Chasing Ghosts (29 page)

Simon hung back, checking the inside of the
Cobalt. “Holy crap. Hope that wasn’t your blood.”

He had the passenger side door open. Blood
pooled on the seat, the door frame, and floor. “Aw, man,” Skizzy
whined. “That was a sweetheart of a car.”

Simon pulled the weapon from the back seat.
“What the hell is…?” His finger accidentally hit the trigger,
firing a flash of light. A tree thirty feet away toppled over, the
trunk sizzling and smoking.

“
Suweeet!” Skizzy grabbed the weapon.
“What the hell did you bring me, girlie?”

“
We’re hoping you can figure it
out.”

“
My pleasure.” Skizzy caressed it like
a new found kitten.

“
We had to detour around a huge sink
hole about five miles back,” Simon said. “You wouldn’t know
anything about that would you?”

“
Lots, but first we need to get out of
here.”

Simon followed Sara back into the hospital
where Dagger was sitting up drinking orange juice. “Well, well.
What have we got here.”

Dagger scowled at him and continued drinking
the juice. “This is Doctor Engles,” Sara said.

Engles shook his hand. “And you are?” Engles
prompted.

Simon smiled. “Someone who is going to take
your problem child off your hands.”

“
Of course.” Engles retrieved the empty
glass from Dagger and headed for the door.

Simon stopped her and held out his hand.
“Sorry, can’t let you do that.” He pulled the glass from her
hand.

“
I wasn’t going to…” Engles looked from
Simon to Sara, then walked outside and crossed the lot to her
house.

“
I don’t think I can sit in a car for
that long ride home,” Dagger said, eyeing the compact sitting at
the curb.

“
Nah, that’s just a shuttle to your
Learjet,” Simon said.

They got him outside and into the car just as
Skizzy hauled his Land Warrior from the trunk. “What are you going
to do?” Sara asked when she saw that Skizzy had pulled the Cobalt
onto the drive next to the hospital’s door.

“
Destroy any and all evidence,” Simon
said.

Skizzy stood in the hospital’s doorway. A
stream of napalm shot out of the modified machine gun. Next he
torched the Chevy Cobalt. The car exploded in a ball of light. He
shook his head with regret as his favorite car went up in flames.
Doctor Engles came running out of her house.

“
What are you doing?” She clasped both
hands over her mouth and took a step back from the heat. “That’s my
hospital.”

Simon looked apologetically at her and
shrugged.

“
My God.” Engles’ legs gave out and she
dropped to her knees. “Why?”

Sara knelt in front of her and stared into
her face. “No one can know we were here,” Sara said. “The clothes,
the car, the blood evidence. It all has to be destroyed. But to
avoid anyone asking questions, I would suggest you leave for
Montana at your earliest possible convenience.”

“
Yeah,” Skizzy snarled, “like in the
next ten minutes because my toy is all fired up and ready to
destroy something else.” He looked toward the house.

Engles gasped. “He’s kidding, isn’t he?” She
looked again at Sara and pleaded with her eyes. No one said
anything. Engles rose abruptly and stumbled to the house.

Sara stood and watched her leave. Doctor
Engles had been very helpful and now they were going to destroy the
few things she valued in her life. Sara turned her attention to the
Taurus. “That’s one of Dagger’s cars, isn’t it?”

“
Yeah. Skizzy hacked into your front
gate access code and we stole the car. Said since Dagger already
had one of his, he was taking one of Dagger’s.”

“
Good, pop the trunk,” Sara ordered.
Simon pushed a button on the fob and the trunk popped open. Sara
pulled up the rug in the trunk then pulled out a
satchel.

Simon said, “You mean we been driving halfway
across the country without a spare?”

“
Worse yet,” Sara smiled, “you’ve been
driving with a quarter of a million dollars in the
trunk.”

Simon’s eyes widened and his jaw slacked.

When Sara had stored clothes in each of
Dagger’s cars, she had discovered by accident that Dagger supplied
each of his vehicles with a satchel just so he had money should he
need to get away quick. She walked up to the front door and knocked
on the screen.

