The Dark Rift: Ascension (The Dark Rift Book Series 1) (3 page)

"Oh, my God. What is that smell?" Noah's mom asked.

Coming home from work, Leah drove along the forest road toward the cabin she rented. As she passed the farmer's market, she glanced over to see the crates of strawberries lined up on the cart and thought of a day long ago. She ran her hand over at the scars on her forearm and let her memories take over. Over forty years gone by, every day of those forty years changed by that one trip to the strawberry patch.

It was 1968, the same year Bobby Kennedy was shot and right before the first moon landing. The 1960s were unrivaled in the chaos created by world politics. However, Leah and her cousin, Kari, were only vaguely aware of current events. Living in the California countryside next to the Klamath National Forest allowed their families to maintain a sheltered life, relatively unaffected by what was going on in the rest of the world. The two girls looked and acted like sisters, both eight years old, with red hair and freckles. Kari was only two days older than Leah was, and Leah was sure her cousin was smarter than anyone she knew.

During the summer, they spent every daylight hour outside together in the garden or the woods, climbing trees and finding mischief wherever they could make it. All things seemed possible. Living out in the country, away from the turmoil of a big city, eight year olds didn't need a babysitter. There was nothing to be afraid of and relatively little trouble to get into. So, on this day, like so many others before, Kari's Mom sent Kari and Leah to pick berries.

Tuning out her thoughts for a moment, Leah turned into her driveway and shut off the car. She sat in the front seat, letting the sun beat down on her, feeling the warmth on her skin. But, no matter how hard she tried to stop the memory of that day, it still occupied her mind and too much of her life. She let it in again.

Leah remembered a light breeze blowing across the strawberry field and feeling it tickle the back of her neck. She looked up and saw the forest at the end of the row she was picking in. Old, gigantic trees guarded in the distance, casting cool shade in the midday sun. As the breeze blew, the trees came alive, branches like giant arms waved in the wind. Leah imagined the knots on the trees were eyes watching over her. Dragonflies floated by on the warm breeze. A stream of these beautiful seductive creatures captured Leah and Kari's attention. They watched as the colorful insects joyfully hovered and soared over the strawberry field.

"Your mom wants us to pick two quarts each for pies. How much is that?" Leah asked.

"I think you gotta have at least a quart in each hand by now and one in each pocket," Kari replied with confidence.

Leah shook her head, a slight smile touching her lips for how ignorant they were of what a quart was. They also forgot the bucket Kari's Mom gave them to fill, so they had no way of carrying the berries, either. As they picked, their hands became too full and pockets too thin, so they ate their fill. It was a perfect summer day as they worked their way across the field toward the forest. At about the middle of the row, they looked up at each other and saw more berries on their faces and hands than anywhere, leading them both to fits of laughter. Kari said she was ready to pee in her pants and hurried for the nearby woods and the privacy of a tree.

Watching Kari run toward the forest, Leah made another step in the warm soil, her new white sneakers now broken in. Drops of sweat covered her forehead, yet the breeze soothed her. As she knelt down to check the next berry plant, a dragonfly flew at her, grazing the top of her head. She stopped and gazed at its colors and the delicacy of its wings and body. She held out her hand for the dragonfly and waited for it to land. It circled her head and she laughed, watching it finally come to rest on her outstretched finger. The dragonfly walked cautiously along her finger and up her sleeve, stopping to sun itself, brilliant cellophane wings flattened. It stayed for about a minute and then flew off above Leah's head. She followed it across the strawberry field, laughing and holding her arms up, wishing it would land again.

Leah ran so far that she was on the other side of the field from the forest. Suddenly, she heard a distant muffled scream coming from the trees. She waited for a moment, and then called out Kari's name. Only silence answered her call. Starting to worry more, she called out Kari's name over and over, each time louder, her voice wavering more with each repetition. Leah started running toward the forest. Kari didn't answer. Leah looked around and saw the trees weren't waving in the wind anymore. The breeze was gone. She couldn't hear anything at all, except her own heart beating wildly.

"Kari, where are you? Kari, come out of there," Leah shouted. She ran into the forest, looking behind trees, calling for her cousin. Then, she saw the shoe. Kari's shoe. She picked it up and called out again. Leah was afraid, more afraid than she could ever remember being. She didn't know exactly why she felt the way she did, only that she needed help. She ran home, stumbling over the rows of strawberries, then up, through the cornfield, knees skinned, tears streaming through the dirt and pollen coating her face. Out of the cornfield, Kari's house was in sight now. Leah ran even harder, calling out to Kari's Mom, who was hanging wash.

