Vibrations (31 page)

Derrick laughed. “So you think
you’ve won. You wish. If you don’t drop that gun right now, I’m going to slice right
through your girlfriend’s neck. You can stand there and watch her bleed to
death, or you can drop the gun.”

He pushed the blade harder and
Whitney whimpered. Nick dropped the gun and stood there facing him.

“Kick it over here,” Derrick
demanded.

Nick kicked it into a corner on
the other side of the room.

“Not funny. I said to me,”
Derrick shouted.

Nick could see the man was
getting nervous. “Let her go. If you need to hurt someone, come after me. Man
to man if you dare.”

“I’m not some cripple you
know,” he said angrily. “Look at me. I’m younger and stronger and faster than
you.” He glared at Nick and stood straighter. “Matter of fact, you look a
little pale. How’s that arm feeling?”

He slammed Whitney down to the
floor and crouched to face Nick with his knife in the air. Circling around he positioned
himself between Nick and the gun. “So old man, take a shot. Let’s see what you
got.”

Nick lunged to one side and
then swung his leg around to kick Derrick. His aim was off and he hit Derrick’s
side instead of the knife. Derrick grunted and jumped back, but he was quick on
his feet.

“Nice try. Now let’s see what
I’ve got.”

The knife flashed out and Nick
ducked just in time. Derrick smashed his other arm down on Nick’s back and sent
him flying into the chair. Whitney screamed and ran at Derrick, but he just
raised his arm and backhanded her on the side of her head. She fell hard to the
floor and didn’t move.

Nick was back on his feet, and
he had the lamp in his hands. He used it to block the knife and moved back
toward his gun. Derrick screamed with rage and plowed right into him.

They were wrestling for the
knife and Whitney could feel Nick’s strength giving out. “No! This can’t be
happening!”
Whitney thought. She focused her mind and pictured herself forcing
the knife away from his neck. Nothing happened. There must be something she could
do to help.
She saw the knife start sliding across Nick’s throat and
screamed again in her mind, “No!”

Derrick screamed and his hands
went to his head. He turned and slashed out at Whitney.

“What’d you do bitch? I heard
you in my head.” He took the butt of the knife and smashed it down on her head.

Nick jumped him from behind but
Derrick just tossed him off. He smashed Nick’s face with the knife and sent him
head first into the door. Nick turned to block the blows but Derrick kept
kicking his arm and shoulder with unrestrained fury. Nick rolled to protect his
ribs and Derrick pounced on his chest and rolled him back. He held the knife to
Nick’s throat and spit in his face.

“You all think you’re so much
better than me. Fooled you didn’t I. A big bad Phoenix cop can’t even stop me.”
He looked over at Whitney’s naked body and turned back to Nick. “I should just
end it now, but I’m beginning to see more potential for the three of us.” He
stood up and kicked Nick again.

Nick tried to roll toward
Whitney, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. He was finally able to get to his
knees only to be kicked back down. Derrick then grabbed him by his right arm
and pulled him to the living room. The pain that shot through Nick’s shoulder felt
like red hot knives slashing through his muscles and tendons. He focused all
his energy to keep from passing out. His hands and feet were bound together and
then he was propped against the wall in the corner.

The boy started moaning and
moving around and Derrick clapped his hands in anticipation. “Cool. Now you can
both watch the fun. I can’t wait see what it’s like to fuck a psychic freak. I
hear it’s better than doing a virgin. Is that right Mr. Detective?”

Derrick pulled Whitney out of
the bedroom and rolled her onto her back. He touched himself as he fondled her
breasts and then screamed for Nick and the boy to pay attention. The boy was crying
now and Nick turned to make eye contact.

“Hey! No you don’t,” Derrick
shouted. “Keep your eyes here cop. If you don’t watch this I’ll cut her right
now and you can watch her bleed. Just think, if I like this I’ll keep her alive
a little longer.” He smiled a sickly, evil smile.

Nick glared at the crazed man. It
was hard to watch him lean in and kiss Whitney’s lips.

