Winds of Fate Page 5

  She nodded, “I was waiting for the time to come; now it’s here.”

  Carlos accepted his defeat and then offered Jodie some advice. “Rat, he’s like the wind, and moves without sound. Mel can see your tracks when others cannot. Jake is evil clean through, do not underestimate him. Sal is the one you have to worry about the most. He is a good shot and can hit you from a thousand yards away with his rifle. The rest are just assholes. Get rid of Rat, Jake, Mel and Sal, and the rest will either run or die of fright.”

  She said, “Thanks, what about you?”

  He looked around the cavern then said, “This is a good place to die, leave me here, it’s better than a grave yard or an urn in someone’s parlor.” She nodded, “I am leaving anyway. I’ll make sure that your body is well placed and that the animals won’t drag your bones over the desert. He closed his eyes and his head fell forward on his chest, he took a couple of breaths and then went still.

  She gathered her clothes and dressed, and then she picked up her gear and his rifle. For the better part of the morning, she stacked rock over the entrance to the cave, leaving his body lying on the stone bench inside. When the cave was sealed she set out across the desert towards the river.

  Everyone except Mel and Jake believed the woman was dead. Mel knew she wasn’t. He also knew she had transformed into something else. Repeatedly, he had found signs of her movement, but they were so vague that if he bothered pointing them out to the others, they would not have understood what he was showing them; they would not have seen the invisible traces of a clue.

  For one whole day, she had followed them around without anyone knowing she was there; she had even gone into the camp and looked around a bit. Due to intervention, the girl they had been keeping there was gone. Everyone was out looking for her. Instead of one girl to track down, Mel now had two.

  This recent one was just a kid, not much older than his own daughter. Mel had never touched the girl, and had no intentions of doing so. If he found her, he planned to get her away from there. He wasn’t sure how he would do it, but he would find a way. He knew his crew’s latest young victim was with the other woman. Somehow, she had slipped into camp and had managed to escape with the girl. He knew instinctively that the elusive female would take care of the girl. She was close by; he could sense her presence! Mel set out down river, and then tracked north where he had found the only available signs, which were few.

  For the longest time, he had simply sat on a rock outcropping, and waited. She was good, very good, better than he was, but years of tracking and understanding the wilds had honed his senses, and he felt her approach. When she was no more than a couple of yards away, he said, “I suppose you have the girl with you?”

  In a quiet but strong voice she said, “I have her.”

  “She needs medical attention.”

  “More help than I can give her. She is stable but I can’t keep a constant visual over her or be a nurse maid and still do what I have to do.”

  “I was wondering when you were going to get around to this.” Mel said matter-of-factly. “If it hadn’t been for the girl, I would have been out of here a long time ago. I couldn’t leave her here to be killed, and they would have killed her ... sooner or later.”

  “What is she to you?”

  “Nothing, just a girl they picked up in town. They plucked her right off the street, can’t be more than fifteen or sixteen years old.”

  “I don’t remember you being present when they brought me here.”

  “I didn’t go to their parties, but I knew what they were doing, and didn’t do anything to stop them until now. If I get caught … so be it. I’m tired of this. Maybe I’ll spend the rest of my life behind bars, or not. Either way, I am out of it.”

  “What will you do with the girl?”

  “Take her to town and get her some medical attention.”

  “You’ll be arrested when you take her in, you know?”

  “Maybe.”

  “How did you get mixed up with these creeps in the first place?”

  “You don’t want to hear my story, mostly because it’s so familiar you’ve likely heard it a dozen times already.”

  “Try me!” She said, sounding as if she really meant it.

  “Ok. My wife left while I was stationed in Iraq. Took my daughter and my life. She needed a man who could stay home and help with rearing a family, someone who made more money than I did, and a hell of a lot smarter. She found all of that in a man even younger than me. One who is ambitious, smart and hardworking. He’s also climbing up that proverbial political ladder to meet up with an even greater career. He’s good to my ex and my daughter.

  I didn’t have anything left to fight for so I left the marines with only ten years to my credit and hit skid row. I stayed drunk for a year before I sobered up enough to remember that I had a family. Then when I did, they had forgotten they ever had me in their lives.

  I ran across this crew of scumbags about six months ago and occasionally I came out here to drink beer with them. Then they began to grab young whores off the street and bring them out here, and until now, I declined their invitations. I saw them grab the young girl that you have now, and I decided to come out with them for her sake. I thought I could help her. When I learned about the other girls they had murdered and knew they intended to find and kill you too, I allowed them to believe I was helping them. They never knew that I had discovered your quarters several weeks ago. I have been biding my time, looking for an opportunity to do pretty much what you did to their original camp. But I wanted to add them to the spoil this time.

