Authors: Randi Cardoza
Chapter 24
Kenzi honestly didn’t know what made her do it but she started looking through her high school yearbooks. Her junior year she was so happy if not frustrated because Shawn didn’t seem to know she was alive. Then senior year she was happy because she was with Shawn and then in the middle of the year, she was heartbroken because of the situation with Jan.
Harsh words that Shawn said to her, the heartbreak all over again brought tears of anguish to her eyes. The smug look Jan used to carry until Mimi and Danielle brought everything to the forefront. The poor child Jan was carrying wasn’t Shawn’s and he knew it.
Kenzi recalled her reconciliation with Shawn. It had been bittersweet. It had taken her a long while to get over the fact that he’d lied to protect Jan. While she was at Columbia her sophomore year Shawn showed up out of nowhere.
He’d told her the truth that they had lived long enough apart that he couldn’t take it any more. The skies had opened up and started pouring down torrents of rain. Shawn had begged her to forgive him that was what had made her do it. He’d gotten on his knees and begged her, and while it made her laugh tears streamed down her eyes.
Shawn had transferred to Columbia after that and they had been together since. Their wedding had been beautiful with the elite of Farmington in attendance. Everything had been perfect between them until Layla had been kidnapped nearly two years after their marriage.
“Hey, Kenzi, are you hungry?” Nelson asked coming out of the kitchen.
Kenzi quickly wiped the tears from her face and shook her head. She’d been trying to focus on anything other than the remembrance of that man’s hands touching her. The helplessness she’d felt combined with her wish that Shawn had been there to comfort her afterward.
He’d been gone for two days and hadn’t called and that made her worry about things even more. She couldn’t sleep because she still felt that man’s hands touching her.
She sat slumped in the chair in her living room listening to Nelson whistling in kitchen when the front door burst open and Shawn came in. He was immediately on his knees in front of her taking her in his arms.
“Are you okay, baby?”
Kenzi’s face crumpled and tears leaked out. All she could do was shake her head and burrow into his arms. His arms were comfort and something more. Just having him hold her eased the fears, the doubts.
Dylan and Nelson kept glancing inconspicuously out of the kitchen. Finally, Dylan came out of the kitchen and asked if they wanted some privacy.
Within five minutes, Dylan and Nelson were gone and Shawn took Kenzi to their room. He got into bed beside her and just held her until she went to sleep. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, exhausted from the lack of sleep he’d gotten while in Quantico.
Shawn woke up hours later to find Kenzi gone. There wasn’t a trace of her in the house. Chills were starting to trickle down his back when he saw the note. It wasn’t in Kenzi’s handwriting.
IF YOU WAMT HER BACK, WAIT FOR THE NEXT CLUE AT THE Farmington TRAIN STATION. HERE’S A HINT THE EAGLE WATCHES OVER HER BROOD WITH A SHARP EYE
.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood at attention. The bastard had come in and taken her while they’d been sleeping and he hadn’t even noticed.
“Dammit, Douglass, you’re supposed to protect her. Now look what’s happened!” he said slapping himself hard in the face.
He called Nelson and Dylan and waited impatiently for them to arrive. Fears began to surface as he remembered his dreams and what the monster had done to Kenzi in those dreams. By the time they arrived he was a nervous wreck.
“What’s the note say? Don’t touch it anymore than necessary so it can be fingerprinted,” Nelson asked as Shawn handed her the note.
“I don’t know what it means. When something like this happens to the woman I love I can’t think straight. I can’t even figure out the clue,” Shawn said in exasperation.
“What happened?” Dylan asked sitting down across from Shawn.
“Honestly, I don’t know. We went up to bed and both of us were exhausted. The next thing I know is that I’m waking up and she’s not anywhere to be found.”
Nelson paced while Shawn and Dylan talked. The clue made little sense to her but her analytical mind was racing to find anything that would suddenly make it click.
Then a stray thought jumped into her mind. An elderly man was always at the station; he saw all and knew everything that happened at the station. That was the “eagle”.
“I’ve got it. Come on, I’ll explain it on the way,” she said as she rushed out the door.
They arrived at the station and talked to the man. The man said that someone had given him something to give to them.
“How do you know we’re the right people? Dylan asked.
“The guy gave me a picture of him,” the man replied gesturing toward Shawn.
“Can we have the package he gave you?” Shawn asked rudely interrupting the man.
