Snap, Crackle ...

by Dale Mayer

  “What if he finds her here?”

  “No reason to now,” he said. “Remember? She’s already told him everything she knows. If she hadn’t fallen down the stairs, she probably wouldn’t have even ended up here.”

  Her shoulders sagged with relief. “You think he wouldn’t have killed her?”

  “I hope not,” he said. “He hasn’t killed anybody we’ve seen on this trail yet, has he?”

  “Only my guard, when I escaped,” she said. “I wondered about that.”

  “Why?” Hunter asked.

  “Because I know that other people have died, just by reading some of those files we retrieved. So, the real question is, why hasn’t he killed me?”

  Hunter stared at her and asked, “What reason are you coming up with?”

  “Because he needs me alive,” she said simply. “He needs me for something, and, for that, I have to be alive.”

  *

  At least Beth was thinking on her feet. Hunter just wasn’t sure if it would be fast enough. Danger was poking him in the back, and he raced Beth along the hospital hallway, down the stairwell, and out the back door. He dragged her every step of the way with him. When they finally got outside, he didn’t even duck; he bolted straight forward and headed for the trees.

  “Why are we going out here?” she cried out.

  He immediately tugged her into the dense brush, ignoring the sticks that poked at his skin. “Because,” he snapped. He held her quiet, his finger against her lips as he waited, his eyes closed, senses on alert.

  He felt that same creepy sensation of being followed. But not here, not outside. At least not yet. Hunter had mentally mapped out where they were and how far they had to go to get back to his car. It would entail a few minutes of being exposed. He wanted this guy to go inside the hospital, but, at the same time, he was worried about where he was going and what would happen. He sent a message to Stefan, asking him to contact the hospital on the off chance that their attacker was heading toward Sugar Mama. Just when some of the pressure nagging at him eased, Hunter moved along the tree line, around to where he saw the car in front of them. He leaned closer to Beth and said, “The car’s up ahead. We’ll run straight to it. Get in without a question, do you hear me?”

  She nodded and didn’t say anything. He held up three fingers, dropped one, dropped the second, and then, on the third, he bolted once again, dragging her forward. But she was running as fast as he was. They made it to the car. He turned on the engine, and they bolted out of the parking lot, now realizing he had a flat tire.

  Swearing, he pulled off to the side of the road up ahead and said, “Grab your things.” He broke out the motorcycle, still in the trunk. He handed her a helmet and told her to get on. He started it up and, leaving the car exactly there, tore off down the highway.

  Chapter 23

  Beth had never spent much time on a motorcycle. She understood in theory how they worked, which had allowed her to escape Hunter that one time on his motorcycle. Now she clung with her head flat against his back, her eyes closed, as he ripped down the highway, putting as many miles between them and the hospital as he could. And all she could think about was Sugar Mama. The woman had been a wonderful friend, and Beth didn’t want to see anything more happen to her.

  If this guy only wanted information, no need for him to clean up his tracks, but, if he were looking to do something further, then he wouldn’t want anybody to know that he’d been asking questions. The fact that she and Hunter had been at the hospital at the same time likely meant that’s exactly what he was up to. She didn’t even know how to stop it. In her heart of hearts, she felt it was already over.

  She closed her eyes and sent out a shot of energy. She didn’t have very much to spare, but she had recharged rather well earlier in the day. She sent out a probe, looking for information from the hospital, but immediately hit some rebounding wall that slammed her back into her own energy.

  You have to let her go.

  She slowly sat up taller on the motorcycle. Had Hunter done that? Had Stefan?

  I did it, Stefan said calmly in her head.

  Beth wanted to rant and to rail at him, yet she was full of wonder at his abilities. Why? was all she could say. And then she followed it up with a confused How?

  The why is because you don’t dare let the attacker know where you are, and, if he can see your energy, he’ll follow that probe of yours right back to where you are.

  She gasped at that. I should know that, shouldn’t I? she said, bewildered. I just feel like everything’s so discombobulated, she said. Everything is all over the place.

  Well, you definitely are scattered because, yes, you should have known that your energy can be traced, just as you know you can trace the energy of others. Anybody who has done the work you’ve done for so many years would have known that.

  What work did I do? she asked bitterly. I tested others for their abilities.

  Did you ever have anybody who was good?

  Lizzy, she said instantly, only Lizzy. Some were okay, and some were developing, but the boss was only after the best of the best.

  Of course he was.

  Something odd was in his voice. What’s the matter?

  The old compound, he said, the reason you saw so little of it. It blew up somewhere around the time that you left.

  What?

  They destroyed it to make sure nobody could ever gain any information from it. Most of the lab area was blown up and a few of the offices but not much was left, according to the police report.

  And it’s hidden from the public, so nobody cared, I’m sure.

  I think the police said something about a gas leak.

  She frowned at that. Was gas there?

  Well, they found oil heaters and gas heaters, he said.

  It’s so bizarre that we’re talking this way.

