Not Fade Away

by Donna S. Frelick

  “Make sure you’re alone,” Sonny added. “We see anybody else, the deal is off. If that bastard Rafe is with you, we may just have to start shooting and ask questions later.”

  “I understand.” This may have started as Sonny’s idea, but Doc Rainey was in it with him now. Everything he said confirmed it. “It’ll take me some time to get there, though. I can’t just bundle the old man into the car and go. I have to think of an excuse, especially in this weather.” Charlie had no intention of taking Del anywhere. She just needed time to organize Louise’s rescue.

  “It’s ten o’clock. You have until noon.”

  Charlie’s screen went blank as Sonny disconnected the call. She didn’t hesitate before she called the county nonemergency number and asked to speak to Sheriff Hal Davis. It was only as she waited for the Sheriff to pick up that she realized she would have to modify her story to avoid more than a few inconvenient details. Shit!

  When he finally answered, Davis’s voice was bright and cheery. “’Morning, Charlie. Don’t tell me you’re stuck out in this snow somewhere.”

  “No, it’s Sonny, Hal. He’s really gone and done it now.” She put all her fear and anger into her voice. It wasn’t difficult; she found she was close to tears as soon as she let go even a little bit. “We got into it yesterday, then he went and dragged Louise Shelton out of bed in the middle of the night. He’s holding her hostage out at Doc Rainey’s place, threatening to hurt her if I don’t move back in with him.”

  “What? Is the boy on drugs?” Davis sounded sober and calm, as though a kidnapping happened on his watch every day.

  “I-I don’t know. Maybe?” Charlie wasn’t sure if she should encourage that line of thinking or not. “He’s definitely not thinking straight. We used to have some knock-down-drag-outs, I’ll admit, but he’s never done anything like this before.”

  “I warned you last time he came around to take out a restraining order.” Davis was disapproving now. “Why didn’t you do it?”

  Charlie could think of a few things Davis could do with his useless restraining order. “I never expected him to kidnap Louise! Are you going to help?”

  “Of course. Just calm down. I’ll go out to Doc’s and talk to him. I’m sure once he’s had a chance to think this over, he’ll reconsider.”

  Despite Davis’s patronizing attitude, Charlie couldn’t send him into that hornet’s nest without a warning. “But he’s armed—and he has all of Doc’s gang backing him up. It’s dangerous!”

  The sheriff chuckled. “Oh, you let me worry about that. I can’t imagine Doc Rainey will want to get involved with a kidnapping. He’ll help me talk sense into the boy.”

  How could he be so casual about this? Charlie had complained to Hal half a dozen times about Sonny. He knew how volatile Sonny could be on his own. But as one of Doc’s gang of lowlife thugs? And they had a motivation for this kidnapping Hal wasn’t aware of—something they might be willing to fight for.

  “Hal, I have to tell you—”

  “Listen, I’ve got this. Why don’t you head over to Louise’s and wait for us there? Those dogs of hers must be kicking up a racket by now, wanting their breakfast. We’ll see you in an hour or so, okay?”

  And the screen went black.

  Charlie had no choice but to turn the Forester toward Louise’s cabin, though her intuition buzzed with guilt and foreboding.

  “Rafe!” Rayna found him staring after Charlie’s taillights on the porch. “What are you doing?”

  Somehow having her snapping at his heels only helped him make up his mind. “I’m going after Charlie,” he said, turning to cross the porch. “Del should be fine watching TV for another hour or so. I’ll be back before his lunchtime.”

  “But we have work to do.” Her voice took on an edge sharp enough to shred the shirt right off his back. “Now, agent!”

  He halted, and turned back, furious. “I stopped being your agent when my boots hit the dirt of this planet. I’m my father’s bodyguard now, and that’s my only job—to protect him. If that means I have to shield him from you first, I’m happy to do it. I don’t trust your Thrane lapdog, you understand? He looks more like a wolf to me. And until I can believe he’s tame, he’s not laying paws on Del’s brain.”

