Encountering Evil: Dark Horse Guardians Book Two

by Armstrong, Ava

  Just before the black sky opened up with a pelting rain, Lara and Einstein made it back to Clearwater Farm. Einstein was frightened by the rumbling thunder. She tapped the password on the security pad and they entered the house in one swift move. Just as Lara closed the door, a clap of thunder rang out like a gunshot, followed by long fingers of lightening reaching across the sky. Lara swore there was an acrid smell after the lightning strike, but couldn't detect where it was coming from. With the next lightning bolt and clap of thunder, the power went off. "Damn!" Lara exhaled. Einstein was now curled up underneath the kitchen table shaking uncontrollably. Even though it was daytime, the blackness of the storm blotted out the sun and the house became shadowy.

  Lara was startled by someone banging on the kitchen door and she wondered who could possibly be at her door in a storm like this? It was a man wearing a Maine Power Company cap. Maybe he was there regarding the power outage. As she opened the door and said, "Yes?" the man stepped into the kitchen in an aggressive manner. A sinking feeling came over her. Lara instantly felt something was out of place. The man did not introduce himself and she immediately sensed she had put herself in danger. The door remained open. Einstein detected Lara's fear and lunged to protect her, but the stranger had a tennis ball and tossed it out the door and Einstein chased the ball. The stranger shut the door and Lara was in the kitchen with him alone. Sizing him up, she crouched into a martial arts stance. He was much bigger than her -- he had to be as big as Bettencourt.

  She spoke in an angry take-charge tone, "Who are you? What do you want?" He said nothing but the look in his eyes said everything she needed to know. She noticed he had something in his pocket -- it looked like a small plastic bag. She turned to grab her leather sack, but he was already on her. He pulled her hair from behind and tightly clamped one arm around her neck as he held a piece of cloth over her face. She screamed and fought him as he attempted to suffocate her. She turned her head so her windpipe would not be crushed by his arm, as Ben had taught her. Lara struggled with all the strength she could muster but felt herself getting weak. Her screams were muffled by the cloth soaked in chloroform. She fought to keep her eyes open but within two minutes everything went black.

  ~ Grant Hawkins ~

  Shocked that Lara didn't show up for her appointment in Portland at 5:00 for a landscaping quote at her renovation project, Hawk began to wonder where she was. He waited in his truck at the site for a while as he watched a thunderstorm approaching. Then he called her cell phone for the third time but it went to voicemail. Perhaps the gathering storm made her decide to cancel last minute. Whatever the reason, he knew Lara well enough in his dealings with her to know she would not leave him in the lurch unless something happened…something that prevented her from calling him. The only other time she missed an appointment with him, she had shot an intruder at the dojo saving her police officer friend.

  Her house was a ten minute drive from where he was, so he drove through the heavy rain to Falmouth and pulled into the driveway at Clearwater Farm. While driving there, he observed several severe flashes of lightening and noticed the stop light was not working on the main road. He guessed the lightening hit somewhere close by and knocked out the power.

  As soon as Hawk arrived at Clearwater Farm he saw Einstein on the outer porch in the pouring rain. The dog was scratching and pawing at the door and trembling with fear. Lara would never leave her beloved animal outside in a thunder and lightning storm. He instantly knew something was wrong. There was a battered black pick-up truck in the driveway unfamiliar to him. He memorized the license plate and when he tried to open the kitchen door, it was locked. In the pouring rain he pulled a post-hole digger out of his truck and breached the door. Einstein ran inside straight to the master bedroom. The house was silent and only flashes of lightening illuminated it once or twice. Hawk remembered the master bedroom was on the first floor and heard muffled sounds coming from that area. Einstein started barking wildly.

  Hawk ran to the bedroom door only to be met with a scene that shocked and horrified him. Lara was splayed upon the bed and a man was ripping off her clothing. With the power of a heavyweight boxer, Hawk attacked the stranger. With every ounce of strength in him, he grabbed the guy from behind and pulled him onto the floor. Once on top of the intruder, Hawk pounded the man's face bloody with his fists. The man grabbed a shoe near the bed and hit Hawk in the head with the high heel stunning him momentarily. Blood poured into Hawk's eye. Einstein wanted in on the conflict, but Hawk didn't want the dog to get hurt. He tried to wave Einstein away, but the canine snarled and circled with his hackles up waiting to pounce on the intruder.

