Shattered (26 page)

"It's
okay, Dad. I wouldn't have done any better than that myself. The
yellow truck may be enough for us to track you down. I'll talk to Mom
next and then Cindi tomorrow. Maybe one of them noticed something
that will help narrow down our search, but even if they haven't, I
still have one more idea that may be enough to track you down."

"I may
just be an accountant, Adri, but I'm not an idiot. These guys are
obviously after you. If you can track us down and have the police
come rescue us then that's great. If you and your friends are capable
of breaking us out, then that is fine too, but under no circumstances
are you to turn yourself over to them. They don't seem like the type
to honor an agreement to exchange hostages and there isn't any reason
for all four of us to be at their mercy."

"I wish I
could promise you that, Dad, but I can't. I'm going to try really
hard not to do anything stupid. I'm actually pretty sure that my
friends are going to fight me at the very idea of doing a hostage
trade, but I'm not going to walk away and leave the three of you
there to be tortured. If nothing else, once I'm there with you I'll
be able to pass information out to my friends."

My dad looked
at me for several seconds with a mixture of pride and concern on his
face. "You've changed, sweetie. You're still my little girl, but
you're also not a stranger to risk anymore, are you?"

"Yeah, I
guess so. You told me that sometimes it's okay to fight, that
sometimes the consequences of not fighting are worse than the
consequences of fighting. I've ended up in those kinds of situations
a lot lately."

"I'm so
sorry, Adri. All I ever wanted was to protect you. I knew I couldn't
protect you from everything, but this isn't the life I would have
chosen for you."

I stepped
forward and hugged him with all of the fierceness I was feeling at
that moment. "It's okay, Daddy. It's not the life I would have
chosen for myself either, but it's not all bad. I have friends—good
people, really, really good people—and I'm making a difference
in the world. I always knew that there was bad out there in the
world, but I never really understood how bad it could be. I always
thought it was like the cheerleaders in high school being jerks to
the geeks. I thought people were bad because they didn't know better,
that they were bad because they didn't really understand how their
actions impacted those around them.

"This
isn't like that. There are people out there who know that they are
bad, who choose evil knowing full well that it is evil that they've
chosen. I can stop them. I can't do it all by myself, but I can help
save people who are in situations like yours."

Dad hugged me
back and his embrace was just as fierce as mine had been. "Now
that is the life that I would have chosen for you, Adri. Not one that
was so dangerous, but one where you find something you believe in and
hold onto it with both hands. I'm so incredibly proud of you. No
matter what else happens I want you to remember that."

The tears that
I'd been fighting back almost since I'd arrived inside my dad's dream
were too strong now for me to continue to fight them off. They poured
out of my eyes and down my cheeks in a steady stream that left me
feeling brittle and hollow.

"I'm so
sorry that you're all here, Dad. It's my fault. This is why I left,
but it wasn't enough. I should have made you all come with me."

He reached down
and brushed away my tears. "This isn't your fault, Adri. It's
good to fight the evil in the world, but you can't go so far as to
blame yourself when you fail to stop it. You didn't make these people
kidnap us, that was their choice. I'm just sorry that I wasn't a
better parent to you. All of those years you were growing up I
basically spent at the office. I should have spent more time with you
girls, should have done a better job showing you that I cared."

"Don't say
that, Dad. You were a great dad. Cindi and I both knew that you
cared. You wouldn't have worked so hard to take care of us if you
hadn't. If I'm ever successful at anything it will be because I had
your example of what it meant to work hard at something worthwhile."

"Adri,
there are so many things I wish I had time to tell you."

"It's
okay, Dad. You'll have a chance to tell me all of them. We are going
to find you and then my friends and I are going to come save you.
Once you're out of there you can all come live with me and we'll have
nothing but time for you to tell me whatever you need to tell me."

There was
silence between the two of us for several seconds as my dad struggled
not to break the illusion I was so desperately trying to maintain. We
both knew that there was an almost unimaginable amount of space where
they could be after driving for two hours.

"Okay,
Adri. You're going to save us, but just in case I don't get another
chance to say this, I want you to know that I love you very much, and
that everything else in my life was worthwhile because it meant that
I got to hold you and Cindi and welcome you into the world. Even this
is a small price to pay when you weigh it against all of those years
that I got to have you and Cindi as my daughters."

The trembling
that had started with my lips had moved down to my insides, but I
forced a smile past all of the pain brought on by the thought of
losing my dad.

"Okay,
Dad. You said what you needed to say. Now I need to know everything
you can tell me about the people who kidnapped you. Especially the
woman who called and left me the message telling me that she had
you."

"She's
about my height, brown hair and an average build. Her eyes are
unnerving though. I don't think that I saw her blink even once during
the entire time that she was questioning us about you."

"Did she
hurt you guys?"

"Some, but
not too badly. We didn't really know anything, so there wasn't any
reason not to answer her questions."

"Good,
that's exactly what I want you to do. Continue to answer their
questions. Did any of her people demonstrate any kind of unusual
abilities? Did anyone move objects around or start things on fire
with their minds?"

"No, not
that I remember. These people are like you then?"

"No,
they're vampires—at least some of them are. That's why I had to
leave. The kid from my school who disappeared about the same time as
I did—Jackson—he was a vampire too. His master's name was
Pamela and they figured out that someone in the area was able to
dream walk. They really only wanted me, but Cindi and Tristan got
caught in the crossfire. All three of us would have ended up dead,
but one of my new friends saved us at the last second."

"So Pamela
and Jackson must have told this group of…vampires…about
you. Not enough for them to find us right away, but enough that they
were able to eventually track us down."

