Author: K.L. Barnes
Category: Suspense
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/kl-barnes/page,10,22563-pay-attention.html
“Have you ever had times when you really wanted something, or wanted to see someone and the next thing you know, there it is – or there they are?” She paused to let him consider for a moment.
“The power of the mind has always been a great mystery,” Maeve began. “And there are people who believe that we all have the ability to create our own destinies.”
She glanced at Makula and saw a glimmer of interest beginning to form in his eyes, so she went on before she lost her momentum, and her resolve.
“We know that everything in the universe is created by energy and that energy is formed into matter through the frequencies we send out with our thoughts. We all know that energy creates matter, so why wouldn’t this theory apply to creating our destiny?”
The skepticism was back when she looked over at the doctor again.
“Are you suggesting, Miss Tidewell, that we use the power of our minds to manifest an escape?” Makula was shaking his head in utter disbelief now. “That may well be the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.”
“I’m not saying we don’t take any other action,” she was really getting irritated now. “But if we make a plan, which by the way should include trying to heal those children, and then we focus on the plan and intently visualize the outcome, we may just be able to get ourselves out of here.”
“While we’re at it why don’t we just visualize” he said making quotation marks in the air with his fingers, “that this whole thing is just a bad dream?”
“What else have you got to do today?” She asked matter-of-factly with her fists on her hips.
Maeve and Glenn both looked up in alarm as they heard a scraping at the door. Joseph stepped inside, his large frame dominating the small room.
“Come with me.” He stated flatly and abruptly turned to walk out of the room. Maeve looked over at Makula and, with a shrug, she turned her back on him and followed Joseph into the hall.
Maeve was startled by Carl, who was standing just outside the door holding a rifle across his chest. His eyes sparked when she passed him and the demented gleam caused goose bumps to rise on her arms. She looked away from him and walked down the stairs, eager to put as much distance as she could between them. She made a mental note to have a very serious talk with the girls and she would do everything in her power to keep Carl away from them.
Joseph led Maeve and Dr. Makula into the living room area where a large rustic stone fireplace was built into the wall, complete with a stuffed elks head mounted over the mantle. Faye was waiting there with her brother, Joseph Jr., who looked as if his condition had worsened since she had last seen him only yesterday. Faye, by contrast, seemed to have some fresh color in her cheeks and her posture appeared more relaxed than it had before.
“Faye and Joe should be examined regularly to monitor their progress.” Joseph was speaking to the doctor with an air of authority.
Makula looked at him nervously and then hesitantly approached Joe, holding his hands to either side of the boys face and pulling his lower lids down to check for distention and discoloration.
“I’ll need my equipment.” Makula sounded as if he were afraid of Joseph’s reaction. “I can’t really examine them properly without it.”
“You’ll be able to tell if they are improving or not. That’s all we really want to know isn’t it?” Joseph’s tone clearly brooked no argument.
Makula just nodded again warily and raised Joe’s wrist to measure his pulse. Makula could tell that Joe was weak and in pain and Maeve was surprised to see that his sense of compassion overrode his fear for the moment.
“And how are you feeling today my friend?” He gave Joe a small smile of encouragement.
“Not so hot,” Joe said and returned the smile. “My eyes really hurt today and I can’t seem to focus out of my right one.”
“We’ll see what we can do about that,” the doctor said, patting Joe on the shoulder and moving over to take a look at Faye.
“Hi, Dr. Makula,” she greeted him happily.
“Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me it seems you are doing much better young lady,” he said with mock suspicion, as if she were playing some trick on him.
“I feel good today, Mak,” she beamed. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she added warmly.
Makula was astonished at the difference in this little girl. Only a few weeks ago he had been ready to hospitalize her and was terribly worried about her chances for recovery.
“What has brought about this change do you suppose?” He asked the question in all seriousness but she just shrugged her shoulders and grinned from ear to ear.
Glenn stepped away to talk briefly with Joseph, offering some suggestions for relieving Joe’s discomfort and telling him there wasn’t much he could do for him there in the cabin.
Joseph glared at the doctor and pointed out that so far Maeve’s power seemed to be having the desired effect on Faye, and he strongly suggested they start focusing their attention on healing his son.
The insinuation was plain and Maeve could see beads of sweat begin to form on the good doctor’s forehead.
Carl led them back upstairs where he relit the candles and checked to make sure their handcuffs were still secure. He drew close to Maeve under the pretense of checking hers and whispered next to her ear.
“My pop thinks you’re somethin’ special, but I know better. He’ll let me have my way pretty soon when he figures out you’re just like everybody else. Oh yeah,” he leered and gave a short sadistic laugh at the look of revulsion she gave him. “You can bleed just like me and the rest of the world. You can’t do any of the things he thinks you can.” He threatened her quietly, then moved away and closed the door. Maeve heard the lock slip soundly into place behind him.
Maeve took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves and then turned to Dr. Makula who was standing in the corner tugging on his lower lip, his thoughts seemingly a million miles away.
