by Wood, Lorena
They were still going east, but they were heading away from the rim. The forest grew a bit thicker and their pace slowed. Whitney was excited that they might find this one alive, and get out of here without another night on the ground. She couldn’t understand why the killer had left the boy. Maybe she hadn’t really sensed another presence. But why would the boy be so far away? Every time she contacted him she felt his stupor, like he might be drugged, but maybe he was just dehydrated or hurt.
They climbed through the pines and the brush for a couple hours before Whitney decided it was time to check again. She grew quite excited when she sensed they were close, and still didn’t pick up anyone else in the area. They walked farther north and crossed an open field at the base of a small, rocky mountain.
“He’s up there,” she said pointing halfway up the rocky slope.
Nick pulled his gun and looked for tracks but couldn’t see any. If the boy was up there, he might have come from another direction. Whitney and Nick were leaving an obvious trail in the sandy soil, so it made sense they would see the boys tracks at some point.
“Whitney, wait. Let’s stop and figure this out. We need a better plan than charging up the mountain. What if there’s another person with the boy? He can probably see us right now. I need to think.” He continued scanning with the binoculars but realized what he needed was a rifle with a scope.
“If someone is watching, we’re gonna be sitting ducks,” Nick admitted, feeling foolish for being so unprepared.
“We have to get up there somehow. We can’t just leave him there. I really don’t sense anyone else, but that doesn’t mean I’m right about it. Any ideas?”
“I know.” Nick said calmly. “We will find him. I think first we need to call in some help.”
“I don’t want to scare anyone if they are up there. Right now the boy is still alive,” Whitney said, her optimism overshadowing the danger of the situation.
“We need to stay alive so we can get the boy back. I can think of a couple things. One is leaving you here in hiding, while I go up and check. But I don’t really want to leave you alone.”
“And you may have some problems trying to pinpoint the boy’s location.”
“True. The other choice is to drop the packs and go up together. You can keep a few feet behind me, and keep down low. That way you can help find the boy, and I can scope it out first.”
“Let’s go,” she said stepping out into the open.
“Just remember, keep back a bit, and try to be as quiet as possible.”
Nick moved forward, gun in hand and all senses on alert. He tried to pick a trail up the mountain that would allow them to have some cover. There were very few rocks big enough to hide behind, so they were almost crawling before long. Whitney pointed in the direction she thought they should go, and Nick inched his way up. They could see a small opening that looked like an entrance to a cave.
“I think he’s in there. Now what?” Whitney whispered.
“Let me go in and check. You wait here, by the entrance. Scream loud if you see anyone. Stay low and quiet for now.”
“You be careful. What do you plan to do if someone’s in there?” The image of someone waiting inside, ready to take Nick out with a gun or knife, cut through her optimism.
“Depends if they’re armed or not. Hopefully we have the element of surprise on our side. No one would expect us to be able to track the boy all this way. If we find him, we’ll radio for help right away. If you think I’m in trouble, call for help and get back down the mountain.”
Whitney tried to sit perfectly still as she opened her mind to her surroundings. She could feel Nick’s tension, and she could feel the boy starting to wake up. He was dehydrated or sick, and he needed their help. He was back in a tunnel somewhere.
Nick was out of sight so she thought to him, “Hurry Nick, he needs us. He’s in there.”
“I hear you. Shhhhhh. Don’t talk to me right now.”
Whitney was concentrating so hard on the boy and Nick that it took her a minute to realize someone else was moving down below. She became aware of a red-hot anger coming from behind and she turned, but it was too late. She was hit with something. It felt like a hot needle in her back. “Nick!” She called out with her mind and then her limbs went numb and she fell to the ground. Just before she blacked out she could hear him laughing.
Nick was using the small flashlight to maneuver through the small tunnels. He was hoping it wouldn’t give him away. The passageway finally widened into a large cavern and he saw the boy on the floor. There was no one else in sight as he strode over and dropped to his knees. He was reaching to find the boy’s pulse when he heard her.
“NICK!”
“Whitney. What’s wrong? Whitney?” Nick felt his heart speed as the adrenaline hit.
Turning, he ran as fast as he could back through the low tunnels. He stopped when he could see the light at the entrance.
“Whitney? Are you okay?”
She didn’t answer. Nick felt sick. He’d left her alone and in the open. When he walked out he’d be just as vulnerable. He crouched and tried to peek out the entrance. Whitney was sprawled out a few feet down the side. It looked like she’d been shot or maybe just knocked out. There was no blood that he could see, and he could see her chest moving, so she was still alive.
“Whitney!” She didn’t move. He inched farther out the opening and tried to scan the area. He couldn’t see anyone. Finally unable to find a better option, he burst outside and ran for Whitney and the nearest cover. When nothing happened, he slid closer to her body to check for bullet wounds or other injuries, but he couldn’t find any. He turned her over gently to check her back and found a dart next to her hip. Pulling it out he dragged her back toward the cave.
He was almost to the cover of the cave when he heard a shot. The bullet tore through his arm and spun him around. The next shot hit the radio on his hip causing the sharp plastic to splinter. Whitney lay at the entrance to cave, totally exposed, but the sniper didn’t seem to want her dead. Nick lay a few feet away, his head behind the largest rock he could find.
