Chapter 8 C8

Ryan

After breakfast, I stand outside in the spot where the reception on my sat phone is the best, holding Ana's list in my hand. I've been dreading this call even more than I usually dread calling Joe. Just as I'm about to dial his number, I hear the sound of a helicopter approaching. I duck behind the cabin as the chopper flies over, heading in the direction of the crash.

Despite my resolution not to leave Ana alone in the cabin again, I went back to the crash site again yesterday morning to see if there was anything I missed or anything she left behind. But as I was driving up, I heard noises indicating human activity. I killed the engine in my ATV and crept up to the site as quietly as someone with a crippling limp can. The crash had been discovered. Police officers, US Marshals, Mountain Rescue, and even news station employees were swarming all over. I quietly returned to my ATV and drove home as fast as I could.

I punch Joe's number in and call. He picks up after a few rings.

"What's popping?"

I cringe at the ridiculous phrase. He's older than me, but still manages to maintain the maturity level of a high school jock.

"It's me," I say, knowing my distinctive voice, another gift from the explosion that crippled me, makes me easy to recognize.

"Oh." The voice on the other end sounds disappointed.

"What, were you expecting someone else?"

"Yeah, someone other than the Grim Reaper."

"Knock it off. I need some additional items in this shipment. You're going to need to write this down." I start with items on Ana's list that aren't explicitly feminine. Once Joe's got all that, I hesitate.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah." I haven't really figured out how to explain this yet. I decide to launch into the list. After the first few items, Joe stops me.

"Whoa whoa whoa what the hell is this? Have you taken up cross dressing, or do you have a lady friend staying with you?"

I wish he could see my glare through the phone. "Something like that."

"Oooooooh getting some action out in the wild. Tell me, is she into maimed guys? When you touch her with that three-fingered hand of yours, does she -"

"Shut it, Joe," I growl. "It's not like that. And even if it was, do I bother you about your peculiar tastes?"

That silences him, as if he just now conveniently remembered that I'm blackmailing him just as much as I am Mom, Dad, and the rest of the family. After a long pause, he finally speaks again.

"What was it that you said you wanted?"

I begin reading Ana's list to him again, wanting to hurl the phone at a tree every time he starts to snicker. I make him repeat the list back to me, just to make sure he got everything down right.

"I want to make something very clear to you. If you breathe a word to anyone about the woman, I'll call TMZ and tell them everything I know, starting with the dirt I have on you. Got it?"

"Yeah," he says, sounding even less happy to be having this conversation than he did when he realized his brother had called him.

"And I want three more guns," I say.

"Three? How can two not be enough?" His voice holds all the disdain he and the rest of my family have for firearms. "Are you trying to become president of the NRA?"

I ignore his comment and begin describing the two hand guns I want for me and Ana, as well as the rifle for Ana.

Joe sighs. "Is that it?"

"Yes. Wait - one more thing."

Joe groans.

"It's not like any of this is coming out of your wallet. Besides, I want news. Have you seen anything in the last day and half about a helicopter crash out here?"

"In Alaska?"

"Yes, moron, Alaska. Not LA."

"No."

"Well can you look it up?"

Joe sighs again and sets down the phone. A few seconds later, he picks it up again.

"Actually yeah, it is on the news. It's everywhere this morning. It's trending on like every social media site."

"What happened?"

"'A helicopter containing four passengers crashed in the Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area on March 19th. The crash site was finally discovered early yesterday morning after two weeks of searching. All four of the passengers were recovered dead at the scene.' Hey, isn't that near where you live?"

"This is the largest county in the United States. Only California, Texas, and Alaska itself are larger. Does it say anything more about the passengers?"

"I'm looking - oh here it is. 'One of the passengers, a twenty-one year old female named Anastasia Clarence, was in WITSEC after witnessing the murder of her parents and sixteen year old sister four months earlier. Hers was among the bodies recovered at the scene.'"

I frown. Hers was not among the bodies recovered at the scene. Why is incorrect information being broadcast?

"'The NTSB is investigating the accident, and though the formal report will not be available for several weeks, inclement weather is the likely cause of this devastating accident.'"

This was not an accident. The weather was fine that day. It's as though falsified information is purposefully being reported. But why? The police have to know that the people hunting Ana did this and that they know she got away. Suddenly it hits me. Ana. Her family. She told me her family was dead, but I hadn't realized they'd been murdered. And she witnessed it. No wonder she has nightmares. In addition to that, she's twenty one. The same age I was when-

"Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, what?"

"Have you been listening to a word I've said?"

"No."

"I said, how'd you know a helicopter crashed if you hadn't seen it? Is that girl staying at your place connected to this?"

Great. I guess I walked into this one. The best way to shut him up is probably to scare him straight.

