Finder's Fee (25 page)

Judith put a hand on Luke's shoulder. “I know. I gave up believing I could follow this thing through to the end awhile
ago. I figured you did too since you're here looking for the others.”

“It means our secrets will get out.” Luke leaned back in his seat. “I don't know what your secret is but I assume it could cost you everything.”

“Maybe. I suppose there are more important things.” She looked back at Ida and Abel. Abel seemed untroubled.
To have a child's peace
.

“It's only been a day and a half but I feel like I've been reacting to one threat after another for a month.” He paused and gazed out the window. “Okay, let me think. Nothing has changed. We still have to find the others and do what we can to help them.”

“Maybe we should go to the police now,” Ida said.

“Maybe, but I fear for the others.” Luke started the car. “The same deal may apply for them.”

“Besides, I'm kinda wanted for murder.” Judith thought for a moment. “The Puppeteer didn't mention the others. He only mentioned Abel. Why?”

“There's no way to know. Maybe he doesn't know about the others.”

“Maybe he does and doesn't want us to know.” Luke let the car idle. “He said we should turn Abel over to a woman in a toy store in Ontario. Even if we left right now, we couldn't make it on time. That means — ”

“He doesn't know we're up here in the mountains.”

“But he knows we're not in San Diego,” Luke added.

“He could guess that we would have left from the news reports.” Judith's mind grasped for more clues, more details to help her understand, but she ran dry.

“Give me your phone.” Judith handed it over and Luke deftly removed the battery. He did the same with his phone.
“I don't know how well connected or sophisticated this guy is, but so far he seems to be head and shoulders above anyone I've met. No sense in letting the GPS tracking in the phones broadcast our whereabouts.”

Luke dropped the car in gear and pulled onto the road.

A few minutes later, he pulled up to a Dumpster, exited the car, and tossed the phones in.

T
he sound of tires changed from a dull hum to a crunching as Luke slowed and pulled from the narrow serpentine lane that led from the main road through dense forest and to the Christian campground. The map listed the site as Manna Creek Christian Camp.

“Why are you pulling over?” Judith asked. “We have at least two miles to go.”

“I can't take Abel and Ida into danger. We don't know if Pennington and his pals are there, but it makes sense, and if he is, he's not going to be happy with unexpected company.”

“So you're giving up?”

“No. I plan to walk the rest of the way using the forest for cover. With any luck, I'll be able to scope out the situation.”

“Then what?” Judith folded the map.

“I have no idea. I'll figure that out when I get there.”

“When
we
get there. I'm going with you.” She unsnapped her seat belt. Her stomach twisted with apprehension that told her she didn't feel as brave as she sounded.

“No, you're not. I want Ida and Abel to stay here. I don't know why, but this feels real bad.”

“The Truth is talking to you,” Abel said from the back.

“That's nice, kid. I don't know what it means, but it sounds real nice.”

Judith opened her door. “Say what you want. I'm going with you, and aside from knocking me unconscious, there's nothing you can do about it.”

Luke took her arm in his hand. “There's no reason for you to go.”

“Of course there is. Children respond better to women than men.”

“Oh yeah, you haven't met my mother.”

“Luke, you know that I'm right about this. Best we can tell, it was men who took them and it is men who are holding them.”

“We don't know that.” The protest was weak.

“We know Pennington is a man. He worked with Dr. Zarefsky. That's at least two men. All I'm saying is that having a woman along might be helpful.” She turned to the backseat. “You like me, don't you, Abel?”

“I like you a lot.”

“See?” Judith smiled. “I'm irresistible. Now, if we're going to do this, you need to let go of my arm.”

Luke did and Judith slipped from the car. A moment later, Luke stood by her side. She watched him study the road and the tree line. “This way.”

“I'm right behind you.” Judith wondered if Luke could hear the thunder in her heart.

After just five minutes, Judith felt she had left the civilized world behind and was trekking through unmapped areas like Lewis and Clark. Trees, mostly ponderosa pine, towered
around her like pillars. She pushed through the brush, doing her best to walk on loose pine needles in her pumps. Every step made her feet hurt. She had not dressed for this and imagined how ridiculous she looked hiking in business attire.

Having had no opportunity to change, Luke wore the same casual jeans and sneakers which were much better suited for the work, yet even he struggled at times. She marveled at his willingness to go this alone, with no knowledge of what lay ahead. Over the last two days she had come to admire the man, his keen mind, quick wit, and commitment. Of course, he was weird, paranoid, and a loner. In many ways, he was the opposite of her, his north to her south. She worked in a major business, a leader in her industry. She piloted a corporation that measured success in the billions of dollars; he apparently sat alone in his home typing on a keyboard, reading stock reports and placing money here and there. He had done well for himself, but the thought of spending hours alone working like he did would drive her crazy. Perhaps what she did would be equally insanity inducing for him.

They had not spoken once they entered the forest. Only the sounds of distant birds, the occasional tree squirrel added to the noise of their footsteps. They made no attempt to disguise their movements for the first twenty minutes. At first it concerned Judith but she said nothing, instead trusting Luke's instincts. She hoped he had instincts.

If they had walked along the road, then it would have been a fairly easy two miles of twisting path. Plowing through the forest made the distance impossible to determine. Would it be shorter because it was more direct? Maybe. It might also be longer.

Some of the difficulty in walking came from the sloping ground. Luke had pulled to the side after descending three
miles along the winding road and therefore had not reached the bottom of the sheltered valley. So the distance they had to cover had to be made over inclined ground.
At least it is downhill
, Judith thought, then wondered what the trip back up might be like.

