Hide'n Go Seek (16 page)

"We're right behind. Let's see this through to the end."

Kali hung up and made the turn. "Right. To the end then." Shiloh woofed behind her.

She parked beside the small shack that served as a basic shelter against the elements and hopped out. Shiloh scrambled behind her. Kali snapped Shiloh's working leash on, then turned to the huge area ahead of her.

The other vehicles pulled in beside them in a flurry of dust. Kali ignored them, grabbed her flashlight, and stepped out. Shiloh urged her left. Kali had considered snatching up a piece of Julie's clothing, but that wasn't Shiloh's forte, and if the victim wasn't Julie, Shiloh's focus would stay on that scent, potentially missing a different victim.

Shiloh barked once, lowered her head and got to work. The flashlight was dim and the heavy cloud cover made the terrain treacherous. She hadn't taken the time to put on her work boots and her runners slipped on the leaves littering the ground. Kali scrambled up the short incline, her hands digging in the thick natural loam. Behind her, the sounds of the team trying to follow chased her. Shiloh tugged hard on her leash. She wanted to go. Kali didn't dare let her run free. She'd never be able to track the dog in this dense blackness. Instead, she picked up the pace giving Shiloh more lead.

Left, then a little more to the right, around the trees and into a clearing on the right. An eerie glow shone. Kali blinked. The light was gone. She blinked again, opening her psychic senses. There it was. She turned toward a soft tumbled hill. Kali unsnapped Shiloh's lead. She bolted forward. Circled the hill once, twice, and whined.

"What is it girl?" Kali reached the hillock and didn't need her flashlight to see the dark purple glow. "This is it, isn't it?"

Shiloh barked once, then lay down, her head on top of her paws. Kali jogged the last bit toward her. She could hear the sounds of the men catching up behind her. She ignored them, trying to understand Shiloh's reaction. It was unusual. And it gave her hope.

Kali shifted her vision, allowing the psychic threads to light up further. In the darkness, they held an unmistakable luminescence. Only they were dark, deep colors in snaky thin threads, acting unlike anything she'd seen before. They snuggled low to the ground, weak and reedy instead of reaching upward. She frowned, trying to understand. Noises rustled ten feet in front of her and off to the left. Kali sucked in her breath. What was that?

"Grant?" she yelled into the blackness. An odd sound burst through the brush in front of her. Kali spun around. "Grant, are you there?"

Heavier thuds clumped into the eerie darkness before fading away. Kali's heart thudded in panic. Oh, God. She hadn't been alone. Kali snapped off her light and hunkered down in the darkness, motionless beside Shiloh.

"Kali!" Shouts sounded behind her.

"Here!"

The men's high beam flashlights broke through the blackness, picking up Shiloh and her. Kali stood up, pointing in the direction of the receding footsteps. "Grant, someone was here. He took off that way."

Men scattered.

Grant grabbed Kali's arm as she moved. "The men will look. Now," Grant took a deep breath. "What did you and Shiloh find?"

"Shiloh," Kali stressed, "stopped here."

Grant used his flashlight to survey the ground. "It's been disturbed recently." He shifted position, scooping the dirt away with his hands.

Kali joined him. "It looks different from my sketch."

He glanced over at her. "Does it?"

"There's no air pipe."

Grant stopped for a moment, then shone his flashlight over the area in a quick perusal as Kali continued to dig frantically at the end where she knew the head would be. "No, there isn't." He resumed working beside her. Two other men with shovels joined them. Grant pulled Kali back. Exercising caution, the men went to work. There was no time for proper procedures. Julie's life hung in the balance.

"Look," Kali cried out.

Flashlights beamed in her direction and locked onto where she pointed. A piece of plaid fabric shone in the light. A shirt. Shovels were tossed aside as careful hands scooped and lifted, clearing the dirt from around the head area. Grant followed the shirt to the body underneath, sliding his hands underneath, he tugged a body upward. With effort, he pulled the body free. First a pinkish arm flopped out and then another as the dirt grudgingly slid to the side, unwilling to give up its secret.

Kali stood fixated on the chaos, Shiloh cuddled up at her side. The lights created weird shadows in the sky as men went to work on the victim. An oxygen tank landed off to one side.

