Dark Visions (20 page)

Instead of stopping the kidnapping from
taking place, maybe she was supposed to be taken so her actions
would get these guys caught.

But it probably wasn't the case, because too
many people have been killed. The message giver from the Other Side
wouldn't send her into this knowing so many people's lives were in
danger.

A hand wrapped around her arm and lifted
her. She was surprised with his strength and equally aware of the
loss of strength in her legs. She could barely hold herself up.
Pain shot from her ankles. She looked at her feet as they hustled
along but lost her balance and fell head first to the dirty wooden
floor.

With both hands he yanked her up and started
her walking again. They went down a flight of stairs, around a
corner and out of the building through an old loading dock.

A black van sat idling, its side door slid
open. He pushed her in the back and slammed the door shut. Sarah
leaned up on an elbow and started to massage her right wrist. The
driver's side door opened and Gert got in.

Within minutes they were on the highway.
Sarah looked behind her and saw a small wooden bench along the
backdoor of the van. She edged over and sat up on it.

He hadn't set any restraints on her wrists
or ankles. Sarah was sure he didn't forget. There was a reason. She
was zapped of any energy and she knew he wasn't afraid of her.

"I saw what you wrote," he said.

She could see him watching her from the
rearview mirror. She looked away, not sure how to respond yet. The
last day or so was a blur. She was in a building, then an SUV, and
then another building. It worried her to be so out of it. Although
it made sense because she hadn't eaten in at least three days.

"You were right, by the way."

"About what?" Sarah asked.

"My boss does work with the police. I have
to thank you for the inside tip about him wanting to kill me. I
should tell you though, I already figured that out for myself."

Sarah realized the message had calmed him.
He almost looked happy today.

"That's why you're not tied up right now. I
want your hands free to write if you go into another trance of some
kind. Anything else you want to write for me would be useful. Like
how can I get out of this?"

"You don't need me for that. Let me go here
and run for Mexico. You might make it."

"Cute."

Gert drove down an exit ramp and pulled up
to a red light. He turned and faced her. "The only reason I'm
talking to you is because of this talent you have. I've provided a
pen and paper by the bench there," he pointed to her left. "Write
as much as you can in the time we have left together. Maybe
something will be useful to me."

Sarah picked up the paper and pen. She
opened it and flipped through a few of the wire bound pages.

The light had changed to green. Gert spun
back around and started the van forward.

"If you try any funny business of any kind,
you die. Are we clear?"

"Yes," Sarah whispered.

She thought about a plan. Get the
circulation in her hands and legs going so she could run.

She thought about Dolan. She'd left a note
for him. But could he be the guy that was Gert's boss. After all,
the note said Gert's boss works with the police. It didn't say the
boss was a cop. Who else works with the police?

The familiar stirrings in her vision,
coupled by the numbness in her left arm warned a blackout was
coming.

She slid to the floor and grabbed the pen
just as she lost consciousness.

Chapter 47

Sam could see the FBI cars parked out front
as he pulled into the Roberts' driveway. The sun was rising when
they got there. The dash clock said 6:30am.

He looked over at Dolan who seemed to have a
resigned look on his face. They didn't talk much on the way from
the motel. Both of them just sat there, watching the sky get
lighter and brighter the closer they got to the Roberts' house.

At the front door someone pulled a curtain
back and then opened it.

A woman stepped onto the front porch with
her hand out.

"I'm Special Agent Jill Hanover. You must be
Detective Sam Johnson."

Hands were shook, introductions made. They
all stepped inside.

Sam saw Mrs. Roberts sitting on a couch, a
Kleenex in hand. He could see she'd been crying. A woman Sam didn't
recognize appeared to be consoling her.

"On what grounds are you here? My task force
was put together years ago. We're handling this case."

"Not anymore."

"On what grounds, I asked?" He didn't want
to get angry, nor have a confrontation with a fellow officer of the
law, but he was so close to finishing this that he didn't want to
let it go.

"An officer has been killed and another
officer assaulted. A member of the Ward family has been shot. Do
you know how many agents are involved with the Ward family? An
eighteen year old is out there," she stopped talking and turned
away. Sam followed Jill's eyes. She was looking at Mrs. Roberts.
"We will continue this conversation on the back deck," she said and
walked away from Sam and Dolan.

Sam gritted his teeth and followed her. This
was the first time he'd ever been removed from a case. It felt
disrespectful. It pissed him off.

He stepped out onto the back deck. The wind
had picked up. It was tossing agent Hanover's long blond hair into
her face. She had to keep brushing it aside.

"As I was saying; we've got an eighteen year
old girl out there with this maniac and you still think this is
just a kidnapping."

"I am quite aware of what's happening. I've
been at this long enough to know what I'm doing. Within a couple of
days, this will be wrapped up. We don't need you."

"It's wrapped up now. Are you aware what the
other officers are saying about you and your little psychic friend
here?"

Sam looked over at Dolan where he leaned
against the railing of the wooden deck. The strong eastern wind was
having its way with his short hair too.

"Leave him out of this. I asked him to be
here because he's helped us tremendously in the past. Without
Dolan, there were some girls who may not have made it home."

"It doesn't matter anymore. You're both off
this case. I'll need everything you have so far. Relinquish all
your files to my partner agent Fergus Mant and don't think about
any Lone Ranger stuff or you'll be dealing with obstruction
charges. All the paperwork you need from us is at the front for you
to sign."

Sam turned around and stormed off the wooden
deck. He heard Dolan close behind as he walked through the kitchen
and down the hall to the front door.

He bumped into Mike, his tech guy. Since
they wouldn't need him at the Roberts house anymore, he told Mike
to ride with him and Dolan. He may need him for something else.
Mike said he'd meet them out front.

