Lethal Influence Read online

Page 10


  “I know. This is the one I want.” The young redheaded man touched the back pocket of his jeans. The money in his wallet was burning a hole in his pocket; Kai could feel it without even trying.

  “Hey, are you selling your old bike?” asked Kai.

  The redhead’s face lit up. “Yeah.”

  “I’ll give you eighty dollars for it,” said Kai considering the amount of cash he had on him. He had to save a little for food. He was starving.

  “That thing isn’t worth that much,” said one of the redhead’s friends.

  The two strangers argued about it for a moment. Kai stood back and let the seller’s friend negotiate a fair deal for him. Eventually, they agreed on sixty-five dollars, and Kai paid the redhead and hopped on the bike.

  He considered stopping for food as he passed three fast food restaurants in a row, but couldn’t make his legs obey his stomach. The rebels wouldn’t hurt Beth, but she didn’t know that. She would be scared. He turned away from the restaurants and peddled down back streets. He had to get to her.

  When he was a block from Leo’s, he stashed his bike between some bushes and continued on foot. The sun seemed blinding. He might as well be approaching the rebels in a blazing spotlight. He needed perspective. He needed a vantage point. Kai found a sturdy tree in Leo’s backyard. He prayed no one was looking as he made the first leap into the lower branches. Then he quickly climbed into the higher limbs of the tree. He wanted to storm in there and bring Beth out in some romanticized, heroic rescue, but he was outnumbered and they were alert. He clenched his teeth. There was nothing he could do to help Beth until it got dark. It tore him up inside.

  In his uneasy perch, Kai spent the next several hours with his eyes glued to the house. Every so often, he noticed dark clouds gathering in the eastern sky. The wind picked up, whipping the smaller branches around him. He shivered, hoping the coming storm held off until he was able to finish his quest. More time passed. The house looked more and more inviting as the sky darkened and the lights came on inside, especially since the wind was now forceful and the humidity rising.

  He had a view of the back door and part of the driveway beside the house. He could also see the window through which he’d made his escape; the screen was still out of place. The clouds advanced, gray and heavy looking. The wind began to rock his tree enough that he feared he would be shaken out. Hanging on tightly, he tried to keep an eye on the house. He saw four people pass in front of the family room window, but that didn’t mean there were only four people inside. Vehicles approached the house. He recognized Harrison’s car leaving, then returning about forty-five minutes later. There was no sign of Beth — not that they would be taking her out for a breath of fresh air in the back yard. One thing was apparent from his stakeout, however. Something was happening. There were too many Trebladores coming and going. Were they here to interrogate Beth? Try to use her to get to him? Was he playing into their hands, being here now?

  His body ached from his hours in the tree, his stomach complained about its neglect, and he was becoming decidedly chilled as the storm moved in. He huddled deeper into the branches as he clung to the trunk, glad that the leaves offered some small shelter from the gathering storm. Finally, the light faded and he was ready for action. “Please be here, Beth,” he whispered as he willed his cold, cramped fingers to loosen their grip.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  As the darkness deepened, Kai climbed from his perch. The lights in the house were on and he knew the time was right. They wouldn’t be able to see him, but he could still see them. He crept up to the window he had escaped through, and saw that it would be possible to scramble back in the way he had scrambled out. Ironic, he thought. Now he wanted to be inside.

  He sat down beside the open window, listening to the sounds of the others as they settled in for the night. They ate their supper, talking incessantly about the issues of the world and its abundance of troubled humans who would never change their evil ways. His stomach growled several times and Kai thought with irony that the one good thing about the weather was that it would hide the sound of his hunger from those inside.

  Finally they moved to the living room, and then on to their bedrooms. If Beth was here, they were hiding her well. None of them seemed too worried about anyone else being in the place and although he couldn’t hear all they said, he definitely did not hear any mention of her.

  Kai waited for what felt like hours but was probably only another half hour or so. At last the house seemed to go to sleep. The wind had stopped blowing now and a heavy silence hung over the town. Rain was coming; Kai could smell it in the air. He pulled his thin coat around him and silently argued with himself about when to make a move. Now, or wait a little longer. He had a better chance of not being detected if he waited. He forced himself to crouch up against the wall.

  The waiting was killing him. Finally, he rose and looked in the window. All lights were off in the house. They must have gone to sleep.

  Carefully he crept through the window screen, pushing it back into the house as he went. He landed on the floor with a soft thud, the sound muffled by the heavy carpet. He crept through the rooms of the house, first searching the common areas where no one slept. He doubted she would be there if she were a prisoner, but he needed to check.

  He started for the basement. He knew there was a large common room with a television and some bookshelves and furniture down there. There were also a couple of bedrooms and a bathroom. One of the rooms he had intimate knowledge of, the other he did not. Could she be locked into one of those rooms? If she was, what was she feeling now? She must be terribly frightened.

  Kai felt the anger rise up in him again. And again he wondered why he could feel such an emotion. Anger was uniquely human; Trebladores did not experience it the way humans did. They could feel some of it, but they just did not manifest the kind of deep-rooted emotions that humans did. They could laugh like the rest of humanity, and cry when they were hurt, either physically or emotionally. But they rarely felt anger. Or, at least that was what Kai had thought.