Kali's heart stopped. She closed her eyes briefly. "Is it Julie? Is she still alive?"

Just then, the sea of men parted.

"Grant?"

Grant stepped back a pace as the light flashed on the victim's face. Kali stared. It wasn't Julie.

It was a man.

That had been too close. Hidden in a hollow less than two miles away from the craziness, Texan struggled to control his breathing. Crap, he shouldn't be this winded already. He went for much longer on disaster sites. He hadn't expected panic to steal his strength. Groaning, he rolled over and flopped on his back. Dampness soaked into his shirt, cooling the raging sweat he'd worked up. Kali's black magic was strong. Scary strong. If he hadn't seen her painting, he'd never have believed how strong.

His heart had pounded so badly when he'd heard Shiloh coming up behind him he'd been afraid of having a heart attack. When Shiloh worked, nothing threw her off. He'd bolted, as far and as fast as possible.

No easy feat in the dark.

Tugging his jacket loosely over his chest, he coughed once, then twice. He'd take just a minute more. His car was quite a distance away yet. The last thing he needed was to run into a roadblock. The dark would hide him for hours until the searchers brought in high-powered lights and really got to work. He had to be long gone by then.

He'd survived this far by being careful and faithful to God's plan. He wasn't about to screw up now.

Damn Kali, anyway. She'd gotten lucky this time. He'd underestimated the strength of her evil. Forewarned was forearmed. Next time, he'd plan better and make damn sure she came out the loser.

K
ali stood, a silent island amidst the sea of men surging in the eerie moonlight. Where was Julie? And who was this poor man?

Someone bumped her, jarring her to awareness. She looked around. Grant's men blended with paramedics, at least she thought that's who they were. Having led the way the whole time, she'd had no idea how many people Grant had called in, until she was drowned in the sea of people. Heavy duty lights had been set up, throwing weird shadows across the area as men moved about their tasks. Energy wafted high in the night sky. Colors flung and retracted with the movements of the men. So many men, so much energy. She blinked several times and tried to shift her awareness away from her own personal borealis. Nudging the agent closest to her, she asked, "Is he alive?"

Looking up at the sky beginning to lighten ever so slightly, he gave a small shake of his head. "No." His voice dropped to a low whisper. "But he's still warm."

"Oh God," she whispered, pulling her light jacket tighter. That explained the low to the ground and barely black visible threads amongst the brighter waves. It also explained Shiloh's reaction. Crouching down, she hugged Shiloh, who lay with her teddy bear under her chin. Shiloh understood. Kali buried her head in the thick pelt as hot tears pooled. They ran and mingled as sorrow overwhelmed her. They'd been so close, so fast, almost saved him...almost.

Where could Julie be? And if Kali had gotten this wrong - was Julie even missing? Some psychic she was. Kali sniffled softly as she stared out in the night.

The picture clicked into her mind, drawing her attention back to the missing air pipe from the victim to the surface of the ground. She'd been so sure the picture had depicted this location, yet she'd found someone else. God. Another victim.

She reached for her phone. Damn, she'd left it in its holder in her Jeep. Stupid.

Grant came up behind her. "Not exactly the end we'd hoped for."

She flushed at the reminder and stood swaying in place, so tired and confused that nothing made sense. A firm hand grabbed her and tugged her forward. Before she realized it, she was tucked close to Grant's chest. She accepted the gesture as tears threatened to fall. Not Julie. A stranger. Some poor soul buried out here all alone. Her lip trembled then firmed. "No," she whispered. "Not exactly."

"Kali, you're beyond exhausted." Giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze, he added in a voice that made her want to weep with its tenderness, "It's over. Let's get you home."

It would never be over. "It’s not over. Julie is still missing." Kali opened her eyes and stared at him. "Who is he?" she asked, grief warring with the pain in her voice.

"We don't know yet." Turning her slightly, he pulled up her vest zipper before stepping back, putting a slight distance between them.

"I'd hoped-" She swallowed, her throat dry and rough. "I really hoped to find someone alive."

"We all did." Nudging her gently in the right direction, he led her forward. "Let's get you home and into bed."

