Night Fall

by Nancy Mehl

  She pulled up her hood, then took a deep breath and opened the car door. She struggled to get out of the ditch, slipping several times before she finally made it. Then she lowered her head and pushed against the ice that pelted her as if trying to keep her away from her destination. Her jacket was lined, but it didn’t offer much protection against the bitter cold and ice crystals that felt like tiny knives flying toward her with ferocity.

  It seemed to take forever to get near the house, but she finally stepped onto the property. She was right. Someone was here. The light she’d seen came from inside. Maybe a lamp. Did they have electricity for this place? She made her way to a side wall and leaned against it. Her legs felt like limp spaghetti, but she pushed herself off and inched her way toward the front of the house. She stepped lightly onto the porch and carefully looked through a window. The drapes were partly closed, but as she peered through the crack, she saw a lantern close to the back of the house. It was still too dark to make out anything, though.

  She edged her way off the porch and walked around to the other side of the house, which provided more protection from the weather. She noticed a car and an SUV parked behind the house and crept near them. The car was a silver Honda Accord. The SUV had to be the vehicle he’d been using undetected—or at least one of them.

  This was it. She’d found him.

  After taking her phone out of her inside pocket, she discovered she still had no reception. Between the trees and the fact that she was at the bottom of a hill, there was no way a call was going out.

  She put her phone back, then took out her gun. She’d started back around the house when she noticed light coming from a window near the ground. A basement window. Alex knelt to look inside, then gasped at what she saw—a large wooden table with a young woman tied to it, the only light coming from a few lanterns. A dark-haired man stood to the side, looking down at the girl. Alex couldn’t see his face, but he had to be Walker.

  Although the last thing she wanted to do was face the Train Man alone, she had no choice. He was going to kill that woman, and then he would begin his plan to murder even more people. She had to stop him. No one else could.

  She stood and crept back to the front porch. As the ice hammered down around her, drowning out any other noise, she quietly tried the door and was surprised to find it unlocked. She was about to push it open when something hard touched the back of her head.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a male voice said. “Put down your gun and kick it away, or I’ll pull this trigger.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Whatever you say.”

  Alex hesitated, trying to find a way out of this. If she could get him off his feet and grab his gun, she had a chance to subdue him. But if she tried that and failed, helping the woman in the basement and finding the virus would be impossible. At least Logan and Monty would know what she’d done by now. And Harrison knew about Lake Lotawana. Were they on their way? Would they get here in time?

  She needed to stall. Her best move was not to provoke this guy. Make sure the woman downstairs stayed alive and hope the cavalry showed up soon. She put down her gun and kicked it away.

  “Good. Now go inside. We’ll join our friends in the basement.”

  Walker was his friend? What did that mean?

  “He’s had help, I see,” Alex said. “We’ve been wondering about that.”

  He pushed her through the door, then stopped and put his hand on her shoulder, turning her around. This was Walker. As they’d guessed he would, he’d dyed his hair blond and grown a beard. She’d forgotten he’d probably be in disguise. To untrained eyes, he wouldn’t look anything like himself, especially not with those big thick glasses.

  So who was the other man? His “friend” in the basement?

  “I’d appreciate it if you’d show some manners in front of my wife and children,” Walker said. He kept his gun trained on her with one hand while with his other hand he made a wide sweeping motion toward a couch. “This is my beautiful wife, Sally. And these are my adorable twins, Gabby and Trey.”

  Alex looked around. Even in the dim light, she could see the room was in shambles. In fact, the entire place looked ready to collapse. Dust covered everything, including the old, tattered couch he’d indicated. But no one was sitting there. She looked at Walker to see if he was joking, but she found only madness in his eyes. He was delusional. This wasn’t a man who could be bargained with, and that made him ten times more dangerous than she’d expected. They’d profiled a psychopath, but they hadn’t anticipated his psychotic break.

  Walker jabbed her with his gun. “Say hello.”

