Watchers In The Woods

by William W. Johnstone

Genres: Horror; Supernatural suspense; Suspense

Synopsis

THE HUNTED The idea sounded like such fun to Susan Benning. Camping on the pristine mountains of Idaho with her old high school gang right after their thirty-year reunion. Even the kids were looking forward to it. But something felt wrong the deeper they traveled into the woods. Something was watching them from behind the thick undergrowth. Waiting . . . THE HUNTERS Their race had lived among the Great Trees in peace for centuries. The “others” came to kill animals with strange weapons and poison their sacred waters with the things they carelessly left behind. But they would soon learn to stay away. The Old Hunger would teach them. Especially the little ones.

Release date: October 11, 2016

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 352

Sample

“I think it’s a great idea!” Susan said, getting so excited she almost spilled her coffee. She placed the cup on the counter and sat down in a chair. “The class of ’67 rides again—yeaaa!” she yelled.

“Susan!” The voice that originated three thousand miles away tried to sound stern but failed miserably, trailing off into a schoolgirlish giggle. Talking to an excited Susan was infectious. But then it always had been. “Susan!” she yelled, finally getting her attention. “How about Tom? You remember him, don’t you? He’s your husband.”

“Oh, he’ll go along with it, Nance. I’m telling you, girl, it’s fate, pure and simple fate. It has to be. Milli calls about a reunion and tells me they have a six-week vacation coming. Well, Tom had planned to take six weeks off. And then you tell me that you and Wade are taking six weeks off. It’s fate!”

“Six, six, six,” Nancy Lavelle said. “Three sixes. That means something, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t know. Is it supposed to mean something?”

“Oh, I guess not. Fate it may be, kid, but hold onto your socks, ’cause there is more.”

“So tell me!”

“You remember Norman Hunt?”

“Sure, I remember him. He married Polly Simpson.”

“They’re taking six weeks’ vacation too.”

Susan squealed with delight. In San Jose, California, Nancy grinned and held the phone away from her ear. “Susan! There’s more!” she yelled.

“Well, tell me!”

“Frank and Cathy Nichols are also taking their vacation then. Oh, Susie, I think you’re right—it is fate.”

The women giggled like teenagers for a few minutes. Finally Susan got herself under control. “Ok, Mrs. Lavelle, now listen up.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“The kids.”

“Oh, shit . . . and we were having so much fun.”

“Camp.”

“What about it?”

“I can maybe stick one of mine in camp and drag the other along.”

“That’s an idea. We still have time to make arrangements. Your oldest is ... ?”

“Traci is seventeen, Tommy is eleven. Oh, I think they’d like to come along. They’re both good sports.”

“Ok. My two boy-heathens I can farm out. Sara I’d better bring along.”

“She’s ten now, isn’t she?”

“Eleven. And very tomboyish. She likes camping.”

“How about the others?”

“That, dear heart, is up for grabs. I know that Milli and Dennis have some brats. They told me that themselves. Norm and Polly waited late and have two darling kids; they’ll take them, I’m sure. Frank and Cathy had two early on, when they were both still in college, and they’re both off at school.”

“OK. How about vehicles?”

“Well, we’re flying into Lewiston and renting vehicles for the drive over to that quaint-sounding lodge. From there I guess we’ll walk in or ride horses, or something. I tell you what: you get a Norm Thompson or L. L. Bean catalog and start outfittingyou and yours. This is going to be such a kick, girl. Oh, Susan, before I forget . . .”

“Yes?”

“The last invitation was returned today, only a couple of months late. Matt will be there.”

Susan had fixed another cup of coffee after hanging up and took it outside to drink by the pool.

Matt Jordan. God! Talk about a name from the past! What a crush she’d had on him. Nothing had ever come of it, although it was not because she didn’t pursue him with all her teenage wiles. Matt was one of those rare young men who, when not in school, was working to help out at home. His parents had not been destitute, but neither were they quite middle class . . . just good, decent, hardworking people—both of them. Matt had dropped out of school at the start of his second year of college, after his parents were killed in a house fire. She’d heard he’d gone into the army, and then to work for the CIA around 1970. He would have his twenty years in.

