A Time to Live (23 page)

“I’m calling
—”

But Michael hung up.
He held the receiver down for an instant then picked it up again, getting a dial tone. Quickly he called the bar.

“Greg, this is Michael.
Is Nikki or Josh still there?”

“No, Michael, they left about an hour ago.
Nikki was in no shape to drive so Josh said he was taking her home. She should be there by now.”

“Christ,” Michael growled and hung up.
Terror raging within him, he sprinted for the door and his snowmobile. He knew where Josh lived, and he would get there faster by cutting cross country. He just prayed he wasn’t too late.

Nikki opened her eyes, confused at the distorted haze. She tried to move and found her hands bound with duct tape in front of her. What the hell? She blinked, her head and body aching, she was in a bed, but unable to recognize her surroundings. She felt terribly hot, sweat rolled down her skin and beaded on her forehead.

“Nikki,” a soft voice called and a form moved within her line of vision.

“Michael?” For an instant, his face focused in front of her, but then blurred again.

A hand touched her cheek.
“If you want me to be, Nikki.”

She moaned, her head pounding.
It didn’t sound like Michael’s voice. A wild fear cut through her, but it was as if a part of her didn’t care, a voice in her head whispered everything would be all right.

She blinked furiously and Josh’s face came into focus confusing her even more.
Where was she? What was happening?

He leaned over her, his fingers traveling down her throat.
“I’ve waited a long time for this.”

His face blurred again and suddenly Bradley hovered above her.
She sucked in her breath, her heart pounding in fear.

God, she couldn’t go back to that, not the hospital, not the terrible tests.

Suddenly, she realized Josh had betrayed her too.

“No,” she cried.
“I can’t go back.”

“Nikki,
it’s all right,” Josh said patiently.

“Please, Josh, don’t do this to me.
I can’t go back to the hospital.”

“This is surprising,” she heard Josh murmur.
“I’ve given you a full dosage and you’re still afraid.” Something clattered beside her with chilling familiarity. Nikki blinked furiously and forced her eyes to focus. Beside her she saw a medical tray. Josh picked up a syringe and a tourniquet. “I’ll just have to do a little blood test. I don’t want to give you too much - we want this to last a long time.”

Sheer terror possessed her thoughts as she focused on the needle.
All of the pain she had suffered, all of the terrifying tests, always being alone, always in agony as the doctors told her she had to do what they said, she had to submit to the pain they wielded without care.

For a heartbeat
, her vision cleared completely with her terror. “No!” she screamed. She refused to return to that agony ever again. No longer would she be a prisoner. She swung her bound hands, catching Josh in the jaw, knocking him back. Before she realized what she was doing she lunged for the door.

Nikki staggered down the stairs, hearing Josh screaming for her to stop.
Again a vision blurred before her. She was in the hospital, fighting to get away from the orderlies. She couldn’t take any more. Didn’t they understand that?

They chased her down the hall.
Nikki saw the doorway and the light of freedom.

“Michael!” she screamed.
“Where are you? Don’t let them do this to me!”

She careened through the door, charging off the porch into the deep snow.
Sweat poured from her body, soaking her shirt to her skin. Her jeans stuck to her legs. Snow burned her bare feet with cold. But she didn’t care, she had to run, she had to escape. She fell, floundering in the deep snow, and savagely hauled herself up again.

Bradley and the orderlies were right behind her.
They screamed at her, taunting, laughing, like something out of some sick horror movie.

Nikki lunged, cutting through snow covered trees, rocks tearing at her bare feet.
The world spun around her a confusing haze of white and deadwood.

“Nikki!” Josh’s voice cut through the din in her head.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw him a few paces behind her.
Her gaze locked on his hand. He carried a huge hunting knife. Suddenly she remembered the intruder in her house. He had carried the same exact knife.

She fell again, the snow half burying her.
Her eyes closed and the breath rattled in her throat. The cold snow soothed the terrible heat radiating through her body.

No, she had to run, she had to escape.
Again she surged to her feet, glancing backward.

“Nikki, don’t do this,” Josh roared.
His other hand moved, pulling a gun from his waistband. “You can’t run with a bullet in your body.”

Nikki’s eyes widened in terror.
Josh had her in his sights. She slid to a stop at the edge of a huge thicket. Josh slowed to a walk, the gun steady in his hand. “That’s a good girl,” he said, his lip curling.

She scanned around her, searching for escape.
Nikki sensed motion to her left in the heavy undergrowth. A tall dark form stalked toward her, with broad shoulders. Her heart lurched.
Michael?

The form became clearer and Nikki blinked in shock.
Michael stood in the thicket, wearing only buckskins. War paint formed strange markings on his chest and face. His long hair streamed around him...her breath caught in her throat...the Arapaho warrior in the painting.

He lifted his hand and motioned to her, then started to walk away.

Dizziness assailed her. Was this another hallucination? What was he doing? Why didn’t he help her?

Her gaze returned to Josh as he slowly closed the distance of about fifteen paces.
She heard another noise to her left and the warrior stopped, motioning to her again, more urgently.

Summoning every ounce of courage, Nikki dove to her left, in the direction of the warrior.
She burst through heavy branches of the thicket and hit the snow hard, suddenly she slid forward, down a steep incline.

A gunshot cracked the silence
, but missed Nikki. She rocketed down the slope and slammed into a tree. Stars scattered through her vision and again she savored the wonderful coolness of the snow.

But suddenly Michael as the Arapaho warrior appeared again, motioning urgently for her to follow.

