Darknet (25 page)

She soon said good-night to Maria and then slept fitfully, and her eyes shot open when the alarm clock ticked six o’clock.

I’m coming for you, Tony.

She tried to follow something vaguely resembling a morning routine, showering, eating a bagel with cream cheese and slurping back half a cup of coffee. All the time, though, she wasn’t really paying attention to what her body was doing. All she thought about was killing Tony. For Avril.

Even after all this thought, though, she didn’t really have much of a plan besides going to the deserted farmhouse and finding some way to get revenge.

There were no guns in the house, but she had a nice set of steak knives, so she took one of them and put it in her purse. It wasn’t as fancy as a butcher knife but it was lightweight and one stab to the heart would take care of everything.

She checked her computer and the shining red X was still hovering over the barn. He’d been there all night?

Her car was almost out of gas, so she took the time to stop and fill it up. She couldn’t think of anything else she needed to do, so she headed off to hunt down her murderous husband.

* * *

When Cindy got in her Mazda, she clicked the bottom button on her phone to launch Siri and said, “Take me to 3000 Rockway Court.”

Her iPhone immediately started directing her, and she drove away, almost robotically, not paying attention as she went. At one point she realized she wasn’t fully aware of where she was going, noticing she was driving down dirt roads that were totally unfamiliar.

None of that mattered, of course. All that mattered was getting revenge for what was done to Avril.

The landscape was foreign, as if she were driving in the middle of Tibet. The trees didn’t seem to match anything in her memory, and the curves in the road made her feel like she was going in circles.

Within minutes, though, all that faded into the dark recesses of her mind, and she flipped back to driving automatically, just following the mechanical directions from the small speaker on her phone.

Instead, her mind went back to the canvass of images that was being painted out while she drove: the life of her daughter as it should have been.

She saw Avril grow into a beautiful teenager, popular but shy at school, still working on improving her chess game. She would have gained her grand master status one day, of that Cindy had no doubt, and she would have had a special boy in her life to celebrate with her.

The wedding would be small, but all of her friends would be there, and Cindy would be sobbing with happiness at the front of the church. She would have given them a honeymoon trip to Europe as her wedding gift and watched Facebook as they posted photos of their trip. Cindy would never lose her daughter, but she would have gained a new family member, her son-in-law. He would only enhance the wonderful relationship the two women had.

They’d live close but not
too
close, and they’d see each other often, laughing and sharing stories of their lives, never forgetting the importance each had for the other.

Cindy could see herself aging, and one day, she’d need Avril to help care for her. And, of course, she would.

The life ahead of them was full of promise and love, and every last bit of it was stolen by a monster that she’d married.

As she neared her destination, it occurred to her that today was her and Tony’s thirteenth wedding anniversary. Lucky thirteen. No matter what happened, she expected it to be a day to remember.

It took almost an hour to get to the abandoned farm. She parked about a quarter mile away and sat in the car, staring at it. From there, she could see the farmhouse was ancient, wooden siding falling off, the roof sagging, and most of the fence posts out at the front of the property knocked down. Part of it had collapsed and looked burned out. There was no chance anybody lived there.

So why was Tony there?

The engine of her car ticked but she ignored it. She didn’t notice the sound of birds in the nearby trees or the banging of an empty tin can as the wind blew it across the road in front of her.

Visions of Avril had vanished as she parked the car. Now, she was focused solely on Tony and had one goal: to kill him.

She stepped out of her car and gently pushed the door shut, trying not to make any noise. She thought she was too far away for him to hear anything, but it wasn’t worth taking any chances.

Cindy walked off the road to the dense underbrush at the side and worked her way toward the farmhouse. There were patches of mud beneath her that sucked at her shoes but she just ignored that, walking without hesitation.

She still had no weapon other than the steak knife, but somehow she didn’t care. God would either provide her with one . . . or He wouldn’t. Maybe the knife would be enough. Either way, the summer-long ordeal was almost over.

The sun was hot today, and sweat started to fall from her brow. She licked her upper lip and felt the heat on her bare arms. The cool temperatures of the previous few days was gone, as the dog days of summer came back to roar one last time.

There was a window that looked in on the burnt-out living room. She actually didn’t plan on spending much time with the main house, because the computer tracking had shown that Tony had spent almost the whole past day in the barn. She no longer had access to the e-tracking, though, so she didn’t know for sure that he was still there.

Of course you are, you bastard.

She didn’t know why she felt so strongly that he was in the barn, but she just knew it.

The living area of the farmhouse was a mess. There was an orange couch that had big rips in the seats. Pillows were scattered on the floor. Broken glass covered several other areas, and burn stains covered all the other areas she could see. Even through the closed window, she could smell something rotting. Like flesh.

Avril?

But, no, she knew it wasn’t her daughter’s body. That was buried in a civilized cemetery.

Deb Stewart?

She moved away from the window, trying not to care if Tony’s lover was dead or alive. That no longer mattered worth a damn.

The barn was about two hundred feet behind the house but there was no surface shrubbery to hide her approach. She looked around and saw only an old metal cask, about halfway to the barn. She had no clue whether it had once been used for storage grain, making wine, skinning animals, or just a place to hide tools.

She moved so as to place the cask between her and the barn and hunched down as she hurried in that direction. When she got there, she peeked around. There weren’t any windows directly facing her, but there were a couple at the side where Tony could be looking out and might see her.

Fuck it.

She ran, hunched over again, to the section of the barn that was closest and flattened herself against the wall.

She blinked sweat from her eyes and tried to catch her breath. A rush of adrenaline made her body shake with energy. She resisted the temptation to just grab the barn door and run inside, screaming at the top of her lungs. She wanted to do that, her body craved that, but she took deep breaths to calm herself down.

