James Smith - The Flock

"Just like that?"

Mary shrugged. "What's he gonna do? Plug us in broad daylight with a hundred potential witnesses waiting to come out of their houses? Just drop me off," she reiterated.

"You da wo-man," Ron said, driving toward the car.

The Buick was parked at the front of one of the few vacant lots remaining in Salutations. Like most of the others in Phase Three, it was roughly half an acre in size, new growths of wildflowers and young saplings trying to reclaim the cleared patch of land for Mother Nature. They wouldn't survive long before someone bought the plot and commenced to 'dozing it and plowing the green under. But, for now, the empty lot was a waist-high mass of shrubs and sedges. Insects buzzed and fluttered at the tops of the grasses, while in the thick mat against the ground, who knew what existed.

Ron drove right up to the Buick and parked in front of it, leaving his truck at an angle, so that the car would have to back away to return to the street. He put the truck in park and stopped the engine. Mary was out before he could even get his key from the ignition. And by the time he was climbing out of the cab, Niccols was already rapping a hard knuckle against the driver's side window. "Balls," Ron said.

The Buick's door opened, the motor still running. Ron flinched, but he noticed that Mary hadn't moved at all. He saw a pale hand reach up and grasp the top of the front door. A man rose into view.

"Dodd," Ron said. He couldn't conceal the surprise in his voice.

Dodd nodded a greeting at him. "Who were you expecting?"

"We weren't expecting anyone," Mary told him. "But when someone's following me, I like to know who it is."

Dodd smiled. "I can understand that. Me being a newspaper man and all, I understand perfectly." Dodd stuck out his hand, offering it to Mary. "I'm Tim Dodd. I'm a reporter. You've read my stuff. We spoke."

Mary stepped back and pointed one of her sun-browned fingers at the reporter. "I know who you are." Mary glanced at Ron. "This is that guy who took that picture of me with the gators I trapped out of here. He called me and talked to me for an article. I read it. Good article. Gator Woman!"

Ron came around to the driver's side of the Buick. "You would like that article," he said. "It made you look like some kind of Florida version of an Amazon. Rasslin' gators instead of Hercules."

"Hey," Mary said. "Good publicity never hurts a lady in my position. I picked up some work after that article came out." Mary was smiling, which was good, considering she'd been ready to start punching just seconds before.

Now that he was closer to Dodd, Riggs saw the ragged scratches and cuts all over his face, arms, and hands. "What the hell happened to you, Dodd?" The man did look to have been dragged through glass. "Somebody throw your ass in the briar patch?"

Dodd smiled, stretching some of the healing cuts on his face. "Actually, you're not far off the mark. I hate to admit it, but I got lost in the forest around here."

"Lost?" Mary squinted her dark eyes, taking a good look at Dodd. "How lost did you get? How long were you lost?"

Dodd produced a fake chuckle. "Pretty darned lost. I was lost for most of a day. Tried to hike through some thick brush and got cut up pretty bad. Even my legs. Pants are shredded. Had to toss them."

"Where the hell were you? And what in God's name were you doing out there? I know you're aware that there's about half a million acres of wilderness north of Salutations. If you got really lost, no one would ever find you. Ever." The word dumbass was poised on the tip of Ron's tongue, but there it waited.

"I was just out scouting around. Looking for a snake." He cleared his throat. "You guys looking for a snake?"

Mary and Ron exchanged a quick glance.

Ron spoke up. "I don't think we're ready to say what we're looking for. But, yes, it could be a snake. Might be. We don't know right now."

The three stood in silence for several uncomfortable seconds.

"You never called me," Dodd finally said to Ron.

"Eh?"

"I told you where I was staying when you were talking with Tatum. I thought you'd call, clarify some things for me. But you never did. Which is why I've been following you guys today. I thought we could talk, or set up a meeting. Think we could?"

Ron thought about it for a second. He wasn't particularly fond of Salutations or its corporate owners, or even of Bill Tatum who wanted to keep all negative publicity silent. But that didn't mean that it was his place to spill his guts and talk about the possibility of a disturbed person killing the local dogs. Who knew what a guy like Dodd would do with that kind of information? No. He'd talk to Tatum about it and let things go from there. It wasn't his job to worry about it, nor to fuel the speculations of a reporter who was ready, willing, and able to capitalize off the slightest bit of gossip or hearsay. "Well, to tell you the truth, Dodd…"

"Tim. Call me Tim."

"Okay. Tim. But to tell you the truth, Mary and I are kind of busy. I'll have to take a rain check, for now."

"S'right, Ron. In fact, I think we'd better be heading out." Mary was already moving toward the truck. She saluted to Dodd and walked away. "See you 'round," she said. A few steps took her to the truck, and she climbed in.

Ron, halfway back himself, turned as Dodd called out. "Mr. Riggs. Ron. Could I have a word with you? Just for a second?"

Riggs shrugged, gave a quizzical smirk to Mary, and went back to where Dodd was standing. "What is it?" he asked.

"Look." Dodd was whispering, trying to keep his voice down, and he even turned his body sideways to prevent Mary from even reading his lips. "I really, really need to talk to you. I've got something I want to show you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I was going to keep this to myself for at least a few days. But when I was out of my suite today, someone entered and…Well, they tampered with my things." Dodd indeed had a concerned expression on his scabby face.

"What do you mean? I'm sure even Salutations has a few larcenous maids."

"No. Not that. Not that, at all. Someone was into my laptop's files. They tried to download some stuff, but I'm pretty good at computer security. Anyway, whoever it was hacked through about three-fourths of my safeguards before I came back to the room. And they must have known I was coming, too."

"What are you saying? Someone's spying on you? Why wouldn't they just steal the computer?"

Dodd reached over and grasped Riggs' arm, squeezing his biceps to punctuate his words. "Listen. I…I saw something out there. Out there in the forest." He shrugged his head at the mass of green beyond the houses across the street.

"What did you see? Someone out there?"

"Not someone. An animal."

"What? What kind of animal?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. Look. Can you meet me later? Somewhere safe? Not my suite, though. I think it might be bugged, somehow." Dodd blinked, and Ron could see that the little guy was really, truly worried. He looked scared.

"Well…sure. If you think it's that bad. Sure. You want to meet me somewhere? Somewhere in town? I mean, outside of Salutations."

"That would be good. How about Orlando? I could get some stuff together and meet you there. How about the Penta Hotel on International Boulevard? I think I'm going to take a look at room availability there, and check in. Get out of Salutations. Today, in fact. How about it?"

"Yeah. That's fine. I'll be done here in a couple of hours, I'm sure. How does seven tonight sound? Rush hour will be over, and I can be there by seven. I'll meet you in the lobby." Ron raised his eyebrows at Dodd; a quirky habit that his friends knew meant that the conversation was over. He turned to leave.