by E L Irwin
Ryler left without another word to me, closing the door softly but firmly behind him. I watched him from the window, as he stomped into the trees, the big black hound trailing after him. I wasn’t sure just how long I stood there, watching out that window. Long enough for my breath to have completely calmed. Long enough to develop a cramp in my back from standing so still for so long. Long enough for my legs to be trustworthy enough to carry me back up the stairs to get my laptop. I let out a breath and then headed for the stairs.
Ryler’s kitchen table was nicely situated, being centered in a large bay window. From this vantage point, I had a great view of a good portion of Ryler’s property where it sloped away from the house. After retrieving my laptop from upstairs, I set it up at the table and then got to work. Ryler stayed away all day, not even returning for lunch. It wasn’t until the sun was setting, filling his clearing with long shadows, that Shiv came trotting through the trees to the west, Ryler just minutes later.
Earlier, I’d taken it upon myself to go through his freezer and refrigerator, trying to see what I’d have to work with for dinner. It hadn’t taken long to see that we’d need to go to the store. I’d found just a half-dozen eggs, another slab of bacon, several steaks, and four roasts. Clearly, he’d not been expecting company. A slowcooker sat on the counter, so I made a mental note to put one of the roasts in for tomorrow’s meal. But for tonight, I made a couple steaks. Buried beneath one of the roasts, I’d found some frozen broccoli, so I fried that in butter, adding some seasonings and parmesan cheese to spruce the dish up.
By the time Ryler had returned to the house, dinner was ready. He’d commented on how things smelled when he came inside, then he’d gone to wash up. Seated once more at the kitchen table, we ate in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. The silence wasn’t so much from unease, or tension, as much as it was from awareness, such an awareness of each other. Of those unanswered needs. It wasn’t quite like walking on eggshells, but close enough. We were careful. Cautious. Speaking in soft tones. No fast movements.
“How… Ryler? How long do think I’ll need to be here?” I asked as we finished eating.
“As long as it takes.” His tone was so definitive; the subject was clearly not up for discussion.
Blowing out a breath, I said, “Can you give me a little more to go on? Like, if it’s going to be for several days, then we’re going to need more food.”
“It’s already taken care of.”
At my questioning look, he continued, “Paige is going shopping for us tomorrow, enough to last the week. Then Chief will run it out here.”
“I… they don’t have to do that, Ryler. We can go to town. We’ll just be careful.”
“We don’t know who your crazy fan is. AJ, they know about Jake’s place. That means they’ve been there. That package wasn’t delivered by any service. It was brought by the person themselves. They’re playing with you. You need to be safe.”
I hadn’t considered all of that. That they’d been to my house, to Jake’s house. Now I felt violated.
“Have you heard from Amber?” Ryler asked after a moment of silence. “I haven’t checked since this morning.”
Rising from my chair, I moved to the couch for my laptop. And rather than try to find a clean spot on the table, I just opened it right there. It took me a couple minutes to log in to my account then to scan the comments.
“Yeah,” I said. “She says, ‘Come out, Little Witch. Come out and play.’”
“Don’t respond to her.”
Rubbing my forehead, I continued, “She… she also asked, ‘Who should I hunt next?’”
“She’s just pushing your buttons, trying to get a rise out of you.”
“You think?” Exasperation strong in my voice.
“Don’t let her get to you.”
“That’s easier said than done, Ryler. She’s already proven that she’s willing to hurt — even to kill — people, just to get a rise out of me. That’s hard to ignore.”
Ryler got to his feet and began clearing the table. “I know it is, AJ. I know it is. Still, rising to her bait just gives her a weapon against you. She has enough of those. Don’t give her anything else. That’s all I’m saying.”
Frustration over everything boiled up in me. “What do you know about it, Ryler? You’ve been in this position before?”
He looked to me, his gaze hard, shuttered. “I’ve been close enough to know, AJ. Close enough to know.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. I get it.”
My phone rang. It was Harley. I remembered then that we’d planned to talk this evening.
