The Game (18 page)

Chapter 38

T
he weather was perfect. Candice sipped a vodka and cranberry and thanked God for this moment. She looked over at Lukas, so handsome with his new haircut. It was shorter but still scruffy on the top. It took her a week of convincing but he finally cut it. She said the new Lukas Raven needed a new hairstyle.

She adjusted the top on her new white bikini as a man walked by and smiled. It was normal for her to be a little self-conscious in a bikini, but this one was definitely more daring than any she’d ever worn before. Of course, the women down here in Florida were so beautiful, she was just trying to keep up with the trends. She wasn’t going to wear a thong though, that just seemed like one step too sleazy.

The beach was never one of her favorite places as an adult, but as a teen, she and her girlfriends used to drive out to Seaside Heights a few weekends each summer. She realized now how much she’d missed it. Being a career-driven adult, left little time to enjoy things. Right now, she wished Zee could be here. Maybe when vacation time came around she’d come down.

She could get used to this life living on the beach. Glancing over her shoulder at the amazing home Lukas’ family owned, she almost couldn’t believe it was real. The cubed white block architecture and spanning panes of smoked glass looked out to the ocean. The beach area was public, but Sanibel was not a typical Floridian tourist destination, at least not in the Spring Break sense. This was definitely a wealthier, mature section of the state. The beaches were pristine, with white and pink sands and lush tropical vegetation.

Just as she closed her eyes, her cell rang. It was her mother. “Hi, Mom.”

“You stole my life, you bitch!”

Her breath halted. In spite of the beaming sun and eighty-eight-degree temperature, she started to shudder with cold.

“C’mon, Candy, I know you can hear me. I know it was you. I know you took him, didn’t you? Where is he, Candice? Where did you stash that God-forsaken vegetable?”

She gathered herself. “How did you get this phone number?”

“How do you think, moron? Your mother is a very pretty lady, positively gorgeous. I can hardly believe she’s in her fifties.”

Her voice strained. “You bastard! What do you want?”

“I want to trade. You bring me my money, and I give back your mother. It’s that simple. I’ll even allow you to keep the invalid. I just want the cash. I want the hundred million in liquid wired to my account in the Cayman Islands. You do
not
call the police or I kill your mother. I will gut her like a deer and put her head on my wall. Do you understand me?”

“You can’t get away with this. The police are already looking for you.”

“I know, I saw the news, you bitch…I know all about the miracle of the invalid waking up from his coma. But you’re going to be my accomplice. You’re going to wire me the money. You’ve obviously gained control over Lukas’ mind somehow. I don’t know what voodoo witchcraft you used to pull this off, but I admit you’ve beaten me. I had it all worked out perfectly.”

“The police shut your accounts down, I didn’t do anything.”

“You expect me to believe that? So it’s just a coincidence that Lukas disappeared from my apartment right after you got away? And then…well, Candice, you know what happened. You somehow caused changes.”

“The police did everything, I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Candy. You expect me to believe that pictures just change, and — and — and things just switch, like, altering reality? Huh? You don’t think I’m an idiot, do you? I know you’re some kind of witch, some kind of voodoo princess or something. And you’re going to wave your magic wand, or mix up a potion or a spell or whatever it is you do, and you’re going to change it all back. I’ll give you twenty-four hours to change it. If my face isn’t back on my driver’s license, I’m going to kill her. I’m going to poke so many holes in her…well…get back to me at this number within twenty-four hours and remember: no cops, no help.”

The call ended, but her adrenaline spike did not. She couldn’t catch her breath.

“It’s him.” Lukas scared her back to reality with his comment. Up until that moment, she wasn’t even sure she was actually awake.

“He has my mother.” She fought hard to quell the tears, but her anger quickly took over and pushed the tears deeper below the surface.

“What’s he want?”

“He wants me to change everything back.”

“Then we give it to him.”

She squinted at him. “Huh? How the heck can we do that?”

Lukas shook his head. “You can kill me.”

“I’m sorry, did you just freaking lose your mind?”

“It could work, it could revert everything back. Then as soon as he uses the accounts, the police can nab him.”

“No, there’s no way we’re doing that.”

“It might be the only way.”

“Stop being stupid! It’s out of the question. And you have no idea if it will actually work, you don’t know how any of this works. For all you know, you won’t even come back again. He’ll kill my mother and I’ll end up in jail for your murder.”

Lukas sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Lukas, promise me you won’t get reckless.” She started to cry. “I can’t lose you again. And I can’t go on living wondering if you’re going to do something stupid in an attempt to change history.”

He pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “I promise.”

Candice looked up at the bright sky. The sun was so strong it nearly blinded her. She wanted to ask God why but there was nothing above but blue emptiness.

