Chapter 5
He un-cuffed me at suppertime, brought me out to the kitchen and I sat at the table to pick at what was obviously canned chili. "Chili, Murphy? You trying to bomb me out of here?"
It was a well-known fact that chili and farts went hand in hand.
"Sorry. Didn‘t have time to stock the pantry," he retorted.
"Couldn‘t you go fishing or something?" I noted the fishing poles as well as the hunting rifles.
"This is Vonage‘s cabin, Jade. I‘ve never been here before. We‘re in the Berkshires, place called Cat Mountain. Nearest town is 24 miles away, nearest store is a little convenience place 12 miles down a trail and dirt road. Only way in is 4 wheel drive and then a two mile hike."
"Must be fun to get the mail. Where‘s the power come from?"
"Kerosene lamps. Wood stove. Gas oven. All carried in. Water comes from a hand pumped well, toilet is an outhouse, and shower is solar heated. No electricity, no cell phone coverage. You‘re really roughing it out here."
"What if one of us gets hurt?"
"Don‘t. I have a first aid lit and standard SWAT Medic training."
"Can I go outside?"
"You‘re not a prisoner, Jade. Just don‘t get lost. There are thousands of acres out there, wolves, bears, coyotes and mountain lions. Also, cliffs, sinkholes, caves and escarpments."
"I find lost things, remember?" I said sourly. "I don‘t get lost."
"Yeah? Which way is home?"
I paused, went inside myself to that place where I always knew the answers and direction, pointed southeast towards the string I had put on my dad. It tugged, pulled at me with an urgency I could not resist. I came back and Murphy was staring at my eyes, his hand on my chin.
"Your eyes got huge, Jade. All pupil, big green wolf eyes."
"Dad‘s alive," I stated. "We have to go back and get him."
"Are you sure? The Officers who found the bodies said he was shot in the head."
"It wasn‘t him," I insisted. "Look, there‘s a string attached to everything I search for. I can find it, pull it towards me, sense it and follow it anywhere. My Dad‘s string is stretched thin but it‘s not broken or cut. And I can find them even when they are cut. Dead."
"Where is he?"
"Far. Far from here." I reached out my hand and pulled on it, made it jangle. "South. Do you have a map of the South?"
We tore the place apart, found a Rand McNally Atlas and opened it to the Southern part of the country; I put my hand on Washington, DC.
"The Pentagon? He‘s in the Pentagon? Who‘s after you, Jade?"
"I don‘t know. I just know we have to find my Dad."
"Franny?"
I hesitated, looked for her and found her string frayed and shredded, knew she was gone and where they had taken her body. My eyes filled with tears and I sobbed. "I never got to tell her how much I loved her."
He held me, let me cry myself out until exhausted, I fell asleep in the armchair in front of the fireplace. He had packed what little was in the cabin; given me clean clothes from the owner‘s closet. "Your dad took you for target shooting, right?" He held out a spare pistol and gingerly, I put my hand on it, pushed it back to him.
"No. I‘m not taking that, Murphy. Just this." I dug through my pockets and pulled out the gold coin Dad had given me less than 48 hours ago. His eyes widened.
"I saw that when we found your mother. AJ had it all this time?"
"Yeah. He gave it to me on my B-day. Told me I was adopted. That‘s when all this started. After I downloaded an image onto the Net and asked if anyone knew what it was."
"Let‘s go. We have a hike to the SUV." He was silent on the trek back. Bugs ate me as if I was sugar. I spent so much time and energy swatting at flies, mosquitoes and gnats that I was covered in blood and that brought more. I had tried to cover myself with bug spray yet the critters ignored it. Not a one bit Murphy.
Once at the SUV, I climbed in, shut the windows and wiped blood and bug guts off me.
The itching started and drove me insane until he pulled over and dug through his med kit to give me a shot of Benadryl. That knocked me loopy.
I didn‘t wake up until we reached Jersey and the shore. Murphy pulled into a motel and shook me awake. "Jade, wake up. I‘m tired, can‘t drive anymore. We need to get a room and sleep."
"I can drive."
"Yeah, let a 15 year old loose behind the wheel on the most deadly road in the nation. I don‘t think so."
"You got cash? They can track your credit card," I said and he rolled his eyes.
"I‘ve seen CSI, too, Jade. The Sarge gave me cash. From the ER fund."
The ER fund was a legendary stash set aside in case a cop needed a million dollar lawyer or escape. The legend was that it was a million, it was actually closer to two, stocked by contributions from drug busts, illegal gambling and pay offs.
