by A. D. McLain
Nicole pushed her glasses back up on her nose and tried to draw her attention back to the meeting, which was almost over. She was restless, felt as if she should be doing something. By the grumbling around her, it was obvious everyone else was frustrated and restless, too. As she stood to leave, she noticed John walking toward her. The dim lighting made his short brown hair and blue eyes appear darker than usual and as he drew closer, she was reminded just how tall he was. She was wearing her platform boots, and he was still taller than she was. He possessed a face to match his impressive height, square and hard, but his eyes were so warm a person couldn’t help liking him. His features communicated a great sens of power and charisma and Nicole thought he looked more like a CEO than the college senior he was. She could understand why her parents had given him so many responsibilities.
John Markham had done a lot of work for the SES while her parents were alive, and had taken on even more responsibilities after their deaths, and she was grateful for all his help. He’d almost been a second son to her parents, he was just a few years younger than Billy and unlike her wayward brother, John actually shared their interests. During some of those late night and weekend planning sessions, when John spent so much time over at the house, it had almost seemed like having a brother again.
She pushed aside an unwelcome pang of jealousy. It wasn’t John’s fault he’d fit in with them so well, where her and Billy always struggled. It was probably for the best, anyway. At least someone was able to carry on their work, as they deserved. During those first few weeks after the accident, Nicole hadn’t wanted to deal with anyone or anything. Not that she would have been much help anyway – when her parents were alive, she’d come to some meetings and listened to her parents discussing their work, but Nicole didn’t know the first thing about running the organization. Without John, she didn’t know how the SES would have stayed operational.
John flashed a half smile. “Nicole, hey, how’s it going?”
She shrugged. “Oh, it’s going. And you?”
“Oh, I’m good.” John shifted from foot to foot and Nicole smiled reassuringly. Despite her brave front, he’d been a little nervous lately when he spoke to her, as if he didn’t want to say the wrong thing. He had tried his best over the last couple of months to make sure Nicole didn’t have to worry about anything to do with the SES and seemed reluctant to bother her in the few times he had needed to ask her something. This seemed like another one of those times.
“Was there something you wanted?” she prompted.
“Yeah, um… I’ve been talking to some of the others. We decided we need some photos of the river and the surrounding wildlife on file, along with the soil and water samples we’ve been collecting, and we were wondering if you could take the photos, since you’ve got that really good camera..”
“Sure, I’d be happy to.” Nicole smiled. At least this would be doing something constructive. “When do you need them?”
“You’re sure it’s no trouble?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” She rested her hands on her hips in an indignant fashion. This china doll treatment was going to have to stop – sure, she was a wreck, but he didn’t need to know that. “So, when do you need them?”
“There’s no hurry. In the next week or so should be fine.”
“No problem.”
“Hey, John,” a voice called from across the room and John turned to seek the source of the voice. A woman with long blonde hair and a pink flower printed skirt and matching top was waving at him.
John turned back briefly to Nicole. “I gotta go. Katie needs a ride home, her car is in the shop. I’ll see you later, and thanks for doing the picture thing.” John turned and started navigating his way through the crowd.
Nicole quickly went over her schedule in her head, trying to determine when she would have time to take the photos. She was meeting Meg for lunch after she left the meeting, but after that, she had the entire afternoon free. She did have a report due tomorrow, but that would only take an hour or two to finish. She could do it after she’d taken the photos. John had said there was no hurry, but she was anxious to do something constructive. She glanced at her watch. It was almost time for lunch, so she left the SES building and headed to the diner. Maybe this day wouldn’t be such a total waste, after all.
David followed Nicole for a few minutes before he turned down a different street, where tall trees surrounded the road on both sides. He hadn’t been in this area in a long time, and a lot had changed since then, but he took sure steps towards his destination.
The old tree was still there. He was amazed it hadn’t been cut down by now. A new, modern house stood where the old one had been. This house was built of brick, and he could see a heating and cooling unit against one side wall. He tried to remember what the old house had looked like. It had been old, even then and was practically falling apart. He could still remember the trail of smoke which drifted up from the fireplace. Instead of a heating and cooling unit, there’d been a big pile of wood. Maybe, if the house had been made of something other than wood, they would have stood a chance.
“Can I help you?”
David turned to the old man behind him. He hadn’t even noticed his approach. That alone told him how much this was getting to him. “No, I was just… my family used to live on this land.”
The man seemed surprised. “My family has lived here for close to two hundred years, or more.”
“Do you know anything about the people who had it before that?”
The stranger looked skyward, rubbing his stubbled chin. “Hum. As a matter of fact, I do happen to know a little bit about them. If I remember correctly, they died in some kind of fire. I don’t remember their name, but my father told me about it when I was young. He said it was one of the worst fires this county has ever seen. The whole place was burned to the ground in less than an hour, with the family still inside. He used to tell me the story to keep me from playing with matches. He said if it had happened once, it could happen again.”
David fought to keep his emotions from becoming visible on his face and forced a smile. “So, did it work?”
“You tell me. I became a firefighter.” The old man barked out a short laugh and slapped his leg.
