Chapter 10 – The Price
“I feel sick,” Matt admitted from behind the wheel of his father’s Prius as it sat parked on the upper, empty level of a public garage.
Eric looked over to make sure he didn’t mean it literally, seeing his own worry mirrored on the techie’s face. Both of them had changed their clothes and wore hats and sunglasses. He left his job without his boss realizing he was even there, mostly because the business had several rooms and setting up for the day meant going into more than one, leaving the foyer. The front door had beeped when he opened it, but a quick jog to a stairwell had gotten him out of sight before being seen.
Now, a handful of tall hotels loomed overhead in two directions, shorter buildings closer and across the I-270 highway. Few people were out yet, so they didn’t have to worry about anyone finding it weird that they were just sitting there in the car and never getting out.
The radio was tuned to WTOP and gave yet another update on the accident investigation on I-270, noting that a man on a motorcycle had been taken into custody hours earlier. Neither knew how that related to anything. All that really mattered is that neither Anna nor Ryan were answering their phones. Every time they tried, Matt drove around while Eric turned Matt’s phone back on, dialed, failed to connect with them, and then turned the phone back off. They didn’t know how cell phone tracking worked, but after what Matt had told him, Eric wasn’t taking any chances and made sure they weren’t sitting still to be tracked to an exact location. Then they returned here to park again. Now the sun was up.
“You’re sure that your parents will find that note in the microwave before realizing the car is gone?”
“Yeah. My mom likes to know how warm her morning tea is, so she uses that, not the stove.”
“I have a plan.”
Matt sighed. “That took longer than I expected. You usually think faster.”
Eric smirked. “Since neither of us can go home or risk using a credit card for a hotel, we need somewhere to stay tonight, assuming we don’t hear from Ryan. Even if we don’t, I think I know how to get onto his parent’s property and to the guest house. Ryan was showing me the grounds. The security is okay, but it’s not like they’re really expecting intruders. They aren’t a drug cartel or something, with armed guards and all of that. I can scale one wall away from the road, in case the cops are watching the house, as I assume they are.”
“I likely can’t climb a wall. You can do that with sandals on?”
“No, barefoot. We need to add rock climbing to our list of skills to train on.” Eric had been doing it for years along with parkour, so getting into the LaRue estate wasn’t an issue for him. His feet would get scraped doing it, but rock climbing shoes that let your toes grip were a help anyway.
“What then?”
“For food today, you have enough cash for us, and maybe we’ll get some for tomorrow just in case. And we’ve got the car with a half tank of gas. Once we’re at the guest house—I’m thinking after midnight we do this—then tomorrow, I’ll see if I can get Daniel’s attention at the main house, by going to the back door or something. We’d just keep an eye out for his parents, making sure they already left.”
“You think we can trust him?”
Eric watched a red Toyota Camry pull into the lot ahead of them. “To not tell the police we’re there? Yeah, I do. We might have to tell him more. He already saw the gear. He doesn’t believe Ryan about the Stonehenge disappearance, and he’s too smart. He would be a good ally.”
“Okay. Are we ready to try the phone again?”
“Yeah. This time let’s go near Ryan’s house. I want to see what’s around there and find a good place for you to drop me off tonight.”
Matt started the car, and they drove off. This time, when Eric turned on the phone, he found a voicemail from someone named Quincy King.
The metal door opened, and the rarely seen Quincy, one of the LaRue family attorneys, stepped inside. A former football player, he was tall, muscled, black, and had a direct, piercing gaze from brown eyes that now looked grim. With it being before sunrise, he didn’t have an expected suit and tie, just a hastily thrown on button-up shirt and jacket and jeans, and a shoulder-slung tote.
On seeing him, Ryan jumped to his feet from behind the small table in the police station holding room, knocking over the metal chair he’d been sitting on. It fell with a clatter.
“Anything on Anna? They won’t tell me shit because I won’t tell them anything.”
Quincy closed the door and the sober look on his face made Ryan’s heart sink. “Have a seat.”
“Just tell me.” The lawyer gestured for him to sit again, and Ryan irritably picked up the chair and sat down, the table before them, Quincy’s bag on top as the attorney sat and looked him in the eye.
“There’s no simple way to say it,” began Quincy, his face resigned. “A car hit her. From the look of it, she wasn’t in one herself. She’s in terrible shape. Both legs are broken, one arm. Her spine.”
Ryan felt a horrible pain in his chest and could feel the blood draining from his face. Knowing all about spinal injuries from Daniel, he just stared, too horrified to speak.
“She has a skull fracture, punctured lung. She’s in surgery and will be for a while longer. She’s stable, but there’s no telling how well she will recover, though they do not believe she is at risk of passing.”
Ryan held still, as if to make any motion, including breathing, would be to accept what he had just heard. All this time, they thought that being on a quest was such terrible peril and getting home meant safety. They could relax. Not worry. Be ordinary. This illusion had just shattered, just like Anna’s body. The image of her on the stretcher stuck in his mind, as if refusing to get out of the way to make room for another picture with that list of injuries. He didn’t realize he had stopped breathing until Quincy shook his arm and his eyes refocused on the attorney.
