Hide'n Go Seek (37 page)

Kali sat back. A pain she knew would be worse than anything she'd ever experienced unfurled in her heart. Her soul was already splintering with the horror of recognition. "It can't be. Please not." Pain and grief clogged her throat as the killer's voice roiled through her.

"Stupid bitches. Her and that dog. Witches, both of them. She had me cuckolded for years, caught up in her spell. Believing in her. I was an idiot. Not now. Not anymore. I've finally seen through her trickery."

Kali peered through the brush. The killer had stopped shoveling, to catch his breath. She gazed on the face of the man she'd considered her best friend for the last decade. His words, each a fresh stab into her soul.

"I guess I'm not the brightest star around, but I prayed to God for help. I'd been upset because it seemed like nothing I did ever changed anything. Not with Kali, not with the disasters. If anything, it seemed like the more people we rescued, the more that needed rescuing."

He leaned over the hollow, his breath raspy and loud. "I didn't get it. Then finally I figured it out in Mexico." The shovel, full of dirt, lifted again. "I had a light bulb moment. The reason things never changed is that I wasn't doing the right work. God created these disasters to call his people home. Natural disasters - that's because they are naturally occurring - as in God's will. I wasn't supposed to rescue the buried victims. I was
supposed
to help God and finish the job on those people God missed."

There was no longer any doubt.

The crazed killer...the one who'd kidnapped and killed so many people, was her best friend...her dead best friend. Oh God, the same person who'd killed little Melanie and almost killed Julie, was a friend to them all.

Brad.

Kali burrowed her head in her hands. Had Brad killed other people, people he was called to save? Brad's monologue continued. Kali strained to hear.

"The final light bulb moment came when I realized life was supposed to be good - fun. I was supposed to enjoy my life. I hated to go home to my bitch of a wife. I was suffering in silence with unrequited love for the witch, and working my ass off to boot. That's no life for one of God's special workers. Not anymore of that. Life is fun now. This work is a joy." He laughed, pausing to wipe the sweat from his brow. "This is great. I'm dead to the world and you'll be...just dead."

Kali groaned softly.

"And that bitch will get to know my old world. A sense of failure. Knowing that nothing she does ever changes anything."

Kali's heart shattered. Brad's mind had broken. He'd morphed into this bizarre killer. She couldn't even begin to imagine who lay in the morgue wearing Brad's toe tag. His words reverberated in her soul. So much emptiness, so much pain, so much evil.

And he had Grant.

Creeping closer, Kali wished for the first time in her life that she had a weapon of her own. She was relieved to see men working their way around the area. She hoped they killed him. She needed to know that he could never hurt anyone ever again.

Rising up slightly, she tried to locate Grant, but there was no sign of him. There were too many trees in the way. Enough. She had to help Grant.

She stood up, calling out, "It's me you want. So why do you keep attacking everyone else? Brad, why are you hurting all these people?"

All the while talking, she searched the area for any sign of Grant. Again nothing. Except a gun tossed off to one side. Her heart sank. He'd already been buried. Without air, he had only minutes. Who knew if Grant rated an oxygen tank this time? Billowing clouds of grey energy engulfed the area. Signs of violence in progress. Kali couldn't see through it to pinpoint Grant's location.

Brad stepped back, his chest heaving, shock evident on his face. "No, you can't be here. Not yet."

Approaching warily, Kali sought the right words. "Of course it's possible. I'm better than you."

She watched warily as his face turned purple and red, the veins on his temple bulging.

"No. I'm better. I've proved it."

"Proved what? That you're weak and useless and you like attacking innocent people?"

Anger speared his voice. "Innocent? They are not. You don't understand, but then how could you? You don't know I'm doing God's work. But you think these people deserve to be saved. They were supposed to die in the first place." His voice rose until he practically screamed the last words.

Kali stared at him. So that's what a broken mind looked like. Horrible.

"They deserved to die like this? Suffering for days? What disaster did Grant survive? You're only killing him because of me. How many other people have you killed?" She paused, whispering softly, "You're crazy."