The smile on David’s face was the first genuine one in a long time. This man seemed nice enough. It was somewhat comforting to know something good had come out of this place. “Thank you for your time. I’d better be going.”
Before he could take more than a couple of steps, the man called out. “Hey son! Are you related to that family?”
David felt the swelling of regret and sadness hit him again. “Yeah.” This time he heard a little bit of emotion revealed by the harshness in his tone.
“Gee, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope things work out better for you than they did for them.”
“Thanks.” He hurried away, before the man could ask any more questions. Walking farther down the street, David forced himself not to look back.
His steps slowed once he neared the graveyard. He didn’t want to go in, but he found himself walking in that direction anyway. It was crazy, he didn’t even know where they were buried. He turned to leave the graveyard and stubbed his toe on a loose rock which he hadn’t noticed before. He glared down at the rock angrily, it was large and had no place in a graveyard. Really, they should keep the grounds clear of hazards like this. If they had any respect for the dead, they’d take better care of the place.
He scanned the nearby area, realizing there were no other rocks like this on the ground, only neatly-mown grass. Obviously it was an isolated case, an anomaly – not the product of mass neglect and disrespect. He calmed down and bent over to pick it up, noticing the name on the tombstone in front of him as he straightened up.
He froze in place. It couldn’t be. He read the name and dates closely and reread it again. There was no mistake. This was his father’s grave. He surveyed the nearby area, quickly finding the other graves and his legs buckled, bringing h
im to his knees in front of them like a man awaiting judgment. But there was no judgment to be delivered; there was no redemption in this place, no forgiveness or benediction. There was nothing to assuage his guilt over failing them.
After a long while, he got to his feet. There were no answers for him here. He didn’t even know why he’d come back here, to this side of town. He’d been fine on the outskirts of the city, miles away from the nearest subdivision or stores, away from everyone. The only time he ever needed to see anyone was when he did the occasional security consultation, other than that he was blissfully alone, exactly how he liked it. If it hadn’t been for that damned dream about Nicole, that’s exactly where he’d still be, but he owed it to Richard to ensure she was okay. She had certainly looked fine earlier. He was crazy to let a dream get to him like that – she was fine.
Still, he couldn’t leave town without making sure.
2
Nicole stepped around a pile of wooden fence stakes held together with twisted wire and bent rusted nails. Sheet metal leaned up against the rotted remains of a wooden bench and picnic table. With broken down buildings and tetanus filled piles of trash overtaken by vines, rodents, and reptiles, this wasn’t the area of the river most people saw.
She knelt beside the riverbank and took another photo, careful to center the image and adjust for lighting. Everyone teased her about her film camera, saying she should switch to digital, but she was always the first one they called when they needed high quality photographs. Nicole glanced around, seeking her next shot. How could anyone question the fact that something terrible was happening to the lake and the surrounding area? All the plant life around the lake’s edge was wilting and dying. There had also been many cases of illness reported from people who swam downstream during the summer.
Besides those signs of pollution, an obvious warning of trouble was the orange-red coating beginning to collect on the surface of the water. That could only mean something was being leaked or dumped into the river and connecting lake. It would only get worse, unless someone did something. Maybe when the water and soil samples came back from the lab, the SES could do something. They would have already had the results, if the test facility hadn’t mysteriously burned down with earlier samples inside at the time. After that it was her parents’ accident, putting things on hold for quite some time. They were finally doing something again, but the new samples needed to be sent off to a test facility located several hours away, and with a long list of specimens to test before they would get to the SES samples.
Nicole leaned against the side of an old, abandoned warehouse while she took one final picture. The wind was blowing, enough to move the leaves in the trees, and making for a very nice picture, if you overlooked the signs of pollution. The breeze felt good, cooling her off a little and a welcome relief in the unseasonably warm weather.
She snapped another photograph and stiffened. She could hear low sounds coming from inside the warehouse, which sounded like voices, but why would anyone be out here? These buildings weren’t used by anyone, they were practically condemned. She walked around to the other side of the building, following the noises until they were loud enough to confirm they were voices, though she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She searched the immediate area and located a spot where there was a hole in the wood, an oddly-shaped opening between two planks in the wall. It wasn’t large, just big enough to see through. Bracing her hands against the wall, she leaned closer and peered in through the small opening.
It was dark inside, and it took a minute for her eyes adjust, but when they did, she was able to make out at least five people standing inside the abandoned building. Three of the men carried battery powered lanterns and moved around the back of a work truck parked near the far wall. The other two men stood in front of the light provided from the truck’s headlights. Nicole recognized one of the men right away and experienced a rush of excitement. It was Rodney Steagel, the Vice President of Steagel & Company. Rodney was also the nephew of the President of the company, George Steagel. Nepotism was obviously alive and well in this particular company.
Rodney wasn’t the picture of leadership his title suggested in this instance, dressed as he was in a Hawaiian shirt, black leather pants, and wearing several gold necklaces around his thick neck. They gleamed whenever they caught any stray beams of light in the abandoned building. He had long dark hair, and teeth which were just crying out for the attention of a dentist, which was surprising, considering how much money his family had.