  “H . . . hello,” she said to no one, keeping her eyes trained on the couch. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

  Only silence returned to her, and Walker jabbed her again. “Answer my wife’s question,” he growled.

  “I’m sorry. The sound of the ice is so loud, it makes it hard to hear.”

  Walker sighed with exasperation. “She asked if you came here to hurt us.”

  “No, Mrs. Walker. I only came to help the girl downstairs. I have no intention of hurting your husband. Or you and the children. I would never do that.”

  Walker grabbed her arm and twisted her around until he could peer into her eyes. “That girl is the last sacrifice. You can’t have her. I have a destiny, and no one will keep me from it. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Yes, I understand.” She cleared her throat. The dust floating up from the floor was beginning to choke her. “But isn’t she innocent? I mean, what if she were your daughter? Wouldn’t you want her protected? She has parents. People who love her.”

  Walker drew back his hand and hit Alex in the face so hard she fell to the floor. “Sally, take the children to the playroom,” he said. “I think they’ve seen enough.”

  Alex put her hand up to her face, then brought it away. Blood. She felt her jaw. Two of her bottom teeth were loose.

  Walker paused for a moment as if listening to someone. “I love you too, darling. And thank you. I’m just doing what the Master asked of me.”

  Alex looked up to see Walker smile. His break was complete, and she was in real trouble. She tried to get to her feet when something ran across her hand. A roach.

  She fought back a scream. Her nightmare was becoming reality.

  40

  Walker reached down and yanked her to her feet. “Great. Now you’ve got blood on my nice carpet. Sally will have to clean up after you.” He dragged her into the kitchen. Alex gagged at the sight of it. Old food on the counters. Crusted dishes in the sink. Roaches ran everywhere. She could see them by the light of the lantern sitting on an old table.

  “Please,” she said, hating the pleading in her voice. “Please. I can’t . . . I can’t . . .”

  “Shut up,” Walker snapped. He reached toward an empty paper towel dispenser. “Wipe off your face with this.”

  As he spoke, a roach ran up his other arm and sat on his shoulder. Alex’s body convulsed with terror, but she reached for his empty hand, then pretended to wipe her mouth.

  “Th . . . thank you,” she choked out.

  He smiled, his empty eyes burning with lunacy. “That’s better.” He transferred the gun to his other hand and scratched his shoulder, which sent the roach scrambling. It disappeared behind him. “My wife keeps an immaculate house, but there’s something here I must be allergic to.” He shook his head. “Makes me itch.” He put the gun back in his left hand. Walker was indeed left-handed, just like the Train Man. Not that the confirmation would help her now.

  Walker pointed to an open door in the kitchen. “Let’s go downstairs. I want you to witness the final sacrifice. It’s an honor to force an angel to watch the war begin.”

  “I’m . . . I’m not an angel,” Alex said. “You’ve made a mistake.”

  “Don’t lie to me!” he screamed. He held the gun over her head and moved closer to her.

  Alex tried to think. Tried to come up with a plan to deal with him,
but her mind was fuzzy. Fear had her in its grip. She forced herself to look away from the roaches scampering over the dirty dishes and filthy counters. She got a quick glimpse into a bedroom. An old bed, also layered in dust, was the only piece of furniture.

  “I’m sorry,” she forced herself to say. “I am an angel. You know that some of us will survive the war. I . . . I think I’m one of those.”

  His eyes narrowed. “We’ll see, won’t we?” He gestured toward the door with the gun. “Go.”

  Alex walked slowly. She didn’t want to go down there. She’d be trapped, and it would be much harder to get away. But she had no choice. Besides, the girl was there. If she had a chance to save her, she had to take it.

  As she reached the stairs, another roach ran across her boot. She grabbed the side of the doorframe to steady herself, chiding herself for her unreasonable fear. She was an FBI agent. Trained. Valuable. Smart. She couldn’t allow her training to evaporate because of a stupid bug. It was beyond ridiculous.

