Serena loved the idea so much that she decided she would test the route out herself. Protocol required them to try the route out a few times first before offering it as a tour. She would make the first pass tomorrow, bright and early. But what should she do now? She still had a lot of energy to burn and even though she didn’t want to, there were things to think through.
Maybe I could fit in a little hike now. Something challenging but short enough so I don’t get caught out there when the sun goes down
. She sifted through files of tried and true routes collected over the years and immersed herself in the project. She finally found the perfect hike for her needs. Cookstove Trail. Challenging and isolated, not many tourists hiked there at all.
What a perfect way to soothe my antsy pants and mind
. Thrilled to be going out on a much needed and long-overdue hike, he gathered her equipment and supplies, told Callie she was leaving, and slipped out to her Jeep unseen.
Serena pulled off onto the shoulder near mile marker 387 on Route 89A and stuck her business credentials pass on the dashboard. Reaching into her glove compartment, she sifted through the odds and ends in search of a hair band. She knew she’d find one. She always left them in there. Her finger snagged one, and she proceeded to wrangle it around her golden mane. Getting out of her Jeep, she hoisted her backpack of supplies and gear onto her broad shoulders, and she began her walk. The trail took about a mile’s hike to reach the top of the east wall of Oak Creek Canyon. The splendid spot gave hikers a glorious view of the canyon and various rock formations, as well as a place for personal reflection and contemplation.
Given the temperature, Serena prepared for a brutal hike in more ways than one. Having been away from hiking for a bit, she felt the burn in her muscles as she trudged and climbed along the trail.
“But it’s a good burn,” she coached herself. Every step she took marked a milestone considering what had happened to her just a couple of weeks ago, and she gloried in the fact that she could once again do what she loved to do, be out where she loved to be, and not let fear destroy what she held so dear to her heart. These were her mountains, and no one would keep her away. Her body screamed in defiance as she approached her goal. “Go ahead! Scream all you want! I’m still gonna reach my mark!” And she did.
Hiking through the pain in her thighs and calves, she reached a point of jubilation. The endorphins had kicked in, and she felt as if she could hike Mount Everest if asked to. Her lungs were on fire as she breathed deeply, the smell of the pine trees erupting images of Christmas in her mind. She picked her perfect rock to sit on, one that had the most extraordinary vistas of red rock, white cliffs, and the bluest of skies. The real beauty of it all? No one around to disturb her. Absolutely no one.
Serena dripped with sweat and it felt great. Her muscles were trembling from the intense strain they’d been made to endure. She downed one of her bottles of water in one long swig, using another one to completely drench herself. “Now! Now I can think!” she shouted out loud to the birds and any other miscellaneous animals that happened to be nearby.
“Okay, Dad, what would you tell me to do about Raphael? Well, you’d probably tell me to give him some leeway. Having lost a wife yourself, starting a relationship with a new woman is hell, and there are bound to be plenty of mistakes made along the way. I guess that’s why you never did find another and remarry, huh? I guess I could see my way to forgiving Raphael his missteps on that account. But that doesn’t resolve the trust issue. How will I ever be sure he loves me and wants me for me? I don’t see that happening. I’m too much of a reminder of his dead wife.
“And how do I resolve the fact that his dead wife’s soul is inside me? I don’t just look like the woman. For goodness sakes, at times I am the woman! Come to think of it, can I even trust my own feelings for Raphael? What if she’s made me fall in love with him? What if what I’m feeling has been a pure manipulation on her part all in an effort to get back to her husband? I’ve become quite an asset to her, haven’t I?”
Serena knocked the side of her head with her fist and then shook it in the air.
That woman’s gotten me nearly killed three times over. Damn her
!
But I vow to fight her tooth and nail to keep me. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a dead woman’s soul replace my own. Even if it means never seeing Raphael again
! Serena jumped up from her seat and paced anxiously. She picked up a branch and tapped it on the ground in front of her.
“Oh, my lord. This Dr. Chappo obviously knows what her powers were and thinks I have the same. What if I do? If her soul is within me, can I do what she used to do? Maybe coming out here alone wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve ever had.”
***
Wheezer and Steve had gotten a perfect view as Serena hopped in her Jeep and headed off to parts as yet unknown.
