Devil Hunters (Tales of the Crypto-Hunter Book 2)

by Rick Gualtieri

  Yet, that seemed to be his fate.

  They’d finished packing their gear and were just about to pull out when Arthur reappeared, stepping in front of their SUV and demanding to go with them.

  He didn’t believe it for a second when Derek had told him they were headed to the airport, the fact that they were all armed probably not helping his story. When Derek had finally relented and admitted that he planned to rescue his people, the kid had insisted on coming along, ultimately playing the ace up his sleeve: threatening to tell the governor’s men if they left him behind.

  Derek knew Eric and his goons would figure it out eventually, but the longer that took, the better chance he, Mitch, and Julia would be too deep in the woods for them to track down and stop. Though he doubted the kid would have actually ratted them out, he couldn’t take that chance.

  In the end, Julia had taken the shotgun seat while Mitch rode in the back with Arthur, giving him the Cliff’s Notes version of gun safety so he didn’t shoot the rest of his new teammates in the back by accident.

  This is a one-time only thing, Derek told himself. They’re not part of the team. Once this is over and done with, they can go back to their lives.

  Problem was, it was difficult for some to go back once their eyes were open, but that wasn’t his problem. Let them go out into the woods afterwards if they felt like playing recorded gorilla screams and waiting to see if anything responded. He couldn’t stop that.

  Derek noted that they were almost to the turn-off that led toward Shilough and the accursed woods beyond.

  “Best get to the final exam, Mitch. It’s almost show time.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “So let me get this straight, Bob,” Eric said to his underling. “You let them leave without an escort and now you don’t have any idea where they are?”

  “They said they were just packing up. I figured they’d be back for the rest of this ... stuff,” Bob Hernandez replied, pointing to a heavy stack of printouts.

  “And you believed them?”

  “Loading a car isn’t illegal. It usually doesn’t require an armed guard. Hell, they didn’t even hitch up their ATVs. How the fuck was I supposed to know they’d bolt?”

  Eric took a deep breath. He knew Bob was right. Jenner’s team weren’t prisoners or wanted criminals. That alone limited his security detail’s powers in what they could and couldn’t legally do. Being handed what was essentially babysitting duty wasn’t exactly a prime motivator for the men on his team to be at their most diligent.

  That knowledge didn’t make him feel any better, though. He knew that if the governor found out, he’d go through the roof. It would be yet another in a long string of tantrums. Though he strove to put forth an aura of complete loyalty to his employer, deep down, he felt that oftentimes his assignment was akin to being the personal assistant to a spoiled child. Yarlberg was petty, jealous, spiteful, and none too bright, if you asked him. But the fat bastard could schmooze like a pro, buttering up constituents with promises made of nothing but bullshit and getting them to swallow it whole.

  Though he personally wouldn’t have wept at seeing his boss eat a bullet, his job was to prevent such things, amongst myriad other duties that Yarlberg seemingly thought up at random. His position as head of the governor’s personal security team was both prestigious and well-paying. It wasn’t something one walked away from lightly. That the governor’s golden tongue would likely garner him a successful Senate run, not to mention a potential future shot at the White House, told Eric where his bread was buttered.

  Even if the governor’s plans came to fruition and Eric’s position was eventually supplanted by the Secret Service, that would still leave him in a good spot. Dismissed amicably after years of loyal service, he could transition that to protecting other high profile clients, preferably ones that weren’t as fucking needy.

  The immediate problem was avoiding the governor’s wrath. Though Jenner might be nothing in the grand scheme of things, Yarlberg was currently worked up. If word got back to him that Eric’s group had been ditched or, worse, if Jenner caused a major fuck-up in the Pine Barrens that the press got a hold of, the governor would almost certainly take it out on the person tasked with keeping that from happening. If so, Eric would be lucky to find a job working guard duty at a construction site, much less anything better.

  This situation needed to be contained, at least in a way that Yarlberg’s anger would be focused elsewhere. Eric didn’t have anything against Jenner personally. Despite his gruff attitude toward the reality show host, he’d gotten the impression that the guy was competent, even if his story about mutants in the Pine Barrens was two steps over the border to Batshit County, USA. Still, if he was forced to choose between himself and a group of C-list actors masquerading as federal agents, it was an easy choice to make.

  “Bob, get Vasquez and bring the car around. Then call up Muellenberg, Hopper, and Sullivan. We’re heading to Shilough.”

  “We really need that many for these idiots?”

  Eric nodded, even though Bob was right. Bringing half a dozen men, the majority of the team, was overkill. Jenner didn’t strike him as a violent man, but he was definitely a stubborn son of a bitch. Confronting him with an overwhelming show of strength, though, would probably be enough to convince him that they weren’t dicking around.

