Chapter Eighteen #4
Not thinking clearly was going to get them killed, and with so little sleep and so much emotional turmoil, Daniel hadn’t been thinking clearly all day.
Sheriff Moser picked up the line. “Daniel? What’s up?”
“Jake, there’s a man with a gun up at the old Taggart place, and I’m pretty sure he’s after one of our guests,” he said.
Mel gasped and pulled Jamie closer. Pooka wanted to follow, but obediently stayed put.
“On my way. I’ll contact dispatch. Someone’s gotta be closer than me.”
“Good.” Jake’s siren sounded as he ended the call and hit another number.
Nick answered. “Hey.”
“They’re coming. One of them at least. We’re at the old home place, and I’ve seen him here with a gun. I’m hoping we can get to the car, but I don’t have a weapon, and I don’t know how much time we have. Is there a shotgun anywhere up here? Rifle?”
Nick asked Grace.
“Only tools. All the Taggart’s stuff was confiscated.” Daniel heard the sound of a siren in the background. “Jake just passed us.”
Daniel had reached a stand of trees where he knew he could see the drive and scoped out the area. A silver sedan sat behind the Mini. He didn’t see anyone in the car.
“Shit. He’s already here.”
“Coming as fast as we can,” Nick said.
“Yeah.” Daniel ended the call.
“Daniel!” Mel shouted. He spun to see a man coming out of the treeline on his left.
Daniel looked around, but there was no sign of the man’s partner—yet.
He backed up the slope, keeping an eye on the man. He didn’t have a gun out. That was different. Things had already changed, but he wondered where the second goon had gone.
The man raised his hands. “I just need to talk to the lady.” The accent was Italian, but his English was cultured and smooth.
Daniel kept backing toward Mel and Jamie, watching for the other man as he did. Pooka had sensed the threat and was torn between going after the man and staying with Jamie, who was kneeling beside him, arms around his neck.
Mel positioned herself so that Jamie was behind her. “Parliamo!”
The man’s eyebrows went up. “Parlate italiano?”
“Si. Parliamo! Che cosa volete?” Mel said.
Pooka had calmed down and so had Jamie. They were huddled in the grass, looking up at Mel. She was using her gift on them, keeping everyone quiet and calm while negotiating in Italian.
“Go toward the trees, slowly,” Daniel said in a low voice as he reached her. The trees were thick on the right side of the clearing. They would have a better chance in there.
So they moved, slowly toward the cover of the trees, Daniel keeping himself between them and the man.
“Fermati!” the man yelled. “Stop!”
The man started to reach inside his coat. Calm was only going to get them so far.
“Look. The lady’s backpack is down in the car. That’s what you want, right? Let me go down there and get it for you,” Daniel said loudly.
Mel translated, just to be sure he understood. The man’s hand halted under his coat, and, strangely enough, he smiled at them as they kept moving away.
“Questa è una notizia vecchia. è il loro problema da affrontare ora. Sto cercando qualcosa di più importante.”
Mel looked at Daniel. “He says that’s old news. It’s their problem now. He’s looking for something more important.”
Daniel frowned. So, the guy knew they had been caught out. “Then what the hell is he after?”
The man’s laugh was…oily. “Ho visto una signora dai capelli rossi raccontarti”—he pointed at Mel—“di una caverna che ti darebbe controllo e stabilità con il tuo regalo.” He smiled again, which was just as nasty as his laugh. “Lei ha detto che era la sua caverna.”
He thought he recognized one word—caverna. Was he talking about their cave? How could he know about it?
Mel’s eyes widened. “I have no idea what he’s talking about. I never had that conversation.” She turned back to the man. “Non so di cosa stai parlando. Quale donna? Quale caverna? Non ho avuto questa conversazione.”
The man’s smile disappeared and he looked behind him, frowning. “Desideri.”
Mel frowned. “He says I will. What is he talking about?”
Now Daniel heard in the distance what had alerted the man.
The man turned his gaze back to Mel, intent and furious. “Ho capito come continui a scappare da me, strega.” He leered at her. “Hai uno dei doni degli antichi dei, come me. Anche tu sei un veggente.”
“He thinks I keep getting away because I have a gift from the old gods.” Mel shook her head. “He thinks I can see the future, like him.”
“He can what?”
“I know,” Mel said. “Took me by surprise too.”
The man pulled out his gun. “How you know to bring polizia, eh? You indovinato!” He grimaced and waved the gun at Mel.
Damn. He had a pretty good idea what that last word meant, but Mel translated. “He thinks I foresaw this.”
Daniel signaled for Jamie to move faster toward the trees.
“Non sono un veggente!” Mel glared at the man. “I’m not a seer!”
“Stai mentendo, strega!”
It didn’t take a translator to tell he thought she was lying.
Then the man’s stance began to falter, his face a mask of confusion.