That money hadn’t stopped Rodney from leading a particularly shady life, complete with numerous run ins with authorities. Even though he’d been in regular trouble with the law, his uncle’s considerable influence and money always kept Rodney out of jail. Nicole suspected if his uncle would get out of the way and let his nephew pay for his own mistakes, everyone would be better off. Steagel & Co. was a reputable business, before he he’d taken over. Rodney Steagel had no respect for anyone – least of all his family – whose good name and company he was running into the ground.
While Nicole watched, Rodney directed the other men while they loaded huge barrels into the back of a truck. The labels on the barrels read, ‘Caution, Toxic Materials’.
Nicole’s heart beat faster. This was her chance. Even if she couldn’t prove they were dumping the toxins, she could prove the fact that Rodney Steagel and his henchmen had the toxins near the lake. Up until now, he’d been denying even that fact. This might be just the kind of evidence they needed to stop him. Nicole held the camera to the small hole and started snapping pictures. “Nancy Drew, eat your heart out,” she murmured to herself.
She got several clear shots of the barrels, and some photos of the men helping Rodney. Unfortunately, Rodney was never standing where she could get a clear picture of him. If she couldn’t get a photo of him with the barrels she wouldn’t be able to prove he’d been there. On the other hand, if she got caught, none of the pictures could be used, and even if she didn’t have a photograph of him, some of those other men could lead the police back to Rodney. Something was better than nothing. She was about to give up when he finally moved into her line of sight. She triumphantly snapped one last picture and quickly started to curse silently when her camera began to rewind the film, loudly.
“Hey, what’s that noise out there?” one of them men cried.
Nicole scrambled backwards, nearly falling, stumbling over her own feet in her hurry, and ran as fast as she could back through the building toward the treeline.
She was instantly struck by how dark it had gotten. Preoccupied with getting a photograph of Rodney with the barrels, she hadn’t noticed the sun setting. She noticed it now, though, barely able to see where she was going. Somehow, she made it as far as the woods. Shadows crowded in around her from every side, making each step a risk, because she had neither the light nor the time to see where her feet were landing. She only prayed she wouldn’t hit a dip in the ground at a bad angle and twist an ankle, or worse.
Branches scraped her, catching and pulling on her hair and clothes. Pain emanated from multiple cuts, and her scalp was sore in several places. Still, she ran faster, the pain only feeding into her adrenaline.
She could hear them getting closer. The covering of the trees thinned enough to allow some moonlight to shine through. Nervously, she cast a quick glance over her shoulder. A gasp escaped her mouth when her toe connected with something hard. A raised tree root caught her eye when she fell forward and pain shot up through her knees and elbows. After the initial shock passed, she hurried to stand, ignoring the pain, but she froze on her hands and knees at the sound of a soft click behind her. Looking back over her shoulder, she saw a big, burly man standing about eight feet away with a gun pointed at her.
“Well, what have we got here? You’re a cute one. Too bad you had to nose around, or we could have had a little fun.” He chucked and the hairs on Nicole’s neck stood on end. “Maybe we still could.”
He leered at h
er, and a shiver of revulsion ran over her skin. The grin left his face when he noticed her reaction., It was replaced by a menacing glare, filled with rage. He aimed the gun at her, and slowly pressed down on the trigger. A muffled shot rang out.
Nicole dropped to the ground, the bullet barely missing her. It had been close enough that she’d felt her hair being ruffled by the movement of the bullet past her head
The man cursed under his breath and took aim to fire again. She peered up at him from the ground and swallowed heavily. This time, she had nowhere to go. Her heart pounded in her chest as he pulled the trigger again.
Out of the darkness a large, black creature appeared. It jumped from its hiding place in the forest and landed hard on the man’s back. His second shot went wild, and the gun fell to the ground. Nicole scrambled to pick it up and the black creature, a wolf, backed off as she aimed the gun at the man.
“Stand up, slowly,” she commanded. She managed to keep her voice steady, but it was a struggle. Out the corner of her eye she saw the wolf. She took a careful step away from the animal, but it’s eyes were trained on her attacker.
“Whoa, wait a second. What do you think you’re doing?” The man held his hands up, slowly getting to his feet.
In the distance, Nicole could hear the sounds of the other men searching. She didn’t have long. The gunshots had been muffled by a silencer, so they couldn’t betray her position, but if this man could find her, so could they. She felt panic threaten to bubble up and squashed it down. That wouldn’t help her. She could break down and be afraid once this was over.
“Turn around,” she said holding the gun steadily at his chest. He took a second or two before complying, muttering to himself as he turned.
She reached down and grabbed a fallen tree limb, one that looked heavy enough for her requirements and tested its weight in her free hand. Gathering her strength, she stepped up behind her would-be murderer, careful to keep her distance from the wolf, and swung the wood at the back of his head. It connected with a hollow crack which sent a shudder of revulsion through her as he fell limp at her feet. She stared at his prone form in amazement. She hadn’t really thought she had the strength to knock someone out in a single hit, but the proof was lying right in front of her. The noises in the woods around her began to get louder, drawing her attention from the man lying at her feet. They were clearly getting closer, but she didn’t know what to do. Should she just start running again, trying desperately to feel her way through the dark patches of the forest where moonlight failed to reach?