  Blood was everywhere as Hawk realized he had broken the man's nose and possibly his eye socket. But the bastard was still punching and kicking with all of his might. Although Hawk was lighter, he was stronger and much more determined to kill the son-of-a-bitch if he had to. He pulled the man up and punched him as hard as he could in the gut. The man fell to the floor. Hawk pulled him back up and punched him again in the side of the head and the well-placed blow knocked the intruder unconscious. In a split second his attention turned to Lara.

  Panic stricken, Hawk noticed she wasn't moving. He jumped onto the bed and administered mouth-to-mouth and the smell of chloroform was overwhelming. Dialing 911, Hawk called for an ambulance and police. As he held a limp unresponsive Lara in his arms his eyes filled with tears. "Oh God, please Lara, don't go away. Please try to breathe." He was pleading with her. His voice became a hoarse whisper as he wiped the blood from his eyes. He heard the intruder on the floor groan and quickly grabbed Lara's bathrobe belt and bound the bloody man's hands and feet. Then he punched him one more time for good measure, knocking out a few teeth. Hawk's knuckles were raw and bleeding but he didn't care. He kept shaking Lara and talking to her. He placed his head on her chest and listened for a heartbeat; he heard her heart beating but it was weak. He took her pulse; it was slow but there. Hawk was terrified but hopeful. Yelling and shaking her more forcefully didn't seem to help. He continued giving her mouth-to-mouth, hoping he could force her lungs to expand on their own.

  In a chaotic moment, the police arrived along with an ambulance. Two policemen walked into the master bedroom and one of them seemed to know Lara, "What the hell happened here?" the tall policeman demanded. Hawk explained everything as quickly as he could to the officer. He instinctively knew this was the officer that Lara had saved with her quick shooting skills at the dojo. The tall officer was more concerned about Lara than the bloody man with his hands and feet bound on the floor. "Haul him out of here -- get him to the hospital, but hand-cuff the son-of-a-bitch!" the officer ordered the other policemen.

  The medics went to work immediately administering oxygen to Lara, and they gave her an injection to help awaken her. Gradually, she started to move and Hawk watched as her chest heaved a deep breath. She was naked and he hadn't even noticed until now. The medic covered her with a cotton blanket and slid her into the ambulance. "Are you a relative of the victim? They asked him. "I'm a friend," he replied. The medic said, "That's good enough for us right now. Bring her purse. We need her name and information. You can ride with us…does she have any allergies?"

  Before he jumped into the ambulance, Hawk saw the intruder who he had beaten to a pulp, dragged away by the police. He didn't care about anything at that moment except for Lara and whether or not she would live. Hawk climbed into the back of the ambulance and sat next to Lara. With tears sliding down his face, he held her hand and stroked her thick dark hair. He saw her breathing the oxygen in ragged breaths and watched her chest rise and fall. She was connected to all types of monitors. Hawk spoke softly, "Oh God, don't let her slip away." The medic looked Hawk in the eye, "She's breathing and that's a good sign…we'll do our best. Now tell me exactly what happened." Hawk gave the medic the details or at least all that he knew.

  In the emergency room, Hawk spoke with the doctor and gave all of Lara's pertinent information from her wallet. He no
ticed the loaded gun in her pink leather sack and pepper spray and a fixed blade knife. This girl is terrified of something, he silently told himself. He wanted to know so much more about her. An overwhelming urge came over Hawk to protect her.

  The doctor asked Hawk to wait in a separate waiting room, but he refused. He took Lara's phone number and found the name "Ben" and tapped it. It went to voicemail, so Hawk left a message, "Hi Ben, this is Hawk. I'm the landscape designer working for your wife. She didn't come to an appointment and I stopped by the house and, well…I don't know how to say this…but, she was being attacked." Damn. The voicemail beeped and wouldn't allow him to continue. So, Hawk dialed the number again and made a second message. "She's okay. Your wife is okay. I just wanted to tell you she's at Maine General Hospital and she's breathing. I'm with her. She's okay. I have her phone. I’ll answer it if you call." The voicemail beeped and the call ended.

