Entrapped

21 - The scars

Chloe tries to summarize the whole thing: "It is a mouthful, but I'm going to try. Lyle confided in me and told me that their ordeal in the mountain hadn't been an accident, because a truck had deliberately pushed them over the cliff. I then asked Hunter, an old detective friend of my father, for help. We took Lyle to his school this morning and Hunter investigated the accident scène and it correlated with Lyle's story. Now Hunter believes our lives are in danger. He thinks this place is unsafe and he is sleeping here tonight and tomorrow he will ask Robert's assistance to make the place safe by putting lights around the house, install an alarm and security gates and what have you."

Astonished Isaac's eyes widen. "Goodness, Chloe, many things have happened today. When did Lyle speak to you?"

"Two days ago during visiting hours but he wanted to keep it quiet because he was afraid people will think he is whacky. The moment he told me I realized why the brake marks down the whole steep decline seemed so peculiar. The reason is that damn truck pushed them all the way down to the next sharp bend where they crashed through the barrier wall and went over. It must have been a harrowing experience!"

"Why would someone want to push them over, Chloe?"

"We think someone tried to murder them and tried to make it look like an accident. But then the miracle happened and they survived. Hunter is going to investigate all my friends and family after he has completed the safeguarding of this place."

Isaac frowns concerned. "Good heavens! This sounds bad. It is a good thing Hunter is worried about you and with good reason, too."

Chloe smiles. "Shame, he and my father were bosom pals. They grew up together; attended school together and later on had tough times in the army as operational soldiers in the bush war. I didn't know him well; I was only a teenage girl when he sometimes visited my father on the farm. I was always fascinated by my father's appreciation of his visits. My father never talked about his army days, but Hunter told me that my father had been very brave and risked his life to save him on many occasions and that he now will do everything in his power to protect our family."

Isaac is impressed. "Hunter seems like a very interesting guy. I would like to meet him, Chloe.

"Isaac, I am not going to disturb him now. He is sleeping like a baby. He had been working through the nights with his previous case. He's not going to take on new cases and will spend all his time to ensure we are safe."

***

Chloe awakens in her pitch dark room and wonders how late it is. She hears the barefoot steps again above her head in the attic. Are those ghost children fooling around again? She holds her breath and listens intently and wonders if it isn't her imagination because it becomes quiet again.

Then the bead curtain tells her that something is moving out of the sitting room and she gets goosebumps. She stares into the dark and tries to see the entrance to her room where an intruder might enter, but it is so dark she can hardly see her hand in front of her eyes. The bead curtain at the kitchen now tells her the intruders are on their way to the kitchen. Damn! Tonight she is going to surprise them. She must act quickly. She must ascertain whether it is rats or something else. These miserable things again probably entered through the windows in the attic.

Chloe jumps out of the bed and run for the light's chain, feels it and pulls. She shuts her eyes against the blinding light but simultaneously hears the thing moving through the bead curtain of the kitchen. Then she hears the footsteps running down the corridor and just when her eyes focus on the corridor, she sees the swaying curtain leading to the sitting room.

Chloe runs hastily into the dark sitting room and pulls the chain above the coffee table. She looks up to the stairs, but once again she is too late. She hears the footsteps in the attic.

Determined she runs up the stairs and through the curtain but when she pulls the chain she once again finds the attic empty and the windows wide open.

"Dammit! You rascals!"

She runs to the farthest window where she thought she heard the last footsteps and looks all around the window and gazes out into the dark, eerie woods. Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

"What are you doing, Chloe?"

Fright runs like an electric shock through her in her pajamas in front of the open window and she turns with lightning speed and takes on the defence stance that Tony taught her. Then she realizes it is Hunter in front of her and relaxes and takes on a normal stance.

"Whoa Hunter, you gave me a mighty fright."

Hunter is impressed. "I see Tony trained you thoroughly, Chloe, that was the perfect Wing Chung kung fu defence position. That is the best for hand-to-hand combat and it comes naturally, but what are you doing in front of the window? I think you have awakened me by your yelling."

Frustrated Chloe frowns. "Something is coming through these windows, Hunter, and I wanted to see what the heck it is. I forgot to buy latches for these windows. It sounds like barefoot steps of small children over the floors but it vanishes every time before I am able to see them. I shouted out of frustration when I was too late to catch it."

Hunter smiles. "Maybe it is the ghosts they were talking about, but Robert and I will get the latches and install them later today, Chloe."

Chloe frowns angrily. "There are no such things as ghosts, Hunter."

"Relax, Chloe, I'm joking ... I'm sure it will stop after we have installed the latches. I only wonder if it doesn't stop after we've installed the latches ..." He smiles naughtily.

Chloe winks at him: "You really enjoy teasing me about these feigned ghosts, don't' you?"

Hunter's gown has shifted and exposes his right breast and shoulder showing a very bad scar from an old, deep wound on the side of his breast muscle. Chloe moves forward and puts her finger on the scar.

"What happened here, Hunter?"

"One of my war leftovers. Do you want to see the wounds I got during Operation Coolidge when your father saved my life time and again?"

"Yes, please."

Hunter pulls the gown down to expose his upper arm and Chloe sees the deep scar where something must have torn out a piece of his flesh. Hunter turns and pulls the gown away so that his thigh shows. Part of it is also mutilated. Flesh was torn out and left a deep scar.

Chloe inhales deeply. "Wow! You had major damage. How many times were you wounded and what was the cause of it?"

"These two wounds were made by AK 47 rounds while Tony threw himself over me trying to save me from the razor wire that kept me helpless. Just after that, a grenade detonated and kicked me out completely. When I awoke your father was nursing me on the bank of the river. Well, I have also many other scars from previous operations like the round through my left buttock but that I won't show you."

"It looks like the Kalashnikov rounds caused great damage because these are deep scars that mean you lost quite a bit of flesh."

"Our SADF guns were more accurate over longer distances but the damn Kalashnikov rounds spin heavily and do more damage when they tear through your tissue. That's the reason, Chloe."

He points to the scar on his breast. "This is shrapnel that glanced off me and there are even a few pieces of shrapnel that remained in some places on my back."

Chloe's eyes widen in amazement. "Good gracious! And my dad? I've never seen scars like these on him. Maybe you were just unlucky."

Hunter shakes his head contradicting her: "No Chloe, most of the operational soldiers had been wounded several times in combat. That was commonplace. Why Tony was so lucky and was not wounded once, I'll never understand. I believe his guardian angel looked after him very well. That is all that makes sense."

Chloe closes the windows and puts out the light. They go down the stairs and then she stops dead behind Hunter.

The photo of the children lies face down on the floor!