Brain Storm (A Taylor Morrison Novel Book 1) (41 page)

I couldn’t just sit there waiting for something that wasn’t happening. I got up and made a slow careful trek around the house, still calling out in my head for him, praying he would respond. I moved my search 10 feet further out with each rotation of the house until I’d covered a path 30 feet wide and I’d still not found him. I had really hoped that I’d find him before I reached the tree line. Now the hunting was going to be a lot tougher and I still wasn’t up to speed. My head hurt and I suspected that I’d caught some of the shotgun pellets.

I went back into the house to check on the others and found Bryan sitting at the table with Mama D, an ice pack on his head. Candice had made coffee and was pouring a cup when I came through. She looked up and I shook my head that I hadn’t found him yet as I passed through the kitchen to get the flashlight.

When I came back, she held out a cup and I took it, stowing the gun in my jacket pocket to free up a hand. I hated putting the gun away, but I was fairly sure if anyone was out there, I would have run into them by now. I was desperate to find Mac, but I needed both the kick from the caffeine and the warmth it provided, so I was taking it with me. Bryan just watched me as I strode by, too groggy to come with me, and obviously hating the fact. With one hand full of coffee and the other holding the flashlight, I kicked the door open and headed back out into the night.

I FOUND HIM 90 minutes later. My frustration had mounted with each passing moment and I found myself eventually yelling out loud for him as well as in my head. I had searched the out buildings and been through the trees along the driveway. It had been a long, slow search and still I hadn’t found him.

I flopped down on a big rock, and yelled at him mentally for ignoring me. Exhaustion and shock had been grinding on me and I was about at the end of my rope, when I finally heard him. It took me another 10 minutes to actually locate him, even with his help. If he hadn’t woken up, I would have never found him. As it was, I wasn’t sure I could help him, now that I finally knew where he was.
 

He was alive. I was thankful for that. But Brown had used the power that he had kept hidden from us and thrown Mac off the side of the mountain. I crawled on my belly to the edge and shined the light down to find him lying 20 feet below me on the ledge that had broken his fall. It had broken him too. Mac was trapped on the mountain and couldn’t move his legs. He was paralyzed. I took off my coat and dropped it to him along with the flashlight and started back to the cabin at a run.

“I found him,” I announced, throwing open the door to the kitchen and startling everyone. I saw the gun in Bryan’s hand, but barely even gave it a thought. He could barely even focus after that knock on the head, much less aim a gun. “He’s alive, but we’ve got a problem.”
 

“What? You mean bigger than the problems we already have?” Candice asked, pouring me another cup of coffee.
 

I wrapped my hands around the cup, grateful for the warmth. It was colder outside than I realized and I had no idea how Mac had survived so far with his injuries. The thought had me hopping back up and gathering supplies.
 

I grabbed a Thermos and started filling it with coffee for Mac as I explained the situation. As I moved around the kitchen gathering food and supplies, they listened quietly. I was nearly finished when Candice left the room. I heard her running up the stairs and within minutes she was back.

“What should we do?” she asked, piling me down with the blankets she had ripped from the beds. “We can’t call the police. Not with this mess. How do we get help?”

Well, now there was the million dollar question and I didn’t have an answer. I just left them sitting there, dragging blankets behind me as I headed to the tool shed in search of a rope.

I was heading back to the cabin thirty minutes later. I had lowered the blankets, coffee and some food down to Mac with the rope I had found in the shed. The rope itself was in bad shape and I had doubts it would even hold the weight of the supplies I had lowered down, much less anything heavier, but it had surprised me and done the job.
 

From above, it was impossible to see what other injuries he had incurred. He seemed to think that his back was the main problem, but I was worried that with a fall that bad, we were looking at possible internal injuries not to mention other broken bones and injuries that he wasn’t feeling yet. We needed to get him out of there, but Candice was right. We couldn’t call in the police. There was only one place we could turn to for help. It was crazy, but it was the only thing I could think of.
 

“How’s he doing?” Bryan asked as I came back in the door.
 

I looked over at him. He still looked pretty bad, but his eyes were clearer and he could make complete sentences, so I figured he’d survive.

“He’s alive. For now. But I’ve got to get him off the mountain.” I braced myself for the next part, because I already knew they weren’t going to like it. I didn’t like it either, but there just wasn’t any other way. “You all need to pack your things and get out of here. Candice, you go pack your and Mama D’s stuff up and I’ll take care of getting Bryan packed. You need to be on the road. Now.”

“What about your stuff?” Candice asked, moving to clear the table.

“Leave that.” I told her, stilling her hands. “Go pack. My stuff stays here. I stay here.”

“What do you mean you’re staying here?”she said, freezing in place. “We need to get Mac and get out of here. Together.”

“We can’t get Mac. There’s no way I an get him off the mountain. No way any of us can. We need help. People who can go down there and get him. There’s no point in you being here, being involved. You need to leave. The sooner you’re gone, the sooner I can get him to him.”

She wasn’t happy, but seemed to understand. She set the dishes back down on the table and headed upstairs to start packing.

“What are you going to do after we leave?” Bryan asked as soon as she was out of earshot. The anger in his voice was palpable. It wasn’t helping things although I knew he was angry at the situation and not at me.
 

“As soon as you’re gone, I’m going to set this place on fire. Once it’s burning good, I’m going to call the Agency and tell them to come and get us.”

Bryan closed his eyes and I could see his jaw grinding but when he finally looked at me and nodded, I could tell he didn’t see any other way out. He may not have liked it, but it was the only way to get help.

