.”

  Karen glanced out the window as the barn burst into flames. “Jules, can you find your and Grace’s coats in the dark?”

  “I’ll get them.”

  She heard the sounds of movement down the hallway. “Grace, wrap the baby in blankets.”

  “A gun, Karen.” Jake crawled toward the kitchen. “And I need Bruiser’s leash. Otherwise he’ll go after this guy.”

  Karen glanced at where Bruiser was growling and pawing at the front door. She dropped to the floor and crawled toward Jake. “Where’s the leash?”

  “Drawer next to the silverware.”

  Flames licked the back side of the house as Jules and Grace crawled across the living room and into the kitchen. Karen handed Jake the leash. “He’s cut off our retreat. We’ll never make it to the forest.”

  Jake pushed up on his knees as smoke billowed under the door. “And we can’t stay here.”

  Jules headed for the front door.

  “What are you doing, Jules?” Jake used his good arm and the counter to pull himself up.

  “I’m letting Bruiser go. He has a score to settle with this guy.” Jules opened the front door, and Bruiser rushed out. “And maybe he can buy us enough time to get out of here.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  “So why the sudden change in partners?” Loki asked as Teresa maneuvered around a sharp curve.

  “According to the drawings, Harriett Tatum killed Wilkes, and Robert killed you. Harriett is dead, so Wilkes should be in the clear, which leaves you to protect.” She took her eyes off the road for a moment and smiled at Loki. “I figured you’d prefer my company over Wilkes.”

  “Oh my God.” Loki saw the flames and smoke billowing toward the sky. “Hurry, Teresa.”

  Teresa roared past the farm entrance.

  “What are you doing?”

  “No time to explain.” Teresa skidded off the road above the flames of the barn, slammed the gearshift into Park, and pulled her gun from the holster. “Stay here.” In seconds she was out the door and rushing down the hill.

  “Like hell I will.” Loki jerked at the seat belt and door simultaneously as Wilkes and Dadron swerved off the road behind her. She ignored Wilkes’s yell as she scrambled down the hill and something inside the barn exploded. Teresa’s body flew backward, landing hard a few feet in front of Loki.

  Why doesn’t somebody shoot the son of a bitch? “No!” Loki screamed as silver glinted in the flames from the fire and Bruiser’s body fell to the ground. Tatum turned to grin at her before heading into the forest. Shots rang out, and Wilkes brushed past her, followed closely by Dadron.

  Loki knelt beside Teresa, who was struggling to sit up. “I’m okay, just dazed. Go help Bruiser.”

  A car started somewhere above them, and tires screeched as Loki sprinted the last few feet and fell to her knees beside Bruiser. “Hang on, boy.”

  Karen rushed toward Loki, her gun drawn. “Where did they go?”

  “We need an ambulance.”

  “I’ll call the director. He can get a helicopter transport here in ten minutes.”

  Loki applied pressure to the side wound, stemming the flow of blood as Dadron reappeared at the edge of the forest. “Loki, I need help.” Dadron placed Wilkes’s body on the ground near Bruiser. “He got ahead of me. Tatum must have stopped to take a shot. He’s bleeding pretty bad.”

  “Keep applying pressure on Bruiser’s wound.” Loki slid across the ground and opened Wilkes’s shirt. The bullet had entered near the armpit outside the vest. “Hurry, Karen.”

  “We have an agent down, and we need an airlift at the Redmond farm immediately.” Karen rolled her eyes. “What the hell difference does it make which agent?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Special Agent Brian Wilkes.”

  Loki placed her fingers over the pulse in Wilkes’s neck. Weak but still alive. “Karen”—Loki met her gaze as she ripped off the vest and applied pressure to the wound—“if they don’t hurry, we’re going to lose him.”

  “No disrespect intended, sir, but shut the fuck up. Now you listen to me. I want a medical transport here in ten minutes or less. And if I don’t get it, you can damn well be sure when I get back, I’ll let the whole world know you let an agent die and deliberately placed the lives of victims and other agents in danger.”

  Karen ended the call and shoved the phone in her pocket. “What can I do?”

  Loki glanced up to see Teresa wobbling toward them. “Check on Teresa. She said she was okay, but the blast knocked her ten feet. Where’s Jake, Jules, and Grace?”

  “Fighting the fire the bastard set along the back of the house.” Karen took Teresa’s arm and helped her to the ground near Wilkes. “Locals are on the way. They found Dr. Coomer and her granddaughter. Both were in critical shape, but Dr. Coomer stayed conscious long enough to tell them to get over here as fast as they could.”

  Sirens blared and lights flashed as vehicles poured down the farm road. “That was quick.” Loki checked Wilkes’s pulse again, her heart beating fast and sweat breaking out on her forehead. “How’s Bruiser doing, Dadron?”