  I never gave it a lot of thought as to whether or not I could get away with it. I didn’t care. I just wanted them off my earth. They’re worse than the enemies I killed during the war because they are murdering here on my home ground. I thought about just calling in the Feds, and letting them handle it. But what I have seen of these cases, they get strung out for decades, and millions of dollars go down the drain in dealing with them. After enough time, nobody remembers why they were being prosecuted in the first place. Inevitably, some highfaluting lawyer wanting to make a name for himself finds a loophole and these creeps are back on the prowl with a new bunch of young girls to play with. Now, don’t you wish you hadn’t asked?”

  She looked long and hard at the man called Mel, and then she said, “The girl is down by the river, just around the bend. Stay with her; don’t move her until you hear the first shot. By then they will be much too busy to worry about where either of you are. But, again, don’t move until you hear the shot.”

  He nodded then said,” Sal is a good shot. Don’t miss!”

  “I don’t plan to!”

  He looked around quickly and said, “Don’t give them the slightest chance, they’re ruthless.”

  She didn’t answer, but he knew she had heard him.

  He turned to look at her but she had already disappeared. He had not heard her leave. To himself he said, “She’s good, very good. But she gave me a warning before attempting to kill me, and that’s not so smart.”

  Rat saw Jodie standing on a low hill looking out across the desert. She had been quiet, and was good, but he knew how to track and to be silent in the process. He determined the direction she was headed and set a path to intercept her. Jake had stabbed her before having the chance to get a taste of her. Now was his chance to do something about it. He wouldn’t kill her, but when he was through with her, she would wish she were dead. Then he would hand her over to Jake instead of the other way around. He liked that, idea. He would let Jake have her instead of Jake letting him have what was left over.

  He moved silently down a draw and to the river, knowing that she was just ahead. He moved along the riverbank, and then like a ghost, slipped silently down the side on the soft sand. He paused and looked around frowning. He looked at the ground for signs of her passing but saw nothing. “She’s got to be here! Where the hell is she?” He cautiously checked out the ground, the brush, the trees, but s
aw no signs of her. Then as he made a full three-sixty, there she was, standing right in front of him.

  No! This was not that skinny-assed, acidhead Jake had killed. This woman was like something out of a dream. Sleek, silent, and deadly. Her face was calm; her eyes were like looking into the smoldering pits of hell. She smelled of sage, leather, and desert. He thought she had moved slightly but he was getting confused.

  Something was wrong, because he couldn’t feel his legs; something warm was running from his neck and down his shirt. The woman was holding a long thin knife no more than half an inch wide and tapered to a sharp point. There was blood on the knife and he knew whose it was.

  He wanted to yell out and warn them that she was here, but blood was running down his throat and he was choking. She had stuck the knife just under his Adams apple, through his neck, severing his spinal cord. His legs gave away and he fell to the ground, still looking up at her. She was beautiful; she was a wild thing from hell.

  From a rapidly fading haze, he watched as she stepped over him and then moved easily up the side of the river. She made no sound, disturbed not as much as a pebble. If only he cold have …

  Jake looked over at Sal and asked, “See anything?” Sal never took his eye from the scope as he scanned the area. “Nothing. If she’s out there she’s well hidden.”

  “If you see her, shoot her! Don’t mess around; just put one in her head.”

  Sal nodded slightly then paused, and swung the rifle back a bit. Then he said, “I think I have he ...”

  The last of his sentence was cut short as the riflescope exploded. The bullet entered his right eye and exited the back of his head. Jake scrambled down below the line of fire then pulled his radio from his belt and started shouting orders into it. “She’s here! Every one, get over here, now! She’s one click west of the camp on the north side of the river. Team one, go in along the north bank of the river and cut her off, Team two, go north of that position and we can trap her in the middle. I am tired of this BS. Let’s get her now and finish this once and for all. Now move!”

  Men began to move out across the desert and along the riverbank, spreading out in a long line, keeping in verbal contact with each other as they moved. Then they began to close in on her position little by little. Then over the radio someone said, “I hear something.” But when he was challenged to answer back, there was nothing. Someone screamed, and then cut off a second later. Shooting started, everyone shooting in different directions at the same time. Two men were killed by their own group.

  Jake growled over the radio. “Stop firing you lame-brained idiots! The next person that fires off a round better have her in his sights or I am going to kill him.”

  For a long time everything was quite. The men, now cautious, continued to move in on the woman. Another man screamed, this time in the other direction. Panicked voices came over the radio, and then went silent. In ten minutes, she had managed to cut his forces in half. Jake picked up his radio. “Get the hell out of there and fall back before she kills all of you.”

  The men began to withdraw in a staggered cover, each man watching the other’s back as they moved out of the area.

  Then suddenly the radio crackled to life. “What were their names Jake?” It was a woman, but it didn’t sound anything like the whore. He picked up his radio and said. “Who is this?”

