Destiny's Revenge (Destiny Series - Book 2) Page 7

  Joe shook his head and waved us off with his arm, “No, you two go on, I’ll be fine. Go have a good time.” Max looked at me uncertain what to do.

  “He needs to come with us, Max. We can’t leave him here.”

  Max leaned back out his window, “We aren’t leaving you, come on, Gramps – I’ll take you to see Ruby. I’m sure she’d like the company.”

  The pleasure on Joe’s face was apparent; Max had just hit on the magic word. Joe stood up from his chair and went into the house. Some minutes later he stepped out the door in a clean shirt and with a freshly shaven face. Joe climbed into the front seat, “Max, you don’t have to entertain me. I don’t mind you two going off and doing your own thing.”

  Max nodded but didn’t say a word as he pulled out of the driveway. I looked into the woods closest to the house and didn’t see anything, but I could feel … something. There was no figure looking back at me, no glowing eyes, but a feeling of dread emanated from the tree line.

  I continued to look but saw nothing. After I finally looked away, I could hear Rewsna’s voice in my head saying, “Yes, Lauren, I felt it, too.”

  Chapter 10

  Max and I walked Joe into the Assisted Living recreation room and found Ruby right away. I had called ahead to let her know Joe was going to stop by to spend a few hours with her. She greeted us as soon as we walked through the door. “Wow, you two look great! You look like you’ve gotten some sun.”

  I hadn’t thought much about it before, but he and I had been a pasty white while we resided here, only venturing outside when Joe wanted to smoke. Since we had arrived at the farm, we’d been pulling weeds, trimming bushes, hoeing the garden and repairing fences. I responded with, “I can’t speak for Joe, but I’m not ready for this life of luxury again,” sliding my hand through Max’s arm.

  Ruby asked us to come sit down, but Max and I excused ourselves, telling Joe we’d be back around six to pick him up. We were almost to the door when I turned back around and reminded Joe, “Remember, you are a guest, not a resident this time – be nice to the staff.”

  Joe just waved me off. Warning or not, some things never change.

  Max and I made our way to Marvin’s indoor shooting range. I thought we were just going to do some target practice. Max had been pretty quiet after Rewsna’s visit this morning, and I assumed he could blow off some steam.

  We got up to the counter and Marvin said, “Hi Max, great to see you again, how was the war? How long have you been back?” Then Marvin’s face contorted a little and he squinted at me, comprehension registered, and in a less jovial voice, “Lauren?. . . I thought…” Marvin looked from me to Max as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

  Max nodded and I smiled responding, “Neither robber nor bear can keep a good girl down.”

  Marvin didn’t even smile at my attempt at humor. He still looked stunned, as if he wanted to say something but opted not to.

  “Max and I were thinking it might be fun to squeeze off a few rounds. I really liked the small handgun the last time, I think it was a .22. Could I use that one again?”

  Marvin looked under the counter when Max interrupted him, “Marvin, she’s going to buy one today. Do you have a Glock she can try on for size?” My expression had to have looked bewildered. I had no idea we were here to purchase. Max looked in my direction and followed with, “In case you run into a bear again.”

  Marvin nodded and replied, “I don’t have any used Glocks, so if you want one you won’t be able to test drive it ahead of time. I do have some decent Berettas that are hardly used that she could try out.”

  Max nodded, “Make us a deal, we might take both off your hands today.”

  Marvin handed me the Beretta, showed me how to load it, handed me the liability statement to sign and some ear muffs. He set me up on the range and went back out to the store front. Max came in with a huge handgun when I was about half way through the box of ammunition. He pushed a button that moved the target all the way to the end of the range. I could see him through the divider and his expression was hard. Without even glancing in my direction, he let loose on the target. I counted the rounds, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all in close succession, not even a half second delay between fires. The sound, though muffled by my hearing protection, was still deafening. He laid the revolver down on the counter and pulled the target in to take a closer look. A very compact circle of five rounds was where the person’s heart would have been on the silhouette. Max moved the target back to where it had been and used a second weapon, not as thunderous, but still earsplitting. From this new gun he fired what sounded like ten shots. My idea that we were here to blow off steam could not have been further off the mark. Max was not here to have a good time. He was all business as he inspected his latest shots. These shots were in a tight group, all in the silhouette’s head.