  Now he knew that his ability to feel that deep anger was contributing to his special powers … special powers that the rebels wanted to use for their own nefarious ends.

  Kai slowly edged his way down the stairs, not sure if anyone down here was still awake. They might have set a guard.

  He paused at the bottom of the stairs and listened. He couldn’t hear any voices, but the washer or dryer hummed as it did its job. It was particularly dark. Harrison had complained of that. Kai stepped carefully forward, inching his way along the hall that led to the two bedrooms, feeling his way along the walls. It was so dark down here he could have held his hand in front of his face and not seen it. The first door came up suddenly, a deep indent in the wall. He banged his hand on the doorknob and jumped. He froze, waiting. No sound. If there was anyone down here, they were either sound sleepers or waiting to jump on him when he opened the door.

  His hand slid around the door handle and he turned it slowly. It opened easily. Unlocked. So if they had Beth, she probably wasn’t in this room. But, just in case, he listened for breathing. No sound at all. He hesitated, then pushed the door all the way open. By this time his eyes had adjusted to the dark and he could tell by the faint light that came in through the high window that the bed was empty. No one here.

  The other room was also unlocked, but as there was no window he couldn’t see if there was anyone on the bed. He stood just inside the room, one hand securely on the door handle, and listened for breathing. Silence. No one was there either. He allowed himself a deep breath and then suddenly had to fight back tears.

  Where was she? Was she out at the resort? Had they taken her all the way out there? Kai had to lean against the wall for support. His legs felt weak and his shoulders slumped. His truck was on the other side of town and he had little money left.

  Kai swallowed, forcing the tea
rs back. He’d wasted the whole day. He had to get out of this house before anyone woke and found him. If he were a prisoner, he would be no help to Beth. He wiped his eyes and pushed himself away from the wall, creeping carefully back up the stairs.

  On the main floor, his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten for some time and he thought about what the future seemed to hold for him. He had better take care of the food issue while he could. He stopped in the kitchen and started searching the cupboards. He found a grocery bag and filled it with whatever he could find that would be edible without being heated or did not need a can opener to get into.

  While he was busy stuffing things into the bag a light went on in one of the rooms and a door squeaked. Someone was up!

  He scrambled through the kitchen toward the back door. As he pulled the door open, he heard a sound behind him. He turned and saw Harrison standing in his underwear, disheveled and sleepy in the center of the hallway.

  “Kai?” Harrison said. “What are you doing?”

  Kai dashed through the door and into the back yard, racing through the thick rain that now pelted down. He headed for the back gate as quickly as his legs would take him.

  “Kai!” he heard Harrison call from the house. He did not falter but kept running and was soon stumbling down the back alleys, searching for a place to crawl into and hide. A place that would provide him with a small measure of protection from the Trebladores who wanted him and the weather that didn’t care about him at all.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  When the rebels had abducted Kai, Plan B for a prison was the secluded resort. Maybe that’s where they took Beth. It had to be. If she wasn’t there, he couldn’t guess their Plan C. Panic rose in his throat at the thought and made Kai’s forehead sweat even as the cold rain ran down his face. No, he couldn’t let his thoughts go there. She had to be at the camp.

  Kai retrieved his bicycle from the bushes and peddled furiously into the wind and rain, his bag of food swinging from the right handlebar. He couldn’t bike all the way to the cabin. He’d have to go back for his truck. It was still parked in front of his house, the house he shared with a group of Trebladores. This might be tricky.

  As he biked toward home, he realized he’d been absentmindedly chewing his bottom lip. He pursed his lips together, instead. The car keys were in his room. On the second floor. His heart sank. The chances of getting to his room undetected were slim to none. It seemed there was always someone up late. He only had one set of keys. No … there was also the emergency key in the magnetic box in the wheel well. If it were still there. Kai hadn’t checked since he put it there three years ago.

  The rain slackened, slowing to a soft mist by the time he reached his house. The evenings in May were still cool, in general, but tonight was frigid. Finally, he came to his neighborhood. When he was close enough, he dismounted the bike and paused, alert to any sign of activity. His house was completely dark and the only movement on the street was a tomcat strutting through a flowerbed. A hint of dawn crept over the horizon with pastel pink strokes here and there. Kai leaned the bike against the back of the truck. He reached up into the front driver’s side wheel well and groped for the hard plastic object that held his ticket out of there.

  The tips of his fingers bumped something protruding from the metal. He grasped and pulled … and found he was staring hopefully at a large dirt clod. It crumbled in his grasp. He reached in again, groping and breaking away other mounds of dirt. Then he felt something different. He found the edges of the object, took it in a firm grip, and pulled hard. It broke away from its perch with a metallic sound. The black rubber object with a strong magnet along the back was filthy. He turned it over in his hand, squeezed it, and a slit down the center opened, revealing the key within. No conjurer’s magic trick could have been a more delightful sight.

