“What are you doing here? You came to see me?”
“I’m here with Nadine.”
“Nadine? As in Nadine Blue?” He grabbed Jason’s arm. “As in Nadine, the traitor?”
“Yeah,” Jason nodded. “Though she might disagree with you on the last one.”
“What the fuck’s going on?”
“Can we – can you come over to where we are?” Jason asked. “Just for a little bit. I’ll buy you a beer or something.”
“What is this about first?”
“It’s … It’s about everything,” Jason said shaking his head. “It’s about that night. It’s about Haley. It’s about … how fucked up everything became. We just … we just want to talk.”
Dino’s eyes shifted down towards the cane in Jason’s hand.
He let go of Jason’s arm.
“Alright,” he said. “Sure.”
“Thanks,” Jason said apologetically.
“And you know what,” he said putting an arm around him, “I’m going to buy you a drink, buddy. I’m gonna get us fucked up. Ha, ha, ha…”
Jason laughed with him.
For a moment it even seemed … that the laughter was real.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Dino had gotten fatter. He was still a muscular bloke but some of that muscle in his arms had bled out as fat into his gut. All of his youth was gone. He was starting to go bald and he’d grown an untidy looking beard. Sure enough, to look in his eyes it was the same Dino that Jason knew. But of course as he realized he was never that friendly with the big man to begin with.
“So then,” he said after they’d finished their story. “Mystery callers, killers, conspiracies. And a whole lot of misguided nostalgia.”
“What do you mean by that?” Jason asked.
“Yeah,” Nadine added. “What do you think this is some fun trip down memory-lane?”
Dino paused, drinking his beer. “In this world I’ve come to realize, there’s big people. And there’s little people. If you’re one of the little guys – which most of us are – then no matter what your strengths are, you’re never going to beat the big guys. Who are the big guys in this story? Let’s start with the whole vampire organization. They’re rich. Absolutely rolling in money. The Count – if he’s still around – will have bought out the entire paranormal police, if that even is a thing anymore. As for the killer – so what. Big deal. There’s a million other killers out there. This one, he got away. End of story. You’re not going to solve the mystery all these years later. And even if you did, what would the point be? You don’t really think Haley’s still alive do you?”
Jason looked to Nadine. “We don’t know what happened. That’s the whole point. That’s what we have to figure out.”
“And like I said,” Dino continued, “what’s the best that can happen for you if you do? Even if Haley is still alive and you ‘save’ her from who I don’t know – what difference would that make? She wasn’t our friend. We didn’t know her. She was just a first day kid, drowning in arrogance, thinking she knew the game when she clearly didn’t. People die all the time. Bleeding Maurice. Cresh. My fucking guys. What’s so special about her? Why climb Everest when there’s happiness at home?”
“These analogies are getting lost on me,” Nadine remarked.
Dino took another chug of his beer. “All I’m saying is, there’s more to life. Than … trying to investigate shit. It was a job. We got paid for it. It was hard work. Now, was it worth it? Did we do good for others? Sure. That’s what we signed up for. But now you’re here, five years later, thinking that you owe them something. Well, I don’t think we do. And I don’t subscribe to the notion that you’ll be doing anyone any good, by digging this all up again. After all, what leads do you even have?”
Jason exhaled. “We haven’t really had a chance to go through that. We just wanted to see if we could get everyone back together. Put our heads in the same place for once. See if we could figure it out –”
“Alright,” Nadine interrupted. “Since you’re so skeptical, I’ll tell you the grand scheme.”
Dino smiled. “I’m all ears.”
“If we do a search online – we’re gonna find the VDA all over again. We fill in the forms. We dress ourselves up and take the photos. And we submit ourselves wanting dates. Just as we did with Haley before.”
“Oh okay,” Dino nodded. “So you’re going in undercover to the vampire’s den again – hoping to find the Count I presume. Even though there’s no reason for you believe that he’s still in charge of things. That anyone there would have any recollection of Haley … or the murders…”
“We got to start digging somewhere,” Nadine persisted. “And that’s how we do it. I figure, at the barest minimum, we’ll need the undercover. Someone with a computer recording everything, guiding them through – and the backup. The means to launch an assault if things go wrong.”
Dino laughed. “You’re serious. You really want to do this shit again?”
“When you think about it,” Nadine went on, “All you need is the three of us. We don’t have to bother Luna or Riley – you just need to hook us up with another team to –”
“And put more people’s lives at risk?” Dino thundered.
“Calm down,” Jason said.
“All due respect, my friend – but you gotta be nuts chaining yourself to this psycho. Can you really not see it? This woman is mad. She’s fucking delusional. And she belongs in a cage. To rot. Where all traitor scum belongs.”
“At least I didn’t walk out on us,” Nadine seethed.
“What?”
“You heard me, you chicken-shit.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Dino barked.