Leah's Aunt Carol dropped the shirt she was holding and came running. Leah cried out through tears and gulps of air, "I can't find Kari. She's gone."

They jumped in the pick-up and drove over the farm lane to the edge of the forest. Leah's aunt turned off the engine, opened the door and stood up, blowing the horn, then calling out, "Kari, where in the world are you?"

* * *

After Kari disappeared, Leah started to feel awful. At first, she thought her nausea and overall dizziness might just be because she was upset.

"It looks like you've got quite a sunburn from being out all day," her mother told her. By nightfall, it was obvious something else was going on. What first seemed like sunburn now looked more like second-degree burns that were somehow getting worse with each passing hour. Leah felt miserable.

She pulled Kari's shoe out from underneath the bed where she'd hidden it, wishing Kari would come home and claim it. Leah wanted to tell her parents she had it, but the need to hold onto something associated with Kari was so strong, she kept it hidden. She thought the return of her cousin was the only thing in the world right now that would make her feel better. She held onto the shoe, letting herself feel the full weight of the day, and started to cry.

For the next month, she was bedridden, with a severe rash on her arms and legs. At first, the doctor thought it was poison ivy or a reaction to some other plant. After a week, the rash was worse and Leah was losing skin from her forearms. Her hair fell out in clumps on her pillow and when she wasn't throwing up, she was sleeping. Her mother told her the doctors couldn't figure out what was happening, but she appeared to have the symptoms of someone exposed to radiation. Gradually, Leah's skin healed, but she was left with terrific scars.

Initially, most everyone in town joined in the search for Kari, many admitting they were scared to believe this
thing
, whatever it was, could have happened in their community. But, Kari was never found. In fact, other than the shoe Leah picked up in the forest, no trace of her was detected. No scent of sweat, urine or body odor was picked up by the search dogs. Gradually, local interest in the lost little girl waned, leaving Leah's and Kari's families alone to search. They looked for Kari endlessly for days, then months. In all that time, Leah was glad neither family abandoned the idea Kari could still be alive. Yet, Leah was aware no one understood anything about what happened that day, how Kari disappeared and how she could have possibly been exposed to radiation.

Questions left unanswered strained the relationship between her father and Kari's mother. Eventually, the strain was shifted to Leah's family. Her parents started to argue, ignoring her completely in the months after Kari went missing. Looking back, Leah realized that somehow they blamed her for what happened because there was no one else to assign blame to. She felt like they thought it was her fault Kari was lost and that her father became estranged from his sister. What no one seemed to understand was that Leah was part of this story, too. Her heart was broken from the loss of her best friend.

One morning, Leah woke to loud voices. She got out of bed and went downstairs to see her father standing in the living room with a suitcase. Her heart broke again when her parents told her it was 'for the best' as her father walked out of the house alone.

Yet, even after her father was gone, Leah never stopped searching for Kari. During those years, she blamed herself for her parents' divorce. And, none of the guilt she felt over Kari's disappearance went away as the years passed. "I'll find you. I promise," Leah would say, looking at the sky, not knowing where to direct her focus. That promise to Kari would consume her.

Once she was old enough to go to the library by herself, she scoured newspaper clippings, magazine articles and books for information about abducted children, missing persons and serial killers. Later on, with access to the internet, Leah uncovered statistics she found mind-blowing. She was shocked, finding out that during an average year, 2,300 people went missing every day in the United States, alone. Some people were abducted by family members, some taken by strangers, and a small percentage came home unharmed. Some were never found. Leah wondered how on earth she possibly could find Kari if none of these thousands of other people were ever located.

For those whose bodies were eventually found, Leah read about killings by strangling, drowning, mutilation, suffocation, starvation, poisoning, and killing with cars, guns, knives, glass, nail guns, hammers, axes and a variety of home appliances. A wide spectrum of humanity was represented in the victims of these crimes, too. They ranged in age from infant to elderly, originating from every state in the nation.

