Outside Forces

by R E Swirsky

CHAPTER 61

  11:55 Friday Near Canmore, Alberta, Canada

  “I don’t see why we have to run away,” Michael said. He thumped the inside of the truck’s rear door with his fist. “This is stupid.”

  Michelle was sitting in front of him. She turned around and looked at him. “It’s not stupid. You heard your father. Staying around here just waiting for them to show up would be stupid.”

  Michael’s mouth dropped open. He shook his head. “But they let me go. If they wanted to hurt me, they would have already.”

  “Listen, Michael,” Richard said. The truck rocked to the side briefly as the wind caught the side of the trailer. “It’s not Harvey Metcalf we’re worried about.”

  “So who is it then?” he shouted. “Everyone else is dead. Shhh.”

  Tawnie sat next to him. She could read the stress that surrounded Michael. She reached her hand out towards his, but he pulled away before she could touch him. “Please, Michael,” she said. “Just stop and listen to Dad and Michelle.”

  Michelle cast an encouraging smile over at Tawnie.

  “Just…shhhut it already!” He thumped the door again with his fist. “I don’t want to go hide in the effin mountains!”

  “We don’t know who is behind any of this,” Richard said. “We think the Senator is tied in, but we don’t know for sure. Michelle and I now think that Shaw, the Russian, and Harvey Metcalf were the targets, and there may be more we don’t even know about.”

  “They didn’t get Harvey,” Michael shouted back. “They got Lucy! So why do we have to run away?” He was almost in tears. “I thought you said this was over?”

  “Until we read about Kaito Hui and his son this morning, we thought it was over, Michael,” Michelle said. “You have to understand, there are far too many coincidences now. Your dad and I believe whatever is going on is in cleanup mode and that’s the reason Kaito and Johnny are now dead. They were only middlemen in all of this and now, well…look where they are.”

  Michael lifted his eyes up towards his sister.

  She nodded back at him. “They think you’re next, you know.”

  “Arghh! I hate this!” Michael shouted and stomped his feet. “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!”

  Richard sighed heavily. “Four more hours, and we’ll be at the first camp. After a hot meal and a good night’s sleep in the trailer, we’ll gear up and hike up on foot into the back country.”

  “You’re crazy, Dad! I don’t want to go on any hike in the mountains! I want to go back home!” Michael shouted. “Shushh, shhh.” He rubbed his fists at both temples.

  The Rocky Mountains loomed above them as they entered into the Bow Valley parkway. Their route would take them right by Heart Mountain. It would appear on the left in another few minutes.

  “Well, we’re not going home, Michael,” Richard said calmly, careful not to respond to Michael’s elevated state. “Your school’s done for the year, and maybe I’m wrong about all this and it is really over. But I’m not taking any chances.”

  Richard’s cell phone buzzed in the centre console, startling Michelle.

  “I thought you told us to take the batteries out of our cells,” she said to Richard.

  “I, uh…” he stammered and waved one hand about. “With all this…I guess I forgot.”

  It buzzed again.

  “Who is it?” he asked and watched as Michelle turned the phone over to see the display. Her eyes grew large at what she saw.

  “It’s him, Richard. I think it’s the Senator.” She turned the phone towards him so he could see that the call was coming from an international number.

  He hesitated.

  “Answer it,” Michelle prompted, and shoved the phone towards him.

  Richard grabbed the phone and answered the call. The phone clicked over via the Bluetooth onto the truck’s interior speakers.

  “Hello, Richard here,” he said.

  “Richard, this is Senator Diamond. Are you free to talk?”

  The wind howled down the parkway within the Bow River valley, buffeting the truck again and causing it to rock and sway a few seconds before settling down. Richard eased off on the gas.

  “I’m driving, now, but yes, I’m free.”

  “Where are you now exactly?” the Senator asked.

  The question was disturbing.

  “I’d rather not say if you don’t mind,” Richard replied.

  “Okay, that’s fine. Under the circumstances I do understand.”

  “Uh-huh,” Richard said.

  “Yes. Let me get right to why I called.”

  “Please do, Senator.”

  The Senator went quiet. He appeared to be carefully choosing his words.

  “How’s your son?”

  Another disturbing question.

