His phone rang. It was Eli asking what the hell was going on.
“All over now but the crying.” Shannon winced as he touched his eye and as his fingers traveled down to the area above his jaw where he’d been hit. He resisted the temptation to look at himself in the rearview mirror. “I’m in my car now. And mostly in one piece.”
“What do you mean
mostly in one piece
?”
“They sent a couple of goons to put the fear of God in me.” Shannon opened his mouth wide and moved his jaw from side to side, making sure it was still hinged properly and nothing broken. “As we were saying our goodbyes, they tried giving me a beating as a warning. It didn’t quite work as they’d planned.”
“Jesus, Bill, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Mostly. A little bruised and banged up, maybe some cracked ribs but nothing broken that I know of. Are you at the Center?”
“Damn it, Bill–”
“Sorry, Eli, but I’m rushed for time right now. I’ll tell you more about what happened when I see you. No more than an hour.”
After hanging up, Shannon called the Boulderado Hotel. There was a cancellation and the reservation clerk could let him have one of their suites until next Thursday, but that was all she had. When she told Shannon the price, he winced a bit harder than when he’d touched his bruised eye and jaw, but told her he’d take it. Then he put the car in drive and headed back towards downtown Boulder. On the way he called Susan.
“What’s wrong, Hon?” she asked, her voice uneasy, sensing something was not quite right with him.
“Probably nothing,” he said. “I booked us a suite at the Boulderado for a few days. I’ll explain more when I see you, but for now pack what you need and go to Emily’s. I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes and tell you more then.”
“Hon, you have to tell me what’s going on.”
“I will when I see you.”
“I’ll wait here for you,” she said, an iciness edging into her voice. “We’ll discuss then whether we’re going anywhere.”
“Susie, you have to pack and leave now. Please, do as I say and let me explain when I pick you up.”
“You’re making me nervous,” she said.
“There’s no reason for you to be nervous. Everything will be fine, but we need to leave the apartment for a few days. Trust me on this, please, Darling?”
There was a long silence where Shannon imagined Susan holding her breath, her face white with worry, her brow one big wrinkle, her beautiful brown eyes welling up with tears. He felt lower than he had felt in years, hating himself for exposing her to more danger, something he swore he would never do after they’d survived Charlie Winters. He wanted to drive back to that cult and find a way to put the fear of God in those two Russians, make sure they knew what would happen if they ever came to his apartment and bothered Susan or him. But those two were beyond fear. They’d just take it as a challenge, if they weren’t already planning on it.
Finally Susan told him she would wait for him at Emily’s. Her voice sounded so fragile it brought a lump to his throat. For the next few minutes he drove with his lips pressed hard enough together to make his jaw ache even more than it should given the punch he had taken. When he trusted himself to talk in a calm and rational tone, he called Daniels and asked if he could check on Melissa Cousins at the True Light compound.
“Now why would I want to do that?” Daniels asked somewhat drily.
“The place is bad news.”
“Nothing I can do about that.”
“Maybe not, but I have a gut feeling something happened to her. That that’s why I’m getting so much resistance.”
“You’re getting resistance, huh?”
Shannon hesitated and Daniels let out a loud, annoyed sigh. “Can you give me anything concrete?” he asked. “I need some reason for showing up there.”
Shannon told him how he had gotten locked up inside True Light’s compound when he tried to see her. “Some professional muscle came an hour later and threatened to kill Melissa and frame me for her murder if I didn’t leave,” he added.
“You’re shitting me.”
“Nope.”
“How about coming in and giving a statement?”
“Wouldn’t do any good. They’ll manufacture dozens of witnesses with an alternative story.”
“Which would be?”
After clearing his throat, Shannon said, “That I assaulted a couple of them.”
“Any truth to that?”
“Anything I did was in self-defense.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened.”
Shannon told him about the two robed stooges.
“Fuck. So you went there and beat up two of their members. Goddamit, Shannon, you were supposed to be a smart guy.”
“They swung at me first. I just reacted.”
“By bouncing their heads off an iron gate?” Daniels asked, exasperated. “I’ll check things out alright. See if I need to bring you in on assault and battery charges.”
