B00CCYP714 EBOK

by Bradshaw, R. E.

  Rainey reached for the weapon in his right hand. “This one is mine. See the nick in the back of the grip.” She checked her weapon and holstered it. “He never liked me, even before Chambers was killed.” She sighed. “He’s the least of my worries at the moment.”

  Without warning, a chill crept up her spine and the fine hairs on her neck sprang to attention. Rainey scanned the parking lot. There were people moving about, getting in and out of cars. Clouds of smoke billowed from two men and a woman, huddled around the lone ashtray in the shadows. A couple of nurses were saying goodbye as one was going on duty, the other ready to call it a night after a long shift. No one looked out of place. Her eyes trailed through the windshields of the cars parked nearby, searching for someone watching her. She saw nothing, but could not shake the feeling that trouble was near.

  “What is it, Rainey?”

  Those who knew her had come to know that look, that intense concentration on her surroundings.

  Rainey put her hand on Junior’s arm, still scanning the area for the source of her unease.

  “Do me a favor, Junior. Don’t leave Mackie alone. You sit outside his room and keep watch. Get some of the guys together. Make a schedule. Mackie is never to be alone. I’ll clear it with my stepdad, so there should be no problems.”

  “What’s wrong, Rainey?” Junior asked.

  She took one last look around and then met his worried eyes. “I just have a feeling something isn’t right, and when it feels wrong, it usually is.”

  Chapter Four

  “Before we declare a serial killer present, there must be evidence. Fuck Rainey Bell.”

  CRACK!

  Bladen bit down on the ball-gag and moaned. He came back about a half an hour ago. It could have been longer. She wasn’t sure. She lost track of time after the beating began.

  He had arrived in a fury, ranting about Rainey Bell not recognizing his work. “Bodies, she wants bodies. Crime scenes to profile. Victims to analyze. Why can’t she recognize that she can’t say it’s a serial killer, because I’m so much smarter than she is? She knows I’m out here. She has to. Why won’t she admit it?”

  “I don’t know,” Bladen answered, unsure if she was supposed to comment or not.

  He backhanded her. “Shut up! I ought to just throw you out on her doorstep. She’d have a body then.”

  Bladen remembered what Rainey Bell said about defiance and avoiding his temper, but since he was in the process of tying her feet to a hoist, she thought she had nothing to lose. He was going to kill her eventually. Maybe if she defied him, he would lose control and do it now. Bladen would rather die, than live through anymore of his torture demonstrations. Her will to live had turned into longing for a swift death. She did not want her parents to suffer their remaining years not knowing what had happened to her, wondering if she was out there trying to find her way home. She did not want them to discover what actually had happened either, but she knew her father would read the autopsy report. He would scour her murder file into the night, because he would never rest until he found the man who killed his daughter.

  The pain and anguish this madman had caused her, and knowing what he was about to put her parents through, raged out of her as she shrieked, “Kill me then, you bastard. Kill me so I can be done with you, you sick freak.”

  Bladen began to fight him, something she had not done since the Pear was introduced into play. She would take any beating, lashing, rack, and rape he had to throw at her, if he would just never use the Pear again. She could not imagine anything worse. If Bladen was going to die, she wanted to leave him with her last wish, a prophecy she hoped. A low primal growling voice emerged from her throat.

  “She’s going to find you. You’ll screw up somehow. Guys like you always do. Narcissistic, egocentric, little men with little dicks, all of you. You better hope Rainey Bell finds you, because if my dad does, you’ll wish you were already dead.”

  That was when the ball-gag went in her mouth. Her attempts to fight pleased him. Her fear and rage made him laugh and dialed up his sadistic fury. Afterwards, he indulged his fantasies on her as never before. Bladen only thought he had done his worst. Now she prayed even harder for death. She closed her eyes and tried to block out his ranting and the unyielding pain. She had almost reached that place where the agony would be too much and she would black out. Bladen would welcome the darkness and hope she never saw the light again, if only the pain would stop and she could not hear his voice anymore.