The man handed over the package and returned to his post near the lockers. Shawn ripped open the envelope and saw the note.
IF YOU CAN FIND THE QUEEN AND SHE CAN FIND YOU, THEN I’LL LET YOU GO. THE MIND IS A WONDERFUL MAZE
.
Shawn looked at the note wondering what it meant. It made less sense than the last one. The only thing that stuck out in his mind was the word maze.
“Maybe he means a puzzle or something like that,” Nelson suggested.
“The only maze I can remember is the hedge maze at the Botanical Gardens in St. Louis but why would anyone take her there?” Shawn asked.
“This guy has been stalking Kenzi for a while,” Dylan replied.
“Is there a maze in Farmington? Does anyone own a maze?” Megan asked.
“We can go to the office and feed it into a database. Maybe we can get results faster that way than brainstorming now,” Dylan suggested.
They went to headquarters and Shawn kept trying to figure out the clue. The only thing the database could find in the area was a company with an indoor maze called the Queen of Hearts based upon Alice in Wonderland.
“We should check out both. There’s not much we can do together. Dylan and I will drive to Aremid and check out the maze there with the police. You go to Queen of Hearts,” Megan said to Shawn.
“It’s almost midnight. We should try to rest before resuming the search. We won’t be any help to Kenzi if we’re exhausted. I know you want to find her now but we need to regroup,” Dylan said trying to be the voice of reason.
“He’s not filling the profile of a killer, Shawn. We can afford a few hours for sleep,” Megan replied.
Shawn agreed and told them to go get some sleep. What he didn’t tell them was that he intended to go to the Queen of Hearts tonight and find Kenzi. He realized they didn't put together the Queen of Hearts with the Queen mentioned in the second clue, but he'd noticed the duplicated word immediately.
Kenzi couldn’t remember what happened. She’d been sleeping and heard a noise. Thinking Sunshine wanted in the bedroom she went to open the door. Something hit her in the head, hard, and she passed out.
Waking up she shivered looking around her. The floor where she’d been tossed like a rag doll was cold. Fear’s icy fingers trailed down her spine.
“
Shawn, where are you
?
” she whispered.
Shawn was on his way to downtown Farmington when he started to hear Kenzi’s voice. She wanted to know where he was and if he would find her before her abductor came back.
Evil eyes watched Kenzi as she shuddered against the cold floor. A cruel grin stretched across a now haggard face.
“Let the games begin,” he said with a cackle
.
Chapter 25
Shawn drove as fast as he could but rain had started to come down in waves. Hail started pelting his windshield and he had to pull off on the side of the road under an overpass. Still hearing Kenzi whisper his name he punched the steering wheel.
“Dammit! Only in Farmington would it rain and hail when I need to find Kenzi. My luck a tornado will swoop down and destroy the building before I get there,” Shawn swore as he turned the radio up to hear the weather report.
Thunderstorm warnings in the area are extended until ten a.m. for folks in the vicinity of Farmington and Springfield, Illinois. Tornado warnings have been popping up on our screens so be careful out there and don’t drive unless it’s an absolute emergency.
If you’re currently on the road pull off and get to safety. For those folks inside get to the lowest level of your house and take lots of candles. According to State Power Co. power went out an hour ago and is estimated to be out until sometime in the late afternoon.
This is Mimi Lockhart-Smith for Chat with Meems signing off and wishing you the best in this awful weather
.
Shawn turned off the radio and the sound of Mimi’s voice to look out at the sky. It had stopped hailing and now was his chance to go. Slamming the car into gear he pulled out from the underpass to hear a roaring behind him.
Glancing in his rearview he saw the tail of the tornado drop down seconds before the sirens went off all over town. Flooring the gas, Shawn tried to get out of the way but the twister seemed to be following him.
Seconds seemed like hours when the tail of the tornado bumped the car and pushed Shawn into a tailspin. Just as suddenly as the tornado came it was gone. Shawn couldn’t think what to do. Did he need to turn into the spin or out of it.
Slick roads made the tires skate tirelessly down the darkened streets. Shawn could feel his heart pumping and yet he was not scared. The only thing that mattered was that he get out of this alive so he could save Kenzi.
The car slid to a stop toppling a metal light pole in downtown Farmington near the park. Shawn didn’t care if he was hurt when he got out and started running toward East Laredo street where the Queen of Hearts was located.
