Nest

by Terry Goodkind

  She kissed the end of her finger and then touched it lightly to his forehead.

  “No bad dreams tonight,” she whispered. “Just good dreams.”

  She crawled back into her bed, lying on her side, watching his even breathing until she fell asleep.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-ONE

  Kate idly smoothed the fabric of her black dress against her leg as she sat in the front row of the service while a minister spoke of God’s plan and the eternal peace awaiting John. She wasn’t really listening to him talk passionately of a mindless tragedy that had taken a gentle soul. Knowing what she knew, it sounded like ignorant babble to her as she stared at John’s closed casket and wondered who might be behind her somewhere, watching her with murderous intent.

  Jack was somewhere behind her, too, watching her back. She felt better knowing that he was there, protecting her while she took care of John’s final journey. John had liked going to the cemetery to visit the graves of their parents. Now he would be laid to rest beside them.

  Kate didn’t really think that a stranger, a killer, would be among the gathering of people from the Clarkson Center, where John had worked. She couldn’t recall all of their names, but she recognized their faces. Since she knew all of her coworkers from KDEX who were there in attendance, a stranger would have stood out in the silent audience. It was not a likely place for an ambush.

  What worried her was what would be a good place for an ambush. For all she knew, there could be a killer with a rifle set up in a distant building, waiting for her to walk out of the mortuary so he could drop her with a single shot. He wouldn’t need to cut out her eyes for proof. Such a murder would make the news and he would have all the proof he needed to collect his reward.

  As she stared at the dead-looking bronze metal of the casket, she knew that somewhere there were preparations being made for AJ’s funeral, along with those of her husband and son. It was hard to believe that AJ was gone. Kate wished so much that she had had the chance to talk about Jack with her, to have her meet Jack, to listen to her laugh, or make a wisecrack.

  AJ had died because she knew John and Kate. She had been an inconvenience for the hunters, and so she had been murdered.

  Events were moving so fast that it didn’t seem like Kate’s emotions could keep up. She knew, though, that she couldn’t let herself dwell in that sorrow or she might not see what was coming for her.

  Kate’s shoulders were a little sore from knife training the day before. It had been a long day of practice in their motel room. There were fleeting moments when it was fun sparring with Jack, but then the purpose of it all came rushing back in and it became a grim, determined effort.

  At first, compared with the ways she had trained her whole life, it had felt confusing and awkward. Somewhere in the afternoon, though, it had come together in a way that fit naturally with what she already knew. Using knives rather than her bare hands became the new normal. The knives felt right in her hand. Even though she needed more practice, the blades were sometimes snapping out with hardly more than a thought. By the end of the day, it was hard to imagine defending herself without the knives.

  What she had learned from her fight with John and AJ’s killer was that while she could fight pretty well, it wasn’t good enough. If that man had been any better or it had lasted any longer, it could easily have ended badly.

  Kate tried to bring her mind back to John’s service, rather than dwelling on killers and fights. To either side of the casket were stands with beautiful sprays of flowers. Some were from the people where John had worked, some were from people Kate worked with. It was comforting to know that there were people in the world who cared, good people who had overcome their primitive killer origins and were guided by their better nature.

  But her newly discovered ability set her apart from those good people in ways she would never have expected. The good intentions of friends or even law enforcement would be trailing so far behind where she was on the scale of understanding that they could only drag her down so that harm could reach her.

  Kate reminded herself that there were cops like AJ that she might be able to confide in. There was also Jeff Steele. He was more than merely a contact with army intelligence. She wasn’t sure, though, if he would understand any of this business with killer DNA or her ability to recognize it.

  When the minister finished speaking, hushed conversation slowly welled up in the room. People stood, then started toward the front to greet Kate and give her their condolences. A lot of them hugged her and told her how sorry they were, or what a good and decent man John was. One woman with two missing front teeth told Kate a funny story about John mistakenly going into the women’s bathroom at work. Kate pretended to laugh. She let a number of people take her hand for a moment as they told her how sorry they were. It was a difficult duty to endure. She did it as stoically as possible.

  Theo gave her a knowing smile as he put a hand on her shoulder. “I hope that you will reconsider and take some time off. We can get by without you for a while.”

  Kate forced a smile. “Maybe I will. We’ll see. Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to me. It really does.”

  A couple of young men in black suits began gently ushering everyone toward the side entrance as a few other of the staff waited, apparently to take the casket out to the hearse.

  Jack, wearing a crisp black shirt, found her and gave her a silent nod to say that everything seemed clear.

  Bert spotted Kate and Jack standing together. The burly security officer came up to give Jack a wink. “I’m glad to see you both together. You make a great-looking couple.”

  Kate didn’t have to force a smile. “Are you breaking up our engagement?”

  Bert grinned. “I bow to the better man and give him my blessings.”

  Jack smiled self-consciously.

