Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (best e book reader TXT) 📕

Chapter Thirteen

It was a smooth flight to the east coast. Michael was an exceptional pilot, which honestly intimidated Vincent more. Michael had explained (rather patiently, he noticed) that besides being thoroughly trained by the SRA long before they even knew he was a member of the Holy Seven, his father could afford to hire teachers for him on any skill or subject.

“Sometimes it does pay to be rich,” Michael said as he showed Vincent how to be copilot. He even showed Vincent how to the land the plane, just in case. Their hired pilot had sat back most of the flight, along for the ride if not a little proud of Michael’s handling.

Once they landed, taxying the aircraft to a private hangar which the Tomses regularly used, Michael urged Vincent to call his aunt. The official pilot took over again from there. They came to a halt.

<< Hello, Vincent? >> She sounded distressed when she picked up. << Oh, thank heaven you’ve landed. It’s worse than I thought. Audry’s gone AWOL. >>

“AWOL?” Vincent refrained from telling his Aunt Clover that only soldiers technically could go AWOL (while noticing Michael rolling his eyes over the misuse of the acronym). It wasn’t like Audry was enlisted or anything. Fact was, Audry probably pulled one of her sneak outs. She used to do it when she was dating that knife maniac. He would have thought his aunt would remember that.

<< When we went to wake her for dinner, she and the dog were gone. >>

Vincent sighed, chuckling. “Maybe she is walking it.”

But his aunt exhaled loudly. << No…. She’s taken her phone, and I think packed a bag. >>

“Packed a bag?” Vincent wondered out loud as the two stewardesses were opening the door and extending the stairs. “Maybe she decided to go back to Idaho.”

His aunt replied with a moan. << I don’t think so. She left her equipment. She just took a backpack full of clothes, that dog, and her cell phone. >>

“Maybe she was annoyed you call the dog ‘that dog’, and she needed to blow off some steam.” Vincent, however, rushed with Michael out from the airplane, hurrying down the steps. Tommy was ahead of them, unloading their luggage, which were just a few bags. He noticed Michael checking his weapons, which included a sword, three knives—one which looked like silver—a small fold up crossbow, and a Walther pistol (he didn’t know the exact kind). Vincent said to his aunt, unable to take his eyes off of Michael’s arsenal, “Did she leave a note?’

<< A short one on a Post-it. >> Aunt Clover sounded peeved. Vincent had a feeling that Audry would be in for an earful when she returned.

“And what did it say?”

She grumbled. << ‘Going out. Will be with a friend near New York.’ >>

He nodded to himself. “Ok… so… do you still want me to come over?”

<< Yes. I want to arrange a search party. She is not well. >>

Nodding more to himself, Vincent sighed. “Ok. I’ll be there, Aunt Clover. And, uh, I’m bringing a couple friends. They’ll be able to help.”

She sighed with relief. << Good. Hurry quickly. Just don’t speed. >>

And she ended the call.

Vincent looked to Michael and Tommy. “My cousin skipped out, but she has her cell phone. I think we can probably call her.”

“Unless she does not want to be found,” Tommy murmured.

Vincent cringed, as that was a possibility. Audry hated being controlled and isolated. Who didn’t? Quarantine did not suit her at all. And though his Aunt Clover was not usually control freaky, she had sounded so worried that it was clear she had been overbearing when she had isolated Audry for recovery from her illness. But also, it did seem that Audry had come home in an agitated state. He wondered what had happened.

Vincent tried calling Audry first, but she did not answer. Knowing her, she probably had turned her phone off. She did that sometimes when she did not want to be interrupted. Perhaps her mother had been calling repeatedly.

They got a rent-a-car and drove from the airport to his aunt’s. This time Vincent drove, as he knew the way. When they arrived a few hours later, it was late in the evening. His Uncle Zachary was sitting on the sofa, sighing, with one hand on his cellphone, staring at the screen, the other hand to his forehead.

“Vincent!” Aunt Clover opened the door and hugged him. When she pulled back, she saw Michael and Tommy, taking in their unusual appearances if not also their aura. She was like that. Her family was into reading auras and other hippie things.

Seeing her gaze shift, Vincent stepped to the side and introduced them. “This is Tommy Whitefeather and this is Michael Toms.”

“Michael Toms?” his father said from the other room. He rose from the couch, pocketing his cellphone. His eyes raked over Michael when he stepped into the house. “As in Edmund Toms’s son?”

“The one and the same,” Michael said with a nod, smiling.

Uncle Zachary strode up and extended his hand for a shake. “Zachary Bruchenhaus. My father speaks often of you, and unfortunately, not to your credit. However, I like a man who sticks to his principles.”

Michael grinned wider. “Thank you, sir.”

Uncle Zachary looked to Vincent. “You aren’t trying to convince him to—”

“A mere attempt,” Vincent cut his uncle off with a smirk as he chuckled. “But I think Grandpa needs to change a few things about how he does business before we can reconcile that.”

“But anyway,” Tommy interjected. “About your daughter. Can you tell us in more detail what happened?”

“Um…” Aunt Clover’s gaze took in Tommy more fully, especially his long hair, Navajo style head band, and the white feather in his hair. He was in a tee shirt and jeans, of which the front displayed the emblem for the band Styx. “Well, come in and we can talk more about it without letting the bugs inside.”

