Between Dusk and Dawn (39 page)

“
I heard a howl, and we
haven’t caught up with the gang Willie Dupuis described. Orin Young
is still on the loose with them.” LaShaun pulled open the truck
door after Chase remotely unlocked it.

“
C’mon now, LaShaun. We
have no proof that Orin is involved. As for the rougarou theory...
geez, this would have to be on Halloween when we’re talking about
this crap.” Chase kept moving as he talked. He unlocked a metal
case under the front seat. He clipped his badge and then his gun
holster to the belt he wore.

LaShaun lifted one of the two shotguns
from the rack in the rear window of the pickup. She checked the
shotgun even though she knew Chase kept it clean and in good shape.
“At least we’re ready for anything.

“
Humph, too bad we don’t
have silver bullets,” Chase retorted.

“
We do,” LaShaun replied
and hefted the shotgun. She pointed to his Glock. “Your handgun,
too.”

“
What the... Are you
kidding me?” Chase froze in place.

“
Monmon Odette always said,
‘C’est mieux prend gar’ que ‘pardon’.”

<< Cajun French that translate
to “Better safe than sorry”>> LaShaun jerked a head toward
the woods. “Let’s get started. You and me are a team.
Right?”

Chase snapped out of it to follow her.
“You can’t be messing with my service revolver. I mean, silver
bullets ain’t regulation.”

“
I made sure they meet the
same standards. Those bullets will stop anything coming at us,
human or otherwise.”

“
Damn,” Chase
muttered.

He used his cell phone to call his
father and tell him they were going in a northwest direction. Then
they headed into the woods. They had gone twenty yards when another
howl pierced the air. LaShaun felt the hair on her arms stand up.
Chase, about ten yards to her right, flashed his beam in her
direction.

“
Probably just a dog,” he
said, though his tense expression implied he wasn’t so
sure.

LaShaun gave a non-committal shrug as
her only reply and kept going. They left the boundary where Mr.
Broussard kept wild plants hacked away. In ten yards they wove
their way between tangles of prickly ash. Other thick shrubs pulled
at their clothes. LaShaun reflected on the other name for the
native plant, Devil’s walking-stick. She shook off such thoughts so
she could focus. Chase didn’t notice she’d stopped and kept going.
LaShaun stood and let the sounds around her sharpen. Six yards to
her left a small animal hunkered down in fallen leaves. No harm
from that direction. Then, as though issuing a challenge a low
growl bounced off the oak trees. LaShaun caught sight of the light
Chase had wound tightly around his left upper arm. She pushed her
way through bushes and around tree trunks to catch up with him. He
was headed away from the direction that she wanted to go. As the
light receded LaShaun realized something was following
Chase.

“
Oh Lord, he thinks I’m
behind him.” LaShaun started to run, but a low growl stopped
her.

“
If you want to save those
little pups you better follow instructions,” the rumbling voice
said just over her shoulder.

LaShaun spun and in the same motion
let the strap holding the shotgun slide from her shoulder. She
pointed the short barrel at a dark figure. “You better convince me
those kids are safe, or I’ll kill you.”

The figure huffed out a nasty chuckle.
“This ain’t up for negotiation, bitch. You want those brats alive
or dead? Your choice.”

She heard distant voices of the other
adults calling the names of both girls. LaShaun felt the cold damp
air seeping inside her. “Move then.”

“
I figured you’d see the
light. Keep up.”

Then the figure loped off at a trot
that turned into a jog. LaShaun got an idea from her adversary. She
slung the light around so that it hung from her back. The figure
seemed not to care about her flashlight, probably figuring she was
cut off. He increased his pace and LaShaun struggled to follow. She
stumbled over tree roots and other objects. She managed to pull her
cell phone out of her jacket pocket but couldn’t get a signal.
Sweat made her hands slippery and she dropped it. The back light on
the screen winked out. She spent precious seconds clawing through
dirt and grass, but couldn’t find it.