  “What were their names … the girls at the bottom of the river bed?”

  “Look, who ever this is we can work something out.”

  “Who were they Jake?”

  Off to the left a man screamed. Someone cursed and there was a sick sucking sound and a head flew over the brush, landing almost in Jake’s lap, the head was still blinking in surprise. Jake pointed his SKS in that direction and opened fire on the position. He keyed the radio. “I am going to kill you, bitch!”

  “You already tried that Jake. What were their names?”

  “Who to hell are you talking about? Whose name?”

  “The other girls you brought up here and murdered. What were their names?”

  “Who the hell knows, or cares? Their names weren’t important. They were just whores.” Three of the men turned and began to run back to the camp. Jake heard the engine start up on a vehicle and knew that others were turning tail and running as well. He keyed the radio. “You yellow bastards get the hell back here or I’ll kill you myself.”

  “I don’t think they are listening to you Jake.”

  “Fuck them! I don’t need them for the likes of you. I have killed hundreds of little sluts like you, and you are no different. Where the fuck are you?”

  “Right here Jake.” He turned around and saw her standing less than ten yards away. He started to swing the SKS around but suddenly it was shattered into hundreds of pieces. Bits of the metal stuck in his hand where it had splintered from the impact of the steel-jacketed bullet. He dropped the SKS then stood up. He was six foot six, two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle. His handsome face was like chiseled stone, and two steel grey eyes glared at her.

  She tossed the rifle away and asked, “Who were they Jake?” He smiled and said, “You shouldn’t have done that. Now I am going to break you in half like a toothpick, those were the last words that Jake uttered.

  An impassive look lingered on her face as she stood calmly and watched Jake. He tried to curse her, but his vocal cords would not cooperate. He tried to reach her, but his arm could do little but twitch. He clinched his teeth and tried to kick at her. But with only a sliver of his spinal cord remaining, his efforts were sadly feeble.

  It took Jake five minutes to die, and she watched until he drew his last breath, then she took a long drink from her canteen, slung her rifle over her shoulder and calmly begin walking south. She hoped that Mel had managed to get the teenager to a safe place without encountering any of Jake’s killers.

  After a week of extremely hot days and colder than a Polar Bear’s digs at night, she finally walked out of the desert and back into what some might refer to as civilization. Civilization was a side of life she had yet to encounter. She had spent her childhood and most of her younger life among people who had used and abused her and each other.

  She could hardly remember her father’s face, but she could well remember the woman her father had dumped her on when she was only nine years old. She could also remember the men that the woman had led to her filthy little room at night. She remembered the beatings from the woman when she had complained that she didn’t want the men in her bed anymore because they hurt her.

  Just before she turned eleven, she ran away from that horrid woman and the men. She survived on what decent food she found in garbage cans behind fancy restaurants. Actually, some of it was damn good, and nourishing enough to put a little flesh on her bones.

  Her main former breakfast had been a daily bowl of cold cereal and an occasional hamburger from McDonald’s, her bed a filthy pad in a seven-by-eight room. The creeps who shared it with her had never seen a clean sheet.

  By the time she was fourteen, her body had begun to take shape and every creep in her flophouse noticed. That was when she decided to get back some of what she had lost to those creeps in the past. The filthy crack heads had gotten her hooked up with the candy man when she was twelve, and now she needed it for survival.

  Yes, being hooked up with creeps who supplied her with meth, bennies, black beauties, jollies … you name it, had become a daily chore. Her only means of survival had been through peddling the stuff, or peddling her ass to someone who would set her up with another fix.

  Food was no longer a requirement. By the time she was sixteen, her health had began to deteriorate to the point that nothing really mattered except her next fix. Then she met the group of ‘Neo Nazis’, the desert rats! That group had their own camp, complete with storage buildings, and it was set miles from any type of interference from the authorities. They had enough drugs to keep a good size army high for months, their booze stash could keep a small river flowing for a week. Just
her type of environment.

  Jodie woke slowly from her tormented sleep. Stiff and aching she lifted her head and looked around in confusion, her heart still pounding fiercely. Her arms felt heavy and half-paralyzed. The dream still lay heavily in her groggy brain. Then it dawned on her that she was still in her office. She had been sleeping with her head resting on her arms on her metal desk.

  With some effort she raised her head, rolled it from side to side hoping to shake out the cobwebs that had gathered there, but the dream was still too fresh; she had revisited everything ugly from her past, the full package had been laid bare for her to deal with. Jodie felt a bit nauseous.

  Although all that had taken place before she had left her teens behind, it was still very much a part of her present. She had been eleven days shy of eighteen when she walked out of that desert seven years ago. From that day, she had turned her life around. Actually, the transition had taken place weeks before she walked out of the desert.