The more she researched, the more futile her efforts seemed and the deeper her depression became. Thoughts of what could have happened to Kari haunted Leah. While there were a lot of potential suspects to choose from, none of the details of the crimes she researched led her to believe Kari was the victim of a serial killer. At least, not one who was known to law enforcement. Kari's disappearance could also have been the result of an isolated act by someone, but that didn't explain the scars on Leah's arms. Scars caused by radiation, according to the doctor.

While radiation exposure was concerning in the 1960s, most country doctors knew very little about it. There were no agencies yet formulated for environmental protection. Federal agencies dealing with nuclear materials looked across the ocean for threats and not to domestic sources. As a result, only a perfunctory investigation was ever made into determining the source of Leah's exposure. The local sheriff was able to obtain a Geiger counter from the public health department. He took readings all over the forest and the strawberry patch and found nothing exceeding normal radiation levels. Following the investigation, the portion of the case looking for an answer to Leah's illness was eventually dropped completely because of a lack of evidence and because Leah was the only person exhibiting symptoms. Most of the locals said they thought the doctor got it wrong and Leah remembered overhearing some of them talking with her parents, telling them she had "just a good old-fashioned case of sunburn and poison ivy."

Leah never accepted that theory and research led her to believe she suffered an acute exposure to radiation. Not enough to kill her, but definitely enough to cause severe skin damage. Now, she was finding out, probably enough to cause harm to other parts of her body, too.

Jodie woke to the face of a pretty Asian woman staring down at her, telling her everything was going to be okay. She realized she was in an ambulance.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious. I'm Mei Chen and I'm an Emergency Medical Technician. You passed out in your car. It seems you might have gone into shock. What's your name?"

Jodie looked up at the woman, confused.

"Well, give it a minute. You seem a bit disoriented. You were dehydrated, but we've been able to give you some fluids and your vitals are good, now. I can see the cuts on your hands, but are you hurt anywhere else?"

"My name is Jodie. I don't know ... oh God, it's happening again," Jodie said. A heavy feeling crept over her shoulders, and spread gradually down the rest of her body.

"Pardon me? I don't understand. What's happening again? Are you having pain somewhere?" Mei asked.

Trying to clear her head, Jodie said "No. At least I don't think so. I need to talk to the police officer about the woman I found. I think I hit her with my car. Where exactly is my car, anyway?"

"It's about where you left it. My partner, Nick, is out there admiring it," Mei said, motioning out the back door of the ambulance.

Jodie looked in the direction Mei pointed and saw a huge figure. Its hands looked about the size of dinner plates. She knew she was a little disoriented and what she thought she was seeing couldn't possibly be right, but the thing looked like a Yeti. She pushed herself back on the gurney and was about to scream when it suddenly stepped up into the ambulance, came toward her and started talking.

"Hi. That's a sweet ride."

Mei looked at Jodie and laughed. "Yes, I know he's a little bit intimidating, but he's a sweet guy. This is Nick, my partner."

"Hey there, just gonna give you some more super juice, then I'll go get the cop," said Nick, tugging the empty IV bag off its hook.

Jodie was relieved, laughing to herself at what she thought she saw. "Thanks, I don't think I'll need it though," she said, trying to sit up. She fell back to the gurney, too dizzy to stay upright.

"Whoa there. Just stay put. You in a rush, or what?" Mei asked.

Nick looked down at Jodie and smiled. "Probably needs to get started on all that wine."

Confused about what the wine could have to do with anything, Jodie asked, "How did you know I had wine? It's locked in the trunk of my car."

"The cop opened your car door for us. He opened your trunk after he saw some stuff on your bumper," Nick said. "He said you called in about hitting someone on the forest road. Is that true?"

Jodie ignored his question, realizing she didn't want to explain the story twice in one night. Plus, she wasn't even sure she understood what happened. "Please, could you get him over here? I have to tell him about that woman."

The officer appeared at the back of the ambulance just as Jodie finished talking. "You're up and around, I see. When you called in, you said she was about a mile on up the road, so we sent a second squad up there. We found her. Looks like she was pretty messed up. We'll have to impound your vehicle and when these folks say you're okay to go, they'll transport you to the station. We've got some questions and we'll need to do some tests to see what's all in your blood stream. Care to give me a clue what we might find?" asked the officer.

"You won't find anything. I'm an FBI agent and I need you to contact my supervisor in the San Francisco field office. There's something going on here you don't understand," Jodie said.

