by Mikayla Lane
Lilly snorted and drunkenly swung her head to the Sheriff. “And you think my nephew just walked into the forest and got himself killed by a fucking mountain lion? We’re not in Africa! We don’t have any damn lions in America!”
Deputy Wright tried to cover his snort of laughter with a cough, and when the Senator and her family turned their attention on the deputy, Robbie knew he needed to intervene.
“Senator, a mountain lion is also known as a cougar or a panther, and they’re indigenous to the mountains,” Robbie explained. “Because of your high profile family, I did have my deputy’s dust the door handle, dashboard, and steering wheel of Jason’s SUV and the only prints we found were his. The coroner has also told me that this looks exactly like other mauling’s we’ve had in the past.”
“So, people just come into your town and get eaten by fucking wolves, and you don’t do anything about it?” Lilly spat out, and when Teresa sobbed even harder, Lilly pushed her sister violently. “Shut the fuck up already!”
Jared stood and forced a smile for the stunned Sheriff and his Deputy. “I’m sorry. As you can imagine, this has been horrible, and my sister is having a hard time dealing with it. I think we’ll take her to the rental cabin and come back in the morning. Do you think we might be able to take – Jason’s remains home then?”
Robbie stared at the nasty Senator for a moment before he nodded his head at the woman’s brother. “I’ll speak to the coroner myself and make sure you can leave in the morning. I’ll personally escort Jason’s remains to the airfield and see that they are placed on the plane. Feel free to have your own doctors examine the body.”
Jared waited until John and Lilly’s long-time personal assistant, Blake, ushered Teresa and the Senator outside the conference room, then turned to the Sheriff.
“Uh, I think the sight of Jason’s body in such a small box would be a little too much for both my sisters,” Jared blushed, and his eyes pleaded with Robbie. “Is there any way you can go ahead and have him cremated? I know it’s late, but I’d be willing to pay whatever is necessary to make this easier on my family.”
Robbie knew the man wasn’t concerned about his grieving sister and more worried about the optics when the press found out a mountain lion ate the Senator’s nephew.
“Sure,” Robbie agreed. “I’ll talk to the funeral home director myself. He’s an old friend.”
Jared grinned broadly, odd under the circumstances, and held his hand out to Robbie, who only stared at it. Realizing the sheriff wasn’t going to shake his hand, Jared quickly lowered it and walked to the door.
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Jared stated evenly. “I’m sure this wasn’t exactly easy for you and your men, either.”
Jared quickly left the room, and Robbie and his deputy shook their heads.
“What the fuck actually happened today?” Deputy Steven Wright asked incredulously.
Robbie narrowed his eyes at the door and knew in his bones that there was something deeply wrong with that family and this whole situation. It smacked of the weird shit that Cindrac dabbled in, and the Sheriff was determined to find his enigmatic friend and get to the truth.
In the meantime, with every piece of evidence screaming that there were no one else’s tracks but Jason McMaster’s leading to that old cabin and no other fingerprints in the SUV, the only conclusion was a bizarre accident. Robbie knew he couldn’t allow rumors or stories to get blown out of proportion and turned to look at Steven.
“What happened was some prissy little bastard, with no fucking clue about what he was getting into, got tracked by a mountain lion, and eaten.” Robbie snorted and shrugged. “We get these idiots all the damn time, Steven. We just happened to get some rich guy who died from his stupidity this time.”
Steven pulled his hat off his head and ran a hand through his hair. “Gotta tell you, boss. That whole family gives me the damn creeps, and I’ll be glad to see them go.”
“Speaking of them leaving, I’m going to talk to Mike at the funeral home and the coroner to keep my promise to deliver the kid to the airport.” Robbie nodded at his deputy and left the station to do just that.
Chapter Thirteen
Watching the sunset from the cabin's back deck, Cin smiled when he pulled up the security systems in the rental houses and saw the Senator passed out on the couch. Teresa was crying quietly in a chair by the fire, while Blake, Jared, and John spoke in the kitchen. As usual, John was chain-smoking and using the vent over the stove to suck out the smoke.
Checking the staff rental cabin down the road, Cin noted that the secretary and intern were alone. The only innocent ones of the whole group. Making his mind up, Cin turned to Lanie and pointed to the western horizon.
“Watch.” Cin snapped his fingers, giving the order to the nanites he’d left in the utility vault.
Instantly the sky lit up with a flash that made dusk appear to be day, and the cabin shook for a few moments. The light died down, and flames could be seen on the other mountain. Lanie looked at Cin in shock.
“What was that?” Lanie whispered, turning back to the fire a few mountains away.
“It’s a little complicated,” Cin began to say before Lanie cut him off.
“I don’t care,” Lanie stated. “Please. I need to know.”
Cin nodded, hating the thread of fear he saw in her. “One of the elite, Marcus Schmidt, owns a manufacturing plant in China, building the valves for gas lines in American cities. He’s falsifying the materials list, using the lowest possible grade metals, and lying to the city engineers and government officials about it.”
Lanie looked confused, and Cin rushed on. “Hundreds of people around the country have died. Families and children, because these faulty gas valves tend to deteriorate rapidly and cause explosions. Senator Patrosi and her family were helping to cover it up.”
