Dreamscape (23 page)

“Wait,” Ramona called out from the living room, holding her daughter’s hand. Leila skipped. “Chief Thorpe, I’ll walk you to the door.”

Leila stubbornly clutched her mother’s hand. Her gaze remained on Thorpe. She obviously saw him as a threat. Jeffrey grabbed hold of Leila and tickled her, asking if she needed to get anything ready for staying over at her grandmother’s.

She placed her hand on the door, and he placed his hand against the door stopping it before she could open it. “Ramona, I didn’t tell you last night. Dr. Lewis didn’t make it. He passed away yesterday afternoon.”

Chapter Eighteen

Sam ate breakfast alone in the kitchen. He’d taken his first bite of the scrambled eggs he’d snuck behind Sue Ellen’s back while she was off at her mother’s for the week. He heard a car pull in the driveway and turned his head, half expecting to see Sue Ellen walk in to reprimand him. He took a sip of his coffee, surprised when Callie walked in the door.

“Sam,” she called out and opened the screen door. It banged behind her.

Sam looked up, concerned at her appearance: her wrinkled clothes, scruffy hair, no make-up, puffy eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept for days.

“Sam,” she exclaimed again breathlessly. “I need help. It’s bad. Oh, Sam, I’ve done something awful, real bad.”

Sam stood and pulled out a chair for Callie. “Sit down, Callie. Sit down.” She looked faint. “I’m sure it can’t be that bad, hon.”

She slid into the chair and, reaching, grabbed hold of Sam’s shoulders. “I think I’ve hurt Jackson, Sam. And you. Oh, God, what have I done?”

“Calm down, child.” Sam steadied her in his strong arms. “Take a deep breath. We’re pretty big guys. We can take care of ourselves. Exactly what did you do that could hurt us?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered. Couldn’t she collect her thoughts? She mumbled to herself and rubbed her hands incisively. Sam knelt down face to face with her.

“Callie, get hold of yourself, child. I’ll help you. I promise, but I gotta know what I’m dealing with. Start at the beginning.”

* * * *

Jackson looked down at his Blackberry. He’d ignored it during his meeting with Montgomery. The investigative officers had been trying to piece together the information they’d gathered on Henry DeNair. The suspected serial killer had accumulated a fortune. Only a fourth of his investments could be accounted for. The realization that a person with this amount of money could easily disappear had become a distinct possibility. But Jackson discounted the idea. Henry wouldn’t go yet, not yet, not with his personality. He had a debt to pay back.

He read URGENT three times on his phone screen. Jackson immediately hit Sam’s button.

“About time, kid,” Sam answered. “We have problems.”

* * * *

Thorpe answered Jackson’s call. He gave Ramona a smile while he talked. “No, I know exactly where she is. She’s standing in front of me. I took Molly and Liam up to meet their cousin. It’s Martin Luther King Day. They’re all off school. Seemed like a good way for them to meet. We’re just getting out of the aquarium. Going to get something to eat. Yeah, I guess so, Jackson. Are you sure? Okay. Okay.”

Thorpe replaced his phone back on his belt. “We’re going on another field trip. Looks like I have to stop by Jackson’s office. So you guys will get to see the FBI building.”

Ramona glanced over at Thorpe, startled, questioning. He thought he saw disappointment in her eyes. She bent down to zip up Leila’s coat.

“Doug, are you sure? It’s getting dark,” she said, her reluctance to see Jackson clearly evident in her voice.

He leaned over for her ears only. “It’s you he’s looking for. Says it’s of the utmost importance. Must have to do with the case. I’ll be with you.”

She looked up, and their eyes locked. He extended his hand to help her back up from her knee. He pulled her jacket together. All the kids’ gazes rested upon them. She reached up with her hands on his. “Okay, let’s go.”

* * * *

“Slow down, Jackson. You’re going too fast even for me,” Ramona said. “Who’s Callie?”

Thorpe, Ramona, and Jackson gathered behind his office door. Jackson had Montgomery’s secretary take the kids around for a tour. Liam and Leila had been thrilled. Molly had rolled her eyes, but was left with no other option.

