Reckless (Wrecked) (21 page)

Jonathan stood up.  “I have a couple friends who play online chess.  There’s a chat room we all go in and discuss the games and stuff.  I know I can get in there and talk to them in chess code and have them pass messages.  We used to do it all the time.”

“You used to do
what
all the time?” asked Candi, finished with checking Kevin’s work.

“Talk about people in code, making it seem like we were talking about games.  It was fun.”

“Sounds complicated,” said Candi.  “I’ve looked over your shoulder before at all those codes.”

“Sounds badass, you mean,” said Kevin.  “But how are you going to do it without a computer or Internet?”

“We’ll have to go to a library or copy shop.  Somewhere not too close.  But I think we could do it in just one town over and not worry too much.  I can go through a proxy server and surf anonymously.  That should cover the most basic level of staying hidden.  And then my friend Stephen can talk to my dad, pass on the code in person so they won’t track where anything came from or who’s responsible.  Even if they hacked into Stephen’s computer, they’d never know it’s some kind of code unless he tells them, which he never would.”

“Your dad speaks chess code?” asked Kevin, now finally going still, not out of breath at all despite his random kitchen exercises.

“Sure.  He’s a great chess player.  He taught me almost everything I know.”

“Until the day you beat him and started teaching him,” said Candi, a note of pride in her voice.

“It’s true, I have taught him some strategies, but not nearly as many as he’s taught me.  Anyway, we just need to get to a computer, and I can do it.  I just need you guys to tell me what message you want to send out.  It can’t be a like a word-for-word thing … just general ideas.”

Sarah came out of the bedroom and shuffled into the bathroom without saying anything.

“It’s alive,” whispered Kevin.

Jonathan’s eyes bugged out.  “Shhh!  You want her to hear you?”

Kevin made spooky gestures with his hands.  “Beware the kraken!” he whispered in a high-pitched voice.

The toilet flushed and Sarah emerged.  “You’d better shut your trap, or I’ll release the kraken all over your sorry butt.”

Kevin stared at the ceiling, pantomiming an innocent whistle.

“So what kind of diabolical plans are you cooking up in here, boyfriend?” she asked Jonathan, slapping him lightly on the cheek as she walked by.  She turned on the faucet and stared at the stream of water with suspicion.  “It’s clear today.  Does that mean it’s not toxic?”

“Here,” said Jonathan, handing her a water bottle that was half-full.  “Drink this.  We’ll work on the drinking water later.  Right now we’re discussing passing messages to our families using a chat room I’ve frequented for chess club.”

“Oh, good,” she said, shutting off the water and taking the bottle from Jonathan.  “I need you to send my mom a message to cancel my hair appointment for next week.”  She took a big swig, burping cutely when she was done.

“Sarah, we’re not passing non-critical messages about your hair,” said Candi.

“It’s not non-critical, okay?  It’s
very
critical.  Lorenz will refuse to book me again if I no-show, and I don’t plan on being up here in no-man’s land forever.”

Jonathan patted her shoulder.  “I’m sure your mom has already taken care of that.  We just need to let them know we’re okay and that we plan to come back for the trial.  Unless you guys have anything to add, that’s what I’ll tell them.”

“Is that such a good idea?  The trial part, I mean,” asked Kevin.  “If I was the bad guy, I’d be waiting on the courthouse steps for us to show up and then -
BLAM.
”  He mimicked shooting a rifle with a big kickback.

“Oh, that’s nice.  Thanks for the visual, Kev,” said Sarah, rolling her eyes.

“He’s right.  They’re killers.  Don’t forget what that guy did in that house,” said Candi.

“Like I’ll ever forget that as long as I live,” said Sarah, her voice suddenly gruff.  “All that blood … those poor people with their eyes just staring out at nothing …”

Jonathan put his hand on Sarah’s arm, trying to pull her out of her trance.  “Hey … we don’t need to talk about that right now.  Let’s get this discussion about the messages we want to send figured out first.”

“I think we
should
talk about what happened,” said Candi, her eyes haunted.  “I’m afraid ignoring it will make my nightmares worse.”

Kevin put his arm across her shoulders.  “You don’t need to have nightmares.  I’m sleeping right next to you, babe, keeping you safe.”

