“What are you thinking about?”
“One minute I get it, and the next I’m totally confused. I guess she really did me a favor.”
I hope things work out for us. I hope she leaves the FBI and comes back home, and we can get out of this life. I don’t know how anyone can walk away from this. Just jetting around like this is enough for someone to suck it up.
When Lori’s finally in custody, Mika will be a heroine. She will be offered all sorts of rewards, maybe even a top cop job. It would be difficult for anyone to turn the offers down. I don’t know if she can truly walk away from it...just for me.
“How about you?”
“When this is over, I’m going to take some time off, and do some real soul searching,” she says.
She looks deep into my eyes searching for some sort of a sign, but I can’t give her one. She has to make the decision on her own.
* * *
Inside the security of her hotel room, the hot water cascaded over Lori and washed away her crime then she heard the voice.
Lori Powers, you’re a bad girl. They will find you.
“They will find you?”
She smiled as the water fell over her face.
“Maybe Jake will find me and we can run away together.”
She was no longer intimidated by the voices. Lori decided not to pack. There was nothing she had to take and no looking back anymore. Even when they found Parker, it wouldn’t do them any good she thought. In spite of what the voice had said, they were never going to find her. It was time to go. Hurriedly, she departed the hotel. The only light shining on the city street came through the few shaded windows of the townhouses that lined it, and the bright entrance lights to the hotel. A few cars were parked along the avenue. Their owners had no plans to leave until the early morning rush hour.
The only sound outside, besides those from a few passing cars, were coming from her high heels. They made a clicking sound that echoed between the buildings. She picked up the pace down the sidewalk. Her breathing quickened from the brisk walk. Lori scanned for a nearby taxi and waved one down.
“Logan, please.”
The driver, a recent Islamic immigrant obliged. As she sat in the back, she removed a tissue from her purse and dabbed at the corner of her eyes. The driver stole looks at her in the rear view mirror at irregular intervals. He decided American women were hot. It was worth it he thought to be an illegal immigrant.
At the ticket counter, she bought a nonstop ticket. The flight to Portugal would be lengthy, but it was the first flight out of the country, and that fit her travel plans perfectly. Lori Powers would disappear before they arrived, and––after the evil she had exacted.
* * *
It is written in blood, his blood––a pilot named Nicholas Parker. The three of us stand at the foot of the bed and stare. Harmon doesn’t speak. Mika doesn’t say a word. Even if I knew what to say, I can’t. Right up on the wall over Parker, written in dried blood red letters is–– JAKE
The rest of the investigators present, mostly FBI agents and locals, go about the gruesome task of collecting evidence. The captain is going to be bagged, tagged and frozen in the morgue at least until the autopsy is completed.
The rest of his flight crew has been rounded up, and is currently sitting in the lobby in deep shock. They are providing as much detail as they possibly can in between the trauma and the crying. A young flight attendant, who can’t be more than twenty, is shaking so severely they are going to sedate her.
There is one crewmember missing.
* * *
Lightning is direct current. A bolt can account for twenty to forty thousand amperes, two hundred million volts. A strike of lightning is calculated to be hotter than the surface of the sun. When you are struck by lightening, it leaves feather burns on your skin. They slowly fade after a few days, if you live. Death can occur in milliseconds.
Sometimes, I hate to be right. Sometimes, I turn the other cheek. Sometimes, I just want to run home and hide under the covers. There are times when I wish I had never been born.
I would rather have been struck by lightning then to live through this. At least it would have been over in milliseconds. What a world we live in.
All flowers look beautiful but some are poisonous, even deadly.
About the author
More by Cary Allen Stone:
AFTER THE EVIL––A Jake Roberts Novel
MIND OVER MURDER––A Jake Roberts Novel
AFTER THE GOODE––A Jake Roberts Novel
AFTER THE KILL––A Jake Roberts Novel
STEALING ATLANTA––A Cybercrime Thriller
THROUGH A MOTHER’S EYES––True Crime
Cary Allen Stone was born in 1953, began flying in 1972, and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1976. He was hired by his first airline in 1982 and has retired in 2014. Aviation has given him a unique perspective of life, and led to his writing. In 1992, he flew for film director Sir Ridley Scott. It gave him an opportunity to discuss his writing with Sir Scott who remains a major influence for him. In addition to his career in aviation and writing, he had a non-speaking character role in an AAA Club advertisement, has been an extra in “The Dukes,” and Phoenix film “Recession Road.” He has done voice-over radio commercials. He is a member of the Phoenix Writer’s Club, the Author Social Media Support Group and the International Thriller Writers.
Find Cary Allen Stone on:
Facebook/Twitter/Goodreads/LinkedIn
http://caryallenstone.com [Website]
[email protected] [Email]
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After the Evil – A Jake Roberts Novel (Book 1) Page 23