“Callie’s a good friend of mine,” he said. “We had a few issues, but the night before I came back she showed up at my hotel with this story of an Indian who came to her. He told her he was concerned for my welfare. Said he knew how we felt about each other. I believe she thought my life was in danger. It was funny, because the day before she was making fun of Sam and I for believing in the supernatural and the next she’s rattling off a story of an Indian guide of sorts and what he had visions of,” Jackson said, averse to let his guard down and show his human side. He wrung his hands together.

“He told her where to find a file. It really didn’t hold anything new to me, but it did have a different take on the situation. It contained names and dates of my case. You know, my adoption case. It described a child that matched my description, said that I died in the explosion with my mother, which didn’t surprise me. My assumption had always been that Sam and my Dad, my adopted dad, had been trying to protect me by faking my death. I did get the feeling from Callie that her impression may have been that they’d kidnapped me. She said this guide of hers had been sent to protect me but needed to make sure it was me. If I was who he thought I was, my life was in danger. I should have listened to what she was trying to say.”

Ramona said, “It was just easier dealing with your case to let her investigate on her own. She wasn’t going to find anything you didn’t know already or assumed, but that’s not what happened. An Indian guide?” Ramona’s voice rose, and she sighed heavily, her agitation showing. Thorpe moved over to her side. “If it had been a message, Agent Dunn, it would have come within a dream. An Indian guide?”

“Ramona, that’s something you know. She didn’t. Neither did Jackson. When something happens like a person appearing and disappearing before your eyes, why wouldn’t she believe, or anyone for that matter? How would they know not to trust this ‘guide’? I wouldn’t,” he said gently. He took her hand. “Can you help him?”

She rubbed her face with her free hand. “I just have to get all the details. She came to your friend today, you said?”

“She rambled about the guide coming back,” Jackson said. “Said she told him everything she’d found out. How Larry and Sam took me in. She said she didn’t think they’d kidnapped me. He asked if she’d confirmed that I was who I was. She said yes. She gave him all the information on me, my job, where I live, the case I’m working on. Sam said she got scared. The guide said that was all he needed to know. His eyes turned red.”

Ramona sat motionless. “Red,” she repeated. “Don’t stop. Go on.”

“She ran, and he let her go. She drove to Sam’s. Then when she was telling him everything she screamed that he’d followed her; he was at the window. The next thing Sam knew he was picking himself up off the floor. Callie was gone. Sam can’t get in touch with her. All her stuff was gone too—phone, keys, but she’d left her car at Sam’s.”

“Are you in love with this girl and she with you? Is she the most important person in the world to you?” Ramona asked bluntly.

Jackson, not usually prone to showing emotions, answered simply, “Yes. Can you help me? Where is she? Why has she gone?”

“Why? Because of who you are. I believe it’s becoming evident. Don’t you feel like everything is being lined up? We are coming together. The Dark One can feel it too. Are you telling me at this point that you haven’t gotten any messages of your own, Agent Dunn? No visits?”

Jackson stood. His chin set firm. He said nothing.

She eyed him carefully. “Of course you have. You’ve pushed me, expected me to be open with you, yet you hide your own secrets.”

“Damn it, Ramona. I’m not going to waste time arguing with you. Do you think that a demon has Callie? I have to find her. Do you understand? If it’s not supernatural, I have to go down another path.”

“But you believe it’s supernatural?”

“Yes, damn it, Ramona. Would I have called you if I didn’t?” He stood back and realized this was the first time Ramona had seemed upset, concerned.

She bit her bottom lip. Thinking over the situation? She looked at Thorpe then back at Jackson. “Sit down, Agent Dunn. I don’t know if I can do anything. I’ve never tried jumping with someone awake, but you don’t feel we have time to wait until you sleep?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep anyway. What are you planning?”

“I have to have a connection to jump, Agent Dunn. It’s just a hunch, but if you think about her, can you call to her if the pull is strong enough?”

Thorpe looked concerned. He stepped in front of her as she made her way over to Jackson. “Is it safe? You said….”