"Oh, and what might that be? The fact that you have a car fulla wine and you were passed out when we got here? I think I understand all right, little lady. We'll get to the station, do that blood test and figure things out from there. Is she ready for the road?" the officer asked the EMTs.

Jodie felt too dizzy and disoriented to even respond to the police officer’s insinuations. She decided to put her energy into regaining her composure. She could deal with his belligerence later.

"She'll be ready when she's ready. Now leave us alone for a minute so we can help her and we'll let you know when we can go," Mei said in a matter-of-fact tone. The officer muttered something and walked away.

"He can be a real jackass sometimes," Mei said. "We're not going anywhere until you can sit up without falling off the gurney."

Jodie decided she liked Mei and Nick. She liked them a lot, as a matter of fact. She felt safe in their company, something she really needed to feel at that moment. It was all so overwhelming. Year after year of trying to solve horrific murders, the accident, the attitude of the cop, evidence of death clinging to the bumper of the Camaro. Jodie tried, but couldn't stop the tears. She broke down completely right there in the back of the ambulance, sobbing, with the two EMTs consoling her, Mei holding her hand.

Within moments, Jodie lost all control. She felt like she was watching herself from a distance as she told them everything. She recounted the details about Nelson and being haunted with visions of the tortured women's faces. She confessed to them how she felt responsible, in a way, as each new victim was identified. Gradually, as she kept talking, Jodie felt herself coming back together. She realized she never shared any of this with anyone except her team at work. But, she couldn't share her emotional side with her co-workers and she couldn't discuss the details of the case with anyone else before Nelson drove into the bay. So, she kept it inside, until it boiled over right in the back of the ambulance.

At one point, the police officer came to the back door again. Nick stood up and said, "She's not ready yet," and closed the door.

After about twenty minutes of uncontrollable crying, using all the tissues in the ambulance and blowing her nose into gauze pads, Mei and Nick told Jodie they couldn't delay any longer and the ambulance was on its way. Now she needed to pull herself together. She wiped her eyes and looked up to see Mei smiling at her.

"Feeling a little better?" Mei asked.

Jodie nodded and smiled back. She was embarrassed, yet felt a sense of calm she hadn't experienced in what seemed like years. "But I’m so sorry--"

Nick cut her off before she could finish. "Oh, don't worry about it. You're not half as bad as our last patient."

"What happened to him?" Jodie asked, realizing maybe the EMTs had enough of dealing with her drama for one day.

"Got shot in the groin by his oven," Nick    responded.

"What do you mean, his oven shot him?" Jodie asked.  Confused, she looked at Mei, who was grinning.

"Kept his loaded Glock in the oven for safekeeping. Came home inebriated at three in the morning and turned on the stove to make a pizza. Right about the time he was gonna put the pizza in the oven, the gun heated up and discharged ... shot him in the groin. Dumb ass," Nick said, laughing.

"Don't talk about our patients that way," Mei said, looking like she was trying hard to appear serious.

Jodie glanced back and forth between the two EMTs and burst out laughing. "Wow, you must have some tales to tell from this job. I hope my little breakdown doesn’t make it into your storybook."

Nick laughed, his shoulders shaking. "Breakdown? What breakdown? Can’t imagine what you’re talking about."

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing around here in the middle of the night, driving around with a trunk full of wine?" Mei said.

"When you say it that way, it sounds kind of suspicious or something, but I was really headed up to my cabin because I needed some time off."

"Not such a great start to your vacation, huh?" Mei asked. "Not really," Jodie answered, thinking she may never get a vacation. It looked like her work followed her.

"We're home sweet home," Nick said as they pulled into the police station parking lot.

"Do you think you can sit up now?" Mei asked.

Jodie pushed herself to a sitting position. She didn't exactly feel like running a marathon, but there was really no reason she could delay further, so she stood up as Mei opened the back door of the ambulance.

Mei pressed a piece of paper into Jodie's hand as she helped her down the step. "That's my number. Give me a call sometime. Nick and I go to this wine bar north of Crescent City. If you run out of what's in your trunk, maybe you'll want to join us," Mei said.

Jodie gave Mei's hand a squeeze, got out of the ambulance, and waved at Nick as she wobbled toward the station. She wondered what kind of nightmare was ahead of her and whether or not she'd be able to convince the rude cop of the urgency of the situation. If John Nelson really followed her up here, she would need to move fast. Jodie wasn't about to let anyone else die at his hand. Never again.