Susan Dalton hadn’t thought about Matt Jordan in years.

Well—months, anyway.

“What?” Tom Dalton said, turning slowly from the wet bar in their nice Westchester County home, the drink he had just fixed forgotten. He blinked at Susan. “You want to do what?”

“Go camping for two weeks in Idaho,” she repeated. “After the class reunion. You and me and Nance and Wade and all the rest of our group.”

“Our group? No—that’s your group, Susan, not mine. I I am not a happy camper. I don’t like the woods. I don’t like bugs and snakes and other things that slither and crawl around on the ground.”

She could not help herself: she laughed at the expression on his face. “Tom, you were a Boy Scout!”

“Not a very happy one, I assure you. And not for very long. No, I think I’ll pass on this venture, Susan.”

She looked at him, defiance in her eyes. “What are you going to do for two weeks?”

He sat his martini glass on the bar. “What do you mean, Susan?”

“I mean, Tom, that the day after the dance at the reunion, a group of us are flying out to Idaho and going camping in the wilderness area. For two weeks.”

“With or without my permission?”

She blinked. “Your . . . permission?”

“Susan, I, uh, I didn’t say that right. Certainly you don’t have to have my permission to do anything. I was just assuming that you would not want to go camping in the woods without me.”

“I would rather you did come with us, Tom. You’re behaving as if this is the first time you’ve heard of the reunion and the camping trip. It isn’t. You just hear what you want to hear. Traci is very excited about it, and so is Tommy. They’re both coming along. Tom, it isn’t as if we’re going out there in a covered wagon, for heaven’s sake. We’ll have the best equipment available. We’ll sleep on air mattresses. And there is a town just about fifty miles from the campsite.”

“Fifty . . . miles?”

He was so serious she could not keep from laughing at him. “I’m sorry, honey. But the expression on your face was priceless. I . . .” She cracked up again.

He walked out of the room, his face red and his back stiff with anger. She watched him go and sobered, her laughter quickly fading. One more nail in the coffin, she thought. She walked to the bar and picked up his forgotten martini, tasting it, and grimaced. As usual, he had put too much vermouth in it.

“Idaho!” Dennis Feldman said. “You’ve been serious about this all along?”

Milli nodded her head. “Oh, yes.”

“Idaho . . . that’s where they have bears and wild Indians and stuff like that.”

Milli, a member of the Denver class of ’67, could not contain her amusement. Like Susan, she burst out laughing at the expression on her husband’s face. Dennis was city born and city bred. His idea of roughing it was an outing to the zoo.

Dennis and Milli were a physical mismatch if ever there was one. Milli was tall and slim and elegant and lovely. Dennis was built like a fireplug. But unlike Tom Dalton, Dennis was game for just about anything. He had grown up in a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn and was just as good with his fists as he was with a law book. He had met Milli in college and they were married after he got out of law school. In less than fifteen years he had become one of the most feared and respected lawyers in southern California. And one of the wealthiest.

“I can see it now,” Dennis said, trying his best to look mournful. He didn’t quite make it; his natural good humor prevented it. “Los Angeles attorney attacked by wild Indians and eaten by bears.”

Milli laughed at him. “You’re going to love it, Dennis.”

“Of course I will. Sounds like fun. I’ve always looked forward to being infested with fleas and chiggers and attacked by porcupines.”

“Dennis and Milli still driving down for the weekend?” Wade Lavelle asked his wife as he came in from work.

“Sure. We’ve got to get started on what to take on our wilderness outing.”

“OK. We boys will cook the steaks and you ladies can make the salad. We’ll all help with the dishes.”

“You have a deal, tiger.”

He fixed them weak drinks and took off his jacket before sitting down on the sofa. He loosened his tie and kicked off his shoes. “Made up your mind about our thundering herd, baby?”

“Yeah. The boys we can farm out. I’ve already made arrangements. We’ll take Sara.”

