Mind Games (31 page)

“But he didn’t know she rigged the truck!”

“He was just...”

“Yes, Cam, I know. He was just being careless. Stupid. Vince was just...being Vince.” The corner of her mouth peaked up.

Cameron scanned his eyes over the wreckage. “Listen to me. She probably wanted us to come here. I bet the bomb was set to go off if someone opened the truck, a kind of hair trigger system.”

“You mean she meant to kill him. That’s what you mean.”

“I don’t know, Amy. I don’t know. She probably didn’t mean it for us. It was just one of her defenses. She probably set the charge for the SWAT team.”

“It doesn’t matter who it wa
s
fo
r
. She just killed, Vince!”

“Listen, Amy. We have to finish this thing. We’re here to find Max, and when we do, we’re going to stop my wife. Don’t think I’ve lost sight of her sins.”

Amy blinked hard. Then she spoke in a lower tone. “This must be...unbearable for you, Cam. I’ve been so wrapped up in this whole case, trying to track you down, dealing with Hansen, searching for Wilson. Look, I’m exhausted. This whole thing...this beast that just keeps jumping on my back...Cam, I don’t know. I just wish I could get it off me!”

“I know, Amy.”

“And really, with all that’s happened, I thought this whole thing was done. Somehow. But it just feels like we’re back where we started.” She looked out towards the pond. “Another fireball and another dead body. I’m tired of being brave, Cam. We can’t always come out on top. It’s just not the way things are.”

“Don’t do this, Amy. Don’t give up now.”

“Cam...”

“We’re going to find Max,” he said.

Amy cracked a thin smile. “You must really love this kid, Cam.”

“You’re right. I do.”

“What is it about him?”

“He’s the real deal.”

“Cameron, he’s just a kid.”

“No, Amy, he’s more.”

“What do you mean?”

“They set up a projector at the cottage so we could watch the team rob the bank. They streamed it through Max’s helmet camera. After that much practice, we were anxious to see how they did.”

“So, at best, Max is a thief,” she said.

“You have to look past that, Amy. We were all wrapped up in fear...of The Leader...of what might happen if we didn’t obey the orders. But Max was unafraid. He’s bold. And the night of the heist, I watched him...even in the craziness of the situation...he spoke to my daughter with kindness. When Sarah was there, in the heat of it, helping them break into the vault, Max just kept treating her with respect. Almost like an older brother.”

“And how are we supposed to find him now? What? You think they’re hiding in the trees? Look around, Cam. We’re not going to find him. We should just wait until the SWAT team gets here. I’ve seen enough.”

“No,” Cameron said. “We don’t know how long it’ll take for them to find us. This forest isn’t exactly made for easy driving.”

“I still think we should wait it out. The sun’s almost down.”

“You don’t get it, Amy. We can’t stay here.” Cameron’s voice was uneasy. “This forest...it’s different at night.”

“Come on, Cam. Don’t tell me you started believing all those country tales.”

“This forest has a mind of its own.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you? This place really creeps you out.”

“Max and I were chased by a pack of wolves.”

“So, we’re safer in here.” Amy pulled the pilot door shut. “Even the wolves can’t eat us in here.”

Cameron pushed the door open again. “I’m not waiting here. I think Jen took Max for a reason. And every second we wait...” He pulled himself down from the chopper and stepped into mud. “They can’t be far from here, Amy. I’m going find him. Are you coming or not?”

The rain from the storm fade
d
into a drizzle while the pines dripped silently. Cameron walked through the mud towards the wreckage. Still rising and falling from the smoke cloud, a thin film of ash covered his shoulders and arms. He brushed it off and looked back to Amy.

“Come on. We’re not going to find him by waiting around.”

Amy stepped out of the helicopter and looked to the horizon. Only a small sliver of the sun shown through the trees.

Cameron moved closer to the scattered debris of the truck.

“Cam, I don’t think we should go any closer,” Amy said. “Who knows, Jen may have set land mines across the area.”

“That seems unlikely. The explosion would have set them off.”

“Not necessarily. Hey, we need to see Jennifer as a criminal now, not Sarah’s mother, and not your wife. She’s a reckless woman.”

Cameron turned to face Amy. “You’re right. She’s someone else now. She has been for a while. Back at the cottage, she gave a speech over a video projector about the dangerous people in the city. She seems convinced that there’s a way to eliminate crime once and for all.”

“Wow, what an ego trip. And she needs Max to help her with this?”

“Max was one of the only reasons the heist even worked. He’s good at thinking on the spot.”

“Hold on,” Amy said, peering through the pines. “What’s with the smoke over there?”

“What smoke?”

“Look. Just over that hill.” Amy pointed north.

A thin line wavered in the distance, rising from the ground.

“That’s not from the blast, is it?” Cameron began walking north.

“No,” Amy followed. “It can’t be. That smoke must be coming from something else.”

The forest grew darker by the minute.

When they reached the source of the smoke, their shadows were almost as long as the shadows from the trees. Cameron stopped to scrape the mud off his boots against one of the pine trunks.

Standing just over the ground where the line of smoke rose, Amy kicked away a layer of grass to reveal a rusted metal grate. And as she stood there, breathing it in, Amy realized it wasn’t smoke at all, but a trail of steam.

Cameron joined Amy by the rusty grate. “Is it some kind of geothermic vent?”

“Out here? With a manmade covering? I don’t think so.” Amy crouched down and looked into the grate. She only saw darkness. “This isn’t exactly Yellowstone National Park.”

“Yeah, but maybe there’s a cave under us or something.”

