I crawl over to Mom and Dad, and put my hand on Mom’s. Dad follows with his on mine.
Nick appears, and then Sean. “Sammy!” Vandermill yells. “Lester!”
Twenty seconds tick by and there’s no Baldy or Black Beard. Dad and I look at each other. No words or thoughts pass, but I know what we’re both thinking.
“Lester!” Vandermill yells again. I can’t see him now as he has moved out into the field. “Sammy!”
Give up, I want to call to him. They’re fresh kitty food now. Then there is Baldy’s blustery voice; something with “Sorry, Boss,” at the beginning, and then, “. . . taking a piss.”
“You two, take them back down below.” Vandermill’s voice doesn’t sound very pleased. “Sean. Nick. Get back out here.”
Sean gives me a look and then follows Nick out. Baldy and Black Beard come in. “Let’s go!” Baldy orders and reaches down to grab my arm.
I jerk it away. “He didn’t say you could touch me.”
“I can do whatever I want,” he says as he places an iron clamp on my ankle. I try to kick away but he already has me half off the ground.
“Bullshit!” I scream from my upside-down position.
He grins at Black Beard. “Wiggly as shit. Like trying to land a two hundred pound shark.”
“Sammy!” Vandermill is suddenly standing just inside.
Baldy drops me. I consider giving him a swift jab in the knee cap. The angle is just right.
“What the hell you doing?”
“Just having some fun, Boss.”
“I told you to take them down below. That means escort them. That doesn’t mean drag them down. If you hurt any of them without my direct order, it’ll be the last fun you have.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Vandermill looks at me. For a second I think he’s going to apologize or something. Instead, still looking at me, but addressing Baldy, he says, “I’d be careful around her if I was you. She’s a little fireball. She doesn’t take kindly to being fondled. Ask Randall about that when you get down there.” With that he turns around and walks out.
Baldy looks around and then asks Black Beard, “What about Randall? Where the hell is he anyway?”
Black Beard shrugs.
I stand up and prepare to help Mom and Dad up.
“What was he talking about Randall?” Baldy says.
I turn around and get about twelve inches from his face. I’m tall for a girl, and he’s short for a guy, so we’re almost eye-to-eye. “He touched me, so I killed him.”
Zach
Every time Becky does something that gets these guys going, I’m lying down. By the time I struggle to get up and do my fatherly duty and protect my daughter, it’s either over or someone is shooting a gun. This time it is Sammy. He has Becky by the foot and is waving his gun in the air like she’s his prize. Vandermill steps in and stops it before I can get moving. After he walks out I realize that Sammy and Lester don’t know about Randall.
Sammy says to Lester, “What about Randall? Where the hell is he anyway?” Lester stands there with a stupid look on his face. Can he talk at all? I’ve not heard him say a word yet.
Sammy rewords his question to Becky, who is just getting back to her feet. “What does he mean, ask Randall?”
Becky turns square around to face him. “He touched me, so I killed him.”
Where has she gotten this attitude? I get to my feet, though I have no idea what I’m going to do. Sammy’s jaw is hanging open, not sure if he should believe her. I grab Becky and force her to step back, and then I get in between the two of them.
Sammy doesn’t seem to be taking her statement seriously. He laughs. “Tough little girl,” he says to her over my shoulder. “Throw a threat and then stand behind your daddy.” He laughs again. “Had a woman like that one time. We’d go into a bar and she’d start something with the biggest guy in there. Damn I hated that woman. I got in more got damn fights that way.”
Lester comes around Sammy and says, “Let's go.” His voice is soft, hardly much more volume than mine.
Sammy ignores him and lays on a grin. Becky comes around to my side. I hold out my arm to restrain her. Sammy adds to his story. “One day she went too far, or I got too tired of it . . .” His grin is replaced by a hard mean look that is directed straight at her. “. . . so I killed her.”
Lester grabs his arm and pulls him back a step.
