choke. “W-what do you want from us?”
“Complete a job for me,” it replied. “The four of you go into the cemetery and unearth the center grave. There are shovels waiting and most of the work has already been done. Dig up the coffin and bring me the body of Kale Kane, if you want Mallory to live.”
Tim’s skin prickled with unease.
“Time is short,” the creature warned. “Bring me Kane now, or your friend dies.”
“All right,” Tim shouted.
He and the others piled out of the car and faced the waiting graveyard. Its eternal markers stared back. The night air had taken on an unseasonable chill, but remained thick with moisture and the threat of the churning storm above.
Tim moved away from the vehicle last, taking tentative steps toward where Mallory’s friends had gathered. They looked to him with imploring glances.
“What do we do now?” Adam whispered. His gaze kept darting to the wilderness.
“We do like it said,” Tim answered.
“But we could run,” Lisa said. “It couldn’t follow us out here, not through the trees.”
“No way,” Tim warned. “Now, come on, before it does something to hurt Mallory.”
They looked to the car, to the blazing headlights that seemed to watch them, then followed Tim through the gate. They let him lead the way amid the monuments, wading through the waist-high weeds to the grave they’d been instructed to unearth.
Piles of dirt rimmed the open pit.
Two shovels awaited use at each side.
“Oh, my God,” Becky screeched.
Hordes of glossy black crickets crawled across the tombstone and around its base, scuttling over and under one another, some spilling into the grave itself.
The two girls huddled close to each other and kept their distance. Tim didn’t blame them. Though harmless, the insects’ exaggerated number proved daunting.
He took up one of the shovels and cleared away a majority of the bugs, heaving them into the weeds. Once finished, he knelt and started into the hole, indicating for Adam to join him.
“Let’s get to work,” he whispered. “Maybe it’ll let its guard down if it thinks we’re doing what it wants.”
“Hell with that,” Adam said. “We have a chance, right now, just like Lisa said. If we can get into the forest, it won’t be able to catch us. We’re halfway there now.”
Tim shook his head. “Trust me, it can and it will.” He dropped into the open excavation and looked up at them. “Besides, I think I have an idea how we can
“You’re nuts,” the boy replied.
“It’s for Mallory’s life,” Tim replied. “What’s wrong with you people? Don’t you understand—we leave, and that thing will kill her. You guys are her friends, you can’t abandon her.”
“He’s right,” Becky said. The fear in her face seemed to have dwindled. Disentangling herself from Lisa, she stooped and picked up the shovel. “I’m with Tim. We have to help Mallory. She’s the one still stuck with that monster, not us.”
Together, Tim and Becky began clearing the remaining soil from the killer’s coffin while Adam and Lisa fidgeted several paces away, not watching.
CHAPTER 51
Paul knelt on the interior roof of the overturned Expedition, immobilizing Rebecca’s head with his hands while Melissa examined her injuries. Once the detective established she wasn’t in shock and it would be all right to move her, they eased her out of the seat.
“Got her shoulders?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, she’s going to be fine, just hold her steady.”
They freed her from the wreckage and gingerly laid her in the short grass bordering the roadside. Not far away, the driver of the runaway semi paced back and forth, crushing a baseball cap in his shifting hands.
“Ah, crap, you don’t know how sorry I am,” he stammered. “Shit. I mean, I don’t know what happened. I tried to stop, I did, but the damn steering went out and the brakes wouldn’t work. L-look, I’m fully insured.”
Frank came around the Ford’s front end and handed Paul a folded blanket to use as a pillow. “Here, a couple of good Samaritans pitched in some supplies.”
Paul accepted the blanket and positioned it under Rebecca’s head, smoothing several strands of glossy auburn hair from her forehead.
“How’s the patrolman?” Melissa asked Frank.
“Alive,” he replied. “Which is damn lucky, considering how mangled his cruiser is. The brunt of the damage hit on the passenger side, but the guy’s in rough shape. One of the motorists who stopped is a surgeon, so I left him in her care while I came to check on you.” He gestured to Rebecca. “Is she okay?”
Melissa nodded. “Her pupils are responsive and she’s come halfway around once already. She should wake up any second. She probably just fainted but I still want her checked out once the ambulance gets here.”
Glowing eyes of lightning burned overhead.
“What about our kids?” Paul asked, voicing the question he knew would have a heart-wrenching answer. “Whoever took them got away, didn’t he? How are we going to find them again?”
Melissa looked at him, then glanced at Frank.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Frank replied. “I’ve got a CB in my truck, and we radioed for police backup the second we left the barn. With this accident, there’ll be cops all over the area in a matter of minutes. We’ll find that Mercedes, Mr. Wiess.”
Paul liked the sound of the man’s reassurance, but he couldn’t help noticing Detective Humble’s dubious expression.
“There’s a first-aid kit in my Chevy,” Frank added. “If you want to come along while I get it, we can check the reports and see if the car’s been spotted.”
Melissa opened her mouth.
“Detective Humble will watch over your lady friend here. We’ll only be a second.”
Paul nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
The two of them left the roadside and hurried to the grassy channel that separated the opposing lanes of traffic. Frank’s Blazer sat near its center, the vehicle’s right rear tire all but lost within the demolished wheel well.
Frank opened the lift gate and pulled out a shotgun.
Paul froze. “What are you doing?”
“I know where your daughter’s being taken,” Frank said. “And if you want to see her again, we have to move fast.”
Paul looked to the gun, to Frank’s face, then back to the gun. “What aren’t you telling me?” he asked.
Frank dragged a large duffle bag out of the cargo space and offered it to Paul. “I’ll explain on the way. Now take this and let’s get moving.”
Still stunned, Paul couldn’t answer. He accepted the bag and nearly dropped it to the ground before catching it with his other hand. Metallic items clinked inside. “What the hell do you have in here? It weighs a ton.”
Frank eyed him. “Consider it a modern-day exorcism kit.”
Paul gaped. “What does that have to do with—”
“I’m talking about your daughter’s life,” Frank cut in. “Now, are you with me?”
“All right,” Paul agreed. “But how will we catch up with them? Neither of us has a working vehicle.”
“Then, we’ll just have to borrow one,” Frank replied.
