Chapter 15
They were ready, the four of them decked out casually like any group of four friends heading out to spend a weekend enjoying the simple beauty of nature, long walks in the woods, and sitting around at picnic tables drinking beer.
But before they could leave the house, they received a call from Angela.
George Maynard was awake and aware. They might want to make a quick stop before heading into the woods.
“Oh, and we’re swinging by an office supply store,” Grant told her. “We took the old lady’s computer yesterday, and I don’t want any distant family member or the local police demanding that we return it to her. I promised her a new one with a giant screen.”
“That’s fine,” Angela assured them on speaker. “Talk to Maynard, then get the computer before heading for the woods. Be careful.” Angela ended the call.
“I wonder if George will know anything more now than when we found him,” Grant said. “I don’t think he knows anything else.”
“Possibly why someone wanted him dead?” Shelly suggested.
“One way or the other, he’s a survivor. Ainsley has been as much help as possible, getting us close to Belinda Jenkins and Brendan Cosby …
who knows? Not to mention, a supervisor told me once we should be considered ‘warm and cuddly,’ a way to get the public to want to cooperate with us when we need people,” Grant said.
Zach laughed. “Well, I must admit, Shelly has a great manner. I think people respond to her easily.”
“What? I’m not warm and cuddly?” Grant asked.
It provided them all with a laugh before pausing by the windows, looking out, making sure, to the best of their abilities, that they weren’t being watched, that someone wasn’t waiting to assault them as they left.
“I don’t think we’re in danger right now,” Shelly murmured. “I think that the people we need to look out for are planning their in-person meeting in the woods. They’ve had losses, and they must fear that their losses may be bringing us closer to the truth.”
“Well, they’re following money and computer trails up at headquarters,” Zach reminded them.
“But we need to stop them on the ground,” Shelly said. “And God knows, we are discovering that there are a lot of crazies in the world, too.”
“True. Grant, you know the area best, but hospital and the computer—I was looking at maps, and there’s one of those huge wholesale places between the hospital and the home where they have the woman who thinks you two are gods,” Zach suggested.
“Sounds like a plan. Yes, I know what you’re talking about.
I can run in and out in a matter of minutes.
And apparently, Angela has seen to it we get the coordinates that follow the best route not to be seen until we want to be, in the woods.
There’s a small parking lot in the back of the area that is huge,” Grant told them.
“Looking for people having a clandestine in-person meeting in a tangle of woods upon woods … that is a problem in a way. We could be totally wasting our time.”
“But the thing is, we are covered on this, and maybe they’ll look for us. And if so, we will be prepared,” Shelly said.
He smiled at her and then grew serious. “Whatever it is, it has to be stopped. So, it’s better to have a bad plan than no plan at all.”
“Hey,” Skye said lightly, “it’s an ‘iffy’ plan, not a completely bad one.”
“Ah, true, and so …” Shelly said, indicating the door.
They got into the car with no incident and went into the hospital. It was still crawling with local law enforcement, including Perry Banyan, who greeted them with pleasure when they got off the elevator on George’s critical-care floor.
“George is going to be fine!” Perry told them enthusiastically. “Thank God for that. But here’s one for you people! You found him. And he is a mover and a shaker, a man who makes the world better for others!”
“Naturally, we’re incredibly grateful that he is doing well,” Grant told his friend. He noticed that Shelly, at his side, was smiling but silent.
“Well, we’ll head in two at a time,” Grant said. “Ainsley is still—”
“Ainsley has been as steady as a rock. I don’t think she’s left the hospital more than twice for no more than an hour since he’s been here,” Perry said. “I’m heading off to work. Sadly, we have daily crime around here, too, most of it petty, so—”
“Go on, get to work. Good to see you, Perry,” Grant said.
“Likewise,” Perry said, nodding to them as he headed toward the elevator, saying hello to Zach and Skye as well.
“We’ll let you do the honors,” Zach said. “You two saved the man’s life. That means you go talk to him. We’ll wait out here. We’d like to meet him now that he’s conscious, but you see if he remembers anything.”
