Chasing Ghosts

by Lee Driver

  Engles ran water in the sink until it started steaming, then scrubbed her hands, all the time keeping an eye on the gauze pads that continued to soak through with blood. “Damn, I should have been in Montana already. My son wants to open a wildlife sanctuary, not that the damn government gave me enough money when they bought this place from me. Eminent domain. Damn bureaucrats.” She shut the water off with her elbow and slipped into latex gloves. Turning back to Sara, the vet said, “Please tell me you two didn’t rob a bank or something that I’m going to get into trouble for.”

  “We didn’t. I promise you who did this to him was the bad guy, not us.”

  “Fine. I don’t care to know the details.”

  Sara didn’t want to see what the vet was doing. She turned her head to study the animal prints painted on the walls. There were different paw prints for each animal. The pinch in her right arm felt like a metal pipe going through her vein.

  “The most I can take from you is 1.42 liters.” “How much is that?”

  “Three pints.”

  “Take four.”

  “It will kill you.”

  “No it won’t. I promise.”

  Engles laughed softly. “You are making a lot of promises.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “About thirty minutes per pint. But I warn you, if your blood pressure starts to drop dramatically, I’ll stop.”

  In her peripheral vision, Sara could see the vet starting to work on Dagger’s injuries. The doctor looked like she knew what she was doing. Her hands worked without thought. Salt and pepper hair was pulled back in a casual bun with little care for smooth and tidy. Sara could imagine Engles working in a sanctuary, hair and makeup of little concern as she cared for the animals she so obviously loved.

  Sara forced herself to look at Dagger. His eyes were closed and damp hair clung to his neck. He appeared unresponsive to everything the doctor was doing. Sara started to feel lightheaded and wondered what would happen if she passed out. Would the good doctor call the police? Would they be arrested? She didn’t have any identification on her. Did Dagger? She watched as her blood flowed down the tube and into Dagger’s arm. She had no fear of losing a lot of blood. Her body could regenerate blood at a faster speed than it could regenerate limbs. But if it killed Dagger she would never forgive herself. She slowly reached over and brushed Dagger’s arm. It was cold to the touch.

  The medicinal odor was the first thing that broke Sara’s sleep. She felt weak and barely able to open her eyes. A veil of light streamed through the window. Was it daytime? She tried to remember where she was. At home? In the car? In the control room of BettaTec? Then she saw Dagger lying on the table next to her. His shirt had been stripped from his body. Doctor Engles appeared to be changing Dagger’s bandages. Of course. Now Sara remembered finding the vet. Was it just last night or had they been there for days?

  Doctor Engles stared in shock for several seconds as she inspected the wound. “How can that be?” she whispered. “There aren’t any scars. It’s as though there wasn’t an injury.”

  That was when it hit Sara. Her blood gave Dagger’s body the ability to regenerate. She could almost read the same realization on Engles’ face. Dagger had come in torn and bloody but it wasn’t until he received Sara’s blood that he had healed. Engles flicked her gaze to Sara. Maybe out of fear or preservation instinct, Sara could feel her eyes change, the lens become spherical, the pupils enlarged. They didn’t change color but an experienced veterinarian would recognize the eyes of a hawk. It wasn’t enough of a true shift to place the doctor in danger from the wolf.

  Shocked, Doctor Engles stumbled back against the sink.

  “It’s okay,” Sara whispered, raising up on one elbow.

  “Who are you people?”

  “We don’t mean you any harm. I just want to get him back on the road and out of your hair.”

  “But how? This just isn’t…” The scientist and researcher in her struggled for logical answers. She shook her head as though trying to clear the image from her mind.

  Sara slowly rose from the table and tested her legs. The jumpsuit was gone. Instead she was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse and plaid shorts. She even had on underwear and the blood had been cleaned from their bodies.

  “They are my daughter-in-law’s clothes. You are close to her size.” Engles nodded at Dagger. “Both of you had so much blood on your clothes.” Her voice was shaky as she tried to gather her composure. “My son is a little bigger but his clothes will do.” A clean shirt was hanging on the back of a chair. Engles held up a roll of tape. “If you can help him sit up, I’ll tape his ribs. I don’t have an X-ray machine but I think he has a couple bruised or cracked ribs.”

