Kiara's Pursuer

Chapter One

Running down a poorly lit alley, Kiara flung herself around the corner into the alcove of the hotel side entrance. Frantically grabbing at the door, she found it locked. Glancing down the alley she could see the shadows cast by the dumpster. Beyond that was a high brick wall that precluded using the alley as an escape route. Panic stricken, she made as if to run again before she realized it would be madness to go back the way she had come. She stopped, growing quiet.

The streetlight flung her shadow against the rough brick of the alcove as she gasped for air mindful of the display caused by her low cut top and her tight fitting dress. Ruefully she heard her dead mother’s advice to her and her sisters echoing in her mind. A young lady should dress modestly or suffer the consequences!

Tonight her mom would definitely not have approved and Kiara knew was suffering the consequences. I wish I had listened to her, she thought, before peering surreptitiously around the corner to see if her pursuer was following.

She started, as a black cat ran across the alley entrance. Satisfied that nobody was coming, she again pressed back against the rough brick of the alcove.

Kiara was a petite figure, standing about five feet tall with curves that could have graced a model if she were any taller. She released her shoes and they dropped with a quiet thud into the snow near her bare feet. An icy cold seeped up through her bare feet into her legs and she started to shiver uncontrollably.

Rubbing herself vigorously with her free hand, she tried to warm herself. Scrabbling in her purse, she felt for something sharp and pulled out a small nail file. Frowning, she evaluated it and then held it like a dagger in her hand. Then she smiled grimly. Her steel blue-grey eyes glinted as she unconsciously nodded her appreciation of its value.

O Lord, I need help now, she muttered to herself, teeth chattering in the cold. Pressing tightly against the wall, she barely felt the rough bricks grabbing at her back and shoulders as she pushed against them.

Steam from her breath rose in small, expanding clouds as she struggled to stop gasping aloud. Finally, she controlled her breathing. Soon, the only sounds on the street were the distant sounds of cars, a haunting foghorn in the distance, and the wail of a cat serenading the night with its song. She grasped the nail file tighter, listening for approaching danger.

There was no change in the evening sounds. Slowly her tension subsided and she started to relaxed. Kiara used the nail file to flick hair that had fallen across her face to behind her ears. She hoisted up the one side of her dress that had slipped in the excitement, the shoulder strap was ripped and hanging loose. Kiara tore it off dropping it into the snow. The streetlight revealed two red scratches on her shoulder and an angry bruise on the upper part of her arm.

Bending over, she picked up her pumps again. She held them, preferring to be cold than unable to flee.

Rock music seeped through the door, the drumbeat more prevalent than the melody. Her heart thumped loudly and she felt claustrophobic as she battled to control her breathing. The cold grew more penetrating and persistent, but not even that could overcome her fear! Still she waited, hardly moving.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps crunching on newly fallen snow. She stiffened realizing someone was coming into the alley. Whoever it was, was trying to walk quietly on the snow, but true to its perverse nature, the snow squeaked it’s annoyance with each step. Looking down Kiara realized there were many different footsteps covering the sidewalk, but only one set of bare footprints turned into her alcove pointing to her hiding place. Kiara raised her eyes heavenwards. O God! What am I to do! It would take an idiot not to see where I have been! He is no idiot! Please let him think the door is unlocked with me inside, she pleaded, Perhaps then I will be able to get away!

In the spirit world the desperate prayer ascended silently to the heavens. The footsteps crunched closer without slowing down or changing pace. The fact that the moment was now here and the wait was over seemed to give her strength. Her face filled with determination. Tension filled her body with feline preparedness.

Suddenly the silhouette of a menacing man framed by the streetlight fell into the alcove as he turned into her dark doorway.

Kiara exploded into pent up action. She had lashed out twice with the nail file! Good fortune caused her first blow to slice his left eyeball. A second cut his ear! He collapsed screaming in pain and anger. The sound filled the night eerily echoing off the dark buildings as she ran, and ran, and ran.

Chapter Two

Charles Brandburg and his wife Sheila floated lazily in the warm water of the Caribbean. Alongside Charles, the dive boat bobbed lazily on the calm swell.