“
Try to pull any tricks and
they die,” the voice hissed back at her, then took off
again.

She gave up on the cell phone and
followed him. After what seemed like forever the figure led her to
a rough path through a meadow of long grass. In the distance a
square of light glowed yellow surrounded by black night. And she
knew. She’d arrived at the house Willie Dupuis described. The house
Patsy talked about where they had such fun parties, but then Patsy
had a decidedly twisted definition of good times. And this was the
house Verlena had talked about.

The figure stopped and waved her
forward. In a split second LaShaun decided she would not to go any
farther. From the outline she gambled the figure was a man. Willie
and Patsy described the gatherings as sexually charged, maybe
fueled by drugs or alcohol. One thing was sure from their
descriptions, the members were driven by lust.

“
Wait a minute, handsome. I
want to know what kind of party I’ve been invited to.”

The figure turned around slowly.
“Party is right.”

“
Manny told me a little
bit. Before you have to share me, let’s have some one-on-one
action. Ten or fifteen minutes extra, and they won’t miss us.”
LaShaun ran her hands over her body and nodded behind her. “There’s
a pile of leaves over there.”

Breathing heavily, he walked closer to
her. “What game you playin’, girl?”

LaShaun swung the flashlight so that
it pointed at her briefly, opened the top buttons of her shirt and
then hid the light. “A game you’re gonna like. On second thought,
let’s go on in. You can’t handle me on your own.”

The man drew the back of his hand
across his mouth. “I’ll make it so you won’t be satisfied with
another guy. You’ll have the best night of your life, right up
until we go inside.”

LaShaun knew the real answer; right up
until the time they kill her. She stood legs apart and rolled her
hips. “I’ve always liked it rough. You got big hands, which means
you’re big all over.”

“
Damn, I like the way you
talk.”

“
You’ll like what I do even
more,” LaShaun said.

The man covered the space between
them. “I don’t know what you think you got up your sleeve, but it
ain’t gonna work. Now get in them woods, lay down and spread
‘em.”

LaShaun kept up a steady stream of
graphic sex talk as she walked backward. “You ready?”

“
Get on the ground. Hurry
up before I bust outta these jeans,” the man said, frantically
pulled at the waistband trying to find the button. He stood close
to her panting.

“
Speaking of what I have up
my sleeve,” LaShaun hissed.

She aimed for his face and sprayed the
silver solution. The man yelped in surprise, and seconds later in
pain. His large hands covered his face, but he recovered faster
than she’d thought he would. He slapped her so hard LaShaun heard
ringing in her ears. Disoriented, she staggered and the man pounced
on her. The spray bottle flew from hear grasp. Suddenly the
flashlight around her neck felt like a noose.

“
I don’t need light. I can
find what I want without it.” He crushed the bulb into the hard
earth. He growled when he touched the shotgun. In one movement he
pulled it away from her and tossed it several feet away. “You won’t
need this either.”

For a few seconds LaShaun froze as
horror washed over her. His hot breath smelled of rotten meat and
caused her to gag. When he grabbed at her wrists LaShaun came to
life and slashed at him.

“
I like a girl with some
fight, but... what’d you spray on me.” The man shook his head and
then clawed at his neck. “Feels like I’m burnin’.”

LaShaun pushed him aside and raised
the knife to stab him. Suddenly a dark shadow came down with force.
A loud thud of a solid object brought another sharp groan of pain
from the man. She rolled away from him and felt hands pulling her
up.

“
You hurt?” Chase
said.

“
I’m okay. We have to make
sure he can’t make noise and bring the others out here. The house,
over there.” LaShaun spoke quickly as she went to the prone figure,
no more than a lump of dark more dense that the rest of the
night.

“
How many?” Chase
whispered.

“
I don’t know. Looks like
he’s knocked out,” she said.

“
Take off his shirt and gag
him.”