  Dagger groaned as they tried to move him. “How is his blood pressure?” Sara asked.

  “Better but not as good as yours.” She wound the tape several times around his sternum. “And to think I was going to be bored spending my last week in this house.”

  “You’re leaving so soon?”

  “The van is half packed. I was just taking my time packing the last few boxes until you two showed up.” Engles cut the tape with scissors and had Sara help her slip Dagger’s arms into the shirt. He winced at the effort but they finally got it on him. “You never did tell me your names.”

  Sara smiled. “No, I didn’t.”

  Dagger struggled to open his eyes. “Where…?”

  “Shhhhh.” Sara pressed a finger to his lips. “You’re fine.”

  He took in his surroundings, settled his eyes on the stranger, then at Sara. A car rumbled up to the curb outside. Sara turned toward the window thinking the worst. It was a black car, mid- sized. Police? Two men climbed out. They were dressed in camo pants, green tee shirts and sported dark glasses and baseball caps. She breathed a sigh of relief. After making sure Doctor Engles could handle Dagger on her own, Sara walked through the reception area and out to the street.

  CHAPTER 34

  “Am I glad to see you two.” Sara hugged Simon, then Skizzy whose main source of contact was his computer so he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his arms. “You must have left the GPS on the Cobalt,” Sara told Skizzy.

  “Hey,” Simon interjected, “when it comes to Dagger, we can’t trust him not to walk into a pile of trouble.”

  “The doctor was very helpful.” Sara leaned in close. “But don’t use any names.”

  “Roger that,” Skizzy said but stopped abruptly when he saw the sign in the lawn. “You found him a horse doctor?”

  Simon hung back, checking the inside of the Cobalt. “Holy crap. Hope that wasn’t your blood.”

  He had the passenger side door open. Blood pooled on the seat, the door frame, and floor. “Aw, man,” Skizzy whined. “That was a sweetheart of a car.”

  Simon pulled the weapon from the back seat. “What the hell is…?” His finger accidentally hit the trigger, firing a flash of light. A tree thirty feet away toppled over, the trunk sizzling and smoking.

  “Suweeet!” Skizzy grabbed the weapon. “What the hell did you bring me, girlie?”

  “We’re hoping you can figure it out.”

  “My pleasure.” Skizzy caressed it like a new found kitten.

  “We had to detour around a huge sink hole about five miles back,” Simon said. “You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

  “Lots, but first we need to get out of here.”

  Simon followed Sara back into the hospital where Dagger was sitting up drinking orange juice. “Well, well. What have we got here.”

  Dagger scowled at him and continued drinking the juice. “This is Doctor Engles,” Sara said.

  Engles shook his hand. “And you are?” Engles prompted.

  Simon smiled. “Someone who is going to take your problem child off your hands.”

  “Of course.” Engles retrieved the empty glass from Dagger and headed for the door.

  Simon stopped her and held out his hand. “Sorry, can’t let you do that.” He p
ulled the glass from her hand.

  “I wasn’t going to…” Engles looked from Simon to Sara, then walked outside and crossed the lot to her house.

  “I don’t think I can sit in a car for that long ride home,” Dagger said, eyeing the compact sitting at the curb.

  “Nah, that’s just a shuttle to your Learjet,” Simon said.

  They got him outside and into the car just as Skizzy hauled his Land Warrior from the trunk. “What are you going to do?” Sara asked when she saw that Skizzy had pulled the Cobalt onto the drive next to the hospital’s door.

  “Destroy any and all evidence,” Simon said.

  Skizzy stood in the hospital’s doorway. A stream of napalm shot out of the modified machine gun. Next he torched the Chevy Cobalt. The car exploded in a ball of light. He shook his head with regret as his favorite car went up in flames. Doctor Engles came running out of her house.

  “What are you doing?” She clasped both hands over her mouth and took a step back from the heat. “That’s my hospital.”

  Simon looked apologetically at her and shrugged.

  “My God.” Engles’ legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. “Why?”

  Sara knelt in front of her and stared into her face. “No one can know we were here,” Sara said. “The clothes, the car, the blood evidence. It all has to be destroyed. But to avoid anyone asking questions, I would suggest you leave for Montana at your earliest possible convenience.”

