by Jeramy Gates
“This would be easier if you had a more inconspicuous car,” Riley said.
“Nice try. I’m not selling the car.”
“A guy can always dream,” Riley said. He settled back into the seat. “There’s still one thing I don’t understand about all of this.”
Valkyrie glanced at him. “What do you mean?”
“I know what Odin did to you, how that affected you. I get that. But what I don’t understand is how you managed to find him. How do you track a serial killer like that?”
“I started looking for him two years ago,” Valkyrie said. “I had help from Matt. He wrote a program that could scan all the news stories on the internet, looking for certain clues. Odin didn’t have a name then, and he didn’t have the M.O. he uses now, so it took a lot of digging. We used to call him the Collector, because of how I first met him. Eventually, we found the story of the couple in Phoenix with their throats cut.”
“That was a message to you,” Riley said.
“Maybe. All I know is that after I investigated that murder, I got an anonymous tip pointing me to the next one. That was in Reno.”
“What happened there?”
“It’s a long story,” Valkyrie said with a sigh. “I got caught impersonating a federal agent in a small town north of Reno. They locked me up, and I spent three days in jail. After I escaped, I got another call directing me here, to Sequoia County.”
“Wait a minute!” Riley said. “You’re telling me you escaped from jail? You’re an escaped convict?”
“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” she said.
Riley shook his head. “I had no idea. I mean, I knew what you were doing, but…” A strange look came over his face. “Valkyrie, has it occurred to you that these anonymous phone calls might be the killer? That he’s leading you around, trying to lure you into a trap?”
“I’ve been through all that with Matt. It’s not Odin.”
“How can you be sure?”
“First off, he wouldn’t lure me here and then do nothing. If it was Odin, he would have killed me already. This person seems to know things about me, too. Things Odin wouldn’t know.”
“Like what?”
“He’s made references to things about my past, like when I was a cheerleader for the Tigers, or the year Tom and I bought the farm.”
“He said those things?”
“He hinted. He dropped clues. The first time I talked to him on the phone he said, Good luck, Tiger.”
“That’s a little vague, isn’t it?”
“It’s not a coincidence. He knows things about me no stranger would know.”
“Creepy.”
“Yes, but the point is that anyone with that kind of information could have killed me years ago. He’s been able to track me down, even after I changed cell phones. That’s not something Odin could do. If he could, I’d be dead already.”
“And you have no idea who it is?”
Val pursed her lips and gave Riley a hesitant look.
“What is it?” he said. “Is there something else you’re not telling me?”
Valkyrie fixed her gaze on the road ahead. “There was something strange that happened at the funeral. I was in a wheelchair, right out of the hospital. I could barely even breathe on my own, much less dress myself or put on makeup. The doctors said I shouldn’t go, but I insisted. I had family in town, and they helped me get ready.
“During the burial, I noticed someone hanging back from the rest of the crowd. It was a man I didn’t recognize, but I didn’t think much about it at first. I just assumed it was someone Tom had worked with. But he never came close. He stood back at the edge of the street, watching us, waiting for the coffin to go into the ground. The second it did, he vanished.”
“And that’s who you think has been calling you?”
“I don’t know,” Valkyrie said. The fog had closed in, and she reached for the wiper switch to clear the mist from the windshield. “I don’t know why, but for some reason, I’ve made a subconscious connection between the two. The first time he called -the first time I heard that voice- I immediately thought of the man at the funeral. It may just be my imagination.”
“I doubt that,” Riley said, staring into the swirling fog. “It seems to me your hunches are usually spot-on.”
“Yeah? I have another one: I have a hunch Odin’s not going down without a fight.”
Riley glanced at her. “Are you going to kill him?”
Valkyrie didn’t answer. She fixed her eyes on the road and kept driving.
