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| IMPOSTER BY MARIQUA |
CHAPTER 24 |
"Where is he?" Sam's voice boomed out into the night as they came within speaking distance of Tea. He looked at her face which looked anguished and pale, and he knew the answer.
"He's gone, isn't he?" he said and came up next to Tea who seemed to be fighting for control of her emotions and looked dangerously close to fainting.
Viki stepped in quickly and put her arm around Tea's shoulder. "Are you all right?"
Tea nodded and couldn't hide from either of them the state she was in. I must look a mess!
Sam looked down at the crumpled blanket on the ground and exchanged a look with Viki. "Tea," he said gently, "we need to know if Pete hurt you in any way."
"He...he's not Pete anymore," she said with difficulty since she was thinking of the man she loved and was already missing so terribly.
"Then...he's Todd? What happened?" Viki asked with amazement that the specter of DID might finally be eliminated from her brother's life.
"It's a long story, Viki." Tea said weakly, "and I don't have the strength, as you can see, to give you all of it now. "He's gone, and I don't know when he'll come back."
Viki's brow furrowed with worry as she heard Tea's words. Her brother was on the run again, and a helicopter and dogs were on his tail. But what did I expect? He's Todd Manning and he'll always do what he has to do to thwart the authorities.
Delgado clicked off the cell phone and for once during this exasperating time, he felt somewhat better. The helicopter had spotted Manning's car! That meant Manning and his sister weren't far from there since they were traveling on foot. They had also spotted another car not far from the Lamborghini. Someone else had obviously found the car as well. He turned around to see Sykes giving an order to one of his men. Catching the Commissioner's attention, he beckoned him over.
"What is it, Delgado?" Sykes said with restrained impatience that he was interrupted from what he was doing. This had better be good!
"The helicopter has located Manning's vehicle off one of the side roads. Another car has been identified, too, which is also near Manning's -- a Continental, I believe.
Sykes didn't have to think twice about whose car that would be. He knew almost immediately whose car would have tracked down Manning's car. Viki Carpenter! No one else had such a vested interest in Manning's whereabouts -- except perhaps Sam Rappaport. You're proabably both in that car and tried to reach Manning before we did. Now they had put their own lives in danger and directly disobeyed his orders to go home. Rappaport, it's a good thing that you know the legal system because you're going to need that knowledge to get you and Mrs. Carpenter out of this one!
The cloaking quality of the night's darkness was something to be grateful for thought Todd as he moved like a stealthy animal through the different forms of plant life dotting the landscape. There was not a moment to lose because he knew the helicopter would soon be in the area. Something else bugged him, too, about the helicopter. If it was indeed an FBI helicopter, then it had the latest technology on it -- technology he had read about -- Infrared detection. Another thought also crossed hIs mind and made him increase his speed. Tea's brother, Del, was FBI, and that meant that they would stop at nothing to get him. And if the helicopter doesn't get me, the dogs certainly will!
He began to lope in a criss-cross pattern, and ran up next to small trees and rubbed his clothing against the bark of the trees. He had learned a few tricks while escaping the law before that had helped camouflage his whereabouts. The dogs' sense of smell could be confused as much as possible which would give him some extra time to make it to those mountains. He had learned of this particular trick while in prison, and he thought wryly that he would never have guessed that anything good would have come from that experience.
Tea! Her face appeared softly in his mind again -- seeming to float above him as he ran. The thrill of touching her as he had was still uppermost in his thoughts. She had completed him in a way no other woman had been able to do. Sometimes he didn't understand why this was so. Why had she been different? Their relationship had been frought with problems and anything but perfect, but somehow, she had perservered. You fought for me when no one else would. I will never forget that.
A throbbing in his head made him plant his palm on his forehead. He felt the perspiration trickling down on his head and grimaced. Another damn headache! They had a way of coming on him all of a sudden, and he didn't know why he was getting them. Now that he was fully integrated with his alters, he expected that the headaches would have gone away. No such luck! I've got to get to a doctor when this is all over. There are still some problems with me -- I can't pretend there aren't anymore. I owe it to you, Tea.