Minutes chugged by, measured in carefully made steps and the occasional slip. Perspiration dotted her forehead, the scalp beneath her hair, and behind her ears. For a moment she felt disappointment that Luke would see her sweaty and dirty, with pine needles in her hair. She quickly chastised herself for the thought. She had read novels where women were portrayed being more concerned about their feelings and appearance than the danger that loomed before them. She abhorred such shallow representations and determined not to prove the authors right.

Luke slowed and Judith caught up to him. His breath came in deep draws and she could hear a slight wheeze with each inhalation. “How you doing? Am I going too fast?”

“I'm okay. Want to trade shoes?”

He looked puzzled then gazed at her feet. “No, thanks, I only wear slingbacks.”

The unexpected image of Luke in women's shoes made her smile. “Tell me we're not lost.”

“Not at all. I just wanted to give you a moment to rest.” He took several more deep breaths.

“Very kind of you. Of course, you don't need a rest.”

“Are you kidding? I'm dead on my feet. I'm just trying to appear macho in your eyes.”

“My hero.”

“I also wanted to take one more stab at getting you to go back.” His face softened, draped in a concern that Judith hadn't seen before. The iceman was melting.

“I can't, Luke. I have to see this through. I can't let you go alone, and if the kids are there, you're going to need help handling them.”

“How did I know you were going to say that?”

“Maybe because we've learned more about each other in two days than most learn in two years.”

Luke lowered his head in thought. “And still, we know nothing about one another.”

The truth of that landed hard in Judith's mind. Luke couldn't be more right, yet without knowing details and history, the last two days had caused her to respect, even admire, the odd man named Luke Becker.

Luke looked at his watch. “We've been walking for about a half an hour.”

“How far have we come?”

“Hard to tell. If we were walking on a flat street where we didn't have to dodge trees and lose our footing on pine needles, we could make maybe three miles an hour at a brisk pace. My guess is that we've done two-thirds of that.”

“So at two miles per hour, we've come a mile. That means we have another mile to go. We're only halfway there.”

“Not true. We had two miles of travel along the road. The road is pretty twisty. I think we're close. So we need to move slower and quieter.”

“I'll let you set the pace. You've done a great job so far.”

“Okay. Stealth is the key.”

“Meaning if I fall down and break my leg I shouldn't cry out in pain?”

“Do your best not to fall. I'm not carrying you back up the hill.”

“Again I say: my hero.”

Luke resumed the trek down the slippery grade. Judith followed with careful steps.

The shadows cast by nearby trees and the far-off sun painted an abstract canvas of shade and stripe. Every footfall brought more sound than Judith wanted. In the near silence of the forest, each stride elicited what sounded like a cacophony of crunching. She pressed on, walking through spiderwebs, destroying hours of arachnid work and giving her the creeps. Every minute sharpened her senses. When they started she noticed only trees, needles, and leaves. Now, even the movement of ants marching along the crevices of tree bark caught her eye. Beetles scampered when their fortress of leaves was disturbed. Gnats flew in formless clouds. The smell of damp dirt and decomposing detritus wafted up in the still air, reminding her that she walked more on compost than on soil. For some reason, she thought of the actress portraying her in the ad agency's mock-up television ad. “I love the time I spend communing with the plants that make my garden an outdoor home.”
If only they could see me now.

Luke slowed and held up a hand. Judith stopped. A second passed, he waved her forward and pointed. A short distance ahead, the trees gave way to a meadow blanketed in wildflowers. California poppies and lilacs dotted long, green grass. A breeze made bud and blade dance in undulating waves. A creek split the meadow adding its burbling sound to the chorus of singing birds. Any other time, any other place, the site would be beautiful, but the serene panorama made Judith anxious.

Closer stood several buildings all needing the attention of a skilled handyman. The structures varied in size but shared a common design: clapboard siding with weather-worn brown paint, green trim, and shingle roofing. Judith guessed that
they had been built in the late sixties or early seventies. They were rustic, but that was to be expected for a complex billed as “a camp.” Several had broken windows. Judith wondered what it was about abandoned buildings that attracted vandals like a flame does a moth.

Luke pointed to the west side of the camp and Judith saw what had captured his attention: a yellow school bus. Nearby the large form of a Humvee rested.

Leaning close, Luke whispered in Judith's ear. She could feel the warmth of his breath. “Everything around the buildings looks dirty; the bus looks clean.” Judith agreed. “The place looks like it's been abandoned, but the vehicles look like they've been here less than a day or two.”

Judith understood the implication. The odds that this was the place they were looking for just increased dramatically.

Judith scanned the surroundings time and time again but saw nothing. She closed her eyes and tried to force them to listen beyond their ability. Surely children would make noise, wouldn't they? Still, she heard nothing.

The presence of the bus and Humvee could be coincidence. Maybe the SUV belonged to a contractor. Maybe the bus was just being stored here. Maybe …

Something grabbed her attention. A vague, indistinct motion in one of the buildings. The grounds held six buildings. Three looked like bunkhouses, one appeared to be a home — maybe staff housing and offices; one looked like it could be a recreation building and one — longer than any of the others — she judged to be the dining hall. She came to that conclusion based on the number of dented trash cans at the back end, and a large metal pipe sticking up from the roof she assumed vented a large cookstove. It was all guesswork.

There it was again. Someone moved in front of the window. Judith pointed but said nothing. Luke had seen it too. He leaned close again and placed his mouth an inch from her ear as before. “I think the building farthest to the east is where campers slept. There might be some children in there. I'm going to work my way along behind the tree line and see if I can't sneak a peek.”

“I'm right behind you.” Her voice barely made a whisper.

Luke frowned but didn't object. He was in no position to argue.

Quietly as possible, Judith followed Luke up the slope and deeper into the woods. Once certain they couldn't be seen, they turned east and moved with slow, deliberate steps.
Haste makes waste
, Judith thought,
it also makes a lot of noise.
Slow was the only way to go if they wanted to avoid detection.