"Yeah, I'm
afraid so. Vampires are normally pretty insular. They tend to form in
groups around a more powerful, older vampire and then the groups
fight each other for territory and resources. We figured that there
was a very good chance that Pamela took any information about me with
her to her grave, but she must have talked about me to someone."

Dad considered
my words for several seconds before nodding. "That all makes a
disturbing amount of sense. Is there anything else I should know
about vampires generally?"

"They are
faster and stronger than humans and they really do feed off of human
blood. They eat normal food too, but they can't survive without a
steady diet of blood. The older a vampire is, the stronger and faster
they get, but once they get to a certain age that supposedly slows
down and they start developing one of three other abilities."

"Pyrokinesis
and telekinesis, based on what you said earlier, but what's the
third?"

"Mind-reading.
Actually it's more than just mind-reading. Given the right
circumstances a powerful mentalist is capable of inserting thoughts
into your head and making you do things."

"What
kinds of circumstances are we talking about there, Adri?"

"Usually
our minds are pretty good at fighting off those kinds of intrusions.
They can read surface thoughts pretty easily, but to get at your
memories or put something into your mind they will need to weaken you
physically."

"So
torture?"

"Yeah, I'm
afraid so."

"You're
not painting a very rosy picture of what our time here is going to be
like, Adri." Dad's smile was an attempt at lightening up the
mood, but it was gallows humor.

"I'm
sorry, Dad. I guess I figured that it was best for you to know what
you were getting into."

"No,
you're absolutely right there. It's always best to know what lies in
wait. How am I supposed to keep our conversation a secret if they
have someone in their group who is capable of just pulling the
thoughts out of my head?"

"You
can't, not if they really want to find it out. The best we can hope
for is that they don't think to actively look for some kind of
contact between us."

"That's
not very likely considering the fact that they know you can do this
kind of thing, Adri."

It was all I
could do to keep the desperation and frustration out of my voice. "I
know, Dad, but there isn't anything we can do about that. I'd say
just to try not to think about this dream once you're awake, but it
seems like trying not to think of something is a losing proposition.
Instead try to concentrate on something else. Think about your
campout with Mom."

Apparently I'd
been even worse at keeping what I was feeling out of my voice than
I'd thought. Dad reached back out and wrapped his arms around me
again.

"I'm
sorry, Adri. Now isn't the time to be pushing you, not with
everything you have going on."

"No, Dad.
You're the one being held against your will. I'm sorry I don't have a
better solution."

"It's
okay, just seeing you here tonight is doing more than I ever would
have thought possible. Is there anything else you need from me,
sweetie?"

"Yeah,
there's one thing, actually. I need you to show me what this main
vampire looks like. We're inside your dream, so if you focus really
hard you should be able to create a little three-dimensional copy of
her."

My dad looked a
little shocked at the idea, but nodded and set about trying to do
what I'd asked. A few minutes later I was standing in front of a
replica of the woman who was trying to destroy my family. There were
sections of the model that were incomplete, but all in all it was an
impressive result for someone who'd never done this before. Her face,
the most important part, was there and I was hoping that would be
enough to do what I needed.

"Thanks,
Dad. Now can you do any of the other people who are there with her?"

"I think
so. Just give me a little time to recover."

He looked
tired, like generating the replica had taken more out of him than it
should have. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that he didn't
need to go on, but the truth was I needed to see as many of them as
possible if I was going to make my plan work. Isaac and Taggart had a
plan, but I hadn't managed to completely shut my brain off while I
was waiting for them.

The pieces
hadn't all come together right away, but sometime between when I'd
learned that my family had been abducted and now, those ideas I'd
been playing with had solidified into a plan that just might work.

"I know
it's exhausting, Dad, but I need you to try again. My head is
starting to throb, so I probably don't have a lot of time left. A lot
depends on this."

"What do
you mean your head is throbbing? Is it safe for you to be here?"

"I'm fine,
I've done this dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times."

It was
partially true. I'd dream walked before now, but this was the first
time I'd ever done it with what was potentially an overdose of
sleeping pills in my system.

"Okay,
I'll try again. Are you sure this is necessary? What are you going to
use this for? A police sketch?"

I wanted to
lie, but something about the way he was looking at me made it
impossible. There was just too much trust there in his eyes for me to
deceive him. I would have been mad if Taggart had asked me to do
something seemingly harmless and then I'd learned later on that my
assistance had allowed him to assassinate someone.

"I'm going
to try to pull that vampire into my dreams, Dad. I've done it before
with people I've met, either in the real world or in a dream, but
never like this, never with someone I don't have a link to. I'm
hoping that the recording of her voice I have on my phone along with
my feelings towards her and what you've just shown me will be enough
for me to find her."

"I don't
understand, Adri. How is that going to help?"

His words said
he didn't understand, but his manner said that he had his suspicions,
that he was more than a little worried about what I was going to say
next.

"I'm going
to try to kill her, Dad. My friend and I have a lot of experience
fighting inside of the dream and my talent is a little different than
his. I can pull someone into the dream so strongly that they can be
killed."

"Have you
done this before, Adri?"

"Just
once, right before I left home. One of the vampires we killed came
after me inside of my dream and I held her there while my friend
killed her."

The pain in my
head was starting to grow. I'd expected that, but not this fast.

"I don't
feel good about this, Adri…"

"You're
the one who told me it was sometimes okay to fight back, Dad. What do
you expect me to do? She has you, Mom and Cindi and she's threatening
to torture or kill you. Don't you want out of there?"