Into the Darkness

by Margaret Daley

  Chad blinked, a blank expression replacing his surprise. “What are you talking about? We spent weeks and thousands of dollars searching for you. We thought when there wasn’t any trace of you and your team, that you all were dead.”

  “You’re correct about one thing. The team is dead. I’m not.” Zach swept his arm down his body. “As you can see, I’m very much alive and wanting some answers.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Slader had to give Chad Thomas credit. Either he was a great actor, or he genuinely didn’t know what Zach was talking about. Slader folded his arms over his chest and lounged back against the door.

  “Sit!” Zach commanded in a lethally quiet voice.

  “What’s going on, Zach? Who’s that man?” Chad gestured toward Slader.

  “Slader found me when no one you sent could. He and Kate, but you wouldn’t know that because Mr. Kim and his henchmen are locked up in a Brazilian jail. We didn’t give them the chance to warn you.”

  “Did the jungle get to you? I don’t know what you’re talking about. How many times do I have to say it?”

  “Of course, you wouldn’t admit to knowing Mr. Kim. That would be admitting you hired him to have me killed.”

  Chad’s face went pale, his mouth hanging open. “Why would I want you dead? We’re partners, friends. At least we were.”

  Doubt flitted across Zach’s features. Slader was beginning to wonder if he was the right partner. The back of his neck itched. That was never a good sign.

  Zach leaned across the desk, planting his fisted hands on the tan blotter. “Mr. Kim hired some men to follow me into the jungle and make sure I didn’t return from my expedition. If it hadn’t been for the Quentas intervening, I wouldn’t have. Then he tried to stop Kate and Slader from finding me. So you see, someone very badly wanted me dead. And I don’t take kindly to that.”

  Chad worked his mouth for a few seconds, but no words came out. Shaking his head, he ran his hand through his hair. Finally, he said, “I’m not the one you should go after. Why would you think I was?” Hurt laced the man’s question.

  “Because the money trail led back to Texhoma Pharmaceutical. There’s an account at our bank that the money came out of, and you’re the one who set it up. The Prentice account.”

  “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “It’s your signature on the paperwork.”

  “Then it’s a forgery.”

  * * *

  Kate stepped into the empty break room. Relieved to be alone, she headed for the coffeepot and poured herself some brew. She probably shouldn’t stay too long. How long did it take to confront a good friend with his treachery?

  Out of Zach’s three partners, she had hoped it wasn’t Chad and Mark who were involved in trying to kill them. She knew those two whereas Anthony Hansom was only an acquaintance.

  What she didn’t understand, and she was sure Zach didn’t, either, was why? What would have driven Chad to do this? She sank onto a chair at the long table, weariness weakening her legs.

  A movement at the entrance caught her attention. Mark Nelson came into the room, halted a few feet in and nearly dropped the files he carried. With eyes wide, he hugged the folders against his chest, never taking his gaze from her.

  “Why are you here?” he finally asked in a gruff voice. He cleared his throat and continued, “Did you find Zach?”

  She had started to stand to give Mark a hug in greeting, but his question took her by surprise. “Find Zach?” She hadn’t told very many people her plans to go to the Amazon to look for her brother. She certainly hadn’t told anyone at Texhoma.

  Mark’s expression became unreadable. “Mom said something to me about you going to Brazil. I just assumed that’s what you were doing down there.”

  His mother helped out at her church so obviously she had discovered her plans, probably through the reverend. “Yes, I found Zach,” she said slowly, a sudden thought taking hold. No one at Texhoma had known about her trip to the Amazon except Mark, it would seem, so how had Slick known to stop her?

  “He’s here?” Mark took a step back, his hands continuing to clutch his folders in a fierce grip.

  “He’s with Chad right now.”

  Mark stepped back again. “Why?”

  “What’s wrong, Mark?”

  “Nothing. I just remembered a meeting I need to get to.” He started to turn into the hallway.

  Kate flew across the room and placed a hand on his arm, getting the itch that Slader always talked about. She had known Mark all her life and something was definitely wrong. “Would that meeting be with Mr. Kim?”

  For just a second, fear took hold of Mark’s expression until an unreadable mask fell over his features. “Who?”

  “What have you done?”

  “Nothing.” He shook off her grip and hurried toward his office.

  Kate rushed toward Chad’s. The very thought that Mark, Zach’s childhood friend, was behind the murders caused bile to rise into her throat. Why? And yet, it made sense. Mark knew of her trip to look for Zach, not Chad or Anthony. Any of the partners of the company could have opened that account used to pay the henchmen. It wouldn’t be hard to fake the papers needed since they had come from the company. The more she thought about it she realized the person responsible wouldn’t have used his name to open the Prentice account, just in case something had gone wrong with his plan to kill Kate and Zach. So that left one question. Why did Mark do it?

  Kate ignored Mrs. Rose at her desk and shoved open the door into Chad’s office. “He didn’t do it.”

  All three men positioned around Chad’s desk and looking at Chad’s computer screen turned toward Kate.