  People shuffled out to their cars, most of them to go home, but a few followed instructions from the people at the funeral home and joined the line that formed up behind the hearse to go to the cemetery. Kate was relieved when she was finally alone in her car with Jack. It was painful to have to greet people, to listen to them say how sorry they were about her brother. She wanted it to be over.

  The whole time she couldn’t help but think of all of the times in her life that she had been John’s guardian, watching out for him, helping him, protecting him.

  But she hadn’t been there to protect him the day a killer had ended his life.

  “How are you doing?” Jack asked.

  As the hearse started away, Kate shifted the car into drive and pulled out behind it. “I’m okay. What John had of life was a good life for him. A lot of people like him don’t get the chance to live as fully as he did.”

  And, Kate thought, none of them ever had the chance to help save the lives of others the way John did with AJ. There were people alive who never knew that if it were not for John and AJ, they would have encountered a killer.

  On the slow drive to the cemetery, it started to rain. Streetlights came on. They rode mostly in silence, Jack leaving her to her thoughts.

  After they wound their way through the cemetery and finally came to a stop at a grave site, everyone trotted through the rain to gather under a temporary tent. John’s casket was placed on a stand beside the place where it would be buried. People huddled around as the minister said a final prayer.

  Kate didn’t really hear him. She was thinking about things all the people gathered around would never be able to imagine.

  Kate remembered her last phone call with John. He had said that he went to take flowers to their parents’ grave, and someone had been watching him. Now she knew he had been right.

  She continually scanned the cemetery, looking for anything suspicious, anything threatening. Jack, standing silently beside her, did the same.

  Other people visited graves, but no one looked their way. Kate saw an older woman weeping, holding a white handkerchief to her mouth, as a man comforted her with an arm around
her shoulders.

  When the brief ceremony was finished, and people began to hurry to their cars to get out of the rain, Kate instead went to stand for a time over the graves of her parents, there beside where John was to be laid to rest.

  It struck Kate how ironic it was that she was standing in a graveyard, wondering if someone wanting to kill her was watching, waiting for his chance to end her life.

  The tension of it all was getting to her. She wanted the whole thing to end. But she knew that it never would.

  After the brief service at the cemetery, the remaining people went to a reception hall for a simple buffet. They had meats and cheeses, along with bread if you wanted to make a sandwich. The atmosphere was considerably less grim and more lighthearted. People talked and laughed a little as they ate finger food.

  The reception hall was on a busy street. Through the front windows, Kate could see a gas station and convenience store not far away on the other side of the street. The streets were busy with cars. The rain slowed everyone down, making it seem even more crowded. There were apartment buildings across the street. People were continually going in and out of the parking lot.

  When the gathering ended, and she and Jack finally left and went to the car, Kate couldn’t help thinking of what a hopeless task it was to know if any of the people she could see were hunting her. For all she knew, the man putting gas into a gray minivan who looked over his shoulder at her could be simply curious, or he could be stalking her. A car parked in the lot across the street, and the engine and lights were turned off, but no one got out. Because of the rain, she couldn’t tell if there was someone sitting inside talking, or if they were waiting for someone, or if they were watching her.

  It was an uncomfortable feeling not knowing if a killer was watching, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

  CHAPTER

  FIFTY-TWO

  “So what do you want to do now?” Jack asked as she pulled out onto the busy four-lane street.

  Kate looked over at him. “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “You took today off work for the funeral. Are you going to go back to work tomorrow? Or are you going to take some time off?”

  Kate thought for a moment. “I suppose I’ll just go back to work. But I’m nervous about going home. I guess that for right now I’d feel better staying at a motel. I don’t like the idea of sleeping all alone on the X. At work there are people around.”

  “Your photos have only just been posted on the Scavenger Hunt site. A lot of killers tend to be impatient, like the guy who attacked the woman where you work when he couldn’t find you there. Not all of them are clear thinkers. If they go looking for you but can’t find you where the information says you are but you’re never there, some of these people will give up.”

  “Some of them,” Kate said, “but not all.”

  “Not all,” Jack agreed. “And I don’t mean to create false optimism, but there is no way of knowing for sure if any killers, much less the super-predators, visit the site.”

  “You think that maybe no one else knows about it?”

  “It’s hard to say.”

  “Considering how many negative reviews were posted by visitors to the Scavenger Hunt site, that would indicate that a number of people go there.”

  “Yes,” Jack said, “but there is a difference between writing a bad review to earn a few bucks and be part of a hate campaign, and being willing to murder.”

  “Staying away from my house is one thing, but I don’t know if I can take time off work right now,” she said. “I was out of town for three weeks and I have a lot of cases pending.”

  “Can’t you give them to someone else?”

  “Sure, I suppose. But I would need to make arrangements for that kind of thing, give people briefings.”

  Even though he didn’t answer, she could almost hear him asking if it was worth her life, but he remained silent.

  The windshield wipers slapped back and forth in an effort to keep up with the spray from the pickup in front of her. Kate finally tired of following the lights and spray of other cars crowding the four-lane road, so she turned off on a side street to take a different route toward the motel.

