When Shadows Fall

by J. T. Ellison

  She pushed Sam away, but kept the weapon pointed at her. “I know you’re going to help me. You’re a good person, Dr. Owens. You’ll do the right thing.”

  Sam wasn’t having any of this. Kaylie was as twisted as Curtis Lott. She needed to keep her talking, keep her from trying to storm the compound, with Sam in tow. That was an assured death for them both.

  “If you think I’m going to let you threaten me into helping you, you’re out of your mind. They’ll kill us.”

  “It has to be this way! The minute Adrian figures out what’s happening, he’ll slit the throats of everyone in Eden with that nasty garrote of his. Rachel won’t be given any mercy.”

  Kaylie gestured toward the woods with the gun. “Now, start walking, Dr. Owens. And don’t you dare scream for help. Or I swear to all that’s holy I will shoot you dead and leave your body in these woods for the wolves to find.”

  Sam began to walk.

  Chapter

  56

  AS THEY WENT deeper and deeper into the forest, Kaylie was silent. Sam focused on scrambling through the brambles and over the fallen logs, chiding herself for being so stupid.

  She should have told someone she was leaving to go to the bathroom. No one would miss her. No one would even know she was gone until Baldwin and Fletcher came back. They all had their own roles to play. They weren’t watching out for her.

  Sam tried to gauge where they were headed. It seemed as if they were walking away from the entrance gate, not toward it. The trees surrounded them. It was cooler under their branches. Flies and gnats lit upon her, making a meal out of her exposed arms and neck.

  She debated the different ways she could disarm Kaylie, and when to make her move. She decided to see where they were headed first, to be sure she didn’t screw up and get hurt, or killed, in the middle of nowhere. They’d need to follow the vultures to find her, and Xander would be furious with her.

  Kaylie hadn’t taken Sam’s phone away from her. She hoped to find a chance to send a text or dial 911, but she’d need seclusion to do it, if she could even get service deep in the woods. No, she’d be better off catching the girl off guard and overpowering her. Sam could do it—she had a great deal of training—but again, she wanted to wait until they were someplace easily accessible to the teams in the field.

  As if she knew the mental space was sufficient for Sam to plot an escape, Kaylie started to talk.

  “What is it like, doing an autopsy?”

  Play along, Sam. You’ll get your chance.

  “Messy,” she said.

  “Is there blood? I always figured once a body was dead and gone, there wasn’t any more blood pumping through the heart.”

  “The human body contains about five liters of blood. Unless there’s an incidence of exsanguination, small or large, that blood stays in the body. So yes, there’s quite a bit of blood.”

  “Was there a lot of blood in Doug when you cut him open?”

  “No more than the usual,” Sam said. “Why?”

  “What did he look like inside? He was very health-conscious.”

  “His body showed that.”

  “What about cancer? Did he have cancer?”

  The sun was shifting in the sky; Sam saw the dappling on the leaves moving farther down the trees. Great. They were heading into late-afternoon now. How long had they been gone?

  “I didn’t see anything that indicated cancer. But there are many different kinds. It’s possible. We’d have to run tests on his blood to know for sure.”

  “But there was nothing that looked like cancer to you? No tumors, no lesions?”

  “No. Why are you asking?”

  Kaylie bit her lip and didn’t respond right away. “Why did you decide to become a pathologist?” she asked, finally. “That’s the right word, yes?”

  Sam clambered over a log. “Yes, that’s right. I found the inner workings of the body of interest.”

  “That’s all? ‘Of interest?’ Come on, Doc. We have a ways to go. Tell me the truth. Why do you do it? Why do you cut people open and peer into their bodies? It seems like a grave invasion of privacy to me.”

  What’s with this line of questioning? “I do it to give peace to the ones who need it. So many people are killed, so many are hurt, or die alone. Without me, there are no answers. I give the body a last moment to explain itself, to share what happened, and why. Then the loved ones will know, and are able to mourn their dead and move on with their lives. It is very satisfying.”