“Sounds good to me. Oh, by the way, when you order the equipment, be sure and get me one of those jackets like Stewart Granger used to wear in the jungle movies. I’ve always wanted one.”

She grinned at him and the love they shared for each other was evident. “My husband, the great white hunter.”

He returned the grin. “Who has never fired a gun in his life. And never intends to,” he added. He lifted his glass. “Cheers, darling.”

In Denver, Cathy Nichols sat on the couch with her husband and watched the news with Peter Jennings. During a commercial break, she said, “Looking forward to our vacation, honey?”

“I sure am,” Frank said. “It’ll be good to see the old gang again. Most of them. Is Matt Jordan coming to the class reunion?”

“That’s what Nancy told me.”

“I wonder if the rumors are true that he works for the CIA.”

“According to her, yes. He just retired as chief of station of a South American desk . . . whatever in the world that means.”

Frank grinned. “I wonder if Susan still has a crush on him.”

“Now that would be interesting.”

“How so?”

“Nancy implied that Susan’s marriage is pretty shaky. They’ve split up a couple of times, for a week or so. Nancy says that Tom is a real jerk.”

“Is he coming along on the camping trip?”

“I don’t know. But I do know one thing: Susan will definitely be there.”

In Virginia, the assistant director of central intelligence walked into Matt Jordan’s temporary office within the confines of the CIA complex. He sat down.

“You won’t change your mind, Matt?”

“No. I’m tired and discouraged and more than slightly pissed off. I’ve got my twenty years, my disability has been approved, and I can draw sixty-five percent and live nicely. The Company has changed and it isn’t to my liking. I’m tired of having to account for every damned paper clip and pencil I use. Our hands are tied more now than they were during the Carter administration. It was pathetic then, it’s worse now. I’m gone.”

Richard nodded in understanding. “Are you planning on attending your high school class reunion, Matt?”

Matt did not bother to ask how the assistant DCI knew about that. “Yes. I’m looking forward to it.”

The number two man at the Agency stared at Matt Jordan. He was losing another of the good ones and it irked him. Few men without a college degree—from the right school, of course—ever rose to chief of station. Matt Jordan was the exception. He possessed a high level of intelligence, was tough as a mountain goat—and could be just as hardheaded—and had a percentage of successes on assignment as high as any chief of station. Better than most, in fact. Richard hated to lose him. When South America was busting wide open—and drugs were only a part of the problem—the Agency needed all the older hands it could keep.

“I could probably arrange for more money, Matt.”

“Money had nothing to do with my decision to leave. It’s politics, Richard. It’s always been too political and now it’s getting worse. We could have taken out the Ayatollah in France long before he returned to Iran and screwed it all up. Turned down from Sugar Cube. We had the opportunity to kill that asshole in Panama a dozen times. Turned down. We could have stopped the drug crap in Colombia and Bolivia and Peru long before it ever got started. I drew up the plan. It was turned down supposedly because some innocent might get hurt or killed. Nobody who associates with drug lords is innocent. Nobody who is close to organized crime is innocent. Now look at the mess the country is in. And I’m not talking about South America, either. Jesus Christ, Richard! On my first day back here, you know what I was told? Don’t walk in certain sections of DC during the day. Don’t walk in any section of DC alone at night. Welcome back, Matt. Just remember you’re in a combat zone here and we can’t do anything because we might violate someone’s constitutional rights. I’ve been gone twenty years, Rich. What the hell have I come back to?”

The assistant DCI waited, allowing Matt time to vent his spleen. Many of the older hands were irritated, and much of that irritation was justified. Richard knew just how deeply into the toilet American justice had slipped. The new young blood coming into the Agency were all good, patriotic young men, from all the right universities and so forth, but they didn’t have the survival instinct men like Matt possessed. And Richard worried about that.

Matt summed it up. “I just want out, Richard.”

“Very well. How is your debriefing going?”

“As good as that crap ever goes. And if I have to talk to one more psychiatrist and answer more dumb-assed questions, I’m going to punch somebody.”

