by Dale Mayer
“Did you get a response on the divorce papers being served? Like, did he contact your lawyer at all?”
“No, not at all,” Annie said, “unless you want to take the tires as a response.”
“Were you ever in danger with him while married, even dating beforehand?” Sammy asked, with some urgency.
“You mean, did he ever beat me? No, he was rudely abusive, but he never hit me,” she said. “So I highly doubt that he would do that right now. But it’s also possible that something else is going on here and that the divorce has triggered violence that was undetected all that time.”
“And now you’re making me feel like shit,” she said. “I shouldn’t have texted you at nighttime.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” she said, “because now I won’t sleep at all.” And, with that, Annie hung up.
Sammy got dressed in her pajamas, grabbed her robe, and went downstairs. “You up for some hot chocolate, Dad?”
But, as she looked at her father in the den for an answer, he was sleeping gently in place. She walked over to the teakettle and put it on, and, through the kitchen window, she saw headlights from a car driving down from the houses up on the hillside. She guessed that maybe one of those houses was where Eton and his friend came from. She knew of one chalet out there that was often leased or rented out to visitors.
As she watched the twin beams, the vehicle took off past her own lone road and driveway, and all she could think of was, Where was it going at this time of night?
Then her phone rang again. It was Annie. “Can I come stay with you?”
“Yes, of course,” she said, her mind flipping immediately to whether the spare room bedding was clean and ready to go. “I didn’t mean to scare you earlier.”
“Too late,” she said. And then she stopped. “But I can’t come to you,” she added, “because I don’t have wheels.”
“I’ll come and pick you up,” Sammy said immediately. “I’m on my way,” she said, hanging up. She looked down at her pajamas, shrugged, turned the teakettle off, and walked back into her bedroom, where she quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a running tank. And she walked down the front steps and got into her vehicle, wondering where her keys were. In my hand. “Dammit,” she said, “now I can’t even think straight for worry.”
She tossed the phone on the seat beside her and turned on the engine and headed down the driveway to the main road. It wasn’t necessarily her driveway, but it was a small gravel road that four or five of them used and that connected to the main road. As soon as she turned onto it, her thoughts went to the vehicle ahead of her. It was long gone and out of sight, but still she couldn’t help by wonder. Was it Eton? And, if so, what was he up to? As she pulled in, she found Annie standing on the front porch, with a carry-on bag.
She raced to the car, opened it up, and hopped in. She was literally shivering.
“What happened?” Sammy asked.
Annie held out her phone and said, “This.” Then she tapped the surface, so Sammy saw the message underneath. It was a text message. Bitch, you won’t get away with this.
“Oh, shit,” Sammy said, shaking her head. “Did you send that to the lawyer?”
“I should have, shouldn’t I?” She quickly forwarded the message on to her attorney. “I don’t know whether it’s my ex,” she said, “but I don’t know who else it could have been.”
“You can’t jump to conclusions either,” Sammy said, “but that also doesn’t mean that he’s not already on his way here to take you out.”
“No, but most of the time, it’s too late for the woman to do anything, and the cops always say they can’t do anything until something happens.”
Sammy knew that all too well, having her own knowledge of a few cases around the world with similar issues of domestic violence. “Well, you’re coming back to stay with me tonight. Then tomorrow, in the light of day, we’ll figure out what to do. And you need to tell your lawyer that your tires were slashed too.”
“Right.”
While her friend’s fingers were busy, Sammy turned the car around, headed back to the main road, and then took the turn on up to her house. As she walked into the house with Annie at her side, Annie said quietly, “I forgot to ask. Will your dad mind?”
Sammy shook her head. “No,” she said, “and chances are he won’t even realize you’re here until morning.”
As it was, the guest bedroom was on the bottom floor, with the other bedrooms all on the second floor. Sammy settled her friend in and said, “I was just about to make hot chocolate when you called me.”
“That would be perfect,” Annie said, tossing her bag on the floor and taking off her sweater. “I’ll come with you.”
As they went into the kitchen, Sammy looked out the window and could swear somebody was in the trees, watching them. She froze, took a step toward the window, and the shadow broke its form and took off down the driveway. Only she saw it long enough to realize that it really was a man, before he disappeared into the tree line.
“What’s the matter?” Annie asked.
She looked at her friend, thought about the possible answers to give, smiled, and said, “I thought I saw a deer.”
“Deer are everywhere up here,” she said, with a wave of her hand.
Only it wasn’t a deer. It was something much more sinister. And that terrified Sammy. As she walked into the den, her dad still slept on the couch. Annie had followed along, then stopped and smiled, a soft look on her face. “I have such good memories of time spent here.”
“Me too,” Sammy said. “The time is going by faster than I’d like.”
“I know,” she said, “and there is no way to stop it.”
“More the reason,” she said, “to make the best of the time we have.” Back in the kitchen, she put on the teakettle and, while they were waiting for it to boil, she went out to the living room and stood close to the curtain, checking to see if she could see anyone. But there was nothing.