"You get rid of your cell phone, too?"
He nodded. "I can‘t take you any further. I have to go home or my wife will make waves.
“I was only on for two days."
"Who will take me next?"
"I called a buddy of mine from the 227 out of Atlantic City. He owes me a favor. He‘ll take you as far as DC."
"And the Pentagon?"
"I don‘t know, Jade. I have no idea how you will get to your dad. You got any other secret talents I don‘t know about?"
"No, Murphy. I wish I did. I wish I could just blink my eyes and be standing next to my Dad so I could whisk him away." Of course, that didn‘t happen.
He got us a room in the back near the beach where I could look out the window and see the breakers come in. The Taj Mahal was to the right, glittering like an exotic candle against the night sky. Fireworks went off behind it, celebrating another big winner.
I got the shower first and stood under it until my skin wrinkled, came out in clean underwear and jeans. Murphy padded in naked and actually sang in the shower. Old rock songs.
He‘d ordered room service and the knock came while he was still in there.
I let the dude in; paid him with the fifty he‘d left on the counter and poked through the dishes.
He‘d ordered a Philly cheese steak, pot roast with carrots, mashed potatoes, French fries and a basket of rolls with butter. I ate my way through it and when he finally came out, he stared at the remains of the meal. "Hungry?"
"Well, yeah. What did you order?"
He grunted, picked up the phone and ordered two specials. "I forgot how much teenage boys eat," he muttered.
I opened the door to the knock and flew backwards onto my ass when the waiter pushed the cart inside. Murphy came over to pick me up and froze as two men shoved us both back with silenced pistols.
They were short men, squat built like apes with over-muscled shoulders and biceps, dressed in dark suits. Their features were smooth, clean cut with dark hair and brown eyes with a blue flare deep in the backs. They moved like professionals, gestured for Murphy to back up and the other rammed me beyond the door with his feet. He slammed it shut behind us, pulled out manacles and fastened them around Murphy‘s wrists. He raised the pistol to the level of his head and I screamed, kicked up and in my hand was the coin. I squeezed the gem and a beam pulsed out, curled around in an impossible arc and struck the two men.
They melted. Left puddles of greasy soot on the carpet and a smell not unlike ozone.
"Holy shit," Murphy said and I vomited up my dinner. That smell was almost worse than theirs was. "Jade, look in my belt. Find my handcuff key. Maybe it‘ll work on these. Time to get sick later. They won‘t have been alone, others will be with them."
I wiped my mouth and dug through his clothes, found his set of cuffs and the keys. It worked on the manacles around his wrists. He didn‘t waste any time but pulled on his clothes.
Five minutes later, we were sneaking for the car.
He checked the hood, underneath and back seat before he let me get in or start it. Once on the road, I asked him what he‘d been looking for.
"Bombs. Bugs. They had time to do both. Somehow, they tracked us." He was grim.
"They who? Who were those dudes?"
"I don‘t know, Jade. They didn‘t identify themselves and you destroyed all the evidence.
I would have liked to search them."
"He was going to shoot you in the head, Murphy. Next time, I‘ll let you go first."
"I know. Thanks. For saving my life. How‘s your stomach?"
I swallowed bile, wiped my mouth. "I think it‘ll stay down where it belongs."
He floored the car and we merged into traffic. The lights on the highway were glowing beacons that made a distracting necklace before my eyes; I was glad I wasn‘t driving.
"Where are we headed? Will your friend find us? Did you call him?"
"I made arrangements to meet somewhere else if something happened. He‘s undercover, he knows how to keep a low profile, hide."
I sensed a new undercurrent in him and in his grim profile, deciphered it to ask with sudden enlightenment, "Murphy, are you scared of me?"
"Of what you can do, Jade," he returned, sliding the car around a corner onto an exit ramp. I saw lights behind us but so many it was hard to spot any one particular vehicle. It was a busy highway on a weekend night in the gambling capitol of the East Coast.
"You saved my life, Jade. It‘s how you did it that scares me. What was that?"
I shrugged. "How the hell do I know?"
"Can you still feel your dad‘s string?"
"Yes. He‘s in one spot. In a building underground."
"In DC? The Pentagon?" He accelerated onto another interchange and set the cruise at 70 mph.
"Murph, you need to go home. Before they know you‘re gone. To your wife and kids."
"I will. Once I get you safe, Jade. I owe AJ that. Besides, we were partners. I have to help him." He was silent the rest of the drive.