  I reached out many times, hoping people out there at the compound would respond.

  Well, it’s probably that beacon of yours that brought me to you in the first place then, she said, and, for that, I’m sorry. You may want to consider taking it down, in case you get any more head cases, like me.

  His voice was gentle when he said, I’m not particularly bothered. It did what it needed to do, as I intended. It brought in someone who needed help.

  Yes, but I don’t think you were thinking about this kind of help, she murmured.

  Help is help, he said. It doesn’t matter what kind. This is very much up our alley because it involves a person who is blessed to have an awful lot of skill.

  No. I probably had skill, she said, at least at one point in time, but definitely not now.

  Says you, he said, with a chuckle, but look who’s talking to me telepathically.

  She frowned at that. I’m also on the back of a motorcycle.

  Good, trust Hunter. He’s good at what he does.

  So far, he’s mostly just been running, not exactly hunting anything.

  Well, sometimes when you’re a hunter, the best thing to do is retreat, he said. You must trust him.

  Maybe, she murmured. It certainly is a strange scenario that I find myself in right now.

  But it’s better than where you were, right?

  Of course. I was a prisoner back then, she snapped. Nothing is like that at all.

  No, nothing is, he said, and that’s one of the reasons why you need to keep close to Hunter.

  You have a lot of faith in him.

  We go way back, he said. He has done a lot of work for me.

  For you?

  Yes, he said, we’ve helped an awful lot of energy workers who were in difficult straits.

  Are there that many in the world?

  Too many, he said sadly, and we don’t get to all of them by any means.

  Well, you’re not responsible for that, she said. There is a limit to what even you can do.

  He chuckled. Says the person who doesn’t think she has any abilities.

  Maybe, at one time, though I don’t recog
nize anything anymore.

  Well, you are gifted, Stefan said, but do you have any idea why this guy would want you?

  No, because I don’t understand why they ever wanted me in the first place. I don’t even know what my abilities were that they would care so much about. As far as I understand, I burned-out badly.

  And what does that mean to you?

  Well, I couldn’t read people anymore. I couldn’t see anything, couldn’t do anything. I was just done.

  Okay, he said, and that’s possible.

  Years of testing, years of being tested, years of experiments, years of drugs, years of silence, she murmured.

  How long was the silence? he asked curiously.

  It seems like forever, but I don’t know.

  Okay, good enough, he said. Again we’re not pushing anything.

  Everybody is pushing.

  Stefan just stayed quiet.

  I’m not bitching, Beth said.

  Bitch away, he said. You have every right to. A lot of your life was stolen from you. I’m still looking for the people in those files that you found.

  Well, let me know if you find them, she said. They seemed like a long time ago.

  And I think they probably were, he said thoughtfully, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still important.

  She smiled. I get it, but, at the same time, I don’t understand how any of this helps me get free of them. I was just going to hide and avoid being a prisoner for another millennia.

  True, he said, but the fact of the matter is, you’ve been tracked down now. And you must do anything you can to keep yourself separate and away.

  Got it, she murmured, and, with that, Stefan disappeared.

  When she refocused on her surroundings, they were heading toward the cabin. She frowned at that. Meanwhile he parked his motorcycle in a tree line near the cabin. She looked at him. “Do you think it’s safe here?”

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “We’re putting in as many safeguards as we can, but, of course, if they tracked you back to the hospital, it’s possible that they’ll track you here too.”

  She nodded. “It feels like they’ll come here next.”

  He stopped, looked at her, and said, “In that case, we need to pack up and get out of here.”

  “And go where?” she said.

  “I’m sure Stefan will have another safe place for us.”

  She looked at him. “Does he just keep a series of properties?”

  “We have a network of locations that we can use. They aren’t ours, but they’re mostly empty, and we can access them as needed.”

  “How nice for you,” she murmured.

  He smiled. “A lot of people out there are happy to help.”

  “I guess if it’s nothing that they need to put themselves out about. An empty property can imply all kinds of things.”

  “Sure, most of these benefactors are wealthy and own multiple properties,” he said candidly. “We don’t count them guilty of anything just because they have an easier life, in some ways, than the rest of us.”

  “And I didn’t mean it that way,” she said, with a sigh. “I did find it a challenge learning to make a living when I didn’t have any skills though.”

  “Which is why having skills is so important,” he said, with a chuckle.

  She nodded. “It’s not like I was trained to have any decent ones though.”

  “Maybe not,” he said, “but you did very well for yourself, considering.”

  “Mostly because of Sugar Mama.” At that, her face grew distant.

  He studied her. “What’s the matter?”

  “Stefan shut down my probe. I wanted to see if she was okay.”

  He faced her squarely. “Don’t send out probes,” he said immediately. “I don’t care what the reasoning is. They are automatically trackable back to you.”

  She frowned, sensing her own back going up at his orders.

  *

  Hunter shook his head. “This isn’t an argument about power or control,” he said. “This is too important to your safety. You can’t have any energy work going on. You just can’t. Otherwise it’ll pinpoint your location.”

