Mythe: A Fairy Tale (58 page)

Once again Manda wished Richard were there to wrap her in his arms and make everything all right. She knew it was a childish wish, but she’d always felt safe and happy with him. The sudden, harsh realization bore down upon her that he couldn’t make this right—though she knew he would try. According to Kastl—and she was beginning to believe him, if not like him—things hadn’t been right for Richard in a very, very long time, yet his concern would still be for her with no regard for himself. Maybe it was her turn to try and make things right for him for a change...and with that she knew that she’d just made up her mind. That quickly, she knew she would do as Kastl asked.

She bowed her head and closed her eyes. Her voice, when she finally spoke, was stiff. “Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll give you one year. No more. So hurry up and catch them. I want to go home.”

“Fair enough. Thank you. I promise we’ll do everything we can to catch them quickly. Now that we have that settled, can I get you to give me a description of the girl who attacked you again? I know you probably don’t want to think about it, but we need to get a composite image while it’s still fresh in your mind. It could help us catch her.” He retrieved a laptop computer from the counter behind Manda and pulled up a stool beside her.

“Okay. Let’s get it over with,” Manda agreed uncomfortably. He was right. She really didn’t want to think about the attack. The feel of the claws tearing into her body was still very clear in her memory. She shuddered and was glad when Kastl didn’t notice.

Kastl signed onto his computer and then quickly clicked through a series of login screens. Finally he arrived at a screen that displayed icons of various facial features.

“Describe to me what she looked like and then I’ll let you pick which features are closest to her appearance.” They spent the next two hours sorting through dozens of photographed examples of eyes, noses, mouths, face shapes, and hair. At the end of that time they had a rough approximation of the girl’s face.

“That went well,” Kastl commented. “You’re very good at this. You have a good eye.” Manda wasn’t satisfied though.

“No, it’s wrong. Get me a computer and the right software and I’ll show you
exactly
what she looks like.” Manda’s voice was uncharacteristically hard. Remembering the attack had unsettled her, which in turn made her angry. She resented the fear that the memory brought with it, but that same fear had also indelibly burned the image of the girls face on her mind and she knew if she had her computer and software she could create a much better representation.

Kastl considered her with raised eyebrows. “Really? This is state-of-the-art software and you were very clear about her features, Manda. It’s not easy getting an accurate composite but I think you probably did very well. It’s not going to be perfect.”

“Have you been watching me all this time and not paid any attention to what I do for a living? I can do better than this,” Manda retorted, gesturing dismissively at the picture on Kastl’s computer screen. His skepticism rubbed her the wrong way in her current mood.

“Fine. That will be my first priority then. I’ll have that taken care of today.” He slid a pad of paper and pencil toward her. “Write down what you need.”

“Can I get
my
computer?”

“No. I can’t just take your computer. It would be missed, but I can get you a new one and have all of your files copied onto it. Write down what kind of computer and software you want and I’ll take care of it right away.”

Manda quickly listed her requirements. As an afterthought she added her choice of digital camera. If she was going to be stuck here she may as well have something to keep herself occupied. She slid the list back to Kastl. He scanned it, nodding. When he got to the end he smiled.

“Wait here. I can help with at least one of these right now.” He disappeared briefly and returned with Manda’s digital camera in his hand. “You had this in your pocket. It was a bit bloody, but I cleaned it up for you yesterday. I think it still works.”

“Thank you.” Manda held it in her hand and stared at it. This was the first familiar thing she’d seen all day. Not even her clothes were her own. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and carefully placed the camera on the counter. “You said you cleaned it up yesterday. How long was I out?”

“Just a little over thirty-six hours. Transforming when you were already so weak took a toll. Your body needed time to recover.”

“I see,” Manda responded sadly. As far as Richard was concerned, she’d already been dead for a day and a half. “Now, how is this going to work? How are you going to convince everyone that I’m dead? Won’t they wonder when there’s no body? How are you going to explain the attack?”

