Bunny Elder Adventure Series: Four Complete Novels: Hollow, Vain Pursuits, Seadrift, ...and Something Blue

by J. B. Hawker

  “I will be ready to leave as soon as I have a cup of coffee and some of that gourmet breakfast, Scott.”

  Nearly two hours later, Scott called a halt in a stand of trees a couple of hundred yards from the outbuildings of the church camp they were seeking.

  “Why are we stopping here, Scott? We need to go in there to call and let our people know we are okay and get the police after those men, right away.”

  “Hold on a bit. I don’t really think those goons are still looking for us, or that they even know this camp is here, but just on the outside chance, I’d like to reconnoiter a bit before going in and asking to use the phone.”

  Even as he spoke there was the crunch of a car approaching on the camp’s gravel road.

  The pair hunkered down and watched a dark green SUV with a battered right front fender pull up at the main camp building.

  Bunny recognized the man who emerged from the vehicle as one of their pursuers. Her heart began to beat wildly as he went out of sight through the door marked “Office”.

  “How did they find us?” she hissed at Scott who was crouched down beside her.

  He merely looked at her and shrugged; his finger to his lips.

  In a few moments the man reappeared and rejoined his companion. The car started up, but, rather than leaving the way it had come, it turned onto the circular drive and crept slowly around the campground. After making two complete circuits of the drivable roads, it finally headed for the highway.

  When the car was out of sight, Scott instructed Bunny to wait in their hiding place while he approached the camp.

  “Hey, Pastor Davidson! I didn’t hear you drive up. What brings you here this morning?” Fred Jennings, the camp manager, greeted Scott warmly.

  “You aren’t scheduled for your church’s family camp until late summer. I didn’t expect to see you so soon.”

  “Well, no, I hadn’t planned to come up, today, Fred, but I was in the area, so I thought I would stop by. You don’t have a camp scheduled this week, I see. Have you been having many visitors?”

  “Funny thing. Days go by without a soul stopping, and then today you come by right after I had another fella in here.”

  “Oh, what did he want?”

  “It’s sorta sad, but it seems this guy’s parents wandered off into the woods yesterday, from where the family was camping. The old folks have dementia and everyone’s out looking for them. He thought they might have come here, but I haven’t seen anyone. I told him I’d keep a look out for them, but he wouldn’t leave me his phone number, just said he’d keep coming back by if he didn’t find them. Guess he was too worried about his folks to think straight.”

  “Hmm, that’s too bad. Say, speaking of phones, do you mind if I use yours? I don’t have my cell phone with me and I need to call Rosamund.”

  “Sure, Pastor. Use the one over there in my office.”

  Scott’s call to Rosamund was answered by the machine. He left a brief message and was punching in 9-1-1 when he heard a car approaching. Had the men returned, already?!

  “Thanks, for the use of the phone, Fred. Got to run.”

  Scott dashed out the back door of the office, ran behind the cabins and circled back around to where Bunny was breathlessly watching their persistent pursuers pulling up at the camp building.

  Jennings met the men at the office door, “Did you fellas have any luck finding your old folks?”

  “No. That is why we are back. My friend here thought he saw someone walking onto the camp grounds as we drove away before. You are sure you have not seen anybody?”

  “Nope. No strangers here today, except you fellas. If you leave me your phone number I could give you a call if your people show up…might save you another wasted trip.”

  Grgur simply nodded curtly and the two men returned to their car and drove away.

  “Well, good luck!” Fred called after them and went inside, slowly shaking his head.

  “What do we do now?” Bunny asked anxiously. “Do you think they will be back?”

  “I wouldn’t want to try to guess. I never thought they would look here in the first place. I left a message on the answering machine for Rosamund. I didn’t quite know what to say, so I just told her that we’re okay and that we are going to Seattle to the police department to see about getting the car. Hopefully, she’ll call them and someone will come looking for us.”

