Deadly Memories

by Mary Alford

  “Hang on a second, James. I want to check something out.” Kyle slipped into the pastor’s office and peered out the window. Lena went with him. “They’ve surrounded the church. They brought enough manpower to invade a small village.”

  She met Kyle’s gaze. She could see it in his eyes. He didn’t like their chances of surviving.

  “What are they planning? If they open up with that kind of firepower, they’ll have the police here in minutes,” she said.

  “Probably, but it will be too late for us. It’ll be nightfall soon. Our only hope is to hold them off as long as we can.”

  He dragged James’s office chair out and propped it against the door. “Let’s make them work for it anyway. If we can secure the basement, maybe once the fireworks start we can hold our ground until the police arrive. James, is the church sanctuary locked?”

  “Yes. I locked it before I went to pick you up.”

  “Good. Let’s get to the basement. Lead the way.”

  James nodded. “The entrance is beneath the stairs leading to the baptistery. It’s kind of hidden.”

  James pulled the door open and flipped on the light switch and they hurried down the rickety stairs. The walls around them seeped moisture. It was at least ten degrees cooler as they descended. The room itself showed signs of decay. This had to be part of the original church.

  “We need to secure that door somehow,” Kyle said. He looked around for something to use and spotted what looked like an old altar. “That will work. Let’s move this in front of the door.”

  It took all three of them to lift the weighty altar and maneuver it up the stairs.

  “That will buy us a little time at least.” Kyle glanced around the room. There were no windows. The place was dark except for a single lightbulb. At the back of the room, a wall had been boarded over, the wood rotting in places.

  “What’s beyond that wall?” Kyle pointed to it.

  “I can’t believe I almost forgot the passage,” the pastor declared as he smacked his forehead.

  Kyle and Lena stared at each other and then Lena asked, “What passage?”

  “Years ago, this church was part of the Underground Railroad,” James told them. “A secret tunnel was dug to transport slaves to their freedom up north. It’s been boarded up for years, though.”

  Lena couldn’t believe it. It was like an answer straight from God. “This might be our only chance. We need to get that wall opened up. Do you have hammers, a crowbar, anything we can use to pry the wood from the wall?”

  James thought for a second. “Yes, I think we do. A few years back we had to repair part of the sanctuary. The workers left some of their supplies behind.” He went over to a pile of boards covered in dust. “Here.” he held up a hammer. “It looks like there’s only one.”

  “I’ll see if I can find something else,” Lena told them as Kyle took the hammer and began to pry some of the boards away.

  Lena searched around the room until she found a steel bar the workers had used. She joined Kyle and pried one of the boards with all her strength. It pulled away. Some of the others crumbled in her hands. They’d obviously been rotting away for the years.

  Upstairs, a noise sounded like something crashing through the door.

  “That sounds like the back door,” James said uneasily.

  Breaking glass followed and what sounded like a door being ripped from its hinges.

  “They’re breaking into the sanctuary,” James said in amazement. He had no idea how ruthless these men could be.

  Lena stopped to listen for a second and heard multiple footsteps rushing into the building.

  “They’re inside. They’ll figure out we’re down here soon enough,” she said in an urgent tone.

  Kyle yanked another board free and there was just enough room to squeeze into the tunnel.

  Overhead someone yelled. “Search the entire building. They’re still here somewhere. Find them.”

  “We have to hurry,” Kyle urged.

  With her heart pounding in her chest, she and James followed close behind Kyle.

  “James, do you have any idea where this ends up?” Lena asked as they raced down the narrow tunnel, cobwebs snatching at their faces.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve read some of the old church records, but it was never clear. I think it may be deep in the woods beyond the church.”

  Kyle flipped on his flashlight app. The tunnel had just enough room for one person stooped over to make it through. As they hurried down it, the vibration from their footsteps dislodged rocks and ancient mortar.

  “This whole thing could collapse on us at any moment.” Lena shoved aside the disturbing thought of being buried alive.

  Something slammed against the basement door.

  “They’re trying to break down the basement door. We don’t have much time,” she said with urgency.

  They’d barely covered a handful of steps when what sounded like a massive explosion shook the tiny space and a cloud of dust belched past them.

  Kyle quickly turned to Lena and tucked her close as air thick with dust covered each of them and made it next to impossible to breathe normally.

  Lena coughed violently and wiped streaming tears from her eyes. Up ahead, a wall of rubble now blocked the passage. Part of the tunnel had collapsed upon itself. Unless they could clear the debris quickly, the only way out was the way they’d come. They’d be walking straight into the arms of the men chasing them.

  Kyle stared at the rubble in shock. “We’ve got to clear that. They probably heard the explosion by now. We’ll be trapped otherwise.”

  They began shoving rocks and mortar aside as quickly as possible.

  Above them, the door finally gave way and voices could be heard. “They’re getting away.” Several rounds of shots ricocheted off the walls.

  “Hurry, we can squeeze through this way,” Kyle said when he barely missed a direct hit.

