Earthshaker

Chapter 33

Chapter 33When we'd finished talking with Mahoney, we found rooms at a nearby chain motel and unloaded what little we'd packed in our overnight bags. Laurel and I shared a room, mainly so I could keep an eye on her and prevent any surprise barroom brawls in the middle of the night.

Once we'd gotten settled, Laurel and I locked up and went out to knock on the door of Duke's room, which was adjacent to ours. The door popped open after one knock. "Shall we, ladies?" Duke looked snappy in a navy blue sweater vest and red bow tie over a light blue collared shirt. "Who's ready for some fine dining?"

The three of us walked across the road to a Kentucky Fried Chicken and ordered at the counter. Then sat down with our trays at a booth by a window.

"So who do you think will come through?" I said between bites of chicken. "Corinne or Mahoney?"

Duke shrugged. "I think they're both well-intentioned people."

"What will we do if neither one of them can help us?" said Laurel. "What's Plan C?"

I held up my open hand, then clenched it into a fist. "Break out the super powers and force our way in there. Use the element of surprise and shake 'em up."

Laurel got a dark look on her face. "Maybe that should be Plan A."

"I can't argue with you," I said.

"It's taking an effort to keep myself from going up there right now and Plan C-ing the whole place," said Laurel.

"I hear ya'." As I spooned mashed potatoes and gravy into my mouth, I watched Laurel with genuine worry. Wondered if I was going to have to fight her again to keep her from blowing our mission.

"What do we do if both our leads pan out?" said Duke. "If Mahoney and Corinne both find us a way in?"

"We split up." I broke apart my buttermilk biscuit and squeezed margarine from a packet on both halves. "Double our chances of getting answers."

"How will we stay in touch?" said Duke. "There might not be cell phone service up there."

"We need two-way radios," said Laurel. "Walky-talkies."

"Assuming they don't take them from us," said Duke.

I swallowed a mouthful of biscuit. "Mahoney outfits hikers and climbers. I'll bet he can get us a set of walkies right away. No need to wait."

"So we're going up tomorrow?" said Laurel.

I nodded and reached for a drumstick. "As soon as we have a way in, we take it. We find the son of a b***h and take him down."

"Are we ready for that?" said Duke. "The killer gave the two of you a run for your money, didn't he?"

"We'll manage." I bit off a hunk of chicken and chewed.

"What if there are more like him at Parapets?" said Duke. "What if there are two or three or five or ten of them, all as powerful as the one who almost beat you?"

"Don't worry about it." I smirked. One thing about my "smooth sailing" mood, it allows no doubts, for better or worse. Recklessness a distinct possibility. "We've got the firepower to do the job, Duke."

Duke shook his head. "We should wait." He tapped his finger across the table like he was playing notes on a piano. "Wait for Briar, at least. And what about your people, Laurel? Any chance you could call in some support from Landkind?"

"I won't do it unless we have no other choice," said Laurel. "Enough of them have been hurt because of me. Poisoned because they're part of my mountain range."

"But if you're trying to save lives," said Duke. "Stop the poison from spreading..."

"We don't need them, Duke." I brushed my hand through the air. "We'll be fine." I still felt the new strength sizzling within me, the aftereffect of the power surge. The fulfillment of the vision of myself as someone with so much more to offer. I truly believed I could take all comers single-handedly.

Duke stopped tapping the table and leaned toward me. "Every stop to think you might not be the one holding the fishing pole this time?"

I gulped down more chicken and chased it with iced tea. "Doesn't matter."

"What if they're expecting you?" Duke narrowed his eyes. "What if the map was bait? What if they lured you here for a reason?"

I shrugged. "The plan's the same. The killer's at Parapets. We find him and kick his ass."

"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Duke scowled. "Are you that determined to get yourself killed? Because you feel responsible for what happened to Aggie?"

Duke hardly ever got mad at me, but I could tell it was happening now. It set me back, but not enough to make me change my mind. "It's not like that, Duke."

He got up from the table and grabbed his tray of food. "I won't help you kill yourself. Not again." Suddenly, he clamped his mouth shut, spun on his heel, and stormed off. Dumped food and garbage and all into the trash can and marched out the door.

I watched through the window as he hiked across the street to the motel. "What the hell did he mean by that?" I said.

"He was speaking figuratively, right?" said Laurel. "Like he's helped you do risky things in the past?"

"Yeah." I stared as his light blue sleeves disappeared around the corner of the motel. "That must be what he meant."