“It’s for your own good.”

Matt stared at him.

“Are you planning to go on the camping trip some of your old classmates have lined up?”

Matt blinked. “I don’t know anything about a camping trip.”

Richard grinned. “Normally, we wouldn’t either.”

“I wouldn’t think so, unless domestic operations accidentally came across it.”

Number Two shook his head. “You’ve been out of the country for a long time, Matt. All that has been scaled back. In some cases it was a good move, in others not so good. Tell me, what do you know about a group called CWA? The Citizens for a White America.”

“Nothing. What are they, some kind of racist group?”

“Yes—racist-survivalist types, a large group—and growing. They train in central Idaho. In the wilderness.” He opened a briefcase and spread a map on the desk. One large area was circled in red. “In that region, Matt.”

Matt stood up and leaned over the desk, studying the map; a very good map. The area circled was wilderness, all right, a lot of it very likely never thoroughly explored except by the Indians, a long time ago. A lover and student of the outdoors, he knew this area would have magnificent mountains, beautiful valleys, wild, rushing rivers, and dark forests. He looked across the desk at Richard.

“Are any of my old classmates physically or mentally able to take a hike in this wilderness area? How did the Agency learn of their planned trip? And are any of them involved with this nutty organization that is training in there?”

“I would think they are all physically capable of a hike. When we learned they were going in, we checked them out for any among them who might have some background in intelligence, but we struck out there. We learned of this trip quite by accident. Tom Dalton is an attorney just wrapping up a long and expensive federal suit—for the defense. He got rich, believe me. He won. Damn good lawyer. A dickhead, but a good lawyer . . .”

“There’s no such thing as a good lawyer.”

Richard laughed softly. “As good as a lawyer can be, how about that?”

“Better.”

“Dalton has been bitching for a month about having to go on a ‘goddamned camping trip,’ quote, end quote. One of his pals has a friend in the Bureau. He mentioned the final destination to the guy and the Bureau man got interested.”

“Why?”

“Why what, Matt?”

“Why did the Bureau man get interested in a bunch of middle-aged men and women going on a camping trip?”

“Because Dennis Feldman and his wife Milli are Jews. Norman and Polly Hunt are blacks. And Cathy Nichols used to be Cathy Marquez.”

“The Bureau man didn’t know that.”

“God damn it, Matt, you just have to press, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do. Now level with me.”

“The Bureau has reason to believe that someone in the group going in has been secretly supporting the CWA with large sums of money.”

“Which one?”

“They don’t know.”

“Crap!”

“I really don’t think they do. For obvious reasons, we can let out Dennis Feldman and Norman Hunt. Did you know Cathy Marquez?”

“No. I think Frank met her in college. Is she suspect?”

“Possibly. She’s Hispanic in maiden name only. Fifth-or sixth-generation American. Very well educated, old money, does not speak a word of Spanish, and shows no interest in Hispanic causes. None whatsoever. She does not look as if she has a drop of Spanish blood in her.”

“Does the Bureau think this Tom Dalton is kicking up a fuss about going on the camping trip just to cover up that he’s the money man?”

“Maybe. He’s no supporter of minority causes.”

“Neither am I, Richard. A person should be hired on the basis of experience and ability to do the job, not because he or she is black or white or pink.”

“You’re not blind prejudiced either, Matt. One of your buddies in high school was a black.”

Matt shrugged. “Norm was and probably still is a nice guy. I never gave a damn about his color. We came from the same section of town. Both of us worked in the same greasy spoon.” His grin took years off his face. “We stole hot dogs and hamburgers and Cokes together.”

Richard looked pained. A product of the ‘right school’ before joining the Agency, he came from money. Hunger, poverty, despair were only words to him. “I don’t want to hear about your sordid youth, thank you. Are you interested in going on this camping trip?”

“Not.”

“I think you should reconsider.”

“Why?”

“Susan Benning is married to Tom Dalton.”

