by Jen Haeger
Before they left, James’s mother took Evelyn aside.
“Thank you so much for not calling the police. James has had some…trouble over the past couple of years, but we thought that he was doing so much better…” her voice trailed off as she stared forlornly into space.
Evelyn touched her arm very gently. “I’m sure he will get better again,” she said, and tried really hard to mean it.
32
Evelyn and David had little time to recover from the encounter with James, as they had to get back to the lab. They were on the road soon after his family’s departure. Although they had previously been extremely concerned about being tracked down to the lab via their cells phones, too much was going on at the moment to risk being incommunicado. And it was a good thing that they had brought them along, as during one of Evelyn’s driving shifts David’s cell phone rang, startling both of them. David pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the number before hurriedly answering it.
“It’s Kim.”
What does she want? Evelyn cursed internally. They really didn’t have time to go answer more of the Kim’s questions right now. Then Evelyn thought that it might have something to do with her injury and immediately felt a little guilty. She tried to hear David’s end of the conversation, but the weather outside the car had blown itself into a full spring storm and the rain was pounding against the car so hard that it made it difficult for her to hear. Five minutes later, David closed the phone.
“We have to go help Kim.”
Evelyn was tense from the past twenty-four-hour ordeal with James and what was proving to be white-knuckle driving.
“Why? What happened?” she asked brusquely.
“She’s afraid. She thinks someone is following her.”
“What? Who?”
“She’s not sure. There was a strange car parked outside of her building. She’s afraid to leave now.”
“David, I’m sorry, but we really don’t have time for this right now. Maybe she should just call the police?”
“Evie, she’s really scared, and she called us. Maybe if we weren’t already on our way, but she’s part of our pack now, and we can’t just abandon her,” David chided.
“I know. I don’t want to abandon her. It’s just, we really need to get to the lab, and if there is someone following Kim, they might follow us to the lab if we go pick her up and take her with us. We can’t afford that, especially not now.”
David set his jaw. “How about this, how about I drop you off at the parking lot and you head to the lab alone? I’ll go pick up Kim and try to find out what is going on, and then once I’m sure that we’re not being followed, we’ll join you at the lab.”
Evelyn was a bit surprised that David would let her head out to the lab alone, but it should be safe because, theoretically, nobody but David, Kim, the crazy contractor, and Evelyn even knew it existed.
“Sounds like a plan.”
When he dropped her off at the commuter lot David made Evelyn promise to keep in touch via her cell phone until she got to the lab and then to e-mail him periodically when she was in the lab. She said that she would as she shrugged into her windbreaker and prepared to hike out into the dark and the rain. She affixed her headlamp and turned to David.
“Be careful,” she said softly.
“I will. You too, Evie.”
He gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead and Evelyn felt her cheeks flush. They had not really had time to be close since before their previous trip to the lab. She looked into his deep green eyes and suddenly she didn’t want to leave him. It made no sense, after what they had been through in the last 24 hours, and the emotions and doubts about David that James had stirred up in her. Still the feeling was there, strong and undeniable. After a brief hesitation, Evelyn brushed it aside. She couldn’t afford to worry about all this now. Right now there were more important things to worry about. They needed to find proof of what the Vulke were doing before it was too late. She dragged herself out of the green depths of his eyes and forced herself to get out of the car. Evelyn retrieved her pack from the back seat and situated it on her back, then faced David again. She held up her palm in a silent goodbye and he did the same. Then she shut the door and turned away from the car and headed into the woods. She wondered as she did so how long it would be until she and David could have some quiet time to themselves again.
*
David didn’t like the idea of Evelyn going off to the lab without him, but there was just nothing for it. He knew that she was desperate to try to get some proof to sway Caroline and the other packs and if this mysterious car outside of Kim’s apartment turned out to be nothing, they would have wasted precious time. David used the map app on his phone to navigate to Kim’s apartment, but at first he just drove past it. There was, in fact, a darkly colored van with tinted windows parked next to the curb just a little ways up from her building, but unfortunately the darkness and rain made it difficult for David to see any details. The license plate was a Kentucky plate instead of Tennessee, but otherwise the van didn’t appear overly suspicious. David circled around and parked about a block away from the back of Kim’s building.
He texted Kim to let her know that he would be at her apartment in a few minutes and then made his way cautiously up to the building, scanning around for suspicious activity. He had on a hooded sweatshirt and kept the hood up both to shield him from the rain and from someone getting a good look at him. David reached the door, stood in front of the buzzer panel so that it was not clear whose apartment he was ringing, and pressed the button labeled with Kim’s apartment number. She buzzed him in and he made sure the door shut behind him and latched again before he started making his way to Kim’s apartment. The building was small and there were only four apartments on each of three floors. Kim lived on the second floor in the apartment to the right of the stairwell.
