by Ren Hamilton
Juris looked up. “Not safe!”
Litner walked over and took Copie’s abandoned seat next to Juris. “Juris, why isn’t it safe for you to stay in the church? What are you afraid of?” Juris spat in Agent Litner’s face. A stream of brandy colored spittle dripped down his cheek. He calmly pulled out his handkerchief and wiped it off. “Well, Carbone. It seems your new friend has yet to learn manners.”
“He doesn’t like you,” Copie said.
“Yes, thank you Copie.”
Father Carbone picked a playing card out of a rectangular box. “Litner, you’ve got to see this.” The priest turned toward the prisoner and read from the card. “Juris, what does the term ‘scientific notation’ mean?”
Juris rolled his eyes and said, “A system in which numbers are expressed as products consisting of a number between one and ten multiplied by an appropriate power of ten. When are you moving me out of this church?”
Ignoring his question, Father Carbone picked up a calculator. “Juris, what is eight thousand, six hundred and fifty-two divided by seven?”
Juris yawned. “One thousand two hundred and thirty-six. When are you moving me from this church?”
Carbone looked up at Litner. “Not sure if he actually knows these answers or if he’s got some psychic ability and is reading them from my perspective as I look at the answer. I suspect it might be the latter, as the trivia answer he gave was word for word from the game card.”
“That’s impressive.” Litner said. “Why don’t you ask Rainman over here something useful, like why his compatriots are on their way out to Pearl Chasm?”
Juris’s head snapped up. His face flushed bright red and his mouth tightened. Litner smiled. “Well, well. It looks like I struck a nerve. Tell me, Juris. What do your friends plan to do out at Pearl Chasm, and why do they need all those supplies?”
Juris screeched like an animal, struggling against the ropes that bound him. “You cannot interfere! You stay away from that cave, pig! You stay away from that cave! I will snap your neck!”
Litner stared placidly at Juris, unfazed by the emotional display. “Cave, did you say? I was not aware they were actually going into a cave. Thank you, Juris, you’ve been most helpful. Copie, get Patrick and Robin on the phone. I have some last-minute information for them.” He wouldn’t really be calling Patrick and Robin. He’d made the statement to vex Juris. It did not have the desired effect.
Juris stopped struggling. He looked at Litner and laughed. The cackle sent a chill down his spine. “You are sending Robin? Shepherd will smell her instantly! He will discover them, and he will kill them.”
Copie wrinkled his nose. “Smell her?”
Juris looked at Copie. “You should not underestimate Shepherd.”
Litner flinched. Patrick spoke those exact words at their first meeting. You should not underestimate Shepherd. Agent Litner had an almost self-destructive desire to meet Melvin Eugene Shepherd face to face. This Shepherd character was as slippery as an eel and his movements as difficult to predict. As mysterious and adept as Shepherd seemed to be, Litner still didn’t buy the bit about him being able to smell Robin. But just in case, he’d tell her to go easy on the perfume.
“What is the matter lawman?” Juris taunted. “Are you worry now that you fuck it all up?”
Litner was brought out of his thoughts by Juris’s grammatically challenged question. He had the strangest speech inflection. Whatever it was, it was clear the hostile blond did not grow up speaking English. Litner crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Where are you from?”
Juris grinned. “Texas.”
Agent Litner laughed, as did Copie and Father Carbone. “That’s funny,” Litner said. “I have a lot of colleagues from Texas. They don’t sound anything like you. What is your last name?”
“Kiss my ass.”
“Lovely. Is that Swedish?”
Juris refused to speak again, sitting with his quiet glare as Litner tried further to extract any meaningful information from him. Eventually he gave up. The three of them went back upstairs, and Father Carbone made tea to counter the effects of the brandy.
A nagging concern plagued Litner’s mind when he thought about Patrick and Robin going on this mission. He liked them. They challenged him, argued with him, and were in no way making his job easier. But he liked them. His gut gnawed with worry for their safety.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Patrick studied Robin as she peered through binoculars at the highway below. They were stationed high on an overpass that looked down over the freeway. Litner had issued them an incognito, beat up gray pick-up truck. They wore moderate disguises, hats and sunglasses. “Is Litner sure they’re taking this road? We should have seen them pass by now.”