Shannon ignored the latter part of his statement. “Just check that she’s okay. I’ve got a picture of Melissa I can give you if you need one,” he said.
“Don’t need it, her mother faxed one over months ago and it’s still in her file.”
“Can you call me after you check on her?”
“You bet I’ll call you,” Daniels said somewhat disgustedly. “Especially since I’ll be bringing you in in handcuffs afterwards if they file charges against you.”
“I’ll give you odds they don’t.”
Daniels only grunted and hung up without giving any indication whether he cared to take that bet.
When Shannon arrived at his apartment, he found that Susan had already left for Emily’s which he was grateful for—especially after he saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror. The area under his eye was puffed out and already a dark bluish-purple, and his cheek and upper jaw were badly swollen and discolored. He looked almost like he was wearing a mask on half his face. The older Russian must’ve wore a ring because he had left him cut up pretty good where he’d been hit. There were other cuts along his face which he couldn’t account for. He cleaned up as well as he could, gritting his teeth when he applied antiseptic, and using bandages where he could. Still, it didn’t help much. He looked even worse than he felt, and he felt like crap.
After finishing with his face he worked on his hand, cleaning out the long stretch of raw flesh where his skin had been scraped off, then wrapping a bandage around it. He noted with grim humor how the bandage obscured the fact that he was missing two fingers. When he was done, he slowly removed his shirt, which was torn and had been left with an interesting pattern of blood splattered across it—something that would’ve made many a modern artist proud. Squinting, he could make out a grinning demonic face in the pattern, complete with two reddish streaks that served as horns. Most of the blood had come from the younger Russian, but he was sure some of it was his own. A bruise the size of a large grapefruit showed on his chest. He methodically tested the area, pushing his fingers against each rib. It was painful, but not enough to make him think any of them were cracked or broken. Most likely just bruised. After slowly chewing several aspirin, he held onto the rest of the bottle.
When he was done he put on a clean shirt; also changed his pants which had gotten a fair amount of blood smeared on them. Then, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering around his stomach, he set off down the hallway to Emily Janney’s apartment, Susan’s best friend in Boulder. When Susan saw him and her face started to crumble, Shannon felt his heart turn to sludge.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he told her, his voice sounding to him as if it were echoing from within a chamber. “I’m really okay.”
She shook her head hastily, fighting to hold back the tears. “I thought when we left Massachusetts we were all done with this. I didn’t think I’d ever have to see you like this again.”
Off in the background Emily scowled angrily at him. He turned his focus back to Susan.
“Darling, I promise you this is nothing. In a few days it will all be forgotten.”
“I don’t think I’ll be forgetting you looking like this anytime soon,” she said. “And we have to leave our apartment!”
“Just for a few days.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“Later, when we get in the car.”
“No. You tell me here and now!”
One look at her and he knew there was no sense arguing. Emily stood behind her with her square jaw jutted out as she shot daggers his way. As much as Shannon loved Susan, he knew Emily was a close second. Fiercely protective, he had no doubt she’d throw her body into a line of bullets to protect Susan, and he knew right now she wanted to kick his butt for upsetting his ex-wife.
He told them everything: about Pauline Cousins, her daughter, the Vishna Yoga Studio, the True Light cult, the Russians.
“Oh my God,” Susan said, her eyes beseeching Shannon’s. “They know where we live? How could you do this to us?”
“They probably don’t even remember the address,” Shannon mumbled, barely able to meet her eyes. “Anyway, this will all blow over in a few days.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“It will. Please, Darling, trust me. All they wanted to do was scare the hell out of me. Make me decide it isn’t worth my time looking for Melissa.”
“But you’re not going to stop.”
Shannon swallowed, shook his head. “How can I?” he asked, lowering his gaze. Then looking up until his eyes met hers, he asked, “You wouldn’t want me to stop, would you?”