  They had to get down on their hands and knees to clear the minute open space. Kyle waited until both Lena and James were safe before slipping through the narrow opening. Then he shoved as many rocks into the opening as he could before clicking off the flashlight. He didn’t want to give their pursuers an advantage.

  “There’s a light up ahead.” He pointed in the direction and they stumbled toward the light, only to find the exit was boarded up.

  Lena glanced behind them as flashlights bounced off the unstable structure. The men were gaining on them. “They’ve reached the rubble. We’ll be trapped unless we can get those boards off quickly.”

  Through the silty light Kyle saw something. “Hold on. It looks as if it’s boarded up from the outside. If we kick hard enough, it might break through.”

  It took precious time before the rotted boards finally gave way.

  “They’ve found the way out. Stop them,” one of the men behind them yelled.

  Kyle stepped through the opening first and pulled Lena through, followed by James as another round of shots flew past their heads.

  “Where are we, James?” he asked in a tight voice.

  “Close to my house, I think.” James pointed off to the right. “If we can get there, we can call for help.”

  As they raced through the woods, Lena glanced over her shoulder. Four flashlights scanned the area they’d just left. Who knew how many more men were out there waiting for them.

  They reached the house, but Kyle stopped James before he opened the door. “Do you have a car?”

  James nodded. “Yes, it’s in the garage.”

  “We need to borrow it. Lock the door and call the cops. Don’t let anyone in. Do you have a gun?”

  “Yes,” the pastor assured him in a frightened tone. “I use it for hunting.”

  “If anyone tries to break in, shoot to kill.�
��

  James punched the garage door opener. “The keys are in it.”

  “Thanks. We’ll leave it someplace where you can find it soon. Stay safe, James.”

  “You, too. I’ll pray for you both,” James said before he closed the door and slid the lock in place.

  Lena got into the car along with Kyle. He fired the engine and shoved it in Reverse. The car screamed down the drive as the men emerged from the woods.

  “Duck,” he yelled as a round of bullets riddled the side of the car.

  Kyle swerved with the impact but managed to keep it on the drive. The men continued firing as they chased after them on foot. Once Kyle reached the end of the drive, he made a hard right then sped down the road.

  Lena glanced behind. She could see the men heading for the house. “Do you think James will be okay?”

  Kyle looked in the rearview mirror. “I hope so. These men are ruthless. We have to get out of here. They’ll call for backup. Block the roads out of town. We can’t afford to get caught. There are too many lives at stake.” He told her that two of his team members had been taken hostage by Alhasan. They were being held at an abandoned lumber mill near the Pennsylvania border.

  Lena’s thoughts raced. Was Alhasan using the captives to draw them out? “We have to save them.”

  Kyle didn’t answer right away, and she knew there was more. “There are others being held hostage, as well. An older couple, a man...and a boy.”

  She jerked his way. “It has to be Joseph. He’s alive.”

  He nodded. “Do you have any idea who the older couple and the man are?” he asked.

  She couldn’t imagine. “I have no idea. Joseph was the only one at the prison I know about.”

  He drove in silence for a long time. “For a little bit, when you first told me the other woman was Lena...” He stopped and shook his head. “Well, I thought the child might be mine...ours,” he admitted. “These last few days have been a roller-coaster ride.”

  Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. She remembered...something. About the baby. Her little girl. Alhasan had told her the child was dead at birth but she remembered...a cry. Had he taken her daughter’s life? She covered her trembling mouth with her hand before the sob escaped, but Kyle had seen her pain.

  “Lena?”

  She couldn’t look at him. She loved him so much and he was so happy to have her back.

  “Babe, you can tell me anything. I know what you went through at that prison was horrible, and I can’t comprehend how much you’ve suffered. I just wish that I hadn’t settled for what was before my eyes.”

  Curious, she glanced his way. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean it never felt as if you were gone. Even after we found the body in the desert with your ring, I didn’t feel like I’d lost you in here.” He pointed to his chest. “I should have kept searching. I shouldn’t have settled. I’m so sorry.”

  He was apologizing to her. He’d done everything within his power to find her. The evidence was deliberately stacked to make Kyle and the CIA believe she was dead. He was innocent. She was not.

  She was the bad person here. Not Kyle. “You didn’t know. It’s not your fault, Kyle. You did everything you could. Alhasan and the Fox wanted you to believe I was dead.”

  Lena thought about the time before her capture. The village in which she had been embedded had been crackling with tension in the days before the attack. The family she stayed with was terrified she would be discovered as CIA.

  And then the attack happened. The family murdered before her eyes. She’d been badly injured and struggling to live. Her memory shot. The village leveled. They’d spared her. Now she knew it was deliberate. She was a key ingredient in the Fox’s plan.