  Rayna stood, arms crossed and feet braced wide against this onslaught of words, her face impassive. “You never stop being a Rescue agent, Rafe. Just like we never leave one of our own behind in the field.”

  “Bullshit!” The wound deep inside that just wouldn’t heal ripped open and bled. “Tell that to Mariela Gordon and the others left behind for the Thranes on Xinhua.”

  Rayna cocked her head. “Xinhua. That’s what this is all about? You know your mother insisted on staying behind, right? She could have escaped with you and your father, but she thought there was a key piece of intel missing. She went back for it. You know as well as I do that would have been against standing orders.”

  Rafe stared. Could that be true? Could she have chosen to leave her family, her son? Why wouldn’t Del have told him? But, then, hell, he knew the answer to that one. Del never told him shit.

  Confusion joined the anger churning in his belly, making him want to run, or scream—or maybe just kill something. Killing something would be very satisfying right now. His fists clenched.

  But, like always, what was too painful to consider, he buried. “I don’t have time for this conversation.”

  He moved, but Rayna blocked his way. “You’re right. I don’t have time to lecture you and you don’t have time to work out your issues and the galaxy doesn’t have time for us to sit around here with our thumbs up our asses while the Grays perfect a planet-killing monster.”

  “So you keep telling me,” he said, shrugging off the guilt Rayna had just heaped on his shoulders. “But if you’re looking for me to play the hero, your timing sucks. Thanks to you, I just made a huge mistake with Charlie, maybe a fatal mistake. I have to make it right. I’m going to try to bring her back. And if she won’t come, I’ll blame you.”

  He didn’t wait for Rayna’s reply. He turned and took the stairs two at a time to the driveway, jumped in his Jeep and roared off in a spray of snow.

  It occurred to him halfway to the intersection with the main road that he’d never been to Charlie’s house on the ridge opposite his. He had her address in his comp, though, and he was just about to request directions when he saw her vehicle turn out onto the plowed road a few meters ahead of him. He thought of beeping at her, but realized she was probably way too angry at him for that. He was far enough back that he could follow without being seen, and once she got home, he could talk to her without fear she’d run.

  He turned onto the highway thirty seconds behind her. Her rear bumper was just disappearing over a rise ahead, following the track left by the snowplow at a speed that was probably faster than safe. Rafe kept her in sight until she hit Masey, and followed her on through town. He thought maybe she’d stop for groceries or something—the store seemed open—but she kept driving. Where was she headed? It didn’t make sense that she was going home this way; she’d said she could imagine seeing her cabin on the ridge directly across from his.

  A couple of kilometers out of town, her Subaru slowed, the right turn signal blinking. There was no intersection in sight, just a wide turnout piled with snow and a mailbox by the side of the road, with tracks leading up into the woods. There was already a car with the markings of the county sheriff’s department pulled off the road in front of the mailbox. Charlie squeezed in behind it, forced to run the two right tires up on a pile of dirty snow.

  Rafe just kept driving. This wasn’t Charlie’s house; she was visiting someone, though gods knew who at this time of day. He couldn’t have the kind of talk he wanted to have with her at some stranger’s home. Disappointment filled his chest, then rapidly drained away, leaving him with nothing but a feeling of hollow loneliness. For the first time in his life, he had no idea what to do next. He didn’t have a Plan B, a fallback po
sition, a last resort. He couldn’t stand to think about going back to his cabin to face Del and Rayna and the others without Charlie at his side. But what was he going to do? Follow her around like a lovesick psoros calf?

  He looked for a place to turn around on the roadside. There was no traffic on the road, but the snowplows had narrowed the two-lane highway and left piles of snow on the shoulder. At last he found a road on his right and turned in. He sat for a long moment, thinking, before he finally decided to check the comp for Charlie’s address after all. He could wait there for her, for a while. If she didn’t show up, at least he’d have time to get himself in a state of mind to go home.

  He checked the directions, which, sure enough, led him back to the other side of town, and pulled out. But he hit the brakes and almost came to a stop again as he passed the turnout where Charlie’s car was parked.

  What the hell?