  Hawk sat next to Lara for six hours as she breathed oxygen and was intravenously hydrated. He felt he was her sentinel. Watching her sleep off and on, he prayed she would be all right. He couldn't fathom any man trying to hurt her. She was so beautiful, kind and considerate. If she were his wife, he would never leave her side. He couldn't imagine a husband who would ignore two voice mails like the ones he recorded earlier. Where the hell was her husband? Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, Hawk saw Lara's eyelids flicker and her beautiful green eyes opened. She appeared groggy but she looked at him. Hawk touched her arm, "You're okay now, Lara. I'm here with you. Everything's fine. I'm here, Lara. I won't let anyone hurt you."

  ~ Ben ~

  After what seemed like the longest day of his life, he walked to his trailer in the dark. He was finally alone and could check his phone. As he entered his trailer he locked the door and sat on the small sofa. He tapped the security code then noticed there were two voicemails from Lara. He knew she would not call him unless it was a dire emergency. His hand shook as he listened to the voice of Grant Hawkins and was momentarily stunned. Who attacked his wife? What was going on at the hospital? He contacted Habib, "I need to go to Springfield right away…pick me up. I need to get to Springfield for a something urgent…hurry." He felt like a caged animal as he waited for Habib to pull the Chevy alongside his trailer. Ben was focused on getting off the compound to contact Lara immediately.

  The Chevy arrived within minutes. When Ben hopped in, Habib queried, "What's up?" Ben spoke softly but with great urgency, "It's an emergency. Just get me to the outskirts of Springfield a few miles away from here…I need to make a phone call without anyone around." Ben noticed Habib's look of concern, but didn't want to tell him anything just yet. The Chevy cruised along a major road then turned off onto a long stretch of strip malls. They were about seven miles from the compound. Ben nodded and said, "This is good. Now, go inside and buy some stuff, anything, food preferably something edible." Ben peeled off a few hundred dollars and Habib disappeared. Ben locked the Chevy door and tapped Lara's cell number. Grant Hawkins answered.

  Ben had to throttle back his tone of voice and questions. "What's going on? Is she okay? Tell me everything, now!" Hawk recounted the story to the best of his ability. "Your wife didn't show for an appointment. Not like her. I called her cell repeatedly and it went to voicemail. Not like her. I had this terrible feeling that something was wrong so I drove to Clearwater Farm. There was a strange truck there and your dog was outside on the porch in a bad thunderstorm. I knocked but the door was locked. I instinctively knew something was wrong." Ben felt his heart sink. His pulse raced and he didn't want to ask the next question. "What happened to her?" Hawk continued, "I breached the door with a tool and heard a sound coming from the master bedroom…when I got in there a man was on top of Lara on the bed and she wasn't moving." Ben slammed his fist into the dashboard filled with frustration. He closed his eyes tightly and held his breath, "Did he hurt her?" Ben was doubled over in the seat of the Chevy feeling a wave of nausea pass through him. Hawk replied, "No. He was tearing her clothes off, but that's as far as he got. Apparently, he dosed her with chloroform. She was unconscious. I beat the shit out of the guy. The police have him. I've been at Lara's bedside since she got here. She’s going to be all right."

  Ben breathed an audible sigh of relief on the phone. Relief replaced the tension and he regained control before he spoke, "Thank you, Hawk…" There was an awkward silence on the other end of the line. Finally, Hawk said, "I just did what I had to do." Ben whispered, fighting the tears welling up in his eyes, "Can she speak on the phone?" Hawk said yes and handed the phone to Lara. Ben heard her voice. She sounded tired, "Ben, I'm fine. Don't worry. I love you…Ben?" He couldn't speak for a moment. Embarrassed by the overwhelming sense of relief and the fact that he was crying didn't help. "I'm here, darlin', and I'm sorry this happened." His voice cracked. He blamed himself for leaving her alone. It was all his fault. He should have been the one there protecting her. "Oh, Lara. I miss you so much. I'm sorry, darlin'…" It was all he could say. Hawk got back on the phone and said, "I'll answer her cell phone if it rings. If you need any more information, call and I will pick up and let you speak to the doctor or whomever you want." There was a brief moment of silence and Ben said, "Thank you, Hawk, for everything you did. I really can't thank you enough, man."