“When the hell did she slip in?” Wheezer wondered as he put the car in drive and peeled out of their hiding spot.
“Well let’s think about this. Didn’t we waste twenty minutes picking up the worst fucking burgers in the USA? My guess is she came in to work while we were out. We wouldn’t have realized it because her Jeep is like all the others. Anyways, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got her now. Just don’t get too close to her, Wheezer. I don’t want her getting skittish and bolting.”
“I know how to tail someone, Steve. What do you think I am, a weekend thug or somethin’?” He gave Steve a caustic look.
“Or somethin’ is right. I don’t want to fuck this up again, man. Hey, watch the goddamn road, will ya! You almost slammed right into that pickup truck,” Steve shouted as his feet flew up to the dashboard.
“Hey! You either shut up or drive, man. Pick one.”
“I’m shuttin’ up, I’m shuttin’ up,” Steve grumbled, crossed his arms over his chest, and concentrated on finding Serena on the road.
“Damn it, where did she go?” Steve fumed. Wheezer had pulled up behind Serena’s empty Jeep, and now they were standing there like idiots wondering what to do next.
“I don’t know, man. Obviously she went in there.” Wheezer pointed to the forested area. “There must be a trail to follow. Why don’t we go on in a ways and see what we got here?”
“Yeah, all right.”
He looked at Steve’s suit thinking how ridiculously dressed he was for an impromptu jaunt into the forest. In fact, they both looked ridiculous, wearing Italian suits and dress shoes. But if Serena had gone in there, they were bound and determined to get her.
“Shit, man! It’s fucking steep. There’s no way we’re going any further in these shoes. I’m tellin’ ya.” Steve hissed as he involuntarily slid back down the trail.
“You’re right.”
“Let’s go back to the car, pull it back a ways, and sit and wait for her to come back. Nobody’s around. We can nab her real fast with no one the wiser.”
“Works for me.” Wheezer got back in the car.
***
“You…were married?” Kemuel blurted. With Serena gone AWOL, Raphael had gathered a few of the Brethren at the safe house and told them about his past and his tragic life with Sirona. “And she was a goddess? Jesus, Raphael, no wonder you were so messed up. I would have been, too. Well that explains a lot, now doesn’t it, Gabe?”
“What do you mean by that?” Raphael raised a suspicious brow.
“Well, come on. You’re an amazing Savior. The best we have. And you’re always so caring about the people you heal. But, there’s always something that holds you separate and apart from not just the human race, but us as well.”
“I agree, Kem,” Gabriel added. “I always equated it to you having an emotional lobotomy. And I guess, in a way, you really did. We all did, come to think of it, courtesy of E.L. We all arrived on earth around the same time, so if we didn’t know about this, he must have put the whammy on all of us, as well. So, seeing Serena in the desert must have really messed you up, brother.”
“I had no clue about my past until she grabbed my arm in the hospital. Something clicked, and all of my memories came crashing back into me.”
“So, your wife’s soul is currently inhabiting Serena’s body? Sucks for her, not so much for you.” Kemuel’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “You’ve got the best of both worlds.”
“Damn it! That’s exactly why Serena’s so pissed at me right now. She thinks I’m with her because of Sirona, and I’m here to tell you that it’s not true. But she won’t believe me since I didn’t tell her about it immediately.”
“Smooth move.” Kemuel punched Raphael in the arm.
“Screw you, Kem.” Raphael socked him in the ribs. “Listen, before I made contact with Serena, I had no idea about that particular period of my life. But now that I do, I had to tell you because there can be no secrets between us. Now I think you can see how important it is to keep Serena safe. What news do you have, Gabriel?”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, brother, but we are at a dead end.” Gabriel’s face pinched at the admission. “Without Serena remembering what these two guys looked like, we started out behind the eight ball. Now, with that guy Bull dead, we’re shit out of luck.”
“I know, I know,” Raphael concurred reluctantly. “But I tell you, if Kemuel hadn’t killed him, she would be in an insane asylum right now, with me down the hall. Just ask him, right?” Kemuel nodded vigorously. “Anyway, something else you should know. I got my powers restored.”