I start breathing again. My legs are like rubber. I turn to help Becky get Tanya to her feet.
“I don’t think I can make it,” Tanya says. She is propped between us.
“You have to, Mom. When we get down there you have to eat something, and drink some water.”
“And you have to stop doing this,” Tanya says.
“Doing what?”
“This . . . this thing with making these guys mad.”
We start moving. Three wide at first, giving Tanya support.
“You’re one to talk, Mom,” Becky whispers angrily at her. “You’re the one who decked Matt’s dad just because he grabbed your arm. And he wasn’t even trying to assault you. Randall had his tongue stuck down my throat, and his hand . . . you know where his hand was. What was I going to do; let him have his way with me right in front of you guys? Maybe he would have been a gentleman and taken me behind some rocks.”
“He almost killed you.”
“And rape would have been better?”
“You’d have been alive.”
“Mom!” Becky turns her body to place her face right in front of Tanya’s. “Look at me! I am alive!”
Tanya says nothing. She is right. Becky came to within a heartbeat of being shot in the back, or I would have intervened, and who knows what would have happened after that. I’d probably be dead and he’d still have had his way with Becky, and maybe Tanya too.
We continue on in silence, Sammy and Lester about twenty feet behind us.
Chapter 72
Reba
Mom pisses me off sometimes! Can’t she just accept that it worked out; that I’m not dead; that we’re all still alive; that I didn’t get raped? We should be worrying about what’s going to happen next, not arguing over the past, over things we can’t change. I mean, she’s done some stupid things herself. Her back wouldn’t be in bad shape now if she hadn’t of attacked Sam and forced me to tackle her. That was crazy and she had to be stopped. I ought to bring that up to her. And flying up here because she didn’t trust Dad to find me. That had to be the stupidest move of all that started this whole thing. This whole thing is really her fault.
Sure I came up here without permission, but that was innocent. It’s Mom’s reaction that triggered all the rest. Everything would have been hunky dory otherwise. I would have called and said I was okay, called them every day as a matter of fact. I knew they’d be worried. I’d have hung around with Sam for a few weeks, or a month, and she would have eventually let me see one of the sabre-toothed cats, and then I would have gone home with my mission accomplished. I would have had a great summer to remember. Now it’s the summer from hell.
Mom has always been the over-reactor. If I was home five minutes late from a friend's house, she’d meet me at the door with a look as though I’d robbed a gas station. Dad never worried unless it was at least a half hour. The time I got my bellybutton pierced, it was as though I’d gotten a giant ring on my lip. Dad thought it was cute. When I turn eighteen, I’m getting my belly button pierced again. Maybe even my tongue, too. She can’t stop me then.
And this thing with Randall. I was expecting her to blame me for starting it. That’s what she always does when Christi and I get in a fight. It’s always my fault because I’m the oldest and should know better. Bullshit on that. She’s older than all of us so she should know better than to take a club to someone who her husband had a little bitty affair with eight years ago, and who we need in order to get out of this mess that she herself started.
Shit to hell she has no right to come down on me. Her ass would have
been dead at least once already if not for me. I ought to reach into her mind and tell her so. I just may once we get settled again.
We stop where we can see down into the bottom of the cavern . . . Sam’s living room. At first I only glance, more intent on my foot placement as we realign ourselves to put Mom between Dad and me. As my eyes find my feet, my mind registers that there is someone down there, lit by two burning torches. My head jerks up. It is Sam and she’s on one knee next to Simon, her back to us. I want to call out a warning, but maybe Baldy and Black Beard haven’t seen her yet. I sidestep as gracefully as I can and kick a rock. It sails about ten feet before bouncing over the edge and down the slope, all the way to the bottom.
Sam whips around. At first she is only intent on the rock. She looks back and forth, and then follows where the rock came from, until she sees us.
Diversion! I need to create a diversion to keep our escorts from spotting her; give her a chance to get away.