  “Michael’s fine. Why do you ask?”

  Michael grunted from the back seat.

  “I…” the Senator said, sighed, and paused a moment. Richard waited for him to continue. “This is difficult for me, please understand.”

  “Go on.”

  “I’m worried for your family…Michael mostly.”

  Michael spewed another grunt and fisted his temples while rocking his head back and forth.

  “What’s to be worried about? Michael’s back home now and he’s fine.” He knew the Senator had nothing whatsoever to do with Michael’s escape and tested his sincerity. “I was curious to know if you had anything to do with helping him be released.”

  The Senator hesitated only a second before replying. “No, I wish I had, but truthfully I had nothing to do with that at all. I’m just glad he’s back home.” He sighed heavily before continuing. “But it’s about what we discussed the other day, ‘accidents that aren’t accidents’? I wanted to ask you for specifics, but I’m really afraid that I can’t do that. I don’t want to know anything about whatever it is you and your wife suspect.”

  It was Richard’s turn to pause. He almost laughed out loud at how bizarre the Senator’s statement sounded. “Then why are you calling?”

  “I just want you understand my position. That’s what I’m trying to say,” the Senator added.

  “Or not say…” Richard replied.

  “Well, yes, exactly. I find myself in a rather difficult spot at the moment.”

  “Because of Kaito Hui?”

  “That would be part of it, yes.”

  “And now that he and his son are both dead, where does that leave us?”

  The Senator gasped. “Pardon me?” he uttered in one short breath.

  “You heard me. Are they coming for us next, Senator? Is that why you called?”

  He didn’t respond directly. “Kaito and Johnny are dead?” His voice was tight, and he sounded uniquely shocked.

  “Come on Senator…” Richard replied, but it felt awkward to challenge the Senator when his last response sounded so sincere.

  “Where did you hear this news about Kaito and Johnny?” Concern was etched into his every word.

  “On the net. CBC News this morning. It’s being reported they both drowned in a boating accident up near Campbell River last night.”

  “A boating accident? Both of them? Johnny as well?”

  “That’s what was said on the news. Both drowned last night.”

  “No,” the Senator said with disbelief and sadness trumped in his voice. “That’s not possible. Johnny was supposed to be in Calgary.”

  Richard steered the vehicle over the crest of a rise and around a wide, sweeping corner. Heart Mountain slowly came into view, rising high up on the left side and the sprawling, shallow waters of Lac Des Arcs ahead on the right. He glanced once over his right shoulder to see Michael hunched down, trying to get a look out Tawnie’s window to the top of the mountain.

  “Yes, Senator. I’m afraid it is true. But what I need now from you is the truth about what’s going on. Is my family in danger?” He wanted to add that they had told no one else but quickly reconsidered. “Are we next?”

  Michae
l leaned over Tawnie and reached his hand up towards Heart Mountain. Tears began to flow down his face and he whimpered Lucy’s name softly. Tawnie leaned over next to him and stared up with him, their heads almost touching.

  The Senator let a shallow, disconcerting laugh leave his lips. “I don’t know anymore…I thought I did, but…they’re both dead?” He went quiet and said nothing for a moment before a whisper came through the speakers. “I just don’t know…I’m so sorry. I wish I had the answer for you…but I don’t. And I really wish you hadn’t got caught up in any of this.”

  “Senator Diamond?”

  “Yes,” he whispered back softly, caught in his own personal reflection of the events that were continually unfolding.

  “Unless you have something more to offer, I really have to let you go.”

  “I understand,” he said after first clearing his throat once. “If I could tell you more, I would, but it’s probably best you all disappear for a while just the same.”

  “Point taken, Senator.”

  “Yes. Take care of that family of yours.”

  And just like that, the Senator was gone.

  Richard watched Heart Mountain slowly disappear in his side mirror as the road curved down and around another bend. Michael pulled himself back onto his side of the rear seat and gazed up at Grotto Mountain on the opposite side of the valley above Lac Des Arcs. He seemed lost in whatever consumed him for the moment. Lucy was gone and would remain only a memory in his son’s mind—a memory he knew would haunt his son for years to come.

  Richard handed his cell phone to Michelle.

  “Please take the battery out of this thing.”