Matt stared at Number Two. Good old Agency snooping and leverage. Matt had lost touch with the old gang, had never returned to his old neighborhood after leaving. There was never any reason to go back. He did not know Susan had married Tom Dalton, or anyone else, for that matter. But as beautiful as she had been, and probably still was, some lucky guy had been sure to grab her.

“I’ll think about it,” Matt said.

Matt Jordan in no way looked like Hollywood’s version of a secret agent. Secret agents, in truth, come in all sizes and shapes, both male and female. They do not leap tall buildings in a single bound. They do not, with rare exception, confront a dozen adversaries and defeat them all without sustaining a single wound—or dying. Most do not possess extraordinary strength. They are men and women, usually of very high intelligence, who speak a foreign language or two—along with several dialects picked up along the way—and who can call upon great patience. For spying is a tedious business. They almost always have a sideline career as a cover. Engineer, writer, architect, radio or television announcer, mechanic, pilot—take your pick.

On average, they do not like stupid, shortsighted people. They are voracious readers, constantly on a quest for new knowledge. Paper tigers and pseudoheroes do not impress them, for while spying is oft times a very boring business, the men and women in special operations live constantly on the thin line of danger, knowing they are on the kill lists of many subversive groups around the world. Career field personnel almost never work under their real names—they usually have half a dozen documented and provable names—and upon leaving the Agency they change them. In appearance, there is no such thing as the typical spy. Much has been written about the spy being the type of person who can blend in with his or her surroundings. Anybody can blend in if he or she is trained to do so.

Matt Jordan requested and received everything the Agency had on the CWA. He read the reports, retained the names and other important data, and sent the files back to Records.

He buzzed Richard’s office. “I want pictures and current background checks on everybody in this little group of overaged Boy and Girl Scouts.”

“They’ll be in your office in ten minutes.”

“Had them ready for me, huh?”

Richard hung up.

Matt deliberately put Susan’s file on the bottom of the stack, saving the best for last . . . or avoiding confronting old memories, he corrected himself. Back in high school, he remembered with a pang of emotion, he’d had quite a crush on Susan Benning, one that had never quite gone away.

He recalled that it was the girls who’d held their little group together. The boys had just sort of hung around. Milli had been the class character. He recalled her with a smile. There wasn’t an evil bone in her body. Milli liked everyone and was hurt when people did not like her because of her religion. Matt had never really warmed to Frank Nichols. Frank had had a mean streak in him even back then. He was a rich kid whose parents owned a large chunk of Denver. Matt recalled that Frank could be cruel in his remarks.

Wade had been an all-right sort of guy, Matt remembered. Easy to be with. Could have been a superjock but could never take games seriously enough. Matt recalled the final blowup between the coach and Wade. Wade had asked, “How the hell can you take a game seriously?”

Wade was the son of a prominent Denver attorney with lots of old money behind him. The file stated that Wade was now a very wealthy stockbroker living in San Jose. It had been assumed by everyone who knew them that he and Nancy would be married.

Matt did not know the others; but their files indicated nothing out of the ordinary.

When he opened the file on Susan Benning Dalton, her face jumped out at him. The picture was a blowup from a passport print, black and white and stark. It could not hide her beauty.

Matt touched the print with a fingertip. “So how you doin’, kid?” he whispered.

“Not good at all,” Susan said to Nancy, when asked that same question via long distance.

“Tom still acting the ass?”

“Yes. No. In a way,” she settled on one. “Nance, I was hoping this outing would bring us closer. But I have this uneasy feeling that it’s going to be the old straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“That bad, girl?”

“We’re not sleeping together. That is Tom’s way of punishing me.”

“You’ve got to be kidding! I thought it was the other way around. Not that I ever pulled anything that dumb, if you know what I mean.”

“I know. If they don’t get it at home, they’ll find it somewhere else. And there is plenty to be had out there. No, Nance, I’m going to do my best to make this marriage work. But if it’s time to finally bail out, so be it. I have money of my own, and it wouldn’t put me in a financial crunch to leave him.”