  Slader strode to her. “We figured that out. The money for the Prentice account came from another one. Zach remembers seeing something about it before he left for the Amazon.”

  “It’s Mark. He’s in his office.” Kate clasped Slader’s hand and tugged him toward the door. “We can’t let him leave.”

  Chad picked up the phone. “I’ll see if I can stop him. You shouldn’t confront him. Leave this to the police.”

  Chad’s voice conveyed the anger he felt at being set up by a so-called partner and friend. After he spoke to security, he announced to them, “Mark’s already left.”

  “How? I mean—I—” Stunned, Kate couldn’t put her jumbled thoughts into a coherent sentence.

  “I think it’s time to inform the police and let them get to the bottom of this,” Slader said, slipping his arm about her shoulders.

  Kate sagged against him. “I won’t feel safe until he’s in custody.”

  “Why don’t you take her back to my place, Slader, while Chad and I take care of letting the police know about this.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Slader said as he headed toward the door with Kate at his side.

  Out in the hallway by the elevator, she faced him. “I’m surprised it’s Mark, and yet I’m not when I stop and really think about it. Mark was always jealous of Zach all the way through school in Red Creek. They were best friends, but there were times I felt Mark wasn’t always telling the truth. I guess, though, it’s always easy to say that looking back.”

  “You know what they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

  “Yeah, but what could make Mark throw his life away like he has?”

  Slader reached around and punched the Down button. “We’ll have to wait and see what the police discover. But money is usually involved.”

  * * *

  Kate heard murmurs coming from the living room in Zach’s apartment. She tossed back the covers on the guest bed and slipped her feet to the thick carpeted floor. Her brother was home finally, after giving his statement to the police. Flipping on the nightstand lamp, she rose and padded toward the door. She had slept for hours and wished she could rest even longer, but she needed answers.

  Before entering the living room, Kate shook her head to clear the haze that shrouded her exhausted mind.

/>   When she entered, her brother and Slader ceased talking. Zach had always tried to protect her, but she had thought with Slader they had gotten past that. She had discovered in the jungle she could take care of herself in even the most alien of environments. The feeling empowered her.

  “Don’t stop talking on my account,” Kate said. “Are the police charging Mark?”

  “Yes,” Zach answered, his own fatigue in every line of his face.

  Kate eased down next to Slader, wanting to seek the warmth of his embrace to help chase away the chill that burrowed deep into her bones every time she thought of Mark’s betrayal of Zach and her. “Why did he do it?”

  “Simply put—greed. He has an expensive lifestyle that he wanted to maintain at all costs. He turned to illegal means to get that.” Zach surged to his feet and began to pace. “He’s deep into a drug cartel that wouldn’t let him walk away even if he had wanted. It looks like his activities may take the company down with him.”

  “Oh, no, Zach.” Kate went to her brother, laying her hand on his arm. His company had been so important to him—a way for him to help others with his knowledge. “Why did he go after you?”

  “Because I saw some papers dealing with something I wasn’t supposed to see. The funny thing is that I didn’t realize what I had seen—that he was moving illegal drugs through the company’s network. If he had left well enough alone, he might not have been discovered for a long while. I’ve been so busy lately I might not put two and two together. But he panicked and got sloppy.” Zach’s anger mingled with an underlying sadness at being betrayed by a friend, at all the people harmed by Mark’s greed. “If it will make you feel any better, Kate, I don’t think Mark wanted you killed. He just wanted you not to look for me. He didn’t want any more questions asked about what happened to me and my expedition.”

  Kate hugged her brother, wishing she could take his pain away. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No. You’ve done more than most. You came after me when everyone else believed I was dead.” Zach kissed the top of her head. “Now if you two will excuse me, I’m going to bed. If I get to sleep, I probably won’t wake up for a week.”

  Kate watched her brother trudge from the room. He would need her support over the next several months.

  Slader stood. “I’d better go.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “I checked into a hotel not far from here.”

  Kate hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until she released it on a long sigh. “I can drive you in Zach’s car if you want.”

  “I need to walk.”

  “Then I’ll see you tomorrow?” Again, her breath caught in her throat while Slader hesitated in answering.

  “I can stop by on my way to the airport,” he finally replied.

  “You’re going back to the Amazon so soon? Why?” Kate bit down on her bottom lip the second the question came out of her mouth, immediately wishing she could take it back. She didn’t want to appear needy, but she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Slader.

  Would she ever be ready? No. That realization made her come up short. In the jungle, she had grown to love Slader, but she had thought when she returned to civilization those emotions would diminish, so she’d refused to explore them too much. They had been thrown together in an unreal world fighting for their lives. Of course, she would develop strong feelings about the man who had saved her on a number of occasions. She’d had it all figured out in the Amazon.

  Now, she wasn’t so sure. Now, she had to face living without Slader, and it didn’t seem so easy. It didn’t even seem possible.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Moving away from the couch, away from Kate, Slader stared out the large floor-to-ceiling window that afforded him a gorgeous view of downtown Dallas with lights that went on for miles and miles in all directions. He was in the middle of a large city, so different from the way he had been living for the past five years.