“A variation on the truth will work. You were stabbed and killed by one of Richard’s obsessed fans. Your family and friends will believe that. Richard, Josh, and Mikey will of course know the truth about your attacker. As for the lack of a body, your family will be told that due to the severity of your injuries and the following autopsy, you were cremated. Richard and Josh won’t question that. It would be standard procedure to cremate the body in that situation, since we would want to hide any evidence that would contradict our cover story.”

Manda tried not to think of Richard’s reaction to all of this. She focused on other, less painful if still important aspects of the situation. “What about my job? My house? Will it all be gone?”

Kastl frowned. “I’ll do what I can, but yes, they will probably be gone. I can’t make you any promises.”

“And Emily and the kids...” Manda’s voice broke.

“I’m sorry, Manda. I’m sure they’ve already been told you’re dead.”

Manda covered her face with her hands, remembering Richard’s cry as she lay in the ambulance and imagining Katie’s and Robbie’s reactions. She clenched her teeth and breathed deeply, willing the tears away. She would not be weak in front of this man. She collected herself and straightened her shoulders.

“So, as far as the entire rest of the world is concerned, I’ll be dead?” she managed to ask with a reasonably steady voice.

“Yes. Complete with death certificate and funeral. It has to be all or nothing.”

“And where will I hide? Here?” Manda picked up the camera on the counter and turned it over in her hands.

“Yes. You’ll be safe here. The only ones who know we’re here are you and I and the three agents from the ambulance. They’ll be doing all the legwork for us while I stay here on guard duty.”

In her mind, Manda said a little prayer.
Please let this be over quickly!
Out loud she said, “If I’m gonna be here a while, would you mind showing me around?”

Chapter 41

M
anda gazed up through the canopy of trees overhead. She kicked her right foot to swing the hammock. It was tied between two large pine trees that grew beside a small stream that ran past the cabin. She blinked in the flashes of bright sunshine as her back and forth motion carried her through the dappled light beneath the rustling pine branches.

It was an idyllic spot. The burbling of the water flowing nearby mingled with the sound of the cool breeze gently stirring the trees. She was facing away from the cabin, so she was able to pretend it wasn’t there…and pretend that her various guardians weren’t nearby either. Instead, she fantasized that she and Richard were sharing a romantic vacation at a secluded mountain retreat. A hawk glided across a patch of open sky above her and she imagined that it was Richard. He would join her at any moment. His hand would reach out and still her swaying perch and he would brush the hair away from her face and then lean down and kiss her before joining her in the oversized hammock. He would hold her close as the light, clean air caressed their skin. She could visualize his vivid blue eyes staring into hers, squinting in the dancing light and she imagined the lock of brown hair that sometimes fell across one eye.

Manda’s carefully constructed daydream evaporated when the black bird glided through the same patch of sky that the hawk had crossed moments before. The sight of Kastl keeping tabs on her brought unpleasant reality rushing back. Disappointment filled her but quickly turned to anger, which she suppressed. It wasn’t Kastl’s fault, after all. He was just doing what he thought was necessary to keep her safe and hidden.

Manda and Kastl had settled into a familiar, if slightly adversarial, relationship over the last two months. She’d learned that it was useless to challenge him about anything he considered a security matter, and he’d learned to
ask
for her cooperation rather than try to order her around like one of his agents. She had the impression that this wasn’t something he was accustomed to and he still occasionally fell back into the habit of issuing orders. Just that morning he’d barked a command and her irritation had boiled over.

“Who died and made you king?” she’d spat angrily. Then, realizing what she’d said, she’d smiled humorlessly. “Oh, I guess that was me, wasn’t it.” Kastl had laughed—something he seldom did—and Manda had done what he wanted without further argument and then escaped to her favorite spot in the hammock.

