The Watchers (5 page)

“
Sure. Haven’t you ever
heard of alien abductions?”

“
Yes. I didn’t think it was
real until all of this happened.”

“
I come across a lot of
things in my practice. Few things surprise me anymore.” The man
glanced at the clock on his desk. “I’m afraid I have to take care
of my next patient. Do you mind if we continue this on Thursday
when you have your appointment?”

“
That’s fine.”

“
And since this thing
appeared to you with malevolent intent, I’m going to give you a
different prescription. It’s a stronger dose, but you reported no
ill effects with the other one, so this one should be fine. If you
do notice any complications, let me know and I’ll adjust the
dosage.” He reached over to the small table beside him and wrote on
a small yellow pad. “I think you had your encounter last night
because you missed that pill. It can set your whole body off
balance when things like that happen.”

Noting the warning, Alex agreed to
take the new pills every night before bed. If that was what he had
to do to make sure another attack didn’t happen, then he’d do it.
There was no way he wanted to go through that again.

The doctor tore the slip of paper and
held it out to him.

Alex stood up and took it. “Thank you,
Doctor.”

“
You’re welcome.” The man
stood and walked him to the door. “Now, if you have another
episode, let me know.”

“
I will.”

He opened the door and smiled. “Have a
good day.”

Relieved, Alex returned his smile and
left. So he wasn’t crazy. Now he didn’t have to go around town
feeling like a freak.

Chapter Six

Autumn finished putting clothes on the
mannequin in the store and yawned. Glancing at her watch, she
realized she had another five hours to go before she could go home.
Alicia wouldn’t be in for another hour and the Saturday crowd
hadn’t picked up yet, so she had nothing to do at the
moment.

She tapped her foot on the floor and
debated whether she should take this opportunity to loaf around or
look for any clothes that needed to be returned to their correct
locations. Finally, she opted to search for misplaced clothes. She
rolled her eyes. Here it was, a beautiful Saturday and she was
stuck at work with her most exciting prospect being what she’d
watch on TV when she got home. Again, she wondered why she hadn’t
been one of the people to vanish. Just what, exactly, did she have
to stick around for? It should have been her instead of
Marianne.

A familiar giggle caught her
attention. She looked over her shoulder and sighed. Katie Winslow,
the new employee, decided to come in on her day off with her
boyfriend. Katie was holding his hand and blabbing on about someone
they knew. Typical gossip. Autumn thought of dodging behind a rack
of pantsuits but Katie saw her.

“
Oh hey! Autumn!” Katie
turned to her lanky boyfriend. “That’s Autumn. I work with
her.”

He nodded, not taking his eyes off the
perky blond who gave him a flirtatious smile.

Autumn inwardly groaned but gave a
polite smile and wave before she turned back to the rack in front
of her, trying to look busy so Katie and her boyfriend would get
bored and leave. However, such was not to be the case.

“
Autumn! I have some
terrific news to share with you. Come on over!”

Autumn stayed in place, watching as
the glowing girl waved her forward. When she realized Katie was
practically dragging the guy her way, she sighed and went to meet
them. “What is it?”

“
I’m engaged!” Katie thrust
her hand in front of Autumn’s face and squealed. She wiggled her
ring finger, making the small diamond sparkle in the light. “Kevin
just proposed last night. Isn’t that awesome?”

Engaged? Autumn tried not to show her
disbelief. Katie was only eighteen for goodness’ sakes.

“
We’re here looking for
lingerie,” Katie said and snuggled against Kevin who kissed her
cheek.

Katie giggled and cooed at him. In
response, he nuzzled her neck and she wrapped her arms around him,
squealing in delight.

Autumn swallowed. If she wasn’t
careful, she was going to throw up. Watching two horny teenagers
hanging onto each other was more than enough to make her gag. Just
as she turned to get away from them, a loud boom resonated through
the mall.

Without thinking, she dropped to the
floor, only half aware of the screams of panic coming from the two
shoppers in the store. She glanced over her shoulder and was
reassured when she saw that Katie and her boyfriend were fine. She
waited to make sure nothing else was going to happen before she
struggled to her feet.

Mr. Hampton came running out of his
office, his face pale. Motioning to the door, he yelled, “Everyone,
out!”

Not that Autumn needed to be told to
evacuate, but if Hampton was scared, then this was more serious
than she thought. If Hampton was one thing, it was able to handle
even the toughest of situations in stride. While he assisted one of
the shaking customers, Autumn ran to help another one out the
nearest exit. Kevin held onto Katie, so at least she was taken care
of.

Once they were outside, a group of
fire trucks and policemen were hurrying to the center of the mall.
People were rushing out of the building as smoke billowed into the
sky. Some people were crying and holding onto each other. Others
were searching for loved ones. Still, others looked on in apparent
shock.

Autumn shivered. It reminded her of
the day her sister vanished.

“
Funny how the cops and
firemen got here as soon as they did,” Hampton muttered under his
breath.

Surprised, she looked at her boss.
“Why do you say that?”

He glanced at her as if he couldn’t
believe he had to explain it. “That was a bomb, and it just went
off. How could they be that quick?”

His meaning settled into her rattled
nerves. Her eyes grew wide. “Are you saying this was
staged?”

He rolled his eyes. “It wouldn’t be
the first time something like this happened, would it?”

Before she could answer, he went over
to one of the shrieking women in the crowd. He patted her on the
shoulder and did his best to comfort her.

