by R. Gualtieri
He forced his voice to maintain a careful measure of neutrality as he asked, “Have you tried the police?”
She narrowed her eyes as if she wanted to scream at him, but remained calm. “Of course I did. I filed a missing person’s report as soon as I could.”
“And?”
“And nothing! It’s like they couldn’t have cared less. All they do is keep giving me the runaround.”
Francis had stowed the camera and was looking over the top of the SUV toward Derek. He saw the anger in the big man’s eyes and felt it himself. The AEP’s people had found John. Krychech had said so himself. And yet this poor woman had apparently been told nothing.
He was well aware that certain facts surrounding a death sometimes needed to be kept under wraps – had been forced to do so himself more than he wanted to admit. The truth wouldn’t bring the dead back, but that didn’t mean families didn’t deserve a body to bury or a memory to mourn. That was one line he refused to cross – leaving people with the torture of never knowing.
That Yarlberg and his lackeys were doing so, and all for something so petty as political gain, was almost impossible to believe.
“And I don’t think it stops there,” Julia continued, caught up in her tale. “I have friends in this business. Hell, my editor and I went to school together. At first, they were all happy to help spread the story. Promised me that Sophie and John’s pictures would be plastered everywhere. But then something changed. They all went from supporting me to nothing but excuses. Whenever I ask anyone about it, they’re quick to change the subject. Someone doesn’t want this getting out and I don’t know why.” She looked at the two men. “I know how I sound – probably like some crazed conspiracy nut – but all I want is to find my sister. She’s a good person. She doesn’t deserve this.”
Derek placed a hand on her shoulder. “Believe me, I understand. I really do. Listen, we’re going to be conducting our night investigation in the woods. Despite what you might think of our show, my people are well-trained and know what they’re doing. I can’t promise you that we’ll find anything, but I will promise that if we do, we’ll tell you. You have my word on that.”
Julia’s expression softened. “Thank you. And, sorry if I came across as a nut.”
Derek smiled at her. “In this business we run into a lot of them. Believe me, you really don’t fit the mold.”
CHAPTER 14
Following Derek’s promise to do what they could in the course of filming their show, Julia offered him her personal cell number. He accepted on the condition that she refrain from tailing them throughout the state.
Finally, he climbed into the SUV with Francis and they drove out of Shilough.
“Slick.”
“What?” Derek asked.
“Got yourself a fine lady’s digits. Is it high five time yet?” Francis let out a laugh as he guided the vehicle back through the narrow road they’d used to enter the town.
“It’s not like that and you know it.”
After a few moments, Francis said, “I can’t believe those assholes haven’t told her they’ve found that poor guy’s body.”
Derek shrugged. “I’m not surprised. Confirms what I suspected about this bunch. Let’s make it a point to not let our guard down around any of them if we can help it.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Francis checked the rearview mirror, no doubt mindful they’d been followed once already.
“Paranoid?”
“Getting there. Think her sister is still alive?”
Derek found himself looking at the side mirror, too, finding nothing but an empty road staring back at them. “I don’t care to speculate, but it doesn’t look good. I will tell you one thing, though. That asshole can threaten us all he likes, but if we find anything concrete, I’m letting her know.”
“See. I knew you were soft for her.”
“Don’t start.”
“Come on, you have to admit your dating life hasn’t been worth dick as of late.”
“I work odd hours.”
“Trust me, I know. Shakti reminds me every chance she gets.”
Derek smiled at the mention of Francis’s wife. They couldn’t have been a bigger contrast if they tried. He was a large lumberjack-looking man, an avowed atheist, and could close down a bar with the best of them. She, on the other hand, was a petite woman of Hindi descent who came across as decisively meek – that is, until you managed to tick her off. So far as he was aware, there was nobody on the team who would have put money on Francis in a confrontation between the two. “She giving you a hard time?”
“Nothing major. She’s fine so long as the feds keep sending us to out of the way dumps. I gotta warn you, though, another Australia trip like the last one and she’s already told me you’d better be prepared to shoot her with a tranq dart to keep her from coming along.”
Both men shared a laugh until Derek said, “You know I wouldn’t actually do that, right?”
“Yeah, I figured you wanted to live.”
That set them off again.
Finally Derek said, “All right, let’s get back to Burlington. Mitch is going to be waiting.”
“So is that Zeist guy.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“Think they’ll try to tag along with us on the hunt?”
Derek looked at him out of the corner of his eye. “They can try.”
♦ ♦ ♦
“What do you think?”
Danni had to admit she’d been a bit worried about the seemingly random and excessive ingredients that had been stuffed into the fat sandwich Arthur had recommended for lunch. It wasn’t that she disliked any of it, but typically she expected to get her sides on ... well, the side, not all together on the same roll. One bite, however, had proven her wrong. “This is ... pretty awesome.”
“See? Told you not everything about Jersey sucks.” Arthur swallowed a bite of his own. “Believe me, there is no finer way to cram for a final. Throw in a couple of Red Bulls and you’re good to go until sun up.”