Patrick took the binoculars from her. “Maybe they’re running late. I’m sure Litner knows what he’s doing. He’s very efficient.”
Robin examined Patrick with a twisted smirk. “Sounds to me like Patrick has a new best friend.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Litner is very efficient,” she said, mocking him.
Robin seemed determined to taunt him. Patrick didn’t mind. He’d gotten to know her better these past few days. Teasing him was something she did when she was nervous. Since he seemed to have developed a terrible crush on Robin, he was happy to oblige, and let her verbally abuse him whenever she felt the need. “Admit it, Patrick. He’s your hero. You want to be Agent Litner when you grow up. You want him to be your daddy.”
“I’m trying to keep watch for the vans, so could you shut up please? Oh shit! There they go!”
Two white vans traveled at a high speed down the center lane of the highway. He threw the truck in gear and headed down. Robin grabbed the binoculars and leaned into the windshield. “Oh yeah. That’s them. Don’t get too close.”
The ride to Pearl Chasm from Forest Bluffs took an hour and a half. The beach scrub towns gave way to more suburban settlements as they headed west, past the city, where Massachusetts still harbored some unscathed forest and farmland. Patrick did ninety miles an hour down the highway until he spotted the white vans off in the distance, then he let off the gas a little.
“What’s in the bag?” Robin asked.
He grinned, handing her the paper bag at his side. “I got you a Coke. Oh, and a present.”
Robin smiled. “A present? What kind of present?”
“It’s jewelry,” Patrick said. “I hope it’s your style.”
Robin opened the brown bag and her smile widened as she pulled the colorful candy necklace out. “My God! I haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid!” She stretched the elastic and pulled it over her head. The pastel chain of circular candies hung decoratively around her neck.
“Do you like it?” Patrick asked, chuckling at the way it clashed with her striped tank top.
“It’s the nicest jewelry I’ve ever received,” she said.
Patrick felt awkward suddenly. Robin looked sincerely touched by the silly gesture. He admonished himself for the excitement he felt being alone with her. She couldn’t possibly share his growing affection. “I’ve seen some of the jewelry Shep’s gotten you,” he said. “I don’t think the candy necklace can compare.”
“Shep bought me some expensive things, yes. But only because he’s incapable of showing his love in other ways.”
Patrick glanced her way. “Do you still love him?”
“No,” she said. “Maybe. I’m not sure. Part of me will always belong to Shep I guess.”
Patrick slammed his hand down on the dashboard, surprising the hell out of Robin, and himself. “Well that’s just great Robin! Just great.”
“What is your problem? Toxic masculinity much?”
“Sorry, but wake up! Shep is not the person you thought he was. You told Litner you didn’t have any reservations about this mission, and I backed you up. Now you’re telling me you still have feelings for that psycho?”
“Enough with the mission there, James B
ond. I’m as capable as you are. You were practically Shep’s girlfriend too. And you’re lying if you say you don’t still have feelings for him. Shep is hard to shake. Denial won’t help anything so let’s both just admit it.”
Patrick knew he was being childish and cruel, but his jealousy would not stay his words. “He doesn’t love you, Robin, and you’re an idiot if you think he does.”
He saw anger tighten her shoulders, and knew he was rubbing salt in an old wound, verifying all the doubts she’d held since falling head over heels with Shep years ago. He felt like a shit. What the hell was he doing? But he knew. He was falling for another woman who wanted someone else. He felt the perpetual fool.
“I’ll tell you who’s an idiot. You are, O’Brien. I told you that your supposed girlfriend, Kelinda, was sleeping with Joey. And what did you say? You said ‘oh gosh, oh me oh my. I hope Kelinda is all right! We have to go saaave her’!”
Patrick flushed. “I’m not pining for her. I was just concerned.”