Maloney led the dogs up the road to where he thought they may have stopped. A violent pull on the leashes jerked his body into action as Damon and Marcus suddenly caught a whiff of a scent that sent them bounding forward. Maloney jogged along with them as they intercepted the smell and moved out. He knew the scent was still a faint one, but soon it would become stronger, and when it did, he would let them go to hunt down the owner of that smell. Okay, guys! Show them what you're worth!
Everything changed dramatically in a matter of minutes as the dogs began picking up speed. Another member of his team ran over to him as he was running. "They think there are some people out here looking for him -- his sister and a lawyer. You'd better take it easy!"
"Let's go home, Tea," Sam said softly as he looked at the peaked face of Todd's wife. He didn't know what had happened here, but she was a wreck, and he knew she had to get some rest. Ushering her away, he saw her look back in the opposite direction as if she half expected Todd to pop back into view. I envy you, Tea, because you are so completely in love -- never mind that he's an irascible crazy man. You believe in him, too, and that's what it's all about. You just may have saved him from himself!
The Dobermans had already made their way to the Lamborghini, but they soon moved on to the outskirting land. Three shapes moving across the land from a distance made them strain at the leashes again, and Maloney had to pull them up hard to keep them at bay.
"Dear God!" Viki said as she saw the dogs and men approaching them.
"Are you Tea Manning?" a large burly-looking man spoke out holding tightly onto two black, snarling Dobermans.
"Yes," Tea said uncertainly.
"Commissioner Sykes has ordered me to tell you that you are to report to him immediately -- along with Mrs. Carpenter and Mr. Rappaport. He's at the first road block down the road."
"Fine!" Sam said and nodded to the man -- coolly watching him as his dogs picked up speed again and pulled away from them.
Viki looked at Sam and for once couldn't read his smooth, weathered face. I could be very much mistaken, but something tells me you just lied through your teeth, Rappaport!
His long legs had not usually failed him when he was running. Even as a young football player, he had learned that they had been a great asset for playing the game. Now that he was older, he could run as fast or better than men ten years younger than him. Never would he have believed that his strength as a runner would be used for something quite different -- escaping the long arm of the law. It was actually a thrill for him to run this way -- cross-country. Along with football, he had also run some cross-country marathons, and it had always made him feel free and so powerful. Nothing could touch him when he was running. He was in his own world without the crushing weight of his problems descending on him.
He knew he had only about five minutes of running before he got to his destination -- the large mountain overlooking the countryside he had just left. It was the only hope he had of not getting picked up, and he had to take this one last shot. As his feet continued to pummel the ground, sweat broke out again on his face as another throbbing pounded his temples.
Tea sat in the back seat of the Continental shivering from dread at what lay ahead for her husband. How can you get out of this one, Todd? I want you to escape this time. I really do! I know that you don't have any other options now, but...where will you go? And if you manage to get away by some miracle of fate, then will we ever be able to see each other again? You promised me, Manning! You can't consummate our marriage and then expect me to go back and be the same woman as before!
Her dark eyes glistened as the reality of their moments of passion hit her full force again. All those months of waiting and waiting had been worth it. In some ways she was glad that it had all happened this way. There was an excitement in all of this which only increased the depth of sexual tension between them. If you do return to me, I'll probably attack you, querido!
Viki was strangely at ease now that they had located Tea and that everything seemed to be all right. In fact, judging by the look on Tea's flushed face, it was more than all right now. Tea had said that Todd was himself again, and she could hope and pray that this was indeed true. I'll wager, though, that you're headed for those mountains and well you should! It could be the one place where they can't track you down.
She smiled encouragingly at the rather lost and forlorn looking woman in the back seat of her car. "He'll be back, Tea...you do know that, don't you?"
"Yes," Tea said and hugged her arms around her body for some warmth and with thoughts of the way his strong arms had clutched her firmly to him before he left her.
"Well?" Sykes stood by Delgado - his eyes burning into the other man's face as he waited for confirmation of what was happening with their aerial tracker.
"They've got him!" Delgado said with unabashed triumph in his voice. "The helicopter has just picked him up on the infrared. He's traveling northwest toward the mountains."