  “I suppose we ought to try to make our way north, then, if we can stay out of sight from those horrid men. Why don’t they just give up? I wish I knew what was so important on this stupid flash drive.”

  “You still have it with you?”

  “Unfortunately, it was in my pocket when we ran off the road. If it had been in my purse maybe those guys would have it now and they would be leaving us alone. I wish I had never found that silly old sea chest, believe me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  …you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. - Deuteronomy 28:65

  Rosamund was putting away groceries when she noticed the flashing light on her answering machine. The parsonage always got a lot of phone calls, so she finished tucking things into the refrigerator and cupboards, climbed up to her room to change her shoes, brought in the mail, sorted it, and was starting dinner before she remembered to check the messages.

  The third message on the machine was from Scott.

  “Hi Rosie. I’m calling from Chancel Pines Camp. There’s been a bit of an accident. We are alright, but Bunny and I are heading to Seattle to see about getting the car back on the road. I’ll call again when we get there. Bye.”

  When he left to rescue Bunny, Scott told his sister he might stay overnight with a friend in Seattle before returning, so Rosamund had not been worried. His message alarmed and confused her.

  Rosamund called Scott’s cell phone right away, but her call went directly to voice mail.

  She looked up the phone number for the Seattle Police Department and called them. The person who answered suggested, since she was inquiring about a vehicle accident, she should call the State Patrol office.

  When she connected with the WSP, she was given the information about Scott’s car, and told that the troopers had not been able to locate Scott or Bunny. When Rosamund told them about Scott’s message they promised to be on the lookout for the pair.

  Rosamund offered to come to Seattle, right away, but she was advised to stay home in case Scott returned or called, again.

  “Oh dear, Reacher,” she moaned to the dog, “Where could they be?”

  Reacher put a sympathetic paw on the distressed woman’s lap and she petted him distractedly.

  Rosamund didn’t do “waiting patiently” very well and was beside herself with worry and frustration. She needed to pray and to ask others to pray, too.

  Before calling the church Prayer Chain, she listened to the remaining messages on the machine and, only then, heard the call from the WSP that had come while she was out, asking Scott to contact them to arrange to reclaim his car.

  

  Bunny’s feet hurt. If she had planned to walk all the way to Seattle she would have worn more comfortable shoes.

  She and Scott had been creeping through the underbrush in the wooded areas paralleling the freeway, about 50 yards from the shoulder of the roadway, all day. She was tired, sore, scraped, dirty, hot and hungry, but they were making steady progress and, so far, had avoided encountering their pursuers. After observing the men’s persistence at the camp, Scott and Bunny were afraid to assume that they had given up and gone away.

  The brush and trees were thinning out when Bunny stumbled over a dead branch and fell to her knees. When Scott pulled her up she noticed a freeway interchange ahead.

  “We’re almost to Fort Lewis, Bunny. We won’t be able to stay in the brush without going miles out of our way. We’ll need to leave the trees and pass through some residential areas. The footing will soon be less rugged and when we get to Lakewood we can find help.”

&n
bsp; “And food, maybe?” Bunny asked while brushing the dirt from her hands.

  “Sure, some food would be a good idea, too,” Scott responded with a smile.

  “I left my purse in the car. Do you have any money?”

  “My wallet is right here.” He patted his back pocket. “We’ll be alright. Don’t worry. I think we are just about out of the woods in every sense.”

  Bunny felt vulnerable and exposed when they began walking down the suburban streets without any cover. She kept expecting that awful green car to come hurtling around every corner. When they reached a strip mall with a small Food Center grocery and deli they went in and bought some sandwiches and drinks. Taking their food to a pocket park beside the Welcome to Lakewood sign, they wandered along a path to a secluded bench and finally sat down to eat and rest.

  Scott was familiar with Lakewood and knew the City Hall was on Main Street. As soon as they ate and felt refreshed they would go straight there to report being forced off the highway by the men who’d been chasing them.