“Thanks!” Shelly said. She headed to the door to George’s room ahead of Grant, and he followed. Ainsley, of course, was sitting by his bed. She stood with pleasure when she saw the two of them.
“George is with us!” she said happily. “And George—”
The man looked good, way better than he had looked before. He was sitting in the bed, legs stretched out but his back straight. His hair was brushed, and his skin tone was a nice normal coloring. He was healing, and it was good to see.
“I know who you are!” George said. “And thank you so much, though there is no real way to thank the people who saved your life!”
“We’re just grateful, George. Very grateful,” Shelly assured him.
“Ditto,” Grant said, smiling at him.
“Ainsley, sweetheart, you could take a break and run down—”
“And get a giant cup of coffee and some of those little sweet rolls you like!” Ainsley said. “They have a cafeteria, of course, and they’ve been wonderful about bringing things, but there’s a real café down there with coffee that tastes like strong coffee, and they make incredible baked goods!”
“Zach and Skye are out there; have them go with you. They can grab us some of that strong coffee, too,” Grant told her.
Ainsley grinned. “Will do!” she promised. She left the room.
“That was nice,” he told Grant. “And I’m grateful, too. I don’t know who your boss is, but he’s in contact with local people here, and it’s been amazing. She wanted to head home and shower; cops went to watch over the house while she was in it. I’m scared for her, though …”
“There’s a reason to kill you and not her?” Grant asked.
“Yeah. To hurt me and make my life not worth a hell of a lot,” George said.
“Of course,” Shelly said softly. “So! We’re grateful, too, that all law enforcement is involved and seriously looking out for Ainsley. But of course—”
“You’re here to see if I remember anything that you don’t know already,” George said.
“But it’s been on the news. I know they’ve tried to keep it quiet that I’m even alive and I’m here.
But this TV has a couple of English-language, foreign news stations, and I know that a politician was killed in Italy—even before the attack on me.
And there have been other incidents. An innocent man confessed to murder and killed himself, and strange and ancient ‘tablet’ things have been discovered, but … ”
At the end, he shook his head. “I just … when it happened, I just got to the door, distracted, coming home just the way I usually come home, and there was what appeared to be a giant shadow. The person who came after me was wearing something black and encompassing. I mean …”
He paused, looking reflective.
“What is it?” Grant asked.
“I don’t know. They might not have been as giant as I’ve been imagining. I mean, they could have been wearing like a helmet of some kind or tall boots or … the strike came so quickly then.”
“But when they had you in the cabin, you must have seen something,” Shelly prompted.
“My head was pretty screwed the entire time,” George said. “Just more of them. Shadows, black shadows … I was in and out of it, but …”
“What did they want?”
“That’s the thing … they wanted to know what I was researching online!” he said. “And the big news story I was working on at the time had to do with Gen-Zec. I heard about what happened there, too.” He hesitated. “Curse stone or tablet?”
“Curse tablet, George. It’s curious, a stone, a big stone, was left at your place, and the others that we’ve discovered have literally been created like the real ancient tablets,” Grant told him.
“Someone homing in on someone else with their death curses?” George suggested.
“You know, that is possible,” Grant said.
George shook his head. “They’re saying I can go home in a few days. I’m hoping that maybe—”
“We’re hoping, too, George. I have a question for you. Do you know how many people were torturing you at the cabin?” Grant asked.
“Two. Wait …” He closed his eyes, his face puckered tightly. He opened his eyes. “Maybe three. No, more, and I’m not sure, but at least two.”
“And can you remember a scent, the sound of a voice—” Shelly began.
“Yeah, weird voices. As if they were careful enough to use whatever those things are that can change voices. And they wore gloves, of course. Even had black plastic over their shoes. Honestly, I don’t know how they weren’t noticed, other than …
” He paused again, letting out a sigh. “Seclusion. Everything there was so secluded. They came at me in disguise, which in a way surprises me. I was meant to die there—after they got what they wanted.”
“And they were torturing you to find out what you were investigating?” Shelly asked, frowning.