  “We need to stay out of sight as much as possible,” Kyle told her. “They’ll be looking for this car.” He hesitated and she could tell something was troubling him. “Best case scenario, it will be hours before Aaron can fly the team here if the storm lifts quickly. That’s a lifetime when you’re dealing with the Fox. He could move Liz and the others before we have the chance to rescue them. And once he believes they’ve served their purpose, he’ll kill them.” He glanced her way. “I have to go after them.”

  She understood. You didn’t leave a man behind. “I’m coming with you.”

  He immediately rejected the idea. “I can’t lose you again, Lena. I won’t.”

  She sat up straighter and prepared for battle. “I’m coming, Kyle. I can help. I promised Joseph I wouldn’t let anything happen to him, and I’m not about to go back on that promise.”

  TWELVE

  The woman beside him had grown increasingly distant with every mile they covered. Kyle’s mind went crazy thinking about the possibilities of what she kept to herself. Did she blame him for not doing more to find her? She said she understood, but she’d suffered dearly at Alhasan’s hands. Would some part of her blame him still?

  He replayed his earlier conversation with Liz. Something had been different in her voice. He’d seen Liz in some hairy situations before, and her strength was unshakable. Uncertainty was out of character for her and yet there was no denying the uneasiness in her tone.

  What he didn’t understand was how someone as obviously smart as the Fox wouldn’t find the cell phone Liz had tucked in her boot. More to the point, if one of his goals was to take out the rest of the Scorpions, then why not just kill Liz and Michael...unless they were part of his team?

  He kept remembering what Lena had said about the true person in charge being an American. What if she was wrong? Could the true Fox be a woman? Liz was certainly intelligent enough to mastermind such an operation, but the thought of her betraying them was impossible, surely. Still, he’d had a feeling she was trying to warn him of something. The only question was what?

  He glanced over at Lena. She hadn’t said so much as a handful of words. He clasped her hand. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s troubling you. Please tell me you forgive me for failing you.”

  A sob escaped. “Oh, Kyle. I don’t blame you. I blame me.”

  This was the last thing he expected. “Why would you blame yourself? You did nothing wrong.”

  She laughed, but there was no humor in it or her face. “That’s not true. I did so much wrong.” She shifted a little so that she could see him clearly. The desperation in her eyes was hard to take. “Kyle, I was pregnant when I went on that final mission. I found out the day I was scheduled to leave. By then it was too late. We didn’t have time to find a replacement and the mission was too essential to scrub.”

  In a second, his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. He jerked the car over to the side of the road and put it in Park. He couldn’t make it make sense. “Why? Why would you do that?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “Because I thought what we were doing was important. The mission was critical. At the time, we had no idea how critical. There was no time to change the plan. The people I would be staying with were anxious enough as it was. If we tried to put someone else in at the last minute, it could have caused the entire thing to fall apart.”

  His resentment rose like bile. “You were pregnant when you went on that mission and you didn’t tell me. You put your life and our child’s in jeopardy for a mission?”

  She said something, but he was beyond hearing her. He was devastated by the news. “You should have told me. It was my child, too. I deserved to be part of the decision. You had no right to shut me out.”

  She looked so grief stricken and yet he couldn’t think of anything but what she’d done to them. All these years he hadn’t known he was going to be a father.

  “You’re right,” she said and he barely caught the words. “I should have told you. I wanted to, but you were so against me going on any missions those last few years. Taking risks. I didn’t know how to tell you, and I didn�
��t think it was possible to pull out at that late hour.”

  She was right. In the years before she disappeared, he’d had a terrible feeling every single time she left on a mission. His gut twisted into knots. He couldn’t eat. It was as if time was running out and he couldn’t bear the thought. Still, he wasn’t ready to accept his part just yet.

  “There’s more,” she said. He stared straight ahead unable to look at her. His hands grew clammy. “Kyle, I gave birth to a girl. Alhasan told me the baby died, but I think he killed her.”

  He felt as if someone had dropped a ton of bricks on him. It was too much to bear. Alhasan had murdered their innocent baby girl. The walls of the car became claustrophobic and he desperately needed air. Needed to pray before he said something he would regret forever. Needed God’s peace.

  He reached for the door handle.

  “Where are you going?” she sobbed.

  “I can’t deal with this now. I need to be alone. Don’t follow me,” he said without looking at her.

  He was barely aware of her calling his name. He stumbled from the car and began walking. He had to put distance between himself and Lena. He’d never experienced an anger so great before, not even for the Fox, and to have it directed at the woman he loved was almost too much to take. He stopped at the edge of the woods close to the road.

  What she said threatened to destroy all of his hope for their future together. They had a child. Lena’s fateful decision had resulted in their child’s death. He couldn’t wrap his mind around that truth.

  He dropped to his knees and prayed for comfort, but this was the one time answers were hard to come by.

  Kyle could feel himself shutting down emotionally. He couldn’t deal with this now and finish what needed to be done.

  Slowly, he got to his feet and scrubbed away the tears. Then he went back to the car, got in and put it in Drive. He pulled back onto the road, still without looking at Lena. He could feel her watching him in the darkness and yet he couldn’t talk to her.