“Hey! How about something on a lighter note?”

“Please.”

“Milli says Dennis is convinced we’re all going to be eaten by bears or attacked by wild Indians. So he went out and bought a gun. He’s taking lessons.”

“Are you serious?”

“Scout’s honor. Milli says the thing is about a foot long—I’m talking about the pistol he just bought—one of those wild west gunslinger guns. It’s a .48-caliber manhunter, or something like that.”

“A .44 Magnum, maybe?”

“Yeah, that’s it! Hey, I didn’t know you were into guns, Susan.”

“Well, I’m not. But I have watched all the Dirty Harry movies.”

“My other line is going crazy, kid. It’s probably one of my heathens. I’ll call you back.”

“I’ve got to go shopping, Nance. Let me call you tomorrow.”

Susan walked out to the mailbox and found a note from the post office advising her that she had several packages to pick up. She drove into town and filled up the backseat and the trunk of her car with them, all packages from sporting goods stores. When she returned home, Tommy and Traci were back from their wanderings, and the three of them had a good time opening all the packages and spreading everything around on the floor of the den. They did not attempt to set up the tents; both looked far too complicated. They would leave them for Tom to figure out.

“Right, Mom,” Traci said, dryly and dubiously. “Sure. Dan’el Boone Dalton. That’s Dad for sure.”

Then they all recalled a recent movie about a bunch of city slickers who went camping and got all tangled up in the ropes while attempting to put up a tent. The three of them were rolling around on the carpet, nearly in hysterics, when Tom came home. He looked at the mess on the floor, looked at the three of them—without a trace of humor in his eyes or on his face—and walked into his office, located off the den. He shut the door behind him.

“Craphead!” Susan said to the closed door, forgetting her kids were listening.

“You got that right, Mom,” Traci said.

“Ditto,” Tommy agreed.

Matt shook his head when he finished making his notes on the CWA. He lifted his eyes as Richard entered the office and took a seat.

Matt tapped the legal pad. “This is a dangerous group of wackos, Rich.”

“Very. And a large group.”

“Why did the Bureau hand this to us? I’m curious.”

“Why don’t we just say there is a new feeling of cooperation between us?”

“Why don’t we say that is a bunch of crap and then you tell me the truth.”

Richard spread his hands in a gesture of “What? Me hold back from you?”

“Give, Richard. Now.”

With a sigh indicative of his long mental anguish at the hands of field agents, Number Two said, “I was going to brief you on this just before you went in. Knowing you, once you hear it, you’ll want to leave immediately.” He punched a button on the phone. “You know where I am. Bring me the file on the Unseen, please.”

Matt stared at him. “The file on the what?”

“That is not our choice of coding, Matt, believe me. Somebody with a strange sense of humor in the Idaho State Police named it that. But it is fitting . . . in a macabre sort of way.”

Matt leaned back in his chair and sipped at his coffee. He longed for a cigarette, but he’d given them up six months back. Most of his friends had quit. As a matter of fact, he didn’t know very many people who smoked cigarettes or watched TV. One rotted the lungs and the other rotted the brain.

“Something very strange is going on in here, Matt.” Richard tapped the map of Idaho, in a large section of wilderness not far from the famous River of No Return. “A few people have gone in and never come out. Some who do come out are basket cases.” He tapped the side of his head. “Babbling. Deranged.”

“This is connected with the CWA?”

“No. We don’t think so.”

“We?”

“You remember Jimmy Deweese?”

“Sure. We went through the Farm together.”

“He’s one who didn’t come out.”

Matt thought about that. “How long ago?”

“Three months.”

“How come we sent people in?”

“I told you: mutual cooperation with the Bureau.”

Matt suppressed a sigh. Richard was lying, and he knew Matt knew he was lying. Maybe Number Two would get to the truth and maybe he wouldn’t. It was all part of the strange games played in intelligence work. “Rescue attempts?”

“One. They couldn’t find a trace of Jimmy. The Bureau lost an informant in there about a month before our man disappeared. Working together, we hauled in . . .