Umbra Ortum Read online

  Tammy, take care in what you are teaching her. She may use these skills against you.

  She won’t, I trust her.

  As their food supply started to run low Tammy and Sophia were forced to find another source.

  Tammy thought they might look in some of the other houses, “Let’s check the other houses for food. If no one’s home.”

  Go fishing, Tammy. Fishing is quiet and looks normal to anyone who might see you. You will have her outside. So if she takes off on you, Tammy, you will have to kill her. Do it fast and get out of here.

  Sophia looked at Tammy, “You’re kidding right? We can’t just go around kicking in peoples’ doors and looting their food. Someone will see us.”

  “Or, we can go fishing,” Tammy said as if she was kidding. “We just have to find some fishing gear around here.”

  In the garage, they were able to find some fishing poles, nets, and buckets. The two put on coats they found in the garage as well. Now they were ready.

  As they headed out for the short walk to the water’s edge, again Tammy felt like she was with her little sister. Getting ready to pass down knowledge she had accumulated from their parents. She closed her eyes briefly and imagined she was growing up with Sophia. That Sophia had always been a part of her life.

  She imagined that she and Sophie were children visiting their summer lake house with their parents. The sun was bright and hot. There was a cool and lazy breeze. The air was filled with the sounds of boats and children playing all over the lake.

  The two girls had run ahead for a chance to be the first one to dive into the cool water. She looked back at their parents laughing and smiling. But, instead of seeing her mom and dad’s smiling faces, she saw a dark shadow. A silhouette of a woman reaching for her.

  Quickly, she shook off the daydream turned nightmare. The image gave her chills and she did not want to spoil this moment or miss a minute of it. She wanted to enjoy spending time with Sophia the way she was enjoying her time with Taelee before she had to kill her.

  Tammy smiled and softly hip checked Sophie which caused her to stumble and giggle a little.

  “I bet I catch more fish than you,” Tammy grinned.

  Sophia chuckled, “No way! I’m the best at this.”

  “Loser has to clean the fish,” Tammy smiled.

  “You’re on,” Sophia responded.

  The two women sat at the edge of the lake. Fishing poles sitting in holders. Lines out in the water. They considered building a fire for warmth, but the voice said no. The light might bring more attention than they wanted.

  Sophia looked Tammy over, “So, what do you call the voice that you hear?”

  “I don’t know,” Tammy said realizing that she never asked the voice for a name. Part of her still believed that the voice was just in her head. Just a figment of her imagination. Why give it a name?

  I am not a figment of your imagination. In a way, I am more real than you are, Tammy.

  What do you mean?

  Trust me and I will show you. You wanted to know my name? I am Tamara Primis. Tammy, you are named after me.

  “Tamara Primis,” Tammy said. “She said that I’m named after her.”

  “Tamara Primis?” Sophia was a little doubting, “Same first name as you, huh?”

  “I know what it sounds like, but you will see,” Tammy was not only trying to reassure Sophia but also herself. “She is going to lead us to her.”

  “Where is she?” Sophia inquired.

  “Well, I don’t know yet,” Tammy answered. “She said that when we are ready, she will lead us to her.”

  I will tell you more when we are face to face, but this I will tell you; Your first name is Tammy, the same as me. Your last name they gave you because of who you are. You are Umbra, my shadow.

  Your shadow? What does that mean?

  “Wait,” Sophia started. “Primis… that’s Latin.”

  “The voice just told me that Umbra means shadow,” Tammy said. “Is that Latin too?”

  Sophia looked like she was beginning to see the mystery, “Primis means first, so shadow could mean that you are the second. So, Primis is your mother?”

  I am Primis. That is the name they gave me. I am the first and you are my shadow.

  Are you my mother?

  Not in the way that you think. I am your mother and all of you are my children.

  Tammy was awe-struck at Sophia, “How do you know Latin?”

  Sophia swiped her hair back ostentatiously, “I am a fourth-year pre-medical student.”