Kim opened the door a crack before David got all the way up the stairs, and he removed his hood so she could see his face. He could see the relief on her face when she recognized him.
“Just a sec!” she called and closed the door again to remove the chain so she could let him into the apartment. She opened the door just enough for David to squeeze in and then shut it again bolting the lock and applying the chain. “I’m so glad that you’re here,” she said and gave him a quick hug.
“No problem. We happened to be on our way down anyway, so I’m just glad that I was close by. Now tell me what happened,” he said, his voice weighted down with concern.
Kim’s cheeks got a little red and she looked away slightly. “I’m sorry. It seems silly now. It was probably nothing, but I just…I don’t know, I guess I’m just freaking out a little. Here, please come in and sit down. Can I get you something to drink?”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
David followed her down a short corridor with a few framed pictures of Kim at various ages standing in a bathing suit with a medal around her neck. The small bedroom was just off to the left and the tiny bathroom came after that. Next was the compact kitchen, which had an opening to look out into the living and dining area. Kim motioned for David to sit on the couch while she headed into the kitchen.
“I was just making myself a cup of tea. You’re sure that you don’t want one?”
“I’m sure.”
While Kim finished preparing her cup of tea by adding sugar and milk, David glanced around the living room. It was cozy and had the disheveled appearance of being lived in by a busy person. A few books were open on the coffee table with a notebook nearby accompanied by a pen and a highlighter. The bookcase was roughly organized, but had some books sticking out at odd angles or laying on the tops of the other books. There was a small stand with a hardy-looking plant on it. In addition to the couch there was one other cushioned chair and a short two-person kitchen table with two chairs. There wasn’t a balcony or sliding glass door, but there were large windows along the wall facing the street at the front of the building. The blinds were curren
tly drawn shielding the apartment’s interior from view.
Kim came out of the kitchen with the tea and delicately set it down on a coaster on the coffee table. David could see the stiffness in her movements indicating that she was still in a substantial amount of pain from her injuries. She sat down on the couch with care and then shifted slightly to get more comfortable before beginning to tell David why she had called him.
“So I drove back to my apartment on Saturday morning and I didn’t notice anything unusual but I went into the lab to check on something late Saturday afternoon, and that’s when I thought I noticed someone acting a bit strangely outside the lab building. They kind of gave me the creeps, so when I left a few hours later, around six, I double checked to see if they were still there. They were, so I didn’t feel comfortable and had one of the security guards walk me to my car. Then on my way home, I got the feeling that something wasn’t right and I noticed this van with tinted windows in my rearview mirror. Again, I just got this feeling that something was wrong but I got home and nothing else happened so I thought it might have been just a little like posttraumatic stress or something. But then I noticed a similar van parked outside the apartment this morning. It’s been there all day, and I haven’t left the apartment.” She let out a deep breath and gave David a slight smile. “Am I just going crazy?”
David was not all that sure that there wasn’t something to be alarmed about, but he didn’t want to upset Kim any more than she already was, so he said, “Probably, but don’t ever hesitate to call if you need anything from us.”
“Speaking of ‘us’, where’s Evelyn?”
“Well, she had to go into the lab.” David paused trying to think of the best way to explain things without sending Kim into a panic. “We’re obviously very concerned about how you…and others like you who have shown up lately, were infected. Evelyn is following up a lead, but you know I can’t lie to you, so I’ll just tell you that it looks like something bad may be going on.”
Kim closed her eyes and her face tensed. “What do you mean by bad?”
“Well, you remember I told you about the Vulke and how they are kind of the…err…bad guys amongst our kind?”
Kim opened her eyes and nodded.
“Well, Evelyn thinks that they may have infected a bunch of people to grow their numbers quickly and attack other packs.”
“Do you think the Vulke are outside in that van?” Kim breathed.
David sighed. “I’m not sure, but I think we should be careful.”
David’s phone vibrated. It was Evelyn letting him know that she had arrived at the lab and that everything was fine. She said that she was going to get to work right away and would probably e-mail him in a few hours. David texted back that he was with Kim and that they were still trying to sort out what was going on, but that he didn’t think that there was any immediate danger, and that they would likely be leaving for the lab soon. Then he turned to Kim.
“I think I have an idea how to see what this van is all about. This seems like a fairly nice area?” Kim nodded. “Then I think that you should call the police and tell them that there is a suspicious car outside of your building. You can even lie a little and say that you’ve seen several people go up to the window like they might be buying drugs or something to get the police more interested. We’ll watch out the window and see what happens. If there is someone in the car they may get spooked and drive off and then we’ll take off and go join Evelyn at the lab. If there isn’t anyone in the van, or they have a legitimate reason for being there, then the police will let us know. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a good plan,” Kim said slowly, “but I do have one question.”
“Shoot.”
“I’m not going to be able to finish up my project in the lab next week am I?”
