Forever Man (42 page)

Katie looked up. “Webber cut his throat. I’ve tried to stop the bleeding, but there’s so much.” Tears began rolling down her cheeks. “I think he’s going to die.”

“Let me look,” Izzy said, lifting the cloth from Gene’s neck. She drew in a sharp breath. The wound was angry looking, the skin curling back from the cut. He was indeed bleeding heavily, but there was no tell-tale spurt of a severed artery. Perhaps Webber’s knife had skidded across Gene’s trachea, preventing the killing stroke. Regardless, he needed medical attention or he would almost certainly die.

As would she and her daughter.

Izzy shook her head. She didn’t make it this far to let them die in the woods.

She removed Gene’s shoes and socks. She handed a sock to Katie and placed the other over Gene’s wound. It was far from perfect, but it was all she had.

“Keep pressing on this. If it gets soaked with blood, use the other sock. I’ve got to get Owens. After that, we need to get everyone to a hospital.”

“Natalie?” asked Katie, her hand now back on the make-shift bandage.

“Alive,” Izzy replied. As she tried to stand, she cried out, her hand clutching her side.

Katie frowned, then saw Izzy’s blood soaked shirt. Their eyes met. “Hurry.”

Izzy nodded, then charged back into the cave.

*   *   *

Izzy pushed through the narrow opening and spilled into the cave.

Several feet away, Jack Sallinen continued his morbid feast. A thick, clear fluid ran from his mouth. Obviously corrosive, it flowed over Webber’s body, liquefying him into a vile slurry. Even so, Jack’s belly was swollen, the fabric of his clothes ripped and frayed.

She looked away, fighting the urge to vomit. Just get the old man, she thought, and get out of here.

She hurried to Owens’s side. His eyes were closed. She touched his shoulder and he opened them.

“Can you move?” she asked.

He nodded. “Gene?”

“Katie’s trying to keep him alive.”

“Good. Help me up.”

She extended a hand, grimacing as she pulled him to his feet. “Jack?”

There was a strangled, gurgling noise. They both looked at Jack. The last of Webber’s body slid effortless down the former banker’s monstrous gullet. The man’s jaw creaked close with the same grating noise she’d heard earlier. Then his ponderous stomach heaved.

“It’s not just him,” Owens said. “It’s both of them.”

“But what’s happening?”

“You don’t want to see. Let’s go.”

Izzy took a step back, intending on moving out of Owens’s way, when her foot caught on something. She stumbled but managed to put a hand on the dirt wall to keep her balance. She looked down at what she’d almost tripped on.

Covered in frost, it looked like a pile of dirty clothes. She remembered seeing them earlier. After giving them a cursory glance, she’d dismissed them as harmless. But now that she was closer, she saw mottled skin, a couple gnarled fingers, a milky eye, and—

She bent down and picked something up. It was a torn and bloodied checked cap.

“Chet Boardman.” She looked sadly at the heap on the floor. He’d been a harmless old drunk.

Owens stretched a blood-coated hand to her. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“But—”

Before Izzy could finish, the ground began shaking, a deep rumbling that she felt in her bones. Like a charging locomotive, the tremors grew violent and loud. Cracks spread across the cave walls, loosening dirt and sticks and raining debris down on them.

Then the ground shifted, knocking them off their feet. Owens managed to catch himself with his hands, sparing his body further injury. Izzy fell hard onto the stiff, mutilated corpse of Chet Boardman. Her hand punched through dead man’s bloated skin and sank wrist-deep into his putrefying organs.

All around Jack Sallinen, the ground broke into fissures. From the openings emerged dozens of small snakes. Long and thin with bright viridian scales, they slithered over Jack, tore at him, opened up wounds—and slid into them.

Then his body swelled.

Horrified, Izzy didn’t register that Owens had pulled her to her feet until he shoved her toward the cave opening.

“Out!” the old man yelled. Then he scooped up one of the lanterns and followed her. “Now!”

Jack’s body swelled further. His taut skin rippled. The last shreds of his clothes fell away.

At the cave opening, Owens stopped her. “Your gun!”

“What?” Izzy didn’t think she had heard him right.

“Do you have your gun?”

From her pocket, she removed Jack’s revolver.

“Hurry! Shoot the ceiling!”