  Charlie was in handcuffs, being forced into the back of the big police cruiser. Handcuffs? Happy was nowhere to be seen. Where the hell was the dog? And what could Charlie have done to get arrested? His mind sifted through dozens of options, but he couldn’t imagine any kind of scenario that allowed for what he was seeing. He only knew he couldn’t afford to be noticed by the burly, uniformed man wrestling Charlie into the back of the sheriff’s car. Because he intended to follow that car wherever it was headed. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be the county jail.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  In the back of the police cruiser, Charlie could still hear Happy and both of Louise’s dogs barking without pause at the head of the hollow, desperate to free themselves from the chains Hal Davis had forced her to attach to their collars. His threat to shoot the animals had been the only way he could have gained her cooperation. That, and his service Glock pointed at the center of her chest. She’d been so tempted to sic all three dogs on the man, but there was Louise to think about.

  The sheriff had been waiting for her when she pulled up in front of Louise’s. Charlie had wondered at that, but thought maybe he’d decided to take her with him to talk to Sonny. He’d followed her up the path, waited for her to feed the dogs, then pulled the Glock. Yeah, he was going to take her with him, all right, but in handcuffs.

  It should have been obvious that Davis was in Doc Rainey’s pocket, she supposed. How else could Doc have operated so openly in the county? Still, it had been a shock to have an ally turn so quickly into an enemy.

  And now she was on her way to Doc’s farm to join Louise. Good job, McIntyre, she told herself. You really stepped in it this time. She couldn’t wait to see the expression on Rafe’s face. If she ever got a chance to see Rafe again.

  “You all comfy cozy back there, Charlie?” Davis grinned at her in the rearview mirror.

  She offered him a glare that clearly said Up yours.

  “Sorry about the handcuffs and all,” he said. “Just a little insurance. I thought we might have some trouble there as I was putting you in the cruiser, but the fella drove on by. Gotta love a guy with respect for the law.”

  “You know, this is what comes of outsourcing our local criminal activity,” he said, his eyes returning to the road. “Wasn’t no reason to bring in some outsider to do the job on that old man. We could have handled it right here at home. But now look. Your boy Rafe kills the fella, Sonny comes up with this crazy kidnapping scheme, and you go and pull a Nancy Drew. It’s a mess!” He looked at her again, his brows drawn together. “I don’t like messes. I told Doc that before.”

  Up to this point, Charlie hadn’t truly been afraid for her life. Neither Sonny nor Doc Rainey were killers. But Hal Davis? The dark glint in his eye made her skin crawl. For the first time, she began to think she and Louise might not survive this ordeal. Oh, God, Louise, I’m so sorry!

  Her emotions must have shown on her face, because the sheriff chuckled. It was nasty, that little laugh. How had she never noticed it before?

  But she had no more time to consider her bad judgment; they had arrived at Doc’s farmhouse. Fifty years ago, the Rainey place had been a prosperous piece of bottomland, with the big three-story farmhouse set in the middle of growing fields and surrounded by trees and hedgerows. The yard in front of the house had once boasted tall oaks and a lush lawn; now the trees were twisted and shorn of limbs, and the lawn was a muddy ice patch filled with vehicles.

  Armed men lounged on the broad front porch of a house badly in need of paint and patrolled an area encompassing the barn and sheds. A couple of them approached the sheriff’s car as he pulled to the top of the driveway.

  “Hey, boys. Got something for the boss man,” Davis said as he got out of the driver’s side. The pair glanced into the back seat, but said nothing.

  Davis himself opened the door and grabbed Charlie’s arm. “This is your stop, darlin’.”

  He hauled her up on the porch, where they met Doc Rainey coming out the front door. “Aw, hell,” Doc said. “Don’t tell me we got another one!”

  Davis grinned. “Two for the price of one, Doc! Old man’s nurse thought she was gonna save the day!”

  Sonny came up behind Rainey, his jaw dropped in disbelief. “You called the fucking police?”

  Charlie couldn’t help it; she wanted to kill the rat bastard. “Sonny Milsap, you miserable piece of—”

  Rainey cut her off. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! Take this bitch downstairs with the other one. And give me her phone, Hal. We make the call to Laurence, then we dump it in the crapper.”