  “I’ll give her a body to examine. She still won’t be able to figure it out.”

  CRACK!

  Bladen’s last thought before she lost consciousness was, “I hope it’s me.”

  #

  Rainey pulled up to the guardhouse at the entrance to her gated community. An armed guard stepped out and approached her window. Most cars could enter without stopping, a simple wave through the windshield and a swipe of a security card would do. Rainey could do that too, but the staff was under orders to stop her and Katie every time they entered, at Rainey’s request. The guard waited for Rainey to roll down the window, before speaking.

  “Good evening, Ms. Bell,” he said, while trolling a flashlight beam through the interior of her car.

  This precaution was necessary. Should an assailant in the backseat force either her or Katie to drive into their neighborhood, Rainey wanted this to be the result. An armed guard inspecting her vehicle was a small price to pay for security. Rainey ran all the scenarios, all the ways a determined killer could invade the carefully placed line of defense encircling her family. Some people thought her obsession with security was paranoia. To them, Rainey responded, “I’m not paranoid, just prepared. There is a distinct difference and a higher survival rate for the latter.” With the unsettling suspicion that something was amiss, she was happy even this new guard was spot on with his duties.

  “Could you pop the trunk, please,” he said, politely.

  Rainey hit the release and watched the trunk lid open in her mirror. The guard finished with his search, closed the lid, and returned to her window.

  “Is there anything else, Ms. Bell?”

  Even though he was new, she knew his name. She made it her business to know all their names, and to confirm the guards had undergone the in-depth background checks she was assured each had to pass. Still, Rainey took advantage of Brooks, her close friend in the Communication and Information Technology Unit of the FBI, and her unique abilities to ensure those checks were accurate.

  “Yes there is, Cliff. I’m not sure who or what the threat is, but I need you guys on high alert for awhile. I just have a gut feeling.”

  Cliff smiled. “Well, you got to go with those. Anything specific I should be looking for?”

  If Rainey knew what to look for, she would have found it already. She had no information to offer beyond, “You know about the stalker,” which is what Rainey called the person providing the pictures to the blog site, “but this feels different somehow.”

  “Disturbance in the force, have you,” Cliff joked, in his best Yoda impression.

  Rainey’s first thought was this was not something to joke about, but his grin won her over and she smiled back. “Yes, you could say that. I’m going to shoot an email to the main office, but if you could leave a note in the guardhouse, I’d appreciate it.”

  “Will do,” Cliff said, stepping back and hitting a remote, which caused the big iron gates to begin sliding open.

  Just before she rolled her window up, Rainey said, “May the force be with you.”

  She could hear Cliff laughing, as the window closed and she drove into her neighborhood, following the winding drive to the last lot on the left, near the north end of Lake Jordan. Rainey pulled the Charger up to a small metal box at the end of her driveway, rolled her window down, and placed a finger on the biometric pad. At the recognition of her print, a keypad illuminated where she typed in a code, causing the gate separating her home from the rest of the world to open. Only people wit
h encoded prints stored in the security system could enter without Katie or Rainey letting them in. That was a very short list.

  Motion detector lights came on above the garage doors. Standard remote openers were not part of Rainey’s security, because they could be cloned. Once the security system recognized her car, through an elaborate coordination of signals being sent from the Charger’s onboard computer and received by the sensors embedded in the concrete drive, the garage door cranked open. Rainey halted, surprised to see her mother’s Cadillac where she usually parked the Charger. Leaving room for her mother to back out, she reluctantly left her four-wheeled baby in the driveway.

  Confused as to why the door did not close automatically when she turned off the car, Rainey was apprehensive when she walked into the garage. Her anxiety dissipated when Katie stood up from the steps that led into the house. She must have overridden the computer when she heard Rainey open the door. Katie pushed a button on the wall and, as the door began to lower, she crossed the floor to Rainey, wrapping her arms around the taller woman’s waist.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the hospital. I’m glad you’re home.”