Man overboard, joked the dive master as another of their diving companions, heavy with diving gear, dropped awkwardly from the blue and white diving boat into the bright turquoise water. Charles and Sheila calmly swam to the float line extending out in the direction of the gentle current.

Eventually, five buddy pairs of divers lined up along the drifting rope waiting for their guided tour into the coral depths below.

It was during the previous evening they had all planned to dive on a beautiful coral reef starting at a depth of about sixty feet. Their dive would progress to one hundred and twenty feet and they were planning to dive down the side of the wall where the huge sea ferns clung to life.

This wall was a sheer drop that extended more than one thousand feet down from the shallow coral reef where they would start. No recreational diver like themselves would descend to these greater depths and the lesser depth they would go to today was on the edge of safety. Going any deeper would expose any diver to the bends, a potentially lethal condition that could happen on to fast an ascent from depth. If that happened, their blood would froth like a warm Coca Cola that was shaken and opened. Those dangerous bubbles could then clog blood vessels or even lodge themselves in the divers heart or brain. Something they all definitely wanted to avoid!

Charles and Sheila joined their group the night before for a pre-dive party. The happy carefree crowd enjoyed Charles’ imitation of Sean Connery after commenting on how much he looked like the film star. Charles was a good few inches shorter than Connery, but had a face structure and physique that was quite similar. Charles played his part and soon had the diving group laughing at jokes delivered in a mock Scottish accent. Now treading water, Charles smiling to himself remembering how Sheila had been the target of the good-natured blonde jokes that evening as various divers had teased them both.

Earlier in the morning, one of those divers had jokingly calling him and Sheila over, wanting to join the Bond pair on the cruise out to the dive site. He had agreed and they had chatted on their way out to the dive site on the far side of the island, about half a mile from the nearest palm-lined shore.

Charles heard a splash and turning saw the dive master drop into the shimmering water. Finally, the dive master signaled their group to descend. Like well-trained synchronized swimmers, the individuals in the buddy pairs first nodded to each other, and then they raised the hoses of their buoyancy compensators, the air bladders of which acted as controllable floating devices. Releasing air, they sank slowly feet first into the tropical water. Inverting himself and swimming downwards with Sheila following him, Charles made his way down along the anchor line. They followed the dive master’s oscillating fins down into the depths as he descended lazily, drawing his marine tourists after him.

Faintly in the distance, Charles heard the sound of another boat’s motor approaching as they started down. Confident that the sun-tanned expert who they had left operating the dive boat would deal with any new arrivals, he sank peacefully down into the glorious colors of the reef. Exotic fish life soon surrounded them all.

The dive master glided on downward through the depths before hovering about three feet above the reef. To the delight of his audience, he pointed out some of the more interesting formations of the reef and the more unusual marine life. He finned along the reef in the general direction of the drop they called the wall.

Hanging about twenty feet above them, like malevolent sentries, a pair of beady-eyed barracuda turned watching a small shoal of yellow-tailed fish. Glistening in choreographed motion, they countered the current.

A hollow tube of coral revealed an octopus hiding in its base. It was squeezing back and glaring at the persistent divers who lined up one-by-one to view the creature or to add it into their digital picture hoard.

The reef opened up into a crevasse that opened into the reef wall. The dive master led the group down into it, finning along underneath a slight overhang. Knowing that Sheila suffered from claustrophobia at times, Charles decided against following. Instead, he glided on about twenty feet above the heads of the main group. Suddenly he saw Sheila’s yellow fins and her unusual yellow-banded waistline in among the divers below. Surprised, he started to swim down to join her and then a cold shock traveled through his body as something pulled him upwards by the air bottle on his back. He spun around trying to stay calm, before laughing at himself. Sheila had been above and behind him all the time. The person below had colored gear similar to Sheila’s, causing his confusion. Charles realized that the yellow gear of the other diver had looked exactly like the green of Sheila’s in the light filtering depth.