Amy stood up again. “We need to analyze this place like a crime scene.” She stretched out her hands and looked down the hill to the remains of the milk truck. Then she formed a square with her fingers, framing what they witnessed only moments ago. “So, Jennifer drove the truck all the way out here just as bait? Seems strange.” She walked over and planted her foot on the steam vent. “This thing must serve some purpose.”

“Is it a landmark of some kind?”

“What, like a beacon? Maybe.” Amy rotated her body, framing the helicopter in the window of her hands. She took a few steps back. Then she turned her hips to the right and panned along the horizon until she faced north again. “Let’s not forget what we already know. Jennifer likes to keep her secrets buried.”

“Yeah, literally underground.”

“What if this isn’t a landmark at all? What if this is some kind of opening...from another tunnel. We know she likes tunnels.” Amy walked further north from the vent. After about twenty feet, she stopped. “Cam, come here.”

In the ever-waning light, Cameron walked to Amy and looked at the ground.

“You recognize these?” Amy pointed.

Cameron gasped. “Wolf tracks.”

“Are you sure we don’t want to go back to the helicopter? It’s practically pitch black out here.”

“You have a flashlight strapped on your belt,” he said. “Are you afraid it will attract the wolves?”

“Actually, yes. Yes I am. I thought you said they almost killed you a few days ago.”

“Well...” Cameron slowly followed the wolf prints. “The wolves that chased us were living in a den below the highway underpass. But these tracks...lead north.”

“Then we should go south.”

“Listen,” he said. “I think we need to keep following these tracks. The wolves are attracted to high-pitched sounds.”

“Wait, I thought high-pitched sounds scared away dogs.”

“Dogs, yes. But these wolves are different. The night we tried to escape, Max’s tracker went out of range...and it only took a matter of seconds for the wolves living below the underpass to start howling.”

“Then they started running towards you?”

“Yes. I think Jen knew about the wolves before she engineered the ankle trackers.” Cameron continued following the tracks. “We need to look for some kind of opening. And for that, we need your flashlight.”

Amy pulled it from her belt and flicked it on. Then she pointed it towards the tracks. “Uh, oh. Stop walking for a second. See those boot prints?” She widened the beam of the light and kept walking. “Look here. There’s another set of prints. This must be where she took Max after she planted the explosives in the truck.”

“It looks that way.”

“These footprints are relatively fresh,” she said. “The rain would have washed them away otherwise.”

“Okay, Amy. Let’s keep going. If Jen had a way of controlling the wolves somehow, there’s no telling what she has planned for Max.”

Cameron and Amy followe
d
the tracks further up the hill.

The shadows cast by the trees had since morphed into a single veil of black. Even the moon became blocked by thick clouds. Amy moved her flashlight across the footprints, hoping the wolf tracks would diverge in a different direction. But instead, the paw imprints speckled in and around the human footprints, crisscrossing in the mud.

Amy turned around for a moment, and tried to aim her flashlight towards the parked helicopter, but she could no longer see it. As they continued to follow the tracks, a heavy mist settled under the overhanging pines. The mist showed up in the beam from Amy’s flashlight, strengthening it into an ever-changing, phosphorescent cone that swept over the trail of mud.

After another few minutes, Cameron and Amy followed a natural valley in the hill towards a shallow opening tucked under a group of bushes. Amy aimed the flashlight into the crevasse. The muddy tracks stopped at the mouth of the opening.

Cameron stepped back. “This is a den.”

“That’s just great.”

“Aim your light in there,” he said. “I’ll go first.”

Cameron ducked his head down and crouched into the entrance. His knees dipped down into the mud. He shifted his weight forward, gradually sliding further into the opening. Then he crawled inside.

Amy knelt down to shine the flashlight under the bushes.

Cameron reached out his hand. “Follow me. We need the light.”

Amy slid a section of mud out of her way and shimmied her shoulders back and forth until her torso slid into the den. Cameron helped pull her the rest of the way in.

Now, inside the small crawl space, Amy’s breathing became rapid. Contracting wildly, her lungs only allowed her to take short, shallow breaths. Cameron took her by the hand and breathed with her until she calmed down. He tried to tell her how tough she was until she punched him in the shoulder and squeaked out a smile. Already, Cameron could tell the den had not been carved out by the wolves. The interior walls were carved into a smooth dome.

“Okay, it’s empty. Let’s go.” Amy grabbed one of the bush roots and started backing out of the small, cave-like structure.

“Hey now. Get back here. Shine your light in that corner.”

Amy slowly moved the beam across the slick walls until she illuminated a small path covered in the tracks they’d seen outside. “Down there?”

“Look, we’re already muddy. Just sit on your butt and slide down.”

Cameron went first. He scooted into the narrow tunnel and pushed off with his hands, crossing them over his chest as he vanished into darkness. Amy tucked the flashlight in her left armpit and closed her eyes before pushing off.

When Amy landed ten feet below, she nearly fell feet-first on top of Cameron. Once her feet hit the ground, they slipped out from under her, sending the flashlight flying through the air. It landed in mud. She crawled over to wipe it off and shined it around the space.

This tunnel was tall enough to stand in. Cameron helped Amy up, and they walked across the tunnel towards a crystal-blue light. They rounded a corner wall of dirt, and the glow of the light grew stronger. Amy pointed the flashlight ahead at the base of the blue light.

“Wait a second,” Cameron said. “If I know Jen, this is one of her motion sensors. We have to be careful.”

“There must be a way to get past it.” Amy reached over to the tunnel wall and scraped off a fistful of dry dirt. She gently threw the dirt across the light. Most of the dirt fell directly on the ground, but the smaller particles bounced back up and revealed a series of thin, blue lasers that spanned across the tunnel from wall to wall.