  Two hours later Scott and Bunny were standing in line at the Tacoma Greyhound Station waiting to board a bus to Seattle.

  They had spoken to the Lakewood police who had contacted the State Patrol to confirm that Scott’s car had been found and impounded. A patrol car had delivered them to the bus station. Their trip to Seattle would take a little over an hour.

  The Lakewood police department didn’t seem to give much weight to their claims of being run off the road and pursued by would-be killers.

  Bunny had to admit the two of them did look a little scruffy after a night sleeping in their clothes and a day tramping through the woods. She suspected the ride to the bus station was the Lakewood police’s version of moving trouble “on down the road”...what was sometimes referred to as “Greyhound therapy” when dealing with homeless mental cases.

  Bunny sometimes questioned her own sanity, but it was unpleasant being considered homeless and unbalanced by others. At least they were finally on their way to retrieve Scott’s car and whatever may be left inside.

  The two weary travelers slid onto their seats in the shiny white Olympic Dungeness Line coach.

  The public transportation system in Washington State had always impressed Bunny, and this was the nicest she’d seen, so far. These well-maintained vans and buses connected rural and urban Washington seamlessly.

  Under any other circumstances, Bunny would be enjoying the comfortable scenic ride and the free chocolate chip cookies and bottled water. This bus even had complementary Wi-Fi, and the fare included a ferry ride between Edmonds and Kingston on the Washington State Ferries, if they had been traveling that far. As it was, Bunny was almost too tired to eat her cookie… almost.

  She leaned back in her seat, munched on the cookie, and tried not to think about anything except how glad and grateful she was to be back in civilization, and no longer tramping through the woods in fear. She yearned for a shower and a comfortable bed where she could sleep for hours and forget about the past couple of days.

  The police had a description of the two men, and although obviously skeptical, they had promised to be on the lookout for them. When the officers saw them they would realize that Bunny and Scott were telling the truth and would undoubtedly soon have the evil pair in custody, if they were still in the area.

  Bunny could feel her tense muscles beginning to loosen and sensed that Scott, sitting beside her, was more relaxed, too, now that their ordeal was over.

  

  Ljuto and Grgur had been patrolling the freeway and the towns along the way, cruising by local bus and taxi stands. As luck would have it, they were just driving through Tacoma when Grgur spied their quarry queued up for a bus at the Greyhound Station.

  Earlier, Ljuto had encouraged his partner to give up, but Grgur was convinced that his tenacity would bear fruit.

  “There! You see? We have them, now,” he pulled quickly into the parking lot, but slammed his fist into the steering wheel and swore as, at that very moment, the bus pulled away with Scott and Bunny on board.

  “Now, what, Grgur? I told you they would get away.”

  “Now, we follow them, of course!” he snarled at his companion while making a screeching turn and racing after the bus.

  

  It was dark in the container where Htoo huddled next to her friend Khu Khu.

  Khu Khu was nice. She sometimes sang songs to Htoo and told her stories, so she wouldn’t be afraid. Not all of the women in the box with them were nice. The boys were sometimes mean to the little girls, too, but they mostly just stayed together.

  At first, Htoo thought the boys had been brought here with their mothers, but she soon learned that all those trapped in the box were strangers to each other.

  Htoo felt lucky to have Khu Khu for a friend in this awful place.

  It was bad when the box was locked shut, as now, but it was worse when they were taken outside onto the deck of the ship. It was good to breathe sweet fresh air, then, and to be touched by the sun, but feeling the crewmen’s eyes on her made Htoo want to run away.

  Once, Htoo whispered to Khu Khu that she was going to jump into the sea and swim back to her mother. Khu Khu had shushed the little girl and held her tightly, so she could not move, but one day Htoo would do it. She had learned to swim before any of her friends back in her village. She could swim and swim and not get tired.