They all chuckled going further into the house so she could shut the door. When they were all seated, and Aunt Clover had brought each of them drinks to refresh them, she and Uncle Zachary explained everything, from Audry’s abrupt call from Africa to her arrival via Vicky and Selena Davenport who had driven them. Yet Selena had put a metaphorical bug in their ears, asking them to find out why Audry had left Africa so hastily.

Tommy, Michael, and Vincent exchanged surreptitious looks at the mention of Selena, knowing what she could do with her voice. They all had met her at least once, though Tommy knew her best. Vincent wondered how Vicky had met up with Selena again.

But then the parents said Audry herself had insisted to see a doctor immediately for blood tests. Then they told Vincent once more what Audry had told them. She had been bitten by a snake and caught a local disease which they later found out it had been yellow fever. She had the antibodies, according to the doctor—which he immediately tested as Audry had suggested it was that or Dengue fever. However, when he gave Audry a clean bill of health, as they were leaving, the doctor had expressed concern about Audry’s mental state. She seemed unusually agitated and had brought the dog with her. Because of this, he had prescribed bedrest with a sedative—at least for three days. Audry had not liked the idea, but she agreed for their sakes. The problem was, under the sedative, Audry started to talk in her sleep, with nightmares, revealing seriously bizarre worries. And since Aunt Clover believed in the subliminal power of dreams—that dreams were the unconscious mind trying to speak to the conscious mind—it worried her.

“Basically,” Uncle Zachary explained with stress lines creasing his brow and along his face, “When we asked Audry about what she said in her sleep, she clammed up—which is not like her. She would normally tell us everything that was bothering her. But this time, she just shook her head like saying anything would hurt us, and just said it was a dream.”

“As if her catching yellow fever would not hurt us,” Aunt Clover murmured, openly put out. “She could have died.”

“Something is up.” Uncle Zachary sighed, heavily shaking his head. “It was like something had scared her out of her skin when she was in Africa—which is why she came back so soon.”

“We’re afraid that something truly horrible had happened to her,” Aunt Clover finished. “I mean, she brought back that dog. She said her friend Juma gave him to her, but I think she bought him for protection.”

Vincent raised his eyebrows. “A tazer and a tranquilizer gun wasn’t enough protection?”

Michael raised his eyebrows.

“You know…” Uncle Zachary wagged a finger at Vincent. “That’s the other funny thing. “She left her tranquilizer gun here, but took the dog.”

“Maybe she is out of darts,” Vincent murmured. It made sense to him.

Michael chuckled. He peeked to Tommy who seemed impressed with Vincent’s cousin.

“Do you have a picture we can see?” Michael asked, more curious.

Aunt Clover nodded, rising. Going to the mantel, she took up a small framed photo and brought it over. It was Audry’s picture from her last graduation ceremony—the one for her Master’s degree. She was grinning with pleasurable accomplishment, standing arm and arm with her brother, Doug, and her parents. A good photo. Michael admired it along with Tommy—probably a bit too much. Vincent could see Michael nod to himself with the expression of a man who thought she was rather good looking.

“Impressive,” Tommy said, then lifted his eyes to Aunt Clover. “What does she have a Masters in?”

“Zoology and Wildlife Conservancy.”

“And what is she getting her doctorate in?” Michael inquired, listening intently. Despite how much Vincent had liked Michael, this interest in his cousin was a tad unsettling. Yes, he knew his cousin was a healthy, beautiful woman. But he never got used to guys checking her out.

“The same,” Uncle Zachary said, sighing. “But Audry mentioned hitting a roadblock, so it may take a few more years.”

“Good,” Vincent muttered.

They looked to him. Michael smirked.

Defensively lifting up his hands in a shrug, Vincent exclaimed, “It’s good for her. She’s always rushed through her degrees. It’d humble her a little to have to struggle for once. Most people don’t get their PhD’s after just a couple years. For some people it takes decades.”

Tommy coughed down a laugh. Vincent shot him a look, wondering what amused him so much. He wasn’t jealous. Generally he liked Audry’s quick intelligence. But she had that stupid habit of running away when things got difficult. She was smart, but she needed to be more resilient.

“Who do you think she went to see in New York?” Michael asked, cutting to the chase.

Aunt Clover and Uncle Zachary both looked to Vincent. “Well, we were actually hoping Vincent might know. He would be the most familiar with her New York friends.”

Blinking, Vincent leaned back. Who would Audry visit? “Old college friends? Or other friends?”

“Who do you think she might visit right now?” Uncle Zachary asked, pressing his hands together as if praying, those hands to his lips, thinking. “…In the state of mind that she is in?”

One name came to him almost immediately. Nodding, Vincent answered, “Silvia. Silvia Lewis—though I think she is married now to Randon Spade, and I don’t know where they live.”

Tommy perked up. “Randon Spade?”

Michael looked to him. “Do you know him?”

Shrugging, Tommy murmured. “He might be a Gulinger alumnus…”

“He is,” Vincent nodded, “come to think of it.” He looked to his aunt and uncle. “I think you met him once, in Wyoming.”

But Uncle Zachary shook his head. “No. But I have heard of him. Doug is doing research with his friend Troy.”

Tommy stiffened. “Troy? As in Troy Meecham?”

Uncle Zachary nodded to him, his eyes taking in Tommy’s concern. “One and the