Ryler motioned at me to answer, then he turned back to the kitchen to clean up.
“Hey,” I said as I answered.
“AJ,” she said, her voice trembling. “I’m at the hospital — I’m okay, but it’s Kevin. He… he was hit by a car… It never even stopped. He’s in the OR right now. There was some internal damage, the doctors said. I’m so worried, AJ.”
“Oh Harley, I’m so sorry. It was a hit and run? Did they get a license plate number?”
“No, I don’t know. I-I just don’t know. We never even saw the car coming.”
“Were you there with him?”
“Yes, we’d been walking along Ocean Boulevard when the car swerved in our direction. Kevin, shoved me out of the way.”
“You were almost hit?” My heart clenched at the thought.
Ryler came back around the corner, now on high alert. His face was grave, focused. And an angry flint sparked his eyes.
“I just heard the sound of the engine as it gunned toward us. I looked over my shoulder… and then Kevin shoved me. The sound… the sound of him… hitting the windshield… I’ll never forget that as long as I live.”
“Harley, are the police saying this was an accident? Or do they think it was Amber?”
“They think someone tried to run us over today.”
“You remember that package that we found on my doorstep? When you were here?”
“Yeah?”
“It was her. She’d been there. At my house.”
“Oh my… What… what was in the package?”
“A dead cat. One that looked like Josephine.”
Harley choked on a sob. “AJ, this is getting to be really scary. This person is insane. Are you thinking that your fan tried to run us over?”
“I don’t… know. If it was intentional, then I doubt they were trying for Kevin. I think you may have been the target.”
“What should I do?” Harley asked, fear evident in her voice. But before I could respond to her question, she said, “AJ, I need to go. Kevin’s sister just arrived.”
“Okay, keep me posted. And stay safe.”
We hung up, and Ryler said, “You need to let that detective know what’s going on.”
Nodding in agreement, I put in a call to Detective Whitaker’s number. He didn’t answer, but I hadn’t really expected him to. He was busy, I was sure. So, I left him a message, explaining what had happened to Harley and Kevin. I tried to stress to him that we needed to find Amber before she could hurt anyone else.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Eye of the Storm
For six days I didn’t leave the cabin. I had a very clear, very precise understanding of what the phrase, going stir-crazy meant. Chief brought us groceries, and I stayed away from the doors and windows.
Fear taunted me as Amber continued to hound me. She posted a photo of Kevin and Harley walking, hand-in-hand, along the street. She posted more comments. “Where are you, Little Witch? Come out, come out and play.”
My nerves were frazzled, worried over everyone. Chief made sure to have some of his boys watching Jo and the Paiges. I tried not to think about it, tried not to let it weigh me down. Then this morning I got a call from Detective Whitaker. The good news was they’d been able to get a trace on Amber’s IP address. Bad news was that it looked like
Amber was on the move, heading north, possibly coming here. The address was originally located in San Diego, with one brief transmission from Seattle the same week that Harley had been here. The address was registered to an AP Ericson. They’d been unable to find any information on this person.
After hanging up with the detective, I took a deep breath and tried to focus. Amber had been strangely silent these last two days. I didn’t bother to hope she’d gone away or been captured. Instead, it had just felt as if I was in the eye of the proverbial storm. I waited for the other shoe to drop. Waited for things to hit the fan. Waited.
And when the waiting became too much, when I felt like I would claw my skin off, when I couldn’t take these same four walls any longer, I went out. Not far. I didn’t leave Ryler’s property, but I went outside. I breathed in the fresh air, taking it deep into my chest. I held it then let it out once more. Ryler was around somewhere. He’d said he was working at clearing the dead brush, thinning it so that we’d be safer from forest fires. Not sure just where he was, I followed a dim trail into the trees, carefully stepping around or over heavy brush and fallen limbs. Soon the sunshine faded as the trees became thicker. The terrain became rockier, more rugged. It didn’t take long for me to be out of breath. Ryler’s property was much hillier than mine. The trail I followed led down, then up, twisting and turning, as it went. I wasn’t sure just how long I’d been walking, no more than an hour, surely. My lungs were definitely getting a workout, though. As were my butt and thighs. In fact, I felt old and worn out, even though I was only twenty-three.
