Second Sight

by Sharon Sala

  Charlie turned right at the stoplight, and together they found their way to the restaurant without an issue. But when they pulled up and parked, Charlie frowned at the nondescript appearance of the sandy-brown building.

  “Doesn’t look like much from the parking lot,” he said.

  “I don’t look like much from the outside, either, but we both know it’s what’s on the inside that counts,” Wyrick snapped.

  Charlie glared. “I don’t know how my opinion of the outside of a building suddenly became about you, but do me a favor, get your ass out of the car and stop griping.”

  Wyrick put her laptop in the floorboard, then tossed her bag on top of it and got out, marching toward the building without waiting for him before going inside on her own.

  “Damn, aggravating female,” Charlie muttered and lengthened his stride, entering only a couple of steps behind her, and just as the hostess walked up.

  “How many?” she asked and then eyed Wyrick curiously.

  “Two, and seat us against the wall so we can see the enemies coming,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie arched an eyebrow. Obviously the hostess had stared at Wyrick’s bald head a little too long, and when the hostess looked up at him, he glowered.

  She grabbed two menus. “This way,” she said and led them all the way to the back of the room. She seated them against the wall, near the kitchen.

  Charlie turned around and swept the room with what he hoped would pass for a steely gaze, and then nodded.

  “It’ll work,” he said.

  Wyrick was enchanted that he’d actually gone along with the impulse she’d had, and now she was stuck with having to be grateful. She sat without looking at him and picked up a menu, then laid it back down.

  “I read the menu on the way here. I already know what I want,” she said.

  Charlie picked up a menu, then paused. “Do you know what I want, too?”

  “Beef tenderloin steak tacos,” she said.

  “Whoa! They have that?” Charlie asked.

  “I am not answering that question,” she muttered.

  Charlie stifled a grin. He’d finally gotten under her skin.

  Moments later, a waitress appeared with glasses of water.

  “Are you ready to order, or do you need a few minutes?”

  “I’ll have the mushroom enchiladas,” Wyrick said.

  “And I’m having the beef tenderloin steak tacos,” Charlie said and then took a drink of the water she’d brought to the table.

  “Are we having an appetizer today?” the waitress asked.

  “Charlotte and I are having guacamole and chips,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie choked on the water he was swallowing.

  “Yes, ma’am,” the waitress said and hurried away to turn in the order.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Charlie asked.

  “That prison was smothering,” she said. It was all the explanation she was going to make.

  “Ah...yes, it was,” Charlie said.

  Now it was all making sense. She needed the silliness to offset the darkness. He’d felt it. And with her abilities, he could only imagine how deeply it had impacted her.

  A few moments later the chips and guacamole arrived, and the tension between them lessened with food in their bellies.

  “Can we fly to Shawnee Gap?” Charlie asked as they ate.

  “No. The population is less than two hundred and fifty residents, and it’s right in the midst of the Appalachians. From the maps I looked at, there’s not much of a road, either. I’m saying we drive it. We’ll have to check out the entire area to see what the security is like. As much as I hate to say this, the only overnight housing we’ll have will be camping. Do you have tents?”

  “Yes, but for safety’s sake, I’m going to suggest both of us in one. At the least, there will be bears.”

  “Ah, shit,” Wyrick said.

  “Look, we can sleep in separate tents if it will make you feel—”

  Wyrick pointed a chip at him! “That was for the bear comment. Not you. I’m not afraid of you, Charlie Dodge.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” Charlie muttered. “If it will make you feel any better, I am somewhat afraid of you.”

  Wyrick smirked, but inside she was laughing out loud.

  By the time their main courses arrived, the tension between them had been set aside.

  Wyrick rolled her eyes in ecstasy as she took her first bite of the mushroom enchiladas, then chewed and swallowed.

  “This is the best stuff I’ve ever tasted in my life,” she said and chased the bite with a scoop of beans and rice peppered with homemade pico de gallo.

  Charlie’s first bite of the steak taco was tender and spicy, and the warm tortilla made it the perfect mouthful. He downed the first one without saying a word and didn’t even look up until he stopped to take a drink.

  “Sorry you aren’t enjoying your food,” Wyrick said.

  He picked up his second taco. “Mind your own business,” he said and took a big bite.

  She laughed, and the sound rolled through him like the ripples of an earthquake, cracking the mental wall he kept between them. No, you don’t, Dodge. No. You. Don’t.

  They were almost finished when their waitress came back.

  “Have you saved room for dessert?” she asked.

  Charlie already knew Wyrick’s penchant for sweets and was waiting to see what she ordered.

  “I saw a photo online of something that looked like pudding, with a caramel swirl on top. What is that?” Wyrick asked.

  “Ah...the dulce de leche flan. It’s served with cinnamon sugar churros. A great choice,” the waitress said.

  “A flan is like pudding, right?” Charlie asked.

  The waitress nodded.

  “Do you have pie?” Charlie asked.

  She smiled. “A very decadent Mexican chocolate pie served with whipped cream, nuts and a drizzle of dulce de leche on top.”

  “That’s caramel,” Wyrick said.