“Are you alright? Hold on.”
Quincy got up, opened the door, and yelled for some orange juice, coffee, or something else sugary or caffeinated, saying something about Ryan being in shock. Ryan supposed that was true. He felt dazed, his head foggy. Not until the bottle of OJ sat before him and Quincy made him drink it did that start to clear. He gulped the drink until it was gone, coming back to the world a little more.
“Okay,” began Quincy, “some color back in your face. Listen, I know you’ve just had a big jolt. We’re not in a rush. Just listen a minute. The police, FBI, CIA, and probably a couple other acronyms have been looking for you, Anna, Matt, and Eric, because Matt disappeared on camera. They slowly figured out Anna did the same from the car she was driving in 270. They assume you and Eric can do this, too. They think you guys can go anywhere at any time, including into the Oval Office to kill the President of the United States.”
Already in shock, Ryan reacted with confusion, the absurdity bouncing off him. “Why would we kill the president?”
“I assume you wouldn’t, but they aren’t certain. I’ve been on this a couple of days now, since your family called me, so I’ve looked into things like your social media presence, and there’s nothing that would raise suspicions. We’re already fighting with these agencies, who are trying to say you guys are a national security threat, but we’ve shot that down. I ended up coordinating with the parents of the others a little, and their attorneys, taking point on this.”
Ryan had a thousand questions, but urgency to get away from here led him to ask, “Can you get me out of here?”
“Yes, but it’s going to take a while. They think you evaded them on a motorcycle, and this gave them enough reason to arrest you. They also say you went around cones to get to the accident scene, then tried to push past them.”
“That last one, at the crash, isn’t illegal, is it? I was just worried. With good reason.”
“Depends. They can spin it. It’s mostly stuff like moving violations, so they can’t really hold you over that. Did you flee from them, though? They
are saying you did.”
“Sort of. I saw cop lights far behind me and sped up, but if Daniel hadn’t told me the police were looking for me, I never would have known from the lights that it had anything to do with me. I lost them immediately. It wasn’t like some prolonged chase or something.”
Quincy let out a breath. “Okay, that’s something I can work with. You’ll have some stuff to explain at some point, but I should be able to get you out. The police aren’t the real issue here. NSA and all that shit is. They’re outside and they’re being difficult, but your family has clout. And you haven’t actually threatened the president or U.S. or something, so they really have nothing. Besides, no one saw you personally disappear, so what they think they have is thin. They are calling you a person of interest and known associate.”
“Of Matt?”
“Yeah. And Anna.”
Ryan frowned. “Are they going to arrest her or something?”
“I don’t know, but they’re over there now, waiting for after surgery, like she’ll be in any…. Look, don’t worry. I won’t let them pull any bullshit there. When you talk to your friends, you need to tell them not to tell anybody anything without talking to me first. And on that note, I need you to tell me what is going on.” Quincy’s gaze hardened. “And don’t tell me I won’t believe it. I saw the footage. I also saw the stuff you guys bought and which is at the guest house. Daniel told me in private. Your parents know nothing about it. I’m already covering for you, you understand? You’re my client. Never mind that your parents hired me. And from where I’m sitting, I suspect you have far bigger problems than car accidents, the media hounding you, or even these agencies coming after you. Your friend Matt looked surprised and afraid when he disappeared. You aren’t doing it on purpose, are you?”
Startled that the attorney figured this out, Ryan met his eyes and saw certainty. He relaxed, wanting to get a load off his chest. “We have no control over it. We have no idea until it happens, and we can’t control where we return to.”
“You just go back to the same spot?” To Ryan’s startled gaze, Quincy added, “Daniel told me you were at the guest house when you disappeared and again hours ago. Anna obviously reappeared where she was. Look, you need to tell me what the fuck is going on. That includes whether I am in danger, because while I’m determined to help you and your friends, I’m not getting killed, not to mention over some shit I don’t even understand.”
“You’re not in–” The statement died on realizing Soliander might come to Earth for all of them. Quincy saw the look, and Ryan knew the attorney was sharper than he’d realized. He would rather have someone like this on his side than against him, certainly. Having decided, he almost laughed in relief. “Okay. I’ll tell you, but you have got to get me out of here first. They would lock me up if they heard, and I don’t trust that this room isn’t bugged or some shit.”
“They can’t do that. It’s illegal.”
“Don’t care. If they are that worried, they would do illegal shit and worry about the lawsuits later.”
Quincy sat back and looked around. “Okay, fair enough. You’re gonna need to hang tight a bit.”
“I need you to do something. Call Matt and Eric. Tell them where I am and that we’ll meet up soon. Don’t tell them about Anna. Let me do it.”
“Sure. Do you know where they might be? I know where they were when they disappeared, but where would they be now?”
Ryan shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know. I think the better question is where do we go once I’m out? Where can I meet them?”
Quincy thought for a moment. “Your parents’ place is the best option, at that guest house, but you can’t stay there. The media are already going berserk now that it’s known that Anna returned on the highway like that. Let me think of something.”
