Rising Storm

'So what do you want from me?' she asked quietly.

'I want you to keep your eyes and ears open and to report to us anything you find out that might be useful. Useful being defined as something that will prevent harm from being done. I really don't care which camp is generating the damage. Are you interested?'

Wendy thought about it. Was she interested? I dunno, this all sounds kinda weird. A kid gathering information for some undisclosed reason and passing out

dire warnings:' I don't think I want to get involved. It wasn't like she didn't have enough to do with her time, after all.

'Sure,' she heard herself say. Then laughed at how she'd surprised herself.

'What?' John asked.

'Sure, whatever,' Wendy said. 'I guess I'm game. Tell me what you want and I'll try to get it for you.' It wasn't like she was joining the army or something.

So John told her what he was looking for, gave her a few Internet addresses he wanted her to check into and a few general guidelines. When he was finished he hesitated.

'What?' she said.

'You might like to recruit some friends to help you out,' he suggested. 'People you can trust.'

Wendy sighed. 'Well, I'd like to think I'm unlikely to recruit people I don't trust.'

John winced. 'Well, you know what I mean.'

'Yeah, I guess. See you on-line, kid.'

He could hear the smile in her voice and pressed his lips together impatiently.

This wasn't a terribly auspicious beginning to their relationship. He'd prefer that his recruits not find him amusing.

Hey, he reminded himself, if she knew the real story she'd run a mile. Screaming.

'Thank you,' he said. 'I'll keep in touch.' He hung up and sighed heavily. I really need to be grown up, he thought. Too bad it wasn't something you could arrange. I guess I could work on my voice, or maybe get some sort of synthesizer.

I feel grown up, I just don't sound it. Oh, well. For real emergencies there was always Dieter.

CHAPTER FOUR

PESCADERO STATE HOSPITAL,

JANUARY

'Your girlfriend's back,' Frances said, and laughed, her eyes filled with malicious glee.

Sarah didn't even have to look up to know that Loretta was indeed in the room; she'd developed a radar about her. Besides, she never stopped sniffling; it was hard to miss. Quite a number of patients had vanished over the holidays, to return one by one. Loretta was among the last to be let out.

One positive note was that Sarah knew she wasn't simply being paranoid; the other patients had noticed Loretta's attention and frequently commented on it.

Some positive note, Sarah thought. I know I'm sane and I'm constantly looking for ways to back up my opinion. How healthy is that?

Frances licked her lips. 'I think she wants to—'

'You're going to work so hard at distracting me that you're going to distract yourself,' Sarah warned. 'That's how I won all your blue chips last time.'

Frances pouted, but she shut up. They were playing gin rummy for battered poker chips. The two other players were usually silent, playing the game grimly, as if it were a matter of life and death. But suddenly Allison froze as she picked up a card, becoming so agitated that she actually gurgled instead of speaking.

Donna turned with a frown to see what she was staring at and turned back with a little gasp. She began fiddling with her cards nervously, her dark eyes darting left and right. Frances deigned to look and also froze. Then she put down her cards, got up, and walked away. Allison and Donna looked at each other over the table and started to rise.

'Wait a minute,' Sarah said, taking Donna's wrist. 'What's going on?' She had the uncomfortable feeling that someone was staring at her, someone who meant her no good, but she was damned if she was going to turn around and give Loretta the satisfaction of seeing her unnerved.

'I can't,' Donna whispered. 'I've got to… she's not… she…' The woman wrenched her hand free and fled, muttering, Allison nervously crowding her wake.

Looking around, Sarah saw that almost everyone was leaving the common room, giving Loretta and the large woman beside her a wide berth. Sarah rose and moved over to Elisa, a small Puerto Rican woman with, she'd been told, a serious death wish.

'What's going on?' she asked in a whisper.

Elisa tore her eyes away from the woman at the door to look at Sarah. 'That's Tanya,' she said, nodding at the woman. 'She's pretty much crazy.' She grinned

when she realized what she'd said. 'I mean, out-of-control, watch-your-back insane. She's so out of it she even uses her teeth—a lot. One of the nurses is still having plastic surgery.'

'Then maybe we should go,' Sarah suggested. If Loretta was escorting such a person into her vicinity, it couldn't be good.

'No, I hope she notices me,' Elisa said, her eyes eager. 'I haven't had a good fight in a loooong time.'

'Good luck,' Sarah said. 'I'm outta here.'

Loretta was a small woman, nervous in her manner, with constantly shifting eyes and an inclination to take advantage of people. Sarah had realized this within ten minutes of making her acquaintance and had taken to avoiding her as much as possible. It had probably been Sarah's notoriety that had attracted Loretta's attention, and a desire to bask in Sarah's reflected glory. She'd taken Sarah's unspoken rejection with very ill grace.

As Sarah walked toward the doorway Loretta spoke to her for the first time.

'Where ya goin', Connor?' she asked, her voice friendly, her eyes not.

'I'm tired, I'm going to my room.'

'Naw, you're not tired.' Loretta moved over and took her arm.

Sarah felt every muscle in her body tighten at the touch, resenting the sure knowledge that there was going to be trouble. She forced herself to allow the woman her way, to tug her over to Tanya. Any demonstration of anger, however

justified, at this stage could count against her, even if the witnesses were as insane as Loretta and Tanya. That was the trouble with being notorious; you could be telling the truth with complete accuracy and still no one would believe you.

'This is my friend Tanya. I've told her all about you, Sarah. She'd like to play gin with you. Wouldn't you, Tanya?'

Tanya nodded, looking at Sarah as if she were a big juicy steak and she was a hungry dog.

'Hey, Elisa!' Loretta snapped. 'Take a hike.'

Elisa's jaw dropped at the effrontery; she gave Loretta a disdainful look and settled deeper into her chair. 'No,' she said, making eye contact with Tanya for good measure.

Sarah could almost see Tanya begin to quiver like a Doberman waiting for the attack command.

'I don't like her,' Tanya growled.

'C'mon, ladies,' Loretta said, placing a hand in the center of both of their backs.

'Sit down and play.' She gave them each a little shove, and Sarah, glancing over her shoulder, saw her face change.

This is not good, she thought as she took her chair and looked up at Tanya. Not good at all. She signaled to Elisa to come join them, but the younger woman shook her head, smiling.