  On the drive back to the compound with Habib, Ben felt he was going in the wrong direction. He wanted to take the Chevy Blazer directly to Lara's bedside and hold her in his arms. He knew his agitation was evident as Habib eyed him cautiously, "You all right, Chief?" Ben told Habib what happened. Having lost his wife to terrorists, Habib was more than understanding. He touched Ben's shoulder and said, "She's safe now. You still have her. Be grateful, man. Be grateful." Those words burned into Ben's brain.

  ~ Bettencourt ~

  At 10 PM, the tall officer relieved Hawk of his watch over Lara in the hospital. Bettencourt shook the landscaper’s hand. "I don't know how to thank you, Hawk, you saved her life. She saved mine once, you know. I feel I owe her." Bettencourt knew that Hawk hadn't slept for twenty-four hours. He assured him that Lara would be in good hands, "I'll keep an eye on her. You go home and get some rest, and some food – you must be starving." Reluctantly, Hawk left Lara's side. Night was falling and Bettencourt sprawled his lanky body in the chair next to her bed as he watched her sleep. He was working the day shift and was now dressed in street clothes.

  Lara's eyes opened and she smiled when she looked into his soft brown eyes. "Hey, what are you doing here?"…she uttered sleepily. He smiled back and whispered, "I had to send your bodyguard home…he looked exhausted." Lara nodded, "I know. I felt badly for him. He called mother and Rusty and they came here. Then they left to bring Einstein to their place on Panther Pond. Hawk made sure the kitchen door got repaired, too. I want to get out of here, Bett. Do you think I can?" Bettencourt hesitated for a moment, knowing all that she had been through. He knew she was physically all right, but he saw a chink in her psychological armor and it worried him.

  Bettencourt heard the night nurse approaching and he winked at Lara, "Let me see what I can do." After the nurse spoke with Bettencourt in the hallway, she came in to talk with Lara and said she'd be released in the morning if all was well. Bettencourt was relieved to see Lara so happy once again. But he didn't want her to be alone at the house. He tapped his cell phone to let Rusty know the good news. "Yeah, Rusty? She'll be released in the morning. Ben gets home on September 12th, if all goes well. Yes, I will have Lara call you right away."

  ~Lara~

  Leaving the hospital and driving to Panther Pond with Rusty was a strange but comforting feeling. She observed Rusty’s profile while he was preoccupied with watching the traffic light, but his soft deep voice was reassuring, “You will be fine with us for a few days, Lara. We can go fishing, just you and me, like old times.” As Lara spoke she thought her voice didn’t sound like her, “Oh, I can’t wait… I miss doing things like that. And, some practice at the range, too.” Within forty minutes they pulled into t
he gravel driveway that led down to the cottage perched near the water’s edge. Flat and calm, the pond looked like a mirror on the warm sunny September morning. The early sun felt like it was feeding the beginning of a heatwave.

  Lara’s mother was waiting on the porch and hugged her, too tightly. There were tears in her eyes. “Oh Lara, I’m so glad you’re here.” Einstein bounded out and poked her legs with his cold wet nose as if to say, pet me, I missed you. Lara dropped to her knees and the bull terrier whined with excitement to see her. After eating lunch on the porch, Rusty encouraged Lara to go for a little boat ride and stowed the fishing poles and bait into the small aluminum skiff along with two life-jackets. He glanced at Lara on the dock, “Ready?” She hopped into the boat and smiled, “Ready!” Rusty tugged on the motor’s old cord and it started on the second pull. His eyes crinkled into a smile and he said the usual, “Old reliable.” Lara smiled, “Old reliable – just like you.” Rusty grinned, “I like the reliable part, but hope I’m not old just yet.”

  Stirring from her nest, a loon slipped by them soundlessly. Heavily forested, the shore across from the cottage jutted out forming a point. Around the bend was a favorite fishing spot where spring water fed the pond. Rusty’s weathered face turned her way, “The usual?” Lara nodded. Being a weekday, the pond was fairly empty on the east side. Lara watched as Rusty shut off the motor and Lara took the anchor and watched it slip beneath the cool water. They both baited their hooks and dropped their lines in unison. It was a perfectly warm sunny day, but Lara was not feeling sunny inside. On the outside she had been struggling to maintain composure. But on the inside she was filled with chaotic emotions as old wounds opened and festered once again.