Sheila tugged at his air bottle to show him she was not happy going on downwards, exactly as he had expected! Charles quietly chided himself, not only for his stupidity but also for not keeping track of Sheila’s position. Smiling and gesturing for her to follow, he led her onwards swimming above the divers in the fissure below.

Below and ahead of them, the dive master turned out of the small crevasse to follow the eastern wall about thirty feet below the reef. It was at that point, Charles decided to break away from following the tour and instead led his wife along a more scenic route between the fronds of fan coral edging the wall. While doing this, he was watching for the bigger sharks, manta rays, and other prize viewings that might be seen in the deeper water away from the wall.

Periodically, he barrel rolled, checking Sheila’s position above and behind him. On one of these rolls, he motioned her to swim alongside him where he could see her. It was while doing this that he noticed two divers descending over the edge of the reef wall at the limits of his visibility, about a hundred feet away. Now, confused as to how their party could have arrived there so quickly, he pointed in their direction wanting Sheila to see them. When she finally realized what he wanted, and turned to see, they were no longer in sight. Sheila gave him the I don’t know what you’re trying to show me sign.

Speeding up in the direction he had seen the two divers, Charles led Sheila swimming quickly as he didn’t want to get too far behind the main party. Even so, they enjoyed wending their way between the coral outcrops at the top of the wall. After a few minutes, Charles slowed and headed towards the edge of the wall again this time Sheila on his left. She paralleled every movement of his like a well-trained wingman of the depths. Soon, they shot out over the wall and adrenaline coursed through Charles’ body. It always did when he experienced that moment of exhilaration and sheer joy brought about by floating over unfathomable depths into which he would sink if it not for the finely tuned buoyancy gear he wore. Sheila turned to him smiling through her mask. He knew she felt the same way!

The seascape showed the wall descending and disappearing into the blue nothing below. Etched into its nooks and crannies were hundreds of sea fronds, coral pots, brain coral and various strange looking wands of growth. Fish swam in silvery groups, some small, others larger. All in general ignoring these new intruders as if they didn’t exist.

Sheila grabbed Charles’ arm and pointed to their main group that was now quite far back at their full hundred and twenty feet of depth. They were slowly moving along the wall having broken up into a more informal formation. Each of the buddy pairs was at slightly different depths doing different activities, but in general following the dive leader.

Charles was confused! He searched the wall looking for the two divers he had seen earlier. When he located them, he also noticed a difference in their gear compared to the rest of his own party. They were wearing expensive re-breathers instead of the customary bottles of air. These enabled them to stay underwater for longer and to have almost no bubbles coming from their gear. This was why he had difficulty seeing them! These divers were not part of their group and he guessed they were probably from the boat he had heard earlier. For some unknown reason they were at the top of the wall staying behind a coral outcrop cascading over the wall to where Charles and Sheila’s party swam below.

As Charles watched, it became apparent that everyone had seen something out in the deep blue water off the wall. The banging knives on tanks drew attention to a rather large shark lazily swimming parallel to the wall in an easterly direction about a hundred feet out. Charles glanced back to the re-breather divers to see if they had also seen the shark. They had changed their positions so it took him a second to see that they were swimming straight down to the buddy group that included the diver he had earlier mistaken for Sheila. They were moving very quickly and each had a large black object in their hands.

Charles turned to Sheila who like everyone else was watching the shark and he grabbed her arm. This drew her attention to the re-breather divers. As they watched, each diver picked one of the pair, approaching them from above and behind. They both deposited objects they each held onto the air tanks of the divers. The objects stuck to the tanks and then the re-breather pair then shot upwards, as if they had dropped their weight belts. They swam fanatically as if they had the biggest shark in the world chasing after them.

Nobody other than Charles and Sheila had even noticed the occurrence. The others were still engrossed in watching the shark disappear along the wall ahead of them as the re-breather divers disappeared into a gap near the top of the wall.