I left the room and ran upstairs to pack. It took me all of 5 minutes to throw his things into a bag and head back downstairs with it. By the time Candice had finished packing up her and Mama D’s things, and piling them all into the RV, I had filled Bryan in on the plan. He still wasn’t happy, but he was thinking clearly enough to help iron out some rough spots. It was a huge risk, but it was all we had.

I walked outside with them and helped Candice get Mama D and Bryan into the RV. We said our good-byes and I watched until their tail lights disappeared into the distance, sad to see them go, but grateful that they were safe and out of the line of fire. At least for now.
 

I swung by the shed and grabbed the gas can I’d found while looking for the rope. It was a two gallon can and was over half full. Not much, but I didn’t need much to get the job done. I headed back to the house and dropped the can off in the kitchen and grabbed the guns off the counter, placing them outside, before heading upstairs to take one last look through the house. I wanted to make sure we’d removed all evidence of Bryan, Candice and Mama D having been there and make sure the scene was set for what was coming next. I stopped by my room to pick up my cell phone, checking to make sure it was charged and that I had service before slipping it into my pocket. Then I headed back downstairs to finish up.
 

I checked the small study off the living room where Brown had been staying. There was nothing of his there. He hadn’t had anything but the clothes on his back when we’d picked him up and I’d made him throw those out the van window. I stripped the sheets and blankets off the sofa where he’d been sleeping and drug them through the living room to pile them on top of the blanket already covering his body. I looked around one last time and decided I’d delayed enough. Candice had had plenty of time to be well away from the area. All I was doing now was putting off the inevitable.
 

The smell of the gasoline was almost overpowering as I poured it over the pile of blankets, trying not to think about what I was doing. I dropped the empty can into the pile and pulled out the matches.

I stood for a moment, taking one last look, the book of matches in my hand. Never in my life did I ever think I’d be doing something like this.
God forgive me,
I prayed, as I lit the match and tossed it onto the soaked blankets. The flame caught immediately with a loud whoof and within seconds the blanket was engulfed.
 

 
I went back outside, retrieved the guns, and stood back to watch until I was sure the flames had taken hold of the house. It happened faster than I’d thought it would. Within minutes the entire first floor was in flames and smoke was barreling up into the sky.
 

Satisfied, I broke into a slow run and headed back to Mac. By the time I got there, I was winded from expending too much energy at too high an altitude, so I didn’t have to pretend to be out of breath when I pulled out my cell and dialed the Agency begging for help. I hung up and laid down at the edge of the cliff, calling down to Mac that help was on the way. The we went to work setting the scene.
 

I shined the light down as Mac struggled to shove the blankets and supplies off the edge of the ledge. I waited until he was done before tossing the guns over the side, and watched as they disappeared into the blackness below. I had no idea if they would be visible when the sun came up, but if things went as planned, we would be long gone before that happened. Once I was sure he was set, I tossed the flashlight onto the ground and laid down on the rocks and the dirt to watch the house burn, as we waited.

By the time Hughes arrived with the troops the house was fully engulfed, the surrounding area awash with light from the flames. I watched as Hughes got out of the lead car and started directing his men to fan out and start the search. It had taken them nearly thirty minutes to arrive. I was shaking badly from the cold and knew Mac had to be in far worse shape. I closed my eyes and prayed that they would find us quickly.

THIRTY-SIX

IN THE END, it took longer than I’d planned. I was sure the flashlight I’d left on and lying nearby would be a pretty good indication of our location, but the batteries started going and the light was pretty dim by the time Hughes got there. I was about to the point of getting up and staggering over to them, when one of the men finally saw me lying there and sounded the alarm. Within minutes there were people swarming all over. Medics had been brought from the Agency as well as an unmarked ambulance, which I was hustled into while they brought Mac up the mountainside. All in all it was quite impressive.

I sat huddled in a thermal heat blanket while they checked my vitals, managing to keep an eye on Hughes despite the interference of the medic. We’d seen Hughes with a couple of guys, the night we watched them at the Agency, but there were substantially more people here tonight. I doubted everyone was in on it and looking out over the group that was working so hard to help us, I figured that worst case, maybe half of them were in league with Brown. Problem was I didn’t have the faintest idea who.
 

So far, every one had pretty much left me alone with the exception of the medic who was fast becoming annoying. I was playing the role of shell shocked victim, which wasn’t much of a stretch, but I made sure to keep a vacant, confused look on my face, discouraging anyone from pelting me with questions. I preferred to wait and see what they came up with than volunteer information to them.
 

The house fire had pretty much burned itself out and so far, no fire trucks or police had shown up, making me wonder if they just didn’t know about it, or if they had been warned off. The implications of that possibility sent a shiver through me that had the medic swarming all over me again, rechecking my vitals for the umpteenth time.
 

The absence of flames had sent the area back into a moonlit darkness. They had pulled some cars around and were using the headlights to illuminate the area. Movement from the house caught my eye and I watched as a hulking figure dislodged itself from the smoking remains and slowly made its way over to the group gathered by the cars. It was the fire suit that gave him the slow plodding gait and large mass. I cringed as he reached up to pull off the helmut that had allowed him to go inside the house despite that heat that was still radiating from the burned mass. I hadn’t counted on a fire suit, hoping I’d have a few more hours before they were able to get in and find Brown’s body. I knew that was not to be the case as he stared over at the ambulance for a few minutes and then headed off in Hughes direction. It didn’t take long before they started walking toward me.

“Who’s body is in the house?” Hughes demanded. I ignored him, choosing to watch the rescue scene instead. They had finally brought Mac up and now the other two medics were finally able to get to him. The group was clustered around him and I couldn’t really see anything, but at least they had him off that ledge and he was getting some help.