A month earlier she wouldn’t have given him the free pass but would instead have stubbornly held her ground until she’d forced him to ask very, very politely. Back then she’d disliked him and considered him cold and unfeeling. Now, however, she respected and trusted him…though she did still consider him exasperating in the extreme. The change had occurred when she’d caught a glimpse of the compassion he tried very hard to hide—when Anna had come.

When the older woman had arrived at the cabin to join Kastl’s little guard detail, Manda had immediately recognized her as the one who had found her in the bathroom, interrupting the attack. Kastl had brought the woman back to the cabin when Manda had been in hiding for a month. He’d led the woman onto the deck, where Manda was sitting in the shade and surfing the internet.

“Manda, this is Anna,” Kastl had introduced. “She’ll be joining us.” Then he’d turned and left without any further comment or explanation, reinforcing Manda’s opinion of him as cold and distant. She’d pushed thoughts of Kastl from her mind, however, when she realized that Anna was frozen in shock and gaping at Manda as if she were looking at a ghost.

“Hi,” Manda had greeted her hesitantly.

Anna’s response had been unexpected. “You’re alive!” she’d blurted, and blindly stumbled to a chair with her eyes still glued to Manda.

“Yes, I am,” Manda agreed, “and I believe I partly owe you for that. Thank you.”

Anna had been embarrassed by Manda’s gratitude and had launched into a litany of apologies and explanations. The story that Manda finally pieced together was that Anna had been one of the agents assigned to keep an eye on her that day at the baseball game. It had been her particular responsibility to keep Manda safe if she went to the bathroom, where her other guardians couldn’t conveniently follow. But Manda had slipped away when Anna hadn’t been looking. She admitted to letting her guard down a little when Manda was with Richard because he never let Manda out of his sight for a second.

It had only taken her a few minutes to realize that Manda was gone, but that was all it had taken. By her own reckoning, her negligence had been responsible for Manda’s death. After a tearful apology to Mikey, Anna had turned in her resignation. She’d been bewildered when it had been completely ignored and she’d instead been sternly ordered to report to Fort Collins for a new assignment.

The agent who had met her in Fort Collins had been one of the three besides Kastl who were guarding Manda at the cabin. By adding comments from the other agents and one overheard phone conversation to Anna’s story, Manda deduced that Kastl had brought Anna onto his tiny guard detail as a means of allaying her guilt and keeping her from throwing away a long and successful career. It was a kind and compassionate decision and Manda’s opinion of Kastl had softened. They’d had more real conversations after that, opening up to each other a tiny bit. She’d commented on the form he took most often in his frequent aerial patrols. He’d been surprised that she had recognized the black bird as a rook. He’d smiled when he admitted that he’d chosen his current last name based on that form. It had been the start of their truce.

Manda still preferred to be alone rather than with Kastl or any of the other agents though. She was miserable in her beautiful, self-imposed prison, and trying to be polite and friendly to the others was an effort—not because she disliked them, but because hiding her unhappiness required constant vigilance. Each of them had, in some way, helped to save her life and she didn’t want to seem sulky and ungrateful. She lived in a constant state of worry about Richard though. Despite Kastl’s assurances that he was perfectly safe, Manda couldn’t help but imagine him on the receiving end of what she had experienced—except with two attackers instead of one. Or even worse, a surprise attack that he never even saw coming. She’d been having nightmares about it.

If the fear wasn’t enough, Manda was homesick and missed her family and friends. To say she missed Richard didn’t even come close to expressing how she felt, though. Being apart from him was like having a part of herself torn away. There was nothing left but ragged edges.

Manda had been haunting the Internet for news of Richard ever since Kastl had supplied her with the computer. The first thing she’d done, of course, had been to import the composite reconstruction of her attacker’s face into her graphics software and refine and alter it. She’d spent hours of meticulous work, often editing on a pixel-by-pixel level, until it finally matched the face in her memory. Kastl had been impressed but she had just been relieved to have it over with. She wanted to forget the events in that bathroom, if that were possible.