Snap, Crackle ...

by Dale Mayer

  He stared at her. “This Sugar Mama sounds like a very interesting woman.”

  “She is. She was good to me, and I do not want to have brought trouble onto her shoulders.”

  “We’ll keep that in mind,” he said quietly. “It’s not always that way, you know?”

  “No, but it sure seems like it,” she said. “What kind of a world did you guys create that has such dysfunctional people in it?”

  “Maybe we’re all a little dysfunctional,” he said. “Did you ever think that maybe that’s just the way of the world?”

  “Thanks for that,” she said. “Remember? You’re supposed to be making me feel better.”

  He burst out laughing. “Well, we can try to make you feel better,” he said, “but that’s not the easiest thing either.”

  “No,” she said, “it isn’t, but how distressing that so many of the things we had learned about in the compound were true.”

  “Of course,” he said, nodding. “Always a bit of a shock, isn’t it? You hope that everything bad was a lie, and then you find out—”

  “That it is true and that, in some ways, the world is the nastiest place to be, where people do unimaginable things to each other and to children,” she said. “Why the children?”

  “Because some people are just sick,” he said, “and they have unnatural desires.”

  She nodded slowly. “And that just takes me back to the boss, wondering whether he was one of them, or if he, in some twisted way, was somehow combating all the evilness out there.”

  *

  Considering what Beth had been through, her mental stability was absolutely amazing. And then Hunter wondered how much this Sugar Mama had to do with it all. If she’d seen in Beth that innocence and that desperate need to have a life, it’s quite possible the old woman had been instrumental in setting her straight about a lot of the world. “Do you have a bank account?”

  “Sugar Mama told me to get one,” she said, “but I didn’t trust it. I knew about banks, but again they weren’t exactly something that I deemed trustworthy.”

  “I guess it depends on what information you are relying on,” he said. “Most people nowadays would say they are safe.”

  “Sugar Mama didn’t trust them,” she said.

  And he had an inkling into Sugar Mama’s influence. “She taught you a lot, didn’t she?”

  “Yes,” she said, “she taught me an awful lot, and I’ll forever be grateful. Could you please get Stefan to check?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I already sent him a message. But remember, it won’t be something he can run out the door and do.”

  “Why not?” she asked, staring at him.

  “Well, there are laws stopping things like that too.”

  “Even if she’s in danger?”

  “Let’s trust Stefan to check it out, okay?”

  “I get that,” she said. “We’ll give Stefan time to do all kinds of stuff. But I want to do something in the meantime.”

  “And what is that?” he asked.

  “I want to see if I can find Lizzy myself.”

  He stopped and stared. “What good would that do?”

  “I don’t know, but I know she’s stronger than me and more skilled than I am.”

  “So going up against her is pretty much a suicide pact, is what I’m hearing.”

  “I don’t know about that,” she said, “but I was hoping maybe I could talk to her,” she said, then raised both hands almost in a questioning movement.

  “Do you think the friendship you had before still stands?”

  “I would love to think that,” she said, “but, no, you’re right.”

  “And you never did tell me who would have any shooting skills in that group.”

  “I imagine any number of people,” she said, tiredly studying him. “Don’t forget the boss also had guards.”

  “Did you see any of those at the compound?”

  “Not for a long time, not for years.”

  “Not for years? What does that mean?”

  “Well, I was alone for the last several years,” she said, “with just my handler.”

  “Except for the testing?”

  “Yes, the testing,” she said, with a grimace. “Most of the time I didn’t get to see people. I would just see energy. A lot of the time, Lizzy’s energy. We were always working against or toward something.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That must have been very difficult.”

  “Well, between the loneliness, the sense that you’re going crazy, and then the surety that you probably should be crazy so that the world out there isn’t one you have to deal with,” she said, “all definitely made for a strange way to live.”

  “It sounds devastating.”

  “I don’t know about devastating,” she said, “but crippling for sure.”

  “That’s a good word for it,” he said.

  She shrugged. “It’s easy to look back on all those years, but if I hadn’t tried to break free—”

  “I know. I get that,” he said. “Let’s not think about that right now.”

  She snorted. “How can I not think about that?”

  “You’re free,” he said. “Let’s keep you that way, and then we don’t ever have to think about you being a captive again.”

  She smiled and said, “You know what? If nothing else, you do live in a pretty dreamy world.”

  He burst out laughing at that and continued to cook the eggs. She watched with interest. “Sugar Mama made something like that,” she said, “but she always added these hot chili peppers and lots and lots of fresh tomatoes.”

  “Interesting,” he said. “She liked hot food.”

  “She did. She would say, hot man, hot food, and hot money were all things she would love to handle.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t tell me. Does she happen to be a large black woman?”

  “Well, the only thing large about her is that chest of hers,” she said, with a grin. “It’s massive. She’s only about five-six though, and she is running well past her sixties, if not into her seventies,” she said, “but you wouldn’t know it. She works hard to keep the wheels of time at bay.”