“When we were in the middle of solving it last time – you walked out on us. We didn’t have your guys anymore – and you were out there all by yourself. What did you do, Dino? When you left us that night? Did you just go home? Watch a fucking TV show? Did you go to sleep? When the real people were at work –?”
Dino stood up from his chair at the same time as Nadine.
“Yeah, I got out,” Dino exclaimed. “I got out when I saw it had gone too far. When I saw that someone had sold us out. I knew that –”
“Well, maybe it was you,” Nadine screamed. “You could have been the one working with the killer the whole time! After all it was you who –”
“How the fuck do you even get the nerve to accuse me –”
“Hey, hey,” Jason said putting himself between them. “Let’s not fucking do this. Alright. Please.”
Dino bore his teeth at Nadine.
Her own face twisted into something menacing.
“Fine,” she said. “Forget it.”
She walked away from the table and towards the exit.
Jason turned to Dino. “I’m sorry about that.”
“No,” he said, slapping him on the back. “You’re alright, buddy.”
“Okay.” Jason drank what was left in his glass. He looked around, disorientated.
“I’m not going to help you,” Dino said. “I know that’s what you’re ultimately doing here. But I’m not part of that world anymore. Instead, can I offer you some advice?”
Jason shrugged. “Yeah. Sure.”
Dino leaned forward. “Don’t let that bitch drag you down.”
He smiled and slapped Jason on the back again.
Then he left him alone at the table.
Jason’s gaze moved from Dino heading back to his friends, towards the hollow exit where Nadine had disappeared. He could feel it pulling at him. The doubt. There was so much doubt in all of this.
But then Jason realized something else.
He wouldn’t know where he stood, until he was standing with her.
Riley McCormick needed to be a part of his future.
Urgently.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
This wasn’t Riley’s house. Not the Riley he knew at least. Not the Riley that was his friend.
Nadine was out at the top of the driveway already, waiting for him to make his way from the car. Jason counted three sports cars all parked separately at the base of the drive. One red, one blue, one green. He blinked the colors away.
“Looks like whoever lives here is doing alright for themselves,” Nadine remarked. “So is it Luna? Or is it Riley?”
“Maybe it’s Cresh,” Jason muttered.
“You okay?”
Jason forced his eyes open. “Yeah. Sure. I’m fine. Let’s head on then.”
“Let’s.”
They made their way down the driveway till they reached a small gate on the left hand side. Nadine pulled the latch back revealing another path leading up to a staircase.
“Are we supposed to go this way?” Jason asked.
“I don’t see any front doors down there, do you?”
She had a point.
Jason closed the gate behind them, fixing the latch. Then he followed Nadine across the pathway to the bottom of the stairs.
He winced. This was going to take him some time.
“You go on ahead,” he said, ushering Nadine forward.
Nadine glanced back at him. “Nervous?”
“What?”
“Nervous to see your old friend. You two were a thing, weren’t you?”
“How do you know it’s Riley anyway?”
“A hunch.”
Jason didn’t know what she had to smile about.
After a grueling few minutes of climbing, he made it to the top of the stairs. He and Nadine were now standing on a wide reaching terrace which overlooked a colorful garden and swimming pool down below.
The ocean was on the horizon.
“Anyone home?” Jason asked sheepishly.
Nadine moved to the doorway leading into the house. She opened it and peered inside.
She then quickly pulled her face back, grinning.
“What?” Jason asked. “What is it?”
Nadine moved back to where Jason was.
A figure loomed in the doorway. “Is someone there?” a male’s voice called.
Out he stepped then, a tall, dashingly handsome young man. He was dressed professionally in a shirt and jacket.
“Hi there,” Jason said uncertainly. “We’re looking for someone who might live here.”
The man folded his arms.
“Luna Evans?” he said hopefully.
The man stared back blankly.
“How about Riley McCormick?” Nadine asked.
The man put his head back through the doorway. “Yo, Riley! Get over here.”
He turned back to them.
They waited.
And then she appeared in the space of the doorway.
Flourishing red hair, vibrant skin, perfect eyes and gorgeous figure…
The cane slipped out of Jason’s hand.
Wincing, he stooped down to retrieve it.
“Do you know these clowns, babe?” the man asked.
Jason looked up from his place on the ground.
Riley’s cold gaze met his eyes.
“No,” she said. “I don’t know them.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Before Jason could get to his feet and offer a response, Nadine had already taken the role of offence for him. “Well, I’d understand if you didn’t recognize me, Riley,” she said approaching them, “but that isn’t the sort of welcoming I think Jason was expecting.”
Riley said something in her boyfriend’s ear and then turned her back on them to re-enter the house.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Riley’s boyfriend explained. “But I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if you would please fuck off.”
He went to follow Riley inside but Nadine grabbed hold of his arm.
“Did you not hear me?” the boyfriend shouted. “Let go!”
He pushed Nadine away from him.
When she advanced again he grabbed hold of her throat, and forced her against the railing.
