Richard Levine only went back to the jeep once, to get a bottle of water. He paused a bit leaning over the front seat, biting his lip and frowning. Something didn't seem right, he felt. Maybe it was just a gut feeling or whatever, but something was really off. Shrugging, he took a power bar out of his pocket, unwrapped it and took a bite. Taking a quick drink of water to gulp it down, he looked out his windshield at the kid standing out there. A bit shifty, he thought to himself, but otherwise looked just as vanilla as any ordinary twenty something you'd find out there in the states. If there was anything off about him, Levine thought he would know.
Wrapping up the candybar wrapper absentmindedly, Levine put it back in his pocket. Opening the door, he took out his water bottle with him, just in case he had to trek a bit. Walking toward the kid now, he nodded his head. "So you said Dr. Guitierrez is indeed here?" That seemed an obvious question since the kid had already said 'yes', but he thought it needed an answer regardless. Sort of strange how some random kid who was obviously a graduate student would be wandering about by himself in a remote Costa Rican Village.
"Yes…" the kid looked down, and slightly to the side. He seemed very uncomfortable, almost pale even. Levine couldn't quite figure out why, but he figured he was going to find out. "You see…he's not exactly available right now and…" The kid took a breath, scratching the back of his neck. Was he nervous about something? It was hard to tell, especially now.
"Do you know where he is then?" Levine wasn't exactly making eye contact; he only did that for people he knew were being honest with him. Which was exactly why the board always complained that he was 'unreadable' or some shit. Tough luck, he thought, it was just one of those things that always seemed to come up sooner or later. He knew this was where Marty must be…the GPS had traced him here. It didn't look like a very large village, so he figured Marty must be somewhere around here, it was just a question of where exactly.
"Look," The kid, said after a pause. "He was injured, though I can't really say more then that. Basically I need to get some…first aid stuff, but I think it might be in one of the houses around here." On the face of it, it seemed like a likely story, though maybe not holding up the best under further examination. Levine decided to let the kid go at that though. If he felt like telling the truth later, he was going to do so anyway. In the meantime, Levine would get to the bottom of this all sooner or later. He preferred sooner, as a mater of course.
"Just take me along for the ride," he said, his upper lip curling as he pressed down his vest. Too hurried for a day's work he thought, way too damn hurried. That was what you got for hopping on a plane before the board could figure out that you weren't going to make the meeting after all. The flipside of course was that he hadn't had a full night's sleep since then, not even on the plane. He'd been too much on edge, the image of that grainy cell phone picture burned in his mind. This kid wasn't doing much to relieve his unease, probably worsening it as a matter of fact.
"Whatever," the kid said, and it almost sounded resentful. "Go and follow me if you want, notice I didn't ask you what the hell you were doing here." Levine squinted at Baxter, wondering how many years ago this little shit had lost all respect for authority. Well, he thought its Marty's student not mine, glad he's not my responsibility, seemed like a pain in the ass so far. Well that was just his first impression; he decided he would wait until at least an hour before making up his mind, though he doubted it would change anytime soon. So he just nodded, and followed behind as the kid started walking.
In the distance he heard it begin to rain, meaning they only had a couple minutes before the storm front brought the rain over here. He could see it had rained not that long ago; large stretches of the dirt clearings were still muddy. Here and there were pools were the water had settled into depressions deep enough that they wouldn't run off right away. He made a mental note not to drive his hummer into any of those, might short the damn transmission. Well you learned from the past, and he'd not been so damn foolish as to come here unprepared, not so foolish. He noticed that they seemed to be heading in a northerly direction; they were already past the bar he figured.
He wasn't exactly sure where the kid thought he was going but he figured he was just going to let him lead the way. Wondered vaguely why Marty needed a medical kit that bad, probably scraped his knee or some shit. At least he hoped so, the village seemed awfully quiet like everyone just got up and left. That was really suspicious in itself, and to be perfectly honest he felt the silence unnerving. The trees swayed in the wind, seeming to mock all mankind. He shivered, noticing a huge pile of trash behind the bar as they passed by it. It smelled god-awful, even with that small patch of trees right next to it to even out the smell.
Had something died in there? He didn't really know or care because he saw the row of houses they were approaching. Not bad, he thought to himself, for a hick village in the middle of nowhere. There didn't seem to be any people around this side either, even though there were four or five houses in a row here. Right up against the treeline, he noticed almost as an afterthought. Really not that close but still…. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at the ground again. They seemed to be following a trail of prints in this mud, really faint as to be discernable but unmistakably there. They led out to one of the houses, which one he couldn't tell just yet.
But it had to be where the kid was getting his sense of direction from. Levine didn't really have a whole lot to say to him, even as they approached the house at the far side of the block. Immediately Levine's eyebrow arched once again, and he gave the kid a quizzical look. The door was open, and in the dim light within, he could see muddy footprints trailing off. Pretty unexpected, but hey Levine wasn't running this show right now. Clearly they were following someone, and right now Levine just needed some more answers. Not now exactly, but eventually seemed like a nice, reasonable goal to shoot for. Though maybe Marty could find a Graduate student just a bit more talkative as well….
They entered in solemn silence, or was it awkwardness? Levine didn't really have anything to say to the kid so he set his water bottle on the table next to the door. Taking his power bar out, he heard the kid immediately head to the kitchen area. Well sort of, it was combined with the living room space as well. It seemed like he was rather busy after all, and there was a draft anyway. Probably the kid wouldn't mind at all, if he… Levine reached over and closed the door behind him. Better, he thought, a thought striking him. The muddy footprints on the ground didn't match up to the area the kid was searching. Not exactly saying a lot, but enough to make someone stop and think.