“I don’t understand,” he muttered. “There is absolutely no medical reason for her recovery. I can only think it’s a temporary reprieve and there’s no way of knowing how long it will last.”
“Well, right now it’s working in our favor,” insisted Maeve. “We may as well put these candles to good use and start working on our plan to get out of here.”
“What? Oh yes, I guess we might as well,” Makula said, still deep in thought.
“Do you have a first name?” Maeve asked suddenly.
Makula looked slightly confused at the question and said, “Yes, it’s Glenn. Glenn Makula.”
*****
Chapter 16
Ben laid his credit card on the counter and waited impatiently while the agent printed out the rental agreement.
“I could have been halfway there by now,” he grumbled as the scrawny kid sauntered over to the printer and brought back a stack of paper. He signed for the car and picked up the keys, then hurried Jason out to the four wheel drive Jeep that he had requested for the week.
Pulling onto the interstate he could see the Mesa looming ahead in the distance, the lower slopes bathed in sunlight that gradually faded to shadows near the high, flat summit. They drove along the now familiar route and talked about the missing woman and her children and how it was a strange coincidence that Jason had run into them twice in one day.
Ben tried, without much success, to convince himself that he had only dreamed about her and the cabin because he had seen her talking to Jason. He reasoned that his subconscious mind had remembered a photo from somewhere and had put the two together in his imagination. But he knew that he was lying to himself. He had only seen the woman from behind for a brief second and there was no way he could have recognized her picture.
“What would you say if I told you I had a dream about her?” The question came out of the blue and surprised Ben as much as it did Jason.
“Who?” Jason looked at him dumbly, not immediately making the connection in the conversation.
“The missing woman,” Ben exp
lained. “What was her name?”
“I don’t think the guy said. If he did I don’t remember.”
“Well, I had a dream about her being up at the cabin we saw yesterday.” Ben was beginning to feel foolish now that he had opened his big mouth.
“Gees, dad, I guess I’d say you need a date!” Jason teased his dad unmercifully every chance he got about finding a new girlfriend but Ben just ignored him. “Is that why we’re going back up there, to see if you can find them?” He asked incredulously.
“No, not really,” Ben lied evenly. “I just got to thinking we might go up there and see about renting the place for a few days. We could hang out and relax, maybe see how good we can get at this fishing thing.”
Jason didn’t really believe him. His dad wasn’t the greatest liar in the world after all, but Jason thought it wasn’t a bad idea to check into it anyway so he went along with the charade and said it sounded like a good time.
They drove the rest of the way in silence, each lost in their own thoughts about what they might find when they reached the lake.
Pulling up forty-five minutes later, Ben parked at the trail head where they had left the bike yesterday. Ben had loaded up a back pack with some food and water along with his camera and plenty of film.
“I’m not sure if there’s a road in so we’ll hike from here like we did yesterday.” Ben was anxious to see the cabin again, but for some reason, he didn’t want to draw too much attention.
They enjoyed the walk and traveled at a leisurely pace. Ben snapped pictures as Jason pointed out landmarks and wildlife along the trail.
“What do you think happened to her, Dad?” Jason asked after a while.
“It’s impossible to say, Jase. You said you saw her getting in a truck so maybe it’s like the detective said, maybe she just went off with a boyfriend for a few days and she’ll turn up safe and sound, wondering what all the excitement is about.”
“I hope so,” Jase said. But he sounded doubtful. “She seemed really nice, you know. Most people aren’t very friendly when they see a kid with a Mohawk, but she was different.”
Ben turned and gave Jason a good long look, wondering at the level of self confidence in his voice. He hadn’t thought about it for a while, but the notion struck him that his son was a good looking kid. He was reminded of himself at that age, sans the Mohawk, which Jason wasn’t wearing today. He had brushed his hair back and had it secured with a rubber band, making him look clean cut and mature.
All of a sudden Ben was reminded of Jason as a child. He had followed Ben everywhere, asking questions and getting under foot. But Ben had never minded the interruptions from the curious little bundle of energy.
He had tried to teach him the value of life and give him the freedom to make his own choices, and now he could see that he had somehow managed to raise a caring young man who would have the courage to do the right thing.
“What?” Jason asked when he noticed Ben staring at him with a strange expression on his face.
“Nothing,” Ben replied. “Except I think I’m really glad we took this trip so we could be together.” He turned and headed on down the trail before the lump in his throat got any bigger. And before he could say anything else that might make Jason’s ears turn red.
Jason stood silent, lost in thought, and then he ran to catch up with Ben. “Wait!”
Ben turned around and Jason hollered at him as he ran.
“The girls weren’t with her, Dad, when she got in the truck. I mean, they walked out to the parking lot together but when I saw the guy helping her into the truck the kids weren’t there.”
“What do you mean, helping her? You didn’t say that before.” Ben was looking intently at his son’s perplexed expression. Jason thought about it for a minute but now he just wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know. It’s just that I didn’t think about it before and now it just seems kind of weird.” Jason also reasoned that if the girls weren’t with their mother when they left the parking lot, they had to be with someone who would know where she went.
