DESPERATE CREED: (Book 5 Ryder Creed K-9 Mystery Series) Read online

  “Survival mode,” she called it.

  All Brodie knew was that almost five months later she still felt the panic kick in every time she thought about her mother. Intellectually, she understood it wasn’t really her mother who caused the feeling. It was Iris Malone’s lies that had entrenched themselves firmly and completely inside Brodie’s mind. Without effort and without warning, Brodie could hear them:

  “You’re such a naughty girl, your mother and father said they don’t want you anymore. Your mother told me to keep you. She never wants to see you, again.”

  The woman had been so convincing Brodie never doubted her. Many times she’d tell Brodie these things even as she held a telephone receiver in her hand, as if Brodie’s mother was actually on the other end of the line at that very moment.

  Brodie knew it wasn’t right to keep punishing her mother by keeping her away. She’d been so patient, following the rules of the doctors and then the rules Brodie had put in place. She knew it wasn’t fair, and yet, she still couldn’t keep from feeling nauseated. Her mother was the last link, the last reminder of Iris Malone’s evil manipulation.

  Brodie had watched her mother on television hoping it would trigger good memories. Her show, Life in Style with Olivia James, was on every day, and Hannah rarely missed an episode. But the woman on the TV screen acted and talked so properly that Brodie hardly recognized her. She suggested linens and decorations and delicious recipes while she created a masterpiece right there in an hour.

  Olivia James was a celebrity and looked much taller and younger than the woman now standing in Hannah’s kitchen. She was still dressed very nicely in colorful soft fabrics that made Brodie almost want to reach out and touch a sleeve. Almost.

  “Hello, Brodie,” Olivia said, a smile caught at the corners of her mouth. The expression reminded Brodie of her grandmother, and she realized this older version of her mother looked very much like Gram.

  Brodie couldn’t find her voice and simply nodded.

  Hannah promised that she would stay with them. Both mother and daughter agreed they needed a mediator. Now Hannah turned around from the counter and gestured for them to sit down at the table. Instinctively, they chose seats across from each other.

  A box on the edge of the table distracted Brodie. Its flaps were pulled back. She gave the contents a half-hearted glance then her eyes darted back. She stood up to get a better look.

  At first she thought it was an interesting assortment: books, movies, toys. A white dragon captured her attention. Then she realized it wasn’t just any white dragon. It was hers—Puff the Magic Dragon, one of her favorite Beanie Babies.

  She started looking at the rest...really looking, coming in closer. Standing above the box, Brodie could see Pokemon trading cards, more Beanie babies, Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket books and a purple plush dog with pink ears. Her fingers touched the dog.

  Without thinking she said, “Puppy Surprise Eliza.”

  The fur was still as soft as cotton candy. She glanced up at Hannah and told her, “Each dog came with puppies inside. You didn’t know how many you’d get until you opened the box and opened her tummy. You might get two, three or four. My Eliza had five.”

  Her hands hesitated.

  “Go ahead,” Olivia told her.

  Brodie picked up the stuffed dog and turned her over. Carefully, she pulled open the Velcro sealed tummy. Gently she plucked out all five little puppies. Kitten rubbed against her legs, anxious to see, and she bent down to show the cat. When she stood up again, her eyes found Olivia’s.

  “You kept all these things?”

  “Of course. There’s lots more, but I brought some of your favorites.”

  Brodie touched the spines of the Harry Potter books, remembering how she and Ryder had read these out loud to each other. But she didn’t remember there being so many volumes.

  As if reading her mind, her mother said, “I kept buying the new ones every time they came out. Ryder didn’t want to read them without you, but I guess I thought...or hoped...”

  “I can’t believe you kept all these things.”

  “They were pieces of your life. I simply couldn’t bear to part with anything that reminded me of you.”

  This time when Brodie looked at her mother she saw the tears in her eyes. All those years that Iris Malone had lied to her, Brodie had never once considered the pain and loss her mother had suffered. Instead, she had spent sleepless nights, painful weeks wondering why her parents didn’t come for her. They’d speak to Iris on the phone, but they never asked to speak to Brodie. She was so devastated, so lost, so hurt, so convinced that they had abandoned her.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, eyes down and staring at Kitten, her fingers still clutching the toy dog. She didn’t know what else to say.

  “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about.”

  Brodie glanced up to see her mother wipe her eyes with a careful, almost stiff composure that seemed contradictory to the emotion she had just displayed. And Brodie couldn’t help thinking that she was glad her mother didn’t attempt to hug her. Not just yet.

  37

  South of Montgomery, Alabama

  Creed and Jason loaded all their gear into Creed’s Jeep and set up Scout’s crate alongside Grace’s. Despite Scout being three times bigger than Grace, he knew she was the boss of him. He wagged and humbled himself to her as he climbed up into the back. Scout hesitated a couple of times like he was waiting for her permission.

  “Why are you taking me with you?” Jason asked.

  “What? You don’t want to go?”

  “Won’t you two... you know, want to be alone or something?”

  “We’re having coffee before she heads back to Atlanta. What were you thinking this was? A booty-call?”

