by Hadena James
directing people.
“He marks his kills with a bow,” Xavier agreed.
“Why not a harpoon then?” I asked.
“You think a crossbow is unlikely?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t think it works, the arrow tip in my back sucks and it’s scary, but he better have great reflexes because if I can run in this shit, I’m taking my chances with the crossbow. He has to reload and it is a lot harder to fire on the run.”
“You’ve fired a crossbow?” Xavier asked.
“Hello, history degree,” I reminded him.
“I don’t know a lot of historians that have fired crossbows just because they have a history degree,” Lucas frowned at me.
“Well, now you know one,” I told him.
“Gun, knife, crossbow, what are we not thinking of?” Gabriel finally ducked into the car and joined the conversation.
“May I have my feet back now?” I asked.
“I suppose, but tonight, I want them soaked in warm water and wear thick, dry socks to bed,” he let go of my feet. I didn’t have any dry shoes and he had already made it apparent that I wasn’t getting back the snow boots or wet socks. I kept them wrapped in the fleece.
“What if we are thinking about it the wrong way?” I finally piped up as they all piled back into the SUV and the heat was turned down to allow for the living to breathe.
“You mean what if they went willingly into the woods with their killer?” Lucas pulled his bottom lip in and chewed on it for a second.
“That’s what I mean,” I said.
“That would imply that they knew and trusted him. It would also imply that he’s single,” Lucas said after a few minutes. Gabriel began backing the SUV up. Xavier and Arons were looking at me.
“Why does he have to be single? You’re not,” I told Lucas.
“Yes, but in that situation, it’s different. You are not a sexual being and I am not interested in sex with you,” Lucas said.
“That still doesn’t mean he can’t be married. Married men cheat,” I told him.
“So do married women,” Gabriel added as we exited the park.
“See, married people cheat,” I corrected myself.
“Picking up forty-one women in the space of a couple of months takes effort and charisma,” Xavier said.
“Just because you couldn’t manage,” I teased, but he had a point.
“Maybe some were lured and others kidnapped,” Lucas adjusted the theory.
“I know I’m going to be odd man out here, but if you know there’s a serial killer on the loose, why do you go into the woods for a bit of nookie? Also, it’s really frucking cold out here during the daytime. Logically, I’m thinking it isn’t better at night, so that adds to the mystery. Why go out in the freezing temperatures for a bit of nookie?”
“Did you just say ‘fruck’?” Arons asked.
“Ace only drops the F-bomb on rare occasions. When she does, look out, it means she’s either had an epiphany or she is going to shoot someone,” Gabriel told him.
“The promise of a warm sleeping bag and a campfire and a little forbidden passion. The cold makes it more intense,” Xavier said.
“Spoken like a man who knows,” I looked at him.
“Not everyone enjoys missionary, with the lights out and their nightgowns still on,” Xavier replied dryly.
“I wasn’t judging, just asking,” I told him.
“From a medical standpoint, there is a reason for sex in the cold,” Xavier went on. “It makes the capillaries in the genitalia contract. Like rubbing ice cubes on your sex partner.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Doctor,” I told him.
“I can get graphic if you want,” Xavier said.
“Nope, I get the picture,” I said. “I just don’t understand it.”
“And it is unlikely that you ever will,” Gabriel spoke up from the front seat. “Ok, so he lures a few with the promise of sex. He abducts the others. He takes them into the woods and what?”
“He waits,” Lucas said. “I think we should test Ace’s theory about the hoisting being tiring.”
“Waits for what?” I asked.
“If you’re right, for his strength to return. Xavier said it would take a couple of hours to do this kind of work. However, if he’s a slight man, it might take longer depending on how he is stringing them up.”
“We need to go to the store, get her some shoes and socks,” Xavier said. “Then we can conduct a few experiments.”
“You are not stringing me up,” I told them again as we turned into a sporting goods store. Xavier went in and came out with two large bags. He handed me one and I pulled out thick socks and weird snow boots. To my horror, he held onto the other one, refusing to let me even sneak a peek at what was inside. I was concerned that he had bought himself matching boots or something worse. We continued on to the US Marshals building.