Doctor Engles opened the door and stepped
out. “Guess it’s a good thing I was pretty much packed. Just wasn’t
planning to leave so soon. At least those bastards with the
bulldozer won’t have the satisfaction of leveling my house.” She
handed a slip of paper to Sara. “It’s a prescription for pain
pills, should he need them.”

“
Thanks.” Sara handed Engles the
satchel. “We want to thank you for your help and offer a little
something to get your wildlife refuge up and running.”

Engles hesitated, unsure of what she was
being handed. She cautiously peered into the bag. “Hush money?”

“
Is it working?”

Engles appeared to deliberate for several
seconds. Then said, with a slight smile pulling at her lips, “I
don’t remember a thing.”

Sara turned and walked back to the car before
Engles could change her mind.

Simon and Skizzy helped the vet load the
remaining boxes and suitcases into her van. They waited until she
was several blocks away before Skizzy fired up his toy again. Once
they were sure everything would burn, they high-tailed it out of
there.

Several miles down the road Skizzy steered
the black Taurus up a ramp and into the back of a thirty-five foot
motor home that was parked under an overpass. Simon and Skizzy
helped Dagger into the motor home and settled in the back
bedroom.

“
His color sure ain’t good,” Skizzy
said.

“
Kinda looks like warmed over oatmeal,
if you ask me.” Simon pulled pillows from an overhead
compartment.

Sara sat on the edge of the bed and placed
the pillows behind Dagger’s back and head. Doctor Engles had said
that Dagger might feel more comfortable sleeping sitting up. “Where
did you get the motor home?”

Skizzy just smiled. “Has all the comforts of
home.”

Simon tossed a blanket onto the bed. Nodding
toward Dagger he said, “What’s he doing?”

Dagger’s body shook as though chilled. “The
doctor said he might show signs of shock. We just need to keep him
warm.” But there was something else going on. His eyes were open
but moving slowly from left to right and back, as though reading a
teleprompter. Sara realized it was the same reaction he had when
standing in front of the computer monitor. Had the computer been
spitting out subliminal messages?

Skizzy stepped closer. “Looks like he’s
communicating with the mother ship.”

Simon slowly straightened, his hands
clenching and unclenching. “If you don’t get up there and get this
boat in motion, I’m going to kick you from here to that mother
ship.”

Skizzy retreated to the front and soon had
the motor home in gear.

Simon braced himself against the doorway as
the vehicle rocked onto the road. “You look like you could use some
sleep, too,” he told Sara. “When you wake maybe you can come up
front and fill us in on what happened, if you feel up to it.”

Sara nodded. She couldn’t argue there.
Although she should be feeling a lot worse than she did after
losing four pints of blood, she still wasn’t back to normal. But
were Simon and Skizzy ready to hear what happened one mile
underground?

CHAPTER 35

Sara caught the phone on the first ring.
“How’s our boy doing?” Simon asked.

“
He’s been sleeping for two days. Guess
his body still needs time to recuperate. He lost a lot of blood.”
Sara had explained everything on the drive home but played down the
part about Dagger’s injuries. She didn’t want any curious eyes
wanting to see scars he didn’t have.

“
Well, Skizzy has some interesting
theories he’s trying to prove.”

Sara held up the morning paper which pictured
Cardinal Esrey and Donald Thomas in an exclusive written by Sheila.
“I’m surprised Skizzy has had time after the hatchet job he did on
Father Thomas. Or I should say Mister Thomas, or whatever his name
is.”

“
He’s like a kid in a candy shop. For
one thing that plasma gun is years ahead of its time. Skizzy
could’t even find a prototype when he hacked into the military web
sites. He thought it might also be argon gas, microwave or
electromagnetic pulse. He checked those two BettaTec satellites and
neither one was homed in on that missile silo in Nebraska. Guess
BettaTec did assume it was already destroyed so why monitor it. And
the reports of an earthquake and sinkhole were just another ho hum
news report.”

Sara heard water running in Dagger’s bedroom
and quickly said her good-byes promising to let Simon know when
Dagger was well enough for visitors. She heated up a mug of chicken
broth in the microwave, grabbed a spoon, then carried it to
Dagger’s room. Pressing an ear to the door, she confirmed sounds of
movement, knocked softly, and carefully nudged the door open with
her elbow.

