I peek around to the cave entrance. Sure enough. There is Sheriff Dan and his deputy standing on the edge of the trees with their guns pointed in the air. They walk twenty feet toward the helicopter and stop.
“Justin!” the sheriff yells.
He doesn’t know that Justin, his pilot I bet, is no longer able to walk, talk, and turn on helicopter lights. All he knows is that upon returning from trying to shoot me in the cavern lake, he found Justin and his other deputy gone. I alluded on the phone that they were dead, but he doesn’t know that for sure. This is better than I thought.
He steps forward slowly, and yells even louder. “Justin! Speak up if that’s you!”
“Just a little bit closer,” I whisper.
He obeys. Three more steps. He points with his gun-free hand and the deputy goes far left. The sheriff stays close in. Vadik and Yulya are on the move, but they’re in the wrong position. I didn’t expect the men to split up like this. They can’t take them both down at the same time.
I shift my position to the other corner of the cage, but lose sight of the men because the helicopter is between me and them. I can see Sheriff Dan’s legs, however. I lie flat on the ground and wait.
As I expect, he steps up into the helicopter. Perfect! I jump up, run to the rear, and look around at the deputy. He is halfway between the helicopter and the tree line, his rifle still pointed in the air. I send the take-down order to Vadik.
Vadik appears from between a tree and a bush. He moves fast, staying low until the last second when he lifts up and drops his huge paws on the deputy’s shoulders. The deputy goes down face first with a scream and the explosion of the gun. Seconds later Vadik disappears back into the trees, carrying the deputy with him. Then there is silence until Sheriff Dan’s voice explodes from the door of the helicopter.
“Eddy!” His boots hit the dirt. “Eddy! Got damn it! What the hell you shooting at?”
As he moves in my direction I form up a new plan and step away from the helicopter, out into the open where he will be able to see me clearly if he turns and looks. He continues moving, clears the end of the helicopter, and stops. He is scanning the tree line in the direction that he last saw his deputy.
“Do not move, Sheriff,” I say.
He freezes, his gun still pointing straight up.
“That’s good. I didn’t want to startle you into shooting me. Nobody is with me and I am not armed. You can turn around.”
He turns around and looks at me. I’m standing with my legs slightly apart, my arms out from my sides so that he can see that my hands are empty. He is not going to shoot me without asking questions first . . . I hope.
He slowly brings his gun down to bear on me. “What are you doing?”
I look at the barrel of the gun, suck up some saliva, and swallow. “We need to talk.”
“You going to beg me to call off the hit on your sister?”
“No. I’m not going to beg you.” Yulya steps from the trees and gets low in the grass, though not low enough not to be seen if Sheriff Dan looks around. He is not going to look around because he doesn’t want to take his eyes off me.
“Eddy!” he calls again.
“Eddy can’t answer right now,” I say.
“What did you do with him?”
I smile. “Nothing that a few years of psychiatric counseling can’t fix,” I say. “Maybe some bruises . . . a puncture or two.”
Yulya is within twenty feet. The sheriff’s brow wrinkles. Ten feet.
“I’m not going to beg you to call off the hit, Sheriff. I’m going to order you to.”
His eyes open wide.
Now!
Yulya leaps the last few feet. The sheriff turns too late and falls under the big cat, his scream not unlike that of his deputy.
“Dan!” It’s Lester. Damn! I forgot about him and Sarge.
I run over to the sheriff and pick up his rifle. He is struggling to breathe; a huge paw rests heavily on his back. I remove the pistol that is strapped to his belt and throw it as far as I can.
“Eddy! What’s going on?” Lester is inching into the field into the strobe of the lights.
I pat the sheriff down and, sure enough, find a smaller gun strapped to his calf. I remove it and throw it away as well. I yank his phone off his belt and then back Yulya up a few feet. “Roll over,” I say to Sheriff Dan.”
He does and looks between me and my sabre-toothed cat. He is scared shitless, literally. He stinks.