Somehow, Nikki hauled herself up, lurching forward. Nothing made sense, the world canted at a strange angle and she staggered. Nikki heard Josh behind her. Sweat rolled down her face, it soaked through her clothing. But she followed the warrior into the heavy undergrowth.

“Michael,” she said hoarsely.
“Help me.”

A third time he stopped
, but only made the same hand motion - to follow, quickly.

He lead her through an impossible tangle of woods.
Nikki paused, her vision blurring terribly. But again the warrior appeared and motioned. She followed him to a small rise where the snow slid out from under her. Rolling down a hill, she landed in a heavy drift. She struggled to regain her feet, but suddenly the warrior crouched next to her, holding his finger to his lips. Nikki sank back into the snow, fighting to suck air into lungs. Her vision blurred again and went black.

****

Michael held the throttle wide open, coaxing every ounce of speed from the snowmobile and begging it for more. Why hadn’t he realized sooner? Why hadn’t he seen what had been in front of his face all along? Why had he never suspected?

How could Josh, his dearest friend, betray him so terribly?

The snowmobile screamed to a stop in front of Josh’s house and Michael jumped off. He was shocked to see the front door open. “Nikki!” He roared and sprinted inside.

Eerie silence greeted him.
Michael forced himself to slow and listen for any sign of her. He prowled through the halls, peering into doors. When he found Josh, he would kill him with his bare hands.

Why hadn’t his infernal instincts warned him of this?
But they had remained as silent as the house. Maybe that meant Nikki was still alive. That thought made him feel only a little better. He quickly moved upstairs but every door he opened showed only a normal house with normal rooms.

The last door proved different.

Michael opened it and stopped short. It was set up like a lab, but he saw an empty bed with restraints. Files sat open on a desk. Michael moved closer then wished he hadn’t. Photos of Denise, Laura, and Joanna during various stages of their torture were spread across the desk. He saw notes that appeared as if Josh documented research, and computer printouts. Dear God, Josh had used their deaths to gain data for his research. Michael spotted another folder with Nikki’s name on it - but thank God it was empty.

What had happened?
Where was she?

The faint sound of a four wheel drive churning through the snow reached him and Michael hurried outside.
But when he reached the door, he saw nothing. Fear coiled through him. What had happened to her? How could he find her?

His gaze swept the ground and he saw fresh tracks in the snow.
Stepping forward he crouched to examine them.

“Michael,” Josh said, his voice as icy as the snow around them.

Michael looked up, remaining still when he saw Josh pointing a gun at him.

“How nice of you to join us. But I fear you are a little late.”

Every muscle coiled in Michael’s body.
Slowly, he rose, his gaze locking on Josh and the nine millimeter pointed at his chest. “What have you done with her?”

“I fear she brought it on herself, Michael.
People with nothing to lose have a tendency to act rashly.”

Michael clenched his fists.
“Where is she?”

“Our little bird flew away.
Can you believe it, Michael? I gave her enough medication to drop a horse, but she tried to escape.”

For an instant
, a wild hope rose within Michael. Bless Nikki for her strength, she was a fighter, that’s why she had beaten the cancer.

“I’m afraid she made a very foolish error and ruined my experiment.
I had to put a bullet in her.”

A terrifying numbness settled over him.
Michael fought to breathe, but his lungs seemed useless.

A sadistic smile stretched Josh’s lips.
“She’s dead, Michael. You’re too late.”

“No!” Michael screamed
, lunging forward. But Josh lifted the gun again and he slid to a stop.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he said tauntingly.

“Why?” Michael growled, fury boiling within him so violently it tinted his vision red. “I know you are the murderer, Josh. Why did you kill the others? Why did you kill Nikki?” His voice cracked as a cold despair swamped him.

“Hell, you are such an idiot,” Josh spat.
“You fell for everything like a stupid sheep being led for slaughter. I did the same thing you did to me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“How does it feel, Michael? How does it feel to know the woman you loved shared your best friend’s bed?”

“You raped her?” he snarled.

“Actually no. With the drugs, Nikki wanted and enjoyed everything. You should be grateful to me for that simple fact. I loved them too, I did all I could to minimize their pain.” He hesitated, his gaze distant. “I thought Laura was the best of all of them, until I had Nikki. You really do have fine taste in women, Michael.”

Michael battled against the rage threatening to steal his sanity.
He had nothing left to lose and resolved Josh would pay for what he had done to Nikki and to the other women he cared about. They had done nothing to deserve this. “You bastard! Why did you do this? You were my best friend.”

“I thought we were friends too until you stole her from me,” he snarled.

“Stole who?”

“Every damn woman I was ever interested in!
Ever since college, all you did was smile at them, and they would fall over themselves to go after you. But I handled it, until you stole Tiffany from me.”

Michael’s heart dropped. Josh’s ex-
fiancé in college? “I told you, Josh, I never did anything with Tiffany. I tried my best to convince her not to break up with you.”

“You went to bed with her!” Josh barked.
“She slapped me in the face with that right before she left. Do you know how that made me feel, Michael? To see her smile of victory and tell me how much better you were in bed. To have her describe exactly what you did to her that drove her wild.”

Horror coiled through Michael and he stared at Josh, his jaw slack.
Tiffany had made a serious pass at him and Michael turned her down, making her leave immediately. But obviously she had told Josh differently, inventing something that never happened just to hurt him. No wonder Josh hated Michael. “She lied, Josh, I never touched her. Our friendship was too important.”