In the next instant Derrick swore
and pulled back. “Shit! She’s not breathing.” He felt for her pulse and shot to
his feet. “She’s dead! You made me kill her you idiot!” He was smashing things
off the shelves and screaming at Nick. “God damn it! I waited for the perfect
moment and you ruined it. God damn you.” He rummaged in the corner until he
found Nick’s gun and walked back over to Nick.

Nick felt the barrel against
his temple. The hand that held it was shaking with rage. After a tense minute
the gun moved away from his head.

“That’s too easy for you pig,”
Derrick said, spitting as he enunciated the last word. “You need to suffer for
wrecking my plans. You will not die slowly and neither will the boy.” He
slapped the boy’s head and told him to stay still. Glancing back at Nick, apparently
convinced he couldn’t go anywhere, he stormed out the front door.

* * * *

Nick called softly for Whitney.
“Whitney, wake up. Please be alive sweetie.”

The boy was crying on the
couch. “She’s dead. He said she was dead and now he’s gonna kill us.”

“Shhh. It’s okay. She might not
be dead. She does a trick that makes her look like that sometimes.” Nick was
hoping she had just overloaded in her effort to deal with the psycho and was
trying to reset her system.

“Whitney. Come on baby. Now’s
our chance. Wake up.”
He tried to calculate how long she’d been out. Maybe
she really was dead. She’d hit her head pretty hard on the floor when she fell
and she’d had the knife slammed into her skull. “Please Whitney. Wake up. I
love you baby. Don’t die.”

Nick felt his own heart start
beating when he realized her chest was moving. She was breathing again.

“Whitney. I know you’re tired,”
he said in a low whisper. “You have to get up and help me before he comes back.
You can rest after that. Try to get up and find something to cut these ropes.”

Whitney could hear Nick calling
to her from far away. She tried to focus. Her body had shut down and she was
trying to claw her way back to consciousness. “He needs me. Got to wake up.” She
threw her arm over her chest and tried to roll to her side. She couldn’t do it.

The little boy gasped when she
moved and Nick reminded him not to make any noise. Derrick could be coming back
any minute. Nick kept urging her to open her to try again.

Whitney opened her eyes and saw
Nick watching her. His hands and feet were tied and his he was bleeding all
over.

“Nick,” she groaned. “Nick, I
can’t get up.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Yes you can. You can do it. It’s
just hard. You can rest in a little bit. All you need to do is find something to
cut this rope.” He tried wriggling closer and fell over onto his side.

“He has more knives in that
desk.” The little boy’s eyes were fixed on Whitney as he whispered to her. “Maybe
I can help you.” He pushed himself off the couch and snaked across the floor to
the desk. His body was weak and he couldn’t stand up with the ropes around his
legs.

“It’s right in that drawer,”
the boy said, using his eyes to indicate which one.

Whitney focused her mind and
tried to absorb energy from the boy and Nick. They wanted to save her. They
were trying to help her. The boy was scared to move but he was trying to help. She
rolled herself over and got onto her hands and knees.

“That’s it. You can do it.” Nick
said, busy trying to free himself even though he wasn’t making much headway.

Whitney crawled toward the desk
and smiled down at the boy. As she leaned over him and put her hand on the desk
she realized her bare breasts were right in his face. “Sorry”, she whispered. The
boy giggled a little.

Nick laughed. “Quite a sight
for a little guy.”

“Nick hush! He’s just a kid.”

She stretched up and opened the
drawer. It was full of knives. Grabbing two small ones she crawled back toward
Nick. She was starting to get her strength back but she needed more time. Even
if she got them loose, they were all in need of medical attention. How could
they fight a madman?

Once Nick’s hands were free, he
put his arms around Whitney and held her. Leaning back he ran his hand over her
cheek. It was turning black and blue already. He wondered if the blow to her
head had caused a concussion. Giving her a soft kiss, he let her help cut the
rope from his feet.

“You did it,” he said when the
ropes were off. “Now you just rest and I’ll get us out of here.”

He finished freeing the boy and
did a quick search for weapons. The only thing he found was the drawer with the
knives. He helped Whitney get dressed and put on her boots.

“Where’s my shoes?” The boys
question came out in a tearful whisper.

“We’ll have to find them later
honey.” Whitney took his hands and pulled him to his feet.