“Answer Lester,” I say quietly. “Tell him you think you’ve broken your leg, and to get his ass over here and help you.”
He just looks at me.
“Somebody out here answer me!” Lester screams.
“Answer him now or I’ll have my friend here bite your arm off.”
He looks at Yulya, back at me, and then calls, “Les . . . Lester!”
I raise my eyebrows and dip my head at him.
“I . . . I think I broke my leg. Get your . . .”
“Ass,” I prompt.
“. . . ass over here. Help me!”
“Excellent. Don’t move. My kitty friend still knows about biting off arms.” I crawl to where I can see below the helicopter. Lester is about twenty feet this side of the cave entrance. He doesn’t look too good, maybe hasn’t been awake very long. Is Sarge awake?
He takes a couple of steps forward. “Where the hell are you?”
I start to move toward the sheriff to tell him what to say. He has it figured out. “By the helicopter! Under the tail.”
Good boy.
Lester moves forward, a slow, cautious step at a time, the strobe lighting his face every second or so. He is carrying a gun but it is pointed at the ground as though he doesn’t have the strength to hold it up. I send Roma around and watch for Sarge to appear.
Lester stops. He suspects something. “Dan?” He must see something. He raises his rifle, hears Roma behind him and turns. The gun goes off and Roma hits him hard, lifting him off his feet and carrying him almost to where Sheriff Dan lies before dropping him.
I run over and look down at the blood oozing through his shirt. He is still alive. I run my hands over Roma’s body, and then reach into his mind. He is okay. He was not shot.
“Watch them both,” I say to Yulya, more for the Sheriff’s sake than anything else. After shutting down the helicopter lights, I take Roma with me and head for the cave, approaching from the side so as not to be seen if Sarge is looking out. I stay in the trees, sneaking along quietly, using my feline sneak-up sense. It is to no purpose. Sarge is fast asleep on his bed roll, probably where they laid him when they dragged him in here. I find Lester’s duct tape and tape up Sarge’s hands and legs, and then go get Deputy Eddy. He suffered a broken arm, but didn’t lose his bowels like Sheriff Dan did. Vadik and I herd him into the cave where I tape him up. I’m not as gentle as I could be with his broken arm. Sweat breaks out on his forehead from the pain. I really don’t care.
Next is Lester’s turn. He has a couple of sizable punctures around his ribs, but he’ll live. He has a hard time getting to his feet. Roma provides some incentive, giving him the impression that he might want to taste more of him. He stumbles across the meadow and into the cave. More duct tape.
Not a word is said except for my instructions. Leaving Vadik and Roma to guard, I return to Yulya and the sheriff. He is not injured, and appears to have all his breathing and mental faculties back. The sight of him and Yulya reminds me of a mouse shaking in a corner while the household cat watches over him and drools.
“Sheriff Dan Grandy,” I say, “the man responsible for my mother’s death.”
“Rebecca Fucking Price. The kid responsible for fucking everything up. I didn’t kill your mother. She killed herself. You watched her do it.”
“Watch your mouth, Sheriff. I’m a young lady, and a minor at that. You’re supposed to present a positive and moral influence.”
He snorts.
“You’re the one who called Victor Vandermill who
forced my mother into deciding that sacrificing herself was the only way to save her family. You as good as lit the dynamite as far as I see it.” I bring out his sat-phone. “I’m going to give you a chance to redeem yourself. Who did you call to go after my sister?”
He laughs. “Redeem myself?”
“Tell me who you called and then do as I say, and you’ll live.”
“How do I know you aren’t going to kill me anyway?”
“Let’s put it this way. If you don’t tell me, and if you don’t do what I tell you to do exactly like I tell you, I will definitely kill you. Actually, I won’t personally kill you. Instead, I’ll give my friend here instructions to bite off little pieces and eat you slowly. At some point you will die. Who knows how long it’ll take.”
I let him digest that thought for a bit.
“Who did you call?”
