The Rook pbf-2

by Steven James

  No, the water wasn’t that cold. It wasn’t cold enough. “Come on, come on,” I whispered. She’d been under too long. Please, please, don’t die. Why did I ever doubt you, Lien-hua? I can’t believe I ever thought you were Shade. I’m sorry. So sorry.

  Then. Wait. There. Faint. A pulse. Thready. Weak. A pulse.

  Yes, oh yes.

  Unconscious. Barely alive.

  But alive.

  Alive.

  I gave her two more breaths, and her body quivered, her head jerked backward, and she spit up a mouthful of murky, bile-laced water. I quickly turned her to the side to help clear her airway. She shivered in my arms. More coughing, more sour water. Yes, yes.

  Alive. She was alive. Thank God she was alive. Pale, but breathing. Her color coming back.

  And then I heard footsteps behind me.

  And I knew who it was. Shade.

  Without turning around I spoke his name, “Let me save her, Terry. Kill me if you want to, but first-”

  “Back away, Pat,” said my NSA friend Terry Manoji. “Do it now. I’m a good shot. Back away before I count to three or I’ll shoot you at the base of the neck.”

  105

  Tessa scanned the club. Didn’t see Riker. Thankfully, didn’t see Riker. The crowd was thinning. It didn’t look like anyone was hurt.

  It looked like she’d actually gotten away.

  “One,” said Terry.

  Lien-hua lay on her side, her eyes were open. I saw her throat shudder, and then she spit up another mouthful of water. It was touch and go. Her heart might stop again at any second. Her eyes touched mine. I pressed a finger to her lips, wordlessly telling her, I’ll see you soon, don’t worry about me, we’ll talk more when I get back. A feeble nod. She understood.

  “Two. Back away, Pat.”

  Back up or he’ll kill both you and Lien-hua. Your only hope of saving her is to stay alive as long as possible. Do what he says.

  “Three-”

  “Wait! Listen to me, Terry.” I eased back slightly. Faced him.

  “Do what you want with me. But she might die here. You have to let me help her.”

  “Farther.”

  “Terry-”

  He leveled his gun. “Now.”

  I backed up some more. Lien-hua rolled limply onto her back where she might aspirate on water or vomit at any moment.

  Terry walked past me so that now Lien-hua lay between us.

  “Farther, Pat. It’s my turn to be with her.” He waved me back with his gun and I slid back until he was out of my reach. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, Pat,” he said. “But we warned you that things would not end well for you if you refused to give us the device.”

  Lien-hua’s breathing was weak, her chest rising only slightly.

  The defibrillator lay a couple of feet from me.

  Terry looked past me to the remains of the device I’d shot. “You cost me a lot of money there, Pat. You should have given it to me.

  You should have listened.”

  I could hear Lien-hua coughing, gulping for air. I wanted to make a move, to do something for her, but if I tried, Terry would kill me on the spot.

  “Why, Terry?” I said, desperation rising. “Why are you doing this?” He kept the gun trained on me with one hand, caressed Lien-hua’s cheek with the other.

  “We’re in a stalemate, Pat. Whether we like it or not, everyone’s going to get nuclear weapons. It’s just a matter of time. But it’s a catch-22. No one wants to use them because then everyone else will. The world needs a new weapon, one that’ll tip the scales of power once again.”

  He didn’t just mean the world, he meant someplace in particu-lar. Then I realized what he was saying. “Who, Terry? The Chinese?”

  Lien-hua was still breathing shallowly, faintly.

  “They’re outpacing us. Even passing up DARPA.” He smiled.

  “And I have to say, they pay much better than the NSA.”

  I could hardly believe it. “How long?”

  “Two years now. It’s amazing how naive the U.S. government is.”

  He knelt, reached over, and slowly removed the defib pad from Lien-hua’s chest. “You won’t be needing this anymore, Lien-hua-as Pat might say, I have more than one motive here tonight.” Lien-hua watched helplessly as Terry removed the defibrillator pad. Weakness shrouded everything. She felt just strong enough to move, but not strong enough to fight.

