Blackteeth Page 11

  “I hid. I escaped. I ran for my ever-loving life,” Hesper whispered. “Can we go now? We’re still too close to the river for my personal level of comfort.”

  A few minutes later Moss had collected himself enough to start the Jeep.

  “I’d offer to drive,” Hesper said hesitantly, “but…”

  “But you never learned how,” Moss finished. “I’m going to make sure you learn now. Not today, but soon enough.”

  “I have the basics,” she said. “Go is the right pedal. Stop is the left one. Turn with the wheel. Don’t hit other vehicles. It just seemed easier not to learn, and who has the money for a new car?”

  “Didn’t your family have a settlement with the company that employed Madrid?” Moss asked. “I know my parents turned down their offer. They didn’t think there was any number that could be good enough. Even though the company was the one who hired a convicted pedophile without doing due diligence. A pedophile who used the company’s vehicles to kidnap children.”

  It didn’t surprise Hesper that Moss and his cohorts had done their homework on Hesper and her family. It was part of the whole package of how they came after her. “They mostly used the cash for other things,” she said.

  Hesper chewed her lip. Her father had plowed through that money like gangbusters. Her mother had secreted some away and was using it to pay for Hannah’s college. She’d offered some of it to her oldest daughter, but since both of her parents thought she was one French fry short of a happy meal, they also thought she couldn’t control the money. She hadn’t dissuaded them of that notion, and if Hannah could do something with her life without being haunted by what had happened to her older sister, then power be to her. Hesper had taken a little money, but most of it had been spent for barista school, getting from one place to another, and keeping away from where the Blackteeth could hunt her.

  “That sucks,” Moss said.

  “You look like you’re somewhat prosperous,” Hesper remarked. “Condo in Portland. Brand-new Jeep. No apparent job. Kayaking on the river every day. A nice plan to kidnap a victim and all that.”

  “Internet startup business when I was seventeen,” Moss said. “I got lucky and then got bought out by a bigger company for a very nice price last year. It provided what we needed to do what needed to be done.”

  Hesper digested that last statement like she was trying to swallow a very large bitter pill. “Oh my God, you’re arrogant. You’ve just lost your father, and you still think your actions are justified. Wake up call for Moss Symmes? You’re not justified. You have blame. You are partially responsible for the consequences. No, you didn’t actually kill your father, but all of this could have been avoided.”

  Moss didn’t say anything. After all, what could he say? “Sea lion. Radioactive, alien sea lion. Yeah. That’s it. It followed Hesper twenty-five miles away from Portland. It swam down the Willamette, up the Columbia, past a few hydroelectric plants, and just happened to find the spot where our stalwart kidnappers/protagonists were waiting with the victim/possible conspirator. Makes perfect sense. What, you have questions? Heathen skeptic!”

  “So, you can spring for a new bicycle for me,” Hesper added after a moment. “I like a ten-speed. It’s got to have reflectors. And I’ll need a new helmet. Pink or purple colors are both acceptable.”

  “You don’t want the hundred grand?”

  “Money isn’t going to solve my problems,” Hesper said brightly.

  “It might help. Buy you a house somewhere there isn’t a nearby river running.”

  Hesper glanced at Moss and decided he was trying to push her buttons. She looked back toward the road and saw signs indicating they were coming up to the intersection where they would cut off to the south to avoid traveling by the Columbia River altogether.

  There was other traffic that slowed in front of them. Brake lights flickered ahead. Moss said something Hesper didn’t catch. She glanced at the navigation screen and her blood went cold. The road went right over a river and a substantial river at that. The town Hood River the town was named after… well, Hood River.

  Hesper’s brain went into overdrive. If the Blackteeth had caught her scent then tracked her out of Portland, they might realize they had her in a particularly precarious position. The massive Columbia River blocked them from the north. Roads leading south were few and far between, and many rivers fed into the Columbia from the Oregon side. If they missed them, then they could simply wait at the next river crossing to…

  “Stop the car,” Hesper said.

  Moss glanced at her, but the speed remained constant.

  “STOP THE CAR!” Hesper yelled.

  Moss cursed and slammed on the brakes. Ahead of them she could see brake lights and other cars that had stopped. A car behind them screeched to a halt and horns blared.

  “They’re waiting for us,” she said.

  To his credit Moss didn’t hesitate more than a second. He stared ahead and then reached down to punch a button on the console. He gunned the engine and went to the right.

  The Jeep hit something, and Hesper would have gone airborne except for the seatbelt. She abruptly realized that they’d gone over a curb and were speeding through someone’s yard. The lights of the Jeep revealed a row of gnomes that abruptly became broken pieces of painted plastic.

  The Jeep’s wheels protested as Moss spun the steering wheel to the right. They went over something else substantial and Hesper caught the sides of her seat and hung on for dear life. “How do I get to that street?” Moss asked as he took one hand from the wheel and pointed to the screen.

  “Through that yard!” Hesper screeched, pointing the direction. She prayed the yard didn’t have a pool because the car wouldn’t speed over that.

