Trifecta

by Pam Richter

  Michelle didn't have any breath left for screaming and looked upward with surprise. The lightening bolt had not landed in the water. But it was still there. Then she realized it was coming from a strong light in the sky. In the darkness, the light lit up the ocean and when she used an arm to block out the blinding brilliance, she saw a helicopter flying toward the beach. It was a search and rescue air vehicle.

  She wondered how they had come so quickly. Her relief was so intense she finally realized she was shivering uncontrollably and absolutely freezing, but she smiled in relief and started swimming to shore.

  In her mind she could see Lucifer, little paws kneading the sand where she had run into the ocean. She saw a picture of Heather and Vincent and Nakamura there, waiting for her, smiling, ready with blankets. But first she had to get through the crashing breakers again. She treaded water for a while, giving the people on the beach time, she hoped, to restrain Omar before she got to shore

  She kept the picture in her mind of her friends on the beach waiting for her, and with that marvelous thought to give her the strength she needed, she caught a powerful wave.

  CHAPTER 34

  Two men from the rescue team helped pull Michelle from the surf. She was grateful for strong arms supporting her, keeping her tired body from collapsing. One of the men covered her shoulders with a blanket and started rubbing her back vigorously to aid circulation. The other man unexpectedly flashed a light in her eyes, shouting that he had a case of hypothermia. He made her sit down and handed her a Thermos of coffee so hot it burned her tongue.

  Michelle gazed around in shock. The rain had abated somewhat, but black volcanic rocks from the cliffs above had somehow broken off. Chunks were strewn all over the beach.

  When the helicopter landed the wind from it's rotor had scattered the firewood, which was thickly smoking in the rain. The effect of the volcanic rock and smoking debris made it appear as though a bomb had exploded.

  Across the beach Michelle could see that Heather, Vincent and Nakamura were being examined by medics.

  Omar was again buried to the neck in sand. His eyes were riveted on her. The two witches on either side of him and were also examining her malignantly. She turned her head away from Omar's piercing gaze and tried to shield her mind. The way he was glaring turned her cold, as though ice had invaded her system and she felt goose bumps forming on her arms and legs.

  Suddenly Omar was raging at her. His thought projections were strong as intense blows, battering and screaming in her mind, so hideous it was like receiving savage pornography. The violent, black images made her physically ill, battering her like a dark hurricane spinning out of control.

  Now that she had learned to receive Omar's thoughts and images, he was conferring deadly revenge. The assault was physically overwhelming. For a moment she did pass out, swooning down into the sand. The medic grabbed her when she keeled over.

  All seemed blank and barren for a while, and then Michelle heard Lucifer screaming through the void. She opened her eyes. The little cat had run to her and was looking up with large needy blue eyes, yowling noisily. His little paws were kneading the sand. He didn't seem to mind getting soaked when she pulled him up on her lap and hugged him.

  When she looked up, Vincent and Heather were moving toward her, helping Nakamura hop on one leg between them. They were carrying blankets, just as she had envisioned when she caught the wave. Her friends surrounded her and had the welcome effect of shielding out Omar's horrifying mental onslaught.

  They huddled together wordlessly for a long time, arms around Michelle, until she stopped shivering and the tears on her cheeks dried.

  One of the men from the rescue team came up to them and Vincent detached himself from the group. Michelle could hear him insisting that the rescuers be careful when they freed Omar. At the back of the beach two of the medics were staggering with a stretcher, carrying the giant, Samson, toward the helicopter. Then the two witches were assisted into the vehicle.

  They all watched silently as Omar was dug out the sand. He didn't struggle when the crude restraints which had been used to tie him up were replaced by steel handcuffs. Omar was talking soberly to the men, like this was all some terrible mistake and he was utterly innocent of any wrong doing; the only sane man on this beach. He was placed on another stretcher and carried into the helicopter.

  Vincent went to the man who was head of the rescue team. They both went inside the helicopter and Michelle could see them talking on some kind of radio device. Evidently there were several transmissions because Vincent was inside the helicopter for a long time.