  Then she thought of the defibrillator. Maybe she didn’t have to fight Terry after all.

  While he removed the other defib pad, Terry took a long lingering gaze at Lien-hua then asked me, “How did you know it was me, Pat? A few moments ago. You said my name before you turned around.”

  At least if I was talking he wasn’t killing either of us. “Melice’s identity package, for one. Only a handful of people could hack into AFIS and pull that off. That was my first clue.”

  “That’s not much.”

  “No, but then I realized that when you first watched the video, it only took you one minute and thirty seconds. I know, I remember glancing at my watch when you called me back. But the video was one minute and fifty-two seconds long, and the words on the wall didn’t appear until the last ten seconds. Yet when you called me, you told me the deadline, but you couldn’t have known it unless-”

  “I’d seen the video before.”

  “Right. Or, unless you wrote the words yourself-which you did. I saw your handwritten notes during the video chat and I didn’t realize it at first, but they match the writing on the envelope and the writing on the wall.”

  He gave me only a slight nod for a reply.

  I saw Lien-hua’s fingers speaking to me, spelling AED once again.

  Terry was staring at me; he didn’t see her signing.

  “Then when Angela informed me that you were the only one who’d accessed the satellite imagery of Hunter’s death, the pieces fell into place. That’s how you found out the device was in the car.”

  “Nicely done-but you missed the fact that I tracked you to the Surfside through CIFER. Remember? I designed it. I have the only other copy. I was monitoring you the whole time.”

  “I wondered about that.” Keep him talking. Keep him talking.

  “But why didn’t you just take the device from the evidence room?

  Why wait for Melice to steal it?”

  “Never part of the plan. I was just sent in to confirm it was there.”

  What?

  Sent? Sent by whom?

  “What do you mean, ‘sent’?”

  He ignored my question. “You’ve always been good at your job.

  It’s a shame you have to die.”

  “Who sent you, Terry?” I edged toward him, but he raised his gun again. “Don’t do it, Pat.” Then he stared into Lien-hua’s eyes.

  “I’ve been watching you, Lien-hua, ever since your sister died. Ever since the day I saw you at her funeral. I loved her, you know, even though we never actually met”

  Obviously he wasn’t going to answer my question, but he was going to hurt Lien-hua. I had to stop him. I eased forward but he fired a warning shot off the floor beside me. I froze.

  “I watched her,” he went on. “Followed her, planned a life with her. One day we would have been together. One day.”

  I was shocked that he could have been that fixated on someone for ten years, but then I remembered Lien-hua saying that when some people get obsessed with something it can go on for decades.

  “Oh, you look just like her,” he said to Lien-hua. Then his voice hardened. “I gave you the chance to be with me, but you refused.”

  Keep talking. Stall. The paramedics are on the way. “But Terry,”

  I said, “if you were in love with Chu-hua and Melice killed her, why would you work with him?”

  “For over nine years I looked for her killer. I only found out it was him six months ago when I was searching the web for a missing person. Stumbled across his blog. Don’t you see, Pat? It was perfect.

&
nbsp; Getting the device was the only way I could punish him. The only way I could really hurt him. Just killing him wouldn’t have been satisfying enough. He wouldn’t have felt anything.”

  While he was distracted talking to me, Lien-hua was slowly reaching for the two defib pads.

  “But,” he said, “that device would have done it. I researched it.

  Even with the TrkA1 mutation, Creighton would have finally felt the pain he wanted. I would have given him a depth of pain few humans have ever experienced. And then I would have killed him, but only after I’d made him suffer like he deserved.”

  Here was a man I’d trusted, a friend I thought I knew. “But you let him drown those other women, Terry. How could you?”

  “I had to keep him happy until the timing was right with Hunter, and Lien-hua was called back to work the case. Timing and location, Pat. You should know that. It’s always about timing and location.”

  Terry reached over, brushed Lien-hua’s hair away from her eyes, but kept the gun trained on me. “You had your chance, Lien-hua. If I can’t have you, no one can. One little kiss and you’re going back in the water. I’d say you’re still too weak to swim.” He leaned over her. “Good-bye, Chu-hua.”