Hail started pelting him but he couldn’t feel it. All he could feel was the tickle of fear crawling into his brain and the increasingly distressed silent calls from Kenzi. He was almost there just another block to go when something hit him in the neck and he fell face first into a mud puddle.
Kenzi continued to call for Shawn silently praying somehow he could hear her. She was in a plywood maze full of fake palm trees and flowers.
Her wrists and feet ached from being tied together and her eyes were gritty from fighting the increasing fatigue.
She could hear a storm raging overhead. A storm meant it would take Shawn even longer to find her.
Welts formed on her wrists from where she’d tried to loosen the rope but to no avail. Her training wasn’t helping because she’d never been in this situation before and what they forgot to tell her was that she would forget her training when she needed it most.
The only light was coming from a room far above her in the ceiling. If she hadn’t known better she would swear that someone was up there watching her. Kenzi tried once again to loosen the knots with her fingers but it was no use.
A sweet scent stole through the air and before Kenzi could acknowledge it, it knocked her out cold. She never even noticed that the man who was using her like a puppet was someone she’d known since childhood.
Shawn woke up with a terrible headache. His vision wouldn’t focus at first and his head started spinning. It looked like he was in a jungle. There were vines and palm trees everywhere and he could hear the swells of ocean water hit the sand.
Where was he? He shook his head trying to clear it. Someone had knocked him out and taken him somewhere. His bleary eyes focused on a rock formation and for a minute he was back in high school during the trip to Puerto Rico.
“No, it can’t be,” Shawn said shaking his head again.
A note was attached to a tree and he ripped it off causing gouges in the bark with his fingers. His eyes blurred as he read it and dizziness washed over him.
You’ve got one hour to find the queen of your heart or she is mine forever. I take no prisoners until that hour is up. Search well.
Kenzi woke up with a start. She’d felt something crawl over her and then she felt the sweat trickling down her face. The humidity was almost unbearable and she thought she’d throw up if she had to move.
Her hands and feet were no longer bound and there was a note attached to a rock nearby. Kenzi couldn’t quite place where she was. She knew, almost immediately, that she wasn’t where she had been before in that fake jungle.
This jungle was all too real but it seemed oddly familiar. She was near a lagoon and then it hit her. Puerto Rico.
“What am I doing here? How did we get to this island?” Kenzi wondered as she tore open the note.
Lovely Kenzi, you can leave here with your prince charming only if you can find each other. Just remember that this is a race and you only have an hour to find him. I take no prisoners until that time.
“Okay. Where would Shawn go if he wanted to find me? We spent a lot of time here alone, so maybe he’ll come here first,” Kenzi thought as she made her way towards the sand of the lagoon.
Kenzi started remembering things along the way. What berries and fruit were edible and where the best drinking water was. But if she went looking for food she wouldn’t find Shawn. Going from memory Kenzi walked towards where the campsite had been. The path, once broken down was now tall again.
Kenzi’s tennis shoes sank in the muddy soil but she continued towards the site. Maybe if she called out for him, Shawn would hear her.
“Shawn?” she yelled as loudly as she dared.
A movement from the trees caught her attention and she thought she’d seen the glow of two eyes.
A shudder passed over her and she hurriedly made her way to the still bare site. It looked as if someone had been there and left.
“Shawn? Are you here?” Kenzi called out again.
Shawn was still disoriented. He couldn’t seem to make his brain function properly. Whatever he’d been knocked out with was potent.
He felt sick to his stomach at the thought that he and Kenzi were being hunted like game unless they found each other. Looking for telltale signs that someone had been through the tall grasses he noticed some bent and broken pieces.
Following them lead him to the lagoon. Kenzi must have started there but where would she have gone, he asked himself. Shawn followed the trail of broken grass to where he had started out and he could hear her calling his name.
“Kenzi? Where are you?” he called and then touched his head as it pounded ferociously.
“Shawn? Is that you?” Kenzi called from quite a distance away.
“Yeah, it’s me. Where are you, baby?” Shawn called moving towards her voice.
They’ve been walking in circles for near an hour. Maybe I should put an end to this lovely charade. They’ve got fifteen minutes to find each other. Then all they have to worry about is getting off the island alive.
Both Shawn and Kenzi heard the maniacal laughter fill the air and each called even more loudly to the other.