Walker, page 12
“No,” she declared, shaking her head. “I still struggle to live with some of the things that the military did, and some of the things I was forced to be involved in, but to think that somebody might be using innocent people to get at me now?” She shook her head and fell silent.
He gathered her into his arms, feeling her initial hesitation, as he wrapped her up and held her close. She didn’t do anything at first, but moments later she finally sagged against him as he just held her. It was hard for her to let go, hard to accept the comfort he offered, hard for her to even realize that the comfort was there.
She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. “I just hid, you know?” she whispered. “I hid from everything. I couldn’t handle any more and came here to lick my wounds and to hide away from society, though not society at all. It was the government. The things they did, that they wanted us to do, I just couldn’t be a part of it anymore,” she whispered.
“I think they knew that, and there was always that fear in the back of my mind, you know? That they would find me. I was afraid of being taken out. I knew too much. Where the bodies are, as they say. But that didn’t happen, and more time went by, and it still didn’t happen. I don’t want to say that I relaxed, but it’s almost as if I shifted gears at some point and went from being a hideaway mess to somebody who could rebuild a bit of a life. And I started doing more healing here and there, because, as you mentioned, if I don’t heal, if I don’t use my gift, … life can get pretty ugly.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed gently. “We all have had similar experiences, and you really need to consider spending some time with Terkel and his gang, even if only to understand that he has survived exactly what you’re afraid of. All of them have, even Calum. They were all attacked by their government. They were all taken out with some energy weapon, all injured in varying degrees, some in a coma, and yet, with Terkel at the helm, looking out for them and ensuring that each of them got the support they needed, they all eventually came back online, healthy and sane. If that wasn’t amazing enough, there is one more thing, and it’s really important.”
She looked up at him quizzically, not sure what could be more important than coming back sane.
“They came back stronger,” Walker whispered to her gently. “You know what that means for us, for anybody in our situation. How cool is that?”
“Is it though?” she asked. “What would I do with more?”
He smiled, then gently kissed her on the temple. “Just think about it. You could do more with healing. Imagine if you worked with somebody like the other two healers in Terkel’s group. What if you could heal people with even more devastating diseases? The results would be endless.” She snorted and he chuckled. “Believe me. I know the joy, the sense of doing something positive for somebody,” he shared. “That’s worth so much.”
“That’s why I heal now,” she admitted in the faintest of whispers. “Because there has to be something in this world worth living for.” She gave a quick shudder and leaned back against the chair, as if trying to put space between them.
However, Walker wouldn’t let it happen. He picked her up in his arms, sat down with her, now sitting in his lap. She stared at him in shock, as he burst out laughing. “It’s truly been a long time for you, hasn’t it, sweetheart?”
She frowned at him, hating that he could see so easily who she was.
“It’s not easy,” Walker told her. “I get it, but there is that connection between us. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how,” he admitted, “but I, for one, am grateful for it. I’ve been alone most if not all of my life. I’m not sure I knew it, until it happened here with you, but all this time, … I’ve been looking for you.”
When a knock came on her door, she bolted off his lap in shock. Calum looked at the door, then over at Walker. Calum held up a hand to reassure her. “It’s all right. It’s just Riff.”
Looking up, the door opened, and Riff walked in, then took one look at Ashley standing there, ready to bolt, and smiled in a way that Ashley had never seen before.
She didn’t even know Riff, or that anyone capable of such a look. It was full of caring and gentleness, as if understanding the wounded bird in front of him. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he began. “I’m one of Terkel’s men.”
She stared at him, her shoulders sagging. “Thank you, … but a little warning would have been nice.”
He chuckled. “I kind of come and go like a ghost,” he admitted. “It’s the way I’m happiest.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “No, you feel in control of your world that way. That’s why you do it.”
His eyebrows shot up, and he studied her with respect. “That is very true,” he agreed smoothly. “It’s much easier to not feel like you’re being manipulated and coerced by everybody around you, when you insist on playing the game your way.”
“That’s what I need to do,” she murmured, studying him carefully. “I never did learn that technique.”
“That’s because you’re a healer, and you must have your energy open in order to heal. I’m not a healer.” His tone turning hard, he continued. “Like most of the team, including Walker and Calum here”—he waved a hand at both men—“we each play the game the way we know how.”
Her tone hardening, she snapped, “With violence.”
Walker gently picked up her hand in his. “We only use violence as a defense mechanism,” he stated. “None of us wants to screw up our own energies by hurting somebody else if we don’t have to. Remember. We might not be healers, but it’s still self-destructive to send out negative energy.”
*
The two men left soon after trying hard to get Ashley to acknowledge the issues at hand and to open up that wall of energy to see who might be trying to contact her. Riff stayed behind to keep watch outside. Walker knew she was reaching a breaking point, and, with Calum at his side, they’d both left to try to meet with the sheriff to see if they could come up with an action plan to find out what was going on. They also needed to get busy with the details of the other missing people, which apparently the mayor or the sheriff had given to Terkel, but not very willingly.