  Creed glanced at the kid. Jason’s head turned to look out the window, but he could see his grin in the reflection of the glass.

  “So this friend of Hannah’s, is she pretty hot?”

  “She’s too old for you.”

  “Isn’t Maggie older than you?”

  Creed shot him a look, and Jason put up his hands in surrender. “Hey, I’m just making conversation.”

  “Anybody ever tell you that you stink at it?”

  “Actually, all the time.”

  It had rained overnight. Just enough to make the streets wet and the air heavy with moisture. It was sweltering. Loading up the gear had left Creed sweaty, his T-shirt sticking to his back before he could blast the A/C. Clouds were rolling in. Ominous and bulging gray, they hung so low they looked like they could snag on the treetops.

  Jason fiddled with the radio while Creed took the ramp to the interstate.

  “We’re already in a tornado warning,” Jason said. He found a station reporting the weather and left it there.

  “Sheriff Krenshaw said it would be like this all weekend.”

  “We’ve both been to Afghanistan. How bad can it be?”

  Creed didn’t answer. He was remembering the Garner’s vehicle. It certainly looked like an IED had blown it up. The gas station had been reduced to piles of bricks and boards. Pine trees snapped in half. He’d seen mortars demolish entire Afghan villages to empty hulls. But it was hard to wrap his mind around the fact that this destruction had been caused by forces of wind, and not explosives.

  They hadn’t driven for more than ten minutes when dark clouds started gathering in the west. This section of the interstate, the north and southbound lanes were separated by a wide median filled with hardwood trees, so thick and so tall it was impossible to see what was on the other side. Occasionally, through a sliver between trees Creed could see the oncoming lanes of traffic.

  Behind them it continued to grow dark enough that the vehicles following now had their headlights on. Creed kept glancing at his mirrors and each time the gray mass seemed to creep closer, swallowing every last piece of sky.

  He craned his neck until he could get a glimpse of Grace in her crate. She had her nose pressed a
gainst the metal grate of her door.

  “You okay, Grace?” he asked, and Jason twisted in his seat to take a look back.

  “They can feel the storm,” Jason said.

  “She can smell it.”

  Jason was still turned looking out the rear window. “Man, it’s getting wicked back there.”

  Just then, the radio started blaring with the emergency broadcast system. The robotic voice told them a tornado had been spotted on the ground six miles west of Hayneville moving north, northeast. A tornado warning was in effect for Lowndes County.

  “Where’s Hayneville?” Jason asked as he pulled out his cell phone and started tapping up map coordinates.

  “Looks like Lowndes County is up above Butler. Isn’t that where we were yesterday? And we’re now in...” He looked back at his phone. “Montgomery County. It must be behind us.”

  The emergency broadcast ended and a weather report came on with the meteorologist repeating the information. Creed clicked up the volume:

  “Folks in Hayneville, you need to take cover now. Go to the lowest level of your house. If you’re in a trailer, get to your neighbors. Get off the road and into a building. You need to move to the middle, away from windows. Cover your head. And folks in Montgomery County, you need to prepare for this tornado. The National Weather Service hasn’t issued a warning for Montgomery County yet, but I’m telling you, if you’re in the southern part of Montgomery, you need to be looking for this tornado to be headed your way.”

  Jason twisted in his seat again to look out the back window, “It’s really dark back there.”

  Creed glanced into the side mirror in time to see the cloud-to-ground lightning. It illuminated the entire sky.

  An 18-wheeler roared by in the lane next to them, and Creed started looking for an exit. There were no signs promising any escape in the next several miles.

  “Maybe we should get off the interstate.” Jason said, as if he were reading Creed’s mind.

  “Some of the back roads wind in all directions. That might not be a good idea. We could get trapped.”

  Another truck zoomed by, its wake shoved at the Jeep, almost knocking them aside. Were they oblivious to the warnings or trying to outrun the storm?

  “So maybe you need to speed up,” Jason said.

  Creed still couldn’t see anything to their left. The continuous mass of trees blocked the horizon. But he did notice the black clouds coming over the tops of the branches. They were churning and so was his stomach.

  The rain came as a downpour. No droplets. No pitter-patter. A sudden sheet of water that the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with. All Creed could see ahead was the blur of taillights. Cars were still passing on his left. The trees blocking the horizon started to sway.

  The first ping of hail rattled him into a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. The clatter on the roof that followed sounded like it could break a hole in the metal. He worried it would shatter the windshield.

  “Son of a bitch,” Jason said.

  Creed could feel the kid’s tension. He wanted to tell him to calm down, but he was pretty sure he had every right to feel tense. They were in trouble, and he didn’t even need to look at Grace to see how true that was.

  38

  Creed wondered how it was possible. The faster he drove, the darker the sky got. It was pitch black behind them. He still couldn’t see a thing to the west. The ridge of trees in the median continued to block his view. The hail had stopped, but the rain continued.

  “It just looks like a massive thunderstorm,” Jason said. He was turned and straining against his seatbelt, so he could watch out the rear window. “I don’t see anything resembling a tornado. Maybe it’s not even close.”