“You slept through us being attacked last time,” said Sarah, her voice heavy with disdain.  “I think I’d rather be prepared to kick some you-know-what on my own and not have to rely on you guys.  No offense.”

“You will be prepared.  That’s the plan,” said Jonathan, looking at each of them in turn.  “We need to train like we never have before.  What we did on the island is nothing compared to what we have to do now.  Before, we just did stuff to keep from being bored.  Here, we’re fighting for our lives.  Hired, vicious assassins could come for us at any time.  Who knows … maybe we were followed here and they’re just waiting for the perfect moment.  Or maybe tomorrow they’ll find the trail of clues we left and get here the day after.  We need to assume the worst and prepare for it.”

“Are you
trying
to make me freak out, Jonathan?  Is that your goal?” asked a nearly hysterical Sarah.

“No!” said Jonathan, getting frustrated with all the crazy emotions, going up and down and up again.  “My goal is to be realistic and get you to understand that this isn’t about camping or fun and games!  This is about survival!”

“Jesus, Jon.  Lighten up, already,” said Kevin, running his fingers through his hair.  “We’ll train, we’ll do all that stuff, yeah.  But I don’t think it’s a good idea to constantly be thinking about being shot or stabbed.  We’ll go nuts up here if we do that.  Let’s just be smart about things.”

“Yeah … don’t forget, we have the dogs,” said Candi, not sounding very confident about the idea.

“And we can set traps and alarms out in the woods,” said Sarah.  “If someone comes to take me out, I’m not going to go easy.  Screw that.”

Jonathan nodded, pleased to see his family being strong and determined.  They were going to need those qualities to face what was coming; he was sure of it.  “Okay, then.  Tell me what you want me to say in the message, and I’ll get working on crafting the code.”

“I’ll make pancakes while we put it together,” said Candi, walking over to the cabinet she’d designated as the pantry.

“I’ll set the table,” said Sarah, pulling out drawers until she found the one with silverware.

“And I’ll prepare to eat everything you put on the table,” said Kevin.

“No, you go walk the dogs,” said Candi.  “Make sure they poo somewhere we won’t step in it.”

Kevin grumbled something about being demoted to dog-poo-manager, but Jonathan blocked most of it out.  He had to figure out the best way to tell his friend and fellow chess-club member that the King, Queen, and their rooks were holding the line, but ready to make sacrifices of their pawns as soon as today.

***

Kevin went outside with Xena and James, his only thought at first being how much he wished he was back in the halls of his high school, his cute girlfriend Candi tucked under his arm, and his rugby buddies around him cracking jokes.  Life pretty much sucked right now, in his estimation.  Instead of enjoying his summer with his friends, he was out in the wilderness with two furry shit-machines and a bossy chick who’d taken over his girlfriend’s body telling him where to let them take a crap.  If that assassin were here right now, he’d punch him in the face before shooting him, just for ruining the end of his junior year.

Xena did her business and then came over, sitting directly in front of him.  She seemed as if she were waiting for something.

“What?” he asked, looking at her face.  The battle scars there and on her chest, legs, back, and ears made her appear vicious.  He knew she was a sweetheart, though.  In the couple days they’d been together, she’d never so much as growled, even when nipped by James in play and stepped on a few times by him.

Her tongue lolled out to the side as she panted.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

She whined once and dropped down into a prone position on her stomach and elbows, still staring up at him.

“Roll over,” said Kevin, just for the hell of it.

He never expected her to do it, but she flipped over once and then jumped to her feet before sitting back down on her haunches.

“Down,” said Kevin, experimentally, his heart rate picking up.

She lowered herself again.

“Play dead.”

She tilted her head.

Kevin held up a finger in the shape of a gun, thinking maybe she’d do the trick with a prop.

She immediately stopped panting and closed her mouth, standing up on all four legs and widening the space between them.  A low growl came rumbling up from her chest as she watched his finger closely.  The tail that had been swishing back and forth was sticking straight out in the back and raised a little.

Kevin felt his heart go - ka
thump
- really hard behind his ribs before it started a new frantic rhythm, trying to manage the shot of adrenaline that had just entered his system.

