“No. That’s stupid and too dangerous,” said Katelynn, doing her best to regain her composure. “Let’s take Gabriel’s tape to Sheriff Wilson. Sam was supposed to meet with him later this morning anyway. Wilson will believe you. He has to!”
Jake shook his head. “The tape doesn’t prove anything, Katelynn. It’s just the disjointed ramblings of a sick old man on the brink of death. We don’t have time to gather the type of proof we need to convince anyone else, let alone the sheriff. We don’t have time. Every minute we delay is another minute someone else might lose their life. I couldn’t live with that. Could you?”
Katelynn started to cry halfway through Jake’s explanation, and by the time he finished speaking she turned and moved away from him, tears streaming silently down her cheeks. Jake started to reach out to her, apparently thought better of it, and let his hand fall softly back down to his side. He turned to face his other friend.
“Sam?” he asked, and the rest of the unspoken question was clear in his eyes.
He did not want to go alone.
A moment ticked by, neither of them moving, their gazes locked, unspoken words flying between them; memories of all the times they’d stood against whatever was the enemy, imagined or otherwise, memories that only a deep friendship could ever supply.
Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, Sam shook his head.
No.
Not this time.
Jake held Sam’s gaze a moment, then looked away. Crossing the room to the door, he opened it and, without turning, said, “Give me two hours. It won’t suspect that I’d come right back after it. It will still be thinking it scared us off. Now’s my chance to catch it off guard. Two hours. If I’m not back by then, well, then I’m probably not coming. Go to the police and tell them everything you can. They won’t believe you, but at least we will have done our best to warn them.”
Without another backward glance, Jake stepped outside and quietly closed the door after him.
32
ATTACK PLANS
Outside on the steps, Jake hesitated a moment, torn between his desire to go back inside to talk his friends into coming with him and the need to protect them from what he was about to do. Deciding that it just might be best if he went at it alone, he turned away and moved down the drive to where he’d parked the Jeep. Loki came running out of the early-morning light, having followed him out through the doggie door in back. Jake let the dog into the Jeep, then climbed in after him. He took one last look at the closed front door, then started the car up and pulled away.
It took only a few minutes to reach the construction site. He stopped at the end of the drive and headed for his trailer. Jake knew that very soon it would be full daylight. For that he was glad. Knowing that his friends would have continued trying to talk him out of going, Jake had already decided that his best chance of going after the beast was when it returned to its lair. That was the time to strike, when it felt safe, when its defenses were down. Believing itself to be protected from harm by secrecy, it would be totally unprepared for an attack.
So attack he would.
He pulled the key ring off his belt and unlocked the trailer door. He moved quickly, having already decided exactly what he would need on the drive over, a vague plan being slowly formulated as he raced through the quiet city streets, intent on his mission of destruction. Moving inside, he marched over to his desk and slid open the top drawer, withdrawing the 9mm Beretta lying there.
Jake crossed over to the storage closet that dominated one whole end of the trailer and unlocked it. He was more convinced than ever that the Nightshade had taken up refuge in the Riverwatch estate, and that was Jake’s destination as well. He was fairly certain the electricity would still be on; it was, after all, the scene of a current police investigation, but the last thing in the world he wanted was to get over there and find himself trapped in the dark with that thing, so he was taking no chances. From the closet’s third shelf he took down a large Coleman lantern and an extra bottle of propane fuel. He checked to make certain that both the lantern and the propane bottle were full, then shut and relocked the cabinet.
At least I’ll get a good look at the thing,he thought with a touch of black humor, smiling grimly at his own joke.
He turned back to the door, surveying the small, cluttered room around him as he did, wondering if there was anything else lying around that might be useful.Just what the hell do you take on a monster hunt? he asked himself sarcastically.
Your will,a voice said in the back of his mind. He quickly left before the voice made him lose his nerve altogether.
Once back in the Jeep, he gunned the engine, swerving around the dirt lot that formed Stonemoor’s makeshift parking area and rushed back down the drive, not stopping at the end but turning directly onto the road without slowing, knowing the streets of Harrington Falls would be empty at that hour.
It took him only a few minutes to reach the stone arch that formed the gateway to the Riverwatch estate. He stopped and took a moment to mentally prepare himself.
If you’re going do this thing, Jake, do it right,he told himself, and took several deep breaths to slow his breathing and get his heartbeat back under control.Won’t do you any good to go in there half-cocked. That will only get you killed.
He decided to leave the Jeep there, at the base of the drive. When he was ready, he climbed out. Loki tried to follow him. Jake had allowed Loki to come along because he intended to use the canine’s keen instincts to help track down the beast, but now, at the moment of choice, he had a lastminute change of heart. Jake shooed the dog back inside the vehicle, not wanting to endanger his closest companion.
“I’ll be right back, Loki,” he said soothingly, and turned away from the dog’s whining, his heart breaking with the thought that he might not see his friend again. He took some comfort in the fact that Sam or Katelynn would care for the Akita as if he were their own, and that got him focused again on the problem at hand.
The rising sun was reflecting off the waters of the river as Jake started walking up the drive.Just how intelligent is this thing? he wondered, a bit uneasily.Does it already know I’m here? Is it going to be waiting for me inside the mansion? The answers to those questions could mean the difference between life and death.
Equipment in hand, he began walking up the drive toward the mansion, the road stretching out before him. By the time he reached the wide wooden steps that led onto the veranda, he was grimly resolved to carry out his task or die trying. He didn’t believe the beast would give him a second chance, so he determined it was all or nothing. He’d said his good-byes, at least as much of a good-bye as he’d ever give, and he was certain that if he failed to return Sam would go to the cops, the newspapers, and everyone else he could think of in a wild attempt to get someone to listen. If they failed to pay attention, then Sam would be sure to get himself and Katelynn as far out of town as possible. Knowing those he cared about would escape even if he didn’t, Jake felt some of the tension leave his frame. He was in no way certain he would succeed, but at least things would be taken care of in his wake.
The steps loomed up before him, and Jake cast aside such thoughts, clearing his mind as much as possible, readying himself for the coming confrontation. At the foot of the steps he stopped and looked up.
The twin elms that lined the drive draped the mansion in their shadows, lending it a dark, brooding presence all its own, as if it were a living, breathing thing that gaped at him; the dark windows like eyes that sought him out where he stood. They seemed to stare disapprovingly in his direction. It was as though the structure was watching him and didn’t like what it was seeing. He looked quickly away. His gaze came to rest on the pools of darkness that crept out from beneath the porch. This was no better, as his fear-filled mind began to imagine it saw movement there beneath the wood.