He stepped out and Ryan put his forehead on the cool metal tabletop, thoughts on Anna. How were they going to get in to see her with media and worse hounding her? He needed to visit her for his own peace of mind, and to let her know they were around. They had thought the situation with summoning was serious on learning she’d left while driving the car, but now it had skyrocketed, their worst fears about her return realized. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t learned what happened to her friends when she vanished.
Jack wasn’t sure what expression he was supposed to be wearing, a concern so trivial compared to the day’s other worries that he might have laughed if he’d had the heart. And that was the issue, really. Should he show the fear consuming him or project an optimism that everything would be fine? Anna’s parents slowly paced back and forth nearby in the Intensive Care Unit of Shady Grove Hospital. Maybe they could have used some faith from him, as theirs was clearly rattled. But then he would have been faking it. Was he supposed to do it anyway? Would reflecting their worry on his own face make theirs boil over into tears so that his presence wasn’t helpful?
They had known him for years. And since the accident—well, the first one on I-270 with their daughter—he had talked to them several times. He had tried to find the exact spot where the crash happened and hang out somewhere nearby with a view of it, waiting for the moment Anna reappeared, but the police were sometimes called, making him leave. It was unfeasible anyway. He couldn’t just stay there all day, and being on the road was impossible. Crazy ideas like getting a jackhammer and destroying the pavement so that cones were up for a week and blocking the lane had gone through his head, but he didn’t even know which lane she’d been in. Now it didn’t seem so crazy after all. He’d woken this morning to the news on TV.
Anna was out of surgery, but the ICU staff hadn’t let them see her yet. She was still unconscious. Jack wasn’t sure what was more devastating—the concern about when she might wake up, or that she was paralyzed. Her mother had asked how they could know that if Anna wasn’t awake to try moving, but they knew from the spinal damage and the way her body failed to react to stimuli. Bleakness threatened to consume Jack except that his mind kept going to those reports that had been going on around the world, of people having the ability to heal. There had to be a way to get her in front of someone like that. Whatever it took. Ryan would pay for it, he was sure, if he had to.
Suddenly he wondered if those people were being hounded with requests for healing by the rich and famous, whether to cure their cancer or something else. Were they as sought after as the Stonehenge Four? The media crush outside had been easy for him to dodge with a side door because no one knew who he was. Not until getting to the ICU did he have any trouble, with police and stern-looking agents from one agency or another trying to bar his way until Anna’s parents let him through. The FBI had briefly interviewed him days earlier as a kind of character witness and friend of Anna’s, asking about her politics, and he assumed that’s who these people were.
Now he sat out of sight from them, overhearing Anna’s father suggest to his wife that they go downstairs to the chapel. As they departed, Jack wondered what Anna would think of her parents praying for her. Was she still an atheist after her new ability to call on gods on other worlds? Would she be pleased or annoyed with her parent’s decision? He knew she hadn’t been able to heal here on Earth, but would it work now? What if she could finally call on God and just heal herself, then walk out of here? These thoughts gave Jack hope, and he wished he could tell her parents something to give them the same, and so he sat in turmoil in the waiting area, lost in thought and wondering where the others were. He hadn’t had a chance to call without being overheard. He knew he would have to tell them what was happening because they’d never make it past the media or authorities.
An Asian nurse stopped before him and said, “I’m sorry, I forgot your name?”
“Jack,” he said, rising. “Is there news?”
The woman smiled. “Yes. Anna is awake. She has been for a few minutes and the doctors are talking to her now. I know you’re a friend of the family, so you should be able to see her shortly. Are her parents still here?”
“Yeah, they went to the chapel.”
“Okay. I can call down for them.” She turned to go as relief consumed Jack, but then he saw several doctors and nurses exit a room, and the woman turned back. “Oh, I think they’re done. Come on over and let me check.”
Before he really collected himself, she showed Jack into Anna’s room. Light streamed in from outside to fall on a yellow, upholstered chair, causing a mild golden hue to light the white walls. White and blue cabinets and closets lined one wall, an open door to the bathroom off to one side. In the center lay her wide bed, the curtain pulled back to reveal the occupant and all the outlets for wall attachments, many plugged into a machine on either side of the bed. A sheet and yellow blanket were pulled up to Anna’s chest as she lay nearly flat, her upper body raised a little. An IV was in the one arm not in a cast, an ID badge around the wrist.
For a moment, he hesitated at the door, but then he saw her open eyes blink and a sudden desire to rush over brought him to her bedside. This time a smile came naturally because he was so happy that she was at least awake. With an effort, he tried to ignore the bandages around her head, the cuts on her face, the casts on her legs and one arm, and the noises of machines beside the bed.
“Hey,” he whispered, leaning over her partially swollen and bruised face. Her eyes seemed clouded, but maybe it was just the result of waking from anesthesia and a concussion. “Can you talk? You don’t have to say anything.”
Anna licked her lips and nodded a little. It was hard to tell, but she seemed pleased to see him. “Jack. Yeah. Just weak. Confused.”
“Okay. Let me just give you some updates before your parents get back.” He glanced back at the door for signs of her parents, seeing nurses walked by. “They went downstairs for a few minutes.”
The Light Bringer: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Novel (The Dragon Gate Series Book 2) Page 19