“You did? That’s amazing! Congratulations! I guess whatever kicked your ass got its own ass kicked, huh?” Kemuel laughed heartily and gave him a good-natured slap on the back.
“That about sums it up, and now my ass is twice as sore, if you catch my drift. So Gabriel, let’s return to the issue at hand. We have no leads. We don’t know who these two guys are We’re at a dead end. I can’t keep Serena locked away, unfortunately, because I made a royal mess out of things with her, and she took off.
“The one saving grace is that we have a strong threaded connection, so I can feel her emotions and actually detect where she is to a certain extent. She may equate me with the plague right now, but I don’t have to be near her to keep tabs on her. See, I can tell she’s been doing something strenuous, like hiking, and she’s pissed and sad and joyous, all in one. She must be somewhere in the mountains. Her heart rate indicates she’s calming down. She may have stopped for a break.”
“Nice trick there, brother. But can you get an exact location?” asked Gabriel.
“Unfortunately, no.” Annoyance played a symphony with his voice. “You see, I can sense her, but she can’t sense me. In order to get an exact location, we would need both of us communicating through our thread, creating coordinates. But she’s mortal, which could be what’s presenting the roadblock. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Well, we’re at an impasse, but as long as you can keep tabs on her, that’s about all we have to rely on,” said Kemuel. “I’d rather be proactive and catch the guys, but if something does happen, at least we’ll know it and be able to follow a bit of a trail to her. In fact, if and when you know her exact location, we can set up a detail to follow her a bit more closely than you can. She hasn’t met all of the Brethren. We could send Urie or Nathanael out to tail her. If anyone does decide to show up and start trouble for her, they’ll be right there.”
“Great idea,” Gabriel agreed. “I’ll get in touch with them and put them on standby.”
“All right, brothers, keep in touch, and thanks for everything,” Raphael offered humbly.
“No thanks necessary. We’re all so busy saving humanity. Sometimes we forget we need a bit of saving ourselves,” Gabriel accepted graciously as he and Kemuel walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Realizing she may have put herself at risk even though she had checked numerous times for anyone following her, Serena hastily packed up her belongings and made the arduous trek back to the trail’s beginning. She returned to her Jeep a different person though, a person maybe without all of the answers, but definitely more assured of what she wanted for herself. She had come to certain understandings about Raphael. She had decided that they did not have a future together, but she could forgive him his cowardice at not revealing Sirona as his wife. She had declared war on Sirona’s soul.
I’m not sure how this is going to turn out, but at least everyone knows where they stand
. And she had a better knowledge of the possible motives behind Dr. Chappo’s obsession with her.
Knowledge is power. I may not be a goddess, but I’m one strong-willed, pint-sized woman
!
***
Wheezer watched as Serena emerged from the forest. He saw her look around tentatively as she put her backpack in the back seat.
“She must be on to us.” He spoke in barely a whisper.
“How the hell could she be on to us? She never saw us pull up! You’re such an idiot sometimes,” Steve whispered back furiously. “You got the chloroform and the rag?”
“Yeah, I got it right here.” He pointed to his shirt pocket.
“Well, take it out and get her before we miss our chance!”
The two of them were only about fifteen feet from Serena’s Jeep, but their whispers and movements were camouflaged by animal noises and wind rustling through the various trees and bushes. Wheezer snuck up by her right bumper, and as she passed it, he jumped out of the brush, grabbed her to him around her upper arms with one hand while he tried to shove the chloroform-soaked rag over her nose and mouth with the other.
He didn’t count on Serena’s side view mirror giving his appearance away. In a matter of seconds, Serena broke his hold on her and thrust the heel of her right foot into his balls. He crashed into the bumper and saw her run back up the trail as he fell to the ground. Cursing, he curled up his body from the painful impact of her assault.
Steve picked up the chloroform-soaked rag and threw off his fancy shoes and jacket. “Son of a bitch!” He was as angry as a rattlesnake, and threw all caution to the wind to keep her in his sight.
Damn, she’s quick, and much better prepared to hike through this steep and rugged terrain than me
. Too afraid to lose her again, he picked up the pace even more. He had a clear image of Dr. Chappo ready to slice off his balls if he came back empty-handed.