  “Ooh, well I am impressed,” Tammy said with a proud big sister smile that stretched from ear to ear. “But, aren’t you a little young for college? How old are you?”

  Sophia laughed. She started to feel a little more comfortable with Tammy. A little more Relaxed. More than that, she felt safe. She had started to forget all about the Taser, the punch in the parking lot, and even being tied to a bed.

  “I’m 22 years old! You thought I was in high school? Haha, I will take that as a compliment.”

  She tried to fight it at first, but she could feel herself bonding with Tammy. Like a large heavy magnet in her chest pulling the two together. Abruptly, Sophia strengthened, “Oh! Oh! I got one!”

  Sophia’s heart leaped in her chest as the adrenaline surged through her veins. Her fishing rod bent violently over at the power of the creature beneath the water’s surface. It looked as if it would break at any moment. The reel screeched and squealed as the line was dragged out into the water. Sophia struggled at the reel trying to bring the beast in.

  Tammy shot to her feet. “Reel him in!” she shouted as she dashed for the fishing net they found in the garage.

  Sophia shrieked like a little girl as the net swooped below the animal. Forgetting herself, she dropped the fishing pole just as Tammy hoisted the large fish onto the shore.

  Tears streamed down Sophia’s face as she stood with one hand over her mouth, “It’s my first fish… this is my very first fish. I just caught my first fish.”

  “How is this your first fish? You said you were the best at this,” Tammy laughed.

  “I lied.”

  For a moment the two stood silent. Tammy sensed Sophia’s emotion and eased closer sympathetically embracing Sophia as Sophia started to sob softly. Tammy knew from their breakfast talks that Sophia was taken away from her single mother at seven years old. Sophia and her older sister Thea, who was nine at that time, were fending for themselves while their father was busy chasing wild women in the streets. Most of the time, he would forget he had them to take care of and wouldn’t even come home.

  They lived in an old abandoned building in the city. At night, the two slept together on a couch in the front room of their tiny ragged apartment. The two sisters feed themselves by begging, stealing, or selling bracelets that they made with a variety of materials they found. They took care of each other. They looked out for each other. They were always very close.

  Once, they had been caught stealing snacks from a small store and didn’t go out to sell their homemade jewelry for fear of the shop owner. The store owner allowed them to leave with just a warning. He thought they were too cute, but they believed it best to lie low for a while. The pair still needed food so, they decided to go fishing in a canal that was behind the neighborhood.

  They didn’t have a rod and reel like she and Tammy found at the lake house. The two girls used sticks and some string they were able to find. Thea was the first to get a bite. As she was vehemently pulling the fish in, she slipped and hit her head on the edge. She fell limp into the water.

  Tiny Sophia screamed and called out, but to no avail. Her sister could not hear her. She just floated like a sleeping angel on top of the water. Like most days, the girls’ father was not home.

  Sophia tried to use her fishing stick to hook her older sister and pull her in. She could not. She could only watch powerlessly as the angry current wrestled Thea’s skinny little body down… and down… and out of
sight. It was the last time Sophia saw her sister.

  ***

  After the sun had set and darkness had fallen silent and still, Tammy and Sophia decided to take what they caught and return to the house. On the walk back up to the house, Tammy noticed that there was a large set of footprints near the house. She quickly kicked into high alert.

  There are two of them, Tammy.

  There are only one set of footprints.

  There are two of them.

  “Stay here,” Tammy signaled to Sophia drawing her Beretta.

  Sophia tried to peer through the dark to see whatever it was Tammy was seeing, “What is it? Is it the police?”

  “Just stay here,” Tammy commanded as she moved like a shadow toward the house.

  Soon she disappeared into the house. Sophia was left alone in the dark. She thought it might be better if she moved from the open into some bushes that were nearby. She saw a flash of light followed by a popping noise as she watched the windows from her crouched position behind the bush.

  Unexpectedly she felt something moving in the dark around her. Something large was moving slowly through the hedges in the blackness. Like the cold shadow of death stalking Sophia in the dark. A twig cracked in the obscurity giving her a fright.

