“You’re Danny Bundy.”
The man spoke through the obvious pain. “No, I’m not. I’m Lance Lemure, I stopped using that name a long time ago. I swear I don’t know who you are other than a high-profile investigator.”
His arm twitched uncontrollably and kept slapping Whitney on the hip. The man turned his face from side to side, attempting to hide his features until Whitney grabbed him by the floppy earlobes. With his face still, she confirmed that this was the boy she had rejected.
“You son of a bitch. You did all this because I turned you down for a school dance?” She slid her shin up to his throat and pressed down.
The man broke down and started bawling. He spoke in short spurts through the crying. “You bitch. You ruined me. For all women. I lost all my confidence. After you cruelly rejected me. I would have been doing you a favor. Weird Whitney. You were Weird Whitney. I picked. I picked the only girl that was sure to say yes. But, but, but you didn’t.”
“You pathetic little boy. You’ve been harboring this weird resentment all these years.” Whitney contemplated punching Danny in the face with her good hand.
He said, “No. I had completely forgotten about you until you suddenly made your way into the headlines by taking down organized crime in Pennsburgh and then that lovely bit with exposing the politicians. I snapped and had to get you and your wonder boy out of the way for my big heist.”
She decided to forgo hitting the pathetic mess of a man. Whitney scanned the area. Two of Danny’s partners tried to hobble away but she knew they wouldn’t get very far at the speed they were traveling. Another man in a suit lay face down in the grass only feet away from the narrow creek.
Whitney wanted to know when her friends were going to get back. She asked the kidnapper, “How did that work out for you?”
He answered through the sniffling, “I won’t answer any more questions without my lawyer. Everything I just said was off the record too. You never Mirandized me, stupid.”
Whitney chuckled. “I heard what I needed to. Besides, you are caught red-handed for at least human trafficking of a boy in a coma. I don’t need the world to know that I broke your heart and apparently threw you into a life of crime. I had no idea I had that effect on boys back then.”
Whitney stood up and a wave of wooziness rushed into her head. She almost fell over but retained her balance and took a few steps over to a walnut tree. She laid her palm on the trunk to steady her head as pain radiated from the bullet lodged in her forearm.
Her left arm hung dead as she awkwardly chased down more of the kidnapper’s men. She kicked one man’s foot behind his other leg, sending him down into the mud near the creek. The other man wearing a black suit and red tie tried to hobble up a little hill.
She closed in on him and grabbed him by the collar of his white t-shirt. She yanked the man back and tossed him to the ground. The perp wasn’t very big but Whitney felt a surge of energy as she took a knee to wait for her friends to hopefully return.
The euphoria in her head quickly shifted to a muzzy state and Whitney collapsed face first into the wild green blades, crushing the chlorophyll and releasing a grassy odor. She could swear Trent was speaking to her and asking if she was alright.
Whitney couldn’t answer. The words never made it from her head to her throat to her lips as darkness reigned supreme in her vision.
Screams of sirens started to beat on her ears in a steady drumming. Whitney assumed she was hallucinating as death conspired with itself to finish her off. She thought about God and her mother. She wondered if her mother had been right about religion all along. She tried to open her eyelids and only darkness prevailed.
Whitney felt her body hovering above the ground and then moving at a tremendous speed. She assumed this was the trip to the afterlife that she had never believed in. Whitney became tired. She wanted to give up. Everything was almost over.
She tried to take solace in the fact that she had saved her husband and one of her best friends from that maniacal man. Whitney thought about her family and realized her mother had been right. She regretted not having any children. She had finally found the perfect man, but it had turned out to be too late.
She tried to shift her thoughts to the good times and remember the family fun she had experienced over the years. Brilliant colors started to smear the memories until they were completely blurred out. Visions of lightning bolts careening through a purple valley disappeared and only a bright white light remained.
Whitney looked back and forth in two directions. One end had the glaring bright spotlight and the other was a calm darkness. Her neck muscles stretched as her head bounced from side to side trying to decide which path to travel. An ivory hand emerged from the brightness followed by a soothing voice.
“Come to the light. We will take away all the pain. We promise.”
A dark open hand, big enough for Whitney to sit in came from the black cloud.
A deep voice bellowed, “Come with us. We’ll help you get revenge on your cheating husband and horrible friend.
Whitney had nearly forgotten about those thoughts. She didn’t care anymore. “Which path is easier?” she whispered.
Both hands simultaneously reached out for Whitney. The giant hands wrestled with each other and jostled for position. The hands tugged at Whitney, trying to pull her to the light or dark side.
14
Whitney sat on her hospital bed and tried to eat her bland turkey, cold mashed potatoes and coagulated gravy.
Trent, who was sitting in the chair next to the bed, said, “He goes by the names of Terrence Derby or Lance Lemure now and he was planning to steal some of the most famous paintings from museums around the world. They planned on killing at least fifty-six guards if necessary.”
Whitney could still feel the anesthesia long after the successful surgery. “I can’t believe he left town right after I had rejected him in the eighth grade. He’s even creepier than Dankstone.”