She pressed her hand against his chest. Didn’t say a word. Jackson saw it in her eyes. She had to try. Thorpe pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I’ll be here waiting.”

She gave him a small smile and turned her attention to Jackson. “Sit back, Agent Dunn. Try to relax. Think about Callie,” she said softly. She placed her fingers on his forehead. He closed his eyes, trying in his mind to picture Callie.
Where could you be, Callie?

Jackson opened his eyes again. Ramona closed hers tightly, concentrating, possibly focusing on a girl lost. Searching for a pull…a call? Right before Jackson’s and Thorpe’s eyes, she faded away.

Liam stood immobile against the door, frozen in his tracks. Leila came running right behind him. “Hey, cool. Did you see that? Did you see your mom? She just disappeared.”

Leila stumbled into Liam, laughed. “Oh, she does that all the time.”

Thorpe smiled. Stunned, Jackson watched the two kids giggling, laughing. He looked out the door. Molly trailed in after the younger two, deep in conversation with Montgomery’s secretary. Jackson imagined he’d turned a pale shade of green.

“Are you okay? You’re not looking so good,” Thorpe said.

Jackson felt he could lose the contents of his stomach at any moment. He took a deep breath. His head pounded, and he bent over and held his head in his hands. He shook his head, sat upright, and leaned back. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Ramona?”

“She’s gone,” Thorpe said simply. “As you saw, she just disappeared. What do we do now?”

* * * *

Fog enveloped her. She tried to stand, but her legs threatened to give way. Her head spun. She’d jumped too fast, but the need had been immediate. The ground gave beneath her bare feet. Water squeezed between her toes. She stepped through mud. Her eyes focused in the darkness around her. Shadows appeared, forms; trees, moss flowing from them. Clouds in the sky well hid the quarter moon refusing to illuminate the ground around her.

A strange aroma filled the air, a rancid stench. Something slithered over her foot. She screamed a high pitched, ground-shaking scream. She jumped three feet back, tripping over fallen logs. A snake? She hated snakes. She looked around for any movement.

“Oh, my God,” she cried. “I’ve jumped into a swamp.”

Her legs shook. She tried again to stand, forgetting momentarily why she’d found herself in the middle of a god forsaken swamp. She caught her breath, had to regain control of her legs, her composure. Her mind set was once again on her mission. She prayed, “Oh, God, let her be alive. Please, God.”

Her head turned, and she tried to make out anything that resembled a body. Tried to listen for a noise, a sound that would lead her to her objective. Her eyes desperately searched for the girl, the one that Jackson had sent her here to find, save. She couldn’t see anything, but the girl had to be here. Ramona would have to search using her hands. They trembled as she started feeling the ground. The girl had to be close by. Her hands outstretched, she felt forward, earning a sharp jab to her fingertips. She screamed again.

A stick. She found a stick. Her breathing slowed.

From the corner of her eye she detected a slight movement. She inched closer. Her hand hit a lump of mud that wriggled. Her eyes made out a figure covered in mud and rapidly began digging through the mound of wet dirt. She hit what felt like a back and bound hands. She pulled and dragged the hands, dug harder, and jumped around to the other side. The body moved, jerked frantically trying to gain freedom.

Ramona found the head and cleared the eyes. A thin cloth restrained the mouth. Ramona hurriedly found the knot, wet and damp. She broke her nails as she dug into the mouth cloth. The figure, the girl, coughed. Ramona reinforced her efforts. She jumped back over to the other side again and caught sight of another slight movement in the shadows. Her head turned to the sound of a rustle in the darkness. An overwhelming sense of foreboding overcame her.

She’d run out of options. A sense of panic surged through her veins. A stage had been set, and she had the star performance. And she instantly knew Damien directed their every move. She could disappear, go back the way she came, but she couldn’t take the girl back with her. Besides, it would kill Jackson. No, there was only one viable option. The girl’s eyes grew larger, fixing on movement behind Ramona, whose body stiffened in fear. The noises grew louder. Ramona didn’t look back, no time and only one chance. She closed her eyes, clung tightly to the girl’s arm, the last sound she heard for a short while, a roar exploding behind her.