  “That makes sense. Doug taught me a lot about anatomy, what went where. He thought it might be useful if something happened to us.”

  “He was right, it is useful. What else did Doug teach you?”

  Sam glanced over her shoulder. Kaylie waved the pistol to indicate she was to keep moving.

  “Kaylie, can we stop? I’m thirsty. I hear water.”

  “No. Keep walking. You’ll be fine. Doug taught me a lot of things. He was kind to me. He read to me. He showed me how to grow things. How to manage money, how to stay off the grid. How to be my own person. How to heal from all the horrible things that happened to me. The things Curtis did to me, and Adrian.” She went silent. “Doug was a good man. He loved me, and I loved him. I have no one to tell my truths to anymore.”

  “Tell me, Kaylie. Tell me about Eden. Tell me what happened to you.”

  “I already did tell you.”

  “I don’t think you’ve told me everything. Why did Doug decide to take you away from Eden? Why you, and no one else? He could have saved everyone. He could have stopped Curtis and her awful operation in its tracks. Why did he disappear with you?”

  “Because he loved me.”

  “He loved you so much he decided to get himself killed and expose you. Why, Kaylie? Why now? Why me? He could have gone straight to the FBI and shut it all down. Instead he’s playing some sort of sick game from the grave, dragging all of us into this situation. People could die today. Can you comprehend that? The FBI isn’t playing around. Your daughter is in that compound, and she could be killed. Help me understand.”

  “He was ill. It was eating him alive. It was time.”

  Her voice was atonal, eerie.

  “Time for what?”

  “Time for the Reckoning. He wanted it to stop. He ate the wafer of life, and it told him this was the time to stop the Reckoning.”

  “You’re not making sense, Kaylie. What’s the Reckoning?”

  “When a child is brought into the fold. For Adrian. And when the Reckoning is finished, Adrian is sent to the Great Sacrifice.”

  “Which is?”

  “He is allowed.”

  “Allowed what?”

  “I cannot say. When we accept the mark we have the blood of Eden in our veins. It is sacrilege to speak of the Great Sacrifice. It is the one thing we are not allowed to know of.”

  “You’re not a part of Eden anymore, Kaylie.”

  The girl shuddered. “I know that. I am one of the lost, forever damned. I will never be able to stop wandering. Eden cast me out, the world cast me out, even Doug left me. I am unclean. I am doomed.”

  “That’s not true. You are a victim, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You don’t understand.” Her voice went up an octave, tears threatening. “I will never be normal. I will never be able to have a normal life. I am cursed, and I will forever be marked as the cursed one. That’s why Doug took me away. Curtis foretold that I was the Cursed One. She saw it, knew I would be the end to Eden. There is nothing that can be done to change that. Doug set me on this path, and I must follow through.”

  “What do you have to do?”

  “Expose them. Betray them. Save my daughter.” Her words were spitting out, rabid and scared. Sam realized she was treading the edge; she flipped from sanity
to insanity at a moment’s notice. And she fought so, so hard to keep it together.

  Sam kept her voice calm and smooth. “You aren’t betraying them. You’re going to set them free.”

  “Only Curtis sets them free. I am shedding light. It is forbidden. I will burn for my actions.” She was crying, and finally, finally, the gun dropped down by her side.

  Sam was about to reach for it when a shadow overcame them, blocking the light of the sun, and a deep, angry male voice rang through the trees.

  “Yes, you will, Kaylie. You will burn for your sins.”

  Chapter

  57

  FLETCHER HEARD A high-pitched scream. He stopped moving, whistled low to make Jordan and Thurber stop, too. Listened for it again. Heard nothing.

  Then there was a crashing sound—something was coming at them, fast and hard, through the woods. He raised his weapon, pointed it toward the noise. The ROE ran through his mind—only shoot in self-defense, only shoot in self-defense. It was damn unnerving standing there facing whatever was coming toward them. His finger slid to the trigger.

  Sam burst through the woods, running hard, like something was chasing her.

