|
|
|
|
Retribution
Chapter
Ten
Sara
could hear a chorus of insects all around her. She recognized the sound of a
cicada sawing and felt faintly irritated. Grissom’s menagerie of insects was
normally silent – orange-kneed tarantulas and cockroaches might not be the
cuddliest of pets, but at least they didn’t disturb your sleep. It didn’t make
sense that he had chosen to replace them with this new noisy collection of
bugs…
The
world started to come into focus. She didn’t know where she was at first, until
a sharp pain shot through her body and it all came flooding back. A car chase …
a crash … Grissom.
She
turned her head to see him and another flash of pain went through her.
“Griss?”
There
was no reply.
Cold
terror filled her.
“Grissom?”
Slowly
Sara turned towards the driver’s seat.
It
was empty.
Her
eyes scanned the surrounding area and she could not see him. Fumbling for her
bag, she managed to retrieve a flashlight and used it to probe the forest
floor.
He
wasn’t there.
“Grissom!”
She screamed into the night.
“Grissom!”
---
Nick
stared intently at his computer screen, as if an answer would appear to him if
he looked hard enough.
He
was so consumed that he didn’t hear Greg enter the room. He jumped at the sound
of his name.
“You
okay?” Greg asked, his eyes soft with concern.
“Yeah.”
Nick rubbed his eyes and refocusing them back on the screen.
“Want
me to take over? You could go grab some coffee. Take a break.”
The
Texan shrugged. “Maybe in a little while.”
He
sat back in his chair and looked at Greg. “They’re ten steps ahead of us.
They’ve been planning all this for two years. They’ve been playing us. Jill
getting arrested? That was all part of the plan. And now, I can’t help but
think that they were counting on Sara going to
“You
make it sound like they’re omnipotent.” The though of that unnerved Greg.
“Maybe
they are.”
Nick’s
computer chimed, indicating that he had new e-mail. The words that appeared on
screen only served to confirm his theory.
The
Student will become the Teacher.
The Son
replaces his Father.
You will
drip your fingers into his blood and see.
He
followed the evidence. Now he is the evidence.
Will you
be able to do it? Can she?
“What
the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Before
Nick could answer, his cell phone rang.
“Stokes.”
He listened for a moment and his anger turned to fear. “What? Where is she? Is she
okay? What about…?” He paused as the person on the other end of the line filled
him in. “Of course. We’ll be there as soon as possible.”
He
hung up.
“What’s
going on?” Greg wanted to know.
“We
need to get to
---
When
they arrived a few hours later, the lobby of the hospital was small and
bustling. A police presence was not an unusual sight for a hospital, but seeing
several members of the Sheriff’s Department now made Nick and Greg’s concern
more palpable.
Nick
approached them and produced his ID badge.
“I’m
Nick Stokes and this is Greg Sanders. We’re with the
One
of the officers stepped forward and held out his hand.
“Mr.
Stokes, Mr. Sanders. I’m Sheriff Jacobs. Good to have you here. Ms. Sidle’s
been asking for the two of you.”
“How
is she?” Greg asked.
“She’s
pretty banged up,” Jacobs replied. “But she was damn lucky. It was a pretty
nasty crash. The doctors reckon she was unconscious for an hour or so. They’ll
want to keep her in overnight for observation, but she’s out of the woods.”
“What
about Grissom?”
The
Sheriff looked grave. “Only trace of him so far is some blood on the driver’s
side of the car that we think is his. I’ve had officers out combing the area,
but there’s no sign. I assume you guys know about this psycho that’s been after
Ms. Sidle?”
Nick
nodded. “Jill Davenport. We’ve been investigating her back in Vegas. She’s
already killed at least two people that we know of.”
“It
definitely looks like another car was involved in the collision,” Jacobs
informed them. “From the skid marks and the paint transfer on the bumper of Mr.
Grissom’s rental car, it appears that they were forced off the road.”
“So
Jill’s got Grissom,” Greg concluded.
“Sure
does look that way,” Jacobs confirmed. “We’ve set up road blocks in the area
and I’ve put a patrol car on Mrs.
Sidle’s house, in case they decide to target her next.”
“Can
we see Sara?” Nick asked.
“Of
course.”
The
Sheriff led them down a white corridor and opened the door to a private room.
Inside, Sara lay on the bed, her face swollen and bruised. An angry red gash
ran across her forehead and her hair was stiff with her own blood.
She
heard them enter and looked up, her eyes brimming with tears.
“You
came.”
“Of
course we came, Sara,” Nick told her, crossing the room to grasp her hand.
“How
are you?” Greg asked.
“I
need to get out of here,” she told them, trying to climb out of bed. “We have
to find him.”
Nick
gently prevented her from getting up, pressing her back into the pillows
propped up behind her.
“You
need to lay here and rest,” he told her. “The doctors want you to stay the
night.”
Tears
poured down her face. “Nicky, she’s got him somewhere. She’s hurting him. I
can’t… What if we don’t find him in time? What if she’s already…?”
She
broke down completely, unable to finish the thought. She clung to him and
sobbed. As Greg moved closer and began to gently rub her shoulders, Nick
allowed his mind to go there. Allowed himself to think the unthinkable.
What
if they were already too late?
What
if Grissom was already dead?
TBC
bravenet.com