She stood motionless for a long moment before shaking her head. Then she bit her lip as she gave him a brave smile. “We’ll have fun spending a few nights at the Boulderado,” she said. “And if we have to, we’ll find a new apartment. Or leave Boulder.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he insisted with as much bravado as he could muster. But the thought was still out there—if these Russians were willing to beat him up as a first warning, what would they be willing to do for a second? Susan turned to Emily and the two women hugged, with Emily briskly rubbing Susan’s back. “You take care of my girl,” she warned Shannon. He nodded that he would, then got Susan’s bags, and brought them down to his car. When he went back for her bike, Emily sidled up next to him.
“You know who you look like now?” she asked. “Mickey Rourke from ‘Sin City’.”
“Thanks.”
She walked behind him, adding, “Don’t worry about nothing. I’ll keep an eye on your place.”
“If you hear anything, call the police. Call me also. But don’t get involved.”
“Maybe, or maybe I’ll go in and knock some sense into them myself.”
He stopped and gave her a hard look until she agreed to simply call him and the police. She was a character, from Oklahoma originally, and as tough as she talked, all five foot six and a hundred and thirty-five pounds of her, Shannon would probably choose taking on one of the Russians again than a fired up Emily. He lifted the bike to his shoulder and started down the steps. Emily followed, telling him how she passed by the Vishna Yoga Studio every day when she went to work and had at one time thought of signing up for classes. The last part came out more as a question. He turned to her, gave her a wary eye. “Don’t,” he said.
When he joined Susan in the car, she gave him a pensive smile. “You think something happened to that girl?”
He nodded. “I think so. Otherwise they would’ve let me talk to her instead of going through all the trouble they did.”
They drove in silence after that. When they got to the Boulderado Hotel’s parking lot, Susan took hold of his bandaged hand and brought it to her lips. He looked over, felt a hollowness deep inside as he caught her somewhere between smiling and sobbing. Tears started to run down both her cheeks and he wiped them away with his thumb.
“Look at us,” she said, sniffing, trying to hold back more tears. “We’re both a couple of messes. Do you think they’ll let us check in?”
“Darling, the way you look right now there’s not a person alive who could turn you down for anything.”
She put both hands behind his head and brought him to her, kissing him hard. When he winced, she pulled back, alarm in her eyes. “Oh God, I’m sorry,” she said. “I hurt you!”
“I’m just a little banged up, that’s all.” He took hold of her chin with his thumb and forefinger and kissed her gently, tasting the saltiness of the tears that had made their way to her lips. The last thing he wanted to do was pull away, but after a minute or so he forced himself to. “I guess we should check in,” he said.
“I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time earlier,” she said.
“What? You had every right–”
She put a finger against his lips, cutting him off. “No I didn’t,” she said. “I blamed you for this. Which is crazy because if you were the type of person who’d be willing to abandon that poor woman and her daughter, I probably wouldn’t love you as deeply as I do. I guess after what happened with Charlie Winters, and our time here in Boulder being as peaceful as it’s been, this hit me pretty hard.” She paused, her voice softer as she added, “Memories from that day started flooding back.”
Shannon removed her finger from his lips and kissed her long and hard, ignoring the throbbing that radiated from his jaw and cheek. “Darling, we’ll get back to what we had, and I swear I’m not letting any of this stuff get close to you.”
“I know you won’t. I also know if you could handle Winters, these Russians will be a piece of cake.”
Shannon nodded, but in his gut he knew she was wrong. Winters had been insane, a murderous madman, but these two Russians were detached cold-blooded killers. Shannon knew that the moment he saw them. As cunning as Winters was, he was driven by bloodlust and made mistakes because of it. These two Russians were no less ruthless but were driven solely by expediency and need, which made them far more dangerous.
Forcing a laugh, he mentioned how pissed off Emily had looked. “For a minute I thought she was going to mop the floor with me,” he added.
Susan joined in with a sad laugh. “For a minute, I thought so too,” she said.
When they checked in, the desk clerk appeared flustered as he glanced uneasily at Shannon, but in the end took his credit card and gave them the keys for their suite. After their divorce Susan had gone back to using her maiden name, Kerry, and they used that when registering in case anyone tried calling hotels looking for Shannon. The clerk took Susan’s bike and stored it in a back room for her.