Resting, I leaned against a tree which stood near an overhang. Far below, way off in the distance, I could see the glimmer of the setting sun on the Strait and knew I should be heading back soon. I didn’t want to become lost in these trees. As I stood there, letting my heartbeat slow down before turning around, just trying to breathe rather than wheeze, I heard from somewhere in the distance, a loud pop followed by an echoing crack. It reminded me of a car backfiring, or maybe even a lightning strike. I glanced upward to the darkening sky, fearful of being stuck in these trees in a lightning storm. Simultaneously, the tree I’d been leaning against seemed to explode.
Bark splintered and shot out of the pine, cutting into my face, neck, shoulder, and arm. The force of it toppled me, and I lost my balance, just as the trail I’d been on gave way and fell from under me. My ears were full of the sound of buckling trees and soil. My breath was knocked from me. Dirt was in my eyes and mouth, in my ears. I tried to stop my forward momentum as I tumbled head over heels, clawing, scraping, trying to cling to anything to stop myself. My right hand snagged around a small sapling, jerking me off course and to the side. A scream ripped from my throat as my body slammed into a larger tree somewhere near the bottom. And then everything went black.
Ryler knew that sound. Gunfire. From a high-powered rifle. His heart slammed in his chest as he hit the ground. It took him a moment to realize that he was at home, not across the world. Not under enemy attack watching his men be butchered. Nausea rolled through him, and he fought to keep his lunch down.
Hunters shouldn’t be anywhere near this area. It had been fenced off and posted for years now. Ryler walked that fence each year to make sure it was still in good shape. He lay still for several moments, trying to ascertain where that shot had come from, if he was in any more danger. The idea was beginning to dawn on him that the shot had been deliberate. He slowly inched his way into the shadows, careful to keep his movements minimal, to stay out of sight.
When several minutes had passed, and no other shots had been fired, another thought occurred to him, AJ — was she all right? Just then, he heard the booming bark from Shiv as the hound tried to locate him. “Here, Shiv,” he called the dog to him. Whining and growling, the wolfhound approached on his belly, but he wouldn’t stay, kept trying to lead Ryler off, away, back toward the cabin.
Whether from the dog’s need to get him to safety, or because AJ was in trouble, Ryler didn’t know, but he scrambled fast over the rough ground, needing to get to her, to make sure she was all right.
“AJ!” Ryler yelled as he cleared the porch in a leap, barely stopping to open the door. But the house was empty. Silent. Shiv whined and scratched at the door. “Dang it! Where is she, Shiv?”
Ryler pulled out his cell to see if she’d tried to reach him. Nothing. On a whim, he sent a 911 to Chief to tell him what had happened, and, just to be on the safe side, to check in with Jo, Paige, and Poppy. Then he told the sailor that he was going out to look for AJ.
Ryler was just about to open the cabin door when something white caught his notice from the corner of his eye. There, on the floor, under the kitchen table, was a piece of paper. Hoping against hope that it was a note from her, Ryler picked it up. His hope was well-founded. It was from AJ. She was going for a walk but said she’d be back before it got dark, that she wasn’t going far. The sun wasn’t completely down, but the shadows were deep and long. He needed to find her and soon.
“Come on, Shiv,” he told the hound as he stepped off the porch. “Find her.”
When consciousness returned to me, the forest was dark. And as the events leading to my current predicament came crashing into me, the pain came with it. Unable to withhold the whimper that came from my lips, I cried out. I tried holding still, to not tremble because the movement sent that pain shooting through me again. But being motionless hurt as well. Each breath caused that pain to lance through me. I wondered if I had broken ribs or bruised them at the very least.