Mel was sending some kind of emotion at him. Pooka started getting restless again, and Jamie clung to the dog frantically. Mel couldn’t handle all of them at once.
“Dr. Daniel, the bees!” Jamie said.
Daniel looked down the slope and saw a dark cloud coming up behind the man. He could hear their low, contented hum.
“Mel, fear,” he said in a quiet voice. “Lots of fear.” If she got him scared enough, the bees would pick up on it.
“I’m trying,” she said.
“If it works, pull your jacket over your face and run for the trees. I want him to think they’ll attack,” Daniel said in a low voice. “Jamie, you know—”
“Zitto,” the man said, but his tone was uncertain. “Shut up!”
“I know what to do,” Jamie said.
The swarm was almost on top of them.
“Look out! Killer bees!” Daniel yelled, pointing. The man knew enough English for that to hit home.
The man spun around in terror, shooting wildly and stupidly through the cloud, Mel’s induced panic overriding any common sense. The bees reacted more to his waving arms and agitation than the gunshots. The swarm swirled around them as the man flailed.
Daniel heard Mel and Jamie take off running, but Pooka was streaking toward the man.
Shit.
Daniel launched himself forward, trying to throw the man down while using a wristlock to grab the gun. Pooka skidded to a stop with a yelp, almost slamming into both of them. Daniel rolled to his feet with the gun in his hand. His priceless girls buzzed around his head in a frenzy.
The man snarled, grappling in his boot, probably for some other weapon. Daniel fired a shot into the ground, kicking up dirt near the man’s head. He heard Jamie’s stifled cry of alarm.
“Pull it out slowly. Toss it.” He waved the gun to the side. “Over there.”
When he didn’t, Daniel motioned again. “Now! And if you try anything…” He waved the gun menacingly.
“Schifoso bastardo!”
“Yeah yeah, sticks and stones.” Daniel gestured to the bees, still circling.
The man frowned but slowly pulled a knife out of an ankle sheath and tossed it away.
“Dr. Daniel!” He spotted Jamie struggling with Mel in the trees. Mel was having a hard time keeping her there.
“Stay with Mel! I’m fine,” he yelled. “Pooka, go to Jamie.”
The dog looked at him with accusing eyes and took off up the slope.
He could tell Mel was still sending, because the guy in front of him still struggled with his terror and was watching the bees more than Daniel.
“Hands above your head. Lay on your stomach.”
The man frowned.
Daniel motioned with the gun. “I know you understand me.”
The man winced as a couple of bees buzzed close and raised his hands, lying flat and rolling over.
“Hands on the back of your head.” The man did as he was told and Daniel leaned over, patting the man down and finding another knife in a sheath at his back. The man said something nasty in Italian as Daniel tucked it into his own waistband.
The sirens grew louder. At least one deputy was already on the driveway below them.
Jamie had started to run toward him, but he waved her off. “Jamie, go to the deputy and bring him up here.”
Her face was pale. “But…are you… Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Jamie. Go!” Daniel said firmly. “Where’s Mel?”
“She’s throwing up,” Jamie said as she ran down the slope. Pooka, after a moment’s hesitation, followed her.
Daniel looked over to where Mel and Jamie had hidden among the trees. Even in the shadows, he could see that crazy quilt jacket of hers. She was on her knees, curled around herself.
“Mel, sweetheart, stop! You can stop sending now,” Daniel yelled.
She waved one hand at him but remained bent over. He couldn’t go to her, not until the deputy arrived. But she was alive. She was alive.
Deputy Charlie Sloan came into view, running up the slope, signaling for Jamie to stay behind him until he was sure of what was going on.
When Charlie saw the gun in Daniel’s hand, he pulled out his own.
Daniel held up both arms and slowly leaned over to put the gun on the grass. “Just keeping an eye on this guy, Charlie. Jamie, do not come any closer until the deputy gets this guy under control. Okay?”
Jamie nodded and stopped where she was, hand on Pooka’s head.
Another siren quavered to a stop below. Soon, Sheriff Jake Moser came running up behind his deputy, and holstered his gun once he saw Sloan had things in hand. “Anyone hurt? Should I call off the EMS guys?”
“No one’s hurt.” Daniel pulled the knife out of his belt and handed it over while his deputy dealt with the man on the ground. He pointed. “There’s another knife over there.”
“You guys need to get a shaman up here to exorcise the bad karma,” Jake said.
“Yeah, maybe we do,” Daniel replied. “I’m leaving him in your capable hands. Exorcise him all you want.”
“That’s what your tax dollars pay us for,” Jake said in his relaxed drawl.
Daniel rushed over to Mel just as she got to her feet and tried to dust off her slacks, which were ripped at the knee and filthy. He bent down and lifted her into his arms.
“Hey!” she protested.
“Shut up,” he said, pulling her close.
And she did.