  CRACK

  Sophia’s eyes darted around, “Tammy?”

  It had become too dark and murky to see anything, but she could hear the grass crunching near her. Someone was there stalking her in the pitch darkness. He came bursting right through the bush behind Sophia. She only had time enough to let out a scream before a large hairy hand covered her mouth.

  “Tammy!” Sophia cried out.

  The man tightened his grip on her, “Oh, no. You’re not going anywhere. My friend in there has your friend. The four of us, we’re going to have a little party. You know, get to know each other.”

  He laughed as he forced her toward the house. Sophia was more afraid of what may have happened to Tammy than she was of the huge attacker holding her.

  The back doors of the house burst open. Tammy ran down the deck steps and stopped a few steps from the ground.

  She looked Sophia in the eyes, “Fight him. Fight him and kill him.”

  Sophia’s eyes widened. She thought Tammy would come to her rescue as the man was larger than her and had a prevailing position. Tapping her weapon on her leg, Tammy encouraged Sophia.

  “Make him let you go,” Tammy said.

  Calming herself like Tammy taught her… like Primus taught them, Sophia took hold of the large man’s hand.

  “Robbie!” The man called out. “Robbie!”

  “Robbie’s dead!” Tammy shouted.

  Gripping the man’s hand as hard as she could, Sophia took a hard step forward and pulled the man with her. He was distracted by Tammy’s statement about his friend. Sophia took the opportunity and flipped the larger man over her shoulder onto his back on the ground.

  She didn’t stop there. Like Tammy, Sophia was a fighter. She was not going to stop until she felt the large stranger was no longer a threat. She used a jujitsu move to gain control of the man’s arm. She held on tightly to his arm with her bicep. Her legs were wrapped around his shoulder and his face and neck. Her eyes closed tight and teeth clenched, Sophia leaned back as hard as she could to apply pressure.

  Behind her eyes played the images of her husband. He was an angry person. Always fighting. When she first saw him she was still in her teen years. It was in the back parking lot of a mall where the cool kids hung out. The teens were jockying for position to see a fight that was raging in the center of the crowd.

  Sophia pushed her way to the front. There he was. Six foot four Burton Monarch. Starting linebacker on the football team. Class clown. Problem child. He was just rising from his unconscious victim. His bloody hand swiped his light brown hair back behind his ear.

  The whole thing was in slow motion for Sophia. How many times she watched him in the hall and dreamed he would stop and say hi. But he never seemed to notice her. Now she seemed to be all he noticed as their eyes met for the first time.

  All around him hands waited for high fives. Like wading through the tall grass to find his prize, he walked right through them and right up to her. Her heart almost beat out of her chest the moment he put his hand out to her and invited her, “Let’s get out of here.”

  It was that special moment that she held close to her heart for the whole of their tumultuous two-year marriage. Through all of the other women, the drinking, the fighting, the screaming and yelling, she held onto the excitement and the adventure of that moment. Though no longer special, the moment stayed with her, but now the relationship and the adventure were over. The pain and the anger remained.

  CRUNCH

  She heard the man’s arm break and felt it give. He rolled away from her screaming in pain.

  Kill him, Tammy.

  Tammy was shouting like Dead Sarah, “Now Sophia, go for the kill! Finish this!”

  The man struggled on his knees trying to grab Sophia with his good arm cursing and spitting as he tried. While he was still on his knees, Sophia leaped onto his back wrapping her legs around his waist and applying a rear choke hold. She wasn’t going to respond to Tammy’s goading. She knew she could choke the man unconscious. That way, he would not be a threat and she would not be a killer.

  Soon, the man’s body went limp. Tammy helped Sophia up from beneath the now motionless behemoth. He lay there like a large felled tree. Tammy was hoping that Sophia would kill the man to solidify the bond between them, but she was pleased that Sophia had chosen her own way.

  “Let’s get him inside before anybody sees,” Tammy said looking around.

