Disturbance (26 page)

He disarmed the traps leading to the attic, lowered himself into the cabin itself, and took a shower. He dressed, disarmed the outdoor traps, and made his way back to the lodge.

He heard voices as he
approached the lodge, then realized they were coming from a television. A news program, apparently. He cautiously went in through the kitchen under the cover of its noise. As he peered into the main hall, he saw Parrish asleep on the couch, and after a quick look around to see that Kai was not in the room, he entered.

Parrish was still dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before. Other than an automatic and a stag-handled skinning knife lying on the table next to him, he appeared unarmed. Donovan considered his options, including slitting Parrish’s throat, but he regretfully abandoned that in favor of pocketing the revolver and picking up the remote, stepping across the room from the couch, and pressing the mute button—his eyes on Parrish all the while.

As the voices abruptly stopped, Parrish awakened, grabbed the knife, and moved to a sitting position. Faster than Donovan had anticipated but far too slow had Donovan been intent on harming him.

Parrish sat wild-eyed for a moment, and Donovan read exhaustion in his confusion. Of course. He had expected to have Kai—young, able-bodied, and devoted—available to assist him in his plans. Perhaps he had planned that Quinn and Donovan would be here as well, and now all of that had changed.

“You’re back,” Parrish said, setting down the knife. He
rubbed his hands over his face and stretched. “Tell me that you’re the one who has my gun.”

Donovan held it up, then put it back in his pocket.

“I’ve been listening to the news reports,” Parrish said with a yawn. “Do you think there’s a chance that this story of Quinn’s will fly?”

Donovan shrugged. “I wouldn’t bet against Quinn’s ability to be convincing.”

Parrish smiled slightly, then shook his head. “No. It won’t work.”

“It will be hard for anyone to prove anything against him.”

“The story is weak, but that isn’t why it won’t work. It won’t work because Quinn is weak.”

Donovan didn’t reply.

“You think I’m wrong?”

“No.”

Parrish laughed, then fell into a brooding silence.

“We’ll have to leave,” he said.

“We?”

“Of course. They’re already looking for you, you know.”

“They have precious little to go on. They don’t even know my name.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to be true for long.”

Donovan said nothing, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.

“Tell me, did you enjoy playing the hero?” Parrish asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You did, I have no doubt of it. It’s in your nature, isn’t it? War hero, right?”

“Now I know
why
I don’t know what you’re talking about—you don’t know yourself.”

Parrish’s mouth thinned into a harsh line. “I don’t like to be spoken to in just that tone, Donovan.”

“I was not a war hero,” he said, keeping his voice calm and low.

“Have it your way,” Parrish said. “But if not in war, then in the mean streets of Las Piernas, certainly. For instance, rescuing damsels in distress in cafés.”

Donovan hid his surprise as he studied Parrish’s smug look, all the while thinking furiously. “The ‘mean streets of Las Piernas’ seem to be teeming with your bastards,” he said. “Is Roderick another one?”

“No. Merely one of the Moths. But I’m rather disappointed that you didn’t already figure out he was there because I provided him for you.”

“An unnecessary risk on your part. I would have won her trust by telling her the story of the girl.”

“Admit that Roderick helped.”

He stayed silent.

Parrish lifted a shoulder. “Donovan, you really must accept your heritage. Your fate. You can’t escape it by pretending that you belong to the rest of the world. You belong to me, my son. To me. The rest of the world will never come close to understanding you the way I do.” He paused, then said, “I would hate to find it necessary to have Roderick talk about you to the police.”

Donovan stood and walked over to Parrish, towering over him. Parrish stared up at him coolly. Donovan’s own stare grew colder still. “You’ve never intended to tell me where to find the girl, have you?”

“Now, now. I was told you have no real interest in her. By you, if I recall correctly.”

“Admittedly, I’m no more capable of being a father than you are.”

“But my dear Donovan, I am your father.”

“No, like me, you provided a gamete and the rest was just nature taking its course. Nothing more.”

“You think I don’t understand you? No, I’ve always known about your nature, your impulses.”

“You don’t understand me. And you don’t know me.”

“You think I’ve ignored you until now? No. I always knew what was happening in your life, Donovan.”