“I bet,” Danni said with a laugh. “Although I think the name is spot-on. Pretty sure I’d look like a beached whale after a couple of these.”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” As soon as the words left Arthur’s mouth, he turned bright red. He took another bite, swallowed too quickly, and started coughing.
Danni gave his back a couple of smacks until he got it under control. She smiled to herself but decided to go easy on him.
“I’m sorry,” he said after a few moments. “I didn’t mean...”
“It’s okay. Really, it is.”
“Cool,” he said uncertainly. Then, as if to cut the ice, he reached for his back with an exaggerated wince. “Ow. Yeah, you really don’t need to worry.”
“What can I say? Derek runs a tight ship. We can’t do our jobs without staying in shape.”
“Hah. I don’t think the guys on Monster Chasers have the same philosophy.” He held up his sandwich. “Most of them look like they live on these things.”
Danni let out a bark of laughter. Monster Chasers was a series on a rival network. She’d seen a few episodes. Basically, it involved a bunch of good ol’ boys from America’s heartland, running around the forest with guns and typically making so much noise as to make their obviously edited cryptid run-ins near laughable. Even if her team’s true mission hadn’t been so very different, she wouldn’t have worried much about the competition.
“Sorry, but I have a confession to make,” Arthur said, growing solemn for a moment. “I do occasionally cheat on you guys with that other show.”
Danni blew out a sigh. “I don’t know how I’ll go on. Here we are, enjoying some time together, and now this bombshell. It might be too much for me to handle.”
“If it helps, you guys have a higher priority on my DVR.”
She took another bite and appeared to consider this. “Well, I suppose I c
an forgive you ... just this once. I mean, you did introduce me to these. It would be heartless of me to walk away now. Seriously, though, this is good. They didn’t have anything like this at my school.”
“Your school?”
“Yeah. I mean, we have grease trucks, but they’re kind of a last resort. I’m pretty sure their cheesesteaks are just some moldy roast beef with a slice of American tossed on it.”
“Um, what college?”
“South Dakota State,” she replied nonchalantly, “but I’ve been taking online courses lately.”
“What’s your major?”
“Forestry and Conservation.”
“Really?”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“It’s ... nothing.”
“Spill.”
“No, really.”
“Say it, or so help me, I’ll beat you unconscious with the rest of this sandwich.”
“Okay,” he replied, holding up his hands in surrender. “This is going to sound kind of douchey, but when you joined the show, I kind of figured...”
“That I was some airhead added for T&A value only?”
Arthur looked deeply embarrassed, but she nudged him to continue. “Well, yeah. I mean, some of us figured they fired Woodchuck so they could replace him with a spokesmodel.”
Danni dropped her gaze to the ground, the flavors of the sandwich immediately forgotten. The “official” story was that Chuck “Woodchuck” Wayans, the team’s former tracker, had abruptly quit and retired from public life. Some debate had arisen on their online boards over whether he’d been fired, which was exactly the type of misinformation their true bosses wanted. Only a few knew the truth: that he’d been a victim of the Bonanza Creek massacre.
Arthur, apparently misinterpreting her sudden solemnness, asked, “You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
Danni looked up at him and quickly covered her thoughts with a smile. Now was not the time to wallow in the past. “Not at all. I mean, I definitely get that vibe from some of our fans. It used to tick me off, but I guess I should be flattered. I mean, I never really considered myself the glamourous type.”
“You could have fooled me. I have your poster hanging in my room and...” He stopped when she raised an eyebrow. “That’s TMI, isn’t it?”
“Just a bit.”
“So, um, how did it happen?”
“The poster?”
“No. How’d you join the team? I mean, no offense, but forestry doesn’t seem like something that would get a bunch of network suits knocking down your door.”
Danni stood up and stretched – not wanting to let her lunch cause any malaise to set in. “Come on, let’s walk off these sandwiches.”
Arthur’s awkwardness aside, she was enjoying herself. Back when she’d been a freshman, before her life had completely changed, she’d taken little things like this for granted. Now, a bit of normalcy, just a little thing like walking around campus with a guy, was a luxury, one that wouldn’t last for long. Depending on how things went, they’d either soon be deep in the Pine Barrens or hopping on a plane toward Wisconsin.
She realized she hadn’t answered Arthur’s question. The truth was out of the question, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t offer a version of it. “I helped them out on one of their hunts.”
“How so?”
“It was kind of a right place, right time sort of thing.” It had been, but more the opposite of right. “I was vacationing where they were filming and ended up helping them with some research. The next thing I knew, they offered me a chance to try out. The rest is history.”
“Talk about a lucky break.”
Lucky wasn’t quite the word she’d use. Still, it was the life she had chosen. No one had forced her to do this. There were also the benefits to take into account – all those they helped. “Yeah, I guess it was, in a way.”
“Fame and fortune are hard to beat when you’re a starving college student.”