  Sophia caught her breath and thought about the other man. The one already inside the house. “Tammy, Where is the other guy? Robbie?” Sophia asked.

  Tammy didn’t answer. She clasped her hands around the big man from beneath his armpits. Looking up she motioned for Sophia to get his legs. The two moved the man inside the house.

  ***

  Sheriff Reginald Buford sat solemnly at his desk. His head hung heavy and low as a weighty burden sat on his back. He stared blankly at a pair of photos on his desk. Sitting there, just months away from retirement, he counted the cost of his career.

  In one photo, he and his wife stood in fancy clothes embracing. Smiling. They were young. They were outside in the warm sun. Trees were caught swaying the breeze behind them. In the other photo, his two preteen children were sitting together on a blanket. His son and daughter. They were smiling and happy. Both photos were from long ago. Things were quite different now.

  Being a career lawman had taken the Sheriff away from his family on more than one occasion. He was advised many times throughout the years that he should find and maintain a balance between his work life and his family life. He never did.

  He was always too busy trying to find the case that would make his career. That one big name case that would define him and establish his legacy. He poured himself into the job missing little league games, stage plays, music recitals, birthdays, and anniversaries. He was on the verge of losing it all, but there was still a chance.

  This was the millstone weighing on the Sheriff. He sat at his desk and at a crossroads. If he continued on with his dream of becoming the mayor, he could lose his family for good. But, the dream was strong within him. He knew that he needed to let it go in order to repair things with his wife and children. There he sat, struggling to wrestle the thing down.

  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

  Agent Roland’s sudden loud knocking jerked the Sheriff back into reality. The agent stuck his head in the door. Sheriff Buford sat up straight, “Special Agent Roland. Come on in.”

  “We have identified the hostage,” Agent Roland said handing his phone to the sheriff. A school photo of Sophia was displayed on the screen.

  SOPHIA ELIZABETH MONARCH

  “You boys are good!” Sheriff Buford said.

  “Thank the FBI techs,” Agent R
oland replied.

  “Do we know where she is?” Sheriff Buford queried.

  Walking to the door and putting away his cell phone Agent Roland replied, “No. We have her number and are waiting for it to hit a tower. The techs will call me as soon as they get something.”

  “And you will call me?” Sheriff Buford asked half avaricious as the agent was on his way out.

  “Of course, Sheriff Bouffant,” Agent Roland replied from the hall outside the sheriff’s office.

  “Buford,” Sheriff Buford said to himself.

  ***

  Driving home in his oversized pickup after leaving his last meeting of the day, Sheriff Buford received a call. His truck was equipped with Bluetooth so he was able to safely answer the call by pushing a button on his steering wheel.

  “Go for Buford,” the Sheriff said.

  The voice on the other end was Special Agent Roland, “Sheriff, the hostage’s phone hit a cell tower out near Lark County.”

  Here it was. The Sheriff’s opportunity to catch a headline criminal next to a big name FBI agent like Special Agent David Roland. Sheriff Buford turned his truck around and headed back to the department. He wanted to be there alongside Agent Roland when they captured Tammy and rescued the hostage.

  The photo op could be tremendous for his career.

  This might be the pivotal moment that could launch his run for mayor of Keoni. One of his childhood dreams. Maybe he would finally listen to his wife, let go of this one dream, and retire. Maybe he would make good use of his free time to rebuild the bonds of his family. The good Sheriff was still grappling with himself on that decision.

  The end for one

  T AMMY AND SOPHIA hid the two attackers in the basement of the lake house. Robbie was covered in plastic while his injured partner lay bound and gagged next to him. They could only hope that the gunshot from earlier went unheard.

  Sophia struggled with the fact that Tammy wanted her to kill the man. Even though the man was attacking her, she knew there was another way to stifle his ability to cause them harm. Besides, Tammy was standing there armed with her Beretta if Sophia wasn’t able to take the man down. Was Tammy trying to turn her into a killer?