Beyond the remaining lantern, Jack’s body distended, bloating until he was so massive his flesh could not possibly bear the stresses. With a sound like ripping fabric, his entire skin disintegrated into bloody ribbons, revealing the wet fur and scales lurking beneath.

Stunned, Izzy shook her head. “That can’t be.”

“I need your help.” Owens faced the cave, eyes locked on the ceiling, hands raised and palms out. “Shoot the ceiling!”

The creature that had once been Jack Sallinen and Darryl Webber scrambled to stand on all fours. Its broad, shaggy head swiveled toward her. Jack’s hateful eyes bore onto her. Black lips flapping, revealing teeth like knives. Then it threw its head back and howled. To Izzy, the dual-toned cry was eerily reminiscent of Jack and Webber—the two men who now seemed to comprise the creature.

“Izzy!”

When she heard Owens shout her name, Izzy shook herself out of her immobility. The old man had closed his eyes, a look of concentration on his brown face. His hands shook. He was trying to do something.

Lifting the gun, Izzy slipped her finger onto the trigger.

Above her, cracks spanned the ceiling. Dirt streamed down from the seams, weakening the integrity of the structure: large sections of the cave were starting to crumble.

A dozen feet away, the creature crouched, thick muscles bunching, its malevolent glare fixed on her.

As the creature leapt, Izzy fired—and kept firing until the gun was empty.

Lead slugs slammed into the ceiling. The impacts should have had little effect. She was surprised when they shattered the cave’s integrity. Like a dam under too much pressure, the patchwork of cracks exploded, releasing a deluge of dirt into the small space.

The creature was still in the air when the earthen flood hit, driving it to the ground. Snarling with rage, its front talons dug in, found purchase on the ground. But the heavy flow of debris and dirt smashed into it, burying it.

Izzy felt a hand on her arm.

Owens gestured to the cave’s exit.

Nodding, Izzy turned to leave. With Owens pushing her on, she raced through the opening.

Just as they stumbled into the moonlit glade, Izzy heard the creature scream, a sound so full of rage that it made her want to weep at the fate of the two men trapped within it.

And then the cave collapsed, burying everything inside under tons of rock.

Izzy sat crossed-legged on the damp ground. Her daughter huddled next to her, wrapped in the jacket Owens had offered to help contain what little warmth she had left. Natalie had lapsed back into unconsciousness since being brought out of the cave. The wound in her side was infected. She was dehydrated and weak from starvation. Her lips were cracked, the flesh under her eyes bruised. Her eyes raced beneath their lids.

Natalie needed a hospital, as did Gene.

Not that Izzy didn’t need one, too. Her left arm hung uselessly at her side, the shoulder joint still out of its socket, not to mention the ankle she’d twisted less than an hour ago. And she’d been shot twice. One injury was minor, just some torn skin and muscle from where the bullet had grazed her. The wound in her side, where Jack had shot her a second time, throbbed with each beat of her heart. Fortunately, the round had entered at a shallow angle and seemed to have missed any major organs. It hurt like nothing she’d experienced before, but as long as she wasn’t going to die, she’d deal with the pain.

The irony wasn’t lost on Izzy that she and her daughter now suffered similar wounds.

Owens stood next to Izzy. After emerging from the cave, he had rushed over to Gene and helped Katie tend to the man. It meant coming near Kevin, who would not leave Katie’s side, but he wasn’t near the boy long enough to threaten his healing.

“What did you do back there?” Izzy asked Owens. “In the cave? There’s no way bullets would bring down a cave like that.”

Owens gave her an uncomfortable look. “Remember when you asked if there was anything else I could ‘do?’ My answer wasn’t entirely honest.” He turned his head and looked back at the cave. “I was redistributing the weight of the earth in there. I needed the bullets to break apart the surface and start the collapse.”

“But that’s—?”

“Yes, I know. Impossible. I did the same thing with the gun your husband pulled on me. Made it too heavy for him to lift.” As he spoke, he scanned the glade, his eyes fixing on the tree line opposite them.

Izzy shook her head. This was too much information for her to process right now. There were other, more important matters at hand.

She checked her watch. “We have a few hours until dawn. After that, de la Rosa will be coming for us in force. We should leave before he gets here.”

When Owens didn’t respond, when he continued to stare off into the woods, Izzy said, “Is there a problem?”