  And he didn’t know how to answer Kate’s question. When he had stepped off the plane and onto American soil again, he had half expected to experience the overwhelming grief and guilt that had become so much a part of his life for the first few years after his wife and unborn child had died. But he hadn’t.

  Instead he felt as if God had placed a hand on his shoulder and welcomed him back to the land of the living. He didn’t know how to take it. He’d lived with his guilt for so long, he was almost afraid to let it totally go. Then what would he do with himself? Live again?

  “Slader?” Kate approached him from behind, her voice a shade unsure, a shade sad. “You’ve only been here a day. Why are you leaving so soon.?”

  She wasn’t going to let him leave without an answer. She had never made anything easy for him. From the first she’d demanded so much of him in the jungle. She had demanded he live again and stop wallowing in self-loathing.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” he finally said, gesturing around him as though to encompass all of Dallas.

  “Then come with me to Red Creek. It moves at a much slower pace.”

  “And do what? I don’t belong in a small town.”

  “What is Mandras? A big city?”

  He chuckled. How was he going to pick up his life and go on as if he had never met her? But the thought of being with her panicked him. And the thought of being without her panicked him. He was afraid to fall in love with Kate, to open himself up to that kind of pain again. Fear rose within and pushed him forward.

  “I have a lot to do over the next several months. Because of you, I found what I had been looking for in the jungle, the Incan ruins.”

  “So, you’re going back to mount an expedition to the Quentas territory? Will you be happy then?”

  Her question knifed through him to the center of his heart. “Happy?”

  “Yes, content with your life.”

  Never without you, he thought. But he wasn’t worthy of Kate. She was everything good in life—the discovery of the Incan civilization in the Amazon couldn’t begin to compare. But she deserved more than he could give her.

  “It’s late. I need to leave.” He skirted her and headed for the door. As he had done in the past when faced with a tough problem, he escaped.

  Out on the street, he started toward the hotel. Cars sped by. People came out of another apartment building, laughing and talking loudly. Civilization.

  When he reached the hotel, he kept going. Restless energy propelled him along the sidewalk. He wouldn’t be able to sleep even though he had gotten little over the past few weeks. Inside him emotions were shifting, evolving into something he didn’t have a handle on. He needed to make sense out of his life, and yet he didn’t know where to begin.

  At a corner while the stoplight was red, Slader scanned his surroundings as he so often did and saw a church across the street. Lights blazed from it as if it were open even though it was late. When he crossed, he found himself striding toward the church’s entrance and into its foyer, surprised that the large, beautifully carved double doors were unlocked. Again, he looked around. No one was in the foyer.

  The glass doors into the sanctuary beckoned him. It had been years since he had stepped into a church, and yet it felt so right as he pushed open the doors and moved inside. Lights from above highlighted the simple altar at the front.

  Slader walked down the middle aisle until he came to the first pew. He sat, folded his hands together in his lap and stared at the cross hanging from the ceiling above the altar. All thoughts flew from his mind for a few seconds, then words began to flood it.

  Lord, where do I begin? I feel so lost and alone. How can You ever forgive me for turning my back on You when Renee died? I don’t deserve Your love, and yet I’m asking You for it now. I need to feel whole again. I need You back in my life. Please show me the way.

  Slader dropped his head until his chin rested on his chest. The quiet in the sanctuary soothed his troubled soul. He thought back to when he had believed in the Lord. Now he reali
zed he had only gone through the motions. He hadn’t truly put his life into God’s hands. Could he now? Like Kate had in the jungle?

  A shuffling sound behind Slader brought his head up. He twisted around and saw an old man making his way toward him. He wore black with a white collar that indicated he was a minister. Slader rose.

  “Sit, son.” The old man waved him back onto the front pew. “I didn’t mean to disturb your time with the Lord. I didn’t realize anyone was in here. I only came in to turn off the lights and lock up, but if you need more time, I can give it to you.”

  Slader slid down the pew to allow room for the minister to sit. The old man settled next to Slader.

  “Usually I’ve locked the church up by now, but…” The minister eyed Slader. “Don’t tell anyone I fell asleep in my office. I don’t want the congregation to worry about me being alone at the church so late.”

  “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “You aren’t from here, are you, son?”

  “No. I’ve been living in the Amazon for a while now.”

  “My, you’re far from home.”

  Home. The jungle had never been his home. But where was his home?

  “What brought you here tonight?”

  Slader rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “I’m really not sure. I think God did. I mean, I think He led me to this particular place for a reason.”

  “What’s troubling you?”

  Where should he begin? Slader thought about his existence for the past five years. That was all he could call what he had been doing—existing, until Kate had come into his life. Then everything had changed.

  “I walked away from God years ago, and I am here now to see if He will let me return to His fold.” The words tumbled from Slader as if someone else controlled what he said. He’d never been one to reveal his problems to others, especially a stranger.

  “Did you grow up in the church?”

  Slader nodded.

  “You’ve probably heard the story of the prodigal son?”