“I wouldn’t go that far on either,” she replied with a laugh. “The Adventure Channel isn’t exactly HBO and we’re not Game of Thrones, but I get what you’re saying. As far as first jobs out of college go, one could do worse. Not to mention, there’s the people factor.”
“I can imagine. You probably meet a lot of guys.”
Danni had to suppress a sigh. Awkward Arthur might be, but he wasn’t afraid to cast his lure on a fishing expedition. She wasn’t really in the market for a boyfriend, but he was kind of cute in a dorky sort of way and seemed really nice. If she had to spend a few days on this campus, she could do far worse. Rather than shooting him down outright, as was her initial inclination, she decided to leave the door ajar. Who knew? Stranger things had happened. “I meet a lot of folks period, young and old,” she replied. “But that’s not what I meant. I meant helping people.” He glanced at her with eyebrows raised, which was not entirely unexpected. “I’m serious.”
“Okay. So how?”
“All right, I have a good example. About four months back, we were in Ohio filming a segment. There was this nice old lady who was scared out of her mind. Kept hearing screams coming from the woods near her home. She was terrified to step foot into her own backyard after dark. Turns out it was nothing more than some owls who’d nested nearby. They made a hell of a racket, but were far more interested in field mice than her. You have no idea how awesome it was to see the relief on her face when we showed her. Mind you, that part got cut for TV.”
Arthur laughed. “Sounds just like something a network would do. You know, I never considered that ... the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. I guess you have a good point about that. For all of us watching at home, chuckling when nothing is found, I guess I never considered the people who are relieved to know it was just their imagination.”
“Trust me, it can be annoying some days. To fit the show into an hour, lots of stuff has to be cut, and sometimes what’s left makes us look like morons who can’t tell a deer in the woods from sasquatch. Sometimes I just want to...”
Danni stopped mid-sentence as the phone in her pocket vibrated. She pulled it out and checked her texts. “Looks like we’re back on the clock. Derek and Frank are pulling in now. Time to head back and see what’s next on the agenda.”
Arthur nodded. “We can cut through the commons and get there faster.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go.”
“Thanks, by the way.”
She turned to him. “For what?”
“For ... actually being a cool person.”
She smiled back. “Likewise.”
“I’m still going to ask you to autograph my poster before you leave, though.”
CHAPTER 15
Danni could tell Derek was back from way down the hall, as she could quite clearly hear Eric Zeist yelling at him. She grinned as she approached the lab. Based on what was being said, he and Francis had managed to ditch Eric’s men.
“You’re here at the governor’s say so, nothing more!”
“Last I checked,” Derek was saying as she and Arthur stepped in, “this is a free country. We’re not under arrest, and even if you tried, I’m pretty sure you don’t have the badge to back that up.”
“One call is all it’ll take to...”
“To what?” Francis shot back. “Embarrass yourself? Feel free. Your buddy can pull whatever strings he wants, but all that’s going to do is get us fired, and you know what? If that happens, we’re out of here and your boss gets to go on Face the Press and explain why he’s okay with his state being a toxic cesspool.”
Danni looked off into the corner where Mitchell was sitting staring at a computer monitor and ignoring what was going on around him. She could tell he wasn’t completely zoned out, though, by the look of amusement on his face.
Before she could so much as say a word of greeting, Eric rounded on her and Arthur. “You ever think about knocking? That kid isn’t authorized to hear this.”
Danni
narrowed her eyes, practically daring the larger man to step into her personal space. “That might be a better argument if you hadn’t been screaming so loud as to be heard from down the hall.”
“Authorized?” Arthur asked. “What are you guys talking about?”
Danni shared a glance with Derek. His eyes said it all. The governor, in his attempt to cover up whatever was going on in the Pine Barrens, was instead shining a spotlight on it by insisting his men shadow them. Government intelligence at its finest.
Derek turned to Mitchell, having seemingly made up his mind. “Mitch, could you...”
“Already got them.” Without missing a beat, Mitchell spun in his chair and produced a stack of paperwork from the briefcase by his side.
Derek smiled as he took them. “I must be getting predictable in my old age.”
“You could use some new material.”
Derek turned to Arthur. “Take a seat, kid. There’s some stuff you have to fill out. Non-negotiable I’m afraid.”
“I already signed the waivers that Dr. Reingold...”
“These are a bit more far reaching than a typical NDA. And they have more teeth, too. Trust me on this. Oh, and don’t lie in the section about social media accounts. Everyone tries to be cute about that these days, and we always find out.”
“I’m not authorizing this,” Eric barked.
“And I’m not asking,” Derek replied, clearly annoyed. “Your boss might have some pull, but he’s not here. And if you want to test that, I have friends of my own who would be very happy to make your life difficult.”
Danni was amused to see Zeist shut his trap and back up a step. The guy was nothing more than a bully, but her team was a slightly different animal than what he normally dealt with. No matter how powerful someone’s friends were, the concept of messing with the feds tended to give people pause. She was less amused, however, to see that Arthur had gotten dragged into this, courtesy of her picking the wrong moment to return with him.
