Dark Visions (23 page)

The note said twenty minutes was left to
stop another kill.

Just turn the car around and call home. She
finally won her freedom. She examined why she choose to head back
into the fray and realized she had no other choice.

Did Vivian have a choice?
She asked
herself.

Her mother would be worried sick. Who knew
what her father was doing to find her.

She's the one who gets the messages. She'll
never forget the first few notes she found after coming out of an
episode almost seven months ago. Her arm had been numb, which is
something she's gotten used to.

She'd bumped her head on her dresser when
her first blackout hit her. A note that someone had written, which
she later figured out was her own doing, sat on the floor beside
her. It said something about a teenager a block away needed help.
Call police on her father.

She couldn't remember the exact words
because after reading the note she crumpled it up and threw it
away.

The next day she heard a fifteen year old
girl got beat up by her father on their front lawn. Sarah asked
around the neighborhood to learn more of what had happened.
Apparently the teenage girl was dating a guy much older and since
she wouldn't stop seeing him, her dad thought he'd mess her up a
little. The father is known to police, she learned later, and a
raving alcoholic.

They live a block away. Sarah could've
intervened with a phone call.

After that incident Sarah stopped throwing
the notes away. She started carrying paper with her everywhere and
eventually used a notebook.

She swore to herself that she would act on
any message as best as she could after Mary Bennett wasn't
kidnapped because of her intervention. If it was in her power to
help someone, she would at least try. She toyed with the idea that
she'd been chosen for this.

That made her feel powerful. It also gave
her purpose like she had never felt before. It was like she an
arrangement with God. He'd protect her. He'd take care of her. This
was His deal.

If she was the only one who could stop Gert
then she had to try. The messages had never been wrong before.

At this moment she was wide awake, still
breathing and feeling strong after the burst of sugar and
caffeine.

The gas station passed on her right and then
it was gone. She was doing over sixty five miles an hour. Multiple
police vehicles, ambulances and dark colored sedans littered the
parking lot. She checked her mirror, but no one was coming after
her. No one paid enough attention to stop what they were doing so
they could give out a speeding ticket.

The black van popped up about a mile ahead,
coming towards her. Sarah let off the accelerator a little. From
this distance she could see the van was moving fast.

She eased up a little more. Why would Gert
be driving like that? It would attract too much attention. Why
would he be coming back to the gas station area where countless
people could identify him and the vehicle he was driving?

Unless it wasn't Gert.

Half a mile away and closing fast. Sarah
slowed down and steered the car as far right as she could go
without driving on the shoulder.

When the van got close enough, she saw long
hair. The driver was female.
Maybe it's just another black
van
, she thought.

She saw a small hole surrounded by
concentric lines in the windshield as the driver raced by her.

A bullet hole.

Sarah could see the woman was doing at least
eighty miles an hour. That might catch someone's attention at the
gas station.

But then what vehicle was Gert in now? How
would she ever know with around ten minutes left in her recent
prophecy?

She hit the gas and pushed the car as fast
as she dared without losing control.

Chapter 55

Sam signaled and pulled over onto the
shoulder. When the car came to a complete stop he opened his door
and got out.

"What're you doing?" Dolan asked.

"Get out."

Dolan hesitated, then opened his door and
stepped from the car. They looked at each other over the roof. It
was too hot to lean on as the sun beat down relentlessly.

The last thing Sam wanted for his career was
to show up at the gas station crime scene and have the psychic with
him. The way FBI Agent Jill Hanover talked about Dolan, it could
harm Sam's ability to be taken seriously, even though Dolan had
proven to be a big help in the past.

"Dolan, you're not leveling with me. There's
something you're not telling me. I don't have to be psychic to know
you're acting different on this case. I know we've gone over this,
but I have to be up front with you. I'm not showing up at the gas
station crime scene with you. Call Alex and get him to pick you
up."

Dolan rested his forearms on the open car
door and lowered his head. He adjusted his sunglasses and looked
back up. "I don't know what it is either. Maybe it's because I
don't want to do this anymore. Perhaps I'm psychically not as
available as I used to be." A soft breeze moved his hair. "Sam, I
can't handle the naggers. Those people who read about my successes
with the police department and then swamp the Psychic Fair." He
raised his hands, palms out. "I know, I know, isn't that what I
want; the more visitors at the fair the better. The problem is,
everyone wants me to do their reading."

Sam waited for a small sports car to pass
behind him. His jacket rustled in its wake. "So let me get this
straight. You agree with Sarah's father to help, but you don't want
to do it. Then while you're supposedly helping to find a kidnapped
teenager, you're allowing your personal wants and needs to get in
the way."

"Saying it that way makes me look like a
letch. Sam, you're interpreting it wrong. It's true; I don't want
to do this anymore. I didn't want to help when Sarah's father came
and asked me. But after thinking it over and talking to Esmerelda,
I decided I would help you guys one more time."

Sam looked over his shoulder as a rig passed
by. Dolan walked around the back of the car and stepped closer to
Sam. "But you know as well as I do, when I agree to take on
something, I give it my best. My inability to help this time has
nothing to do with personal feelings." He reached into his back
pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "Here, look at this."

Sam took the note and flipped it over. It
was from Sarah. "What's this? How long have you had it?"

"Since I first got to the Roberts' house.
Sarah has a gift too. She knew I'd search her room. In my opinion,
she may be the one blocking me, but not intentionally. This is her
gig. That's how she saved Mary Bennett and others over the last six
months."

Sam stepped back from him. "Are you trying
to tell me that an eighteen year old girl is talking to someone on
the Other Side and then going out and saving strangers from
trouble? All the while putting herself in very risky situations
where she could be killed? This is the version you believe?"

"I don't know what Sarah is yet. Not until I
talk to her."