  “Me too,” Rainey said, kissing her wife on the top of her head, hugging her close. “I didn’t expect you to be awake. This is a pleasant surprise.” She put her hands on Katie’s shoulders and grinned into her upturned face. “You aren’t expecting me to finish what you started earlier, are you? I don’t think I can do that with my mother in the house. Why is she here, anyway?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Katie teased, taking Rainey’s hand and leading her toward the door that led into the kitchen. “There’s something forbidden about having sex under the same roof with a parent. Might spice it up some.”

  “No extra spice necessary, and you didn’t answer my question.”

  When Katie opened the door, the aroma of freshly cooked biscuits mingled with the unmistakable smell of bacon cooking wafted out.

  “You are turning down hot sex? You must be tired,” Katie said, smiling over her shoulder at Rainey, and then explaining, “Your mother is asleep in the guestroom. My mother is coming over in the morning. They are babysitting for the next few days, while we deal with Mackie.”

  “Here, right? They’re not taking them anywhere, are they?”

  Katie stopped and turned to face Rainey. The smile disappeared, replaced by a no-nonsense expression that went with her question. “What’s happened, Rainey? Something else besides Mackie being in the hospital has you spooked.”

  Most of the time, Rainey hid her fears and concerns from Katie. She always told Katie about overt threats, but the little nagging feelings and suspicions, Rainey kept to herself. Her wife already suspected she was paranoid, so fueling that impression with gut feelings and possible threats was not a good idea. Katie demanded that she not be forced to live in fear, albeit behind a wall of security cameras and alarms. This time, Rainey thought Katie should know. The feeling was too strong and Ernie felt it too. Something was awry. Hyper-vigilance was called for.

  “Let’s sit down at the table. We need to talk,” Rainey suggested.

  Katie put her hand in Rainey’s chest, preventing her from moving. “You tell me right now. Is one of those crazy people after you again?”

  “I honestly don’t know what’s wrong, but something is. I feel it. Ernie feels it.”

  Katie tried to explain it away. “You’re both worried about Mackie. That’s all it is.”

  “No,” Rainey said, “You don’t understand. We’ve been feeling this for months and it got worse after Mackie had the heart attack. I can feel eyes on me. I can feel danger, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what I should be preparing for. I don’t want to scare you, honey, but there’s trouble coming.”

  Katie turned and walked into the kitchen.

  Rainey called after her, “Where are you going?”

  “We’re going to need coffee.”

  “Are you upset?” Rainey asked, hoping the answer was not yes. She could not help but feel guilty for putting Katie through yet another scare.

  “No, honey,” Katie said, putting a K-cup in the coffee maker. “We both know that this is our life, one threat assessment after another, but I do have a request.”

  Relieved at Katie’s response, Rainey took off her coat and hung it by the door. She opened one of the many gun safes in the house and stowed the Glock. Katie insisted that all weapons be locked away while they were in the home. All the safes had biometric locks, which only Katie, Mackie, Ernie, and Rainey’s fingerprints would open.

  Her weapon put away and her stomach growling, Rainey started toward the breakfast table, responding to Katie, “And what would that request be?”

  “Before we sit down for this heart to heart over bacon and eggs, go take a shower. The peas are really distracting.”

  #

  Bladen floated above her body, watching the scene unfold beneath her. She felt peaceful, warm, free of pain and fear. It was a wonderful feeling, all she had been told it would be. Death had come so easily when she finally gave up the fight. Once he finished pummeling, torturing, and whipping her this last go-round, and while she was still hoisted upside down, he positioned a large tub under her, filling it with cold water. He would lower her head down into the water and keep her under to the point of drowning, before pulling her up, leaving her coughing and struggling to breathe. He would convince her it was the last time, and then plunge her back under. When she finally stopped struggling, she went rather quickly to this place of limbo. It was a relief to leave the torment. The one thing she could not understand was why she was still there. Why was she being made to hover, to watch as he tried to resuscitate her lifeless body?