  “You sure that’s where he’s headed, Eric?”

  “Yeah. Even if he’s not going there directly, he’ll be heading into the forest near there.” Eric looked at his watch and considered how much of a head start their quarry had. “Tell the boys to bring their hiking shoes. I have a feeling our feet are going to get muddy before this one is over.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Danni was certain she’d smother as the rough skin on Adam’s stomach pressed down on her face.

  A moment later, feeling another part of him pressing into her midsection, she realized that perhaps smothering was the preferable fate to what would happen next.

  She turned her head to the side and managed to draw in a breath as she waited for the inevitable.

  The patriarch of the Lesterfield clan sighed atop her, a breathy moan. He twitched several times in what she was sure was perverse excitement on his part. Danni wanted to vomit, but wasn’t certain her constricted airway would allow it, pinned beneath his bulk as she was.

  However, rather than readjust himself and do the vile deed he’d set out to do, Adam Lesterfield settled atop her and became still.

  After several moments, she realized something was off.

  Did the bastard die of a heart attack?

  She shifted beneath him, using what little leverage she had to free her arms. He didn’t try to stop her. Struggling to keep the gorge in her stomach from rising, she slowly began to wiggle out from underneath him – the fear and exertion causing her to sweat, which slowly made it easier.

  She eventually pulled her upper body free and found herself teetering off the edge of the bed, her legs still stuck beneath the leader of this loathsome family. She angled her head up, expecting to see Adam grinning back at her, this having been some sick game on his part to allow her some final hope before defiling her.

  Instead, she saw the opened mouth grimace on his face, the last expression he’d ever make. Danni had been certain she’d failed in her desperate gambit to escape, but she now realized that she’d managed to catapult him back far enough.

  He’d been impaled through the eye on one of the broken bedposts. In the end, his massive frame, the thing he’d no doubt used to dominate whomever he pleased, had been his downfall.

  Bloody gore dripped down the ruined wooden post, and his head gave one final twitch as if to acknowledge his fate, but it was obvious that he was no longer a threat. The bastard had claimed his last Sarah.

  Danni allowed herself a momentary reprieve, but no more. Stopping to think about what had almost happened threatened to bring with it tears. If she started crying now, she knew it wouldn’t stop for a good long tim
e, and she couldn’t risk that. Adam Lesterfield had ordered his family to leave them alone so as to give him time to violate her at his leisure, but she knew she’d be a fool to test how long they’d wait before checking on him.

  And once that happened, then what? Locked or not, they’d eventually break down the door and seek revenge for their fallen leader. But she’d also seen the lust in their eyes. There was no way they’d grant her an easy death, not before they...

  No! She was far from out of danger, far from being free. Sitting there and waiting, ruminating over what had almost happened, would only make things worse.

  Taking a deep breath and steadying herself, she worked her legs out from beneath Adam’s bulk until she was finally freed. She got to her feet and looked down at him, partially to make sure he wasn’t playing possum. But he wasn’t. His body had ceased its post-mortem spasms and lay still. With the exception of the blood and the strange angle his head lay at, he could have been deep asleep, but she knew better. In a few hours, rigor mortis would set in, but she needed to be elsewhere long before that happened.

  Danni didn’t have much time to spare, but she took a moment nevertheless to spit upon Adam’s corpse – if not for her, then for all of the girls who hadn’t been so lucky. There was no telling how many had come before her. Between unreported disappearances and those who wouldn’t be missed, perhaps it would never be known, but it was enough for her that this bastard would claim no more.

  Her one small indulgence finished, she put the keys on the dresser so as to not lose them, then set about finding anything in the room that she could use to aid in her escape.

  CHAPTER 31

  Come on! Move it. Go grab a bite to eat. Take a piss. Do something!

  Danni knew she couldn’t afford to sit and wait. She’d already gotten far luckier than she had any right to.

  She hadn’t wasted any time in looting Adam’s room. Though he was far larger than she, she’d manage to cobble together a soiled t-shirt and pair of shorts that she was able to cinch up enough to keep from falling off her lean frame. Wearing his shoes was out of the question, but she’d put on a triple layer of old socks so as to protect her feet from any sharp rocks on the ground.

  Clothed as best as she was going to get, she’d nearly left before giving the room one final sweep. Though she didn’t want to get anywhere near his body, she forced herself to look under the bed ... keeping as far away from him as she could. Despite him being unquestionably dead, she couldn’t shake the irrational fear that he’d pop back to life and continue what she’d only barely managed to stop the first time.