Inching out to look around, he spotted a man the open with a rifle up to his shoulder. Nick moved to take a shot but was thrown off when another bullet hit him in his exposed leg. He rolled farther away from Whitney and found cover behind larger boulder.
Nick waited for a few minutes and finally saw the shooter moving. He was coming up the mountain, and he had Nick in his sights. Nick took aim and emptied his clip, rolling back for cover as he loaded more ammo. He’d been hit in his right arm so he was shooting with the left. The man had been quick to duck and roll, but Nick hoped some of the shots had found their target. Two minutes passed and another bullet bit into the rock above him, sending fragments into is cheek.
He turned and dove toward the next large boulder trying to take another shot at the same time, but it went way off the mark. His arm was throbbing now and he was losing blood from his arm and his leg wounds. If he died now, Whitney wouldn’t have a chance. Making the difficult decision to save himself first, he opened fire and rolled farther down, away from Whitney.
Nick continued to move away from the shooter, zigzagging between points of cover. He stumbled and fell a few times, the blood loss and pain making his vision blur. Reaching the edge of the trees he dropped and turned, but the shooter was out of sight. Crawling into the open again, he prayed he could get a good shot before something happened to Whitney. When he came around to the cave side his heart dropped. They were both gone. Dropping to his knees he began retching. The killer had Whitney, and the boy, and Nick was hurt and alone. He didn’t even have his radio. The packs were gone too. Nick had to think of something, but his mind wouldn’t work. His body started shaking and he knew he was going into shock.
* * * *
It was too easy. They had walked right up the mountain and into his range and made it too easy. The stupid cop left the girl right outside. After pulling her into the cave, the kill
er tossed her beside the boy. He’d originally planned to kill her quickly, but he wanted to find out how effective his new mind techniques were on the psychic lady. All that studying had paid off. Now no one could track him. Too bad he wasn’t able to finish it with the cop as he had planned. The guy had moved faster than he’d expected. But he had seen the blood pouring down his side so he probably wouldn’t get too far.
He made sure to destroy the radio he found in the backpacks before checking his own. He’d been listening to the searchers the whole time, and couldn’t believe how useless they were. The cop hadn’t even told them where he was. “Perfect,” he thought. This day was going better than he’d planned.
Within minutes he had rolled the boy and Whitney onto a tarp he had setup for a carrier. It didn’t take him long to pull them out the back entrance to the cave, and to the waiting ATV outside. Once he was sure all the evidence of his operation was removed, he placed the limp bodies on the little trailer and left the mountain.
* * * *
Whitney woke up in a chair with her hands tied behind her and her feet tied to the chair legs. She tried to lift her head, but stabbing pains shot through her neck. How long had she been sitting like this? It felt like she was in a rustic cabin from the look of the floor and the smells around her.
She also knew “he” was here. He was watching her. She couldn’t read his thoughts, but she felt the anger that she had come to recognize. So that’s what had made it so difficult, he was able to block her unless that anger slipped through.
She finally managed to lift her head and look around but her hair was in her eyes, making it even more difficult to focus. A man came and crouched down in front of her, pushing the hair back from her face. He had on a full camouflage outfit, including a camouflage mask that only revealed his eyes and mouth. He didn’t say a word as he walked over to the couch and sat down. He just watched her.
Whitney looked around the cabin searching for an escape route. The figure laughed as if he was watching something funny on television. She swung her head back around to face him.
“Who are you? What do you want with me?” Her voice was gravelly but she tried not to sound weak.
“I thought you were supposed to know that already.” His voice was low and harsh. It was obvious he was trying to disguise it. The combination of the mask and fake voice meant he was afraid of being recognized. Maybe she knew him. From what she knew of him she wouldn’t be getting out of this alive, so why the precautions? Why didn’t he just kill her and get her out of the way?
Pulling herself up straighter in the chair she tried to look like less of an easy victim. “Where’s the boy?”
“Oh, he’s here. You’ll see him soon enough. I have some things I have to figure out first.”
She wasn’t sure if she should act sympathetic or tough, but she wanted to keep him talking. “Why didn’t you kill me? Is it just children you like to kill?” The last sentence was dripping with derision and she added a smirk to show she wasn’t scared.
He sat up straight on the edge of the couch and leaned toward her. “I don’t enjoy my job. It’s just something I have to do. But don’t worry. I’ll have no problem killing you when it’s time. And I think I’ll even enjoy it. You’ve really been a problem for me. Snooping around everyone. You should have taken the message and gotten out while you still could.”
“I was just doing my job,” she said shrugging. “It wasn’t personal. I did it to help find the kids. That’s what I do.” Whitney decided to try to get on common ground. “I guess we’re both just doing our jobs.”
He didn’t say anything so Whitney continued.
“I get paid for what I do. What to you get out of this?”
His eyes narrowed. “It’s not always about the mighty dollar.”
“Oh, I see,” she said bracing herself for his anger as she made the next comment. “You get off on this stuff.”