Sykes held his breath, and turning, saw his man, Phillips, coming toward him with an excited expression on his face. "Sir, Maloney's dogs have picked up his scent. They're on him like bees to honey!" the young man said almost gleefully.
Both Sykes and Delgado met each other's gaze as each wondered which side would get to Manning first -- the FBI or the police.
Todd Manning cast a glance upward into the sky as he felt the earth below him shake and the dark sky suddenly become darker with the presence of a monstrous shape. He knew what this meant. The helicopter had spotted him, and the heat of his body was probably a blip on their screen. His long hair flew out behind him as he bounded over any low object in his path. As if this wasn't enough, another riveting sound hit his consciousness as the sound of dogs barking seemed to grow louder and louder. Okay Manning! It's time to pull out all the stops! The legs of his youth seemed to reappear as he willed them to move him with lightning swiftness toward his destination. Come on! Let it go! With every ounce of strength left available to him, he pushed himself to the edge of his limits as the two different noises above and below him motivated him to test every bit of endurance he had.
A voice spoke out of the earthquake-like trembling of the sky. "Todd Manning!! Stop running by order of the FBI!"
Before him, not five hundred yards away was the beginning of the path up into the mountain. He ran in a zigzag pattern toward it and began to ascend the ridge through a thick blanket of trees. The helicopter was still on him as he ran upwards through the trail -- hearing the roar of the blades and the terrifying high-pitched, growling howls of the dogs.
His years of running had paid off as he lowered his breathing rate to compensate for the exhausting run. The rocky surface against the face of the mountain appeared and Todd began to climb upward at a steeper rate. Looking down through the branches of some trees, he saw two miniature black forms racing in the same direction as he had gone to get to the mountain. Overhead the helicopter hovered -- whipping up gusts of wind bufferting against his body as he attempted to work his way through the crevices. A gash-like opening set deeper in the rocky crags suddenly caught his attention. What's this...a cave?
Without wasting any time at all, Todd moved toward the dark entrance and tried to peer in. Nothing ventured...nothing gained, Manning, and it's not like you have an excess amount of choices here either! What the hell!
The screen inside the helicopter showed a red moving target as it was tracking Todd Manning scaling up the mountain. The pilot eyed the screen and spoke confidently into the microphone as he relayed the status of the fugitive to his FBI contact down below.
"He's climbing up this mountain, sir -- we've got him dead to rights..."
The pilot once more checked the screen and this time nearly choked on his words as he saw that the moving infrared tracking blip had vanished.
"What the...he's gone!!"
~ TO BE CONTINUED ~
There's a howling at my window
hear him closing in
That green-eyed jackal's got the scent
Knows I'll let him in
He slinks in by me at the fire
More bitter than the cold
And it's a rage as old as Hades
That'll sputter on these coals
Bonnie Raitt
The inky blackness of the cave was disconcerting since he had nothing with him to light the way. HIs hands felt along the rough surface of the interior wall and he moved forward carefully -- his body alert and his mind vigilant for any new noises or obstruction in his path. The further in he moved, the less he heard the sounds from outside. One false move and I could end up down a shaft. Why couldn't he have been a smoker he thought ruefully. Suddenly his mind jarred him in a surprising way -- maybe he had been a smoker -- as someone else!
His hands made a rapid search over his pants pockets and vest, and his hand felt something inside a small zippered pocket on the side of his vest. Son of a bi...a lighter! Pete was a smoker! He reached into another side pocket in the vest and drew out a small, slender silver case and opened it -- flicking on the lighter to see what was inside. Very carefully rolled thin cigarettes lined the case. Weed! So Pete had indulged in some other vices. Maybe if this all gets bad enough...
The helicopter pilot tensed at the harsh voice coming through the radio and could tell that Delgado was not pleased.
"He's just disappeared from the screen, sir. I don't know what happened!"
"Just stay on it and continue your search, Parker!" the voice from the radio said almost savagely and clicked off.
Delgado turned to look at Sykes whose eyes were narrowing with a kind of cool detachment about the pilot's information concerning Todd Manning. "So what do you make of this, Commissioner?" Delgado asked -- knowing that he had to swallow his pride about bragging on the infrared's capabilities and try to glean anything he could out of Sykes in order to facilitate the search for his errant brother-in-law.