Levine took the PowerBar out of his pocket, unwrapping it and taking another bite. He took a few steps, looking back in the kitchen to check. The kid didn't seem all that interested in him; care much for that matter. He shrugged, the feeling was getting to be mutual about this time, he thought to himself. There were the prints, time to see where those led while he was at it. So he turned around, noticing that the trail led down the hall to the right. He walked slowly, taking a few bites out of his power bar every now and then. The noise from the kitchen was quite a ruckus, but as you got further down the hall it wasn't that bad. Not at all, to be honest. It wasn't a long hallway, he was through it in less then a minute to be exact, but he saw where the tracks ended. Oh yes he did. It was only then that a couple of other details became apparent to him, almost at the same time, really.
One. The tracks were somewhat fresh. Levine was no expert in this matter, but he deduced that they must be at least somewhere from twenty to thirty minutes old. Maybe sooner, but it didn't make sense, not in the way that he was hoping. If the kid had been following a trail over here, the man who first went to get the first aid kit or whatever should've been back by then. The village wasn't really that big, but that was just his first general impressions. Something had distracted the man, from whatever purpose he might have originally had.
Two. The back door was open, swinging in the breeze. As Levine drew closer he could see the footprints disappearing out into the dirt beyond. He went to shut the door, but paused in the doorway, wondering why he did so. There was absolutely no reason for the man to have used the back door, or as far as he knew. Looking out on the dirt, he saw the prints only continued for a bit. Right up to the tree line, which wasn't really that far as he could see. In fact, it was probably less then seven or ten feet to the trees. For whatever reason, the prints stopped halfway there. He leaned forward, trying to see better. The light was okay, but the clouds were still overhead, giving everything sort of a dull luster.
Richard Levine blinked, just to make sure he was seeing this right. Where the footprints stopped there seemed to be a sort of depression. No that wasn't exactly describing it either, not in the least. It was really strange because the area right in front of it was all worked up, almost as if… He was straining to remember, because it had been so long really, if you could call five years all that long of a time. But it matched the characteristics of everything. He took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. He realized he knew why the mud was all worked up and flattened. It was very simple, the explanation out in front of him. Then something else drifted into his mind, something from equally long ago.
The mud was flattened…drag marks he thought to himself. What was that Grant had said back at that conference in Peking? Not the first time, the second time he'd managed to catch him, this time with Malcom in tow so the man couldn't deny everything. Oh yes… not from the front…. Levine felt his grip on the doorknob tighten as he took a half step back. His sweat was rolling down his face, and somewhere he heard thunder rolling. He heard a low whistle, and took that as his cue.
He drew back a breath, and stepped back quickly, slamming the door after him. It made the house shake, but Levine didn't care. He dropped his powerbar on the ground, and reached for the bolt on the latch. Not a moment too soon, it seemed, for suddenly he heard a thump outside. Right where he'd been standing not a second before. He thrust the bolt back, hearing that click on the latch. Grants words coming back again… as he stepped back, not daring to breath. But from the side…. He backed up slowly, eyes still on the door. From what he could hear the kid was still in the kitchen, maybe he could just give him a heads up here.
He could see the kid stepping into the hall in the corner of his eye as he looked back. "The hell you doing old man?" What a disrespectful punk, Levine thought to himself, they weren't even that much separated, perhaps ten, twelve years at most he was guessing. Levine was about to ask him to shut the hell up, even though he was still unsure what the situation was exactly. However he paused as he heard a sound unnerved the hell out of him. Like something trying to break the door down. Looking at the kid he could see his eyes widening, and his face going pale. Yeah, now you're going show some respect kid, he thought.
It came again, and this time it was clear what it was. Some large force was banging against the back door, as if trying to shove it by force. But Levine had locked that sucker tight, there was no opening it that way and the door was solid. He took a step forward, hesitantly. Yes, there was no way anybody-or anything was going to get in. He didn't know who was, but he figured it to be some crazy lunatic. After all, this was just a normal village in the middle of nowhere right? At least he thought so, but that image of the cell phone picture was still very much burned into his brain…
Then there was silence, whoever, or whatever it was didn't try for a third time. Levine wasn't sure if that meant they were gone or… He realized something else, something he'd discussed many times before. Pushing the kid roughly to the side, he ducked into the bedroom, noticing with relief that the window there wasn't big enough to break through. However, he noticed a shadow fell across the room, as something broke through the light. There it was, only barely just as a flicker in the side. A trick of the light or…He felt a pressure behind him, turning his head realized it was the kid trying to see in. See what the old man's worked up about.
When he turned his head back of course it was gone. "Hell," he muttered under his breath as he pushed his way back into the hall. Was it just a trick of the light? His fevered brain working too hard in the past twenty-odd hours? He definitely hadn't gotten enough sleep that was for damn sure. That was definitely something to consider, and he couldn't exactly discount that possibility entirely. Taking a step forward, he froze again, feeling unable to swallow. The back door was locked right? Yes, he'd checked that for himself, there was no doubt about that, not at all. It came back to him, what he'd been thinking before.
Misdirection. Oh god, that was what it was. The front door he'd just slammed it behind him, without even a look back. He felt the goosebumps rise on the back of his neck as the doorknob was turning slowly. He could even now hear the scrape of metal against claws….