But not softly enough.

"I am not crazy," he screamed. "I'm sending these people home my way. Sending them back to the way they were supposed to have died - like all the others. I don't know how many I helped God to take home. I didn't kill them, God did. I'm just putting them to the same situation they shouldn't have gotten out of. God's will must be done." He yelled at her.

Then suddenly, he stopped talking.

He'd seen the men. "You're too late. You'll always be too late."

Kali stiffened. "What have you done?" She ran at him, screaming in fury.

He took one look at her, at the men, then turned and ran. Kali gave chase as men crashed past her. Kali stopped in her tracks as a horrible scream filled the air. Her world had collapsed. She knew she'd need to deal with Brad's betrayal, but right now the only feeling rushing through her was relief. She had to find Grant. Kali raced into the small clearing in a panic.

"Hurry," she yelled at the top of her lungs. "He doesn't have much time."

She studied the area where Brad had delivered his monologue. Her pulse slammed against her veins, urging her to action. But what to do? Where? The area was scuffed, the bank intact. She'd assumed he'd been digging a hole or burying Grant. Purple pulsing energy filled the air. Brush covered the area. There was no bare ground, no freshly turned dirt. Nothing.

Kali frowned. The twisted threads lifted higher, showing her one point more concentrated. Close to the bank but even closer to the edge of the bushes. She brushed past a thick clump of bushes only to have them sway and shift as she moved. Shit, he'd pulled that trick again. The large willow tumbleweed thing was tossed to the side. Kali collapsed to her knees and started to dig.

"Oh, God. Thomas," she called out. "Over here."

Men joined her. Frantic hands dug into the loose sand. There could only be a light layer. He hadn't had time to do more than that. Kali felt cloth, panic giving her strength; she grabbed tight and stood up, using her legs to pull him free.

Grant's chest lifted, his head flopped back.

"Kali, move back. Let the medical team look after him."

Kali shook her head, but found herself lifted out of the way. Medical team? A stretcher and medical equipment arrived as more men poured in from all areas.

Within minutes Grant was loaded up and being carted off.

Kali followed behind. The path was not wide enough to walk at his side, but she was close enough to hear his voice as he spoke with his team. She shook with relief. Tears, the seemingly ever-present tears, burned the corners of her eyes.

It was over. Kali stood in shock, the world she knew splintered. It wasn't the time to break down, she knew that. She had to follow Grant, make sure he was safe. From the bits of conversation going on around her, she'd understood Brad was gone. Having gone over the cliff to the rocks below. The hillside had sent enough dirt and rock on top to require equipment and men to recover his body. Fitting in a way.

The real Brad, her best friend Brad, had disappeared months ago. Somehow during the Mexico disaster, when she'd internalized her emotions to deal with that loss, the Brad she'd known had fractured, becoming someone else.

She'd mourn the loss of her friend. She could only be grateful for the death of the madman he'd become. Maybe in this way she could find closure.

She followed the path back to her house, blind to the other men. She tripped and almost fell twice, except for Thomas who grabbed her. "Come on, Kali, let's get you up to the house to rest. Grant's alive and he'll pull through."

"Will he?"

"Definitely. Let's get you to the ambulance so you can see for yourself. They'll take him in and check him over, but he looks good." Thomas grinned down at her. "You did good."

He led her to the ambulance, where the paramedics were opening the back doors.

Relief lightened her heart. "I'm just glad it's all over.”

"So are we. So are we."

She worked her way up the group of men clustered around Grant. Grant, who didn't seem to think he should be strapped on a gurney and definitely not amiable to being loaded into the ambulance.

She grinned. His anger and frustration was music to her ears.

"Good to know the knock on your head didn't dent your temper."

The men opened up a pathway for her. Grant caught sight of her and immediately calmed down. Well, almost. The narrow gaze swept her from her head to her toes and back again. "About time you showed up."

She laughed. "I've been here all along. Just waiting for you to wake up from your nap."

"Nap?" his gaze lit with humor. "Is that what you think I've been doing all afternoon?"