  He eased his finger back, realized he’d been holding his breath. He was grateful he’d been trained not to react until there was an immediate threat. “Sam, over here.”

  She heard his voice, altered course, leaped over a tree trunk and ran to him. Her eyes were wide and she was out of breath, sweating in the late-afternoon miasma.

  “Kaylie’s back there, with a huge man. It must be Adrian.” A dog’s bark broke through the air. Her head whipped around toward the sound. “Oh, God, that’s Thor!”

  “You sure?”

  Her face was white. “Yes, absolutely. He’s attacking. We have to go back there. Xander must be with him. Thor wouldn’t attack without direction.”

  “Negative,” Thurber said. “We have to stay here. This is our position.”

  Sam shot him a look. “You stay. I’m going back.”

  She turned and began running toward the sound of Thor’s bark. Fletcher was right on her heels, and so was Jordan. It only took them a few minutes to get back to where Thor was barking.

  The dog had cornered Adrian and Kaylie. Sam was right, the guy was huge. He was holding Kaylie in a firm embrace with a Glock .40 tight against her temple.

  Fletcher took a shot at him, but Adrian ducked away, taking shelter behind a tree. The sudden movement got him off balance, and he tripped. Kaylie grunted in pain as they crashed to the ground together.

  Fletcher started forward, but Jordan hissed at him, “Don’t shoot, damn it. The ROE says self-defense only.”

  “He’s trying to kill her, or us!”

  Sam saw Xander standing fifteen feet away, his back against a tree trunk, cradling an arm Sam immediately realized was broken. But he was alive and not bleeding. Sam sent thanks heavenward, then crept to his side. She managed to get there without drawing any attention to herself. “What happened?”

  “Son of a bitch got me with a tree branch across the body. Snapped my arm. Then he turned and ran. Thor went after him.”

  “Let me see.” She ran her fingers along his forearm, making him wince and gasp. “It’s a clean break, but both the radius and ulna are broken.”

  “No kidding. Clean enough I can’t hold my weapon. I’ve been tracking him for miles. He parked out on the main road and hiked in. I’d circled around but he must have heard me.”

  “Relax for me, hon. Let me have your arm. There you go.” She poked around a bit more, ignoring his grimace. “It needs to be set temporarily, but we have to get you to a medic. You’re going to need some surgical help getting it back together permanently.” Sam ripped off the sleeve of his good arm and fashioned a sling, then found a sturdy flat piece of tree branch. They heard Fletcher and Jordan screaming at each other, then the rotors of a helicopter coming closer.

  “Hang on, okay? Quit fidgeting. I need to reduce this, and I don’t have an X-ray to work with. Talk to me. Where was Adrian headed?”

  “There’s a tunnel up ahead about a hundred yards. It’s the ingress to the compound. I saw where he was going, thought I’d cross over quickly and tell the Feebs. My cell is worthless. I have no signal. I was almost to the opening in the woods when he clocked me.”

  She lengthened his arm, getting the bones in proper alignment. “Ready?” she said, and before he could tense up, she pulled, hard. He inhaled sharply but didn’t cry out. She ran her fingers along the break. Perfect. The bones were back in the right spot.

  “Okay, tough guy, that will do it for now.” She braced his arm with the wood, tied a couple of strips of his shirtsleeve around his forearm, then slid it in the sling. “Okay?”

  He was pale but kissed her, quickly on the mouth. “I’ll be fine. But you need to take this.”

  He handed her the M-4.

  She hefted it into her arms. It was heavy, lethal. She didn’t like guns, but living with Xander, she knew how to handle them. He’d insisted she be fully competent with every weapon he owned, and they’d spent many an afternoon on the mountain doing target practice.

  She cleared it, as he’d taught her, then flicked the selector to Safe. Xander reached over and set it to a three-round burst. “Just in case,” he said. She hated it but nodded. She had no intention of pulling the trigger, but as he always told her, if she had the gun in her hands, she needed to be prepared to use it. This wasn’t for fun, or target practice. This was very real.