  She could hear him calling her name as he pounded on her chest. “Come on, Bladen, breathe.” He began compressions, trying to keep the blood flowing to her brain. “I’m not done with you yet. Come on.” He stopped compressions and blew air into her lungs, then resumed pumping on her chest. His words were clipped as he pumped her heart, urging it to start again. “Come on! You’ve got—some fight—left in—you. That’s why—I picked you. I knew—you would—fight. Come—on!”

  “Bladen,” a man’s voice said softly.

  Bladen turned her head from side to side, trying to find the source. That’s when she saw the bright white light. It was so beautiful, Bladen wanted to rush toward it, but the silhouette of a man appeared between her and the light. As he came toward her, his features became clear. He was tall with a head full of curly, reddish-brown hair and a beard to match. His green eyes were penetrating. Bladen had the sense that she knew him, but could not place his familiar face.

  “Are you here to take me to the light?” she asked.

  “It’s not your time, Bladen. You have to go back.”

  Bladen looked down at her body, with her murderer still trying to revive it. The thought of going back there sent her into a panic.

  “Please, don’t make me go back. He’s going to kill me anyway. Don’t make me suffer more. Just take me now.”

  “Have faith, Bladen,” the man said, as his image began to dissipate like fog clearing under the warmth of the sun. Just before he vanished completely, he said, “Don’t give up. They’re coming for you.”

  Bladen screamed at the man who was now only a mist, “It’s too late. Don’t you see? It’s too late. Please, God, don’t leave me here.”

  #

  Rainey sat at the desk in her office sending emails, her hair still damp, but clean and pulled back in a loose ponytail to dry. If she left it free, the curls would expand into a frizzy mess. The thought of doing a Halle Berry on her hair had crossed her mind. Mostly, when one of the kids had a handful between fat little fingers, apparently having lost the motor skills to unfold the tightly clinched fist. If Katie said, “No,” it was received with coos and appropriate responses. If Rainey told the triplets, “No,” it was a mere momentary distraction and whatever activity they were involved in would immediately resume,
until she physically removed the phone from a mouth, took away the shredded book, or rescued the cat.

  Freddie Krueger, Rainey’s bobbed tail black cat, could identify with her on the triplets’ penchant for hair pulling. He had adjusted to the move and the babies fairly well. He roamed the large lot, mostly staying in his yard behind the high-security fence, but was known to head down to the lake from time to time. Rainey knew this from the variety of dead things he left in the garage, where his doggie-door entrance was located. Rainey tried to keep him in at night, and often found him curled up on the floor outside the triplets’ nursery door. She was not sure if he was protecting them, or plotting his revenge for the handfuls of fur forcefully removed from his coat. Just in case it was the latter, he was not allowed in their room unsupervised. They installed a screened door over the babies’ room doorway, covered in plastic-coated hardware cloth strong enough to keep Freddie out and the babies in. That way, the solid wooden door could remain open. Sightlines and hearing were important, with three clever children and an equally cunning feline.

  Family life had changed Rainey and Freddie, but they both seemed to be doing well. Rainey never knew she could love something as much as she loved those babies. They seemed to find her amusing and instinctively knew she was the weaker of the two adults. They pulled all their best stunts when she was the one watching them, but they had fun. Katie came home last week to find them all, Rainey included, covered in finger-paint, when an afternoon at home with mom number two turned into a free-for-all of wrestling rainbow-colored children. Rainey had no hope of ever controlling them like their mother. When Katie entered a room, all three of their heads would turn toward her. They seemed to think Katie was some kind of Goddess to be worshipped and obeyed. Katie said it was not her presence to which they were responding, but the appearance of a major food source.

  The food source stuck her head in the doorway of the office, yawning loudly. “Okay, everything is ready for the morning. I’m going to sleep for a bit. You should come too. We’ll be up soon enough as it is.”