Induction by T.K. Eldridge (howl and other poems TXT) 📕

He stepped close, reached out, and grabbed my jaw. “I’ll be teaching you a lot of things…”

I’m sure he had more to say, but I took the energy I’d been building, reached up and slapped my hand against the side of his neck. His words ended in a choked cry as his body arched and shook, then hit the floor. The sound of his head thudding on the chair on the way down made me flinch, but at least I knew he was completely out. I searched his pockets, found his cell phone and fresh cable ties. Soon he was hogtied and then tied with a doubled loop to a metal support pole in the middle of the room. I searched him again and found a bunch of keys and his wallet and took those too.

At the top of the stairs, I carefully pushed the door open and took a look. A room with a cot, a desk, a chair and a laptop monitor that showed Angiers lying on the floor, still tied up. I went over to the computer and with a few keystrokes had the video files dumped to a thumb drive that had been plugged into the side of the laptop. I checked for any other files, moved them to the thumb drive, then put the drive in my pocket. A few more keystrokes and the computer proceeded to delete everything on itself, including the operating system. I closed and locked the door to the downstairs room, then wedged the desk against the door. Worried about what I’d find outside, I slowly opened the metal door and looked out. It was dark and I wondered what time it was until I remembered I had Angiers’ phone. A quick look told me it was after ten, and the gravel lot in front of me was empty but for a dark sedan and weak pole light. I hit the key fob and the car chirped, so at least I knew it was Angiers’ and I had the keys. It didn’t take me long to get in and get the car moving away from wherever the hell I had been. Once I drove out of the lot, I kept going. There was only one way out and I didn’t want to be sitting here, dicking around with the GPS if someone came to check on things. I waited until I saw a road with some traffic on it before I pulled over and got the GPS up and running.

Huh. We were less than a mile from Boudreau Manor. Yeah, color me surprised. Not.

I wanted to call Sin and let him know I was okay, but the phone was password locked. Instead, I drove to the corner store about two blocks away and used the last payphone in Belle Cove and called collect.

As soon as the voice announced my name, Sin was yelling into the phone. “If you’re fucking with me again, you sonovabitch, I’ll rip…”

“Sin…SIN…it’s me. Sid.”

“Oh, thank gods. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I stole Angiers’ car and am at Jojo’s store.”

“Wipe it down and leave it there. I’m about five minutes away. I’ve got your bag and phone. It was left in the locker room.”

“Thank you. I’m going to grab some snacks here. I’m starving and shaking, but I’ve got Angiers’ wallet with some cash. I’ll leave that in the glove box of his car.”

“No, just leave his ID, but bring the rest. We need to figure out what he’s been doing and with who. I’m almost there, sis. Get moving.”

The call disconnected, but I felt a lot better. I bought some wet wipes, a couple of electrolyte drinks and some food, then went out to wipe things down and lock the car. It had one of those auto-locking trunks, so I pulled the key fob for the car off the ring, wiped it off and tossed it in the trunk before shutting it down. One last wipe and I went to sit on a bench in the shadows and inhale my snacks and drinks. By about the third protein bar, the shaking had slowed. After two electrolyte drinks, I was much better.

Sin pulled up and I slid into the front passenger’s seat and into his hug before I could buckle up.

“Don’t scare me like that,” he said – half teasing, half serious.

“I wasn’t planning on it. Let’s get out of here, huh? And stop at the drive-thru on the way home? My tank’s a little low. I burned a lot of healing and magic.”

“What happened?”

“I got hit with a drugged dart and woke up in a dirt floor cinder block bunker, cable tied to a chair.”

“Where’s Angiers now?”

“I left him tied up and hog-tied to a pole in the bunker.” I slid the thumb drive out of my pocket. “I also got all of the videos and info off his laptop before I wiped it of everything, including the OS.”

Sin started to laugh, then pulled into the drive-thru. “You’re awesome, Sid. Now, what do you want?”

“Two bacon double cheeseburgers, two large fries, chicken tenders, and a large double chocolate shake.” Hey, don’t think that of me. Sometimes a girl just needs her chocolate and bacon. Sin ordered almost the same, but only one of the fries, no chicken, and a strawberry shake. We parked just past the drive-thru and ate. There wasn’t a lot of talk, just stuffing our faces.

I wiped my mouth and settled back with my shake, letting the food finish rejuvenating my body while my brain processed everything.

“He said I was bait for you and Sett. He never mentioned Dad or Grampa Walsh, so I think they’re still a hidden entity in all of this.”

“That’s some good news, I guess,” Sin said and reached out to take my free hand in his. He squeezed my hand a bit and swallowed hard. “I could feel fear, and then anger, but still fear underneath. I couldn’t tell if it was you or me or both of us. I wanted to puke a few times.”

“Well, that was all me,” I told Sin. “You rarely puke.” I slurped the end of my milkshake. Loudly.

“Yeah, I think the last time was after the bar-crawl for our birthday,” Sin said. “I’m glad we still have our connection, Sid.”

“Me too. I knew, somehow, no matter what happened, you were in it with me.”

“I am. Never alone, Sid.”

“Never alone. Let’s go find the Commander and Auntie Sett to fill them in on everything. I also need my laptop so I can figure out what’s on this thumb drive.”

I felt more in control of things than I had in a while. Scary concept, considering I didn’t know how to get us out of this mess.