LaShaun used her knife to shred the
man’s sweaty shirt and then stuffed it into his mouth. Working
together they dragged him to a tall pine. Chase handcuffed him so
that the hugged the tree trunk.

“
Please tell me they found
the kids,” LaShaun said and tried to catch her breath.

“
No. The others went in the
opposite direction searching. My cell phone signal is cutting in
and out.” Chase stuffed it into his jacket pocket after punching
the keys in frustration.

They both looked at the house. Chase
wore an intense expression for several seconds. LaShaun paced in a
circle squeezing out every ounce of extrasensory perception she
could to figure out their next move. Then she saw it, a flash in
the trees.

“
We need to confirm the
girls are in there,” Chase said finally. “You stay here while I
take a look.”

“
They’re not in the house,”
LaShaun cut him off. “Remember what Manny said? They like being in
the woods.”

“
Damn,” Chase muttered. He
squinted into the dark. “I don’t see anything.”

“
Just follow me,” LaShaun
ordered with certainty.

“
No way. I don’t want you
to get hurt. Plus you can lead my deputies back here.” Chase
checked his shotgun then slung it back over his
shoulder.

“
If we both go we’ve got
each other’s back. Hopefully your cell phone signal held up long
enough for M.J. to use the GPS tracker app. Maybe she’s got the
right general direction.”

“
Big maybe,” Chase
replied.

“
We’re wasting time. We
stick together.” LaShaun spoke fast and low to make her
point.

“
So much for me trying to
be protective of you. Okay, let’s go.
I’ll
decide the next move depending
on what we find. No debate. I’m the officer in charge.” Chase
checked the position of his handgun in the holster on his belt as
he spoke.

“
Yes, sir,” LaShaun replied
softly.

With a nod they set off. Both were
careful to move quickly, yet quietly. Chase waved LaShaun to stay a
few steps behind him. The leaves under foot were still soggy from
rain in previous days, making their movements quieter. Still,
LaShaun worried that their adversaries had the keen hearing and
smell of wolves. She imagined Chase snorting in disbelief at the
idea. The one they left handcuffed to a tree seemed quite human.
Except for the furry feel of his hands, LaShaun thought
grimly.

After going about another half mile
east LaShaun touched Chase’s shoulder. “Time for me to
lead.”

His only reply was a nod. The trees
thinned out in places. A full moon provided a little light in those
clearings. Chase stopped and pointed to the ground. LaShaun looked
hard at the floor of dead leaves and twigs. Then she saw it, a
narrow path leading northeast. They walked another quarter of a
mile deep into the countryside. Only an occasional piece of litter
gave a sign that humans ever visited this deep into bayou country.
LaShaun mused that could just as well be walking through
seventeenth century Louisiana. Chase seemed to read her
mind.

“
I don’t see a light from
not even one house out here. How long have we been walking?” he
asked, and glanced around.

“
Long enough.” LaShaun
stood still. Without saying more she walked past a ring of low
palmetto bushes.

“
I hear something.” Chase
took three long strides to catch up with her. “LaShaun let me
go--”

His voice faded as LaShaun listened to
another voice that led her on until she was running flat out. She
jumped over large fallen branches and wove her way through a stand
of trees until she reached the edge of a clearing. She gasped at
the sight before her. In a circle of five oak trees, Patsy stood
with the two girls. LaShaun eased the short barrel shotgun closer
to her body, and then walked forward but stopped when a figure
appeared. Orin Young stepped from behind one of the trees a few
feet from Patsy and the children.

“
Took you long enough to
get here. Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.” Orin
wore a nasty grin.

Chapter 22

LaShaun worked on controlling the
white hot rage that flooded her veins like volcanic lava. Patsy
brushed her hands through Jessi’s honey blonde hair. The smaller
child huddled with her face buried in the older girl’s plaid
flannel shirt. Both were blindfolded with what looked like torn
strips from a red checked table cloth.