  Still, Creed turned up the radio, but the meteorologist had a whole new list of other tornado warnings in other counties. Willis Dean kept reminding them, “Even if I didn’t mention your county, watch the sky. Conditions could change very quickly.”

  Creed glanced down at the compass in the Jeep’s dashboard. The meteorologist had said the tornado was moving north, northeast. They were traveling northeast. Just when he told himself they were moving along right in its path, the rain let up. The sky in front of them seemed to lighten.

  He felt like he could breathe again. Up ahead the ridge of trees in the median would be ending soon. Now, between the trees he could see a few on-coming headlights on the southbound lanes. His foot even eased up on the accelerator.

  “We should be able to see better pretty soon,” Creed told Jason and gestured to the empty median.

  The tree line finally ended. Their view was, indeed, better.

  “Oh my God! It’s right there!” Jason whispered.

  Creed glanced over then did a double take. The trees had been hiding it. There was no mistaken the black swirling wedge emerging from the gray mass. He swore he could feel its energy. A bolt of lightning illuminated its core.

  “You can see debris in the air. That thing is massive,” Jason said.

  The radio started squawking the emergency broadcast system warning for a tornado on the ground.

  Jason punched the volume down. “Yeah, no shit!”

  Creed stepped on the accelerator.

  “Ryder, what the hell are you doing?”

  “Trying to outrun it.”

  “It’s coming right at us. You need to speed up.”

  “That’s what I’m doing.”

  “You’re gonna have to go faster. Give it some gas.”

  Creed glanced down. He was already going ninety-five.

  “Oh my God, we’re not gonna make it.” Jason braced his hand against the dash. “You need to stop.”

  “We can’t stop. We’ll be right in the middle of it.”

  But even as the Jeep’s engine jolted to one hundred miles per hour Creed could already hear the roar of the storm. It was alive and churning and spewing and heading right for them. It was almost on top of them.

  Another truck barreled around them. But Creed couldn’t see any other vehicles following.

  “You’re not gonna make it,” Jason was yelling over the wind gusts that started to shake the Jeep.

  The rain came again, but this time there were pieces of twigs and pine needles along with other debris hitting the windshield.

  “We need to turn around,” Jason told him. “Turn the hell around.”

  “I can’t turn around.” There were guardrails and the median still had trees and brush. No way he could drive over all that.

  “It’s gonna hit us!”

  Jason was yelling, again, and Creed could barely hear him over the rumble that now reverberated through the entire Jeep. Just then, his ears started popping and he knew they were already inside the storm.

  Creed slammed on the brakes. The Jeep skidded on the wet asphalt. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. This was not the time to roll it out of control.

  “What the hell?” Jason said while he reached for the grab handle.

  Creed didn’t allow the Jeep to come to a stop. It was still skidding on the slick asphalt when he jammed it into reverse. The vehicle bucked. Then he floored it.

  His heart hammered against his chest. He kept his eyes forward as the Jeep flew in reverse. He couldn’t look away from the black mass that continued to spin toward them. Debris flew everywhere now. He watched the backup camera and didn’t ease up on the accelerator. There was one set of headlights in his lane, and he still didn’t slow down. The car pulled onto the shoulder and out of his way. There were no others.

  The black wedge only seemed to grow. Pieces of debris pummeled the Jeep, thumping and smacking the roof and the hood.

  “It’s crossing!” Jason said. “Look it’s crossing the interstate.” Jason pointed with his prosthetic hand even as he braced his other against the dash. “Oh my God, it’s crossing right where we were.”

  Creed eased up a bit, but kept backing the Jeep away.

  “That car’s too close,” he said. The vehicle that h
ad pulled onto the shoulder to get out of his way had stayed put. “What the hell’s wrong with them? Did you see who was behind the wheel?”

  “Hell no! I haven’t taken my eyes off that monster.”

  Everything was a blur through the rain. But Creed could see electrical poles snapping in half, one after another. Power lines swung free and whipped around. A billboard went airborne. Its steel pole bended over.

  “Look at that.” Jason pointed to an object flapping out of the column of black. “Wow! That’s a roof. A whole roof! It must have picked it up from somewhere else and it’s tossing it out.”

  They were far enough away now that the debris wasn’t hitting them. Creed finally brought the Jeep to a stop. He kept his foot on the brake. He didn’t shift into park. He wanted to be able to go again if he had to.

  “It might be headed for Montgomery,” Jason said “And it doesn’t look like it’s lifting up. God, that thing is massive.”

  Creed put the Jeep in park, but left the engine idling. He clicked out of his seatbelt and twisted around to the dogs. Both of them were wide-eyed and panting. Grace clawed at the grate when she saw she had his attention. He reached his hand over the console and offered her two fingers.

  “You okay, girl? How bout you, Scout? It’s okay. We’re all okay.”

  “Oh man, look at that! It just hit that building.”

  Creed glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a two-story cinder block explode, flinging bricks and glass. Shipping crates and trailers crumpled like tin cans. Some of them got sucked into the black whirling mass. The lights along and inside the small industrial complex flashed and blinked out. The roof of another structure peeled away.

  In the distance a blue-green flash lit up the black sky.