  Even as she tried to convince herself she could handle this, a voice in her mind told her she was in way over her head. The horror of her childhood couldn’t be reasoned away so easily. She could feel the beginnings of a panic attack, and she began to gasp as she fought to breathe. Dizziness tried to overtake her, and she knew she was going to faint. But if she fell down the stairs, she could be seriously injured . . . or killed.

  It took every bit of inner strength she had to put her foot on the first step leading to the basement and to try to calm down. As she took the next step, she prayed to a God she wanted to believe in. She would give Him her life if He could help her now. But that would take a miracle.

  Slowly the dizziness began to recede, and she was able to catch her breath. She paused on the stairs as the fog in her brain started to evaporate. Then she clearly heard a voice say, Just trust me. Everything will be all right. Alex looked back at Walker, who glared at her. Who had spoken to her? Was she having a psychotic break too? This was the second time she’d heard a voice. Was it possible—

  “Hurry up,” Walker said. “No one can help you. You can go down the stairs on your own, or I can push you the rest of the way. Like my father pushed my mother before he killed her, just like I killed my first five sacrifices. With a knife. Just like I’ll kill this one.”

  So this was where Walker’s mother died. When Alex reached the bottom of the stairs, she focused on the woman tied to the table. She turned to look at Alex, her eyes wide with terror. A piece of duct tape covered her mouth.

  Then her own eyes shifted to the man she’d seen through the basement window. He was still standing near the table, his back to her and Walker. When he didn’t turn around, Walker said, “That woman whose picture you showed me? She’s the one we heard prowling around outside. I’ve got her.”

  “I see,” the man said. “I’m sorry you decided to join us, Alex.”

  She recognized the voice even before he turned around.

  Mike.

  “This is nuts,” Monty said. “We’re gonna get stuck. Our phones probably won’t work. We’re going to freeze to death out here in the middle of nowhere.”

  Logan glanced at him. “Remind me never to come to you when I need encouragement, okay?”

  Monty didn’t answer, just kept his eyes on the road in front of them. A mile or so back, they’d switched places because Logan wanted to keep an eye on the map himself.

  “You can get out here if you’d like, Monty. I can drive again.”

  “You’re really funny. Ha, ha, ha.”

  Although he wouldn’t admit it, Logan had to agree with his negative friend. This was looking worse and worse. Monty slowed down as a mailbox was reflected in the car’s headlights, which were now set on bright. It didn’t take long to see there was no house here. Was this a fool’s errand? Logan was just thinking maybe they should go back and call for help when he saw an old street sign that said Waywind Road.

  “Look,” he said to Monty. “There’s the road the old man told me to take.” Monty slowed the car, although it continued a few yards after he touched the brake. “Let’s go down this road a little way. If we don’t see anything, we’ll turn around and drive until we have cell service or we make it back to that convenience store.”

  “If it’s still open. It’s getting pretty late.”

  “I’m thinking Elmer lives there. I noticed an area behind the store with lights on. If he’s closed up, we’ll knock on his windows until he lets us in. Then we’ll use his phone to call Harrison and ask for help.”

  “Okay. But we can’t drive too far down this road. We could get so stuck we might not be able to get out.”

  “We won’t go too far. I promise that if we don’t see a house with lights on, we’ll go back.”

  Monty shrugged. Logan knew he was worried. He was concerned too, but he couldn’t just leave Alex out here.

  Monty put the car in gear and turned down Waywind Road.

  Harrison tried again to reach Alex, but the number went immediately to voice mail. Frustrated, he called Logan and then Monty. The same thing. He’d received Logan’s voice mail message and was worried.

  He’d come back to the CP after the operation with the KCPD. They had no idea if they’d prevented Walker from kidnapping a woman for his last sacrifice. They’d shown up at most of the town’s churches with Sunday evening meetings, making sure they were seen in an attempt to scare him off. Then after the meetings, they showed Walker’s photo to the people leaving, but no one remembered him. One woman at a large church said he looked slightly familiar, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t have enough information to help them.

