wrath of the Sea Queen (234 page)

Rika
was
caught c
ompletely
off guard
. 
The part of Rika that was Lorrie
assumed the man
she saw
to be
helping her
in yet another attempt to win her favor
, as he
ha
d tried to do
so many times
in the past
. 
Too late, Rika discovered her mistake. 
The man
held L
orrie
tightly with one arm and quickly pulled a needle from his pocket with the other.  The man
uncapped and
plunged
the needle into the side of L
orrie
's neck.  Within moments, her movements ceased and she went limp in his grasp.

The rain
began to
increase
as C
a
eli picked herself up
.  Without Rika's control, the full force of the storm w
ould soon be un
leashed.  C
a
eli
tried to calm her
own chaotic
emotions,
hoping to reduce her
contribution to
the storm
's
building
fury
.  She
walked over to
the man holding L
orrie
's un
moving
body
and
watched cautiously as he carefully
tossed
the
unconscious form
over his
broad
shoulder.

"
Thank you, Maku.  I
'
m g
lad you showed up.  But,
how did you get here?  How did you even know we were here?
"

C
a
eli
had been
surprised
when she
hear
d
his
name
and offer to help
whispered
in her ear
. 
She
was
incredibly
relieved
because s
he was
still
very tired
and
the
sharp pain in her stomach
had been getting worse
as Rika dro
n
ed on. 
Rika was not causing
this pain
, and i
t remained
even now
.

"
Are you all right, Mrs. Harding?
"
  Maku noticed the
discomfort
in her expression.

"I don't think so, but I'm not injured.  I need to get back to
Vin
."

Seeing that C
a
eli did not appear to be
seriously
injured
,
Maku
turned and headed toward the cav
e as he answered her questions, noting that she
followed
a few steps behind.

"
Follow me.  To answer your question,
I've known Lorrie her entire life.  She, Apela, and I used to play on this island as kids
, though we never entered that shelter over there.  There was something about it that did not feel right
. 
Anyway,
I followed
Lorrie
when she left the hotel earlier," Maku began his explanation.

"She was at the hotel?"  C
a
eli wondered wh
y Lorrie had been
there.

"Yes, and a
fter what
Lorrie
did to Pete, I was not simply going to let her drive away. 
From
where she began her swim
, I
knew she was headed out here.  There are many caves
and tunnels
inter
laced
throughout th
e islands
. 
You can practically walk from one side of the island to the other if you don't get lost. 
This cave leads to
a tunnel
that sits slightly
below the water's surface
and
will take
us
to
the lighthouse.  It takes a little longer than swimming, but I did
n
o
t want
Lorrie
to see m
y arrival
; and both swimming and boating were out of the question due to the storm
.  Honestly, I don't know how Lorrie ma
naged the swim over
here
.
"

"
Well, let's just say that Lorrie had a little help.  It is strange.  I have
know
n
Lorrie
as Lara
for many years, but I guess we can never completely know a
person
, can we?"

"No
t in most cases
.  Lara is the name Lorrie adopted when she went to school on the mainland.  But
,
changing her name could not change her past.  She has not been
the Lorrie I knew
in many years.
  I
a
m sorry for the harm
she
caused you.
  She wasn't always like this.
"

Maku
had
obviously cared deeply for Lorrie at some point; perhaps he still did.  The sorrow on his face made it clear how difficult this was for him.
  C
a
eli changed the subject
to help ease his pain, or so she thought
.

"W
hat happened to Pete?
"

C
a
eli
needed
to know
what Lorrie was doing at the hotel
. 
Hopefully, Lorrie
didn't
do anything to interfere with
Pete's
treatment. 
She prayed that Lorrie did not
get close enough to
hurt Salma. 
Whatever Lorrie
did
must be
what
caused Ben to seek Vin's help
earlier
.  Obviously, C
a
eli missed out on something
important
by leaving when she did
.

"
Pete is dead,
"
Maku replied with a touch of anger in his voice.
  He stopped at the tunnel entrance.

"
What!?  But
,
but…
he was better. 
The treatment was working. 
I felt his improvement
with my own hands
.  Salma was curing him. 
He can't be dead.  How could that
happen
?
"
  C
a
eli was
stunned
.  She could not believe the young man was gone.
  The one truly good thing C
a
eli
had managed
this trip was now lost.

"
He was
improving
. 
Hi
s
death
was completely unrelated to
his illness. 
Lorrie killed him.  Near as I can tell, Pete caught her in the middle of something
untoward
at the hotel, and it cost him his life. 
Lorrie
is going to pay for that
as soon as she tells us where she took Dr. Erickson.
"

"
Salma's missing
, too
?  Maku, we have to get back there
.  Can you
show
me the way?"

"It i
s a straight shot through this tunnel."

"Ok
,
then
go
on
ahead
of me
.  I need to check one thing first
. 
I
wi
ll follow behind you
in a minute
.
"
  C
a
eli was concerned.  Her pain was growing worse.  She knew her time was running out.

"
Be quick
.  This tunnel will be flooded soon.  If you wait
too
long, you will not be able to use it to return," Maku cautioned her.

"I won't be long.  Thank you, Maku."

Before she could follow Maku, C
a
eli urgent
ly
need
ed
to check on Vin and Salma.  She needed to find out
if they were hurt.  C
a
eli needed to know
how near she was to
facing
her
decision.
 
She hoped there would be time to return to Vin before that happened.  Unfortunately
,
choosing
to
stay behind
to
learn their status
brought
C
a
eli
immediately
face to face with t
h
at
dreaded
decision
. 
To her dismay, i
t was not exactly the
quandary
she expect
ed
.