  Moss took out a wooden gate and a picnic table. A pair of Adirondack chairs became fond memories as he powered the vehicle through a backyard and then through another. He passed an old Chevy truck and a newish Cadillac parked on a back lawn. Then he went through a wooden fence, over another curb, and they were suddenly on a street.

  Hesper glanced back and saw porch lights popping on and people moving around as they came to see what was happening.

  He spun the wheel right again and looked in the rearview mirror. “What was that? What did they do?”

  “It looked like a tree was down,” Hesper said. “They waited for us because they knew we had to come this way. They blocked the way.”

  Moss shot down a neighborhood street. The compass direction on the navigation screen said they were going west. He abruptly turned left, and they were going south. “Figure out how to go south without hitting the river,” he said.

  Hesper’s hands trembled as she expanded the navigational screen.

  “What would they do to the interstate?” Moss asked.

  “Blocked it somehow. Caused a car accident. Watched for us. They know what we’re driving. They know we have limited options for getting out of the area. It was…a calculated guess on their part.”

  Moss came to a stop and turned right. “That way is a dead end.”

  They were going west again through a neighborhood of quiet ranch-style houses. Then there was a large business on the left and a hospital on the right. The next street they came to had a stop sign.

  “This is 281,” Hesper said. “We go left here and head for the mountain. Mount Hood should be right in our path.”

  “You imply they’re smart,” Moss said, taking the turn without stopping. “That they’ve been looking for you, that they use water somehow, that they’re…supernatural.”

  Is that a question? Hesper decided it wasn’t.

  “They’ve decided to trap us?” Moss asked.

  “Me more than you,” Hesper said, “although you’re probably on their shit list now, too.” Her eyes flashed down to his bare arm. He’d been scratched, and she recognized the marks. On their way out of the rental truck, the Blackteeth had grasped at his arm and made him bleed. Now they had his scent, too. What a fun conversation t
hat was going to be when she told him exactly what that meant.

  Moss passed a tire company and slowed down a bit. “Thirty-five miles an hour here. We don’t need the cops pulling us over.” He stared ahead into the darkness. “Did they see us turn this direction? Could they have seen us from the river there where I went across the first yard?”

  Hesper shrugged. Then she answered. “Maybe. They really want me dead.”

  “Why? You said they prefer children, and while you’re small, you’re not a child. Why you?”

  “I killed them. I killed a shit-ton of them,” Hesper said. “I imagine that’s why they’re angry with me. That and the fact that I got away.”

  Chapter Ten

  It is a strange beast that has

  neither head nor tail.

  – proverb

  “There’s no way out of this entire area without crossing a river,” Hesper announced with dread trickling down through her body. She had been looking at the Jeep’s navigation screen but now she was looking at the maps app on Moss’s phone hoping that there was some way to escape this trap. “Maybe if it was daylight.” Maybe if there’s a miracle. Maybe if I can fight, scream, and run my way free. Maybe.

  “Got five hours or so until the sun pops up, and if you’re thinking there will be bunches of people around, probably not.” Moss had parked in the bright light of a gas station just on the edge of Hood River. He looked around him and obviously approved of the traffic in the area which seemed busier than it should have been at that hour.

  “Maybe back to the freeway,” Hesper ventured. “It should be cleared unless they did something really bad. They can’t do it forever. We could head back to Portland. That’s the way they wouldn’t expect us to go.”

  “Look at the traffic on the maps app,” Moss said. He took the phone from her and tilted it as he showed her which buttons to press. “It pops up with active time traffic issues.” Immediately red lines appeared along the east bound section of the interstate.

  “But they would be watching for us,” Hesper said as she looked. “There’s still a problem with both the bridge we were going to cross and the freeway just to the north.”

  “It says debris in the road,” Moss said as he hit the icon with his index finger. “The other one says a three-car pileup. What did they do?”

  “They’re not stupid,” Hesper repeated. “We have to dump the car. They’re looking for it.”

  Moss watched her. “They’re not stupid, but they’re not human, either.”

  “They don’t think like us,” Hesper said. “I told you. You put me on their radar again and now they’re giving it their best shot.”

  “How many of them did you kill?”

  “A shit-ton means more than a few.”

  Moss eyed Hesper. She could almost hear what he was thinking. What does she weigh soaking wet? Ninety pounds? Ninety-five pounds? And that’s now. What was she when she was wherever they were?

  “I didn’t mess around,” Hesper said. “I didn’t stop to ask whether I should. They grabbed me like they grab other children. I escaped when I had the opportunity, and I killed them because they would have done the same to me.”

  Moss frowned at her. “How do we kill them?”

  “The same way we die. I caught them alone, pretended to be weak, and lured them into a trap. They bleed like we do. They die like we do, but there are many of them, and I made the mistake of not finishing the job once. So they know me, and I’m number one on their list.”

  “How many are there?”

  Hesper shrugged. “I never did a count. It’s not like they stood around and waited for me to figure out how many there are.”

  “More than a few,” Moss unconsciously repeated her words.

  “Dozens,” Hesper said. “Maybe more. I don’t think they have a huge population because children would be vanishing more, but humans are dumb about their children. Free-range kids. Hah. Parents wouldn’t let them out of their sight if they knew what I know.”