Sam paused for in the living room area and
nodded at Mrs. Roberts. When he started this case he promised to do
whatever he could to bring Sarah home safe.

He wasn't about to give up.

He would keep his promise.

Chapter 48

Amelia sat alone on the edge of a bed in a
room at a Holiday Inn. Caleb had gone to have lunch by himself and
Tracy had gone to her own room next door. The FBI psychologist had
insisted on adjoining rooms.

Apparently it would be better for the
parents to be here than in their own home while the police did
their jobs.

Amelia knew this was only to help control
Caleb. After his little performance last night, that new female FBI
agent wasn't going to have him moping around the house, getting in
the way.

Our house
, she thought.

She got up and moved to the window. The wind
had died down a little, the trees only bending slightly. In the
distance she could see a highway, trucks and cars racing by. She
wondered where Sarah was right now. Then she stopped herself.
Thinking about Sarah only led to negative dark thoughts.

Amelia stepped away from the window and went
back to the bed where she flopped down. Caleb told her Sarah had
saved Mary from a kidnapping. What was that all about?

Mary was asked to lie for Sarah the night
she was taken. What had her daughter been up to? Amelia used both
hands to run through her hair and tighten her grip in frustration
as she realized that she was thinking about Sarah again. But how
couldn't she?

A part of her really felt she knew nothing
about her daughter. Yet she always thought she did.

After her diagnosis of depression and
subsequent prescription of Zoloft, Amelia felt a deeper connection
with Sarah. Evidently her daughter hadn't.

Amelia didn't know how much she'd be able to
handle. She hoped this would be all over soon. Life had to get back
to some sort of reasonable control.

How is a parent supposed to lose both her
girls to kidnappers? Wasn't one enough? She didn't think she'd be
able to handle losing Sarah.

The phone rang.

She looked at it. Why would Caleb call her?
He was just down the hall in the restaurant.

It rang again.

No one knew she was here but Caleb and the
FBI and Tracy was in the next room.

The incessant ring came a third time. Amelia
picked it up.

"Hello."

At first she heard nothing. Then a distant
sound came to her. It sounded like the wind at the end of a
tunnel.

A young female voice whispered, "I'm
okay."

The hairs on her neck rose, she shivered as
goose bumps roamed her arms. "Who is this?"

"Vivian."

That couldn't be. What a cruel trick. Amelia
wiped a tear away. She could hear someone knocking on the motel
room door.

"Who is this?" she shouted. Her eyes were
wide, but unseeing. Her heart beat a pulse through her, breath
coming in gasps. This was the worst trick someone could play on
her.

"Hi, mommy," the soft female voice
whispered. "I'm okay. I'm with Sarah."

"Is Sarah dead?"

She wondered why she was playing along with
this. She switched the phone to her left hand and pressed it hard
against her left ear.

"No, she's alive."

The voice faded away. The knocking on the
motel room door was a hammering now.

"A note will be left for you in a van."

The line went dead.

"Vivian! Vivian! Oh, my baby."

Amelia collapsed on the floor between the
beds.

The motel room door flew open. Caleb rushed
up.

"What happened? Why were you screaming?"

He kneeled down and placed his arms around
her. They held each other. Amelia could feel Tracy in the room. She
wasn't going to talk to Caleb with the psychologist hanging
around.

She felt Caleb move his hand, subtly asking
Tracy to leave them alone.

Amelia heard the soft hush of the door
shutting.

She looked up at her husband and told him
everything. Whether he believed it or not, Amelia knew she'd talked
to her daughter. She knew it with the maternal instinct God gave
her.

If the line between sanity and insanity had
been crossed then she knew exactly what side of the line she was
on.

And now she was determined to get out of
this motel room and find a van with a note in it.

Chapter 49

The cramps doubled her over. She'd felt
hunger in the past, but not like this. Out of habit, she reached up
and yanked hair inside the bandana line. She could handle this. Try
to ignore the pain. Think of better times.

She thought of what she'd written down
during the last blackout. It made her pull a little more.
Everything always felt better with the pulling. Who cared anyway?
It didn't matter what she looked like. She'd gone way too far in
the years past with her hair. Only stray patches remained on her
head.

Getting those prophetic messages and then
acting on them, she actually thought she was doing something good.
She cared. But no else does.

Look at the mess she was in now. She
couldn't even remember how long she'd been with this sadist. Two
days? Or could it be longer than that? Four days?

She leaned back and stretched out across the
wooden bench. With her hands out of her hair, she placed them
together on her stomach and shut her eyes. She imagined this was
how she'd look in her coffin. She didn't want to be the one to let
go, give up, but what else was there? If there ever was a chance to
run, she'd have to take it.

"You asleep back there or are you having a
blackout?"

She didn't answer him. With her eyes closed,
he'd never know the difference. The currency of hope was almost
paid out. This game of ruining lives he played was ending. She
didn't know how she could still be going after all the people she'd
seen killed. The cop on the highway, who probably had a family,
didn't have to die. The only reason she had the ability to get
through this was because of the Automatic Writing. Seeing violence,
injuries and near death situations for the last six months had
changed her. Yet this situation had changed her too. It was like
she was jaded now. She once heard that the only thing that
separated humans from animals was our capacity to hope and she
wasn't sure she possessed any of it. No hope, nothing to lose.

"I've got to get gas. I'll pick up some
take-out at this restaurant up ahead?"

She felt the speed decrease. Then the gentle
turn onto a gravel surface. The transmission was shifted into park
and the engine died. She kept her eyes closed and didn't move. She
listened as he got out of his seat and made his way back towards
her.

There was a moment of silence. She wanted to
open her eyes to see what he was doing. The interior of the van
became silent.