Jason stumbled over. “We’ll go! We’ll go!” he s pleaded. “Just leave her alone!”
“I’m trying to!” the boyfriend said between clenched teeth.
Nadine had her own hand around his throat.
“You let go too, Nadine!” Jason scolded.
But Nadine wasn’t letting go. She seemed determined to channel her strength.
“Ah-ha!” she cried mightily, as the boyfriend faltered.
He put his hands to hers, trying to pry them away from him.
It wasn’t easy.
Jason’s eyes searched around for something to distract them. In the end there was little he could do but grab hold of Nadine.
Gently.
“Please,” he said. “Leave him.”
Nadine reluctantly let go.
The man dropped to his knees, catching his breath.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jason urged her. “She’s not going to help us.”
Nadine didn’t seem all that convinced.
She moved away from the railing towards Jason, just as Riley’s boyfriend grabbed hold of her leg. He pulled her back to the ground and attacked her from surprise.
Jason attempted to intercept again, but he was pushed away.
“You think you’re strong?” the man demanded, shaking her by the head. “You think you can fight me?”
Jason looked back in the direction of the house.
Still no sign of Riley.
“Get off her, man,” Jason said. “Before you do some damage.”
“Not until she understands her place,” the man asserted. “Well? Do you understand it?”
Nadine’s face was buried into the floor.
Jason couldn’t see whether she’d heard him.
“Nadine,” he asked. “Are you okay?”
Her attacker gave her another violent shake and then got up. He stormed back into the house.
“Get the fuck off my porch,” he said as he passed Jason.
Jason hurried over to Nadine.
“Nadine, get up,” Jason said turning her over.
She was shivering.
Shivering, but okay.
“I couldn’t fight him,” she whispered. “He was too strong.”
“I know,” Jason said.
“No, you don’t understand. He’s just a man. I should be able to fight him. He should be nothing to me.”
“You’re not as strong as you were. Remember?”
Nadine nodded. “Can I borrow that cane of yours?”
Jason reached round for it. “Here.”
Nadine used it to help herself up, then handed it back to Jason.
He joined her side.
“Can you believe that bitch, Riley?” Nadine muttered. “Where does she get off ignoring us?”
“I should have seen it coming,” Jason said.
“What do you mean?”
“I knew she was going this way. Turning her heart away from it. I thought maybe … there might be something still there. But…”
“She’s just a stranger now,” Nadine finished.
“Yeah,” Jason whispered.
“Well, that’s two strikes to us then,” Nadine said pulled out the sheet of paper. “Dino and Riley both don’t want anything to do with us. That leaves one address left. Which I’m going to assume is Luna’s. Maybe we’ll get lucky third try round.”
“Yeah,” Jason said. “Really lucky.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
There was nothing out here. Nothing for miles.
Field after field after field. Road after road.
The same road.
Ongoing.
It didn’t seem that they had been out here for that long, but time was an elusive thing. It was 6.25pm and approaching the hour of dark. The sky was rippled with grey clouds and orange glare. On the far horizon they could make out the beginnings of a series of structures and buildings. Of fences and signs and activity. It was all happening to the right of them. Jason eyed the GPS.
“What is t
hat we’re approaching?” he asked Nadine.
“I have no idea. Some sort of town…?”
Jason continued to stare ahead. “What town?”
The car moved on.
To the right of them, a sign with an arrow.
SRM Barracks, 6 miles.
“That’s where she must be,” Jason said. “Wonder if they’ll be problems getting in.”
“We can only try.”
A few minutes later a dirt road veered off to the right towards the barracks, accompanied with more prominent signage. They followed it.
Soon they reached a barricade.
An officer in uniform stepped out of his cubicle and approached the car.
Jason wound down the window.
“State your business.”
“Hi,” Jason said. “We’re trying to find this address here.” He handed the officer the paper.
The officer looked it over. “Have you some kind of an appointment?”
“That’s right,” Nadine said leaning over. “Luna said we could just drive through.”
The officer looked at her. “Excuse me, one moment.”
He went back to his station.
“Maybe we should tell him who we are,” Jason said. “It could make a difference.”
“Let’s just see what happens.”
They waited.
The officer soon returned with the paper. He handed it to Jason.
“You can drive through,” the officer said. “Once you pass through the gates ahead, turn left and follow the arrows to the car space. You’re to wait there for an escort. Don’t do anything stupid unless you’re looking to get shot.”
“Thank you,” Jason mumbled.
The guard went back to his station and the barrier moved up.
They drove through.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“I hope this proves fruitful,” Jason said once they were out of the car. “Otherwise we’ve just wasted all this time chasing dead ends. Not that our reunion with Riley wasn’t eventful…”
“Did something happen between the two of you?” Nadine asked. “After everything went down?”
“I told you already. Some people just don’t want to deal with the past. And I don’t know why our hopes are even up for it here. Probably just going to get yelled at and –”
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