  Just before his lips reached hers, he closed his eyes for an instant and that was all it took. Lien-hua whispered, “Good-bye,” and with weak but steady hands, she lifted the defib pads. I dove toward the AED. She stuck the pads to Terry’s temples, his eyes snapped open, a moment of blank confusion crossed his face, and I pressed the button on the defibrillator.

  An airless gasp rose from Terry’s throat as the current jolted through his frontal lobe. I didn’t know what kind of damage that current would do, but the way his body writhed and then convulsed, the defibrillator appeared to be even more effective than I would have guessed. By the time I reached Lien-hua’s side, Terry Manoji’s body had swayed backward and slid into the acclimation pool, dragging the AED with him, sending up a hiss of drowning sparks. And that’s when the ambulance sirens came coursing through the walls.

  I held Lien-hua until two policemen and a team of paramedics burst through the door. Immediately, one of the EMTs called to me, asking if I was Dr. Bowers.

  “Dispatch said you’d be here.” He handed me a cell phone.

  “Lieutenant Mendez. She needs to talk to you.”

  Confused, I took the phone as the medical team leaned over Lien-hua. “Aina, what is it?”

  “A few minutes ago,” she said, “the fire alarms went off at a club, the Future Relic.”

  “I don’t understand.” I tried not to let the pain of my leg seep into my voice. “What’s this about?”

  “I’m at the scene, Dr. Bowers. Your stepdaughter is here.”

  “What? Tessa? How? She’s supposed to be in Denver.”

  “She’s here, Dr. Bowers.”

  I was stunned by the impossibility of what I was hearing. “Is she OK?"

  “Si. She is OK, but please. I need to tell you something. She’s OK, but a boy tried to assault her, sexually assault her. She got away.”

  I felt the chills any parent would feel after hearing those words.

  “Is she there?” My voice cracked. “Put her on.”

  Then Tessa’s voice. “Patrick-”

  “Tessa, did he touch you? Tell me. Did he touch you?”

  “No. I’m OK. I ran away. But I’m scared. I need you.”

  I looked over at Lien-hua. The paramedics were with her. She was safe. “I’m coming. I’ll be right there.”

  “I’m sorry, Patrick. I-”

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m coming.” I shouted to the responding officers, “The Future Relic. The club. Can you get me there fast?”

  One of the men nodded to me. “I got you covered. It’s over by the Horton Grand Theatre where Triple Espresso used to play.”

  Tessa and I ended the call.

  With my gunshot wound, the paramedics were adamant that I stay with them, but Tessa needed me and nothing was going to stop me. Finally, when they saw I was leaving anyway, one of the EMTs hastily dressed the wound and gave me a pair of crutches from the ambulance. “You still need to get to the hospital as quickly as you can,” he said. I assured him that I would.

  Before leaving, I told Lien-hua I’d see her at the hospital, and she nodded beneath her oxygen mask. I kissed her lightly on the cheek. Then, as I used the crutches to head toward the door, I heard one of the paramedics say, “He’s still alive. Hurry, let’s get him out of the water.”

  So, Terry had survived.

  Well, I could deal with that later.

  As we drove to the Future Relic I felt the tug of the undertow once again. The whole way there I imagined all the things I wanted to do to the boy who’d tried to molest my stepdaughter. And after fifteen years of seeing the most hideous things one human being can do to another, I had plenty of images to choose from.

  When you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

  I imagined in vivid detail how I would make him suffer and then I thought of how I would justify it all in my mind when I was done. The courts would probably be on my side too, at least to a certain extent, but even if they weren’t, I’d find a way to live with myself.

  I couldn’t let him get away with this.