  Every law enforcement officer in the area had a photo of Walker and a sketch of what he might look like now, but no one had seen him. Harrison hoped they’d at least been successful in deterring the monster, but there was no way to know.

  Logan had said they were taking the rest of the day off, but he would have left his phone on. They all would. What if they’d taken Alex’s suggestion seriously? Ice from the storm was coating the area, and road conditions were dangerous. If they’d defied him and gone to Lake Lotawana trying to find that cabin, they could be in serious trouble.

  He stared at the dry-erase board. What if Walker really was in a cabin out there? These agents were trained behavioral analysts. Maybe they were right. He picked up the phone and called the police chief. If he was going down dirt roads in the dark while an ice storm raged, he wanted SWAT with him.

  Alex couldn’t believe her eyes. “I don’t understand,” she said slowly, horrified to feel tears filling her eyes. Mike was her friend. How could he be involved with something like this? And why hadn’t she seen it?

  “You’re probably wondering if I’m part of the Circle. I am. And you’re why I joined,” Mike said. His expression changed from one she recognized to one filled with rage. “You left,” he said, clearly angry. “You just left. Not a word before you took off. If we’d really been friends, you would have told me you were leaving and where you were going. But apparently I wasn’t worth the time.”

  She had to think quickly. What was the best way to handle this? “I’m sorry, Mike. I didn’t want Willow to know where I was. I . . . I just wanted a new life away from her. I realize I should have told you. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just so . . . confused.”

  “You thought I’d tell her where you were? I did everything I could to help you. I even got you a gun.”

  “I know. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Willow was really upset when you left. You always had her wrong, you know. She might have been a little different, but she wasn’t a bad person.”

  “She stood over my bed with a knife. You know that. What kind of human being does that to her niece?”

  “The rest of the time she was kind to you.”

  Alex realized this argument was going nowhere. Willow hadn’t been kind to her. But Alex couldn’t show her anger now. She didn’t want to set Mike off.
>
  “Look, I should have talked to you before I left. I really am sorry. You were a good friend. In fact, you were my only friend. I was wrong.”

  “I’m glad you two are having such a nice reunion,” Walker said loudly, “but we have something important to do here. Let’s get on with it.”

  “Mike, are you really going to let him kill this innocent woman? The Mike I knew would never have allowed something like that.”

  “The Mike you knew is gone, Alex. I visited Willow often over the years, at first to comfort her, then just because I cared about her. Around ten years ago she finally told me about the Circle. I joined, and it’s brought fulfillment to my life.”

  “So you and Jimmy Gedrose really never met?”

  “He’d just left the Circle when I joined, which might be one of the reasons Willow finally decided to recruit me. He visited her a lot after he quit, but I made sure our paths never crossed. He was helping your aunt, but he was no longer part of our group.”

  He cocked his head toward Walker. “Adam had been to Willow’s Circle meeting not long before Jimmy left, which was how Jimmy recognized his photo. But I didn’t meet Adam until a few years ago, through a wider Circle connection. He intrigued me. Later, he convinced me he was called to fulfill the prophecy. I wanted to be part of that. Something important.”

  She frowned at him. “But you’re an FBI agent. That’s something important.”

  He shook his head, and his eyes narrowed. “I’m stuck in a resident agency in Wichita. I tried and tried to get transferred somewhere else, get a promotion, but I was told I’d gone as far as I was ever going to go. Then Adam gave me an opportunity to be involved in something . . . magnificent. I could finally be someone.”

  “But you have great parents. You were brought up in a good home. Why—”

  Mike laughed, but there was no joy in it. “If you’d stayed in touch with me, you’d know my father didn’t die in an automobile accent. The truth is he got a girlfriend and walked out. I have no idea where he is, and I don’t care. Mom died a few years ago, way too young and way too lonely.”