Richard Hale - Frozen Past

“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “It’s quiet.”

“Alright,” Luke said, “we’ll wait a little bit and see what he does.”

“What’s that red light on top of that house?” Ellie asked.

Luke peered through the dark, straining his eyes and could just make out what looked like a camera mounted to the roof of the house directly across from the pool. “Looks like a security cam. I wonder if it’s one of those dummy ones or it’s real?”

“A dummy one?” she said.

“Yeah-they make fake ones with lights on them to keep people out of the yard. It doesn’t really work, just lights up.”

“I bet it’s real,” she said. “Mr. Lolly has problems with people messing with his lights at Christmas. I wonder if William Smith knows it’s there?”

Luke shrugged. If they got him on tape, then that would be a good thing. Out of the corner of his eye Luke caught movement. Two kids were walking down the street toward them. Luke didn’t recognize them. “Do you know who that is?” he whispered to Ellie.

Ellie raised up a bit and then knelt back down. “I think it’s Jenny Hipps and Ames Bledsoe. They’ve been together for a while.”

“I wonder what they’re doing over here,” Luke said. “Don’t they live in Hollowbrook?”

“He does. I don’t know where Jenny lives.”

“Should we warn them?”

Jimmy could hear the conversation over the phone and he said, “No. We don’t want to alert him we’re here unless he does something. Let’s see what happens.”

“Where are the police?” Ellie asked frustrated.

Luke shrugged his shoulders.

The couple passed in front of them talking softly and holding hands. Luke could see Jenny’s face now and recognized the slump of Ames’ shoulders. They called him Quasimodo because he had such a bad hunchback. The other kids called them the grenade-face ugly couple.

Luke watched them pass by and continue on up the street where they eventually faded from view. William Smith had not moved.

“What’s happening?” John said through the earphone.

“Nothing,” Luke said. “The grenade-face ugly couple walked by and he didn’t do anything.” He could hear John chuckling. “They’re gone now.”

Ellie tugged at his shirt and pointed up the street. A kid about their age was slowly making his way down the street on his bike. He was weaving back and forth across the width of the street making long arcing turns from one side of the street to the other. As he got closer he could hear the kid humming to himself.

“Hold up, John,” Luke said. “Somebody else is coming.”

The kid passed in front of them, oblivious to anything around him. Luke thought it strange that someone his age would be out on the street all by himself this late, especially with all that had been happening lately. The biker weaved his way past the pool house and then suddenly stopped. He turned toward the house John had been talking about, the one next to the Lolly’s, and Ellie took a quick breath in, digging her fingers into his arm as she tensed.

“Oh no,” she whispered.

Movement caught Luke’s eye and he looked at Jimmy who was frantically waving his arms. Luke moved his hand up and down, trying to tell Jimmy to stay put. Jimmy reluctantly squatted back down but peered out around the hedge and watched.

The biker kid was just standing there straddling his bike. His head kept looking left and right, and his feet shifted uncertainly. He laid the bike down, moving slowly toward the house, bent over as if straining to see or hear something. He stopped again halfway through the yard and stood up straight.

“We have to do something,” Ellie whispered. “He’s going to kill him!”

Luke hesitated. He wasn’t sure what the kid was doing, though it was looking like he was being drawn toward the house by something or someone they could not see. “John, has he moved?” Luke said turning away from the street trying to keep his voice from carrying.

“Still there,” John said. Just then Ellie screamed, jumped up and ran toward the house.

“Crap!” Luke said. “Ellie! Stop!” The biker kid had disappeared and Luke watched, frozen, as Ellie ran full speed toward the house. She was screaming at the top of her lungs.

“You leave him alone!” She shouted frantically. “Don’t you dare hurt him! You leave him alone!”

Luke found his legs and started running after her. He shouted into his earpiece. “John! Call 911, now! Send them here. Hurry!”

Jimmy was streaking across the yards of the houses on Luke’s left, legs pumping, arms swinging, and Luke put on a burst of speed so they would get to Ellie at the same time. Luke saw the biker kid burst out of the bushes up against the house and stumble toward his bike. His eyes were huge and terrified as his head swiveled toward Ellie who was sprinting toward him. Suddenly, the killer erupted from the same bushes and sped toward the kid as he knelt to pick up his bike. Ellie was only a few feet away and Luke was surprised she didn’t even slow down. She threw herself at the killer’s running body, slamming into it and knocking him off balance. She bounced off of him and fell at his feet.

The killer looked stunned for a moment and then roared in anger as he bent over and picked her up with one hand. She kicked and screamed, swinging her fists at his arms, but they had little effect on the man. He was huge, like an Ultimate Cage Fighter. Nothing seemed to faze him.

Luke and Jimmy got to him at the same time and Luke didn’t even think. He tackled the man as Jimmy did the same. Ellie fell from his grasp as they drove him onto his back. Luke pummeled the man’s face and neck while Jimmy stood and started kicking him in the side. The killer’s face was so white it shown in the dark. Every time Luke’s fist struck his face, it felt like his skin was stretching and he couldn’t even make a scratch. It was then Luke realized he was wearing a rubber mask.

The killer grunted and grabbed Luke by the hair, flinging him to the side like he weighed nothing. The pain was nothing like he had ever felt before. It was like having a thousand angry wasps sting you on your scalp all at the same time. He hit the ground with a jarring thud and couldn’t catch his breath. He watched, lying on his side, air trying to move in and out of his lungs, but it felt like he was breathing through a straw. He could do nothing as the killer swung his feet around in an arc and cut Jimmy’s legs out from under him. The killer stood and pulled an object from his pocket and Luke saw the glint of metal in the light of the streetlamp and knew it was a knife.

Ellie screamed. “No! You bastard! Leave them alone!” She flung herself at him again and began pounding on his chest and arms, but he didn’t even flinch. He bent over, grabbed Jimmy by the hair and pulled him up. He raised the knife toward Jimmy’s face and that’s when the gun fired.

The killer’s head jerked up and he dropped Jimmy to the ground. He didn’t even hesitate. William Smith turned, ran faster than Luke would have imagined, and disappeared around the pool house, heading for his car. Mr. Lolly ran up holding a pistol in his hand.

“You kids alright?!”

Just then a siren could be heard.

Victoria was in the back of the ambulance and Jaxon was feeling a little better after they had given him a muscle relaxer for his back spasms. Apparently the blast had pulled some muscles in his back as he was thrown from the scene.

The place was crawling with local cops and federal agents, and the media circus had arrived, though they had not been allowed access to the site, or given any information. The FBI was running the show and the Chicago office was currently in charge. Jaxon had been on the phone with Holt back in Washington and Victoria had even spoken to him briefly, but she was in no condition to take charge. An agent named Sal Wilmer was heading up the task force at the moment.