Ben decided to give that some thought as they walked the better part of a mile to Lost Lake.
They came out of the woods on the rise above the lake and could see smoke curling above the trees across the water.
“It looks like somebody’s there. Look, they have a fire going.” Ben observed as they rounded a curve in the trail that brought the cabin into view.
It took them another twenty minutes to circle the lake and reach the cabin. Ben was pretty sure he and Jason looked like any father and son leisurely hiking through the woods and hoped they gave the impression that they had just stumbled onto the cabin for the first time.
His nerves were tingling and he had the strange sense that something wasn’t right as they walked up the stairs and stepped onto the deck. Ben was having second thoughts about knocking when the door slowly opened and a boy of about Jason’s age peered at them through the screen door.
Jason was standing behind Ben and he gasped quietly, then turned aside and wandered away to stand at the porch rail and look out over the water.
“Hi.” Ben tried a greeting and a friendly smile.
The boy peered back at him through eyes dark with malice. Ben nearly took a step back at the power behind the poisonous gaze.
He cleared his throat and tried again.
“Are your folks at home?” He put his smile firmly back in place.
Ben heard footsteps approaching on the other side of the door and the boy moved out of the way to make room for a man who all but overwhelmed the opening with his large frame. Ben was getting tired of the phony smile routine, but he gave it another try, hoping for a more positive kind of response. The man was obviously the boy’s father. He had the same hateful eyes and unwavering stare. Like that of a heinous demon searching for innocent souls to devour.
Joseph Binyon nodded his head once, acknowledging Ben’s presence, and then told him firmly, and not the least bit politely, that the cabin was privately owned and not for rent.
He soundly closed the door without another word, while Ben and Jason stared at each other in bewilderment.
*****
Joseph moved to the window to see what his visitors would do next.
To all appearances they were just a couple of hikers, probably naturalists out photographing the scenery and the abundant wildlife.
What a waste, he thought to himself. He would much rather hunt or trap anything with four legs. It was something he’d discovered about himself when he was young.
He thought back to that first time. The whole family was visiting some friends who owned a turkey farm in Colorado and it happened to be the day that the turkeys all went to meet their maker. Joseph had watched in fascination as one after the other of them was held down on the block, and then the whack of the axe coming down to sever their ugly necks. The blood spurted sometimes three or four feet while the large birds frantically continued to flap their wings and struggle as if they would run off, bouncing headless, across the open field.
He supposed he should be disturbed at the workings of his mind, but he never really gave it too much thought, and simply accepted it as part of his unique existence.
“I got a feeling about those two, Dad.” Joseph was surprised to find Carl was still standing behind him.
“It looks like they’re just moving on. Keep an eye on them for a bit and see where they go,” Joseph ordered. “If they show up again, we may need to change our plans to accommodate them,” he finished with a grim expression that he could see excited Carl, his orders opening up all kinds of possibilities.
Joseph then turned back to the window and watched as the boy and his father walked steadily away from the cabin.
*****
“Dad,” Jason started, but Ben jumped in before he could finish.
“Don’t say anything at all, Jase.” Ben murmured the warning very quietly as he raised the camera to his eye and snapped off a shot.
He
was mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. What the hell had he been thinking, taking Jason up there like that with no way to protect him?
He kept walking and hoped that Jason would take his silence for what it was, a hint to act casual and keep moving.
He continued to point the camera and used it to cover the fact that he was studying the area surrounding the cabin, hoping for any sign of the woman or her car. He knew it was unlikely, but every instinct he had was telling him that something here wasn’t all hunky dory.
They had walked nearly a hundred yards when Jason raised his arm and pointed into the distance as if he wanted Ben to take a picture.
“Look at that,” he said, his voice ringing loud and clear in the silence. And then under his breath he added, “Someone’s following us.”
Ben pointed the camera and responded with what he hoped would look like enthusiasm, dropping to one knee and using the camera to cover his face. Motioning Jason down beside him, Ben pointed into the distance as if confirming the direction and then as quietly as possible said, “Look, Jason, keep walking just like it’s any other day until you get to the Jeep. If for some reason I’m not right with you, take off and go find the nearest phone.”
“Dad.” Jason tried to argue but Ben wouldn’t hear any of it.
“Look on the bright side, you’ll get to drive without an adult in the car,” he said with a smirk.
Ben stood up, gazed up at the sun as if to check the time, and then patted Jason on the shoulder before starting off in a determined stride toward the trail head where they had parked. Every now and then Ben could hear rustling nearby and his senses told him they were still being followed. But short of turning around and going on the attack there wasn’t much he could do about it so they kept up the pretense and he stayed alert to any change in the atmosphere.
Ben was sweating by the time they reached the vehicle and it wasn’t due to the warmth of the day. He was so relieved to get Jason out of there and back on the road that he nearly collapsed into the seat and he had a little difficulty getting his shaking legs to cooperate. He turned the Jeep back toward the main road and then hit the gas, speeding down the winding mountain road as fast as he could go.