“I didn’t call anyone. I was bluffing.” He is acting the cool and collected politician, despite his shitty stink. “I don’t hurt children.”
“Bullshit!”
“I’m telling the truth.”
I roll my eyes and then sit down cross-legged, five feet from him, put the phone in my lap, place my elbows on my knees, prop my chin in my hands, and focus on his aura. He is not as closed as Lester and Sarge, but resistant none-the-less. It takes some focus and concentration but I eventually reach into his mind and then say out loud, “Who did you call in Fort Worth?”
“I didn’t call anybody,” he says, but his mind pops up, Mick.
“Did you talk to Mick or leave a message on his voice mail?”
“I said that I didn’t call anyone.” He had to leave a message.
“What instructions did you leave on his voice mail?”
“I said I didn’t . . .”
“Shut up!” I leap to my feet and stomp away to try to control my anger. I turn and glare at him. “You called Mick and he didn’t answer. You left a message that ordered him to kill not only my sister, but my father and my Aunt Suzie.”
“No, I . . .”
“Shut up!” I clamp my mouth shut and reach into his mind. “You can’t hide anything from me; not even your thoughts.” His mouths drops open. I relish it. “Do you understand?”
He closes his eyes.
“Yes, I see that you do understand. Now you are going to do exactly as I say, word for word. I will know if you even think of saying or doing anything else.” I reach over and run my hand across Yulya’s forehead. “This is Yulya. He and I have this mental connection. I think it and he does it. He likes doing what I want, especially when it involves food. He was a little disappointed when I told him he couldn’t eat you, that all he could do was knock you down and hold you there. He’d be very happy if I tell him otherwise.
“Do you understand?”
He opens his eyes and nods.
“Very good. Here is what is going to happen. I’m going to dial Mick’s number and hand the phone to you. If his voice mail picks up you’ll leave a message countering your earlier one. You will say, ‘Mick, Grandy here. Forget my last order. Do not harm the Price family, or the Aunt.’ If Mick actually answers you’ll apologize for your previous order and you will cancel it. You’ll have a nice conversation and then hang up. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Let’s practice. Ring ring. Voice mail picks up. What do you say?”
He swallows. “Mick. This is Grandy. Forget about my last order. Leave the Price family alone.”
I tilt my head at him.
“And the aunt too. Leave them all alone.”
“Very good. Now, let’s do it for real.”
Chapter 39
May 6, 2009 – Wednesday
Under Yulya’s watchful eye, Sheriff Dan’s cooperation is amazing. We finish the call, leaving a voice mail, and then go to the cave. Yulya follows close. The sheriff’s aroma would fill the cave so I plop him down just outside and duct tape him to a tree.
“You’ll never get away with this.”
“What gives you that idea?” I ask.
“We’ll find you.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to be threatening me, Sheriff. I would have taken you to be smarter than that, though hooking up with Vandermill was really stupid. It is you who isn’t going to get away with this.” I hold up the phone. “I’ve got names and numbers, plus you four guys. When the FBI gets here, they get to have some fun.”
“Where are my pilot and my other deputy?”
I shrug. “I might have been able to stop that but I was busy having a swim and trying to dodge your bullets. A couple of my sabre-toothed cats caught them trying to put a mother cat and her kittens to sleep. Since it was about dinner time anyway, they decided to kill two birds with one bite, or two bites I guess you could say.”
I suddenly realize I’m being flippant over someone’s death. I turn away and look out. Despite the trees I can see at least a billion stars. How many do I have to wish on to bring my mother back, to make all this craziness go away?
I turn back around and squat down in front of Sheriff Dan. “I’m sorry about the pilot and deputy. They walked onto a mother and her kittens and paid the price. The cats would be very happy being left alone up here. It was not of their choice that they were brought out of extinction. Left by themselves, they will probably return.
“Your greed, Sheriff, has done nothing more than get a lot of people killed. Their blood, my mother’s blood, is all over your hands.”