Of course nobody here in this tiny little town in Finland really understood who Terkel was, what he was doing, and what impact dealing with him would have on them. But no more time to waste. Not with that many missing. The sheriff was apparently willing to meet with them—or had been forced into it by the mayor. The sheriff’s level of willingness and motivation remained to be seen, but still, it was something.
It took fifteen minutes to get back into town, and, as they walked toward the sheriff’s office, they could almost sense the hub of activity in town stop for a moment, as the townsfolk assessed the fact that these strangers were not only back but they were going into the station. Calum looked at Walker with a quirky smile. “Nothing like attracting attention just for showing up.”
“Right,” he muttered. “Can’t wait to see what kind of reception we’ll get inside.”
With that, they walked inside the sheriff’s office. It wasn’t exactly a busy place, so it was kind of silent already when they entered. It didn’t take long for the two people in the front room to realize they were standing here. One woman got up from her desk, walked up to the counter, and asked what they needed.
Unfortunately she didn’t speak English, but the sheriff bustled out just then. “They’re here to see me,” he muttered, as he waved them back into his office, where they sat down in the two available chairs. The sheriff glared at them, and both men just stared back, their faces blank, as they realized that, although they were supposedly welcome, they really weren’t welcome at all.
Calum waited for a long moment, then spoke up. “We understand you guys have a problem in town.”
The sheriff flushed. “Yes, and apparently it’s worse than I knew.”
“If you’ve got three men missing, then it’s definitely worse than you knew,” Calum stated. “I know you don’t want to hear that, but we’re here to help.”
As the sheriff continued to glare at him, Calum shrugged. “I also get that you guys don’t want or need anybody’s help, but it’s just a fact of life,” he explained. “We have a problem, and we need to get it solved. We’ve got to find this young man who is quite ill and needing treatment, plus the two other missing people you’ve got on top of that.”
The sheriff nodded glumly. “I sent over the files to your boss,” he stated, barely containing his disgust. “Your boss has started to look for whatever he thinks he can find. I’ve organized a search of the last known locations of the one man,” he shared. “I don’t really know anything about the second one.”
“Okay, and maybe you could send that same information to us,” Walker suggested.
The sheriff shook his head. “No, if you want it, you get it from your boss. His credentials have been vetted, but I don’t know anything about you.”
At that, Walker gave a bark of laughter and nodded. “That’s fine. We can get that information from Terkel.” He pulled out his phone and contacted Terk. “You’ll need to forward those files to us. Apparently we don’t have sufficient clearance to get our own copies.”
A note of disgust filled Terkel’s tone as he responded, “Not a problem. I’ll send them off now. They’re a little on the skimpy side.”
“Of course. Nobody even knew they were missing,” Walker stated, “and now we’re behind on finding them for sure. I don’t know what the dates are on the others.”
“One went missing last week,” Terkel shared, “but, yes, we’re already behind the curve on that one too. What we don’t want is to have even more people go missing.”
“No. I’ll talk to the sheriff about potential reasons why these men even came to town, but I’m not sure he’ll have any answers.” When he ended the call, the sheriff was already shaking his head.
“No, we don’t know why they came here. We do get a certain number of tourists throughout the year. Although I admit we have a bit of a cranky disposition where strangers are concerned, yet economic times have been a bit lean, and everybody needs money. Tourist dollars can be quite helpful.”
“Right, got it,” Walker said. “Is it possible that since the country is finally open for travel again that people are just getting out and traveling because they need a break?”
“That is possible, yes,” the sheriff agreed. “And honestly, this whole thing could turn out to be nothing.”
“Maybe so. Maybe these missing men just moved on, and it has nothing at all to do with your town,” Walker mentioned with a note of snark. “Or … maybe you have a problem here.”
At that, the sheriff flushed and nodded. “Either way, we need to get to the bottom of it. It won’t be good for any of us if what you’re suggesting is happening.”
“We’re not suggesting anything at this point,” Calum noted, his tone soft, yet with an element that made it clear he wouldn’t be led into making less of this than it was. “We can also bring in more assistance as needed.”
At that, the sheriff looked alarmed, and he shook his head. “We don’t need more assistance,”
“Then we better find these men and fast.” Calum stood, nodding at the sheriff. “We’ll go through the file and start searching on our own.”
“This is an official investigation,” he protested. “We simply can’t have interference.”
“I understand, but we must ensure that these people are found, and that’ll be taxing on your resources. We’re happy to lend a hand,” he said smoothly, with a smile.
The sheriff was flummoxed, not knowing how to stop them from interfering, yet all too aware of the budget limitations he would face.
“Does anybody in town have a particularly violent or criminal history?” Calum asked, turning back from the doorway. “Somebody who would come to mind for a case such as this?”
