The seconds started to go by slowly and no one came up to the house. Just calm yourself, Dani. You’re making yourself crazy. Take it easy. The open living area was up on the second floor and had a deck off it with a view of the ski area, and Dani opened the door and looked out, but she didn’t see any thing at all. She thought about calling Geoff from the house phone. He promised he’d be back in fifteen minutes. It was over twenty now. All the outside doors were locked. She opened the sliding door and stepped out on the deck. Blu got up and came out with her.
“What do you say, Blu, am I just getting all spooky here by myself?”
The Lab walked over to the railing and began to bark.
Jesus, it was enough to unnerve anyone, not to mention someone who had just been through what Dani had.
She went back in and shut the door behind her. And made sure she locked it, though who could climb their way up to the second floor? She checked the time: 10:35. Geoff will be back any second. Calm yourself, Dani. No one even knows you’re here.
Blu began to whimper and let out a growl. He didn’t like being cooped up here any more than she did. At least he got to go out once in a while. He didn’t go far; just explored the woods and pooped and peed and then came back. Now he went to the top of the stairs leading down to the backyard. There wasn’t much of a yard; the house was built on an incline and the woods and brush grew in pretty close to the house.
Dani said, “You want to go out, boy? I don’t blame you.”
The dog headed down the staircase and Dani followed him. She looked outside and didn’t see a thing, and opened the door just a crack and listened, restraining Blu by the collar. Whatever it was, it was just her imagination, she decided. The only light was from the moon, which was close to full. Feeling a little foolish, that she was making up dangers when there was enough real anxiety to go around, she finally opened the door wider and let him out. “Okay, boy, go ahead.” He trotted out. Then, hearing Ty’s caution in her head, she decided to be safe and closed the door back up. She stayed there awhile and watched the dog poke around. Normally this time of night he just sniffed for a bit, then did his business and came back in.
This night he was acting a little strange.
His sniffer must be going crazy, because he was making his way as if he was on the trail of something, through the plantings on the side of the house, and he whimpered a bunch of times and barked. Dani kept an eye on him through the glass. Must be an animal out there, she decided, as he barked and barked. Then he headed around the side of the house and out of sight. “Oh, come on, Blu, not tonight,” she groaned impatiently. “Please …”
She waited a minute or so and then heard Blu barking up a storm around the side of the house. There was a stream that ran alongside; sometimes there were raccoon or deer. Up here there could even be mountain lions. Dani listened at the door and decided it was all going on too long. She grabbed his leash and stepped out and called for the dog. “Here, Blu, come on in …! You want a biscuit? Biscuit!” she yelled, which never failed to bring him in.
All she heard was his continued barking.
“Damn you, Blu,” Dani muttered and, grabbing his harness, stepped out after him.
It was no big deal, she told herself. Clearly no one was out there. Probably just a creature. She went around the side of the house and found him looking out at the dark valley, barking. “C’mon, guy, let’s go back inside.” She pulled him by the collar. The big dog didn’t move. She petted him to calm him down and took hold of him. “Not tonight, boy. Just not tonight …” she said, and clipped the harness around him and dragged him back toward the house.
He wouldn’t budge. Just pulled against her, barking.
“Blu!” Dani yelled, trying to yank him away. “Come on. It’s—”
Suddenly she did hear something. Footsteps. Coming from the front of the house. Like a boot crunching on the ground. Her heart came to a stop and her eyes darted. A couple of footsteps. Then nothing. The hairs on her arms stood up. She pulled the dog.
“Please, Blu, please … Let’s just go,” she said in almost a whimper. The dog started barking even louder.
She heard the noise again. As if it was coming toward her.
Shit.
This time it came with a beam of light, shining toward them from out of the darkness. Dani’s blood froze. It canted off the house, the trees, all the time coming closer. Now Dani pulled at Blu with all her might, but the dog weighed about eighty pounds, and when he made his mind up, he was difficult to control, and he wasn’t budging. She knew she probably ought to just leave him out there—he’d be all right. But she couldn’t. And whoever was out there had heard her; Blu was her protection. She stood there holding on to him as she heard the crunch of footsteps come closer and the light get brighter.
Suddenly someone stepped out from around the house, encased in darkness. Just enough that Dani saw the familiar boots, the uniform, and then the face, partially lit up by the light he was flashing around, which now shined directly on them, the dog on his hinds now, going crazy, growling, barking with everything he had.
“Wade.”
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified. At first her anxiety eased, but when she saw what he had in his other hand, it rose up all over again. “What are you doing with that gun, Wade?”
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
For two days, Wade told himself he would only check to see if Dani had come back to the valley; which he prayed she hadn’t and was somewhere else—somewhere far away—and he wouldn’t have to go through with what they were pressuring him to do. That was tearing him up inside like razor blades right now.
His choice was, tell them to go to hell and risk what they would do to Kyle. Or follow through on it, a thing so bad he couldn’t even hold the thought in his own stomach, and then be free of them but have to face what Hauck had promised he would do.
Either way he knew he could no longer go along with things as they were.
You let us worry about Mr. Hauck, the man on the phone had said. You just handle your side of the business …