  He smiled. “I think I’d like her.”

  “You probably would,” she said. “She’d definitely like you.” And she waggled her eyebrows at him.

  He chuckled. “She obviously had a big influence on you.”

  “Without her, I don’t think I’d have survived,” she said calmly. “She certainly is somebody I owe a lot of thanks to.”

  “And yet she probably wouldn’t want thanks, would she?”

  She shook her head. “Nope, that’s not who she is.”

  “Exactly, and I’m grateful that she helped you, though I’d like to meet her when this is all over.”

  “She’d probably like to meet you too,” she said, with a chuckle. “Anybody male is her type.”

  Still grinning at her and her comments, he quickly finished making up the breakfast sandwiches, and, when he placed the plate in front of her, he said, “There. Take a bite into that.”

  She looked at it and said, “Wow, that’s huge.”

  “I thought you were hungry,” he said.

  “I was,” she said. “I didn’t realize something this big was in the offing though.”

  “If you can’t eat it all,” he said, “cut it in half. If you don’t want the second half, I’ll eat it.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “That’s not happening,” she said, with a smile, then happily bit into the first half.

  Chapter 21

  Remember.

  The whisper came with the same intensity that it always did, the energy floating out in the world around her.

  Beth opened her eyes and bolted upright. Immediately Hunter, who’d been sitting beside her, laid a hand on her shoulder and said, “It’s all right.”

  “Remember,” she said.

  His eyebrows shot up. “Remember what?”

  “It’s that same damn w
ord again, somebody telling me to remember.”

  He groaned and said, “Now if only you knew what you’re supposed to remember.”

  “I have no idea. I don’t even know why there would be anything I’ve forgotten. Except, you know, a lot of things that I want to forget.”

  “Maybe something is in there that you want to forget, yet you shouldn’t.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t know what to say,” she said. She hopped to her feet and said, “Did you get any news?”

  “I did.”

  “You were supposed to tell me,” she cried out.

  “You were sleeping,” he said. “Remember? Why would I wake you up for this little bit of information?”

  “What information?” she said crossly, sitting back down again.

  “First off, Sugar Mama was injured, but we’re not exactly sure what happened. She was found on the floor with a head injury.”

  She stared at him, feeling all the complacency about being safe draining away from her. “Oh my God,” she said, “I need to go to her.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because it’s my fault,” she cried out. “I don’t want anybody hurt. This is my fight.”

  “Well, that’s just too damn bad,” he said, staring at her. “This is a fight that involves a lot of people obviously, and you don’t get to call the shots because you want to.”

  She glared at him. “You could do something about this.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I don’t know,” she snapped, “but stop people from attacking Sugar Mama.”

  “We don’t know for a fact that she was attacked. She was lying at the bottom of a set of stairs. For all we know, she fell.”

  She glared at him and shook her head. “But you don’t know that for sure,” she said.

  “No, of course I don’t,” he said, raising his hands.

  “I want to go see her.”

  “That’s not a wise idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because, if she were attacked, they could be waiting to see if you show up.”

  “But you just said she wasn’t attacked.”

  “No, I said that maybe she wasn’t attacked,” he said in exasperation. “Stop putting words in my mouth.”

  “Stop twisting the words around,” she said.

  He groaned. “Look. We can keep this up for a very long time, but we’re not getting anywhere fighting each other.”

  “I want to go see her,” she said, a mutinous tone in her voice. “I want to go get my money anyway.” He frowned, looking at her. “It’s a good way to see if they found me or if they went through my room.”

  “We know they found you,” he said, “but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go back to where you were shot.”

  She stared at him. “What would that tell you?”

  “Energy,” he said. “It leaves a spore that I can hunt.”

  “Well, good then,” she said. “Let’s go.” She bounced to her feet and raced to the door.

  He got up much slower. “Wait a minute. We won’t go without a plan.”

  “And yet we went back to the compound where I spent all those years without a plan.”

  He smiled. “Well, okay, I get that. That’s one point to you,” he said, “but it’s still not the best idea.”

  “I’m not letting you use that anymore,” she snapped. “I want to go see her.”

  “I get that,” he groaned, “but let’s not be stupid and impulsive about this.”

  “Is there such a thing?”

  “Yes,” he said, “there is, and right now we need to be a little more methodical in our actions.”

  “The method is simple,” she said. “We go check up on Sugar Mama and for you to see where I was shot.”

  He looked at his phone, quickly sent Stefan a text, and said, “I’m telling him what we’re doing.”

  “And we’ll pick up groceries on our way back.”

  “Depending on how long we’re gone for, yes,” he said, with a nod. “I’m not exactly sure how many hours it’ll take us to get there.”

  “Quite a few,” she said, “but it doesn’t matter because we need to go.”