“Oww!” I complain, and then limp off to the side as though I just turned an ankle. The diversion works beautifully, but with the wrong person. Dad rushes over to me, not having seen Sam himself. Mom sees her, and does nothing but stare. Baldy and Black Beard pay absolutely no attention to me. Instead they walk up next to Mom to see what she is looking at.
Baldy reacts first. He fires a shot into the air, points it down at her and yells, “Don’t move or I’ll kill you!” Black Beard runs down the path.
I’m sorry, Sam, I call to her. She must still have me blocked out because I get no response. Black Beard arrives and points his gun at her. She sits down.
Baldy turns to us with his weapon and says, “Go!”
And so we go. Dad takes Mom’s hand and walks ahead of her, giving her support. I follow, offering her my hand. She ignores me.
Fine! I hope you fall on your ass.
The going is slow with Mom stopping and thinking with almost every step. It’s not really that steep, but with loose flat rocks, and her tentative balance, it might as well be. At the switchback I go around, my impatience and eagerness to talk to Sam hurrying me on ahead. I give Black Beard no more than a sideways glance as I drop down next to Sam.
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“Not your fault. I’m not too sure what I was thinking when I came in here. Needed to see Simon, I guess.”
I lower my voice to a whisper. “Can we talk in private?”
Sure.
Thank you. What happened to Matt?
She takes a deep breath and looks up at the ceiling. He’s alive . . . but.
But what?
He took out two of the guys, but received two bullets for his effort. One blew out a knee cap. The other shattered a rib and exited out his back. No vital organs, but he’s lost a lot of blood.
Where is he?
Across the creek from their camp. There was no way I was going to move him. I’ve got him bandaged, and as comfortable as I could. Left him with a sabre-toothed guard.
Mom and Dad are almost to the bottom. I wait until they get close and then straighten out the sleeping bag. As Dad starts to help her settle, I present my hand. She throws me the look. I sit back down next to Sam.
I think about Matt, and start to cry. If we don’t get out of this alive, he’s dead too. He may be dead anyway considering the amount of time it’d take to get someone in here to carry him out. And I like him; could like him a lot despite all his problems. I pull my knees up to my chest and bury my face to hide my tears. I don’t want Mom thinking I’m crying because she’s angry with me. There’s no way I’m going to give her that.
The next time I look up, Vandermill and Baldy are coming down the path. Sam is lying on her back, her hat on her face. Is she asleep, thinking, or talking to her cats?
Sam.
What?
He’s here.
Isn’t that wonderful. He’s not getting a cheery greeting from me.
What are you going to do? I wait many seconds for an answer. It doesn’t come. Sam?
I don’t know, Reba. Silence please while I think.
She might get silence from me, but Vandermill has a different plan. He walks up and kicks her foot. “Nice hat.”
“Go to hell,” the hat says softly. No anger. She could have been giving directions to a tourist and ended it with, “Have a nice day.”
“Not the greeting I’d hoped for.”
Sam sits up and laughs. “Shit happens.” She puts her hat on. “And you’re the shit.”
The grin that grows on Vandermill’s face is dripping with anger. “I saved your life, Aileen, and then gave you everything you possibly needed. Why did you hurt me?”
“I didn’t hurt you, and it’s not Aileen. It’s Samantha Sikorski. Ms Sikorski to you. I left to go after what you never could or would give me.”
He looks perplexed.
“My freedom. Yes, you saved my life, which, by the way, I nearly lost because of you. I paid my price for too many years as your slave.”
“I protected you.”
Sam opens her mouth for her next comeback. Something on her face changes. A few seconds pass by and then she says, “Yes. You did.” The words are said in a way that it sounds like she is giving in, accepting that she will return to him. I try to reach in, to tell her to resist, not to give in, but she has thrown up her wall again.
“That’s what I want to hear,” Vandermill says.
Shit to hell! What is she doing?
“I’ll go back with you,” she says, “but on one condition.”
He raises his eyebrows. “And that is?”