"That helicopter crash wasn't an accident, Joe. It was shot out of the sky."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I found it and I saw the bullet holes in the fuel tank."

"Bullet holes?"

"Yeah. And those people in the helicopter didn't die on impact. They were shot in the head. One of them had been shot in the chest sixteen times." That's a massive exaggeration, but Joe doesn't know that.

"Ugh. Now do you see why I don't like guns? Why do you want more of them?"

"Because the people who did this are still here. They want something, and they'll kill anyone who stands in their way." Saying they want some one would be more accurate, but again, Joe doesn't need to know that. "They will kill anyone who really knows what happened at that crash site, which includes you now. So you'd better not tell anyone about it."

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way. Now I've got another secret to keep. And you never told me how your new girlfriend fits into all this."

"Oh trust me, it gets much worse if you know about her."

"Yeah ok. Just forget I asked. What else do you want from me?"

I guess that's his way of asking if I'm finished with our conversation. I answer by hanging up on him.

I continue to stand outside as my mind reels with the new information I've been given.

Anastasia Clarence.

I suppose that's why she almost choked when she gave the name Analise Gillman . Her real name is Anastasia. Don't they give people new identities when they're in witness protection? Maybe that's why she fed me such an obvious lie. At least now I know Ana is legit.

Twenty-one year old.

I knew she had to be at least eighteen when she told me about going to college, so I'd no longer felt criminal in my slight attraction toward her. But twenty-one. She's only five years younger than me. When I found her in the woods and tried to keep her alive in the cabin, she looked so young and almost childlike as she slept. I was twenty-one when the bomb that killed Jeremy took half of my face and body with it. She lost everything at twenty-one just like I did.

Witnessing the murder of her parents and sixteen year old sister.

I should have figured it out last night when she asked if I'd ever watched someone die. She watched her family - her mom, her dad, and her little sister - die. The people who did that to her family have been chasing her ever since. This must be the source of her nightmares. These are the people who took down the helicopter.

How did you get into this mess, Ana?

There are a million questions I want to ask her. I know instantly that I can't ask them, though. She's been thoroughly terrorized throughout the last four months. The last thing she needs is someone poking around and trying to dredge this stuff up. She seems to be barely holding herself together as it is. What she needs is someone to keep her safe and protect her. The man who was supposed to do that is probably lying in a morgue at the moment. Now, she's my responsibility.

No one is going to hurt Ana while I'm still breathing.

~~~

Back inside, Ana is reading Phantom with a skeptical look on her face. As she reads, she continues to look more and more incredulous until she closes the book with a dull thunk and slaps it down on the coffee table. I feel a smile spread across the unmarred parts of my face.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I just," she says, staring down at the book in front of her. "I didn't expect the book to be like this."

"Like what?"

"Like -" she pauses, then looks up at me. "I didn't expect the Phantom - Erik, I guess - I didn't expect the book to portray him as such an evil, deranged psycho."

"He is, though. Evil, deranged, psychotic."

"Maybe, but in the musical and the movie adaptations, he's," she stops again and looks out the window. She runs a hand through her hair. "He's still a murderer, and he makes bad choices, and he doesn't really consider the well-being of others, but he's not crazy. Well, maybe he's a little crazy, but not like this."

"What's he like in those versions?"

"He's more the romantic hero, but that he doesn't seem to regret his past mistakes or try to make up for them. So many people prefer him over Raoul and think Christine should have ended up with him."

"What?" I ask, unbelieving. The book must be very different, then.

"In the movie, I thought Raoul was a whiny, sniveling wimp. He was kind of obnoxious. And the Phantom is dark and brooding and mysterious and passionate. Raoul is like a wilted flower in comparison."

Her entire demeanor is animated. She's gesturing with her hands and her face displays a myriad of expressions. I've never seen her so in her element. It's endearing.

"But the Phantom is a sociopath."

"A little bit, but that's because the world has betrayed and rejected him. And in the end, he loves Christine, and though he comes off as a little crazy, it seems born out of a sense of desperation rather than true madness. And he makes the right decision, in the end, to let her go."

"Did you finish the book?"

"No."

"Maybe you should," I say, knowing the ending.

"Ugh! But this book is making me root for Raoul. Raoul!"

She looks at me with an expression that suggests that this is a fate worse than death.

"You can't judge a book if you haven't read the whole thing."

One eyebrow raises. "Watch me."

I shake my head and walk to the bookshelf, picking out a Tom Clancy novel I've read before. I settle into my side of the couch and hear an exasperated sigh from her side.

"Fine," she says and picks the book back up again.

After a few minutes of pretending to read, I glance up at her. I'm glad to see that even though Ana has her dark moments like the night before, she can still exude life and exuberance for something. I wonder if I've just glimpsed the real, pre-tragedy Ana.

If so, I certainly hope to see more of her.