Chapter 30
Maddie snapped awake. The breeze had died down and the sequoias stood perfectly still. The forest around her was deathly silent. A layer of fog slid over the treetops, and a second layer crawled along the ground, weaving in and out of the trunks so that the trees looked like they had grown out of the clouds. Scattered pools of moonlight sliced through the branches like spotlights shining down from heaven. Down the slope, she heard the sound of a branch snapping. A minute later, an owl hooted somewhere in the distance.
Maddie waited for a few more minutes before trying to move. When she did, the pain in her gut was still there, but it wasn’t as sharp now. It was more of a constant throbbing ache, a pain that pulsed not only to every movement she made, but also to the beat of her heart. Maddie rolled onto her left side, trying to avoid further irritating the injury. A moan escaped her lips. She stretched her right leg out in a natural, somewhat relaxed position and waited for the pain to subside.
Ten minutes later, Maddie found the motivation to try again. This time, she managed to crawl to one knee before vertigo threatened to take over. She hovered there, trying to balance with her right leg still extended out behind her, waves of nausea washing over her. Maddie fought to control her breathing, to visualize the pain leaving her body. She somehow found the strength to maintain her position.
Maddie knew she would never get to her feet without putting pressure on that wound. She made up her mind to do what she had to, and to do it as quickly as possible. She clenched her teeth and pushed herself upright, forcing her right leg to support as much of her weight as possible. The move was quick, but caused enough torsion on her midsection that a muted cry escaped her lips before she even realized it had happened. Just as quick, Maddie was on her feet. She limped to a nearby tree and leaned with her back against it, fighting to stay upright. The cold, humid air rushed in and out of her lungs. Her limbs trembled. She could feel the warmth of fresh blood trickling down her midsection, the biting pain of all her other wounds: the scrapes and cuts on her body, the blisters and shredded flesh on the soles of her feet. Deeper still, she felt defiled, her soul weighed down by the burden of hopelessness and the despair of a heart that seemed numb and cold; a heart that might never feel anything again.
Maddie let the tears flow down her face, but she held back the sobs shaking her chest. It wasn’t over yet. Not by a long shot. She scanned the woods, peering into the shadows, straining to hear every sound the forest made. Odin was out there, somewhere. For all she knew, he might be lying in wait just a few yards away. He might even be sneaking up on her, right now…
The sound of a woman’s scream shattered the silence. Maddie’s breath caught in her chest. She pushed away from the tree, turning slowly, struggling to keep her balance. She waited, breathless, horrified.
Another scream, down the hill. Maddie searched her memory and remembered Frank telling her that this property was part of a land reserve. There was a campground down there somewhere. She saw a dead tree trunk lying nearby, and she stumbled in that direction. Frantically, she searched among the branches for something strong enough to support her weight.
Kaboom!
Maddie flinched at the sound of the shotgun going off. The sound echoed, reverberating noisily off the mountainsides. Odin had shot someone. That had to be what was happening. Odin had stumbled onto someone’s camp. Maddie grabbed at a branch with both hands, pulling with all her strength. A tearful cry escaped her
lips as the exertion put pressure on her injury.
The branch snapped, and she reached out to catch herself on another before she fell. Her stomach churned, and she tried not to vomit. She forced herself upright, gasping against the pain, her gaze sliding up and down the slope. Odin had moved downward. That meant she should go up. She should run for the house, as fast as she could. Try to find her cell phone. Maybe, with a little luck, she’d even get a signal…
But Maddie couldn’t do it. She couldn’t let those poor people face Odin alone. Not even if it meant certain death for herself. With a whimper, Maddie put the stick on the ground and shifted her weight. She took one cautious step, and then another…
Chapter 31
At three-thirty a.m., Val and Riley pulled onto Willow Road. It was a narrow, dusty one-lane road that carved a path between the coastal mountains and the southern banks of the Russian River less than a mile from the coast. Trees and the occasional summer cottage lined the way, until Val drove across a cattle guard with a sign designating that they were now on the Sequoia Coastal Preserve. Here, the trees gave way to a broad field of wild grain that stretched off to their left, while the road ahead continued up to the edge of the redwood-studded hills.