  When Vincent came back he was grinning. Michelle thought he was relieved that Omar was now secured inside the helicopter, until he blurted out that Suzanne was not dead. The rescue leader had called Honolulu. Suzanne was safely hospitalized in the chemical detoxification ward at Honolulu General Hospital.

  "There's not enough room for all of us in the helicopter," Vincent said. "They could squeeze in one more person, and want to take you, Rod, because of that broken ankle. Another helicopter will come for the rest of us."

  "No way," Nakamura said, shaking his head. "I'm not going with Omar and the witches."

  "You could get medical treatment faster, if you go now."

  Nakamura shook his head again. "Not with that gang."

  "He probably broke Samson's legs when he pushed him off the cliff," Michelle said. "They'll try to harm him."

  Vincent nodded and went back to confer with the rescue team.

  There were a few logs still smoldering in the middle of the beach and Michelle, Nakamura and Heather moved closer to what had been a big bonfire, where it was warmer. The rain had stopped, but the night was still cool.

  Vincent came back loaded with blankets and more Thermoses of coffee. "It won't be long. About a half hour till the next copter arrives."

  They all protected themselves, sitting on one edge of the blanket and covering their heads. The wind from the rotor would cause a sand storm and the loose rocks and wood lying about the beach could injure them.

  There was an enormous thumping, grinding noise. Michelle could feel the strong wind pelting objects against the blanket. Finally, when the throbbing noise became fainter and all seemed calm again, she peeked out.

  She saw Heather, Nakamura and Vincent also uncovering their heads cautiously and looking around.

  Vincent handed out Thermoses and they all moved together to keep warm. "Looks like Omar isn't going to get you as his high priestess, Michelle," he said.

  "That's not what he wanted," Michelle said. She was petting Lucifer, who had gone to sleep in her arms. "He wanted my babies."

  It was like a bombshell had exploded. No one spoke for a few seconds.

  "What!" Heather exclaimed. "But you can't..."

  "It's okay, everybody knows," Michelle said, noting Heather's reluctance to speak of her infertility. "Evidently Omar thinks psychic ability can be transmitted by heredity, like an ability in math or art. I was to be the mother of a new generation of evil psychic monsters."

  Heather was shaking her head, eyes wide, "The man's totally deranged."

  Now the idea seemed funny and rather silly to Michelle. "He told me all he wanted was a tiny bit of my body. No bigger than a pin head. Of course, I couldn't let him have a baby. Curdles my blood, his influence on a child. He was going to use his own sperm to fertilize the eggs and provide his witches as incubators. He planned to spirit me away to a clinic in Switzerland to do the deed."

  "Oh my God." Now Heather was doubled up in laughter, hurting her broken ribs.

  Vincent and Nakamura were gazing at Michelle at in shocked surprise.

  "So that's why you ran into the ocean," Vincent said. "You scared me. I had a horrible thought that you were committing suicide."

  "Omar was recovering. He would have taken control. The price in his bargain was all of your lives, for the babies. He must have suspected I wouldn't go along with his plan unless he forced me."

&nb
sp; Heather took out a cigarette and started smoking furiously. "What a horrible, disgusting, slimy man. How could you hug him like that?"

  "Great acting, but it was awful. I kept getting those terrible shocks I told you about, Vincent."

  They were all quiet for a moment.

  "You're the expert, Vincent, can psychic ability be transmitted in families?" Nakamura asked.

  "I've never heard of a scientific study. There are supposed to be families of witches, but that really refers to the religious rites and practices rather than paranormal ability that's transmitted genetically."

  "You gotta a 'Black Magic Woman'" Heather said to Nakamura, winking and smiling at him. She hummed a few bars of the song.

  "Gonna make a devil out of me," Nakamura said, completing the line.

  "No. Michelle is a good witch," Vincent said. "A white witch." He was very authoritative and serious with that pronouncement. The three looked at him with astonishment and began laughing nervously.

  "I'm not a witch, Vincent," Michelle said, still smiling.

  "I could argue the point, citing several definitions of witchcraft, which include precognition, healing ability and the receiving and transmission of thoughts, but we'll save it for another day."