  She groaned. “That’s hardly fair.”

  “Nothing is fair about this,” he murmured. “Everything in life right now is something that you have to watch out for. Anything that you might have done automatically before, you cannot do now.”

  This was just so much different than what she had expected freedom to be. And, of course, she’d had a taste of what freedom was, and then it all blew up. She nodded slowly. “I get that,” she said, “and it sucks.”

  “And hopefully we get your life free of these people. Then things can be different, better.” He chuckled. “Let’s get some food.”

  “You’re always going on about food,” she said immediately.

  “Sure. Why not?” he said. “One of the best things in life is food. Whenever there’s food, you better enjoy it because you don’t know where the next meal is coming from.”

  She frowned at that. “I guess. And we didn’t stop at the store again.”

  He shook his head. “You’re thinking too much again. Let’s get in, out of sight.” He ushered her inside the small cabin.

  This, oddly enough, felt like home. Something was so rewarding and peaceful about it. “Have you got some protection around this place?”

  “Of course.” He looked at her questioningly. “Can’t you feel it?”

  “Hell yes, I can feel it,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure what it was, mind you, but yes.”

  “Interesting,” he murmured, but he didn’t add to that. She frowned, as he shook his head. “Remember. Trust is all about sharing, but that goes both ways.”

  She glared at him. “Seems like it’s only ever one way though. And it seems like you’re the one who’s always winning.”

  “No winning in this,” he said sadly. “This is very much a case of survival, and anybody who’s still alive right now is on the winning team.”

  Chapter 24

  After a meal Beth felt her high energy completely drain away. She turned toward Hunter. “Any chance for a swim in the lake?”

  Hunter frowned, got an odd look in his eyes, checking something; then he nodded. “We can probably do that, but we’ll wait until dusk settles in.”

  She nodded at that. “Then I can go to sleep right afterward.”

  “Sounds good,” he said, studying her. He glanced outside. “It’s pretty close to that time, if you want to get changed.”

  She nodded and headed up to her room. She quickly changed into her only bathing suit and grabbed a towel. As she walked downstairs, she heard Hunter on the phone. She couldn’t hear well enough to understand, but his tone was grim. As she came into the living room, he ended the call and faced her. “What’s the matter?” she asked, and then she knew. She closed her eyes, swaying in place. “It’s Sugar Mama, isn’t it?”

  He nodded ever-so-slowly. “Apparently I was wrong,” he said, guilt twisting his voice. “He did go back.”

  “Well, we knew he was there,” she whispered.

  “I know, but I was hoping he was after us, not her.”

  “Chances are he was, but that doesn’t mean he would let an opportunity like that pass him by in the hospital,” she murmured. She shook her head. “Life sucks. All she wanted to do was live with her sister.”

  “I know,” he said. “She was just looking for a chance to do something else with her life. She was a good person and sure didn’t deserve that.”

  Beth looked at Hunter. “Do we know for sure it was him?”

  “No, not for sure,” he said. “All we know is that she’s dead. Looks like a heart attack.”

  At that, Beth was surprised. “So maybe not him. Maybe she died of natural causes. She did have a heart condition.”

  “It’s possible,” he said. “We don’t have any way to find out at the moment either. I’m also not sure the hospital will do any checking.”


  She stared at him in shock. “You mean, they won’t do an autopsy?”

  “It’s rare to have autopsies done without cause.”

  She shook her head. “But, in cases of murder, surely they do.”

  “Yes, but how do we explain to them that there’s a good chance she was murdered? She died not very long after we were there.”

  “But you also know that he was there.”

  “We do, via our psychic abilities, but I surely couldn’t give a sketch artist any details,” he said. “Look. The idea of foul play has been presented, but we have no way to know what decision will be made at this point in time.”

  She sagged into place on the couch. “Wow, I don’t even know how to feel about that.”

  “I guess it depends on your beliefs about life and death.”

  “I haven’t had any experience with religious studies,” she murmured. “So I’m not sure I have any beliefs either way.”

  He looked at her. “But what about in our realm? Have you ever seen ghosts?”

  “Not really,” she said.

  “What do you mean by not really?” he said. “That’s a pretty clear yes-or-no question.”

  She looked at him. “Given the work I did, I spent a lot of the time in a haze, not sure what or who I saw.”

  “Right,” he said. “I keep forgetting just how extensive your training was,” he said. But a bitter note was there.

  “Not just training,” she said, “but recovery.”

  “I get that. I just wish I had some idea of what happened to make them think you could do whatever it is that they thought you could do.”

  “I probably made a mistake one day,” she said candidly. “Mistakes are not something that you can get away from with them.”

  “Did you see something, like a person’s aura, or did someone do something that revealed a psychic gift?”

  “I could tell what people were gifted, what they were doing if they had any of those gifts, and if they didn’t have any,” she said, “and then the boss would start testing them to increase their abilities. I’ve told you all this, so why are you asking me again?”