  Biting down her fear had paid off better than she could have ever hoped. Far back against the wall she’d spotted a long plastic case, lying in the blood still dripping from Adam’s ruined eye socket. Not wanting to, but knowing she needed to, Danni had scooted under the bed as quickly as she could and retrieved it.

  Though the case was locked, its key was among those on the dresser. Danni had almost wept with joy when she’d opened it and discovered a gleaming Remington 12 gauge shotgun, along with several shells full of buckshot. As leader of the clan, he was no doubt allowed his pick of the spoils, and this was one treasure she was happy he’d hoarded.

  It was that discovery which had finally emboldened her to unlock the door and venture forth. Though she didn’t fool herself into thinking she had enough weaponry to fight her way out if need be, feeling anything other than helpless was enough by itself.

  Danni briefly considered making her way back to the cells to free Sophie and anyone else she might have missed, but ruefully dismissed the idea. There was no telling if she could even find her way back, not to mention whether they were in any condition to make a run for it. Though Danni hated herself for doing so, she concluded that their best bet for rescue was her leading the rest of the team back here, preferably with plenty of reinforcements.

  Her mind made up, she’d relocked the door behind her so as to hopefully buy as much time as possible, then moved quietly and purposely while sticking to the shadows – something not entirely difficult in the dank passageways.

  Danni continued forward, turning randomly down hallways and backtracking when she came to any rubble-strewn dead ends. A few times she passed rooms occupied by others of the Lesterfield clan, but managed to slip by unseen. At last, just as she was beginning to conclude she was hopelessly lost and would likely never find her way out, she found a set of stairs leading up. Hoping that she wasn’t going to strand herself on a rooftop, she decided to take them.

  At the top she found what she’d been hoping for. She emerged into a room with actual windows, although the glass appeared to be long gone. From the look of things, she was on the second floor of the structure and it was nighttime, the thick vegetation beyond the windows dark and foreboding. Thanks to the aged masonry of the outside wall, it was a minor matter for her to find enough handholds to climb to the ground some fifteen feet below.

  It was there, outside and with freedom practically beckoning, that she finally found her way blocked.

  The building, an old factory perhaps, was surrounded by a fence. Old as the rest of this place appeared, the fence itself had been greatly fortified with rusted rebar, wood, and barbed wire. Rather than risk injury by trying to climb over, she explored further, hoping to find a gate leading out.

  That’s when she spied the light from up ahead – a lone lantern hanging above an opening in the fence. Unfortunately, standing between her and freedom, bathed in the light of the lamp, was another of those malformed bastards.

  It was too good of an opportunity to disregard, though, so Danni quietly crept forward as far as she dared.

  The man standing in the exit was armed, that much was obvious. The closer she got, the more details she was able to make out. Though she couldn’t be certain from her vantage point, he looked familiar, likely one of the trio who’d taunted her when she’d first woken up here ... Nathanial, if she recalled correctly. For all of his big talk earlier, he’d apparently drawn nothing more prestigious than guard duty.

  Danni had hoped to wait him out. Certainly fatigue, hunger, or boredom would take its toll, leaving her with an opening. But it hadn’t. In her fear, she was certain she was over-exaggerating the amount of time that had passed, but it seemed an eternity in which he did nothing but stand near the opening, facing out toward the dark forest beyond. The only hint of movement from him was the occasional turn of his head as he surveyed the tree line.

  Sadly, she had no frame of reference for how long Adam typically kept his victims locked up with him, but realized it was best to err on the side of caution – to assume that, even now, his family members might be breaking down the door to investigate the terrible silence within.

  Danni made to move from her hiding spot, but then hesitated. If she was wrong, she could potentially give herself away.

  There was also the problem of what to do once she was out. She knew from firsthand experience that these monsters had booby-trapped the surrounding woods. No matter which direction she headed, she would need to keep it slow. She’d stepped into that snare while she’d still had her flashlight on her. In the dark, she’d need to be that much more cautious.

  Danni looked up at the sky. The view above was obscured by trees, but it was better than it would be once she was outside the fence. She located the North Star and got her bearings. She knew their base camp had been west of Shilough but had no idea how far off course she’d been taken after being captured. However, it seemed logical to head east. Eventually she had to come across something – a road if she was lucky.

  Shilough itself was another potential issue. Ezekiel was from there. It was more than possible some of the other Lesterfields, the less grotesque among them, lived there, too. Even if she made it, she’d have to keep moving rather than risk knocking on the wrong door.

  Danni silently cursed at her continued inaction. She knew what she was doing, trying to think through every possible scenario in the hopes of s
taying in her small hiding spot a few moments longer. But her current safety was nothing more than a ruse, a temporary balm. So long as she stayed where she was, she wasn’t truly safe, and neither were any of the women left inside.