  Moss’s eyes went down to her arms. The jersey covered most of her forearms, but he could still see some of the scars there. “They did that?”

  “What did you think those sharp, little black teeth were for? Why do you suppose they’re called Blackteeth?” Hesper hugged herself and looked around. A number of people were coming and going, all seemingly normal for the moment.

  Moss had the good grace to look ashamed. He glanced back at the maps app on his phone. “Looks like we’re about a half mile away from the river on the eastern side and two miles away from the Columbia. We could head due west, but we’d run into conservation areas with very few people, bad roads, and streams galore. That’s their secret power? Running water?”

  “Dump the Jeep. A four-wheel drive isn’t going to help us.”

  “Roll in sewage, too?”

  “If I have to, I will,” Hesper said. “You should, too. They’ll kill you just like they killed your father. I’m not saying that to be mean but to remind you this isn’t some waking nightmare.”

  “I haven’t forgotten Dad,” Moss said. He tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. “What do you know about the humans who help the Blackteeth?”

  “Not much,” she said quietly. “They find them somehow, have some kind of sense for the bad ones, and they make deals.”

  “That would imply that they can communicate, that they might be able to speak to us, even use English.”

  “They can use language, but they’ve never spoken to me. It sounds like clicks and whirling r’s to me. I didn’t have enough exposure to suss it out. They weren’t stopping to translate for me. You know, the ABC’s.”

  “I’m asking because I don’t want to underestimate them,” Moss said. “I’m not trying to get you to admit guilt.”

  “If you want me to move past feeling angry at you and your father, you’re going to have to be more patient than that. I got angry the moment I picked up that stupid ten-dollar bill.”

  “We need to stop arguing.”

  Hesper shrugged again. “Dump the car, get on a bus from here. Hope that a crowd will deter them. A big club would also be nice. A knife for the up-close work. Cutting off their heads is always a good option.” She paused as she realized what she said and offered a quiet, “Sorry.”

  “Bus station in Hood River, then,” he said, fingering his phone as he plainly tried to ignore what she’d said. “Okay, they’ve got Greyhound here or even the train.”

  Hesper heard an imaginary but. “But…?”

  “The train station slash bus station is right beside the river. It’s a quarter of a mile as the crow flies.” Moss made a noise. “You can only buy tickets online. That’s okay, but the first bus out of here is not until 3 p.m. today.”

  Hesper looked around. “Once everything gets crowded it’s not a problem, but from now until 8 or 9 a.m., it’s a problem. We need to disappear. We need to clean off all the blood, yours included, and get something to cover up our scent. Anything that store has”— she pointed at the gas station with its small store of various goods— “and smother ourselves in it. Lotion. Suntan lotion. Coffee. Something with a lot of aroma would be best.”

  “Better than sewage,” Moss said.

  “Lotion. Dump the car. Find a place to hide. We could try crossing the river at a place they wouldn’t expect. A train bridge or wading across, but there won’t be any guarantees they won’t be expecting that.”

  Moss looked at his phone. “I can rent a place. Airbnb it. If I throw money at them, they’ll make it so right now.”

  Hesper could feel energy draining out of her at a phenomenal pace. She had been unconscious for a bit, hours possibly, but it didn’t help her. She needed some sleep, and she wouldn’t be able to sleep unless she thought she was safe.

  “A motel wouldn’t blink at us,” he said as he worked his phone, looking at the area’s selection of hotels and motels, “but they’re all located near the interstate and the river. Some good views.”

  Hesper
blinked. The view of the river would be nice right up until the point where it wouldn’t be nice.

  “Here we go,” Moss said triumphantly. “It’s a lodge about five miles southwest of us, without going over any river. It’s on a hill because it’s also an active winery. I’ll call and see if they’ve got something. We’ll call an Uber.” Hesper stiffened at that. Moss glanced at her. “A real Uber,” he amended, not sounding guilty about it. “We’ll leave the Jeep here. I’ll park it around the side so that the clerk doesn’t notice it right away.”

  “Lotion,” she said. “You make your calls, and I’ll get the lotion. Cash?”

  Moss pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and fished inside for bills. He pulled out a wad of twenties and handed it to her. “I know you haven’t considered this, but maybe the reason they haven’t caught up to you was because you kept off social media. Because you moved several times. Because your phone is registered under another name. Your legal name now.”

  “They don’t use the Internet,” Hesper said, grasping the twenties in her right hand. “No Wi-Fi spots in that little piece of hell they call home.”

  “Look, they use people. You said it. You said that Madrid was a stooge. If they’re that desperate to get you, then wouldn’t they be using people to do that, too?”

  Hesper didn’t like that. She hadn’t considered that the Blackteeth could use their human counterparts to locate her. It had been part serendipity and part blind luck that one of them hadn’t found her first. She would have to disappear for the second time, and this time she was going to have to disappear in a way that meant she would no longer have any contact with her family. A desert island?

  “You’re saying that if they can’t find me, they might use their people to do it now that I’m exposed?”

  “If I had known,” he offered and trailed off, “but how could we have known?”