  “I know that,” Charlie said.

  “Just trying to be helpful,” she said.

  Charlie ignored her. “I’ll have the pie,” he told the waitress. “Oh...and I’d like a cup of coffee with that.”

  The waitress nodded and glanced at Wyrick, who just pointed at her empty glass and smiled.

  “Oh, sorry. I’ll bring you a refill,” the waitress said.

  “Back to the trip,” Charlie said. “What else do we need to prepare for?”

  Wryrick thought. “By any chance do you own a drone?”

  “No, why?” Charlie asked.

  “Never mind. I have something. I’ll bring it. I thought it might be helpful in locating the property from the air, since I saw heavy forest all around it.”

  Charlie eyed her curiously. “You own a drone?”

  “I own a company that makes them,” she said. “Do you have an extra sleeping bag? I’d happily buy one, but the sooner we get on the road to Kentucky, the faster we’ll get Jordan Bien home.”

  “I’ll deal with the camping equipment. My Jeep has plenty of room for all of it, and I have an assortment of MREs, so that will limit the need to build a fire, which could alert them to our presence.”

  Wyrick frowned. “What are MREs?”

  “It stands for Meals Ready to Eat. It’s what soldiers eat when they’re doing fieldwork or on patrol.”

  “Ick,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie grinned.

  And then their desserts arrived. They eyed their own desserts and then each other’s, before getting down to business.

  Wyrick had an iced tea and Charlie had his coffee. As soon as they finished, Charlie paid up, and then they were back in the car and headed for the airport.

  Ten

  The flight home was turb
ulent and took longer than the trip going to Phoenix, because they had to fly around another storm. Three hours later, they finally arrived at the hangar.

  “There’s no sense driving at night now after the day we’ve had, and I need time to get all the gear together,” Charlie said. “Why don’t you meet me at my apartment around 8:00 a.m. and we’ll leave from there. Pack a couple of changes of clothes, and shoes and socks for rough terrain, and if you have a rain slicker, pack that, as well. Do you have a backpack large enough for all that?”

  “Yes,” Wyrick said. “Reception is going to be bad in the mountains, but I’ll handle the technology and you deal with the camping aspect.”

  “Agreed,” Charlie said and got out of the chopper just as Benny came out of the hangar to help Wyrick. “Go home and get some rest. It may be the last night of good sleep we have for a while.”

  Wyrick watched Charlie pause to speak to Benny, trying not to think about how Charlie looked naked, which had been a total accident that happened during the Dunleavy case. She sighed and turned away, and when she heard his Jeep start up and leave the hangar, she refused to give in to the urge to look back and wave.

  * * *

  Jordan was back at her sewing station when she heard someone unlocking the door. It wasn’t time for the girls to come back; she guessed it was about her throwing food at the door. She was scared, but she wasn’t going to let on. She dug through the stash of spare buttons to find one to replace on the shirt in her lap.

  She heard the sounds of men talking about cleaning up the food, and then footsteps coming through the dormitory to the back room where she was sitting.

  Seeing Jud walking in with another tray of food surprised her, as did the calm expression on his face.

  “Can you please take a break? I brought food that hasn’t been opened, and I will eat with you to prove none of it has been drugged. Deal?”

  Jordan was hungry but unwilling to be amenable. She set the sewing aside and got up.

  “We can sit at one of the craft tables,” Jud said and put the tray down. “There are bottles of water still in the refrigerator, so grab us a couple.”

  Jordan did as he asked, then sat down on the opposite side of the table and placed the bottles between them.

  “Thanks,” Jud said and then slid a paper plate, a plastic fork and a can of Vienna sausages toward her. Then he put a whole sleeve of saltine crackers and a box of Little Debbie oatmeal cookies, both unopened, in front of her.

  Jordan noticed he had the same thing, and realized he really was going to eat with her. She didn’t know how she felt about it,

  “Want me to open the can for you?” he asked.

  Jordan popped hers and peeled back the lid without answering him. She dumped the little sausages out onto the paper plate, and reached for the crackers and a bottle of water.

  Jud shrugged, accepting her silence as a positive, and they began to eat. He tried conversation a couple of times, but after continuing silence from her, he quit talking.

  The men cleaned up the food she’d thrown, then the door and the floor before leaving, locking them in as they went. About an hour later the girls returned, and when they did, Jud took their food trash with him, leaving her to return to her sewing.

  The girls were curious about Jordan’s father coming to eat with her, even somewhat envious that he’d actually spent time with her. They had no personal contact with the family members who’d brought them here.

  Randi, being the brave one of the group, went back to where Jordan was sewing, and sat down on the floor beside her.

  “So why did your dad get to come eat with you?” she asked.

  Jordan shrugged. “They probably made him, after I refused to eat what they brought, and threw it at that Thomas guy when he left.”

  The other girls had followed Randi into the sewing room and gasped en masse when they heard her say she threw her food.

  “Why didn’t you eat it? You ate breakfast this morning,” Randi said.

  “I saw everybody being served from the same pans, so I guessed they weren’t drugged. I had no way of knowing they hadn’t drugged the food they put on my tray.”