He doesn’t look guilty. His mind doesn’t feel guilty. I shake my head. “Maybe I ought to let them have you.” I stand up and walk into the cave. His stink gags me.
After checking injuries and duct tape, I step out into the meadow and try to figure out how to call the phone that Sharon and group are carrying. Sure enough, there’s a listing for Lester. I dial it.
It rings three times, and then suddenly a heavy man’s voice says, “Hello.”
That definitely is not Matt’s voice. I hang up.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t the number to Lester’s sat-phone. Maybe that’s Lester’s number wherever he lives, and someone else is there now. I look through the phone book some more but see nothing I can identify as the phone that Sharon is carrying. I kick myself for not getting that number before they took off.
I walk around the meadow for a bit, thinking about that, and then dial my dad’s number. He answers on the first ring with a simple, “Hello.” I can’t believe how good it is to hear his voice.
“It’s me, Dad.”
“What the hell is going on up there?”
“I—”
“Damn it, Rebecca! Can’t you leave well enough alone?”
“I—”
“Haven’t you gotten enough people killed already?”
I can’t say anything. My eyes start burning.
“Rebecca!”
Before I know it I’m choking on my sobs, sucking in huge goblets of snot. “I . . . I’m sorry.” I wipe tears from my eyes long enough to find the end button, press it, and then collapse to the ground in a sobbing puddle.
After a few minutes of feeling sorry for myself, I wipe my face clean, and then slowly rise and walk back into the cave, past four sets of male eyes, barely registering that Sarge is awake. I don’t stop until I’m touching Mom’s plaque. I sit down and pull my knees up to my chest, rest my head, and try to let the roar of the falls drive out my agony. It doesn’t help. My thoughts sneak through. I want to talk to Mom, but there is nothing to say. Dad said it all.
Haven’t you gotten enough people killed already?
The words keep playing in my head like I’m still on the phone with him and he just keeps repeating it, over and over and over again. I want to be angry with him, but I can’t. He is so right . . . so damn right.
I wipe my eyes clear, start to dial Dad again, and then stop. There is no satellite signal inside the mountain.
Roma steps up next to me.
I stare at the phone and consider going out
to where I can call Dad again. What would I say? He’d harangue me some more, I’d burst into tears, and then I’d hang up again. What’s the point? I should at least let him know that he and Christi aren’t in danger any more.
Roma paces away and then comes back and looks at me.
I should call him, even if only for that reason. And then what? After this is all over should I go back home or back to Bozeman. Bozeman is my home, now. I’m not wanted in Texas. Haven’t you gotten enough people killed already? I’ll call him.
Roma stops his pacing only long enough to look at me for a few seconds.
I don’t move. I can’t get myself to stand. I bury my face in my knees.
Roma hits me with his head and I nearly fall into the water. “What!” I probe his mind.
Holy shit! There are men coming.
I jump up to run out but get only as far as the rise where I can look down into the camp where I left three of the bad guys, and at the entrance where I left Sheriff Dan strapped to a tree. There are now three more men. Their high beam flashlights bounce about the angry faces. One of the men disappears into the foliage of the trees, to cut Sheriff Dan loose I assume. All of a sudden Matt, Mandi and Sharon appear, their hands tied behind their backs. A fourth man follows with a gun trained on them. My heart sinks to my toes.
Sheriff Dan appears and points my way. He’s telling them where I have gone. I’m in the pitch black dark, so I’m not worried about being seen. I’m the only one with cat eyes.
And then two powerful lights swing my way, and here I am. I might as well be wearing a blinking sign on my face. Not waiting to see if they shoot at me this time, I drop out of sight. Shit to hell! Not again!
“Time to go, Roma!” I say as I rush back toward the cold mountain lake. I turn the corner, judge my foot plants to the very last one, launch with all of my cat strength, point my body into a dive and brace for the frigid shock.
Chapter 40
Sabre-Toothed Cat Trilogy Page 109