Annie joined her and, in a low whisper, said, “You still going to tell me that you thought you saw a deer?”
She looked at her friend, frowned, and said, “You’ve got enough to worry about.”
“True, but I don’t like things being kept from me,” she warned.
“I thought I saw a man in the trees,” Sammy said, “and he went down that direction.”
Annie looked at her in horror and stared outside. “I can’t see anything,” she complained.
“No,” she said, “and neither can I. For all I know, it was just my imagination.”
“But, after the tires, you are not so sure, are you?”
The accusation in her friend’s voice stiffened her back, and Sammy looked at her, smiled, and said, “But even if it was a man,” she said, “that doesn’t mean he is doing anything but walking up and down this road. Don’t forget it connects multiple houses.”
“Well, that’s true,” Annie said, taking another look. “It could be somebody renting or visiting anybody around here. I don’t know why everybody always wears black, when they are outside at night though,” she snapped.
“I know. I feel the same way,” she said.
“I’m surprised. You mentioned you fixed your tire yourself.”
“I did most of it myself, but a guy stopped and helped me tighten up the lug nuts, after I’d gotten the spare tire on.”
“Lucky you,” she said. “With my luck, I would have had a bunch of old grannies stop by to give me a hand, and we’d have been stuck there forever.”
They both laughed at that.
“Oh, this guy was pretty nice,” Sammy admitted. “Not sure what he is doing in the area, but I think he’s in one of the rental places up there,” she said, as she gave an arm motion off toward the corner.
“Maybe that was him in the trees outside,” Annie said. “Maybe he really liked you.”
“Well, that’s not the way to a woman’s heart,” Sammy said quietly. “In fact, it’s the absolute opposite.”
And she sure as hell hoped that wasn’t Eton out there. That would give her nightmares now for the rest of the night. She looked at her friend and said, “Thanks for that.”
Annie gave her a clipped nod. “Tit for tat,” she said. “If I won’t sleep, why should you?”
And the two of them both went off to bed, cuddling their hot chocolate, feeling a little jumpy. It would be what it would be, but at least they were together.
*
Eton raced to the vehicle and sped off to the other village. He had his GPS up and running on his phone in the seat beside him, as he tried to get to where the cell phone activity was happening. If they could at least pinpoint it and see what people were there, it would help a lot. He knew that Ice had some satellite work going on here too, but that didn’t mean it was up and running, that it was pointed in the right area, that heavy tree cover could interfere, or that they would find anything. But Eton would work on this end too.
He hit the other village and moved toward the location that Garret had given him. The road had several twists—a left turn, right turn, and then another right turn. Before he knew it, he was up against what looked like a set of townhomes. He swore softly, picked up the phone, and dialed Garret. “It’s a multifamily townhome complex,” he said. “Looks pretty high-end.”
“Which doesn’t mean anything,” Garret said, his voice distracted. “I’m getting the reading from the building, but I can’t lock it down any closer than that. Normally we can’t even get that close. It’s usually within a block or two.”
“Well, in that case, that’s as close as you’ll get because it looks like trees are all around this complex,” Eton said.
“Plus the person we are tracking could be out walking among the trees for that very reason,” Garret said. “Remember that.”
Eton replied, “Yeah, just because we’re here at the townhome complex doesn’t mean he lives here. I’ll get out and walk around.” He parked the vehicle in the guest parking lot and hopped out. “Most of the parking spaces here are empty. Maybe it’s not quite filled up for sales yet?”
Garret replied, “I’m checking to see what the status is of the building. It might be newly completed.”
“I’d say it is still in progress,” Eton said. “Supplies are still stacked off on the side, and a couple big trucks—one flatbed—and lots of pickup trucks are here, as if the work isn’t quite completed.”
“I wonder if anybody is living there,” Garret muttered, as his fingers tapped away on the keys. “It’s possible that it’s someone who bought early,” he said, “but now we’ve opened up possibilities of it being anybody, even a worker there.”
“Or anyone who just knows this building is in progress and could easily be utilizing it too,” he said.
“It’s fairly close to the top of the hill, as far as reception goes.”
“Good point,” Eton said. “I’ll go up to the top and take a look for myself.”
“Are any trails there?” Garret asked.
“None that I see at this point.” Eton dashed through trees and rough underbrush to find an easier way up. “I’m trying to stay in the trees, but there isn’t an easy way through some of them without attracting attention.”
“You could walk along the edge,” Garret suggested.
“I could, but then I’m running the risk of somebody else out here seeing me.”
“It’s a catch-22, isn’t it?”
“Maybe not,” he said. “Looks like I see a trail, not well used, likely an animal trail.”
“Well, go easy, if there is a trail, and if another guy is out there, he’s likely to be on it too.”
“Good,” Eton said. “It would be nice if we could catch a break for once.”
“No kidding, right?”
As Eton headed out on the trail, he listened for any sounds around him. “The night’s really quiet,” he said in a low voice.
“Meaning?”