Lukas reached over and took her hand. “You know we’re in this together. I owe you everything. You saved my life — I truly believe that. I believe in my heart that you were the reason I came back. Not because of Angus, not because of some destiny I can’t define. I came back because you were what I was seeking all along. And I won’t leave you. I’m sorry. I was stupid for suggesting that.”

“But it’s not fair. You’ve suffered so long and I can’t ask you to—” She couldn’t finish the sentence before a swell of agony swept over her.

“We just have to stick together, Candice. We can’t let him beat us. We’ve come too far to turn back. He dragged you into it again. We won the last game, we can win this one, too.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay, so what do we do?”

Lukas nodded slowly, took deep breath, then blew it out. “We wreck him — for good.”

Chapter 39

C
hristine Laguna knew her daughter had been through a harrowing event but she didn’t expect this. When she woke up in the middle of the night with a strange man standing over her, it was frightening. When he started going on about witchcraft and voodoo and how Candice had altered reality, it literally threw her for a loop.

She thought for sure he was going to rape her; he made such insinuations, but so far he hadn’t done anything more than look at her like the creepy little man he probably was. He was inching near the sharp edge of his cliff.

He double-checked the knots on the yellow nylon rope that secured her to the computer chair and wheeled her into the kitchen. He checked the knots on the ropes around her ankles again.

“There, that should keep you from running.”

“Why are you doing this?”

He looked at her crooked. “Are you retarded? Didn’t you hear the conversation?” He acted like a teenager, but Christine knew he was much older. He walked across the kitchen, picking up a glass on the counter on the way to the sink. He filled the glass with water, walked over, and splashed it on Christine. She gasped in surprise.

“Are you a witch?” he demanded. “You gave birth to her. Maybe one begot the other.”

She looked back at him wide-eyed, not knowing what to say.

“I’m not sure how your daughter did it, but she somehow outwitted me…Me! I’ve been outwitting people since I was ten years old, and she managed to get the better of me. How did she do that?” Angus moved in close to her, softly sliding his hand over her cheek and to the back of her head. “How did she do it? Is there something about her I need to know?” He looked at her face like he was studying a foreign piece of material. After a few seconds, he released her and stood upright.

“I don’t know,” Christine replied through budding tears. She knew this man was unstable. But just how far off the rails he really was became more evident with each passing hour.

He paced, talking to himself. “Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? How did…well that’s…can it…there has to…only more…you can’t…that’s the…”

He wasn’t making sense, but she didn’t care to understand him. She just wanted to get out of this predicament. Candice briefly mentioned she was staying with a friend in Florida to get away for a while, after that insanity up there in New Jersey. It was all over the television. The kidnappings and unspeakable things in an abandoned asylum, all broadcast to the world in a reality television format. It was horrible. Christine knew that the man who perpetrated those atrocities was the same man standing in front of her talking to himself like a nut. His picture was all over the news.

She knew Candice wasn’t one to lie, but at the same time, Christine wondered if perhaps she didn’t get the whole story. Candice was always worried about giving her too much information. She always felt the need to hold back the truth and let in trickle in so as not to overwhelm her mother all at once. It was silly, because Christine was stronger than her daughter knew.

Now all she could do was wait for something bad to happen.

Lukas did a lot of soul searching on the flight. More of his life was starting to come back with each passing hour. He had accepted that he missed out, on what could have been a great life. There was no point dwelling on the past. It wasn’t his style, even though he never had a past to dwell on. He was used to acknowledgement and acceptance.

Life was what you made it, right now. Being bogged down by the past wasn’t going to help anything in the present or the future. At this moment, he had to find a way to get Candice out of this mess, and once and for all, send Angus to hell, where he belonged.

They got off the plane in Raleigh and rented a compact car. Lukas had a plan, one that might or might not work. He was willing to take a high risk, that’s how he’d lived his life. He had no fear of death because he’d died so many times. He gladly put himself in the line of fire and never worried about it.

Candice, on the other hand, was worried sick. She had a legitimate fear that if he were killed again, as himself, he wouldn’t come back. At first, he dismissed this, but she was so certain he started to worry.

Most importantly, he didn’t want to break his promise to never leave her alone, especially if something happened to her mother. He also didn’t want to do something stupid that would get Candice or her mother hurt.

Lukas looked over at her, slung low in the passenger seat. “Are you okay?”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

“He’s not going to beat us.”

She couldn’t conceal the sadness and anger that ran through her eyes at the same time. The golden tint in her eyes looked even more phosphorescent then usual when the flash of the passing streetlights struck them.

“I wish I could be that confident.” She looked away.

“Angus’ reign is over.”