  Randi’s mouth opened, but she was so shocked she didn’t speak. It was the little blond-haired Barbie with the blue eyes who responded.

  “Why would you think that?” she asked.

  “Because Jud drugged me twice to get me here, that’s why.”

  “Oh,” Barbie said, then moved a little closer and sat down on the floor beside Randi. “Why don’t you call him Daddy?”

  Jordan looked up from her sewing, her eyes blazing.

  “I don’t have a father. He walked out on me two years ago, and the man who showed up the other day kidnapped me and fed me drugs. When I wouldn’t eat anything else he gave me, he stabbed me in the neck with a syringe and drugged me again. I hate him. I hate all of these men. They’re evil.”

  The other girls stared at each other and then wandered off to the craft tables to find something to do. But Randi and Barbie stayed, and it was Randi who began looking through the basket of finished mending and discovered what Jordan had done.

  “Jordan! You sewed the buttonholes shut!”

  “I know,” Jordan said.

  Randi groaned. “They’re gonna be mad.”

  “Yes, well, I’m mad at them,” Jordan said.

  The two girls looked at each other, then nodded. That made sense. They weren’t brave enough to rebel, but they had mad respect for the new girl’s fearless stunts.

  And so the afternoon progressed. Most of the girls took a nap out of boredom, but Jordan kept her head down and worked until the other basket was empty and the mending was finished.

  The ends of her fingers were sore and a couple were bleeding from needle pokes. She had a headache from squinting and thought of her reading glasses back home. But the minute she thought of home and her mother, her eyes welled.

  Mama, I miss you so much. I’m so scared. Please find me.

  Without a clock to know what time it was, she went to her bed, rolled over onto her side to face the wall and closed her eyes. She could hear the air-conditioning units humming outside the nearby window and fell asleep to the sound.

  She woke up as Archangel Thomas came to bring the girls to supper, and when she rolled over and sat up, she saw Jud coming in with another tray of food.

  She sighed. Was the shit going to hit the fan before or after they ate? Then she saw the Seraphim walk in with his usual entourage. Her belly rolled, but she stood up, ready to face the consequences, and noticed the other girls watching her with measured levels of sympathy as they were being marched out.

  “Bring the mending!” Aaron ordered. He pointed at Jordan and said, “You. Come here to me.”

  She lifted her chin and walked toward him without hesitation as one of the men went to get the basket.

  He carried it back to his Master and set it before him.

  The pile of clothing displeased Aaron.

  “You didn’t fold it!” he said.

  “You didn’t tell me to,” Jordan said.

  Aaron leaned over and picked up a shirt, checking the buttons to make sure they had been sewn on properly. He went to button it without thinking, but when he realized the buttonhole had been sewn shut, he began checking more of it, flinging it aside.

  “You little bitch!” he screamed and began going through the basket piece by piece, finding that every piece in there had been sabotaged one way or another. He was beside himself with rage.

  But when he came to his white robe and saw the red hem she’d sown into it, he dropped it, drew back his hand and began slapping her, from one side of her cheek to the other, until he hit her so hard it knocked her off her feet. She fell backward and didn’t get up.

  Jud cried out before he thought. “No! Stop! Stop!”

 
But when the Master turned on him with his fists doubled up, Jud realized how close he was to getting hit, as well.

  “Get out!” Aaron ordered.

  Jud was trembling inside, but this was his daughter unconscious on the floor. Instead of obeying, he knelt down beside her to check for a pulse.

  “Get up and get out!” Aaron screamed.

  “This is not our way!” Jud said. “You talk about a better world, and kindness and peace controlled by people who can see into the future. You caused harm to my daughter! I trusted you, or I would never have brought her here.”

  The other Archangels were in shock. One of their own had challenged the Master. But they had also been stunned by what the Master had done, and began thinking of their family members with unease.

  Jordan’s face was bloody and already swelling and bruising as Jud picked her up from the floor and carried her to her bed.

  “You will pay for this insubordination,” Aaron screamed as Jud ran to get some wet washcloths and then rushed back to Jordan’s bedside.

  Jud paused, staring at the man he’d worshipped. “I already have, and at the expense of my child,” he said, then began wiping away the blood from his baby’s face.

  Aaron turned to the Archangels with him, ready to demand they take Jud into custody. But he saw their expressions and changed his mind. He’d just lost face with them. Granted, it was just a few of his followers, but word would spread. He needed to do something fast to regain control.

  “Archangel Rubin, go get the medic. Have him come see to the Sprite’s injury.”

  Rubin bolted out of the building.

  Aaron took a deep breath. “It is unfortunate that this happened, and I will commune with Spirit as to the correct path to take with her. What none of you know...but what I do realize is that this Sprite has powers far beyond most of you, and I believe that is what causes her constant disobedience. She has not yet learned control.” Aaron took a deep breath and then apologized to Jud. “Archangel Jud, I am sorry for striking your child. It won’t happen again. Archangel Franklin, bring the mending with you. It is best not left in her care again.”

  Franklin was a tall, skinny man in his early thirties, and horrified by what he’d just seen, yet it was habit that made him obey.