  The two friends always stayed in the middle of the group when out on deck. Some little girls had strayed too close to the crew one day and disappeared. When everyone was shooed back into the box and the bossy man saw that the girls were missing, he became very angry. Later, when the girls were brought back to the box, they were sick and couldn’t stop crying for a long time. Next time out on deck, Htoo saw that some of the crew had bruises and wore bandages. She heard talk that they had been punished for damaging merchandise, but Htoo did not understand what that meant. She only knew that this was a bad place, with bad men.

  Her waking moments were spent in fear and pain, but each night when Khu Khu held her hand and prayed for them all, Htoo felt safe enough to find blessed sleep and to dream beautiful dreams of swimming in the warm sea back into her mother’s arms.

  

  Ellery was so relieved when she heard her aunt’s voice mail message. Bunny and her friend were on their way to Seattle. Ellery was going to meet them at the bus station in only an hour. She was terribly curious about where her aunt had been. After hearing about all her wild adventures in Italy and, even earlier in California, Ellery was afraid to guess what had been happening to Bunny, this time.

  Her aunt seemed like such a nice, ordinary middle-aged woman, but within that plain brown wrapper beat the heart of a tigress.

  Ellery admired Bunny so much. Whenever she was faced with a knotty situation, Ellery would ask herself, “What would Aunt Bunny do?” to help decide a course of action. She was seldom unable to come up with an answer.

  

  Deputy Ted Baughley walked out of the Sheriff’s private office in the Bannoch substation of the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office with a bemused expression.

  Before becoming a deputy, Baughley had attended a technical school to learn to be a computer technician. He had decided that wasn’t a good fit and dropped out after his first year. However, no matter how he protested, that one year of training was enough for Sheriff Camensind to consider Baughley the department’s IT expert.

  And, now Camensind expected him to decrypt this stupid USB flash drive. What the heck?

  Baughley took the drive to an available computer and inserted it. Fortunately, Bunny had removed the password protection and the deputy was able to see the files. He clicked on one and was greeted with lines of meaningless random characters.

  The deputy shook his head, squared his shoulders and, with a despairing sigh, began an Internet search for free decryption software.

  Chapter Thirteen

  You must purge the evil from among you. – Deuteronomy 21:
21

  Rosamund returned from her errand of dropping the flash drive at the Sheriff’s Office for Bunny with an uneasy mind. Something had been nagging at her since she went into her late mother’s room to find the device after Bunny’s call.

  She entered the house through the back door and was passing Bunny’s room when it hit her; where was that sweet little chest?

  Bunny had left the copy of the flash drive on the dressing table next to her laptop. It had been easy to find, so Rosamund had not taken a good look around the room. She did so now, but still didn’t see the antique container.

  After cleaning it up, Bunny had kept the box on a cedar blanket chest at the foot of her bed, but it wasn’t there, now. Rosamund looked in the cedar chest, the closet, under the bed and in Bunny’s suitcases, but the little reddish box was nowhere to be found.

  Perhaps Bunny had taken it with her to show her grandniece, Rosamund considered. If she had already sold it, Rosamund was sure Bunny would have told her.

  Oh, well, it was a puzzle that could be cleared up easily enough when Scott and Bunny returned home.

  With that thought, she dashed to the phone to check her voice mail, but there were no further messages about the missing pair. Where could they be?

  

  In his office in Songkhla, Matvey Koslov paced in front of the grimy multi-paned windows overlooking the port, an ugly frown on his scarred and weather-beaten face. The huge man's meaty fists were clenched tightly, as though only a supreme effort of self-control prevented Koslov from smashing them into something.

  Sergi hoped that “something” would not be his face. As the bearer of bad news he was aware he was a tempting target for Koslov’s rage.

  “Fools! I am surrounded by idiots and imbeciles! I seem to have hired only the most witless oafs the world had to offer. Is there no one in this organization I can rely upon to carry out even the simplest task? Not even one? Tell me that! …Well?”