Chapter Forty Eight

Darius

I knew Alice was in a system somewhere but where? Emmett had joined me with his computer and we trolled the depths of the dark web after drawing a blank through normal channels.

"Do we have any idea of a name she might use? It wont be a casual one, she's trying to hide now."

"She told me it was over and as long as we don't hunt her she'll leave us in peace"

Peter looked at Edward in disbelief,

"You have to be the only one in this room who believes the bitch. I wouldn't trust her to turn a light out and she isn't going to stop until she's fucked us all royally. Now shut up unless you have anything constructive to say or do you want more of what you got last time?"

Edward went back to his corner, ignored by everyone again, how could someone so supposedly intelligent be so gullible?

Rose came to watch over Emmett's shoulder as he tried all the different combinations of names she might use with no luck. I was still checking passenger flight manifests, all flights that left Japan in the past month. I was looking for a lone passenger but of course there were plenty of them and each one had to be traced to their destination so they could be eliminated.

Rose

I racked my brains for some clue to help the guys and suddenly I remembered something she'd said to me a long time ago.

"I traced my family you know, they announced my death the day I was committed, isn't that cruel? I had a sister, a little sister and she never knew I lived, I was just a headstone to her. Do you like the name Mattie? That's what she was called, Mattie Mae Brandon. Life is so cruel sometimes. She got married and had two little girls of her own and I never met my nieces, Elizabeth and Eliza Alice Scott. She named one of her daughters for me, isn't that sweet? Eliza Alice."

"Try Elizabeth or Eliza Scott."

I explained why as Darius tapped combinations of these names into the computer and waited for the search to finish.

"Yes, got you Alice. An Elizabeth Scott flew from Japan to Darwin and an Eliza Fitzgerald flew from Sydney to India the following week.

"Just a minute, how do we know these are the same person?"

"Simple Peter, Elizabeth Scott was Alice's nieces name. Eliza was her other niece and the author Fitzgerald's first name was Scott."

"Fuck me what a tangle. Why didn't she just use Ann Smith or something?"

"Too simple for her tastes."

Peter nodded at my answer to that question then Darius interrupted us,

"Just a second everyone. OK...I have a Pleasance Liddell on a flight from India to England."

"OK I'll buy it... this is?"

"The name of the real girl that Alice in Wonderland was based on."

"Darius how do you know all this shit? It's not fucking natural."

"I read a lot Peter now shut up and let me see what happens in England. Right no sign of anyone who might be her flying anywhere so lets just assume for a moment that she crossed the channel and flew from France or maybe Holland or Germany. This could take a while folks."

He was wrong it took only two days to trace her on from Belgium to Alaska.

"Right, she could fly, sail or drive back into Canada and I'm not sure we can trace her further without more to go on. Would she stay in Alaska or pass through Canada?"

"Alice has a small place in Toronto, she thinks its secret but I found the paper trail while I was trying to see what she was up to. That's how I found out about the ranch."

"Then I think we should assume she's using it for now. I think a trip to Toronto is called for"

Everyone nodded at Bella's suggestion and we made plans to cross the border and split into three groups. That way it would be more difficult to track us all and if she really couldn't see Bella better still. Garrett went with Emmett, Edward, and Rose, Darius and his sister went with Charlotte and Jasper and myself went with Peter. The house Alice had bought was close to the border and in the centre of a lake so it wouldn't be easy to launch a surprise attack but by the same token it would be difficult for Alice to escape quietly.

Jasper

I felt well enough now but I was still a little slow and that's why I wanted Peter with us. He appreciated this but he didn't say anything just kissed Char goodbye and we split up, crossing the border when we reached it as separate groups. I doubted Alice would be looking for us separated but we'd see. If she was alarmed and ran we'd just keep on after her until we caught up. It had been agreed we would approach from different directions and hopefully confuse her early warning system, if she had one. The house sat in the middle of the island and there was a small motorboat tied to a tiny wooden pier so maybe she was still there. We waded into the water from a small stream that fed the lake under the cover of trees and swam underwater right to the island. There was no cover this side so we waited in the water for the sunset. The night was dark and moonless by the time we hauled ourselves onto the island and putting our clothes back on having stripped and putting them in plastic bags to keep dry we made our way to the house. There were lights on and peering in I saw the place was booby trapped. Man traps were scattered about the floor and there were suspicious wires attached to the window and door frames. So she knew someone was coming but did she know how many?

Peter

At The Majors signal I crept round to check out the other windows and doors. All were wired and there were not only man traps but also other traps and these were more worrying because they seemed to be attached to incendiary devices, she was sneaky but was she still here? I saw a slight movement of the drapes upstairs and drew back to watch. Yes, she was, watching from the upper storey so she must believe her traps would be enough. Had she seen us all? I saw her move again just a little and looked in the direction she was gazing to see Emmett, Rose and Garrett appear just visible if you looked really hard. They were approaching very slowly and then suddenly there was a deep rumble and the ground beneath their feet opened and they fell, quite a distance from the sound of it. That meant they would be out of action until they could free themselves. We were down to two groups already and the attack hadn't even started yet! She moved and I lost sight of her so I edged round the building until I saw a slight movement from another upper window. She knew exactly where we were and now her traps were being sprung. There was a huge explosion as the other team came into view and body parts rained down, strike team two, at least until they reassembled themselves and that could take some time. It left only the three of us to capture or kill her, the kind of odds I preferred so long as she didn't have another trap ready for our little party.