“Shut up!” He stood up and walked toward her. “You have no idea how important this is and it’s none of your business.” He slapped her hard across the face. “You’re not here to learn my life story. Tell me about your psychic powers.”
“Okay. I’ll tell you what you want to know. First, tell me if the boy is alive and what happened to Nick.”
“The boy is fine, for now. He’s sleeping,” he said smiling, the movement barely noticeable behind the ski mask. “I can’t say the same for your boyfriend. I left him bleeding to death back on the mountain. Hey, that’s the first grown-up I’ve killed.” He chuckled to himself and walked back to the couch.
Whitney was trying to keep her mind open to his thoughts, but he was still blocking her. He was probably psychotic or had some other mental condition that made it hard to interrupt his vibrations. She could feel his anger and frustration, but now she could tell he was happy with himself. He referred to Nick as a grown-up in a way that told her he didn’t include himself in that group yet, even though he was physically an adult.
“Okay, I answered your questions. Now talk. Tell me all you can about your powers.” He leaned back on the couch and crossed his legs as if he were a student waiting for an interesting lecture.
“It’s not something you can learn to do. You have to be born with the ability. I didn’t know I had it until I was about eight.” Whitney paused. She wasn’t going to tell him about her own trauma. That might excite him even more.
“My parents didn’t think it was good for me to tell anyone about it, so I tried to hide it. When I turned eighteen, I started experimenting with using it to help others.”
“Enough about your life,” he said sweeping his hand down in a slicing motion. “Tell me how it works.”
Whitney gave him her practiced educational version. “All life is made up of energy. We have it in our bodies and it radiates from us. Some people can see it in the aura surrounding people and animals. The aura is an energy field that can actually be photographed under the right conditions. The energy produced by our thoughts and feelings moves in waves, although that isn’t easily seen by technology. It’s similar to the way sound waves move. Your ear picks up the sound waves and your brain interprets them. I have the ability to feel the vibrations given off by emotion and thought and interpret them. Sometimes I just get feelings or images, and other times I can…”
“Read minds?” He was sitting on the edge of the couch now, obviously excited by the discussion.
“I hear thoughts. I can’t read everything in a person’s mind. I can only get the thoughts that are most powerful, most energized at that moment. Somehow my brain turns the waves into something I can understand.”
The man sat quietly contemplating what she had said. Whitney took advantage of the moment to reach out and try to find Nick. She was feeling weak from the ordeal, and from absorbing the man’s negative energy. Normally she would block herself from taking it in, but she had to try to figure him out. She let her eyes droop as if she was just tired and opened her mind out past the cabin.
“Hey, what are you doing?” The masked man shouted, jumping to his feet. She could hear the anger in his voice. He wasn’t disguising it this time but she still couldn’t place the voice.
“I’m just tired. I’m resting my eyes. Could I get a glass of water?” She tried to sound even weaker than she felt.
“No,” he said sharply, sitting back down. “Let’s continue this discussion. Can you read my mind?”
Whitney hadn’t been able to sense Nick. Maybe he had gone back for help. She wasn’t ready to consider any other possibilities. She would not give up hope. She looked up at her captor and answered his question.
“Some people have the ability to block me. They can shield their mind so that the vibrations can’t be read, or they are distorted.” She added silently to herself, “Especially crazy people.”
“If you touch me could you read my mind better?” He stood and stepped closer.
“No, it doesn’t work that way.” The truth was it might help her read him but she didn�
�t want him to know that.
“Don’t lie to me bitch!” he shouted. “I’ve read about this stuff.”
“Well, it works that way for some people, but not for me,” she answered meekly. Maybe it was time to change tactics.
“Did you know I was in the cave with the boy? Tell me the truth.” He was pacing now, getting excited about the direction of the discussion.
“At first I did,” she admitted. “Then I thought you had left. I couldn’t get much. Just a feeling there was another person, then it went away.”
He twirled around and slapped his hands together. “I knew it. I did it.” He turned to face her. “I blocked you. I learned how to meditate, and then I just cleared my mind and you couldn’t tell I was there. Cool huh?”
“I didn’t know you could do that.” Whitney was lying again. The FBI had worked on teaching their agents the same tactics. It didn’t always work. If someone was good enough at it, it made it more difficult for anyone to read his or her thoughts.
“Maybe you can teach me how to do that,” she asked as if totally enthralled by his methods.
“I don’t think so,” he laughed. “I’m not stupid you know. You won’t be needing any new abilities where you’re going. Just keep coming up with new information for me and I might just keep you alive…for a little longer.” He laughed again and left the room.
Whitney’s slumped back against the chair but the ropes bit harder into her arms. She tried to get comfortable by moving her arms in closer to her body.
“Nick! Nick where are you?” She searched with her mind and prayed at the same time. “Please don’t let him be dead.” Tears started rolling down her face and her body started trembling. So this was it. All these years of getting close to killers, and this would be the one to end it. “I’m so sorry Nick. I shouldn’t have let you close. I’m sorry.” Whitney quietly sobbed until the stress and exhaustion overcame her again and she fell into a restless sleep.