Donovan moved away in disgust. “Then you definitely don’t deserve to be known as my father.”

“Angry with me for not protecting you?”

“No. Where’d you learn your psychology? Afternoon talk shows?”

Parrish smiled. “Let’s not be at odds, Donovan. We both have more pressing concerns. The truth is, I had hoped to let you go on your way until Kai and Quinn decided to play with guns. Help me relocate and I’ll disappear with Kai. I’ll tell you exactly where I’ve been keeping the girl and her grandmother, and you—and I’m sure this will delight you—you can play the hero once again.”

“And Kai’s mother?”

“I’m afraid my plans for her will have to be altered. Kai will have difficulty functioning without her, but I’ll be sure to help him make the transition.”

“Just how does she help him to function?”

“Fueling his rage, of course. But that’s just one aspect of their rather complex relationship. He knows it humiliates her to have him touch her as intimately as he must to care for her. She provides an object of prolonged revenge. Exquisite, really, for one as young as Kai.”

“They did let you watch talk shows in prison.”

Parrish didn’t rise to the bait. He seemed to be waiting for something, and Donovan had a good idea of what it was, but he wasn’t going to gratify him.

Parrish smiled. “You never really were interested in fucking Irene, were you?”

“Not if you were going to provide an audience, no. Otherwise—Perhaps it’s the effect of hunting her over those weeks and months, but I do find I have some interest there.”

“I believe you’re lying to me, but I won’t make anything of it just now.” Parrish stood. “Let’s see how Kai is doing, shall we? And return my weapon to me, please. I’d like to make sure he doesn’t come near any firearms anytime soon.”

Kai was awake but did
not stir from his bed as Parrish and Donovan entered his room. Donovan thought he looked pale. When he tried to sit up straighter in the bed, he moved his injured arm, now in a sling, and cried out sharply.

Donovan exchanged a glance with Parrish, who only smiled and said, “He’ll be all right. He just needs a little time to heal. When we’re away from here, I’ll arrange for him to see a doctor.”

“Who changed the bandage and made the sling?”

“Irene,” Kai said. “She’s taking care of Mom, too.”

“Kai,” Parrish said, “we’re going to have to leave this place.”

“Good,” he said. “I’m bored with it. And Quinn is going to talk.”

Parrish smiled. “I believe you’re right about that.”

“Sorry I didn’t kill him.”

“You made him suffer,” Donovan said. “As revenge, suffering lasts longer than death.”

Kai cheered up. “That’s true.”

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to go soon,” Parrish said.

“Okay. I won’t be able to do much, I don’t think, but I’ll try. Donovan will have to help you get my mom into the van.”

“I don’t think it will be wise to use the van.”

“There’s no other way to take her.”

“Exactly. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You aren’t going to kill her!”

“No.”

Kai looked unhappy, yet Donovan could see that he was still in awe of Parrish.

“What’s going to happen?” Kai asked warily.

“We’re going to need to let someone else take care of her for a while.”

“Irene?”

“No, Irene will be coming with us.”

“Donovan?”

“He’ll be with us, too.”

“Then who?”

“Kai. Do you think I’ve failed to plan for any possibility? That I don’t know how much you want Violet to be … available to you?”

“I’ll get her back?”

“Yes, of course. I promise you’ll be together again.”

“So what is the plan?”

“One of the Moths is already on the way up here.”

“But they have to know how to take care of her!”

“Of course. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Kai was unconvinced, and Donovan knew that if he could see it, Parrish could see it. But Parrish seemed to believe Kai could be brought round his thumb.

“Donovan,” Parrish said, “we’ll need to leave as soon as it’s dark. Bring the Escape—”

“I don’t have it. I didn’t want to leave it around where it might be spotted by police. I switched vehicles.”

“Excellent,” Parrish approved. “What do you have instead?”

“A Subaru Forester.”

After a pause, Parrish said, “I know Quinn gave you the money for the purchase of the vehicles. Is it his sense of humor that results in these model names, or yours?”

“Quinn will tell you I have no sense of humor.”

“Hmm. Neither vehicle has real off-road ability, but if that’s needed, I suppose we’ll acquire something else.”