“Okaaaaay, doggie …”  He lowered his hand very slowly and immediately stopped making it look like a gun.  “I’m just going to step away, and you’re going to stay right there and not eat my face off …”

As soon as his hand went down, the growling stopped and the panting started again.  Kevin nearly pissed his pants when the sides of her mouth went up into a smile and she sat down.

He wasn’t sure what possessed him to do it, but something in his crazy mind had to see if it was a fluke or not.  He put his hand back into the shape of a pistol and lifted it up once more.

The unholy cacophony of angry growls and barks that erupted from the white demon of death with teeth so big they couldn’t possibly fit in her mouth made him turn and run for his life.

He raced through the trees blindly, leaves and limbs smacking him in the face.  He prayed she wasn’t behind him and hoped beyond all hope that he would get to the house before she took him down by the achilles tendon.

Holy shit!  I’m going down!  I’m gonna die by pit bull attack!  With pain!

“Get the gun!  Get the gun!” he screamed, crashing through the branches and leaves he’d easily pushed aside earlier trying to find a safe place for the dogs to take a shit.

He got within view of the cabin and saw everyone standing out on the porch, all of them innocent to the tragedy unfolding.  He waved his arms frantically.  “Run!  Run!  Get back in the house!  The dog’s gone crazy!  Shoot her!  Shoot her!”

His pace only slowed when he noticed Candi laughing and pointing at something behind him.

When Sarah bent over double in hysterics, he stopped completely.

“What the fuck, man?!” he shouted, barely able to breathe, his heart was pounding so fast.  He rested his hands on his hips as he gulped in huge volumes of air, looking from them to the spot where was certain he’d see death on four legs, ten boob bags hanging down to the ground between them just to mock him with their seeming innocence.

Even Jonathan was smiling now.  “I can see why you’d want us to shoot her.  She does look terrifying.”

Kevin spun around completely.  The stupid dog was behind him on her back, lying on the ground with her legs up in the air, curving her stupid baggy-boobed torso into the shape of a comma and pawing at the air.

Basically, she was begging for a tummy scratch.

“Oh, for cryin’ out loud, Xena,
come on!
  You just tried to
kill
me, you asshole.”

Candi guffawed even louder at that.  “You can’t …
ha-ha-ha …
you can’t …” Her breath was coming in gasps.  “You can’t call … 
ha-ha-ha-ha
… Xena an asshole!”  She collapsed with Sarah onto the porch floor, and Xena jumped up, running over to join them with her tail wagging like mad the whole time.

Kevin shook his head.  “That fucking dog was going to kill me, I swear to God.”

“What did you do to make her want to kill you?” asked Jonathan.

“I pointed a finger gun at her.”

“What’s a finger gun?” he asked innocently, making Kevin feel even more like an idiot.

The girls were busy laughing, and Jonathan was standing there waiting for a stupid explanation that made no sense.  The combined effect equaled a level of humiliation that caused Kevin to blow a gasket and lose all control of his common sense.

“You want to know what a finger gun is, Jon?!” he yelled.  “I’ll show ya! 
This
is a finger gun!”  He held up his finger and thumb.  “Hey!  Xena!  Check this out!”  He jacked his fingers back three times, pretending like he was actually shooting it, yelling the sound effects.  “Pop! Pop! Pop!”

And then he screamed like a girl on fire when the dog spun around and came for him, snarling.

***

Candi went instantly sober when she saw Xena take off after her totally stupid boyfriend.  She acted on instinct more than anything else, yelling, “Xena!  No!  Heel!”

The dog skidded to a stop in the dirt just feet away from Kevin, its legs splayed out for balance.  Her sides heaved with the deep breaths and growls that were still coming out of her low-slung jaw.

“Come!  Heel!” yelled Candi, desperately trying to put as much authority into her commands as possible.

Xena stared at Kevin for two more seconds before turning and jogging back to Candi, stopping at her right leg.  She turned to face the same direction as Candi, sitting down on her haunches with her head held high and proud.

“Daaaaaaang,” said Sarah, backing up a couple steps to stand behind Jonathan.  “That dog is scary obedient.”

“Or just fucking
scary!”
screamed Kevin.  He hadn’t moved a muscle the entire time.  He just stood in place as if frozen.

“Well, I guess it’s safe to say she’s not a fan of the finger gun,” said Jonathan.