“Nothing is stirring,” he said. “I would expect animal life of some kind.”
“It’s a bit early though, isn’t it?”
“Birds?”
“A bit late for that,” Garret said. “I’m not too sure about the birds around here though.”
“I think birds around here are much wiser than we are used to.”
“It’s hard to say, but you could be right,” Garret replied. “Just keep an eye out.”
“No problem there,” he said. “Last thing I want is to have a sniper take me out before I get anywhere.”
“Really didn’t need to think about that one,” Garret said, with a note of humor.
“Doesn’t change the fact that, if somebody is here and knows that we are too, we’re in trouble.”
“I don’t think anybody has our location here yet,” he said.
“Are they running decoys in Australia?”
“Decoys all over the place at this point,” he said.
“Good,” Eton said. “Let’s hope they don’t get shot either.”
“Right, that’s not part of the plan,” he said, “but you can never really tell what the hell is going on.”
“I know.” He crested the top of the hill and muttered into the phone, “I’m up at the top now.”
“Good. Take a look around,” Garret said. “I’m still getting the signal. Let me track your location and see how close I can get.”
“You should get pretty close,” he said, “and I’m on the top of the hill, so maybe that will help you identify where the signal is coming from at least.”
“Maybe,” he said, but his voice was distracted once again.
Eton searched through the darkness, looking for signs of anybody out there. He couldn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean much at this point. As he waited and watched, he tried to adjust to the silence around him. He absolutely adored silence, but it was weird to actually get it. There was nearly always buzzing from electrical appliances or lights, traffic noises, and, of course, people.
At the very least, he would have expected sounds of animal life up here. But, since he’d arrived, it was like all the birds had stopped and were now watching him instead. Hopefully they were also watching anybody on the other side. Eton was hoping to contact somebody, well, as in to capture somebody—whoever it was and whatever phone he had in use—in order to figure out who else was after him and his team.
So far it hadn’t been terribly easy finding clues, and, every time they got to their prey, he was often already dead or was dead within minutes. That was a problem Eton had to deal with, too because it was frequently his own fault that he was coming up against bodies. He had a tendency to shoot first and to ask questions later. It worked a lot of times but not when you needed answers. And that was definitely a problem right now.
Eton moved from tree to tree, as silent as the night around him. But it didn’t take long to realize that the wedge of a hill that he was on extended in both directions, probably for miles. But he was currently at the closest point to the condos down below. He stopped and studied them, looking for lights, looking for anything. He put his phone on Silent and sent a text to Garret. No lights on at the condos.
Not inhabited yet, Garret responded. Fully sold, not yet able to move in.
The vehicles?
Company trucks.
Dead end?
No, Garret typed. The signal is still coming, but again the perimeter is wider than we would like.
I’m not seeing anything up here. Maybe I’ll go down and take a look inside the condos.
Do that, Garret typed. But watch your back.
Eton picked his way down the hill, once again keeping his movements silent and as simple as possible. By the time he reached a large jump off, where there was framework for a retaining wall but no roof yet, he managed to scramble on top and jump down to the concrete. He landed a little more heavily than he would have liked.
As he waited here, crouched in the darkness, no lights came on, and no sounds emerged, suggesting no one heard him. He quickly m
ade his way toward the building, happy to see it wasn’t at the total lock-up stage, so it was easy to get inside. There were definitely locks on doors, but one of the garages was open. He stepped inside and made his way through that condo. A quick search told him that they were at the finishing-up stage. Drywall was installed; paint was being applied. He made his way into four of the homes, but the other four were locked. He checked the windows and found them not secured. He quickly scanned the rest. By the time he was done, he stepped outside and texted Garret that nobody was here.
Garret quickly replied. The signal stopped then started again from the same direction. Is anything else around you?
A couple single-family houses, about a two-minute walk away.
So, on your way up, you passed a dirt road, Garret texted. It leads to two houses.
I’ll check that out.
Eton made his way back to his vehicle and, without his headlights on, slowly drove down the road, until he saw the dirt road that Garret mentioned. As it was, a grove of trees was farther down. He pulled off the main road and parked in there, then got out and walked back to the dirt drive. He headed along that road but immediately heard dogs barking. He sent a message to Garret, telling him dogs were nearby.
So much for getting in silently.
Wasn’t that the truth? Dogs were great for this kind of thing, if they were on your side. But it was pretty shitty now, when Eton didn’t want anybody to know he was here. He got as close as he could without triggering any further alarms, but he was still outside the gates on one house, and another gate farther up showed more dogs at the second house. He quickly sent back a message. Dogs at both.
Might as well come home then. We’ll do more research first.
With that, Eton turned and headed back to his car. As he reached his vehicle and was just about to get in, he heard the sounds of a vehicle driving toward him, coming down from the condos. He disappeared into the tree growth and waited. The other vehicle slowed down when it got to his, and it looked like somebody was checking the license plate. He quickly sent Garret a message about it and received an immediate reply.
Interesting. And you didn’t see anybody at the condos, right?