“If Kai needs to be seen by a doctor, you’ll want to be near roads.”

“If you want him to be seen by police, you mean.”

“Hey!” Kai protested.

“I don’t,” Donovan said to him. “I just don’t think that being killed by an infection will do you any good, either.”

“It’s not going to come to that,” Parrish said. “Is the Forester here?”

“No. I didn’t want to attract attention to this place with a lot of traffic. Bad enough that I had to drive up here and away last night.”

Parrish approved of this as well. “We’ll need it now, though. Bring it around to the front of the lodge.”

Donovan nodded and left immediately. He did not ask to see Irene Kelly—knowing that his interest in her well-being would be of no help to her.

When he was a mile
away from the lodge, and certain that he was not being observed by anyone, he took out a disposable cell phone.

He was not, by nature, an emotional man, but neither were the possible repercussions of what he was about to do lost on him. He quieted his mind, closing his eyes, breathing deep and slow.

He composed a text message addressed to Frank Harriman’s personal cell phone:

Re: Irene

He pressed Send, then quickly composed and sent three more messages:

Third step down on beach stairs, underneath.

Jacaranda Street.

Previous destinations.

He cleared the phone’s memory of the messages, broke it into pieces—crushing the SIM card—and hid the fragments in one of the compartments of the Forester.

He picked up the dark green parka he had chosen for Irene Kelly. If it was not too carefully searched—if no one opened seams or checked certain lining hems too closely—he could explain why he had placed certain items in its pockets. Ideally, there would not be any search. Everyone would be busy with other tasks.

He took another moment to slow thoughts that wanted to race, to remind himself to stay focused. But one part of his unruly mind insisted on noting a certain exhilaration. One he had not felt since the end of his last tour of duty.

I
fed Violet and finished doing what I could to make her more comfortable, talking to her, without any response on her side, about exploring the possibility of getting some of the adaptive technologies now available. I had seen wheel-chairs that could be operated by blowing into a strawlike device or by the movement of a person’s tongue. I kept thinking that if I had been in her place, cut off from everyone but Kai and a set of doctors I didn’t like, I would have been yapping away at first contact. Apparently, though, she was out of the habit of social interaction or wasn’t interested in what I had to say. I gave up after a few minutes of the silent treatment from her.

I was considering going back to my room when the door to hers suddenly opened.

Parrish with the gun again, and he had someone with him, but this time it wasn’t Kai Loudon. I felt pure rage course through me as I beheld Donovan Cotter for the first time since he had placed me under Parrish’s control.

I was on the verge of venting some of that anger when I saw how much Parrish was enjoying it. Hell if I was going to satisfy his puppet mastery.

“Hello, Donovan,” I said, then hesitated. “That really is your name?”

“Yes. Hello, Irene.”

“How very civil,” Parrish said, choosing to be amused. “Especially for a man who was just searching her closet. Tie her up.”

I felt panic set in.

“She needs to change into warmer clothes,” Donovan said. “I was going to bring those items in here.”

Parrish smiled. “We’ll go to her room instead.”

They took me there. I thought they would leave, but Parrish said, “Go ahead and change. We’ll watch you do that.”

The panic heightened. I decided not to strip past my underwear and just to put the longer underwear on over my panties and bra. It was humiliating even to strip to that extent in front of them, with Parrish making comments on my body and what he’d like to do to me all the while, and mocking Donovan for not taking advantage of my state of undress.

“I told you. I don’t want or need an audience,” he said.

Parrish told me to go back into Violet’s room. Once we were there, he again ordered Donovan to tie me up.

“That will make it more difficult to put her into the vehicle. I don’t want to carry her, do you?”

Parrish clearly didn’t like being contradicted, but he said, “All right, just her hands, then.”

Donovan moved toward me with a roll of duct tape. I decided I wasn’t about to go along with that without a fight, gun or no gun. I used a move from Kenpo, avoiding his hold and getting in an initial blow—hitting Donovan’s brow rather than the eye I was aiming for—when he quickly reacted. I wasn’t close to being a match for his skills. He soon had me pinned to the floor and bound my wrists.