“You let these guys go, and pay their medical expenses. They may go to the FBI, but what’s that going to change? The Feds are already looking for you, and these guys have no idea where to find you. I haven’t told them anything and I’m certainly not going to if you agree.”
“What’s to keep you from bolting again in the near or far future?”
“My word,” Sam says without a pause.
I both hate and like this. I hate that she is acquiescing so easily. I do like the fact that we may all live through this . . . if he agrees. How bad could it possibly be for her? She may not be free, but she’ll live in mansions, probably exotic places. Was he serious about his island?
Still . . . she is giving in too easy.
Vandermill paces. He is actually considering it.
“If you think about it,” Sam says, “I left soon after my mother passed away. She was the only thing holding me to you. I knew that the first thing you’d do was go after her to find me. Once she passed away, I had nothing you could link me to. It was easy to disappear. Now, with Zach and his family, all of whom I care a great deal about, you can hold on to me. I will not run as long as I fear you’d take it out on them. And as long as you don’t hurt them, I’ll not run.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?”
“Yes. I give my vow. I relinquish the remainder of my life to you.”
Shit all to hell! It sounds like a wedding ceremony.
“No!” Mom’s voice rises out of nowhere. “Don’t you place that guilt on me.”
Sam’s head snaps around. She says nothing out loud, but from the look on Mom’s face and her suddenly huge eyes, I think Sam told her where to stick her opinion.
Mom returns to her quiet state. Mom never gives in that easy either. What’s going on here?
“Well?” Sam says to Vandermill. “Is it a deal or not?”
Vandermill stares at her, saying nothing.
“It’s a win-win situation. As a business man, you can appreciate that.”
“I’ve already lost seven men. That’s not exactly a win.”
“Since when did you start getting concerned about anyone’s death?”
“They were assets. They’re hard to replace. Five of them had families. I’m obligated to take care of them.”
“Drop them each a million. Isn’t that what you usually do?”
He doesn’t deny it. He turns away and looks about th
e cavern, contemplating whether to let us live or not. Sam and Mom are looking at each other. I try to reach in but Sam still has her wall up against me. Frustrated, I reach into Mom. Another wall.
What the hell is going on? Is Mom able to put up a block or did Sam do it for her? She’s letting Sam in, so what am I? Dog dirt?
They break off, and Sam turns her attention back to Vandermill. “While you’re at it, throw in a million for these guys. They deserve it for the shit you’ve put them through.”
Vandermill smiles. “Sure. Why not.”
“Then we have a deal?”
Black Beard is the only one paying attention, expectantly watching the exchange. Baldy is holding the blanket up so he can see Randall’s body. He drops the blanket and looks at me. I want to stick out my tongue, put my thumbs in my ears and wiggle my fingers at him. I resort to decorum and just stick out my tongue. He gives me the finger.
Vandermill points his face back at Sam and says, “We have a deal.”
They have a deal and we have no say in it. And then there is something like a sudden thought rising from some kind of revelation, a part of my psychic awareness, or a reading off of the almost invisible aura that they put out in this dim torch light. I don’t know where it comes from but it hits me so hard, I nearly lose my breath. Neither of them is telling the truth.
Vandermill is going to kill us anyway.
Sam has no intention of keeping her vow.
And Mom’s in on it.
Chapter 73
Reba
“One thing, though,” Sam says to Vandermill. “I’d like to talk to you alone.”
Why? I ask myself.
Mom has pulled both legs up so that her feet are flat on the ground. One at a time she is pulling her knees up to her chest. It is one of her exercises for her back. She looks exhausted. She should be on her side, curled into a ball. She’s acting as though she is getting ready to get up and clean house.
Vandermill looks around. “There’s nowhere to go.”
“Let these guys go up to the chopper. I assume Zach is going to fly it since Ace is dead.”
Vandermill laughs. “You’re really taking me for a fool, aren’t you? He gets in that bird with his family, starts it up and flies away, leaving you and me behind. I’m not that stupid.”
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