Sam looked at the note in his hand. People
were dead. A cop was killed and another assaulted. Sam refused to
believe that Sarah somehow would have prior knowledge of some
events and not others. If she was in fact helping to stop
kidnappings, then how did she get taken? He believed it went deeper
than what her notebook revealed.

He jolted and ducked his head out of reflex
as Dolan screamed the word 'gun'. Sam jumped onto the hood of the
cruiser without thinking, trying for the safety of the other side.
He saw Dolan making his way around the trunk.

Sam looked at the road as he slid off the
other side of the hood. A BMW SUV was aimed at where they were
standing, driver's side window down. A lone hand stuck out about a
foot, a gun cradled in it. As it was about to pass them, a four
door Impala bumped the BMW from behind.

The gun went off. The bump knocked the
shooter's arm. The bullet meant for Sam lodged in the windshield an
inch above the wiper.

The driver of the BMW took another wild shot
but hit nothing as he passed them. Sam saw the gun hand withdraw
into the driver's side window. The BMW raced away from them while
the Impala slowed down and stopped on the opposite shoulder.

The intensity of the moment, his heart
beating to a soldier's stomp; Sam drew his gun and stepped toward
the Impala.

"Get out of the vehicle, hands where I can
see them," he shouted.

The door opened. A thin, frail looking girl
turned in the driver's seat and tried to stand. Sam approached with
caution, his internal radar afire.

"I'm Sarah Roberts. The man who tried to
shoot you was my kidnapper. I would've called after I got away from
him, but I received a message that you would be killed. I guess I
got here just in time."

Chapter 56

Special Agent Jill Hanover pulled into one
of the last Texaco gas stations in America. She parked her Crown
Victoria under the old weathered sign that had seen more summer sun
than a beach.

Fergus Mant jumped out of the passenger seat
and asked who was in charge. Jill overheard him promptly tell
someone that the FBI had arrived and was taking over the crime
scene.

A moment later Jill's Forensics van pulled
in behind her and parked up by the restaurant doors.

She hustled over and told Angus Tran to make
sure nothing got missed.

"I want every shell casing, every finger
print. I especially want everyone who's still here to give a
statement before they leave. Nothing gets missed."

"Understood," Angus nodded and skirted
away.

Two ambulances and five marked police cars
littered the Texaco parking lot. The immediate area was filled with
people contaminating evidence.

She headed for the entrance of the
restaurant where she saw Fergus arguing with a uniformed
officer.

"Fergus, make sure nothing is missed. Find
out who showed up on the scene first and get everything you can
from them. If the guy bought gas, I want to know about it. Get
prints from the counter where he would have paid. If they have any
kind of cameras in this joint I want the footage."

Angus interrupted her. "Agent Hanover, we
just got a call that a black van was pulled over a couple miles
from here. It matches the description of the one reported stolen
yesterday and the one people here said they saw. State troopers
spotted it easily because of the van's speed."

"Did they nab the guy? Is Sarah with
him?"

"The perp has switched vehicles. The woman
said he was chasing her in her BMW. It was some kind of game he set
up to chase her."

"Did this woman get a good look at the
perp?"

"Up close," Angus was nodding. "But here's
the good part. The car-jacker was alone. He didn't have a girl with
him. That jives with what a few of the witnesses are saying here.
The girl ran onto the highway and was picked up by a guy driving an
Impala. Sarah may have gotten away."

Jill turned to Fergus. "I need you to radio
our Hostage Rescue Team and the negotiator. Bring them up to speed
on what's happening. We're going to have to keep them mobile until
we get a lock on the victim and the perp.

She looked back at Angus. "Is the helicopter
up yet?"

"Yes. Last I heard, it would be in the area
in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, put out a call to every law
enforcement agency in the State to be on the lookout for this
woman's BMW. Inform the helicopter pilot to maintain air support at
fifteen hundred feet and wait for our call about the location of
the perp."

Angus looked down at the paper in his hand
he'd been reading from. "There's one more thing. One of the
officer's who pulled the van over found a piece of paper by a bench
in the back. It was addressed to Amelia Roberts. It appears to be
from her daughter."

"What'd it say?"

"Usual endearment stuff."

Angus turned and went back to the gas pump
area. Jill wanted to get in her car and go look for this BMW
herself but the amount of work here kept her from it.

She spun around and started after her
partner when Angus came running up behind her.

"You're not going to like what just came
through the radio."

"Hit me with it."

"Sam Johnson is in pursuit of the perp as we
speak."

"You don't mean the same Sam Johnson who ran
the kidnapping task force, do you? The one I told was off this
case? Tell me you don't mean him."

"The same one, but listen, it gets better.
Dolan has Sarah Roberts. They're meeting with his assistant and
then coming here." Angus looked at his watch. "They should be here
in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, that's good news. Well, this is
wrapping up quick. We have to go. We leave in one minute. You come
with me to navigate. I'll leave Fergus in charge here. Get someone
to call Tracy at the Holiday Inn and tell her to get Sarah's
parents out here. They're gonna want to meet up with their
daughter. Find out where Sam is so we can help him stop this
lunatic. Update the helicopter pilot too. Let's move, let's
move."

"On it," Angus said as he turned and
ran.

Chapter 57

Gert pushed power on the car phone built
into the dash of the BMW. Little lights illuminated as he dialed
his boss. The phone was answered on the first ring.

"How do I get out of this? You tell me what
to do." Gert yelled into the phone.

"Where're you?" his boss asked. "Why did you
let this get so out of hand? Do you know how many law enforcement
agencies are looking for you?"

"Look, I would've never shot those guys
behind the motel if you hadn't told me to go back and secure my
hostage. It's your fault that I'm in this. It would've been one
dead cop on the side of the highway and me long gone. But no, I
gotta take care of Sarah."