The question was a bit farcical but David could hear the despondency in it. He and Evelyn had promised Kim a relatively normal life, save around the full moon and a bit of question with regards to health and well-being later in life. Now they were almost immediately taking that all away. He greatly sympathized with her and he wished that things were different, but the situation was what it was. He looked her directly in the eyes and gave it to her straight.
“No. I’m sorry Kim, but I think that you’re going to have to take this semester off.”
She looked away and nodded. He gave her a few moments to come to terms with having to put her entire life on hold then prodded her gently about calling the police and getting on the road after that. Kim finished her tea and then put together an overnight bag with a few days’ worth of clothes and other necessities, and placed it by the door. They took a bit of time to go over exactly what she was going to say before she made the call. The conversation went smoothly and Kim was able to inject just the right amount of fright and impatience in her voice to convince the police operator to send someone right away. David and Kim then went into the bedroom to watch the encounter clandestinely from that window.
It didn’t take long for a police car to pull up to the curb several car lengths behind the van. At first the policeman didn’t get out of the car. David assumed that he was running the plate number or at least recording it. Then the officer got out and gradually began to approach the driver’s side window. He was a fairly large man with a laid back and unhurried manner, even in the steady rain. David got the feeling that he responded to a lot more of the strange car complaints and a lot fewer of the armed robbery calls.
He sauntered up to the window with his flashlight playing up and down the vehicle. He was about to shine the flashlight into one of the side windows of the van when the driver’s side window rolled down and the driver must have said something to attract the officer’s attention. He glanced over at the window and lowered the flashlight as he stepped up closer to the van. There was an exchange during which the policeman gestured vaguely to Kim’s building. Kim and David could not see the driver but he must have been doing a good job of convincing the officer that nothing was amiss because the officer eventually put the flashlight away and laughed heartily at something the driver had said.
Kim sighed. “I knew I was just overreacting. I’m so sorry David,” she whispered.
David didn’t say anything, but just continued to watch the street. The officer turned to go back to his car but then there was a silent flash from the interior of the front of the van, and the man staggered and fell forward onto the pavement. Four men quickly appeared from around the other side of the van and hauled the policeman’s body out of sight behind the vehicle.
33
Kim began to scream and David had to cover her mouth with his hand.
“We have to go, now!”
Kim quietened and nodded, but the blood drained from her face leaving her pale. As David removed his hand he could feel her shaking. Glancing back out the window, he noticed the streetlight nearest to the van had gone out. No longer able to see what was going on below, David let out a curse. Grabbing Kim’s arm, David led her to the front door where Kim snatched keys off of a hook and David picked up and shouldered her bag. He switched off the hallway light and peered through the peephole into the outer hall while he undid the locks and the chain. Not seeing anyone in the hallway, he opened the door a crack then pulled Kim through it and silently instructed her to lock it as he checked the stairwell. David heard the lock click and then the lights of the building went out.
Kim made a quiet sound of alarm and David clasped hold of her arm and led her to the back stairs. It was late, even for a Saturday night, so the loss of power didn’t cause much of a commotion in the building. David led Kim down the back stairs and was about to head to the back door when he heard the muffled tink of breaking glass coming from that direction. He then backed Kim down the stairs into the basement keeping his body in front of hers and trying to move as silently as possible. When they reached the bottom of the stairs David moved away from them and put his mouth right up to Kim’s trembling ear.
“Win
dows?” he mouthed. He felt Kim nod. “Where?”
Kim pushed on his chest and they backed carefully along the wall until they came to a door. Easing the door open, David led the way in and then made sure that the door closed without a sound. The faint odor of fabric softener and lint told him that this was the laundry room. Rain was pelting against a windowpane somewhere to his left and he could just barely make out the rectangular shape outlined by a distant exterior light from another building.
They had to crawl on top of one of the washing machines to reach the window, which, to David’s amazement, actually had a latch and opened outwards. He hurriedly checked to the right and left outside the window before working the latch and opening it. There was not much room, but David thought that they could just about squeeze through. He put his mouth to Kim’s ear again.
“You first. Just run straight away from the building. I’ll be right behind you.”
He heard her take in a sharp breath, but she nodded. He helped her crawl through the window then rushed to push her bag through and shimmy through himself. The waistband of his hiking pants got caught up on the bottom of the window frame and David was momentarily stuck, wedged halfway in and halfway out of the window. The rain made the ground wet and difficult to get any kind of purchase to pull himself through.
David forced himself not to panic, he could see Kim just a few hundred feet ahead, and she was not making as good progress as he had hoped. Clutching at her side, she was only hobbling along. Taking a deep breath, David sucked in his stomach as far as her could and then reached one hand down to grab hold of his pant waist, wrenching it with all his might. Something tore and felt the window frame slice the side of his hand, but he was able to wriggle through. He pressed the window shut and got to his feet quickly, snatching up the bag and heading off after Kim.