  “He’s still alive.”

  Medics rushed toward them as firefighters and police officers ran to the back of the house. Loki breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes misting as one stopped, kneeling beside Bruiser. She rose and allowed the medic to take her place beside Wilkes as a third medic rushed to check Teresa. The sound of a helicopter coming in fast lifted her spirits. “I’m going to check on Jake and the others.” She met Karen’s gaze and smiled as the helicopter descended. “You must have impressed him. It hasn’t been ten minutes yet.”

 
“There’s a transport service in Anderson, and twin engines can fly up to 150 miles per hour. I knew a call from him would have it here in minutes.” She nodded toward the paramedics. “Jake insisted on trying to save the house, but it might be a good time to get him to the hospital too.”

  Loki nodded and knelt by the medic caring for Bruiser. “How is he?”

  “I don’t think the knife hit any major organs. We’ve got a surgeon at the hospital who loves dogs as much as I do. He volunteers part-time at the vet clinic. I gave him a call, and he said to bring him in and he’d meet me there, if that’s okay with you?”

  Loki placed a hand on Bruiser’s head. He licked her fingers and moaned softly. “Please take care of him.”

  The medic motioned for a stretcher and passed Loki a card. “Give me a call in a couple of hours, and I’ll let you know when you can pick him up.”

  “Thank you.” Loki walked slowly toward the back of the house. Now all I have to do is convince a stubborn, bullheaded Texan to go to the hospital.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Nik?”

  Teresa leaned over the stretcher. “Don’t talk, Brian.”

  “You called me Brian.”

  “Yeah, well, sue me when you get well.”

  “It’s over, Nik.”

  Teresa glanced at Karen, who suddenly turned away. “It’s not over, Brian. We’re going to get this bastard. And you’re going to be fine. The medics said so.”

  He coughed and moaned. “Grace will end this. It was always up to Grace.”

  “We’ve got to go, ma’am. Sure we can’t take you in too? That’s a pretty huge knot on your forehead.”

  Teresa shook her head, immediately regretting her actions. “I’ll be fine.” She leaned over Wilkes and whispered, “You do what the doctors say, or I swear, I’ll call Rosetta.”

  The medicine kicked in, and his lips parted in a cheesy smile. “Call Rosie.”

  Teresa waved the helicopter off. “We do need to call Rosetta, and the rest of his team.”

  “When he said it was over, I thought he meant he was dying.” Karen took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He scares the bloody hell out of me at times.”

  “Let’s get back to the house.” Teresa picked up her rifle. “Helicopter got here awfully fast. What did you tell the director?”

  Karen grinned. “I told him to shut the fuck up.”

  Teresa laughed, the sound strange to her own ears, under the circumstances. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t get a special agent badge when we get back.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not handed a bloody pink slip and told to go look for a new job.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  Loki shook hands with the young police officer, closed the front door, and flopped onto the couch. “They found his car about a mile from the Bledsoe place. No sign of him, though.”

  Teresa sat beside her. “You should get some rest, Loki. Karen and I will keep an eye out.”

  Loki glanced to where Dadron and Jules were erecting a board over the back of the house with the help of some of the firefighters that had stayed once the blaze was put out. “There’s a lot of cleanup to do before Jake comes back from the hospital.” She glanced at the knot on Teresa’s forehead. “You’re the one who should be getting some rest. That has to hurt like hell.”

  “The British are rather hardheaded.” Teresa grinned at Karen. “In case you haven’t noticed.”

  Loki sighed and stood. “I think obstinate was my word of choice when Karen was shot, but hardheaded works too. I’m going to check on Grace and the baby. Any chance the coffeepot was saved?”

  Karen headed to the kitchen. “Thanks to Wilkes calling the fire department as soon as he saw the flames, most of the kitchen was saved.”

  Teresa stood and followed Karen. “I hadn’t thought of this, but is it safe to use the electricity? I mean, if the fire got into the wires, it could be dangerous.”

  “Fire Marshal said it would be okay but to have an electrician check it out before the back is rebuilt.” Loki walked down the hall and opened the first door on the right. Much as she’d suspected, Grace was sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking Hope, her face still tear streaked with the soot from the fire. Loki sat beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You should get some rest.”

  Grace raised her head, her eyes filled with fear. “We have to stop him, Loki. Isabella knows where he is.”

  Loki’s heartbeat accelerated, and her legs trembled as a cold wind blew through the room. “Where is he, Grace?”

  “I don’t know, but she can show us.” Grace placed Hope on the bed and covered her with a blanket. “She said it had to be you and me, otherwise someone else we love will die.” She pointed at the corner of the room. “I know you can’t see her, but she’s here. She says we should go now.”