  Fletcher and Jordan were shooting again, but the huge man and Kaylie had disappeared. Xander whistled hard and long and Thor stopped barking. Sam heard him running back to them.

  Xander reached cross-handed for his pistol, pulled it out of its nylon webbing.

  “What are you doing? You can’t get in that fight. You’re hurt.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  Thor came skidding toward them.

  “Thor, blieb!” Xander said.

  Thor sat at her feet, looking confused.

  “Don’t you dare,” she started, but he was gone, slipping through the trees. Bloody fool. Leaving her with a hot weapon and an even hotter dog? Maybe she would use the gun. On him.

  She smelled something odd and realized the HRT were tossing tear gas canisters. They must be very close to the compound. She wasn’t going to stand here in the trees, out of harm’s way, while everyone she loved was throwing themselves into the fight.

  “Thor, voraus! Let’s go.”

  He didn’t need to be told twice. He wanted to follow his master into battle, as he’d been trained to do. Together they traced Xander’s path. They found him five minutes later, standing with Jordan and Fletcher.

  “What’s happening?” Sam asked.

  If Xander was Medusa, Sam would be solid stone beneath his furious gaze. “I told you to stay there, damn it.”

  Jordan tapped her headset. “Shut up!” She listened for a moment. “HRT stormed the breach. No one responded to the call for negotiations, but someone set fire to one of the outbuildings. We had no recourse, we had to go in. There are casualties. They’re looking for Rachel now. It’s not looking good. How the hell did that huge guy disappear?”

  “There’s a tunnel, ingress into the property. We need to get there now,” Xander said.

  “Give me coordinates, I’ll radio the team—”

  “No time. Follow me.”

  “Stand down,” Jordan yelled. But Xander was already moving away quickly.

  “Damn it,” she said.

  Fletcher shook his head. “Yeah, he does that. Come on.”

  Sam started to follow. Fletcher took one look at her, holding Xander’s M-4 at the ready, and fought not to smile. “You all set there, G.I. Jane?”

  “Don’t even think about it, Fletch. Let’s go.
”

  * * *

  The tunnel, as Xander called it, was more of a drainage culvert, only large enough for them to go through one at a time. The land they were on was close to the Potomac, and the culverts were in place in case of flooding. It would effectively drain excess water away from the fields. It was dark and nasty, slimy with mold and moss. A trickle of water ran down the center, a remnant of last night’s rain. The damp, cool marshiness seeped through the leather of her boots, and Sam shivered as they crossed through the tunnel.

  She was third in line. Xander and Fletcher were in front. Jordan was behind. Thor padded along without difficulty. After five minutes of walking, Xander held up his hand, and Fletcher took the lead position. They were at the entrance to Eden’s land. She heard the two men murmuring to each other, deciding who was going to go where. Suddenly Xander was next to her. He motioned for Jordan to come in front. She nodded and passed them.

  Xander whispered in Sam’s ear. “They’re going first. I don’t see anyone here. Adrian must have taken Kaylie into the compound. We’ll follow when Fletch signals. They don’t need us getting hurt. Technically, we aren’t allowed to be here.”

  “You’re already hurt,” she said, but leaned close to him.

  “I’m okay. You did a good job patching me up. Fletch said HRT is combing the site, looking for survivors. Someone set the barn on fire with people inside it.”

  “Jesus. They are vicious, aren’t they?”

  “Next time I tell you to park your ass, you—”

  Fletcher whistled twice, low and sharp.

  Xander cut off the diatribe, gave her a little push. “Go.”

  She went in front of him. He had a hand on her shoulder, and they broke out of the tunnel into the beginnings of twilight. She had no idea they’d been in the woods so long.

  There was smoke drifting toward them. Fletcher was crouched down, weapon raised. Jordan was next to him with a scope to her eye, talking on her comms unit.

  Sam heard her say, “Roger that.” She stood and signaled for them to come closer.

  “HRT reports four guards down, fifteen hurt in the barn fire, some critical, and no one can find Curtis Lott or Rachel Stevens.”