Turning my head, gritting my teeth against the throbbing, I tried to ascertain where I was, to identify my surroundings. But from this angle, I couldn’t see anything. And it was so dark. My head throbbed anew as my eyes strained against that blackness, to see through the gloom. The trees surrounding me took on the shapes of feral beasts and monsters, and I fought against a shudder of fear, telling myself it was a trick of the light, or rather, a trick of the lack of light.
Carefully as I could, I took inventory of my condition. I’d come to a stop on my stomach. My right arm was twisted at an odd angle, and when I tried to move it, I nearly blacked out again. A part of me wished that I had because right now, I just wanted to scream, I hurt so bad.
Biting my lip, I fought against the panic. I couldn’t stay here. Ryler would come for me. I knew he would. I just needed to remain calm. But the minutes ticked by like hours. Like days. And in the darkness were noises, heralding the arrival of monstrous, wicked things. And I couldn’t stop the trembling, the shaking. With my left hand, I tried to push myself up, but my legs were stuck under something. As I tried shifting them, an excruciating pain stabbed through me, and I bit back another scream. Panic again sunk its talons into me, and I gritted my teeth to stave off the sobs I could feel were coming. I couldn’t move. I was good and stuck. Every muscle ached. Every nerve screamed in agony. Tears clouded my vision, and I couldn’t stop the tremors, couldn’t stop the tears.
And now the cold from the air, from the ground, seeped into every pore on my body. A part of me wondered if this wasn’t shock settling in, but I could see my breath, see the puffs of frosty air as I labored to get breath in my lungs. From somewhere above me, I couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from, came the sharp sounds of branches snapping. Something was moving through the trees, moving through the underbrush, in my direction. Something big.
My terror took on epic proportions as I imagined the large, carnivorous beast planning to make me its evening meal. I imagined the teeth and claws as they tore through me. Frantically, I scratched at the soil, trying to dig myself out, unwilling to die on my face, unwilling to be eaten alive. My breath was a sob in my chest. No, no, no… please, no. And then I heard it. The whine. The blessedly familiar whine from Shiv. My relief nearly choked me. “Sh-Sh-Shiv,” I panted through my tears.
The hound let out a series of loud barks, and I hoped he was alerting Ryler to where I was. Moments later I heard, “AJ!”
“Here!�
� I tried to yell, but it came out hoarse and too low. “I’m here, Ryler!”
Still, he must have heard me because he called, “I’m coming, AJ. Stay still. Don’t move. Shiv! Where is she, Shiv?”
The black dog barked again and again, drawing Ryler to us. Then I could hear him through the brush. The beam from his flashlight lit up the tree I was under. “I’m here, Ryler. Under the tree. I can’t move.”
“Dang it! All right. AJ, hang on. Just hold still. I’m going to try and approach you from downhill. You’ve managed to land between two trees growing between two boulders. So, hang tight.”
“Okay,” I breathed. I heard him as he moved around. Heard the sound of branches breaking, more soil falling away. And it seemed to take forever, but then I saw him.
Ryler studied the area, making sure of where he’d need to step; what he’d need to move to get me safely out.
“Hey,” he said gently as he crawled toward me. Ryler leaned down and pressed his lips against my temple. “You’re doing good, all right? Do you know if anything is broken? Can you tell?”
“Um, my shoulder, my right shoulder… I think it’s broken maybe. I can’t use it.”
“All right. All right. Nothing else? How about your legs?”
The tears wouldn’t stop. I assumed it was just nerves, certainly crazy emotions, but I choked through them. “I think, I think my leg might be broken. I can’t move it. It hurts, and I’m st-stuck under this tree.”
“All right. Good. Can you take a deep breath for me? Anything hurt, or feel wrong or different there when you breathe?”
I did as he asked. “No, I mean, I’m sore. But, nothing feels… wrong.”
“Good, good. Well, it’s a good thing this is not a huge tree. I should be able to get it off you. I’m going to try and dig some of the soil away under you, then I’ll lift the tree, and you’re going to need to slide yourself out. It’s going to hurt, AJ. But, can you do that?”