“They have a place we can use,” Gabriel killed the engine. We all got out and followed him inside. I watched him swipe something off of someone’s desk as we continued flashing our badges around the place.
We entered an elevator. Gabriel handed me a cord. I put my badge on it, smiling at him.
“I can’t believe you stole that,” I told him.
“I wondered if you caught me,” Gabriel smiled back. “They have a whole basket of them. They won’t miss this one.”
“You know an awful lot about this office,” Lucas said to him.
“I was an FBI agent up here for a year. The US Marshals and the FBI work pretty closely in Alaska, more closely than anywhere else in the country.”
“They have to,” Arons jumped into the conversation. I was sure he felt like a fifth wheel. “Up here, if we want to catch a fugitive, we’d better call in the Marshals and not the locals, especially once you get out of Anchorage. The locals have been known to warn felons.”
“Where is our geek?” I asked, realizing that Michael wasn’t with us. He had been before we went into the frozen Alaskan wilderness.
“At the motel, sick as a dog,” Xavier said.
“Anthrax, smallpox, polio?” I asked.
“You forgot to mention Plague, but he actually caught pneumonia, a far more likely disease, especially in this cold climate,” Xavier said. “Something in the air up here. He was fine last night, today he said he thought he was getting a cold, by the time we went to leave, he was running a fever. I put him on some antibiotics. He’ll be good as gold in a couple of days.”
“Today, he’s not doing anything. Tomorrow, if he feels better, he’ll work from the motel. I have a US Marshal catering to his whims and needs. I am also changing rooms,” Gabriel said. The elevator dinged. We entered into a large open basement. I looked around.
“I’ve been in some creepy places with you before, but this may take the cake,” I told them.
“This way,” Gabriel pointed and started walking. We all followed.
We entered another cavernous room. There was a mock tree standing in it. I raised an eyebrow.
“We were already planning on doing this,” Gabriel smirked.
“I’m not being hoisted above a concrete floor by you lot,” I reminded him. Sometimes I was pretty sure he heard me, but chose not to listen. I was also pretty sure they were about to tie me up and hoist me over a concrete floor.
“We’re not going to put you through that, especially since I have concerns about the blood flow in your feet,” Xavier shook his head at me. “We have special dummies for this sort of thing.”
“That makes me feel better,” I told him.
“Ace, go first,” Gabriel said to me. There was another man in the room. He put a dummy on the floor.
I tied a rope around its ankles, put the hook from the rope through the tied area and grabbed the other end. I got it about four feet off the floor, meaning its head and part of its torso were still on the ground before I had to take a break.
“Are your lungs
all right?” Xavier walked over to me.
“Fine,” I told him.
“Let me listen,” he bent down and put his ear to my chest. “Deep breaths.”
I took a few deep breaths. He stood up and frowned at me.
“What?” I asked.
“We do have cases of Alaska Sickness,” Gabriel said. We all turned to look at him.
“I don’t know what that is,” Xavier said.
“That’s because we don’t either,” Gabriel said. “We just know that some agents, when they first get up here, have trouble with shortness of breath, easily contract hypothermia and other illnesses. It seems to be a mix of the dry, cold air and getting the lower forty-eight out of your system.”
“How do I treat that?” Xavier continued.
“You don’t, she’ll get over it in a week, maybe less. Until then, we just have to watch that she doesn’t overdo it and kill herself by accident. I imagine that’s why Michael got sick. Natives show a very high red blood cell count. I imagine you and Lucas already have high red blood cell counts for different reasons.”
“And Ace being a woman already has a lower red blood cell count,” Xavier said. He looked at me.
“Plus she just quit smoking and she hasn’t been working out lately because her house is in chaos and she hates going to a gym. So the only time she gets her work out is when we are at the office and we haven’t been there much lately,” Lucas said.
I let the dummy fall to the floor. It thudded nicely. I looked at all of them.
“Are you implying I’ve let myself go?” I asked.
“No, we are implying that Trevor needs to tackle your exercise room next and while you are here, you are on restricted duty until you adjust to the climate,” Xavier