  “So you think we should stay at the motel for a while?”

  “At the minimum,” Jack said.

  “What would be more than a minimum?”

  “Why don’t you come with me to New York? Take a vacation. It will give you a breather.”

  Kate turned down a deserted street that she wasn’t familiar with, but that headed in the general direction she wanted to go. She noticed that a car some distance behind took the same turn.

  “How long do you think you will be in New York?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I need to see my editor, Shannon Blare. Maybe meet with the publicity department. I suppose that I only need to be there for a day or two. But we could spend as much time there as we want, see the sights. Maybe go for a ride up or down the coast without having to worry about who might be following us.”

  Kate looked over. “Did you see that car that turned with us?”

  Jack nodded. “I saw it get in our lane, a few cars back, and then make the turn behind us.”

  Kate made another turn, into a junky industrial area with chain-link fences protecting rusting car parts, stacks of railroad ties, and piles covered with blue tarps. It was late in the evening and anyone who worked in the area had gone home. At intersections, Kate could see lights in small houses several blocks off to the side, but there was no one on the street.

  The car behind them made the same turn she did, but was going slower so that the gap between them grew. One car passed them going in the other direction, but other than that, Kate didn’t see anyone.

  Jack wasn’t saying anything. She got the distinct feeling that he was simply going to watch and see what she would do, see how she would handle the situation.

  Kate made another turn down a deserted side street with empty brick buildings and messy-looking alleys. It was not the kind of neighborhood she would want to have car trouble in.

  She pulled to the curb just before the corner.

  “What are you doing?” Jack asked.

  “We’re having car trouble,” she said.

  “We are?”

  In the distance, in the rearview mirror, Kate saw the lights of the car make the turn behind them. It was still some distance away. She reached under the dash to pop the hood.

  “Now what are you doing?” Jack asked.

  “I’m taking care of the situation.”

  “Wouldn’t you rather I handle this?”

  Kate thought about her brother. She thought about the man who had tried to kill her after he had just slaughtered AJ and her family.

  “No.”

  Kate swung her door open and stepped out into the rain.

  Jack ducked down to look out at her as she stood. “There could be a killer in that car.”

  “I know.”

  “So what are you planning to do about it?”

  Kate rested a forearm on the window frame as she leaned down to look into the car. “He’s the one on the X. He’s already dead. I just need to go tell him.”

  She shut the car door and then opened the hood, watching the car slowing as it came up behind them. The rain made a dull drumming noise as it beat down on the roof of the car.

  Kate felt like her heart had come up in her throat as the car pulled over a little, stopping behind her car. She waved an arm, to get the driver’s attention. She heard the driver’s window roll down. She felt like she was watching herself in a dream.

  “Need some help?” came a muffled voice.

  Kate was moving toward the car before she even realized it. She picked up speed, wanting to get to him before he had a chance to get out. She reached the driver’s door.

  When the door opened, she clicked on the flashlight, illuminating the driver’s face. She was standing right over him. She didn’t intend to give him a chance to get up.
His right hand came up to shield his eyes, but before it did, she saw those eyes, and saw what was in them.

  It wasn’t murder. It wasn’t anything. He was just a guy in a sleeveless shirt. He looked mean enough and had tattoos on his meaty shoulders, but he didn’t have murder in his eyes.

  Kate froze. She had the flashlight in one hand and a knife in the other, an instant away from cutting his throat.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Sorry, it’s all right.”

  The heavyset man made a face. “Do you need help? I saw you put the hood up. This isn’t a neighborhood you would want to break down in.”

  “It’s nothing,” Kate said, her adrenaline still making her heart pound. “I just needed to check the fan belt. I thought … but it’s fine. It’s all right.”

  “You sure? You aren’t stranded there?”

  “No,” Kate said, shaking her head to assure him. “I just stopped to check, that’s all. Thank you for stopping, but I’m fine. Thank you.”

  The driver heaved a sigh and slammed his door shut. “If I were you I’d get out of here and check your car at a gas station or something.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Kate said. “I’ll do that. Thank you.”

  Her own voice sounded foolish to her. The guy pulled away, leaving her standing there in the rain. She folded the blade of the knife and clipped it back inside the pocket of her dress as he disappeared down the street. The thin material of the dress was soaking wet. She was freezing cold.

  Kate went around to the front of her car, angry at herself for letting her imagination get the best of her. She felt weak at how close she had come to killing an innocent person. She felt foolish. She could see the dark shape of Jack sitting in the car. She wondered what he was going to think of her.

  As she slammed the hood of her car and turned, she saw the nose of a car just around the far side of the building at the corner. The car hadn’t been there when she had stopped. At least, she didn’t remember it being there.

  Almost at the same time she saw the car, she saw the silhouette of a big man. With all the black shapes of buildings and poles and fences and piles of junk, the dark form blended in and was almost impossible to see.