“But he’s beaten you before.”

“No, I’ve beaten myself, because I had to. I was reckless and running around with a death wish. He’s not as good as he thinks.”

“You didn’t have to die all those times, you could’ve lived your life out as any one of those people.”

Lukas sighed. “It was a compulsion. I tried to live their lives as I thought they would want, or as their loved ones wanted. Each time I tried. But one thing I learned when I became Vince was that it wasn’t possible. I became a cop, a good cop. I learned what I could and did my best. I tried to stay away. But then the investigation of Alexis’ missing sister led me right back to Angus. It happened no matter what I did.”

“When you were younger, in your teens, were you still chasing Angus?”

“No.”

“Were you still dying?”

“No, back then, I used to just wake up in a new body. In most cases, there was a death, but I found out about it later. Chasing Angus didn’t start until a few years ago.”

“When he got out of prison.”

“But don’t you think that’s long enough?”

Candice sighed, leaned her head back into the seat. “I don’t know.”

“Neither do I. But I know, no matter what I did, I ended up back here, playing his games. Here I am again, doing the same thing.”

“Because of me.”

“No, Candice, not because of you. Because of me…because of him. And it’s going to be this way forever until I end it. Until I win.”

Candice looked away. “Maybe there are no winners.”

Chapter 40

L
ukas parked the car at the end of the driveway and got out. The cover of darkness was welcome. He was ready.

Candice stood next to him outside the car. “I hope this works.”

“It has to.” Lukas racked the slide on his pistol and stuffed it into his pocket.

They headed up to the house, not trying to hide. Lukas knew there was no other way to play this. Either the money would distract Angus or it wouldn’t.

Candice twisted the brass knob on the front door of the two-story yellow house. The only neighbor who was close enough to hear them scream was a good two hundred feet to their left. This was the last house on the cul-de-sac.

Lukas stepped in front of Candice. “Let me go first.” He pushed the door open but no one jumped out at them.

They entered the spacious foyer. “Angus!” Lukas yelled.

Angus stepped into the hallway that led to the kitchen. “Unreal,” he sneered.

“Angus Archibald.”

“Lukas Raven.”

He walked up to Lukas, looking at him in fits of wonder. His eyebrow twitched and his lips moved but no words formed.

“Where’s my mother?” Candice’s voice was on the edge of fury.

Angus looked away from Lukas and studied her. He faced her, his eyes growing wide with insanity. “How did you do this?” He looked back at Lukas. “How did she do this?”

“She didn’t do anything.”

Angus turned away from them, rotating in a circle with his arms raised in a V. He stopped and then looked back. “Well somebody did something!” He laughed. “It’s a voodoo miracle. No one wants to take responsibility for this. But
somebody
did something. Somebody
did
something. Somebody did
something
!” He laughed again like a hyena.

“Where’s my mother, you sick bastard?” Candice took a step closer but Lukas restrained her with a straight arm.

“We have money.” Lukas dropped the large duffle bag on the ground.

Angus looked at the bag, then back up to Lukas. “What’s this?”

“Your money. You’re going to take that money and let Christine go.”

Angus looked at the ceiling, placed his hands on his hips, and stomped like a little kid. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no this will
not
do. I don’t want a bag of money, I want it all. I want my life back.”

“You mean
my
life,” Lukas said calmly.

Angus laughed again. “Your life? You’re dead in the head. You’re a vegetable. You’ve been sitting in a chair and I’ve been keeping you alive. This is how you repay me? I want my life back! Now give it back or I’m going to get really, really mad.”

Candice said. “We can’t do it. We don’t know how it happened.”

Angus took a step closer to Candice. “Lair!” he shouted. Then he picked up the duffle bag and tore open the zipper with considerable effort. It was obvious he was struggling to maintain his motor skills. Lukas didn’t know if it was stress, anger, or a complete mental breakdown. Perhaps it was a combination of all three. Either way, this man was completely unglued.

Lukas looked at Candice and the concern on her face was budding into full blown panic. Lukas gave her a stern look and a slight shake of his head, urging her to keep it together.

Angus laughed as he rummaged through the cash in the bag. “Is this some kind of joke? Are you kidding me? What’s in here — fifty thousand dollars?”

“That’s all I could get, Angus,” Lukas assured him. “Until the FBI unfreezes the accounts, that’s the best I can do. I can give you enough money to buy a new life, a better one.”

Angus interrupted, “Well, how long will that take?”

“I don’t know.”

He took a step back, tossing the bag on the floor. “Fine, I’ll just keep Christine until then.”