Kali didn't fight him. "I doubt I'll be able to sleep." A choked laugh escaped. "We can’t forget about Julie. We have to find her."

"And we will. I’ll have a team continue to track her down. Don't worry about it now. We'll handle it. You need rest."

She did need sleep. Having burned through the adrenaline rush, she had nothing left. Maybe come morning everything would make sense. "The caller was right." The words blurted out on their own. The emotion threatened to overwhelm her. She stumbled, righted herself and then stumbled again, her feet blocky and ungainly. "We were too late."

"I know. Take it easy. We're almost there." Grant's voice echoed from the shadows.

Kali kept moving forward. Her eyes focused on the shifting beam of light as it moved over the uneven ground. They passed several team members carrying gear one way or another. Grant spoke to them. Kali kept moving forward. She wanted to go home.

After another ten minutes Kali recognized the small shack and the outline of her Jeep.

Thank God.

Shiloh, quiet for the whole trip, barked once as they approached the parking lot. "Yes, Shiloh. Time to go home." Kali opened the back door of the Jeep for Shiloh before collapsing into the driver's seat. She leaned her head on the perforated steering wheel cover. And caught sight of her phone. She checked for messages.

Julie's voice, faint and reedy sounding came out clear. "Kali, what's going on? Call me back."

Relief overwhelmed her. "Kali." Stan's voice signaled the next message. "Kali, I found Julie. She's fine. She went to the hospital last night for a bad nosebleed. She's home now. I hope you get this." The next message was an exact repeat.

Grant crouched and leaned in on her driver's door. "So now we have the answer to the Julie mystery. And yes, we’ll have someone go talk to her. Warn her, just in case, okay?" At her tired smile, he added, "Kali, let me get someone to drive you home."

"I'm fine, just tired." She shook her head. "And I'd rather be alone right now."

Grant stood, understanding in his expression. "Call me when you get home." He started to turn away but stopped. "Remember, I set up surveillance on your house, so don't worry and sleep well."

Kali lifted an eyebrow. How easily she gave up her prized privacy. Her mind was numb, on overdrive, and yet nothing fit together in there. Too exhausted to sort this out, she stopped trying.

All she could focus on was that it wasn’t Julie. Julie wasn’t in danger. She’d never been in danger. Or was she? What about her painting? She’d painted that before they’d found the victim in Sacramento - if it even depicted that victim. She was good at what she did - and that was find people. As a psychic, she sucked. Big time. Her earlier sketch and even her painting were nothing but twisted meanderings of an exhausted mind.

Confusion, fatigue and she’d admit a little shock linked and twisted everything together. She needed rest. Then she’d sort this out after a few hours to let her body sleep.

Putting the Jeep into reverse, she backed out of her parking spot, stopping when Grant walked toward her again.

"You two did really well tonight - don't forget that."

She whispered to the dark empty interior, "So why do I feel like such a failure?"

"Damn it." As soon as Kali drove onto the highway, Grant regretted not driving her home. She might want to be alone, but she probably shouldn't be. He was needed here. Yet he couldn't shake the bad feeling in his gut. He wasn’t psychic but he’d learned to trust his intuition. He called to one of the junior team members returning with equipment.

"Grab a car and see that Kali gets to her house safe and sound." He pointed to the taillights disappearing down the road. Grant watched the second car peel out after her. With a marginally better frame of mind, he returned to the crime scene. Clouds whispered across the moon, giving the night a surreal look.

It went along with the surreal events of the night.

Thomas approached. "I don't know, Grant. You sure collect weird friends."

Grant laughed, a sound at odds with the scene open around them. Still, he appreciated the easing of the macabre tension. "That I do. Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Thomas, his demeanor grimmer than usual, said. "Never. To imagine one person carrying this guy all this way is pretty unbelievable. He is small and wiry, but still...unless he was forced to walk in at gunpoint."

"I mentioned that to Kali. She said the training is not only extensive, but also intensive, with some people becoming fanatical about their fitness levels. She said this wasn't out of line with some of the stronger people."

"Then those are the ones we should be focusing on." Thomas glanced over at him. "Did she really draw a picture of this scene?" He waved his arm to the controlled chaos going on around them. "Cause that's beyond bizarre."