  Loki stared into the shadows. Is this what Wilkes meant when he said Grace had to be here? “Grace, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Isabella needs to tell us where he is, then we can get him surrounded and make sure he doesn’t escape.”

  Grace slipped her arms into her jacket and zipped it up. “I’ve never been so scared in my entire life, Loki, but I know she wouldn’t lie to me. I have to go.” She leaned over and kissed Hope on the cheek. “Did you ever find my parents?”

  “We found your mother. Your real name is Gwendolyn Dillon.” Loki sighed, wishing there was some other way to say it that didn’t seem quite so blunt and heartless. “I’m sorry. She died a few days after you were taken.”

  “Do you think Jules would adopt the baby if something happens to me?” Grace picked up her bow and quiver. “He loves her as much as I do.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you, and you’re not going anywhere. Hope needs you.” Loki turned toward the shadows again and pleaded, “Isabella, you have to tell us where he is.” Loki felt the hand on her shoulder as her grandfather’s voice filled the room. Do as the young girl says, Loki. Remember who you are.

  “Give me a minute.” Loki crossed the hall to her own bedroom and retrieved her bow from the closet, along with a quiver of arrows. This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Jake is going to kill me if Tatum doesn’t.

  A commotion sounded from the kitchen, and she heard Dadron’s footsteps coming quickly down the hall as he called out for Jules. He opened her door, his face pale. “Loki, have you seen Jules?”

  “No, I thought he was with you.”

  “Stay with Grace. I’ll find him.”

  Grace stood in the doorway, her eyes wet, a look of soul-deep sorrow on her face. “We have to hurry.”

  Loki glanced in the rearview mirror as Teresa and Karen tore out of the house after them. If Jake doesn’t kill me, those two will. “Does Tatum have Jules?”

  Grace nodded. “Don’t go to the place where the FBI entered the Tatum farm, go to the main gate. We’ll find him at the grave of his sister. Isabella will show us the way.”

  Loki turned right on the highway and gunned it. “Jules hasn’t been gone long, Grace, and Tatum hasn’t had time to make it that far. Are you sure Isabella knows where he is?”

  Grace turned to stare out the window. “I’m sure.”

  The drive took less than ten minutes, and Loki swung the car into the turn without slowing down. She sent up a small prayer of thanks the gate had been open. “Where to?”

  Grace pointed toward the burned-out rubble of the old farmhouse. “Look for a grove of apple trees.”

  The car bounced and shook as she rushed over the bumpy road. A rusty pickup was parked near another pile of rubble, and Loki slammed on the brakes. Grace was out of the car and rushing for the trees before she had it stopped. “Grace, wait!”

  “Damn it.” Loki exited the car and reached for the rifle in the backseat. Remember who you are, Loki.

  Harry had taught her to shoot, but the truth was she wasn’t good with a gun. I’m Choctaw. Loki snatched up her bow, slipped the quiver over her neck, tied the strings, and
attached it to her back as she ran. She burst through the trees, her heart stopping as her eyes took in the prone figure of Jules lying on a grave, Tatum above him with a knife.

  “Husband!” Grace called out from a few feet in front of her as Loki nocked an arrow. Tatum’s head jerked up, and he hesitated as Grace continued to walk toward him. “Roberta says to stop.”

  His eyes shone in the moonlight, and he raised the knife again. “I have to take his power so I can see her and talk to her.”

  She didn’t have a clear shot. “Move, Grace.”

  “He doesn’t have the power, Husband. I do.” Grace continued to walk toward Tatum slowly. “The dog isn’t dead.” She dropped to her knees as Tatum stood and let out a scream of rage. “Now, Loki.”

  Don’t aim, don’t overthink, be a part of the bow, pull, and let go. Silver gleamed in the moonlight as Tatum ran toward Grace. Loki pulled back the bowstring and released it in one swift motion. She didn’t wait to see if she’d hit the target but immediately nocked the second arrow and repeated her actions. She heard his yell and moved forward two feet, grabbed an arrow, nocked it, pulled, and let go. Tatum screamed this time and stumbled as she nocked her fourth arrow, moved forward two feet, pulled, and let go. She heard the thud as the arrow sank into his chest, followed almost immediately by the fifth arrow, which pushed him backward and off his feet. He lay still, and Grace ran toward Jules. Loki dropped to her knees beside Tatum and stared into the sightless eyes. Her last two arrows had been a perfect bull’s-eye to his heart.

  Jules. Loki hurried to where Grace was holding Jules’s head in her lap. “Is he okay?”

  Jules opened his eyes and smiled at her. “I’ve got one hell of a headache.”