Dagger was standing in front of the bed
shoving clothes into a suitcase with one hand, the other hand
gripping a cane Simon had given him. He was dressed in gym shorts,
his hair wet and dripping beads of water on his shoulders. Dagger
had removed the tape from around his ribs. Sara was surprised
Dagger had been able to stand long enough to take a shower. Dagger
looked up, then quickly turned away and hobbled over to the
dresser. A tightness radiated through her chest. She shook it off
and walked over to the bed. Dagger always did travel light. He had
packed a shaving kit, some slacks and underwear. Dagger hobbled
over with several black tee shirts.

Sara set the cup and spoon on the nightstand.
“Sit and drink your soup. I’ll finish that.” She removed the
shaving kit and returned it to the bathroom. “Simon called.” She
told him about their conversation, the article on the front page
about Father Thomas and the story buried on page sixteen regarding
the suspected earthquake. She returned to the bed and pulled the
black tee shirts from the suitcase.

Dagger leaned on the cane as he sipped the
hot broth, all the while watching her movements. “Sara, you’re
supposed to put the clothes in, not take them out. You saw the
computer do a retina scan. They know I’m still alive.”

Sara placed the tee shirts back in the
dresser drawer. She saw the cane tremble under Dagger’s hand. “I
think you better lie down before you fall down. You need another
week or two to get your strength back. Then if you still want to
leave, I’ll help you pack.” Just saying the words twisted that
knife in her heart.

Dagger gave up and sat on the bed. He seemed
to watch her with resignation. That warmed over oatmeal color Simon
had described was still evident in Dagger’s face. “How’s
Einstein?”

“
Quiet, nervous. I had to assure him
you were here by bringing him in to see you while you slept. He
dropped a cheese curl on your bed.”

Dagger smiled. “I think I might miss
him.”

Sara ignored his comment. “Do you recall how
long after you met me and Grandmother that you thought BettaTec had
managed to get their two satellites in orbit?”

Dagger rubbed a shaky hand over his face. A
stubble was growing and it would be thick in a day or two if he
didn’t take a razor to it. “Yeah, about three or four months.
Why?”

“
A month before we met you Grandmother
took off her necklace and restrung it. This time she used strands
of copper wire. All she would tell me was that it needed to be
safer which I thought was an odd term for her to use. I remembered
this after the clasp broke outside of Skizzy’s shop. For those
brief few seconds when the necklace fell to the ground, you were
exposed. Then we stepped into Skizzy’s shop with his copper lined
walls.” Sara smiled at how Skizzy’s phobia just might have saved
Dagger’s life. Dagger was paying close attention now. “Then Doc
Akins came by, removed part of that chip and was taking it to
California when…” They didn’t have to be reminded of what happened
to Akins. “Anyway, Skizzy repaired the necklace, practically
soldered it onto your neck, no clasp, no reason to lose it unless
you get into an accident and someone in an ER somewhere cuts it
off, which is probably why you should never be out of my sight,”
she added under her breath.

Sara closed the suitcase and returned it to
the closet. “Demko showed up at our doorstep and I think it’s
clearer now how he changed from being a rather pushy client to
wanting to kill you. Somehow he did a retina scan or was programmed
to recognize defectors. That’s when he tried to kill you. We
figured you two exchanged retina scans. You saw Cardinal Esrey on
his itinerary and assumed you were the one who had known him and
might have killed him. The second Demko was a backup in case Number
One didn’t complete his mission which was to retrieve the flash
drive Father Thomas had stolen from the guy at the airport.” She
took his empty glass to the bathroom, filled it with water, and
returned to the bed with the bottle of pain pills.

“
As far as BettaTec is concerned,” Sara
continued, “you died on the plane. As far as Demko Number One,
Skizzy placed a fictitious accident report on the police department
computers stating Demko Number One had a whiplash and refused
hospitalization other than to accept a neck brace. This, we hope,
will have BettaTec suspecting the reason why his chip went haywire.
Then Skizzy booked him on a plane to Vancouver, again in the hopes
that BettaTec assumes this is why they can’t locate him through the
chip.”