  One of the goons who had met the car grabbed Charlie’s elbow and propelled her through the the house to a locked door. He unlocked it and marched her down a set of narrow wooden stairs to a dank basement lit by two bare, dusty lightbulbs.

  Louise was sitting on a threadbare couch, unharmed, but mad as hell. The older woman stood and gave her a wry grin.

  “Well, shit. I was hoping you were my rescue party.”

  “Louise.” She couldn’t keep the despair out of her voice. “Are you okay?”

  “Not really. You?”

  Charlie shook her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  The sheriff came down the stairs, keys jangling in his hand. “Well, ladies, enjoying your reunion?” He smiled at Charlie. “No need for the bracelets now, Charlie. I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

  Charlie held out her hands for Davis to release her from the cuffs. Once the heavy metal dropped away from her wrists, she sighed with relief and rubbed at the chafe marks.

  He and the guard headed back up the stairs. “Just sit tight. All of this will be over in just a few hours and you can go home.”

  Beside her, Louise grunted. “Bastard’s lying. They have no intention of letting us go.”

  Kwai had gathered his herbs and prepared his concoction. Smith and Jones had taken it off to the kitchen as they went to their regular shift. Hours later, deep underground, Del heard the rumble of the party girls’ shuttle as it landed in the camp quad toward the end of the day, just on time. Shef and Kwai glanced at him from where they worked laying conduit near the entrance to the underground chamber; they’d heard it, too.

  They’d been planning and stealing and hoarding materials for weeks. Today they would destroy this . . . thing . . . they had helped create and escape this place. Or die trying.

  Del went over the plan in his head—again. Adding on the sabotage of the incubation chamber had rendered a difficult operation nearly impossible. The chamber was guarded at all hours, both at the tunnel entrance and further inside where the incubator had been installed. Kwai had said he could take care of the guards, but it sounded like just so much alien mumbo-jumbo to Del. Still, he had to trust Kwai; the fisherman had been right about everything else so far.

  Eliminating the guards wasn’t even their biggest worry. The explosives took that honor. Del’s team members had been pilfering and pocketing small amounts of wrapped plasmion blasting gel and tiny strings of the nanoprocessors used to set the charges. Mule had proven adept at building a timer out
of scrounged components for the bomb they planned to place in the chamber. But would it be big enough to do the job? No one knew.

  It was too late to second-guess their calculations now. The blast would do the job or it wouldn’t. Del and his team would live or they would die. They had done as much as they could to swing the odds in their favor.

  The hours before go-time stretched endlessly ahead of Del, empty and anxious. It seemed forever before the shift whistle blew and he could shuffle back to the barracks with the others. He and his team had their last meal on this godforsaken rock in near-silence, spent the hour before lights-out in their bunks, avoiding each other so as not to raise suspicion. The long, dark period before the appointed time—after the guards made their second rounds—were the worst of all. Del waited in his bunk, heart thumping, for a squadron of heavy-handed Ninoctins to march in and snatch them all up.

  But the second round came and went without incident. Del, Shef and Kwai slipped like wraiths from their bunks, the others behind them, and congregated at the door to the small anteroom. Kwai came to the fore, passed silently through the door, then came back after a moment to wave them through. The guard who was responsible for the men in Barracks 12 sprawled face down on the desk beside the door, unconscious.

  Del lifted an eyebrow at Kwai as they passed. The fisherman just shrugged.

  “Remind me not to piss you off,” Shef whispered.

  Soker and Mule peeled off to secure the shuttle, scurrying through the shadows of the buildings surrounding the open quad. Kwai, Shef and Del ran in the opposite direction, dodging the tower searchlights in a race for the camp perimeter fence.

  The fence was a slipshod affair of woven plasteel meant only to keep out the single species of predator that plagued this planet. After the first month or so, the guards hadn’t even bothered to maintain the sensor field on the wire. The prisoners knew the futility of an escape into the surrounding desert, and the big, cat-like predators were smart enough to avoid a second shock.