“There it is,” Riley said. “There are campgrounds all up and down that hillside. We’re just on the other side of the mountain from the Thatcher house.”
Valkyrie saw a silver SUV parked alongside the road, and the flickering light of a bonfire at the edge of the tree line. She noted the sticker on the vehicle’s bumper that read: My child was student of the month at Monte Rio Union!
“I hope I’m wrong about this,” she said.
Valkyrie parked before the closed metal gate at the end of the road, behind the SUV. She stepped out of the car and checked her 1911. She cocked the slide, loading a round, and flicked on the safety. Riley observed this and pulled Val’s sawed-off shotgun from behind the seat.
“What’s the plan?” he said in a whisper.
Val stared at the campsite a few hundred yards away. “We don’t want to frighten anyone. Keep that gun out of sight until we’re sure what’s going on. Follow my lead.”
Riley held the shotgun barrel down behind his leg as he walked so no one would see it. They approached the campsite, two soundless shadows slipping through the darkness.
“I see you, Valkyrie!” a voice shouted up ahead.
She cursed under her breath. “I should have known. We gave ourselves away the moment we drove up.”
As they got closer, Valkyrie saw Odin standing just outside of the ring of firelight with his back to a tree. He had a young girl under his arm and a shotgun in his right hand. A man, apparently the girl’s father, was lying on the ground nearby, unconscious or possibly dead. The mother was on her knees with her hands on her head. A second woman hovered at the edge of the darkness. She was nude, swathed in blood and dirt, leaning against a length of tree branch. Blood oozed from a gaping wound on her side.
“Call for help!” the woman shouted in a hysterical shriek. “Call 911!”
Valkyrie narrowed her eyebrows. “Mrs. Thatcher? Maddie? Help is on the way!”
The woman laughed hysterically, her shoulders sagging as the sound of her laughter melted into bitter sobs. She dropped to her knees and began to weep inconsolably. Odin laughed. Valkyrie drew her pistol as she entered the campsite and leveled her sights on Odin’s forehead. Riley hovered off to her right, brandishing the shotgun. He couldn’t bring himself to point it in the girl’s direction.
“Drop it, Odin,” Val said. “Let the girl go.”
Odin responded by lifting the girl off the ground, holding her up in front of him as a shield. “At last, my ring of shield-maidens is complete. This makes four of you. What a gathering! What a legend we’ll make! Except for him, of course.” Odin leveled the shotgun at Riley, who appeared to be trying not to hyperventilate. “Can’t have any other wannabe gods lurking around my harem!”
“You’re not thinking clearly,” Val said. “The second you pull that trigger, you’re dead. You need two hands to reload that shotgun, and there is no way I’m going to let that happen.”
Odin stared at her, sucking his teeth. “Then maybe I should kill you,” he said, swinging the shotgun in her direction.
“Go ahead. As soon as you pull that trigger, Riley will kill you. A few minutes after that, the cops will be here. I can promise you one thing, Odin: I’ll stay alive long enough to watch you die.”
Odin considered this. He glanced between Riley and Valkyrie, and his gaze fell to the mother. “Give me your car keys,” he said.
“If you promise to leave her,” the woman implored. “Don’t take my little girl!”
Odin took a step closer, bringing the end of the barrel up to the woman’s forehead. “Don’t make me repeat myself. Give me your keys, or I’ll blow your head off and then find them myself.”
The woman glanced helplessly at Valkyrie. Val nodded. “Go ahead,” she said. “Give him your keys. It will be okay.”
The woman crawled to her feet and disappeared inside the tent. She returned a few seconds later with a keyring, which she handed to Odin. He snatched the keys out of her hand and took a few backward steps around the campsite, circling towards the road, dragging the girl with his left arm.
“Mommy,” she said in a pleading voice.
“Let her go! Let her go, you promised!”