“Oh, my God,” Lanie was horrified but not truly surprised that the family was in the middle of something that terrible. “So, a gas pipe blew up in a cabin over there?”
Lanie gestured to the fire and the flashing lights of the emergency service vehicles heading toward it.
“Yes,” Cin admitted. “Several of those substandard fittings suffered a catastrophic failure at the same time and sent too much gas to a cabin. Someone unknowingly lighting a cigarette, set off the gas, and started the explosion.”
It took several seconds for his words to finally sink in for Lanie, and when they did, she was caught between being horrified and elated. Pushing back the hope rising in her, Lanie turned to Cindrac.
“Was it a cabin occupied by the Senator and her family?” Lanie whispered as if trying not to jinx anything.
“As a matter of fact, it was,” Cin admitted with a smile. “Because it could be terrorism, the FBI will investigate what happened, which will eventually lead them to the faulty valves.”
“Oh, my God,” Lanie breathed out. “That’s genius! It brings attention to the other needless deaths. They put Marcus Schmidt on trial, and all the scumbags are in jail or dead!”
Cin snorted and shook his head. “Don’t get your hopes up that high. Marcus and his fellow conspirators will call in favors and shell out tons of money to try and make this go away. They’ll most likely pay someone to take the fall for them.”
“That figures.” Lanie’s shoulders sagged. “There are separate rules for them versus us lower people.”
“I said don’t get your hopes too high,” Cin laughed. “I didn’t say to lose hope completely. I have backup plans for when that kind of thing happens.”
“You blow them up with faulty valves?” Lanie gestured to the fire still raging on the mountain.
Cin chuckled. “Of course not. I don’t kill all of them. Most kill themselves or die of their schemes backfiring, just like the bad valves. The corrosion was already there. The explosion was going to happen no matter what unless the valves were found and replaced. I merely made sure it wasn’t an innocent family slaughtered in the blast this time.”
&
nbsp; Cin had spent months looking for a way to bring attention to the problem with the substandard gas line products and couldn’t have been more thrilled that Lanie’s situation and the Senator’s arrival had been a blessing for him. It was also quite fortunate that the valves were used for that particular cabin.
Lanie’s emotions warred within her, but an overwhelming sense of relief overrode any fear or reluctance she had being in the same room as a man who’d killed half a dozen people since they’d met. Half a dozen people who had made the last decade of Lanie’s life abject hell.
It was nearly impossible to pity them, or the bastard killing people with his knowingly faulty products, who would take the blame. In a world where those with enough money were above the law, what Cin had done felt like pure justice to Lanie.
“I will do anything to help you do more of this,” Lanie whispered and watched the flames in the distance. “After ten years of being a victim, I want to help you stop the rest of the elite bastards from doing the same thing to others.”
Cin’s heart leaped at the thought of the companionship but worried at the danger it would put Lanie in. He was also concerned about what she would think if she knew the truth of who and what he was. If they lived together for any length of time, the intelligent woman would figure it out.
Thinking Cin’s pause had to do with her invading his home, Lanie added, “I can get a job, my own place in town, and help you in my spare time. Please, there has to be something I can do.”
“There are definitely a lot of things you can do to help, but let’s get through this mission first,” Cin suggested. “The elite will restructure their minions and replace the Senator to keep power over the areas she controlled. We’ll need to modify our strategy as well.”
“That makes sense,” Lanie readily agreed, thrilled that Cin said she could help. “How long do you think the feds will investigate this?”
Cin was already listening to the calls of the Senator’s intern and secretary, who survived in the cabin down the road. He knew that the FBI and CIA were interested in finding out if one of their treacherous brethren had been a target of assassination.
“A dozen or more of the elite’s deep state minions of the various alphabet agencies are already on their way,” Cindrac admitted. “The surviving intern and secretary will be interrogated then sent home while the agents ensure none of the elite activities are in danger, and no assassination attempt was made on their minions. Eventually, they will switch to covering up the dangerous gas line valves.”
“Are you sure that so many people in the agencies we’re supposed to trust the most are compromised?” Lanie was beginning to feel a little hopeless about fighting against the elite.
Cin sighed and went back inside the cabin, and Lanie followed. Once they were seated in the living room, Cin explained that the good people, ones who genuinely want to do the right thing and follow their oath of office, were the exception these days. The elite and their pawns spent more than seventy years making sure of it.
Unwilling to lie to her, Cin explained that all the forum conspiracy theories about the alphabet agencies helping to destroy the country, and the world, were also real. Every single country’s intelligence community was compromised, with the majority working for the elite.
Lanie sat at the bar across from Cin, who slid a beer across the counter to her.
“How do you know all this? Why do you still fight if you think it’s hopeless?” Lanie took a sip of beer and watched Cin.
“It’s far from hopeless,” Cin was adamant about that. “In fact, because of all the people starting to wake up and see the true enemy of humanity, we stand a good chance of defeating them.”
Lanie snorted and shook her head. “Only because you’re killing them off. Is there really no one in the government we can trust?”