“Sure.” Robin grinned at him. “You’re the sap, Obrien, not me. Shep may be a monster, but at least he still calls me. Kelinda just ghosted you and left you crying in your cornflakes.”
Now she was salting his wounds. Patrick wouldn’t look at her. He stared at the road ahead, a scowl on his face. Finally, he spoke. “You know now that Shep is twisted, Robin. Violent, even. You know that everything you ever thought he was is a lie. Yet somehow you still love him. How pathetic is that?”
“I’d say less pathetic than you knowing Kelinda is up there at Forest Bluffs bonking Joey night after night, yet you want her back.”
Patrick cut the wheel hard and pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He threw it in park and turned to Robin, whose face was frozen in shock. “I don’t care about Kelinda! I care about you. Jesus! You drive me up a wall, but you’re the only woman I think about now.”
Patrick turned away and laid his head on the steering wheel. The words had come out in the heat of argument, and now he wished he could take them back. The silence weighed a ton. “What did you say?” Robin asked softly.
“You heard me.”
“I think I need to hear it again. Or maybe I need to clean my ears out.”
He looked at her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be making this trip any more awkward. You don’t have to say anything. I realize you probably don’t share my feelings, and that’s okay. We don’t ever have to talk about it again, but please, please, stop bringing up Kelinda. I don’t love Kelinda. I never did. There was no spark. You? You’re like…an explosion of sparks. I just like being around you. Being with you makes me feel calm and unafraid and excited about things for the first time in…shit, a long time. So let’s get through this, but I don’t want to argue anymore, okay?”
Robin nodded, looking shocked by his honest confession. He took her silence as rejection, and he turned to put the car in gear. Before he could drive off, Robin reached over, grabbed him around the neck and pulled his face to hers, kissing him. He stiffened a little, surprised, then returned the kiss feverishly. When they finally disengaged, he was dizzy with emotion and desire. “Okay,” Robin said.
“Okay what?” he whispered.
“Okay, I won’t mention Kelinda again.”
Patrick grinned. “We have to catch up with the vans. Could we continue this at another time, or was it a moment of weakness?”
Robin leaned in again. They locked onto each other and kissed, insistently, until finally Robin pulled back. “We can continue this another time. Next time it won’t be in a beat up old pickup truck though. Right?”
“I promise,” Patrick said. “Just promise me it’s over between you and Shep.”
She promised him, and seemed to mean it. He knew, however, that what she’d said held some truth. Part of her would always belong to Shep. Part of Patrick would too.
* * * *
Patrick almost missed the exit to Pearl Chasm. It had certainly been an interesting ride, and he was flying with the knowledge that Robin reciprocated his interest in her. He knew he had to shake the warm fuzzy feeling if he was going to concentrate on the task ahead.
The truck crawled up a narrow gravel road, around the back side of the entrance to the caves, where barbed wire edged the property. ‘No Trespassing’ signs stood firm every ten yards, a stark warning in black and white. They found their hiding spot, chosen by Litner’s henchmen on their prior scouting mission to this place—huddled in the woods up along a ridge that overlooked the caves and climbing trails. Patrick parked the truck behind the trees. They spotted the two white vans down at the bottom of a cliff at the mouth of a narrow rock opening.
“How did they get down there?” Robin asked, peering through the binoculars as she stepped out of the truck.
Patrick got out and quietly closed the door, rounding the front of the vehicle to join her. “I guess the Feds aren’t the only ones that know a secret road in.”
A company of people came out of the opening in the rock and meandered toward the vans. “Get down!” Patrick whispered. They ducked behind a boulder. They were set up above the caves, buried in a tangle of woods and rocks, but it was best to be safe. Although they had no idea what was to ensue down there, they both knew that getting caught would be a very, very bad thing. Patrick didn’t want to admit that he was beginning to fear Shep, but it was so nonetheless.
Patrick grabbed the binoculars from Robin. He saw two of the brothers. One was the redhead he’d only glimpsed once on the train. The other was the more familiar black-haired rogue who’d been tailing him in the city. With them was a petite young woman with very short brown hair. They pulled boxes out of the vans. The young woman grabbed a first aid kit, and followed the two brothers back into the cave.