“Sorry,” Owens said, turning to face them. His cheeks puffed out as he exhaled through pursed lips. “I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that.”

Katie walked up to them. Kevin came with her, his small hand in hers. “Gene’s neck has stopped bleeding. His pulse is a bit stronger. But he’s still going to need a doctor.”

Izzy nodded her thanks. Then to Owens: “What did you mean?”

“We have two unconscious people. They’ll have to be carried. That means two adults for each person. You’ve been shot. And your shoulder’s dislocated. Kevin can’t help anyone. We don’t have enough people. We can’t get everyone out.”

“So we work in shifts. Carry one for a while, then another. It’ll take longer, but no one has to be left behind.”

Owens was shaking his head. “That would take
too
long. The only reasonable answer is to have all of you stay behind. When the Lieutenant finds you, he can get you the medical care you need.”

Katie opened her mouth to protest, but Izzy held up her hand.

“Why does it sound like
you’re
going somewhere?”

“Kevin’s not out of danger yet,” Owens replied. “Others will come looking for him. Not soon. Not after what just happened. But eventually, he’ll become a target again. So he and I will have to disappear.”

“Hold on,” Izzy said. “You can’t just take a child away like that. What about his mother?”

“His parents are divorced,” Katie said. “His mom lives down in Grand Rapids. And don’t forget J.J. He has a brother, too.”

Owens’s face grew serious. “You don’t understand. If Kevin stays with his family, then they’ll all be in danger. At any time, someone, or some
thing
, could come after him.”

“Okay,” said Izzy. “I get that part. But what do you think his mom’s going to do if he goes missing? Ignore it? No. She’ll contact police. The news. They’ll set up searches. And if they think someone has taken him out of the state, then you’ll have the FBI involved. You’ll have the entire nation glued to their televisions as they watch the hunt for the young autistic boy lost in the woods. I’m guessing that’s a little more attention than you’re comfortable with.”

He nodded. “You’re right. Like I said, he can’t stay with his family. That would put them and everyone else around them in danger. And yes, his mother would come looking for him—if she thought he was alive.”

Izzy caught the implication. “You’re going to fake his death.”

“What choice is there?” Owens asked.

“You’d do that to his mother?” Katie said, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

“I regret the cruelty of it,” Owens said. “But it’s the only way to keep them all alive. If the world thinks Kevin Sallinen is dead, then the world won’t come looking for him.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Izzy still had her doubts. “But will that work with whoever is after Kevin?”

Owens said, “No, it won’t. That’s why Kevin will have to come with me. I have a network of friends that will help. They’re used to this kind of thing.”

Izzy stared at the old man. “I’m not sure I like that idea.”

“It’s for the boy’s safety. Once I get him out of here, my friends will help hide him until I can find someone to watch him.”

That got Izzy attention. “What do you mean, ‘someone to watch him’?”

“He can’t stay with me. I’m often a target myself, and that would put Kevin in more danger. When I get home, I’ll have one of the friends I mentioned start looking for a person who will agree to raise him.”

“You’re going put him in the care of a stranger?” Katie asked.

Owens shrugged. “Again, what choice do I have?”

Izzy thought about poor, sweet Kevin, destined to be raised by someone he didn’t know. By someone who had simply agreed to the job as a favor to Owens. That was no life for a little boy. He would need love and attention, not just protection. A person he could turn to when he had nightmares or skinned knees. Someone to hold him and hug him and tell him he would be all right. No, he deserved a normal life. Not some isolated existence in a strange Witness Protection Program.

“He’s not going with some stranger,” she said evenly. “He’s coming with me.”

“No,” the old man said. “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. Think this through, Izzy. Not only will Kinsey be one of the first places anyone will come looking for the boy, remember that he’s supposed to be dead. How are you going to explain his presence?”

“I won’t be in Kinsey.” She paused, afraid of her own next words. “I’m leaving.” She hugged Natalie closer. “I’m coming with you.”

“What?” Katie exclaimed.

Owens said, “Izzy, you don’t—”

Izzy brought a hand up. Everyone quieted.

“Listen to me,” she said to Owens. “My life here is over. When de la Rosa arrives, I’ll be arrested. I’ve just gotten my daughter back. I won’t leave her again to go to jail.” She looked at Kevin. “Besides, you say he’s important.”