  "I want to be in on that discussion," Nakamura said. "But what worries me now is that Omar's a wily operator. He can be deceptively charming and has lots of money to provide a defense. He might just wriggle out of this. First, he will deny dropping the two of you in the ocean. Then there will be some sort of judicial formality, even if you don't have to go through a trial. He'll use all his cohorts to tell what wonderful qualities he has, and how he's a deeply religious man who wouldn't swat a fly. He'll probably have several drugged up witches saying he was someplace else entirely while you two were struggling in the briny deep."

  "He meant to kill Vincent," Michelle said indignantly.

  "And me too," Heather said.

  Vincent nodded in agreement.

  Heather turned to look at Vincent. "Three woman have been killed in Honolulu since he moved here. And we know he gave your student, Suzanne, powerful drugs."

  "That's where we've got him," Vincent said with satisfaction. "The drug connection. Even if we can't ever prove positively that he dropped Michelle and I into the ocean, miles from the island of Kauai."

  "They'll have to believe the two of us, Vincent," Michelle protested.

  "No. Rod is right. Omar will have an alibi for the time we were in the ocean. But he'll be charged with other crimes. I just had several calls made to the Honolulu police. They may think I'm a drunk and a kook, dabbling in the occult, but I told them that Samson Stoker resides with Omar Satinov. That gives them the right to search the premises, because Samson is a wanted felon. They'll be looking for the missing bank money, but I think they'll also find illicit drugs. Then I'll get Suzanne to testify against Omar."

  "I'm still afraid for Michelle," Nakamura said. "Omar's probably lining up expensive lawyers, right now, to set bail."

  "There is no bail for attempted homicide," Vincent said. "But you might just take Michelle on a little extended vacation, until the time comes when she's supposed to testify in court."

  Heather had been pouring more coffee into the top of her Thermos. "You don't have to worry about that, Vincent," she said rather sadly. "Michelle is going to Japan in a few days, anyway. To start a new job with Rod."

  "Good," Vincent said. "There's always the possibility that Omar could be freed on some legal pretext. I saw the way he was glaring at Michelle. He's one angry warlock. And he's furious at Rod too, because he thinks Rod ruined his chance for the psychic brats."

  "I think you do have to worry, Vincent," Michelle said. She winked at Heather. She didn't want to look at Nakamura right now. She hadn't had time to answer him, what with all of the hullabaloo that went on when Omar got free. "I'm staying right here in Hawaii with my friends."

  Heather gave a happy little shriek and went over to hug Michelle's shoulders. "I'm so glad, Michelle."

  Then Heather turned, looking guiltily at Nakamura, and immediately sat down again. She didn't understand what was going on. Nakamura actually appeared to be quite happy about Michelle's decision.

  "I'll have to stay here in Hawaii until Suzanne is well enough to leave," Vincent said. "It would help if you would talk to her; tell her how evil Omar is. She's just a little girl who got in way over her head and was filled with drugs until she was out of her mind. It's all my fault. I was using her as bait."

  "You couldn't have," Michelle said, shocked.

  "Oh, yes. I'm totally to blame. I just hope I can get Omar out of circulation for a long time. I had been following the trail of the Dark Man who was so diabolic in the secret witch legends. I wanted to study him and was willing to use one of my most brilliant students. I badly misjudged him. Almost got Suzanne killed."

  "He's a sneaky drug dealer," Michelle said. "He must have business records that implicate him in the drug trade from South America."

  "They're on their way, now, to get a search warrant. They'll want to study his files before he can get free and destroy incriminating evidence," Vincent assured her. "Because even Suzanne's testimony might not work. He'll say that the sex was consensual. And others will repeat those lies, vile as it sounds. But her testimony will be a blight on his so-called religion. You know how the press is. They'll glom onto the rape sensation. He'll never clear himself from the suspicion Suzanne's testimony will arouse. Otherwise, I wouldn't put her through the ordeal. And you'll see. She'll risk her own reputation to prevent him from hurting other women."