"Pardon me, sir," another voice interrupted. "I know a little something about this area since I grew up around here, and I can tell you exactly what happened."
"Go ahead, Edwards," Sykes ordered with a superior, phony pleasantness.
"The infrared lost him because he's in the mountain."
"In the mountain?" Delgado snapped back in amazement.
"Actually...in a cave or cavern. This area has plenty of them -- limestone caverns that go deep into these mountains. Todd Manning is definitely in one of them."
"Perfect!" Delgado's almond-shaped eyes lowered in disgust. Now I'll have to get some men up that mountain to try and find that cave!
Sykes wanted to smile at Delgado's obvious discomfiture, but he resisted. "Maloney is still tracking Manning with the dogs. We just got word from him that the dogs have started up the mountain after him. They can lead us to that cave."
Delgado rubbed his stubbled chin reflectively and his face contorted to a kind of smirk. "So your men are in place then? Okay! We'll wait to hear from this dog man of yours, Commissioner!"
Viki's Continental pulled into the penthouse garage and slipped into a parking space close to the elevator. The occupants of the car sat silently for several minutes after the car was parked. The two passengers in the front seat looked at ech other worriedly, and then the man shifted in his seat to look back behind him.
"Tea," Sam's vivid blue eyes tried to ascertain the condition of the back seat passenger. She looked haggard and uncustomarily unkempt but also oddly peaceful for a woman who had been through such an excrutiatingly tough ordeal. He didn't think she should be alone tonight.
"What?" Tea responded to her name being spoken but she knew she was not really there. She was still back in that wooded hideaway with her husband -- touching him and loving him the way she had always envisioned but had all but given up on it ever happening. Nothing had come between them this time, and pulsating waves of pleasure were still passing through her as she remembered the soft texture of his long hair draped against her naked body and the way his warm mouth and supple hands had explored every inch of her. Her eyes brightened with the same vibrant fire as she relived the individual moments of passion, which had culminated in a vivid sexual awakening for both of them. We have been hungering for each other so much -- even we didn't know how much we needed to be together until it happened.
"Tea...I think you shouldn't be alone tonight...Viki, do you think she could..."
Viki looked askance at Sam that he had the gall to ask her such a question. "Well, of course, she can! I was thinking the same thing, Tea. You'll be much better off staying with me tonight at Llanfair. Then in the morning after a good night's rest, you can come back here and get back to some kind of normalcy...in time, that is." She added the last few words quickly with a gentle smile as she tried to reassure Tea that everything ould eventually be all right.
"No, Viki," Tea said simply but firmly to her. "Thank you, and Sam...thank you, too, but I need to be alone right now. I don't want to be around people just yet. You'll just have to understand...please!
Both Sam and Viki saw how serious she was and neither one of them knew quite how to refute what she was determined to do.
"Well...if you're positive you don't need anything or that we can't help you in any way..."
Tea lifted her tired body to an upright position as she prepared to leave the car. "I just need to think tonight, Viki, and I will be happier at our penthouse...believe me!"
Her tone of voice in mentioning their penthouse further confirmed to the two people trying to help her that she considered herself at "home" and didn't want to leave. Sam shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her with a knowing look. "We understand, Tea. Just take good care of yourself and don't worry."
"I'll see you up to the penthouse," Sam began to open his car door.
"No...please don't, Sam. I'm just fine. I'm going to go right up, kick off my shoes, take a nice, hot bath and crawl into bed. I'm beat."
"I'll call you in the morning, Tea," Viki said and made a mental note to herself to do so. After this long, incredible evening, she wasn't sure if she could rouse herself up very early in the morning. Susana! She would be calling her tomorrow and there was so much to tell her about the turn of events. Maybe Tea would even be willing to talk to Susana sometime tomorrow if all went well.
Viki watched Tea walking in a stupor-like fashion to the elevator door and shook her head pensively. What this woman has been through with my brother would try the patience of a saint! But she seems to have weathered it, and something has changed with her. She looks exhausted but she doesn't look anxious -- in fact, her eyes are saying more about the two of them than any words could say.