  “Yeah,” Skizzy snarled, “like in the next ten minutes because my toy is all fired up and ready to destroy something else.” He looked toward the house.

  Engles gasped. “He’s kidding, isn’t he?” She looked again at Sara and pleaded with her eyes. No one said anything. Engles rose abruptly and stumbled to the house.

  Sara stood and watched her leave. Doctor Engles had been very helpful and now they were going to destroy the few things she valued in her life. Sara turned her attention to the Taurus. “That’s one of Dagger’s cars, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. Skizzy hacked into your front gate access code and we stole the car. Said since Dagger already had one of his, he was taking one of Dagger’s.”

  “Good, pop the trunk,” Sara ordered. Simon pushed a button on the fob and the trunk popped open. Sara pulled up the rug in the trunk then pulled out a satchel.

  Simon said, “You mean we been driving halfway across the country without a spare?”

  “Worse yet,” Sara smiled, “you’ve been driving with a quarter of a million dollars in the trunk.”

  Simon’s eyes widened and his jaw slacked.

  When Sara had stored clothes in each of Dagger’s cars, she had discovered by accident that Dagger supplied each of his vehicles with a satchel just so he had money should he need to get away quick. She walked up to the front door and knocked on the screen.

  Doctor Engles opened the door and stepped out. “Guess it’s a good thing I was pretty much packed. Just wasn’t planning to leave so soon. At least those bastards with the bulldozer won’t have the satisfaction of leveling my house.” She handed a slip of paper to Sara. “It’s a prescription for pain pills, should he need them.”

  “Thanks.” Sara handed Engles the satchel. “We want to thank you for your help and offer a little something to get your wildlife refuge up and running.”

  Engles hesitated, unsure of what she was being handed. She cautiously peered into the bag. “Hush money?”

  “Is it working?”

  Engles appeared to deliberate for several seconds. Then said, with a slight smile pulling at her lips, “I don’t remember a thing.”

  Sara turned and walked back to the car before Engles could change her mind.

  Simon and Skizzy helped the vet load the remaining boxes and suitcases into her van. They waited until she was several blocks away before Skizzy fired up his toy again. Once they were sure everything would burn, they high-tailed it out of there.

  Several miles down the road Skizzy steered the black Taurus up a ramp and into the back of a thirty-five foot motor home that was parked under an overpass. Simon and Skizzy helped Dagger into the motor home and settled in the back bedroom.

  “His color sure ain’t good,” Skizzy said.

  “Kinda looks like warmed over oatmeal, if you ask me.” Simon pulled pillows from an overhead compartment.

  Sara sat on the edge of the bed and placed the pillows behind Dagger’s back and head. Doctor Engles had said that Dagger might feel more comfortable sleeping sitting up. “Where did you get the motor home?”

  Skizzy just smiled. “Has all the comforts of home.”

  Simon tossed a blanket onto the bed. Nodding toward Dagger he said, “What’s he doing?”

  Dagger’s body shook as though chilled. “The doctor said he might show signs of shock. We just need to keep him warm.” But there was something else going on. His eyes were open but moving slowly from left to right and back, as though reading a teleprompter. Sara realized it was the same reaction he had when standing in front of the computer monitor. Had the computer been spitting out subliminal messages?

  Skizzy stepped closer. “Looks like he’s communicating with the mother ship.”

  Simon slowly straightened, his hands clenching and unclenching. “If you don’t get up there and get this boat in motion, I’m going to kick you from here to that mother ship.”

  Skizzy retreated to the front and soon had the motor home in gear.

  Simon braced himself against the doorway as the vehicle rocked onto the road. “You look like you could use some sleep, too,” he told Sara. “When you wake maybe you can come up front and fill us in on what happened, if you feel up to it.”

  Sara nodded. She couldn’t argue there. Although she should be feeling a lot worse than she did after losing four pints of blood, she still wasn’t back to normal. But were Simon and Skizzy ready to hear what happened one mile underground?

  CHAPTER 35

  Sara caught the phone on the first ring. “How’s our boy doing?” Simon asked.

