They were all crowded into Steel’s living room, reminding him far too much of the afternoon when they’d told the club about Jenna’s diagnosis. Not everyone was present. Scar was at his house recovering with Tally, Bulldog was at his houseguarding the club kids with the prospects, and Jumper was at his house, unable to attend due to a migraine. There was a good chance the events from the day before had brought on a PTSD episode, his first in several months.
Jenna was upstairs resting. Steel had a baby monitor on him so he could see and hear her if needed. It had been a rough night, and he was exhausted, but Ghost insisted he be present for the meeting. This was the first time Steel had been a part of a Church meeting without leading it. All night his mind had been trying to figure out what had happened, and beyond that, how and why.
Steel relied on his gut a lot. Instincts honed over the decades that had hinted when his father was at his worst, when the enemy was near, when someone close to him was about to do something stupid… He wasn’t psychic by any means, but he trusted his instincts. And his gut had been screaming at him all night while he took care of Jenna that what had happened on the ice was personal.
Jenna’s flare-up was another pseudo-exacerbation brought on by the stress of the situation, and possibly the cold of the day. No new symptoms presented, nor had her symptoms worsened beyond what they’d been in the past during an attack. Though exhausted, Jenna hadn’t been able to sleep, and Steel had remained by her side as the worst passed before he was finally able to hold her without causing her more pain.
That was perhaps the worst of it, knowing his touch did not bring her comfort in those moments. After giving her a high-dose anti-inflammatory prescribed by her doctor, he’d carried her home and helped her change. Jenna had been embarrassed at first about the idea of wearing adult diapers, but it was not uncommon for a person to lose control of their bladder and bowels during a flare-up. However, she would rather wear the discreet undergarment than risk having an accident in public. Besides Steel, who couldn’t give a shit, no one would know. As hehad pointed out to her months ago, he was the only one allowed to do an underwear check on her, and he already knew.
After getting her cleaned up, he’d laid her in their bed, but had not pulled her against him as he so desperately wanted to. Instead, he faced her and played with the one part of her he knew wouldn’t cause her pain: a lock of her hair. He talked about bullshit, things he couldn’t even remember now. At one point, he even pulled out his phone and read the latest news reports. Just to keep her distracted.
Eleven hours. It had taken just over eleven hours for Jenna’s symptoms to die down. Eleven fuckinghoursof watching the love of his life in pain, barely able to see or talk, and not be able to do a goddamn thing about it.
He’d rather have bamboo shoved below his fingernails than suffer through that again. But he knew he wouldn’t get his wish, because itwouldhappen again. They would continue to do what they could to slow the progression, but eventually, she would have a full relapse. And when that occurred, there was no going back. Not at her age.
He would do whatever it took to keep that from happening for as long as he could. If removing all the stress from her life was the key, he would do that. He didn’t know how, because fuckinglifewas stressful, but he’d figure it out. Take them back to the Bahamas permanently if needed.
He’d thought he’d already removed some of the stress from their lives. He’d given up his presidency, and yet here he was, back in a Church meeting.
Keys did something on his tablet and then Steel’s widescreen television turned on. Steel frowned, because he hadn’t seen Keys touch the remote. Jordan, their middle child, had given his parentsRokudevices last Christmas for this television and the one in their bedroom. He’d even shown them how to use the app to control it, but Steel preferred the remote.
Then again, seeing how uncomfortable Keys had been around so much physical paperwork when he’d given Steel his complete files also clued Steel into the differences between their generations.
Too bad all those trees had been sacrificed for nothing. Steel hadn’t found a damn thing in them about who had set him up for murder.
“Calcium chloride, to be more precise,” Keys continued. “Watch this.”
It was a night vision view of the pond and woods at the back of the clubhouse from two nights ago. Snow was already coming down heavily. For a long moment, nothing moved aside from the rapidly falling flakes. Then something shifted by the trees.
Steel’s eyes narrowed, but it was Ghost who asked, “What is that?”
Keys grimaced before saying, “Keep watching.”
The…whatever it wasmoved painstakingly slow. Inch by inch as it emerged from the trees and moved towards the frozen pond. The shape of it reminded Steel of a giant, white caterpillar. Every once in a while, the heat levels on the camera would flare. Just for a second, and then the caterpillar would freeze and the levels would return to normal.
Keys started speeding up the video until the caterpillar was at the edge of the pond. The edge where Tally and Scar had been skating on their own. There was already a layer of snow covering the ice, but the outline of the pond was still visible. The heavy snowfall from that night had covered the few inches of snow that had been on the ground since mid-November. Due to the mountain that surrounded their small town, Mount Grove’s snow tended to remain throughout the winter rather than melt as the surrounding area did.
The caterpillar remained at the edge for nearly an hour. With the snowfall, it was difficult to see what it was doing. Eventually, it turned itself around and headed back towards the woods.
“Motion sensors didn’t pick him up due to the snowfall,” Keys explained. “As you could see, heat sensors tried. I am assuming the suit he was wearing had a lining that prevented his body heat from being detected.” The recording rewound until the figure was returned to the edge of the pond. “It’s subtle, and I had to enhance the pixels, but he is throwing something onto the snow and ice. Only in that section. If you continue to watch through the night, the snow there isn’t as thick.”
“You’re saying that a little bit of salt tossed onto the pond caused the ice to crack like that?” Ghost asked, his voice skeptical but also angry.
Steel looked at his successor. He hadn’t forgotten what Ghost had asked of him the afternoon before, just as Jenna’s relapse had started. Steel had always prided himself on being levelheaded, on thinking ten moves ahead, of knowing that he had come up with a plan that would bringeveryonehome. Ghost had a similar mindset, his SEAL training able to help him make predictions and understand the outcome of his strategies.
But he openly had a fault: he was a full-blooded ginger, and his anger when triggered, could burn the world down. He’d trained himself to suppress it, to think before he acted, but there were times when he neared boiling point. And now, someone was threatening the people he loved and had pledged to protect.
Ghost had beseeched Steel to help keep him in check, but Steel no longer believed he was the man for the job.
This man, this snowy caterpillar with his fists full of salt, had started a domino effect that had ended with Jenna having a pseudo-exacerbation. Steel wouldn’t be able to hold Ghost back from going scorched earth on this motherfucker, because he’d be too busy already burning the bastard alive.
Keys shook his head, “We wiped a lot of it away when we cleared the snow from the pond, but it would have melted into the top layer at that section. Look, I’m not a chemist, but from what I’ve been able to research, the amount of salt I found would explain what happened. This man,” Keys pointed to the television, “put enough salt down to weaken the ice. I tested Scar’s and Tally’s skates too, and their blades were covered in it. I mean, it’s Scar and Tally and they’re both part ninja, but it might explain why they kept slipping and sliding. You know, more than the fact that we finally found something that Scar sucks at.”
As others chuckled, Ghost stared at the monitor. “Who is he?”
“You saw as much as I did,” Keys answered, his glasses slipping down his nose. “But I can tell you, he’s been here for a while.”
Steel wasn’t the only one who stiffened at those words.