"Let's call it a night, Sam," Viki said resignedly as she started up the Continental for the last time that day.
Every muscle in Todd's body was primed for action as a nonhuman noise filtered through the depth of the cave entrance. He flicked off the lighter and flattened himself against the jagged edges of the interior wall. Sykes' police hounds were coming up the mountainside and he knew from the way they were barking that they were hell-bent to get their teeth into him. Not to mention Del and his FBI helicopter cronies who were circling around on the perimeter of the mountain -- waiting for him to take one step out of the cave. I have no choice but this one. They're going to have to follow me into the bowels of this cave if they want to get to me!
He flicked on the light again and sidestepped some large rocks on the ground next to him. To the left of him was a very narrow-looking passageway, which angled away from the main entrance and seemed to jut downward. God only knows what I'll find if I go through there, but I've got to at least get away so that I can come back and fight my own battles on a better footing.
A few minutes passed and the entrance of the cave was suddenly a hot spot of activity as two outlined shapes bounded up to the opening -- their blazing, yellow eyes highlighted in the darkness. A voice called out from behind them loudly and they froze in their tracks -- snarling and baring their jutting fangs with contained aggression.
"Damon! Marcus! Freeze!"
Maloney's shape appeared behind them and a few other men joined him.
"He's in there?" one of the men motioned with his arm as he came up beside Maloney.
"Yep, he's in there and probably on his way down into the caverns." Maloney said with resignation.
"Then, let's go!" the younger man said with exasperation that time was being wasted.
Maloney put a restraining arm on him and shook his head with authority. "No way are we going in after him, pal. He's going down into a maze of winding tunnels which don't lead anywhere but into the middle of this mountain. He's just signed his own death sentence."
Tea walked into the room where she had sprayed Pete with hairspray and looked around with disbelief. Nothing had changed. It was still very much the room of the stranger who had invaded her life and made this night the longest night of her life. She paused as she saw how neatly the room had been kept and still caught the faint odor of men's cologne drifting in the air. This was all a part of you, Todd, in some bizarre way, and even as malicious and cruel as Pete was, there were other sides to him which were quite compelling. I believe he lives on in you but you've got him under control now.
She walked over to the bed and sat down on it -- her mind and body reeling from what she had been subjected to earlier. But you slept here all those nights and I never knew what you were dealing with. She let her fingers touch the bedspread and found herself smoothing it over. You were so alone and you needed me desperately, didn't you? Without thinking, she sank down onto the bed in a complete release of all that was pent up inside her. The cool softness of the spread seemd to soothe her and she closed her eyes -- allowing herself to drift off into a light slumber -- not caring about anything but the welcoming peacefulness of just lying there.
Her eyes opened to look around into a room with a prevalent aura of mystery. The colors and shadows enfolding the room were deep and had a violet cast and for some reason she knew that a new presence had come in. Through a haze of filtering light, she saw a man approaching her slowly and she gasped because he was more handsome than any man she could remember and he was someone she knew. Each step moved him closer and closer to her so that his features were becoming more defined. His eyes were startlingly dark and expressive against the pale pallor of his skin and every angle of his classic face was sharp and distinctive. As if he were searching for someone, his mystical eyes darted around the room and she heard his voice -- throaty and sensual -- calling out someone's name. Her ears strained to hear the name that he was speaking, and she felt herself panic as she realized that she might not hear it. The tone of his voice got more strident and she tried to call out to him, but it was as if some invisible hand was smothering her mouth. As she struggled to free herself, the voice burst out into her consciousness and her heart latched onto it with wild joy. It's you!!!
"Tea! Te...a!" his shadowy face gave way to a deep anguish and as she observed him, another emotion slammed into her as she saw brutal, cutting, unspoken pain in his glowing eyes. Something is wrong -- terribly wrong! I feel it in my heart like you said! Where are you, querido?"
~ TO BE CONTINUED ~
I go deeper when you look into my eyes
There's a place where neither one of us can hide
And it's up to us to reinvent the game
Love it when you call my name
Bonnie Raitt/Annie Roboff/Beth Neilsen-Chapman