"Well, I know I've been working hard. Look at you." She motioned to the stretcher. "Doesn't look like work at all."

"And that's why they should let me get up and get back to it."

She shook her head, a fat grin on her face. "Not happening. Go to the hospital and get checked over. I'll meet you there."

"I'm fine. I don't-"

Kali sliced the air with her hand. "Not going there. Just like you were pissed at me for leaving, I'm going to get pissed at you if you don't get checked out." She leaned forward and whispered gently into his ear, "And when you get home...we'll play a little doctor and nurse."

The glint in his eye was the only warning before he captured her lips in a devastating kiss. Cutting it off abruptly, Grant told the paramedics, "Let's go. The sooner I'm there the sooner I get to come home."

Kali stood grinning wildly as the ambulance drove off.

She could really get used to having him around.

The sun shone on the motley crew collected on Kali's deck. Grant had fully recovered. Julie had also pulled through. Her face could use some more color, yet she looked to be managing her recovery. Stan on the other hand, looked to be managing his demise. He was dying.

Kali had shed many tears for him, but Stan actually seemed to be okay with the knowledge. He had some months left to live, and was using that time to put his affairs in order. He'd refused chemotherapy and radiation treatments. They'd only prolong the inevitable by a few months. He wanted to go peacefully - the way God intended.

Kali had flinched when she'd first heard that. The phrase reminded her of Brad, who'd actually killed Christian, switched wallets, and collapsed part of the unstable building down on the body, giving Brad a start fresh. He'd brought a lot of pain and torment to people who hadn't deserved it. Sergeant would be staying with Susan for now. If it didn't work out, Kali might consider taking him on.

Jarl, well that had been a tough one, too.

According to Thomas, it had been Jarl who'd hit Stan over the head when he'd been searching through the computer files for banking information. He'd also shot Kali the first time, knowing she'd finger him for a recent theft from the center and knew that would unravel all his wrong-doings. Only to panic after realizing the cameras had caught him trying to get into Kali's office where he accessed her computer for the personal information he used for his fraudulent activities. He and his wife, Penny, had gone past financial difficulties and into desperation. She had only weeks to live, and now Jarl would spend years in jail for his actions. Kali hoped he could stay with Penny until the end.

Shiloh lay on the far side of the deck. Close enough to be with everyone and far enough out of the way. She'd healed but hadn't fully recovered her strength yet. It could take weeks or more before the same bouncy Shiloh returned - if she returned. Kali didn't care. Shiloh had survived. That's what counted. Hopefully, they'd have many more years together.

As for her, well Kali knew her back and shoulder were healing. The itching was damn near killing her.

Grant reached a hand to stop her. Only then did Kali realize she'd been rubbing her back along the edge of the chair. "Sorry."

"Lean forward."

Kali obliged, almost moaning in joy as he gently scratched her slowly healing wounds.

"That feels so good."

"Didn't you say that very same thing last night?"

She flashed him an intimate glance. "Yeah, I think I did. Maybe it's your turn to moan tonight."

He winked. "I look forward to it."

"Hey, you two, my old heart can't stand much more of this. Keep it clean."

Stefan added his two bits. "Take pity on those of us unattached and unloved." He'd become a regular visitor as he'd been enlisted to help Kali develop her skills as much as possible.

Grant snorted at his friend. "You're alone only when you choose to be."

And if Julie had her way, Stefan wouldn't be alone tonight or any other night. Kali surveyed her group with satisfaction, her gaze landing on Stan, his face alight with knowing laughter. Grant reached out and captured her fingers in his.

"So were you planning on doing anything special in the next couple of months?"

She wrinkled her nose. "No, I don't think so. Other than enjoying life."

"Sounds good to me. How do you feel about having company?"

She glanced sideways at him. "I'd love to have some company - but are we talking of just a few weeks or a few years?"

Her fingers were squeezed in a death grip. "There has been some discussion of a permanent local position here."

Wow. It would be great if he could stay close. Kali raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really. So how do you feel about a house guest?"