Candice lashed out. “You son-of-a-bitch.” She moved toward Angus. Again Lukas restrained her, but it was not as easy this time. “Where’s my mother?” She tried to force her way through Lukas but he was able to hold her back. “You scumbag, I’m going to kill you!”

Angus turned quickly and ran toward the kitchen.

Lukas gave chase. The kitchen was empty. “Which way?”

She looked around. “He had to go out the back door.” But the door was down a hallway past the kitchen.

Then Lukas noticed a vented pantry door to the right was slightly open. He raised his pistol and nodded to Candice to open the door. She swung it open and they looked into the darkness of the back yard.

“What the heck?” Candice said. The wall to the pantry had been crudely removed to allow an escape. Torn pieces of wood, molding, drywall, and vinyl siding, lay all over the place. Lukas waded through it until he was outside.

He looked into the darkness in both directions, but had no idea which way to go.

Candice met him. She looked toward the back yard. “There!” she exclaimed. “I just saw a light in the woods.”

They headed back through the yard toward the thick woods. In the darkness between the trees, a flashlight moved and blinked.

“What’s in there?” Lukas asked quietly.

“I have no idea.”

“I wish we had a light.”

Their eyes adjusted to the darkness a bit more with each step. The gibbous moon sitting high above grew brighter and by the time they reached the woods, there was no need for a light. Lukas recognized that moon phase, and it scared him.

“How’re we going to play this?” Candice asked.

“You stay behind me.”

The path into the woods wasn’t beaten. It was loud, leaves crunched under foot with each step. Popping twigs sounded like gunshots to them as they tried to walk quietly.

In the distance, a muted scream rose up from the trees. It drove Candice into a full-blown sprint. Lukas hurried after her but he had trouble keeping up. Her lead didn’t last long, she tripped and fell hard. She scrambled to her feet just as they heard a gunshot.

Candice tried to suck air into her lungs, but they’d been emptied from the impact. The gunshot ceased the scream. Candice seemed to lose all ability to move. A lump of tension stuck in her throat as she waited for time to start again. Every worst-case scenario flashed in her head. If her mother was on the other end of that bullet, she didn’t know what she would do.

Lukas helped her up and then took off full speed towards the darting light. She followed. They came into a clearing with a small cabin set at the center. She’d no idea this was back here, but it was way past her mother’s property line and could belong to any number of neighbors.

Lukas raised his gun and proceeded toward the cabin slowly. Gunshots erupted from inside, sending Lukas and Candice diving to the ground. Bullets tore over their heads. Candice felt as if every breath was going to be her last. Her entire life was literally passing by with each projectile.

There was a moment of silence. Lukas rose to his feet and charged the small cabin. Another series of gunshots ripped the night. Candice didn’t know what to do, so she stayed flat on the ground.

Again there was silence. She looked at the cabin, Lukas stood in the doorway, breathing heavy. His arms hung slack at his side.

She got to her feet and took a tentative step toward him. He looked at her and the moon glow couldn’t hide his eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said.

Candice pushed past him into the cabin.

The worst thing in the world awaited her. Her mother was on the floor, bleeding to death. “Mom, no…oh God.” She got on her knees. Christine tried to talk, but only air escaped. Candice knew she was saying…
sorry, I love you
. In the next second, she was gone.

Candice started to shake. A flood of horrible feelings crashed into her body. Nothing felt real. She looked away and saw Angus, his face frozen in surprise, staring at the ceiling. A slash of moonlight spiked over his eyes, the evil was gone from them. His body was riddled with bullets. The flashlight lay inches from his fingertips, still illuminated.

She looked back at her mother’s body hoping some miracle would bring her back. It didn’t happen. Candice felt the need to wake up from this nightmare. A scream of agony sat in her belly but didn’t rise up to her throat. All she could muster was an animal moan.

Turning around, Candice staggered outside into the moonlight. Her body was racked with fits of cold. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

“Eye for an eye!” someone shouted from behind Candice. She didn’t even have time to turn around before she felt bullet-punches to the back, sending her forward into Lukas’ arms. He raised his gun and fired, but Candice didn’t hear any gunshots as a wail of siren screamed in her brain. As she fell to the ground, she saw Rena falling, then everything went black.

Lukas screamed, “No!” But it was too late to stop it. He shot Rena three times, just as Candice sank to the floor at his feet.

“Candice!” he yelled, but she didn’t respond. How could he have been so careless? He was so concerned with making sure Angus was dead he’d never checked on Rena. He knew he’d shot her, but clearly she hadn’t died from her wounds. He bent down to Candice, her breathing was shallow and rapid. He dialed 911 and held her.

“You can’t die on me.” He looked up to the sky, to the moon that mocked him. He thought it had come for him. “Please, God, don’t let her die. Please.”

The night was dead silent.