  Max set the second handgun down and looked in my direction again. “I’m going to go talk to Marvin for a little while. Take all the time you want. Did you want to try any others?” I shook my head but said nothing and turned my attention back to my target. I had been shooting at one-half the distance he had and was not anywhere near as accurate as Max.

  Marvin stepped back in to check on me a few minutes later. There was no one else at the range. I put the safety on and set the handgun at the counter and removed my ear muffs. He had another box of ammunition that he set down in front of me. I had just loaded the last of the first box.

  “Thanks, Marvin.”

  Marvin looked as though he were arguing with himself when he finally said, “Lauren, I don’t hardly know what to say. I would have visited you, or sent flowers or somethin’. I didn’t know that you were…okay.”

  Kind of a strange response? Marvin and I weren’t friends or anything. I had only met him once, on my first date with Max. “Don’t sweat it, Marvin. I’ve only been up and around for a few weeks, and I surprised everyone.” No one more than Max, I almost added but thought better of it.

  “Yeah,” he said this slow and drawn out, “I imagine you did. Max was here several times a week right up until he lef’. He took what happened to you really hard. Really hard.”

  Marvin wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know. “I’m glad you kept his spirits up.”

  Marvin shook his head at me, “Shooot…No, I didn’t. None of us could. I never seen a man so…what’s the right word? Distraught. None of us really thought he would come back from Afghanistan. If you ask me, I think he was hoping it was a suicide mission. I’m glad you’re okay, and I’m not sure why he’s all a ‘da sudden collecting an arsenal for you. I just want you to know, what happened to you come jus’ as close to killing Max as it did you.”

  “I knew he took it pretty hard, and if it makes him feel better for me to be packing a little heat, who am I to tell him no, right?”

  Marvin agreed and threw in, “It’s good business for me, that’s fur shore.”

  I nodded to Marvin, put the muffs back on, and reloaded. His words echoed a few times. I remembered the conversation between Max and Ski the night of their rescue. Ski’s description of Max did sound really close to a suicide mission.

  I finished off the last of the ammunition and walked back up front. Max and Marvin were talking about Max’s year in Afghanistan, but the conversation abruptly halted when I walked through the door.

  Marvin said, “You’re all set. Max has loaded everything into the truck except the one you are carrying.” Marvin handed me a small gun case to put it in, and I noticed there was already a box of ammunition inside.

  Max and I walked out to the truck. We had only burned through about forty-five minutes at the range. He was not as tense as before, but he wasn’t a big barrel of happiness spilling over either. I asked where we were going next, and he said in a very monotone voice, “To get you a new best friend.”

  ***

  We drove up to the Humane Society, which was brimming with barking dogs and terrified cats. I had never been a huge dog person, not opposed to them, ju
st not a big-time dog lover, so I thought I’d let Max find a good replacement for Missy.

  I saw several Labradors, but he didn’t hesitate at any of their cages. He just kept walking up and down the rows of kennels. There were some really cute dogs and most seemed pretty excited to have someone outside their cage. Max paused for a second a few rows over from me and then said, “Perfect. Lauren, come here.”

  I walked up to where he was standing. In front of me was one of the biggest Doberman Pinchers I had ever seen. The dog was seated with his tongue hanging out to one side, whining at us. Taped to the top of his kennel was the name, “Peanut.” I laughed and said that must be some kind of joke. Who would name a Doberman Peanut? Max waved one of the volunteers over and asked, “What’s Peanut’s story?”