  “He’s been sleeping for two days. Guess his body still needs time to recuperate. He lost a lot of blood.” Sara had explained everything on the drive home but played down the part about Dagger’s injuries. She didn’t want any curious eyes wanting to see scars he didn’t have.

  “Well, Skizzy has some interesting theories he’s trying to prove.”

  Sara held up the morning paper which pictured Cardinal Esrey and Donald Thomas in an exclusive written by Sheila. “I’m surprised Skizzy has had time after the hatchet job he did on Father Thomas. Or I should say Mister Thomas, or whatever his name is.”

  “He’s like a kid in a candy shop. For one thing that plasma gun is years ahead of its time. Skizzy could’t even find a prototype when he hacked into the military web sites. He thought it might also be argon gas, microwave or electromagnetic pulse. He checked those two BettaTec satellites and neither one was homed in on that missile silo in Nebraska. Guess BettaTec did assume it was already destroyed so why monitor it. And the reports of an earthquake and sinkhole were just another ho hum news report.”

  Sara heard water running in Dagger’s bedroom and quickly said her good-byes promising to let Simon know when Dagger was well enough for visitors. She heated up a mug of chicken broth in the microwave, grabbed a spoon, then carried it to Dagger’s room. Pressing an ear to the door, she confirmed sounds of movement, knocked softly, and carefully nudged the door open with her elbow.

  Dagger was standing in front of the bed shoving clothes into a suitcase with one hand, the other hand gripping a cane Simon had given him. He was dressed in gym shorts, his hair wet and dripping beads of water on his shoulders. Dagger had removed the tape from around his ribs. Sara was surprised Dagger had been able to stand long enough to take a shower. Dagger looked up, then quickly turned away and hobbled over to the dresser. A tightness radiated through her chest. She shook it off and walked over to the bed. Dagger always did travel light. He had packed a shaving kit, some slacks and underwear. D
agger hobbled over with several black tee shirts.

  Sara set the cup and spoon on the nightstand. “Sit and drink your soup. I’ll finish that.” She removed the shaving kit and returned it to the bathroom. “Simon called.” She told him about their conversation, the article on the front page about Father Thomas and the story buried on page sixteen regarding the suspected earthquake. She returned to the bed and pulled the black tee shirts from the suitcase.

  Dagger leaned on the cane as he sipped the hot broth, all the while watching her movements. “Sara, you’re supposed to put the clothes in, not take them out. You saw the computer do a retina scan. They know I’m still alive.”

  Sara placed the tee shirts back in the dresser drawer. She saw the cane tremble under Dagger’s hand. “I think you better lie down before you fall down. You need another week or two to get your strength back. Then if you still want to leave, I’ll help you pack.” Just saying the words twisted that knife in her heart.

  Dagger gave up and sat on the bed. He seemed to watch her with resignation. That warmed over oatmeal color Simon had described was still evident in Dagger’s face. “How’s Einstein?”

  “Quiet, nervous. I had to assure him you were here by bringing him in to see you while you slept. He dropped a cheese curl on your bed.”

  Dagger smiled. “I think I might miss him.”

  Sara ignored his comment. “Do you recall how long after you met me and Grandmother that you thought BettaTec had managed to get their two satellites in orbit?”

  Dagger rubbed a shaky hand over his face. A stubble was growing and it would be thick in a day or two if he didn’t take a razor to it. “Yeah, about three or four months. Why?”

  “A month before we met you Grandmother took off her necklace and restrung it. This time she used strands of copper wire. All she would tell me was that it needed to be safer which I thought was an odd term for her to use. I remembered this after the clasp broke outside of Skizzy’s shop. For those brief few seconds when the necklace fell to the ground, you were exposed. Then we stepped into Skizzy’s shop with his copper lined walls.” Sara smiled at how Skizzy’s phobia just might have saved Dagger’s life. Dagger was paying close attention now. “Then Doc Akins came by, removed part of that chip and was taking it to California when…” They didn’t have to be reminded of what happened to Akins. “Anyway, Skizzy repaired the necklace, practically soldered it onto your neck, no clasp, no reason to lose it unless you get into an accident and someone in an ER somewhere cuts it off, which is probably why you should never be out of my sight,” she added under her breath.