Randy White - Haunted

One terrifying concern: Oliver . The room where Theo had once served detentions had windows and presumably a door. The chimp might be waiting if I retraced my steps. The property was big. He might also pick up my scent if I circled around the back or if I angled toward the gravel road.

Oliver’s nose is as good as any bloodhound’s. Theo’s words.

Coral snake poison-if the snake had bitten him-was lethal but slow-acting. Victims had up to twenty-four hours-another of Theo’s claims. Worse, I also had to worry about the younger chimp. I had no idea where she was caged or if she was caged. And, according to Lucia, Savvy was just as vicious or more so. My only weapons were in a paper sack: a few bamboo darts, a lighter, and the box cutter. They were no match for animals that could rip steel off its hinges.

Make up your mind, Hannah.

The dart’s poison had caused a slight numbing of my left arm, and my lips, too. I couldn’t waste more time peeking from bushes. I needed to move, but where? Concrete walls and a steel door had muffled the chimpanzee’s chaos. It was blessed relief after what I’d been through, but now I strained to listen. Was Oliver still inside?

Above me were louvered windows. I touched fingers to the glass and waited. A series of tremors signaled that violence continued somewhere inside the building.

Yes. Now was the time to search for my SUV.

I took a last look at the men and reversed course. A distant row of trees marked the river to the west. It wasn’t far, only half a football field away. Ahead was the entrance to the serpentarium. Beyond was the back side of the property, probably fenced, but that was a guess. Separating me from freedom was an expanse of mown lawn, where oak trees and moss created islands of gray on a frosted plain. If I tried to cross, there was nowhere to hide except for the trees and trees were a poor choice when fleeing a two-hundred-pound chimp. Krissie’s death had proven that.

I took off running anyway. Jogged with long, silent strides until I neared the serpentarium door, which I sprinted past. Then I settled into a comfortable pace while my eyes searched. The dimensions of the snake facility were fixed in my mind. The adjoining room, where Theo had served detentions, was easy to pick out. I monitored it closely as I ran: a pair of lighted windows, glass unbroken… and no door until I came around the corner where light spilled onto the grass, which meant there was a door-and that the door was open.

I felt my breath catch. I nearly stopped. Had Oliver escaped? Or had he left the door open before entering the room to attack Lucia?

Possibly both.

I couldn’t risk another change of plans. I ran faster, every sense alert for sounds or movements of any kind. And there was movement-gray shapes furrowed the grass around me. Moon shadow, I thought, until an elongated shape materialized to my right. The object augered itself into a coil… its head blossomed wide and flat… then it pivoted to face me.

A cobra. That’s what it was. And a cobra’s hiss is actually a raspy roar. The sound was so loud and threatening, I stumbled when I swerved away and nearly fell. Luckily, I caught myself or would have sprawled atop several snakes that were all gliding westward toward the trees… or they smelled the river.

Panicking, I hurdled and high-stepped until I thought I was clear. Wrong. Every few strides I heard weeds move or a rattlesnake’s buzz that warned the field was alive with snakes. The result was a zigzag course with my senses focused on the ground, not on what lay ahead.

The error could have been deadly. But my luck held. When I did shift my attention forward, a safe haven awaited: Belton’s camper was parked in shadows under a tree. No lights showing, but that was okay. Even if Belton was gone, there was a chance they’d left the keys in the ignition… or that my car was parked on the other side, hidden by the camper’s bulk.

Best of all, Carmelo and Theo were busy at the front of the property. I was on the back acreage, shielded by buildings, just me and the snakes.

With Lucia dead, what was there to fear?

I opened the camper door but sniffed the air before entering. Forever imprinted on my memory was the primal stink of Oliver, half ape, half chimp. Only reassuring odors greeted me, however-diesel and shower soap-so I stepped inside, whispering, “Hello…?”

In reply, a voice said, “Thank god, you’re alive.”

Belton’s voice. I clicked the door shut. “Don’t turn on the lights. How do you lock this damn thing?”

“Carmelo broke the latch with a hammer. Did he follow you? Please tell me the police are coming.”

I fiddled with the lock anyway but soon gave up. Moonlight filtered through the curtains. I pulled them back so I could see. The man was on his belly on the couch, hands tied behind him-a needless cruelty that revived my anger. “They left you tied up like this the whole time?”

“Carmelo would have done worse, but I pretended to have a heart attack and pass out. Remember me saying he’s not as dumb as he acts? In some ways, he’s dumber because he’s greedy. What about the police?”

“Theo took my phone,” I said and went past him to check the ignition. “Do you have a key hidden?”

“Not in a rental vehicle. My hands… I lost feeling an hour ago. Untie me. I can’t take much more. Oh-and my glasses. I need my glasses. They’re somewhere on the counter.”

“Any idea where they parked my SUV?”

“It’s all a blur, dear.”

I retrieved the box cutter from the sack and knelt. As I did, Belton added in a sheepish way, “Sorry about the mess. They blew some kind of drug up my nose. My bladder turned traitor. Nothing I could do.”

Through the knees of my jeans, I could feel that the carpet was wet. “Hold still so I don’t cut you,” I said. They had used tie wraps on his wrists and ankles. Snip-snip and he was free. I helped him set up. “Can you walk?”

“Give me a second. What about my glasses?”

Two minutes later he got to his feet, hobbled from the back of the RV to the front but had to stop twice to steady himself. Then almost fell again when he pulled on a clean polo, even buttoned two buttons.

“I’m practically a cripple.”

“You’re better than when you started. It’ll take a few minutes.”

“No police, huh?”

“We need to get moving. Theo doesn’t know I’m loose. But he will. In fact, he probably knows already.”

“Then they’ll come looking. I’ll be fine now that I’ve got some blood circulating. The smart thing to do is, I stay here while you go get help.”

“Not a chance,” I said, although in truth that’s exactly what I yearned to do-run for my life. If I made it to the river, I could swim if there wasn’t a canoe or boat to steal. No point in telling him I’d been darted, that my mind was a jumble of fear, constantly scanning for new symptoms.

He sensed my distress and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hannah, dear, I’ll be eighty-one in December. My wife is dead and… and my only child is dead. So-”

“Stop that kind of talk right now. We’re leaving together.” I went toward the door and peered through the frosted window. “What about weapons? I don’t suppose you have a gun or an axe or anything we could use?”

Up until then, the man had sounded coherent but feeble. My question changed that. “If I did, I’d send you on your way and kill both those sons of bitches.”

When he added, “It’s a long story,” I thought, He came here looking for revenge.