  I couldn’t. When we arrived, I still wasn’t sure how I’d react when I saw him, but as soon as I stepped out of the car, my thoughts shifted from him to Tessa. She saw me, came running, flew to my arms, and I held her. I held her with the fierce love and pride and dreams and disappointments and fire of a father. She told me she was sorry she’d skipped her flight, and I told her we’d talk about all that later; she told me she’d fought the guy off, and I told her I was proud of her, and then for a moment we were both quiet, and eventually she stopped trembling and stepped back.

  She pointed to the police cruiser where her attacker was being held. “That’s him over there.”

  “Can you give me a second?”

  “Yeah.”

  Just then, Detective Dunn came stalking up to me. I was about to ask what he was doing here when he blurted out, “Heard your name on dispatch, thought I’d come to help.” Dunn leaned close and pointed to the suspect. “You want me to give you a few minutes with him?”

  I knew what he meant. “Yes. I do.”

  Dunn stepped aside, and I hobbled over to the kid sitting in the car. He looked at me through the window with a mixture of defiance and fright.

  I felt tension growing in my shoulders, in my arms.

  He was going to rape Tessa. You need to make him pay.

  Tension. Tension.

  I remembered Melice talking about Cain, and the Lord’s warning about sin crouching beside him, wanting to have him. And as I stood there I could sense it crouching beside me too. It’s part of who we are, part of the human dilemma, but we must master it.

  I tried to. Really, I did.

  But I couldn’t.

  Not after what this guy had tried to do to Tessa.

  I reached for the door. It feels good, doesn’t it?

  Yes, it does.

  You’re not like them, are you?

  Yes, I guess I am.

  My fingers found the handle.

  Christie used to say we can’t reach the Light on our own, but the Light can reach us. As I clicked the car door open, I thought of that, and of what Calvin had told me-that maybe we are all monsters.

  He was right. We are. None of us make it past the abyss without peering inside. Without stepping inside.

  The dark space inside of the car spoke my name and I knew that I would kill this boy, tonight, right now, with my bare hands.

  I couldn’t say no, not on my own. Not tonight.

  I slid into the car and stared at him, cornered in the backseat, delivered to me. I felt rage.

  Fear.

  Horror.

  Not just because of his choices, his abyss, but because of my own.

  And in that moment my heart cried out for c
ourage, cried out to the only one able to bring light to an abyss as deep as me.

  We are all monsters, all of us, but we were meant to be so much more.

  And as I reached for the kid and saw his trembling eyes, I made a decision.

  I leaned back, stepped out, and closed the door. Dunn was standing close by, ready to block the view into the car’s window. When he saw me leaving he gave me a quizzical look.

  “I have a better idea, Detective,” I said. “Let’s book him. Pros-ecute him-”

  A grin slithered across Dunn’s face. “And send him to prison full of guys who are always thrilled to have new mates to play with.”

  “That’ll work.”

  106

  Thursday, February 19

  9:30 a.m.

  Lien-hua’s hospital room.

  I was amazed at how well she was doing for someone who’d just died the night before. Weak, tired, but recovering.

  Now she slept and I sat by her side.

  Ralph and Tessa had left to get some breakfast and run a few errands twenty minutes earlier, leaving me alone with Lien-hua. Before they took off, Tessa and I had agreed to wait until we returned to Denver to talk about her ditching the flight. We both knew she shouldn’t have done it, but after what she’d been through last night, punishing her wasn’t at the top of my to-do list.

  Earlier in the day we’d also found out Ralph’s luggage had arrived late last night-in twice as many pieces as it should have. Most of his clothes were shredded or missing, so he’d bought a Hawaiian shirt from the hotel gift shop and was wearing it proudly when he arrived at the hospital. “I like this style,” he announced, rolling his shoulders back and forth. “Gives me an island mentality.”

  “It kinda looks like a rainbow threw up on you,” Tessa said.

  “Great,” he mumbled, deflated. “Now I’ll think of vomit every time I wear this shirt. Thanks for that.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I decided to intervene. “Maybe you can help Ralph pick out a suit,” I said. “For the funeral this afternoon.”

  Tessa looked at his shirt again. “Well, it’s evident he could use some fashion advice.” “You just don’t appreciate good taste,” Ralph muttered.