IMPOSTER - PART TWENTY FOUR

PREVIOUSLY

The pilot once more checked the screen and this time nearly choked on his words as he saw that the moving infrared tracking blip had vanished.
"What the...he's gone!!"

************************************************************************************************************************* The inky blackness of the cave was disconcerting since he had nothing with him to light the way. HIs hands felt along the rough surface of the interior wall and he moved forward carefully -- his body alert and his mind vigilant for any new noises or obstruction in his path. The further in he moved, the less he heard the sounds from outside. One false move and I could end up down a shaft. Why couldn't he have been a smoker he thought ruefully. Suddenly his mind jarred him in a surprising way -- maybe he had been a smoker -- as someone else!
His hands made a rapid search over his pants pockets and vest, and his hand felt something inside a small zippered pocket on the side of his vest. Son of a bi...a lighter! Pete was a smoker! He reached into another side pocket in the vest and drew out a small, slender silver case and opened it -- flicking on the lighter to see what was inside. Very carefully rolled thin cigarettes lined the case. Weed! So Pete had indulged in some other vices. Maybe if this all gets bad enough...

The helicopter pilot tensed at the harsh voice coming through the radio and could tell that Delgado was not pleased. "He's just disappeared from the screen, sir. I don't know what happened!"
"Just stay on it and continue your search, Parker!" the voice from the radio said almost savagely and clicked off.
Delgado turned to look at Sykes whose eyes were narrowing with a kind of cool detachment about the pilot's information concerning Todd Manning. "So what do you make of this, Commissioner?" Delgado asked -- knowing that he had to swallow his pride about bragging on the infrared's capabilities and try to glean anything he could out of Sykes in order to facilitate the search for his errant brother-in-law.
"Pardon me, sir," another voice interrupted. "I know a little something about this area since I grew up around here, and I can tell you exactly what happened."
"Go ahead, Edwards," Sykes ordered with a superior, phony pleasantness.
"The infrared lost him because he's in the mountain."
"In the mountain?" Delgado snapped back in amazement.
"Actually...in a cave or cavern. This area has plenty of them -- limestone caverns that go deep into these mountains. Todd Manning is definitely in one of them."
"Perfect!" Delgado's almond-shaped eyes lowered in disgust. Now I'll have to get some men up that mountain to try and find that cave!
Sykes wanted to smile at Delgado's obvious discomfiture, but he resisted. "Maloney is still tracking Manning with the dogs. We just got word from him that the dogs have started up the mountain after him. They can lead us to that cave."
Delgado rubbed his stubbled chin reflectively and his face contorted to a kind of smirk. "So your men are in place then? Okay! We'll wait to hear from this dog man of yours, Commissioner!"

Viki's Continental pulled into the penthouse garage and slipped into a parking space close to the elevator. The occupants of the car sat silently for several minutes after the car was parked. The two passengers in the front seat looked at ech other worriedly, and then the man shifted in his seat to look back behind him.
"Tea," Sam's vivid blue eyes tried to ascertain the condition of the back seat passenger. She looked haggard and uncustomarily unkempt but also oddly peaceful for a woman who had been through such an excrutiatingly tough ordeal. He didn't think she should be alone tonight.
"What?" Tea responded to her name being spoken but she knew she was not really there. She was still back in that wooded hideaway with her husband -- touching him and loving him the way she had always envisioned but had all but given up on it ever happening. Nothing had come between them this time, and pulsating waves of pleasure were still passing through her as she remembered the soft texture of his long hair draped against her naked body and the way his warm mouth and supple hands had explored every inch of her. Her eyes brightened with the same vibrant fire as she relived the individual moments of passion, which had culminated in a vivid sexual awakening for both of them. We have been hungering for each other so much -- even we didn't know how much we needed to be together until it happened.
"Tea...I think you shouldn't be alone tonight...Viki, do you think she could..."
Viki looked askance at Sam that he had the gall to ask her such a question. "Well, of course, she can! I was thinking the same thing, Tea. You'll be much better off staying with me tonight at Llanfair. Then in the morning after a good night's rest, you can come back here and get back to some kind of normalcy...in time, that is." She added the last few words quickly with a gentle smile as she tried to reassure Tea that everything ould eventually be all right.
"No, Viki," Tea said simply but firmly to her. "Thank you, and Sam...thank you, too, but I need to be alone right now. I don't want to be around people just yet. You'll just have to understand...please!
Both Sam and Viki saw how serious she was and neither one of them knew quite how to refute what she was determined to do.
"Well...if you're positive you don't need anything or that we can't help you in any way..."
Tea lifted her tired body to an upright position as she prepared to leave the car. "I just need to think tonight, Viki, and I will be happier at our penthouse...believe me!"
Her tone of voice in mentioning their penthouse further confirmed to the two people trying to help her that she considered herself at "home" and didn't want to leave. Sam shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her with a knowing look. "We understand, Tea. Just take good care of yourself and don't worry."
"I'll see you up to the penthouse," Sam began to open his car door.
"No...please don't, Sam. I'm just fine. I'm going to go right up, kick off my shoes, take a nice, hot bath and crawl into bed. I'm beat."
"I'll call you in the morning, Tea," Viki said and made a mental note to herself to do so. After this long, incredible evening, she wasn't sure if she could rouse herself up very early in the morning. Susana! She would be calling her tomorrow and there was so much to tell her about the turn of events. Maybe Tea would even be willing to talk to Susana sometime tomorrow if all went well.
Viki watched Tea walking in a stupor-like fashion to the elevator door and shook her head pensively. What this woman has been through with my brother would try the patience of a saint! But she seems to have weathered it, and something has changed with her. She looks exhausted but she doesn't look anxious -- in fact, her eyes are saying more about the two of them than any words could say.
"Let's call it a night, Sam," Viki said resignedly as she started up the Continental for the last time that day.