“Quiet!” Odin shouted. He gave the girl an angry shake. “Quiet or I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Val turned slowly, following him with her sights as Odin hauled the girl down the trail to the road.
“Why?” the girl’s mother shouted at Val. “Why did you say to give him the keys? Now he’s going to take my baby!”
The woman lunged at Valkyrie. Val took a step sideways, lowering her pistol. Riley dropped the shotgun and leaped forward, catching the woman around the shoulders. She tried to fight free of him, but Riley held her firm. The struggle lasted only a few seconds. When she realized it was futile, the woman began weeping into the cradle of his arm.
“I’m sorry,” Val said. “I promise you, he won’t get far.” She turned her attention to Riley. “Take care of them until the sheriff gets here. Do you know CPR?”
“Don’t worry,” Riley said. As an afterthought added, “Give me your jacket.” Val took it off. She tossed it to him and then hurried after Odin.
Odin had already made it fifty yards down the trail with his hostage kicking and screaming in his arms. The killer whispered something into her ear, and the girl went calm. Val hurried after them, closing the distance as Odin reached the road. He pressed the button on the key ring, unlocking the vehicle, and then circled around the front, purposefully keeping the SUV between himself and Valkyrie.
Odin yanked open the driver’s door, tossed the girl inside, and then climbed in after her. Val kept her sights trained on him the entire time, but never managed to get a clear shot. Odin was too clever for that. The headlights came on, and Val waited off the side of road, unwilling to give Odin the chance to run her over. As Odin slammed the SUV into gear and circled round to leave the area, Valkyrie made a dash for her car. She wasn’t much of a runner, but she could move surprisingly fast when it was necessary. Her back would scream at her later, but she was willing to make that sacrifice.
Valkyrie climbed into the Packard and tossed her cane into the passenger seat. She hit the starter and made an awkward three-point turn in the narrow road. By the time she had completed her turn, Odin had gained a considerable lead on her. Val stomped on the accelerator and gravel flew as the Packard’s V-12 roared to life. The old car flew down the road, a cloud of dust billowing up in the vehicle’s wake.
As Val rounded an outside corner, she caught a glimpse of Odin’s taillights up ahead. The vehicle was flying down the road. The SUV was built for this sort of driving, with automatic four-wheel drive traction control and oversized off-road tires. Odin managed to keep the wheels on the road even on th
e sharpest turns, almost to the point of defying the laws of physics. Val couldn’t gain on him; in fact she was hard pressed just to maintain a consistent distance. The Packard had a powerful engine and a stable low profile, but gravel was not the ideal terrain. Every corner she took threatened to send her spiraling off the road, or even into the river.
A mile from the campground, Odin took a right at the end of Willow Lane and pulled onto Highway 1. He crossed the bridge and merged right, following 116 east towards Stumptown. As Val pulled onto the highway, she could see the fleeing SUV on the other side of the river, moving east. She was back on pavement now, and it was time to let the road work in her favor. She gunned the engine.
As she flew across the bridge, Val activated the speakerphone and directed it to call Matt. His voice cracked with sleepiness as he answered. He cleared his throat.
“This better be important,” he grumbled.
Val quickly informed him of everything that had happened. “Odin’s heading east on One-sixteen,” she said. “I can’t call the sheriff. He won’t trust me.”
“I’ll call,” Matt said. “Just give me a sec.”
Val slammed on the brakes, skidding into a hairpin curve. The tires squealed as the car floated around the corner, and the rear end kicked up rocks as the tires hit the shoulder.
“Are you all right?” Matt said.
“I’m fine.”
“Okay, I called an anonymous tip to the sheriff’s dispatch. I also told her about the campground. I assume this sheriff can put two and two together?”
“He’ll get it,” Val said. “I just hope he can get here in time. Odin is driving like a maniac. I’m worried about what might happen to that poor little girl if he wrecks. I promised to get her back safe.”
“What’s he driving?”
“I don’t know. Some type of SUV, one of the little ones.”