Autumn could hardly think over the
sirens blaring, the crying people, or the police using bullhorns to
instruct people to evacuate the mall. She tried to come to grips
with what Hampton said as she walked through huddled groups of
people. The smoke continued pouring out of the main entrance,
making her cough as she neared the scene of the
devastation.

She passed a cop who spoke into his
walkie talkie. “Yeah. Probably a terrorist attack.” And that was
all she caught of that conversation since he hurried past her to
wave an ambulance over to assist a blood-soaked man who was lying
on the ground. The man blinked, and Autumn felt a small comfort in
knowing he was alive.

She studied the amount of medical
personnel that got out of their ambulances and frowned. The
explosion only happened a few minutes ago, hadn’t it? She checked
her watch. Maybe it had been five. There was no way all these
policemen, firefighters and medical personnel should be here yet.
She hated to agree with Hampton, but something was
wrong.

As she scanned the chaos
ensuing around her, her gaze happened to fall upon
him
. Devon. He was there
at the scene, talking into a cell phone and motioning to a cop. She
narrowed her eyes at him. Ignoring the people around her, she
strode in his direction. Not once did she let her focus off of him.
There were way too many people lingering about.

Shock gave way to anger as she got
closer to him. How dare he be a part of this? Her brows furrowed
and her stomach tightened. For all she knew, he was responsible for
this. Maybe he set off the bomb. No. He didn’t look like the type.
Most likely, he gave the orders and someone else did the dirty
work.

By the time she reached him, he was
still on the phone. His back was to her as he walked back to the
mall. She thought he was going to go under the police tape that two
men were putting up to secure off the entrance, but he didn’t.
Instead, he veered around it and made his way to the other side of
the explosion. Where was he going? She picked up the pace so that
she could make out something he was telling the other person on the
phone, but there was too much noise around them for her to make out
anything.

To her surprise, he went around the
corner of the building, which left them alone for the moment. She
glanced behind her, wondering if it was best to keep following him.
Perhaps she should go back to Hampton. Now, that was something she
never thought she’d willingly consider. Going back to her irritable
boss so she could feel safe!

“
It’s taken care of,” Devon
said into his cell phone. “Don’t send anymore.”

Anymore? She turned her attention back
to him.

He hung up on his current call and
started to dial another number when he noticed her. He jerked and
quickly shut the phone. “What are you doing here?”

She couldn’t tell if he was alarmed or
angry but finally decided he was probably both. Crossing her arms
to hide her slight trembling, she said, “You’re behind this
explosion, aren’t you? There is no terrorist attack. You set this
up.”

He stared at her for a moment, his
face unreadable.

The only thing that held her in place
was her anger over the needless destruction and suffering that he
caused. “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Stupid. What was
she thinking by confronting him like this? He obviously had
important connections, and here she was invoking his wrath. But
something in her had snapped, making her unable to stop. “Well?
What else have been false terror attacks?”

He calmly placed the phone into the
breast pocket of his suit jacket. “I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

“
Don’t play dumb.” Her
pulse raced with adrenaline. Stupid. She was stupid! This man was
dangerous. She just knew it. That was the only reason why a demon
lurked around him. And yet, losing her sister and having her entire
world tossed upside down was taking its toll on her nerves. She
couldn’t stop. Even if he pulled out a gun right now and threatened
to kill her, she couldn’t stop. “Do you know where those people
disappeared to? Was that another ploy to get the people to unite
for this coming one world government?”

He took a step toward her, and she
instinctively backed up. He grabbed her arm and shot her a warning
look. “I advise you to tread carefully. You think you know what
you’re dealing with but you don’t. This goes much deeper than you
can imagine.”

“
You bastards took my
sister from me. I have nothing to lose.” And she didn’t. She had
nothing to live for. Nothing to give up. No reason to
exist.

“
No. We didn’t. We don’t
know what caused that.”

She shook her head as her eyes filled
with tears. She’d wanted him to admit it. But he didn’t. “You’re
lying,” she insisted, even though it was ridiculous. She wanted him
to be lying. She wanted to be able to get to her sister and bring
her home.

He shook his head. “That wasn’t part
of the plan, but it doesn’t matter because it’s done. Look, do you
want to live or not?”

She hesitated to answer. After how
close she came to dying just now... If that bomb had been further
down the mall... Was she prepared for death?

He sighed. “If you want to survive,
you have to play by their rules.”

Shooting him a sharp look, she asked,
“Whose rules?”

Before she knew what was happening, he
pressed her up against the side of the mall and kissed her.
Stunned, she didn’t push him away. How could she? She didn’t have
time to think.

He wasn’t demanding in the kiss,
though he was insistent that the kiss happen. His hands settled on
her hips, and that was when she thought to push him away. His mouth
left hers and traveled the length of her jaw and down her neck. Her
heart raced, even as she figured that she should be able to push
him away once she caught her breath.

He brought his lips to her ear. “We’re
being watched. There are cameras everywhere. Listening devices.
You’re being monitored. You have to be careful.”

Her eyes flew open and a chill raced
up her spine. A warning. She turned her head and saw that a
security guard was watching.

Devon let go of her, stepped away, and
coughed. Giving the older man a sheepish grin, he said, “Sorry.
Didn’t see you there.”

The guard gave a stiff nod. “Save it
for the bedroom.”

She looked at Devon. He was lying. He
knew the guard was there the whole time. It’d all been a show. She
didn’t know whether to be relieved or upset. So he hadn’t been
trying to take liberties with her...but then, what man ever had?
She sighed and rubbed her head. Her mind was a jumbled mess. So
much was happening at once, and too many thoughts went in circles
through her head. What did it matter? What did any of it matter
anymore?