  Michelle and Heather exchanged a glance. Their most vivid memory of Suzanne was of her pulling Heather into the surf at Waikiki.

  Vincent saw their look. "She was 'fascinated' by Omar's charm. And then there were the drugs..."

  "Are you using the word 'fascinated' in it's old medieval definition, as something a witch does to enthrall a victim?" Nakamura asked.

  Vincent nodded reluctantly.

  "Then you do believe that Omar has supernatural power?" Michelle asked. "I mean, you're the expert.

  Vincent sat silent for a long time, sipping his coffee. Then he nodded at Michelle. "I've seen things I can't explain, even by tricks used by professional magicians. Things I've never even heard of as psychic gifts. The way he used that sword on Heather, bringing down a lightening bolt. I may have appeared to be unconscious, and I really couldn't move when Omar did that, but I did see it. And tonight, sending lightening bolts into the rocks so they were crashing down around us. The way all the lights exploded in Michelle's apartment. His specialized use of drugs and poisons. Even the way he was fighting Michelle seemed supernatural. Also, I've never heard of a person who could command insects, which have very minimal intelligence to begin with. Dogs and cats, yes, but never insects."

  "And the lights around the fire tonight?" Michelle asked. "I thought I was having hallucinations, but you saw them too. He said they were dead spirits."

  "I don't know what they were," Vincent said. "I've never believed in necromancy; communicating with dead spirits, or bringing them back to spiritual life."

  As he was speaking, Michelle got up and began walking around the fire. She picked up a long stick and began sifting through the sand, poking objects around.

  "Feeding human organs to his cat. A really sick kind of religion," Heather commented with a little shudder.

  "Many people believe that blood has magical properties," Vincent said. "The superstitions go back to the old legends of the Vampires..."

  As Vincent told grisly vampire stories, Michelle reached down between two smoldering logs and picked up a bright shiny faceted object. It was hot and she juggled it from one hand to the other. She looked at it and held it up to the light. It could just be glass, from the master of illusion. She slipped it into the pocket of her shirt.

  When the helicopter came for them, the crew told them that Omar was being detained by the police on Kauai because of the cha
rges that Michelle and Vincent had made against him. His two witches had elected loyally to remain with him.

  Samson Stoker's ugly countenance had been recognized by the Kauai police and he was being held pending removal to a jail in Honolulu, as he was wanted in connection with masterminding a spectacular bank robbery.

  The big helicopter wobbled, making a tremendous amount of noise. Michelle could feel it quivering and vibrating, and then it lifted them straight up off the beach into the stormy night sky.

  They were taken directly to a hospital in Princeville. When Vincent was given a physical examination, he seemed to have recovered amazingly from his ordeal in the ocean and what the doctors termed 'exhaustion and exposure,' but it was mostly relief which precipitated his spectacular recovery. The knowledge that he could take Suzanne safely home. He knew he would never sufficiently recover from his guilt to take another student on his paranormal quests in the future.

  The doctors pronounced that Michelle was suffering from exposure, dehydration, hypothermia and multiple scrapes and abrasions, but she was fine and pronounced fit to go. Heather was examined and released with the promise that she would check back into the hospital in Honolulu. Heather nodded at the doctor, with big innocent eyes, agreeing to all he said, with no intention of following his orders. She would not spend another minute in a hospital unless she was comatose.

  Nakamura was fit with a hard plaster walking cast.

  Guy Thorner had waited for them at the Princeville Airport in Kauai. He flew them back to his private airfield in Honolulu. Michelle, Nakamura and Heather, each individually exhausted from the past few hours slept on the plane. From there, Nakamura roused himself sufficiently to drive them all back into Waikiki.

  Nakamura dropped Vincent off at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel with the promise that they would all meet the next day and talk to Suzanne. Michelle gave him a good-by kiss on the cheek as Vincent left the car, thanking him for all his help. Vincent countered that she had saved him, but Michelle thought that without Vincent there in the ocean with her, insisting she take rests and talking almost nonstop to keep her spirits up, she might not have made it. They had really saved each other.