  He lifted the bike into the back of the truck, and put the bag of food in the cab. Then he slid inside and started the engine. He popped it into gear and pulled away from the curb.

  Within minutes, Kai was on the road to the cabin. As he drove, he ate his stash of food: Triscuit crackers, granola bars, apples, and carrots. It curbed his hunger.

  When he neared the Trebladore resort, Kai parked the truck in a small clearing off the main road. He stuffed the key in his pocket. Then lifted his bike off the truck and hopped on. They wouldn’t hear him coming and he would make much better time than on foot.

  The first thing he noticed as the resort came into view was the absence of vehicles. The night he’d stolen one of their cars, there were at least four vehicles in the curving parking lot in front of the building. Were they gone or parked somewhere else?

  Stashing the bike amongst some bushes, he crept up to the side of the main building and looked in a window. Window after window revealed the same thing. No one was in sight. The sun had risen and the rays on Kai’s shoulders held the promise of a warm day. He crept toward the back door. There was no one in any of the rooms in the back part of the cabin, either. No Trebladores and no Beth. He tried the doors. They were locked.

  Maybe they would return to the resort with the new day. There was a small hill to the north, next to the lake. It would give a good vantage point for watching, but hopefully be far enough away he wouldn’t be discovered. The glittering sunshine on the water would have been lovely if he had Beth to share it with. It was like a piece of his heart were missing and his entire being was desperate to reunite with her. He was somewhat surprised at the pain he felt at her absence.

  Kai continued toward the lake and then made his way up the hill. If he faced east, he had a good view of the highway in the distance, the front of the resort, and the last few yards of the road through the woods.

  Kai paced as time wore on and the resort remained deserted. Where was Beth? What had they done to her? Why had she moved so suddenly? Why did the rebels want him so badly when it should be obvious he had no intention of joining them? Were they afraid? Did Kai know too much? He could tell the Trebladore leaders about the rebel faction that they likely knew nothing about. And he could name names. What would the leaders do if they found out? They would gather up the dissenters and either bring them back to proper Trebladore thinking or … or … or what? Would they employ some sort of restraint on the rebels? It was completely unprecedented. And it was surely the reason the rebels were hunting him down like an escaped criminal.

  Kai turned as he paced. There was another building on the other side of the hill and a separate road leading there. Hope surged in his chest. Maybe she was there. “Beth,” he whispered as though her name were a prayer.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Kai threaded his way through tall trees, the ground covered in a thick layer of leaves, pine needles, and tufts of grass. He paused when the trees thinned enough for him to get a better view of the building. It seemed large, and he could see that there were several other buildings around it. The large building sat somewhat in the center with the other, smaller buildings surrounding it in a horseshoe shape. Four cars were parked in front of the main building and two more were over by one of the smaller buildings.

  Smoke billowed out of the chimney of the central building and Kai could see movement inside. What was going on?

  Kai started down the hill, careful to remain as hidden as possible.

  It didn’t take him long to get to the outskirts of the area. He could see now that this must have served as some sort of summer camp. There was an outdoor volleyball court, a tennis court, an empty swimming pool, and a hot tub. If it had been a summer camp once, it was severely neglected now.

  It was then that he heard the voices of children, a high squeal, and a murmur. It was coming from one of the smaller buildings. Bunk houses, he thought. This would be where the campers slept with their camp counselor during the night. That meant that the large central building was most likely the kitchen and dining room where they probably gathered for the meals, comm
unal meetings, and lessons.

  Kai crept closer to the buildings, using the trees as shields for cover. Yes, there was the unmistakable sound of children. They were laughing, and there seemed to be some kind of game going on.

  Glancing around, Kai checked for any movement that would indicate that there were others out and about. Nothing moved except the leaves in the breeze. He crept to his right, slipping from tree to tree, pausing behind each one to make sure no one saw him. There didn’t seem to be any adults patrolling outside, so they were perhaps all inside with the children, or in the kitchen getting the next meal ready.

  He moved to the right where there were a few more trees close to one of the bunkhouses. There was a single window on the backside. He crept up to the window and slowly peeked over the edge.

  Five children between the ages of seven and ten sat on one of the beds. They were dressed lightly, in shorts and t-shirts with flip-flops on their feet. They were crowded together in a bunch and almost piled on top of each other. One child stood in front of the bed, acting out some bizarre parody. Kai wasn’t sure but he thought he was imitating someone, making a joke, or telling a story. The little ones were laughing, their faces open and unconstrained. The oldest two, tucked around the others, seemed more serious. They smiled where the younger ones laughed but their eyes were sadder. Were they unhappy to be here? Kai remembered when he had gone away to camp and had fought the homesickness that overwhelmed him the first few nights he was there.

  He had been there with Harrison and Leo and his other Trebladore friends and had quickly gotten over his fears, though. And in the end, his summer away from home had been one that he remembered with fondness. Now he watched these children and he could see clearly that they were not Trebladores. The one standing was too short and round with small, dark eyes. And the youngest on the bed had severely uneven teeth.