Lynn drove home that evening with a satisfied smile on her face. It felt so good to help someone who was powerless to change her life. After a shower she put on a comfortable sweatshirt and some jeans and opened the Mexican carry-out she brought home. As she was putting the chicken enchiladas on a plate she remembered that she hadn’t checked her laptop since yesterday morning. She brought it to the table and turned it on so she could check for emails while she ate. As soon as it came to life it began to sound the alarm that activity had been detected at Jack’s cabin. She opened up the link from the security system and watched the camera video as an intruder circled around the lake and entered the cabin. At the first close up view Lynn felt something grab her throat – pure terror. This was the woman in black from her nightmares!
“No, no. It can’t be. I must be asleep, dreaming . . . but I’m not asleep. This is real!” A single cry escaped her throat. “Jaaaack!”
An hour later Lynn was in the truck headed for Jack’s cabin. She would have to drive most of the night to get there, but the adrenalin from the shock of seeing the someone in the cabin – and the anger that their special place had been violated – would keep her going. Before she left she checked Jack’s secret compartment under the pickup bed to see what weapon choices she would have when she got there: an M-16 with full-auto capability, a long-range sniper rifle with a night vision scope, an assortment of explosive and smoke grenades, a rocket propelled grenade launcher with half a dozen rounds, and a combat knife. Other gear included night vision goggles, ranging binoculars, and laser dazzler flashlight called The Dissuader that temporarily flash blinds adversaries. She also had her Glock pistol ready to add to the holster on her belt.
The sun was just coming up as she reached the cabin. She approached on a back road and stopped in the woods overlooking the back of the cabin. She got out and surveyed the cabin and the surrounding area with binoculars. When she was satisfied the intruder wasn’t around she walked down the hill to the back door and went inside. She went from room to room to see if anything had been disturbed, but the intruder was good – she put everything back where she found it. The last place she checked was Jack’s desk. Everything looks normal . . . but something’s not quite right. What is it? . . . The picture! Jack always kept a framed 8x10 photograph of me on his desk, but it’s gone. She opened the top drawer – and there it was. But someone had written on it with magic marker “You are Next Bitch.” Lynn dropped the picture, breaking the glass and quickly looked all around her. Then she drew her pistol and crawled up to peek out each of the windows. “Nothing moving. It’s been two days since the woman in black was here. She wouldn’t stay around that long on the off chance I might show up” she said to herself. “But I shouldn’t hang around.”
She cleaned up the glass and metal from the broken picture frame and put it in a large zip-lock bag. Maybe Dave’s people could learn something from it. She took one last look around and was about to leave when she remembered the Miata in the garage. The battery had a habit of going dead if it wasn’t driven now and then, so she went out to start it and let it run for a bit. She opened the garage door and checked to see that nothing in there had been disturbed. She leaned in the passenger door, inserted the key into the ignition, and turned it. Nothing happened. She leaned in further and turned the starter switch again . . . still nothing. She thought for a minute and realized the clutch had to be pushed down before the starter would work. She went around and opened the driver’s door.
Z was watching a Jason Bourne movie on TV in her motel room when her cell phone rang. No one knows this number, so it must be the cameras at the cabin. Sure enough, when she answered she was treated to a live shot of Lynn Preston entering the cabin. She Her cameras covered only the front and back doors, so she couldn’t see what Lynn was up to, but the microphone picked snatches of conversations as she talked to herself. Z caught an occasional glimpse of her as she passed through the kitchen or the living room. She didn’t seem alarmed, so apparently Lynn hadn’t discovered Z’s hidden cameras. Z didn’t wait to see if Lynn left. She hurried out to her truck and started the 35 minute drive to the cabin.
Just as Lynn leaned in to sit in the driver’s seat she was startled by a shout.
Lynn, stop! Freeze where you are!
“Jack?? Is that you?”
Do exactly what I tell you. Step backwards away from the car. . . . No! leave the car door open. There’s a bomb in it!
As Lynn backed out of the garage door she stopped and looked around for Jack’s spirit. “Where are you, Jack?”
You can’t see me when you’re awake, but I’m here watching over you. Right now you need to get back to the truck and get out of here. She’s coming up the road to the cabin.
Lynn paused long enough to hear the sound of a truck engine laboring up the hill, then turned and started climbing the steep hill to her truck. She was almost there when the engine sound got suddenly louder. She looked back to see a black Avalanche careening around the corner of the cabin and heading right at her. She ran the last few steps up to Jack’s truck, jumped in, and headed back into the woods on the forest road. After 100 yards she looked back to see the Avalanche plunging through the trees behind her. The Avalanche was more powerful, but Lynn knew these backwoods roads well – she and Jack had used them to escape from Alexei’s thugs more than once.
After zigzagging through the interconnecting dirt roads Lynn couldn’t see her pursuer behind her, so she pulled into a roadside clearing, jumped out of the truck, and opened the cover to Jack’s arsenal. She grabbed the M16 automatic rifle and moved behind a tree. Fifteen seconds later she heard the noise of the engine coming toward her. She leveled the rifle at a point three feet above the ground where the Avalanche would first appear around the curve and waited. As soon as it came into view Lynn fired a dozen rounds into the vehicle’s grill, and was rewarded with a cloud of steam from the ruptured radiator. As the truck slid to a stop, the intruder started to get out of the truck . . . until Lynn fired another burst into the partially open driver’s door. The door closed immediately and he driver ducked out of view behind the dashboard.
Lynn climbed back into her truck and accelerated down the dirt road, wanting to put as much space between them as she could. After five minutes, she was certain she wasn’t being followed so she slowed down to negotiate the turns at a sane speed and headed for the highway back to Philly.
It was midnight as she pulled into the parking garage of her apartment building and let out a sigh of relief. Her body had been running on high-test adrenalin for over 24 hours and was screaming for some rest. She locked the apartment door behind her and headed for the shower but, as she passed the bed on the way, she collapsed into it. Her last thought was Thank you, Jack, for saving me. It was almost morning when she thought she felt Jack snuggle up spoon-fashion behind her. A feeling of contentment came over her as she lay there feeling Jack’s warm body against her. “Jack, who is that lady in black who wants to kill me?”
She was Alexei’s agent and mistress; the one who killed Jim Norton down in Florida last year. And the one who Tom Gutierrez tied naked to a chair and wrapped in Plastic wrap after he called he police.
“If she wants to kill me, how do I protect myself? How will I know if she’s stalking me, or laying in wait somewhere waiting for an opportunity to grab me?”
Stay alert, all the time. Pay attention to everyone around you. Look for a woman – or a man; she could disguise herself – who seems out of place, who doesn’t seem to be acting normally.
“Will you warn me, like you did today?”
I’ll watch over you, but I can’t always break through to your world to warn you. There are forces that control a spirit’s ability to enter the world of the living.
With that Lynn snuggled her body back into his a little tighter and fell back asleep.