The dismissive shake of the sheriff’s head was immediate as he spoke. “No, and that’s one of the reasons why we were so long in realizing we had a problem. This isn’t the kind of thing that would happen here. We’re not particularly friendly as towns go, that much is true, not in a social sense. But we don’t harbor criminals who will kidnap young men, unless the men have done something wrong.”
“Unless they’ve done something wrong?” Calum repeated slowly. “Seriously? You’re surely not making these victims out to be the aggressors, are you?”
“We don’t know that they aren’t,” he pointed out smoothly.
“Absent any facts on the matter,” Calum pointed out, “why don’t we keep an open mind? With any luck, we can find out what’s going on here. I suggest you do the same. Let’s find these men, and quickly too, so there are no long-term repercussions from their visit to your lovely town,” he stated, with a note of irony in his tone. “Then we can all get back to what we normally do.”
“What would that be?” the sheriff asked, glaring at him.
“We’re in the security business,” Calum shared smoothly. “We work in countries all over the world, and at times for various governments, more than you can count. So, as you can see, we are well suited to provide assistance.”
The sheriff flushed at that. “That’s all well and good, but all I really have regarding the legitimacy of your operation is a note from the mayor, stating that I was to provide assistance and support information requests from this Terkel person. We don’t like interference from strangers.”
“No, but apparently you don’t like visitors either. Yet you say that you need the tourist dollars they bring. You can guess that, if news of people disappearing from your area gets out, there won’t be any tourists dollars or strangers to worry about. You might want to consider that angle while you are sitting there, all high and mighty.” And, with that, Calum stepped out of the office.
By the time Walker joined him, Calum was still steaming mad. “Interesting philosophy, isn’t it?”
“Not that shocking though.”
“That’s true. Everybody wants the dollars the tourists bring to the local economy, but they don’t want the headaches that come with tourists. They want the dollars, not the mess. They want the money, not the people. It’s almost like they should just open up some sort of a fund and say, Hey, why don’t you just donate to our town but don’t come here. That’s just wrong.”
At that, Walker laughed. “We both know it’s the same all over the world. Everybody competing for the almighty tourist dollar, then complaining about the impacts that tourists cause.”
Chapter 9
Ashley got up in frustration, having tried for the last hour to zone out, but, with everything churning around in her brain, it proved impossible. It wasn’t helping on any level and certainly wasn’t letting her get anywhere. Instead it was just driving her nuts with the possibilities. When her phone rang, she snatched it up, expecting it to be either Walker or Calum. Instead it was McClintock. “Hey,” she replied, when she recognized his voice.
“You okay?”
“I’ve been better,” she muttered. “Just not sure what the hell’s going on right now.”
“It doesn’t sound good,” he agreed, his tone darkening in anger. “Is it those two men? I can put a stop to that, you know.”
She laughed. “No, it’s not those men, and I don’t need you to put a stop to it,” she replied gently. “Thanks for the offer though.”
“I would be more than happy to send them on their way,” he added, his tone deepening.
“Yeah, a little too happy, I can tell.”
He gave a bark of laughter. “It’s almost as if you know me.”
“As it turns out, I do,” she said, “but, in this case, these men haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she stated. “Listen. There has been a suggestion that more young men may have gone missing. Apparently two others we know of, one last week.”
“What?”
It almost sounded as if McClintock was quite surprised, and she really hoped that was true because, if not, it would mean he knew more than he was telling her.
“Yes, and apparently the sheriff and his men are now involved.”
“They certainly should be, if we’ve got more people missing,” McClintock noted. “It’s one thing if it’s just this one guy who disappeared, particularly one who’s sick, since he could have gone off the beaten path and died, for heaven’s sake,” he said in exasperation. “But if we’ve got three missing? That’s a whole different story.”
“That’s all I’ve got for you so far,” she muttered. “If you know any more, feel free to pass it on.”
Then came an odd silence. “You know, in all this time you’ve generally preferred that I don’t pass on any bad news.”
“Right, and I know that,” she admitted, “but now I’m starting to wonder if I was being too simplistic, too idealistic in my attempt to keep entirely out of it.” She sighed. “I don’t really need the details, but I can’t have people going missing like this, particularly if they’re coming to see me.”
“Do you know if that’s been the case though?” he asked.
“No, I don’t know that yet, which just exacerbates the problem.”
“Of course,” he muttered. “The other thing is the fact that this could have nothing to do with you at all. These people might not even be missing, and the whole thing could be somebody sounding an alarm and worrying you more than you need to be.”
“God, I sure hope so,” she said, speaking with such force that she knew it surprised him too. “It’s one thing to not want this kind of violence back in my life but another to determine what to do when it is here,” she muttered.
“I know, and that’s one of the reasons why I don’t tell you when anything goes on in town.”
“Right,” she muttered, then winced, “but neither can I live in a vacuum, apparently.”
“Absolutely you can,” he disagreed cheerily. “You just need to ignore all this and get back to living that same life you’ve been living.”