  “A military family turned him in. They got orders to Hawaii, and I guess it’s like a three month quarantine for animals coming to the island. They didn’t want to do that to him, so they put him up for adoption. He’s got all his shots, he’s been neutered, and I think he’s gone through obedience training, too. He’s supposed to be fine with other dogs and kids – but not so great with cats. Peanut has only been here a day and he’s already had a lot of interest.”

  The volunteer let us take him into a play area, and although his size was massive, he was convinced he was a lap dog. When I sat on a well-worn couch, he climbed right up beside me and put his head on my shoulder. I picked up a ball to play fetch with him, tossed it to the other side of the room, but he made no move to retrieve it. I stood up and got it from the other side of the room while Max laughed, “Looks like he just taught you how to fetch.”

  It was nice to see Max happy, even if it was something silly. We spent a good fifteen minutes with Peanut. He was definitely someone’s pet, not a guard dog. I was worried that Max would insist on some massive snarling monster, but when I announced that Peanut wanted to adopt me, Max only nodded his agreement.

  Max and I wanted to take him home with us right away, but the volunteer gave us the adoption paperwork and told us there was a three day wait for all new adoptions. I filled out the forms, handed them to the volunteer, and said we’d be back in three days. I started for the door when Max caught my attention and asked me to wait at the door, while he asked the lady one more question. About five minutes later Max and Peanut came walking up to me. We headed out the front door, Max all smiles and Peanut’s tongue still hanging to the side of his mouth.

  Puzzled, I asked, “What about the mandatory three day waiting period?”

  Max shrugged his shoulders, “It turns out they don’t mind bending the rules if you are willing to make a donation.”

  “How big a donation did you make?”

  “I think enough dog and cat food to keep this facility going for the next three months.”

  Shocked, I asked, “Was that really necessary?”

  In stereo I heard both Rewsna’s voice in my head and Max’s voice in my ear say, “Yes.”

  The last stop was the grocery store. I didn’t want to leave Peanut locked up in the truck by himself, and Max didn’t want to leave me, so we had a half-hearted argument. We compromised. I stayed in the truck with Peanut, and Max pulled my handgun out from under the seat, loaded it right there in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot, and said, “Lock the doors.”

  Sitting in the truck with Peanut across my lap, a loaded Beretta within reach, did not instill any real sense of confidence. Instead it gave me a sinking feeling that at any moment a police officer was going to knock on my window and arrest me for being a public menace or something. I watched every car, every face; glaring at the few people who actually made eye contact with me. Fifteen minutes later Max walked out the door pushing a cart full of bags.

  He got into the cab. “I don’t want you to think I’m being paranoid or anything, but I don’t want to go back to Ridgeville tonight. I know I’m not turning psychic or anything, but it just seems that if someone were looking for us, that is the very first place they would look.” I thought of that strange feeling I got from the tree line at Max’s place, not of imminent danger but just a seriously uncomfortable sensation.

  I agreed with him but didn’t have any suggestions as to where a good alternative might be. My mom’s house maybe, but logically that would be high up on the list for likely locations, too. A hotel would be relatively safe, but now that we had Peanut along, it may not be the most prudent of locations either.

  “Let’s go get Gramps and go back to his house for tonight. We can come up with a better plan from there. I called Julio and told him we were going out of town for a couple weeks.” Julio was Max’s caretaker and lived in the guest house. Although technically on vacation, he could take care of the animals. If anything or anyone came looking for us, he shouldn’t be in any real danger. As far as he knew, we were just wandering the countryside.

  Chapter 11

  Joe lived in a smaller house than Max: three bedrooms and, to my displeasure, one bathroom. The kitchen was compact, the furniture easily older than I was, but it was clean and definitely felt safe. Joe’s closest neighbor was well over a half mile away, so the seclusion could feel a little creepy at night, but more along the lines of horror movie creepy, rather than scary-demon-possessing-beast creepy. Since Max had come back, I was able to sleep with lights off again, but I refused to be by myself in the dark.