Trent said, “You turning into that dragon and getting us out of that video game world early caused him to try to scramble back and get one of his biggest money makers, Robbie. He has sold “rides” inside Robbie for upwards of three hundred thousand dollars. Several people died in the process that he is going to have to answer for.”
“What a sicko. He kidnapped a kid in a coma to let other people infest his body for money. Human nature gets worse with each adventure we’ve encountered.” She scratched her nose which still felt numb.
Trent said, “And the early escape caused him to not even have a chance to execute the grand heist. That was planned to go down tomorrow and we found all the plans in his residence near the Capitol. I talked to Barret about this and he said the Bureau has been on him for a while but they didn’t think he would strike for a few years. He says hi, by the way.”
Whitney smiled. She liked Barret and planned to make him one of their first employees at the Merrick-Powers Agency. “I’m just glad I got a chance to be strong for you and could save you and Tara. I got to be the big tough person for once. Maybe someday we’ll get to take the rest of our honeymoon.”
Trent smiled. “I had no doubt you would come through. I didn’t think you would do it by shifting into a dragon, but I had all the faith in the world in you.”
Whitney stretched her sore body. “It’s just about shifting water. Did they get Robbie out of there?”
Trent replied, “Yep. He’s somewhere in this hospital too. Some weird stuff started to happen when we were leaving that school. Branches snapping off trees and flying at some of the cops. It was pretty crazy.”
“I had read so much about that place and wanted to visit it when I was a teen, but nothing prepared me for that creepy vibe as soon as I set foot across the land line.” Whitney never wanted to go back.
Trent said, “Well, I couldn’t be prouder of you. They said that wound should heal up in no time at all. Actually, the doctor said it should be about a month, but that’s like no time at all. You’re luc
ky too. They said if the bullet was a quarter inch in a different direction, it would have hit a vein and you probably would have bled to death. You’re blessed.”
A heavyset nurse with a welcoming smile entered the room. The brunette lady adjusted her glasses and checked the writing on the dry erase board. She wrote a few notes on a clipboard.
She turned to Whitney and pointed at her white tray of food. “Are you done with that?”
“I’ll keep this orange drink here, but you can take the rest.” Whitney grabbed the small white carton and the nurse leaned in and scooped up the tray and empty straw wrapper next to it.
The nurse asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Alright. The painkillers are helping a lot.” Whitney let out an audible yawn and realized she needed to brush her teeth.
The young lady said, “That’s what they are for. That answers my next question then. I still can’t believe a pregnant woman like you was out there dodging gunshots. Or at least trying to dodge them. The nurses have been calling you Jane Bond. We think you should write a book or a screenplay about it.”
“What did you just say?” Whitney asked in shock.
The nurse lowered her head and peered through her black-rimmed glasses. “Sorry, I guess it was a bad joke.”
Whitney shook her head. “No, did you just say that I was pregnant?”
The nurse nodded, “Yeah. I know it’s early but I assumed you knew.”
Trent stood up and leaned over Whitney. He planted a long sensual kiss on the woman he loved. He pushed his arms under her back and pulled Whitney off the thin mattress and held her tight. She could feel the love and her battered body started to feel right again.
He said, “I love you, baby. This makes me so happy.” He kissed her neck.
Long tears ran down to Trent’s chin and fell gently on Whitney’s chest.
“Oh my God, me too,” she said and dug her fingernails into the back of his head and pulled him in. She kissed him back and completely forgot about the other room guest.
The nurse started backing away toward the door. “I’m just going to get out of here and let you guys enjoy the moment.”
Whitney sat up and hugged her man again. Instant glee comparable to a mixture of painkillers and adrenaline took the weariness away and she kissed Trent on the cheek. After the past two weeks, her life somehow seemed even more complete now. They smashed their wet faces together and enjoyed the moment.
Trent pulled his head back and Whitney said, “This would explain why I’ve been feeling sick every day for the past week or so. I assumed it was just due to you being kidnapped and being in and around Dankstone, but this does make much more sense. This gives us a chance to have some time to ourselves and maybe get the agency open.”
Trent broke the embrace and stood straight up. “Sounds good to me. I can’t wait to see what your mom says.” He started bouncing up and down with infectious excitement as Whitney’s grin widened.
She said, “Yeah, we should definitely tell her and my dad in person. And I need to find my phone so I can call my sister and tell the girls. I promised them that I would let them know first if you got me pregnant.”
“I got you good, girl,” Trent said and pointed his hand like a gun at her.
“What are you even saying, you dork?” Whitney asked, shaking her head.
Trent shrugged his shoulders and couldn’t stand still. He looked like an excited child on Christmas morning. He said, “Hell, I don’t know. I don’t even know what I’m saying right now, I’m so happy.
Trent grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand next to the bed and handed it to Whitney. She scrolled to the V section of her contacts list and called Victoria.
“Hello,” a young sounding voice answered.
Whitney said, “Who is this?”
The person said, “Guinevere. Who is this?”
“This is your Aunt Whitney and I have some special news for you. Remember when I said that if I got pregnant, you and your sister would be the first to know.”
Guinevere said, “Uh huh.”
“Well guess what?” Whitney asked.
“What?” a confused young girl asked back.