“There are zero career politician’s in either party that isn’t compromised in some way or a pawn of the elite,” Cin admitted. “Take a look at their income, and it tells you everything you need to know about their character and where their loyalty lies. There is a reason some call both sides the uni-party and why nothing constructive gets accomplished.”
“Yeah, I saw that on your forum. These people are supposed to be making about a hundred thousand a year, but their net worth is tens of millions. One senator from California is worth half a billion dollars and had a Chinese spy working for her, for twenty years! You don’t make that kind of money off just investments unless you’re insider trading off what you know or selling out your votes and the American people in the process.”
Cin’s nanites warned him of an incoming call seconds before his phone rang. He smiled apologetically at Lanie while he answered it.
“Sheriff, is everything all right? I just saw a fire from my balcony,” Cin said when he accepted the call.
“Don’t give me that shit!” Robbie growled back. “And don’t play me for a fool! You meet me at the split in the road to this place in ten minutes, or I will arrest you. This shit has gone too far this time, Cin. I’m not joking.”
“I’m leaving now, Robbie.” Cin hung up and looked at Lanie. “The Sheriff is a little upset.”
“I heard.” Lanie was scared for Cin. The sheriff sounded pissed off. “Who do I call if you need bail money?”
Cin made a quick decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret. “There’s a safe behind a false wall in the cabinet under the sink. The code is two-two-seven-three. Anything you need is in there.”
Lanie looked like he’d slapped her. “I didn’t mean – surely you have a family?”
Cin grabbed his keys and walked around the counter to her. “Like you, I have no one. Maybe it’s not so bad to have one another's back. Don’t open the door for anyone. I’ll call you on my way home or notify you if something goes awry.”
Cin headed to the door, and Lanie followed. “Awry? Is that what you call going to meet the sheriff who knows you had something to do with the deaths of six people?”
Cin reached the door and turned to Lanie. “Remain inside.”
“I will,” Lanie breathed out. “Please, be safe.”
Cin smiled before walking out the door and closing it behind him. As he strode to the driveway, Cin was already setting the electronic locks on the door. As an extra measure, he spoke to Bob through his nanites and ensured the cat would stay and help protect Lanie.
Eight minutes later, Cin pulled to the side of the road behind the Sheriff, turned off the lights, and got out of the car. He’d barely reached Robbie before getting thrown up against the back window of the sheriff’s SUV.
Cin forced back his nanites initial response to fight the sheriff and allowed Robbie to pat him down before turning to his friend.
“I’m not carrying any weapons, Robbie,” Cin assured the sheriff.
Robbie paced the area between the vehicles. “What the fuck did you do, Cin? How did you blow it up? And what the hell were you thinking?”
Cin’s nanites did a quick scan to make sure Robbie wasn’t recording them on any kind of electronic device before he responded.
“The real question here, Robbie,” Cin began. “Why was the manhole cover blown when you had the city crews come and turn off the gas lines to this road? Was there something wrong with the lines? Maybe substandard valves? And how many more of them are installed throughout our county and the country? Are your citizens in danger of the same thing that happened here because of intentionally faulty equipment sold to the city as good quality?”
Robbie stopped and turned to Cin, anger flashing in his eyes. “And you couldn’t have just said that? Hey, Robbie, I got wind of some bad valves that could blow up and kill someone. No, you had to kill a fucking Senator and her family instead! I’m not buying it, Cin! Especially after what happened to that guy in the damn cabin.”
“A little digging that we all know the feds won’t do would prove that the Senator and her family were in bed with the owner of the company making those faulty gas line valves,” Cin explained
. “Dozens have exploded around the country already, killing a lot of innocent people. The feds will be here long enough for a photo op and will be gone.”
“You think they’re going to leave that fast when the Senator was blown the fuck up only hours after finding her nephew eaten by a mountain lion? Are you stupid?” Robbie was incredulous that Cin had taken such dangerous chances. “This was reckless, and you don’t do reckless. You’re methodical and emotionally detached. Who’s the girl, and what does she have to do with this?”
Cin chuckled and leaned against the hood of his car. “If she doesn’t rob me blind and run, you’ll see a lot more of her. Her name is Lanie Fulbright. She spent the last eleven years on the run from Jason McMaster. He was trying to kill her when I found them in my woods.”
“Damn it all!” Robbie threw his hat at the hood of Cin’s car in frustration. “You have to keep Lanie hidden while the damn feds are here. One of them has probably helped hunt the girl over the years and would recognize her.”
“Already done,” Cin said with a nod. “I’m not kidding about those valves, Robbie. You have to get the city to replace them quickly. Make the engineers come out and see what happened. It honestly was caused by a problem with the quality of the metals.”
Robbie was staring over Cin’s shoulder, not paying attention when he suddenly pointed. “Cin, what the hell are you doing now?”
Cin turned around and was horrified when he saw a ship rapidly descending from the sky. His nanites were already processing the information when a blue beam erupted from the UFO.
“No!” Cin screamed out.
Before Cin could say another word, the ship disappeared, and he knew in his heart Lanie had gone with it. At that moment, he realized someone had chipped Lanie.
“I need to go,” Cin growled to Robbie as he contacted Dar Vacanow.