Below, Charles and Sheila watched the dive pair accosted by this strange and unexpected intrusion spin uncontrollably over onto their backs and started to sink. Despite ineffective attempts to right themselves and swim upwards, they seemed unable to regain control of their buoyancy and dropped like stones through the water. Then a large cloud of bubbles accompanied by a double bang engulfed the struggling pair as they were trying to regain control. A shockwave coursed through the water hitting all the divers, winding them and hurting their ears. A huge mushroom of bubbles enveloped the unfortunate pair who started to sink even more rapidly.

They had descended below a hundred and fifty feet when the rest of the group composed themselves sufficiently to react. Then it was too late! The doomed pair was accelerating downwards. Neither seemed to be trying to swim upwards or even drop their weight belts!

The dive master swam strongly downwards towards them but they descended so fast and deep that he could not catch them without getting into serious trouble himself! The horrified onlookers watched in shocked silence broken only by the sound of their own breathing as the still bodies continued drifting downwards. The doomed couple seemed to be lying on their backs looking up at the distraught crowd as they sank deeper and deeper. Divers who tried to follow them down had to be physically stopped by the dive master. Soon he signalled all of them to surface immediately.

Charles looked at Sheila duplicating the dive masters signal to confirm his agreement him. Sheila’s aquamarine blue eyes showed the fear that she was experiencing and Charles squeezed her hand to comfort her. Charles then took one last look into the depths and as he watched in horror, the hapless pair disappeared from sight into the blue nothing below. All he could hear was the sound of his regulated breathing. The fact that the victims were not breathing seared itself into his memory. There were no more bubbles rising from the depths!

Chapter Three

Her ball curved wildly away from the center of the fairway and Kristy dropped her driver, turning to the others and throwing her hands up in exasperation. This was not her day! Her gloved hand reflexively swept her hair aside as she wiped the sweat off her face and lips in that characteristically feminine gesture her husband found so alluring.

Her husband, Jack, and their friends, had taken the day off to enjoy golf, the blue sky, and the warm winter day. Jack gave her an amused smile as he stooped to place his tee in the ground.

Trying too hard again today Kristy! he scolded. You are supposed to be relaxing you know!

Bill, their friend, picked up her club and went to put it into the golf bag in their cart. Tantrums will not get you hitting the ball any better, he gently chided her.

Don’t let Bill try and tell you that! He is just as bad tempered when he has a poor day, his wife Mary encouraged Kristy. Turning to Bill she asked, Who fed the fish that seven iron at the ninth hole water hazard just a month ago, I suppose that helped your game?

Bill smiled self depreciatingly and patted Mary on the shoulder. Probably just your encouragement! he joked.

Jack tee’d off, hitting the ball about 240 yards straight down the fairway and then nodded his satisfaction with his drive. Kristy playfully punched him on the shoulder.

Trying to show me up are you? she asked.

Jack smiled at her lovingly, shrugged, before climbed into the golf cart. Kristy joined him and they followed the other couple’s cart as it coasted alongside the fairway on the concrete pathway.

Kristy had been unable to hit the ball effectively all day. Jack could see she was a bit embarrassed. The two men in sunglasses and caps playing behind them were obviously playing slowly so that they would not catch up with the foursome. Nobody could be as slow as they were today. Fortunately, it was a weekday in early spring with a course far out of town having greens that were not yet great. This meant there was almost no one except for the two behind them that they could annoy.

This was their last hole. They would soon be finished! Jack reflected how Kristy was normally much better at the game. She had wrenched her shoulder muscle about three weeks back when playing tennis, and the injury while healing still seemed to bother her. Each evening he rubbed it for her, as Kristy didn’t want to take anti-inflammatories. He enjoyed doing this as he loved her very much.

Jack glanced with appreciation at her athletic sculptured body. Kristy was carrying their first child. The obstetrician who had done the sonar last week had confirmed it to be a boy. Jack smiled to himself looking at the slight bulge on her otherwise perfect figure.

All was well! The doctor had given them the copy of the baby’s ultra sound video and the go ahead to continue with the exercise they so loved. Jack wasn’t too sure about the recommendation, but when he had checked with their friend Mary, she had just laughed. Bill and Mary had two kids already and enjoyed the natural paranoia of the young parents to be.

Kristy hopped out of