Every muscle in Todd's body was primed for action as a nonhuman noise filtered through the depth of the cave entrance. He flicked off the lighter and flattened himself against the jagged edges of the interior wall. Sykes' police hounds were coming up the mountainside and he knew from the way they were barking that they were hell-bent to get their teeth into him. Not to mention Del and his FBI helicopter cronies who were circling around on the perimeter of the mountain -- waiting for him to take one step out of the cave. I have no choice but this one. They're going to have to follow me into the bowels of this cave if they want to get to me!
He flicked on the light again and sidestepped some large rocks on the ground next to him. To the left of him was a very narrow-looking passageway, which angled away from the main entrance and seemed to jut downward. God only knows what I'll find if I go through there, but I've got to at least get away so that I can come back and fight my own battles on a better footing.

A few minutes passed and the entrance of the cave was suddenly a hot spot of activity as two outlined shapes bounded up to the opening -- their blazing, yellow eyes highlighted in the darkness. A voice called out from behind them loudly and they froze in their tracks -- snarling and baring their jutting fangs with contained aggression.
"Damon! Marcus! Freeze!"
Maloney's shape appeared behind them and a few other men joined him. "He's in there?" one of the men motioned with his arm as he came up beside Maloney.
"Yep, he's in there and probably on his way down into the caverns." Maloney said with resignation.
"Then, let's go!"the younger man said with exasperation that time was being wasted.
Maloney put a restraining arm on him and shook his head with authority. "No way are we going in after him, pal. He's going down into a maze of winding tunnels which don't lead anywhere but into the middle of this mountain. He's just signed his own death sentence."

Tea walked into the room where she had sprayed Pete with hairspray and looked around with disbelief. Nothing had changed. It was still very much the room of the stranger who had invaded her life and made this night the longest night of her life. She paused as she saw how neatly the room had been kept and still caught the faint odor of men's cologne drifting in the air. This was all a part of you, Todd, in some bizarre way, and even as malicious and cruel as Pete was, there were other sides to him which were quite compelling. I believe he lives on in you but you've got him under control now.
She walked over to the bed and sat down on it -- her mind and body reeling from what she had been subjected to earlier. But you slept here all those nights and I never knew what you were dealing with. She let her fingers touch the bedspread and found herself smoothing it over. You were so alone and you needed me desperately, didn't you? Without thinking, she sank down onto the bed in a complete release of all that was pent up inside her. The cool softness of the spread seemd to soothe her and she closed her eyes -- allowing herself to drift off into a light slumber -- not caring about anything but the welcoming peacefulness of just lying there.
Her eyes opened to look around into a room with a prevalent aura of mystery. The colors and shadows enfolding the room were deep and had a violet cast and for some reason she knew that a new presence had come in. Through a haze of filtering light, she saw a man approaching her slowly and she gasped because he was more handsome than any man she could remember and he was someone she knew. Each step moved him closer and closer to her so that his features were becoming more defined. His eyes were startlingly dark and expressive against the pale pallor of his skin and every angle of his classic face was sharp and distinctive. As if he were searching for someone, his mystical eyes darted around the room and she heard his voice -- throaty and sensual -- calling out someone's name. Her ears strained to hear the name that he was speaking, and she felt herself panic as she realized that she might not hear it. The tone of his voice got more strident and she tried to call out to him, but it was as if some invisible hand was smothering her mouth. As she struggled to free herself, the voice burst out into her consciousness and her heart latched onto it with wild joy. It's you!!!
"Tea! Te...a!" his shadowy face gave way to a deep anguish and as she observed him, another emotion slammed into her as she saw brutal, cutting, unspoken pain in his glowing eyes. Something is wrong -- terribly wrong! I feel it in my heart like you said! Where are you, querido?"

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~