“Oh, you’re not very good at this. I’m pregnant, silly.”
Guinevere said, “Congratulations, Aunt Whitney. If it’s a girl, are you going to name her after me?”
Whitney laughed. “Maybe, we’ll have to see about that. Make sure to tell your sister, alright?”
“OK, Aunt Whitney, I’ll tell her,” Guinevere promised.
“Good girl. Now can I talk to your mom for a minute?” Whitney requested.
She could hear Guinevere’s fading voice. “Here mommy. It’s Whitney. She’s pregnant.”
Victoria screamed before answering. “Hello, you.”
“Hi.” Whitney shifted around on the bed trying to get comfortable.
“Congratulations,” her sister said, almost out of breath.
“Thanks. Don’t tell mom or dad yet. I want to tell them in person and I should be out of the hospital in a few days.”
Victoria interrupted her. “Wait, what are you doing in the hospital?”
“It’s a long story that would rival War and Peace so I can’t really go into all the details now, but everything is alright and if you can get everyone together in a couple of days at your house I can explain everything.” Whitney handed Trent her pillow so he could fluff it for her.
Victoria said, “You’re really going to hold out on me for a few days as to why you are in the hospital? You’ve got to give me more than that.”
“Alright, I was shot three times on my latest adventure. As I said, I am going to be fine and I will explain everything and drop the bomb on mom and dad. I know you are going to tell Aaric, that’s a given, but you can’t tell anyone else about any of this.” She smiled and moved up as Trent slid the refreshed pillow under her head and back.
Whitney had forgotten that the entire ordeal had taken less than a fortnight. It had seemed like such a long, drawn out chase that had gone on for months. Her body and mind ached from the effects of the latest adventure as she leaned back.
Victoria said, “You know I’m going to call you every single hour on the hour until you finally give in and tell me about your latest superhero adventure. You can’t pique my interest by saying you’re pregnant and oh, by the way, I’ve been shot too. You are the female James Bond.”
A sense of pride coursed through Whitney. She enjoyed the comparisons. “Haha. That seems to be the consensus. I really appreciate the compliment, but I should go now. Don’t call me, I’ll call you.”
Victoria chuckled, “Yeah right. Keep an eye on your phone. I love you, Whit.”
“I love you too, Vic. I’ll talk to you later.” She made a kissing sound.
“Alright, love you. Bye,” Victoria said and hung up the phone.
Whitney hung up and gave the phone to Trent, who put it back on the nightstand.
“Did you figure out how they kidnapped you?” Whitney used the controller by her right hand to adjust the bed and raise the back.
Trent nodded. “Apparently this guy is singing like a canary. I just don’t know if it is all to be believed. He said that a few of his best men snuck into our room and covered my face with a towel full of chloroform. Then, they scooped me out of bed and threw me into a van.”
“I can’t believe I slept through the entire thing. How didn’t I wake up from that?” Whitney wondered.
Trent cracked his knuckles said, “Who knows if they hit you with some chloroform to make sure that you wouldn’t wake up and see what was going on. I know you aren’t a heavy sleeper so I assume they did something to you. Anyway, they kept hitting me with chloroform every time I woke up. Apparently they loaded me onto a plane like some simple cargo and I was in Adoxia within a day.”
“How did you survive without eating or drinking?”
Trent replied, “Our evil doctor hooked an IV up to me so I would survive until he got
me into that Dreamland. He said that he brought me into that room, sat me in the chair and placed my hand on Robbie. The last thing I remembered was going to sleep next to you on vacation and when I opened my eyes, I was in that weird place with Robbie telling me he could get me out of there.”
A sudden sense of guilt hit Whitney. “He did the same to me and lured me into the city so that I could be captured. But again, I can’t blame him for all of that. Do you think I killed those people? I mean I know I killed some of those men in Dreamland or whatever it was. Was it real? Am I a murderer?”
Trent laid his palm on top of her good hand and used his thumb to massage her knuckles. “Stop talking crazy. I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t reality and even if you did do it, you were only doing your job as a crusader of justice.”
Whitney pushed Trent’s hand away. She hooked her finger on the beltloop of Trent’s jeans and started to pull. “I guess that’s true. I just felt really guilty. Did you ever have to do that?”
Trent’s face became red and he sat down next to her. “We all do what we have to do. I did what I had to do to bust up that first mob ring and the thoughts still haunt me sometimes. I think you can derive an answer from that. I think you should prepare your mind if some of the missions in the future are of the magnitude that Darominius has mentioned. It comes with the territory of saving the world.”
Three years ago, Whitney had little to no responsibilities. Now it felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on her. “I never thought about it until I released those flames and heard those awful screams. That still gives me the chills when I think about it.”
Trent said, “I still want to know how you learned to do that and if you could teach me.”
Whitney lips curled up and a glow came over her cheeks. “Darominius, who we are apparently calling D now, taught me how to do it, of course. In fact, I need to text those guys to let them know that I’m alright. I have like ten texts from each, but I keep stalling on getting back to them. They should probably be home by now.”
Trent smirked. “They love you. They are worried about their super hero.”
Lost In Dreamland: Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure #3 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 11