  Peanut must have understood his job description better than I had given him credit for. He followed me everywhere - to the garden, the barn, around the house, even to the bathroom. The very first night we had him, Max made a nice bed for him on the floor next to my side of the bed, but as soon as the lights went off, he gingerly eased himself into the bed without so much as a squeak from the box spring. I caught him a couple times, each time scolding him and sending him back to the floor, but it turned out to be a force of will thing. Sure enough, when I awoke the next morning, Peanut was there lying at the foot of the bed.

  After the second night, I stopped trying to keep him off the bed. I found out the true meaning of giving someone an inch and they take a mile. I decided it would be okay for him to curl up at the foot of the bed. I woke up the following morning desperately clinging to a few inches on the side of the bed while he was spread out with his head on my pillow.

  The inconveniences were bearable given the alternative. With Peanut as my shadow, Max still kept a watchful eye, but he didn’t insist on being within a ten foot radius of me. Peanut was great fun. Contrary to our first meeting at the Humane Society, he was familiar with the concept of fetch. He was also the only one in the house that ever eagerly volunteered for dish duty in the kitchen.

  As much as I enjoyed our effortless days at Grandpa Joe’s - I knew that it was time for me to get back to Rewsna’s advice of practicing my gift of sight.

  I took Peanut into the bedroom and lay down trying to imagine Rachael and her boss again. It didn’t take long to feel a tunnel approaching. I stepped into the tunnel, and I was right there with Rachael in her cube. It had been weeks since I had felt this strange sensation. Rachael had a fresh cup of Mocha Latte at her desk; the aroma was wonderful. A dull light overhead was outshone by a light in the cubicle she worked in. I saw her mindlessly reading news on the net. I stayed with Rachael for about ten minutes. Nothing more exciting than her clicking the mouse on her computer happened, so I quickly grew bored and decided to return to my awaiting body.

  When I opened my eyes, Max and Joe were both shaking me, while Peanut lay motionless on the bed watching them. I could hear Max’s frantic voice yelling, “Lauren, Lauren, wake up!”

  Startled when his face came into focus, I looked at both him and Joe: the two were sheet white and near hysterics. In a calm almost sleepy voice I asked, “What?”

  Joe put his hand over his heart and took a step back from the bed. Max eased himself into a sitting position beside me. “Lauren, we tried to wake you and couldn’t, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Haven’t you guys ever heard of a nap? What was so
important?” I was feigning frustration, and I did it so well that Max looked like I had just slapped his face.

  Joe decided to step out of the room. In a much quieter voice, I said, “Sorry, Max, I was checking in on Rachael, she’s surfing the net at her desk right now. I should’ve told you what I was up to.”

  Relief spilled over Max’s features when he realized that he wasn’t over-reacting. I wasn’t at all upset about being woken up from a nap I wasn’t taking. “I didn’t mean to freak out. I just came in to check on you, and you were sound asleep, at least I thought you were. Peanut was just lying next to you - watching you. It was a weird scene; I was worried that something might have happened to you. When I tried to wake you up, you didn’t respond.”

  “Something did happen. My power of sight works on someone besides you. The last time I tried, I came up empty, but today, it was a piece of cake. Weird though, I left Rachael because she wasn’t doing anything very exciting. It didn’t have anything to do with you shaking me like a maraca.”

  “We’re going to have to work out some hand signal or code word when you are going off to do this, because it really didn’t look much different from when you were….you know.” Max avoided using the word coma, almost as if he were superstitious that saying the word would cast me into a deep sleep.

  “I don’t know about a hand signal, how about I just tell you I’m going to see if I can find Seth now?” Max nodded and lay down on the bed beside me. I shut my eyes again and this time imagined my last conversation with Seth, of driving to school in his car, of playing on the swing set as kids. No matter how many memories I tried, I couldn’t get the tunnel to appear in my mind. I finally opened my eyes after ten minutes of trying, and there were Max’s eyes staring back at me.