  “I got it,” he said, in frustration. “I’m getting there.”

  “Get there faster,” she snapped. And, with that, she headed upstairs.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To pack,” she said.

  “Pack what?” he asked. “You don’t have anything.”

  “So, it won’t take me long. Make sure you’re ready when I come down.”

  Upstairs, she sat down on the bed. She had to exit the room and not let him see that she trembled with fear. Fear for herself, fear for Sugar Mama. That woman didn’t deserve anything that had come her way. Beth didn’t want to believe that her friend had been attacked, but a “coincidence” was a little too hard to believe. Sugar Mama was all heart, and this needed to stop.

  Beth couldn’t stand the thought of even more people she knew getting hurt. It just wasn’t fair, and, at the same time, she also knew that nobody cared, or at least nobody cared very much. So she had to do more than she was doing.

  She got up and packed the little bit of clothing she had. “Hopefully somebody will understand what’s going on,” she murmured. “Hopefully somebody can do something about the nightmare this has become.” Just so much was going on that Beth didn’t understand. The whole premise of this was very simple: they needed to stop Lizzy from hunting Beth. And ultimately, Beth was afraid that would mean the death of her friend.

  Yet … Beth wasn’t even sure it was possible to kill her friend because Lizzy was one scary strong female. With that, Beth took one last look around, wishing she could stay here indefinitely. But that wasn’t a choice, and she headed downstairs with her small bag and with her head held high. As she stood at the front door, she watched as he came to her, pulling on his boots and grabbing a jacket.

  He looked at her and asked, “Do you want to leave some cat food behind for Nocturne?”

  “You haven’t bought him any yet?”

  “I did,” he said. “I put it outside because I never see him.”

  “Nocturne will be fine,” she said briskly. “If not, we’ll come back and get him.”

  “You’re not planning on staying away permanently, are you?”

  “I can’t stay here permanently,” she said, looking at him. “It’s your house.”

  He frowned. “So you are looking at moving on?”

  “Of course I am,” she said, and, with that, she stepped outside onto the porch. She sniffed the fresh morning air.

  He locked up and came behind her and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Leaving doesn’t have to be permanent, you know?”

  “It feels like it does though,” she murmured, staring up at the sky. “It definitely feels like it does.”

  *

  Hunter drove steadily through the day, but they were still hours away from where Beth had roomed at Sugar Mama’s house. They traveled south on the coast, but eventually he shifted to a highway, taking them inland.

  When she said, “We’re about a half an hour away,” he looked at her.

  “Do you want to stop and pick up a coffee?” he asked.

  She nodded. “That would be good.”

  The closer they got to the house she’d stayed at, the quieter she’d become, almost like a leaching of her energy slipped behind them.

  He studied her carefully. “You’re looking weaker.”

  “Sure,” she said, with a shrug. “It happens.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know why,” she said in exasperation, but then she shook her head. “Stress, fear, healing.”

  “Does it mean that Lizzy is closer?”

  She stared at him. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly.

  “So why then?” She shrugged and settled back into the seat. He drove through the next town, stopped at a coffee shop, and asked, “Do you want me to just run in?�
�

  “That would be good.”

  But her energy was even now getting that much quieter again. He frowned as he got out, and he said, “I don’t like anything about this.”

  “I know,” she said, “but that’s just who you are.”

  Not a whole lot he could say about that because he wasn’t sure how she meant it, and he knew it was true to a certain extent regardless. But it was also clear that she wasn’t explaining something. He headed into the coffee shop, keeping an eye on her. He placed his order and soon was served. When he stepped back out to the car with two coffees and a couple muffins, he was surprised to see her sitting up and looking a hell of a lot better. And even more surprised to see a black cat running away.

  He got into the vehicle, looked at her, and said, “How did you recharge?”

  She looked at him and said, “Would you believe meditation?”

  He snorted at that. “If it were that easy,” he said, “we’d all be doing it.”

  “Well, I’m sure Stefan would give you some lines about the universe is abundant, and no shortage of energy is anywhere.”

  “I’ve heard that,” he said, “and obviously you have too.”

  “Of course,” she murmured.

  “But,” he said, “that’s not what you did.”

  “How do you know?”

  He shook his head and said, “You want me to trust you, yet you won’t trust me.”

  “It’s nothing,” she said, with a wave of her hand.

  “If nothing, you wouldn’t be looking like you just had a complete vacation in the time it took me to get coffee.”

  She shrugged.

  “And yet you still won’t tell me about Nocturne.” When she turned away from him, he added, “You know something? For somebody who demands a lot of trust from other people, you’re sure not very good at handing it out in the same measure.”

  She remained silent.

  He knew there wouldn’t be any winning that conversation, not with the way she was already sidestepping the issue. He went quiet for a long time and then said, “How much farther?”

  “Not much,” she said. “It’s just up and around there.”