They both looked at Nick.

“I saw him go out the back,”
Nick said stuffing the knives in his pockets. “We have to risk it and go out
the front door. Be as quiet as possible and quick as you can manage. We’ll all
help each other.”

They held their breath as Nick
opened the door. So far so good. Nick lifted the boy into over his shoulder and
carried him off the porch. Whitney followed. He put the boy down when they were
past the tree line. Nick decided going back on the trail was a bad idea, so
they started heading west down the other side of the mountain.

“We’re heading away from the
search parties,” Whitney complained. She didn’t like that idea.

“I know. I’m sorry. We can’t
risk going back the way we came. I heard helicopters this morning. If we can
get to an open place maybe we can build a fire. We can’t sit in the open
because he’ll probably come after us with that rifle of his.”

Nick was determined to get them
back safely. He’d rescued them from the madman. That was the hard part. Now he
just had to get them back to the search teams. The problem was that his legs
felt like rubber and his head was spinning. He concentrated on putting one foot
in front of the other without letting the pain show on his face. The boy seemed
to be doing better. He was walking on his own and talking about seeing his
mother again. Whitney seemed to be getting her strength back. He just had to
keep up.

Whitney watched Nick struggle
to keep going. She knew he was at the end of his reserves, and she didn’t know
how to help. She wanted to let him sit and rest, but they were too close to the
cabin. Derrick would be looking for them, and they had to find a place to hide.

They were halfway down the
mountain when they heard him screaming. Dustin dropped to the ground and curled
into the fetal position.

“He’s coming. He’s going to get
me again.” The boy’s eyes were staring off and Whitney couldn’t get his
attention.

She touched his forehead and
spoke softly, “It’s okay. He’s far away and he won’t find us. Let’s get up and
find a good place to hide until the police come to help us.”

His eyes fixed on hers and he
started crying. After a hug and some encouraging words he stood and agreed to
keep moving. Whitney took a few steps and turned to see why Nick wasn’t in the
lead. She saw him dragging his injured leg with his good hand, but the next two
steps were too much and she saw him crumple into a heap on the ground. Her
heart clenched as she ran back to Nick, realizing the loss of blood and bullet
wounds were finally catching up to him. He needed help just to lean up against
a tree.

“Come on Nick. We’re almost
there. You can do it.” She was trying to wrap his arm around her shoulder to
pull him to his feet.

“No sweetie. I can’t,” he said
softly, pulling his arm away. “I’m sorry,” he said brushing the tears from her
cheeks. “You need to take the kid and go find a place to hide. You can’t carry
me and I just can’t go any further. I’ll try to rest and maybe I can catch up
with you later.”

“No. I can’t leave you here. He’ll
be looking for us. I’ll drag you if I have to.” She pulled on his good arm again
but he didn’t budge.

“Whitney, you know you wouldn’t
get far. And we’d make too much noise. Help me get to that big tree and cover
me with some leaves. I’ll sit quiet and hope he can’t find me.”

Whitney was crying now. “Nick,
I can’t. I can’t leave you. I love you and… I just can’t.”

“You have to. You have to save
the boy. It’s your job. And you couldn’t live with yourself if you didn’t.” He
tried to push to his feet but his legs still wouldn’t work.

Whitney had to drag him to get to
the large tree where he wanted to go. Helping him slide down until he was flat
on the ground, she covered him with leaves. The boy sat rocking back and forth
on a stump and she knew he was going into shock. His mind wasn’t able to handle
the horror any more, and it was shutting down.

“I’ll get the boy to safety and
I’ll come back for you. You’d better stay alive for me or there’ll be hell to
pay.” The laugh that came out was hollow and forced.

“I’ll be here. Just get going. If
I feel better, I’ll try to follow. Let me know how you’re doing. And Whitney…if
anything happens to me…keep going. Remember I love you and I want you to keep
going.”

“Just don’t die. You hear me?” She
stood up and made sure she couldn’t see him under the leaves. Tossing more
leaves and branches on the path they covered their tracks.

She silently sent him her
good-bye. “I love you Nick. I’ll be back.”

“I love you too. Get out of
here.”