There were a few garden tools lying on the ground not far away. A rake, a broken hoe, and a spade. She grabbed the spade. It was almost orange because of the rust accumulated over the years, but the point was sharp. It weighed more than she expected but if it came down to it, she knew she could easily take it and slice it right through the monster’s neck.

She kept herself pressed to the side of the barn as she sidled toward the nearest window. When she got there, she hesitated, knowing this was the point he was most likely to see her.

After a couple of minutes, she convinced herself she really had no choice and she turned to look inside.

The barn was mostly empty. She’d expected to see little areas for cows or chicken coops or something like that. Being raised in a city her whole life, she wasn’t really sure exactly what to expect, but whatever livestock once lived here had left no trace.

In its place was a refrigerator, a desk with a computer, and a bed.

Sleeping in the bed was her husband.

She stared and felt anger rush through her body. She held tightly onto the spade.

The room was dark but he was clearly asleep. There was a blanket over him. She had seen the barn door when she walked over and knew that was the only way to get to him. The windows did not open. She tried to gauge how far the door was from where Tony was sleeping . . . maybe fifty feet.

I can do it.

She had no choice but to try. She knew that she really should be calling the police, but that wasn’t an option. Cindy needed to take care of this. Herself.

The walk around to the barn door seemed to take forever. She didn’t have to hide because he was lying down, but somehow her feet felt like she was walking through a river of molasses. She wondered if today was the day she was going to die.

The door wasn’t completely closed, which she was happy with. When she pulled it open, she moved it as slowly as possible in case it creaked. It looked to be as old as the rest of the barn and the hinges were rusty. She was happily surprised when she didn’t hear any sounds. She closed the door behind her.

The place stank of old garbage. She tried to ignore it and tip-toed to the makeshift living area that Tony had set up. She could see the screen saver on his computer, a flashing dazzle of sweeping colorful images. It was the only movement. The barn was silent.

She gripped the spade harder as she walked, thinking only of getting the revenge she needed.

She could feel her heart beating.

The temperature was very high, and sweat dripped from her hands. She took a tighter grip on the shovel.

The monster on the couch was only twenty feet from her. She licked her lips and took a deep breath. She planned on rushing the last bit and stabbing him before he could move. There was always a chance he wasn’t asleep but just resting and if she hesitated, he might . . .

But . . .

She stared at the shape on the couch, now that she was close enough to see it more clearly. Tony’s head was actually a football with a dark piece of carpeting cut in the shape of hair sitting on top. Her mind tried to refuse to see the truth, but the murderous rush she had felt seemed to evaporate. She covered the remaining distance and lifted the blanket to reveal a bunch of pillows masquerading as Tony’s body.

“Oh, no.”

She knew what that meant: he’d been expecting her.

Cindy turned but not quickly enough. He hit her hard on the side of the head and knocked her to the floor.

And then he laughed.

“You stupid bitch.”

She cowered on the floor, totally dismayed and now suddenly fearful.

“
How did you know I was coming
?”

“None of your stupid business. You’re such a pathetic piece of shit. Get up.”

“Fuck you!”

Tony held his arm out, pointing a gun at her.

“I have no reason to keep you alive one second longer, so if you have any plans on being around for a few more heart beats, get off your fat ass and stand up.”

She looked at his eyes and knew he’d blow her away without a second’s hesitation. She stood.

“What now?” she asked.

A smile rose on his face and Cindy’s heart sank. Whatever he had in mind wasn’t good.

Her face hurt from where he’d hit her, and she couldn’t help herself; she had to rub it.

She kept her eyes on his face. The spade had flown out of her hands and was ten feet from her.

“Kneel.”

There was no point arguing. He had the gun still trained on her and it looked like he’d love to pull the trigger.

She knelt.

He lowered the gun and put it on a rickety table nearby.

There would be no point trying to run. He was faster and stronger than her, and regardless, he could just grab the gun again.

“You were always my favorite toy,” he said.

He pulled her up by her blouse and then used both hands to rip it off her. She no longer felt any semblance of strength or courage. She knew what was coming. He’d hit her so many times before that the look in his eyes told her everything.

Now, though, he didn’t have to worry about leaving marks. He could just beat the life out of her and not have to care. And that’s exactly what he was planning on doing. He was going to kill her with his bare hands by breaking every bone he could manage.

She could see the excitement growing in his eyes, and she sank her head low with fear. The game was about to start and now, all she wanted was for it to be over.

When she would be dead.

He grabbed her throat and lifted her straight up. She had to get off her knees, but he kept lifting higher and she was up on her toes, barely able to breathe when he hit her with his other hand, a fist crushing her stomach. She went flying backward and crashed to the floor. The wind was knocked out of her and she couldn’t breathe. She gasped over and over but nothing was coming. She hit the floor with her fist as if that might somehow help.

She could hear Tony laughing.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was able to get small gulps of air inside her, and slowly, it improved to where she could breathe normally again.

“Just the beginning, bitch.”

“How
did
you know I was coming?”

“How the hell did you find me?”

“I used your fucking DarkNet.”

He looked puzzled. “Really?”

She stood up, but something was different.

Cindy had once estimated that Tony had beaten her on at least 500 different occasions. Every one of those beatings had one thing in common: she just took it, because she had to. She needed to be the punching bag so that Avril would never become one.

That wasn’t the case now.

“How did you know I was coming?”

“I just tracked your iPhone on iCloud. Easy peasy.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about and didn’t care. All of a sudden she jumped forward and kicked as hard as she could. Her foot landed squarely in his balls, just as she’d planned.