Robin looked at the surrounding woods, then down at the chasm. “Have I got my bearing straight here? Remember when that agent took us here to scout the location? He pointed out that cave. I think that’s the one that collapsed years back. Where those people were killed inside?”
Patrick shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. It all looks the same to me.”
The two brothers emerged from the cave again, grabbing a couple small boxes out of the van. “They are definitely setting up for something,” Robin said.
“Oh shit! There he is!” Patrick said.
“Who?”
“Shep. He’s with that shorthaired woman.”
Robin grabbed the binoculars. “Let me see.” Patrick let her have them. “Oh yes. I’ve seen her before, that weekend I visited Shep. She lives out at Forest Bluffs. She’s one of the field people.” From some unseen road below, another car pulled up and parked alongside the vans. “Now who the hell is this?”
It looked like an older model Cadillac. An old man with white hair and a crooked back climbed gingerly out of the car.
Shep walked over to greet him. They spoke briefly, then the old man walked back and opened his trunk. He pulled out a wide, flat case and placed it on the ground. He shut the trunk and picked up the case, carrying it awkwardly toward the opening of the cave. He looked extremely frail, and was clearly having trouble carrying the bulky case. Shep did not offer to assist. He simply locked up the vans, then strode past the old man into the cave. The old man quickened his pace, shuffling with tiny struggling steps until he was out of sight.
Patrick and Robin waited silently for several minutes, but no one else came out.
“I guess they have everything they need. Hey, who was that old man?” Patrick asked.
Robin squinted down at the area below. “I have no idea.”
“I didn’t see Joey.”
“No, I don’t think he’s here. There’s something else weird though. One of them is missing.”
“One of who?”
“The brothers. One of them isn’t here, unless he’s inside the cave. It’s Juris, the platinum blond. Allisto is the brunette, and Margol is the redhead.”
Patrick winced. Part of him had convinced himself the curly-topped stalk
ers were figments. He hadn’t wanted to know their names. Names made them real.
“We have to get closer,” Robin said. “We can’t see anything from here, and it’s getting dark.”
“Closer?”
“Closer, Patrick. How are we supposed to see what they’re doing if we don’t go down there?”
“Litner said we’re not supposed to go inside the caves,” he responded nervously.
“Litner’s not here. We make our own decisions.” Robin climbed over the boulder and began to shimmy down the rock face.
Reluctantly, Patrick followed, struggling to maneuver the jagged black rocks that plunged out of the earth like miniature hardened volcanoes. As the sun fell lower, shadows enhanced the blackness of the terrain, which felt like they were on some alien planet. Patrick almost lost his footing twice as rock fragments congealed like marbles under his feet.
Pearl Chasm was a network of cliffs and natural caves formed into roughly a square mile of mountainous rock. Some of the terrain was flat, but boulder peaks jutted violently out of the earth throughout. Finally reaching level ground, they stepped behind a rock wall just a few feet from the narrow mouth of the cave. The vans and the old man’s Cadillac were just to their left. The two of them remained silent for a time, afraid of being surprised by the brothers on another trip out to the vans. They stood motionless as late afternoon edged toward evening, the sky growing annoyingly darker. “Why couldn’t they have done this in the morning?” Patrick hissed.
“I don’t know,” Robin said. “Did we bring a flashlight?”
“Shit. I didn’t think we’d need one. We’re not supposed to go in the cave. And Litner said to keep our phones turned off.”
“Yeah, yeah, things change. I don’t think they’re coming back out. At least not for a while. They are still in there, right? I didn’t miss something?”
“I guess but I don’t hear anything,” Patrick whispered.
Robin leaned in to speak directly into his ear. “They must have gone in deeper. We’re going to have to go inside.”
He stepped gingerly around the rock wall for a peek. The mouth of the cave was dark, but an orange hue emanated from somewhere deeper in.
