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Realigning Destiny
By TT

Sometimes chance intervenes in our lives and causes destiny to jump the tracks. When this happens, fate steps in and realigns destiny’s course to bring us to where we need to be. But, as with the course of true love, the road of realignment doesn’t always run smooth.

Part 32 - Whistle

Stephanie tried the phone one last time. It didn't matter that she would reach Bob's house within five minutes, she needed him to answer.

After bringing in the Loosey boys and sorting out the mess with Mr. Slater, Stephanie had two other call-outs including one to chase a raccoon from under a front porch. Normally, Dr. Mueller, the local Veterinarian would act as animal control, but he was out of town for three weeks visiting his sister. So, the task of animal control fell to the sheriff's office.

Two hours later, she'd returned with the captured raccoon only to ride out with Jed to handle a domestic disturbance.

Fortunately, it had only been the Swanns. The couple had been married sixty-two years and only the last five had been acrimonious.

The couple currently had two live-in health care workers who helped them whenever needed. When the couple got out of hand, they called the sheriff. That seemed to always, instantly settle any dispute.

Today, the couple were not just arguing, though. They were assaulting each other with jello and butterscotch pudding.

With her usual luck, Stephanie somehow managed to get into the line of fire.

The good news was that the jello just seemed to bounce off of her. The bad news was that the butterscotch pudding did not.

Fortunately, a quick shower removed the pudding from her hair and skin. Of course, now she would need to wash yet another uniform. At least this one wasn't destroyed.

As she was changing after her shower, she called Ranger's cell. He'd told her to call back in an hour, they were reviewing tapes.

Startled by the abrupt dismissal, Stephanie stared at her phone before Jed called her out to the main office.

An hour after the first call to Ranger, she had tried again. This time, there was no answer. She tried Bob's cell and his home number with similar results.

Thinking she hadn't given them enough time, she waited for another hour.

When there was still no answer at any of the numbers, she started to worry. Unfortunately, she would be unable to check on anything until after her shift.

A quick call to Mandy assured her that Charlie would be fine at the house until Stephanie could pick him up.

When she spoke to Carlie, he asked if it was OK for him to sleep over at Foxx's. Stephanie hesitated only a moment before agreeing. She wasn't sure what was going on, but just in case, she wanted to make sure Charlie was safe.

Asking to speak to Mandy again, Stephanie confirmed that her friend was fine with having Charlie sleep over and then listed off Bob's numbers as additional contact information before hanging up.

As soon as her shift was over, Stephanie headed toward Bob's house, continuing to try and reach the men.

Pulling up in front of the house, she scanned the area and was immediately on edge.

The front door to the house was standing open. The lower screen was torn. Bob's car was still parked in place and Ranger's truck was pulled off to the side.

A quick check assured her that there were no strangers around, but, not knowing what she would be getting into, she made sure to keep her gun with her.

Allowing her training to kick in, she slowly approached the house, doing her best to stay out of the line of sight of any windows or doors, her gun aimed downward and in both hands.

When she achieved the porch, she scanned the small area, spotting a metal figurine resting near one of the posts. From where it was lying, she could only assume it was the object that had torn the screen.

A few steps brought her to the side of the door.

Glancing in, she heard nothing, but noted a faint smell of hot metal.

Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Careful to keep her back to the wall, she scanned the room and felt her stomach churn with worry as she noted the complete chaos before her.

Papers and objects had been swept off of their normal resting places, or thrown about the room. One chair and two tables had been knocked over. The only items left on the tables were computers and a reel-to-reel tape recorder which was still running, though the tape had long since run out.

The only items remaining untouched where the pictures on the mantle.

Assured there was no threat in that room, Stephanie moved on to check the rest of the house.

Nothing in any of the other rooms appeared out of place.

Finally she reached the kitchen where she found two mugs, with teabags in them, sitting on the counter.

The faint smell of hot metal was much stronger here. It took her only a moment to spy the tea kettle on the back burner of the stove. The burner was still on, but it had obviously been a long time since the water had all boiled away. The bottom of the kettle was glowing a slight red, so Stephanie wasted no time in turning off the burner.

Satisfied that there was no one on the main floor, she tried to decide if she should check out the upstairs or downstairs first.

Glancing at the basement door, she thought of going down to the unknown darkness and decided upstairs was a much better option.

It took only a few minutes for her to secure the upstairs, leaving her only the basement to check.

Pausing before the basement door, she took several deep breaths. She'd never been down to Bob's basement and didn't know what to expect.

Finally, feeling herself ready, she opened the door to the basement and looked down into the darkness.

She spotted the light switch on the side wall and flicked it on.

Making sure her gun was in hand and ready to fire, Stephanie slowly made her way down the stairs, vaguely wishing she'd stopped to put on her vest.

The stairway was walled floor to ceiling all the way down, so she wouldn't be able to see the actual cellar until she reached the bottom stair and peered around the wall.

She also managed a silent “thank you” to Bob for finishing the stair risers and treads. Maybe she'd just seen too many horror movies where the helpless victim hid under the cellar stairs, watching between the treads as the killer came down...

It was a comfort to have one less scary thing to worry about.

Finally reaching the bottom stair, she peered around the corner of the wall.

What she found, stunned her.

There was no where for an attacker to hide down here, at least not that she could see from her vantage point, so she dropped her gun arm.

Taking a step into the room, she let out a low whistle as she took in her surroundings.

The wall you faced as you came down the stairs was lined with shelves of dry goods and preserves. Not an unusual thing to find in the basement.

That was the only thing that was normal, however.

If Stephanie had ever dreamed that Ranger had a batcave, this would have been it.

The wall opposite the stairs was lined with maps of different sorts. She could identify road and topographical maps as well as aerial surveys. None of the maps currently displayed were of Montana.

There was a series of low file cabinets in front of the maps on the wall. Somehow, Stephanie knew that inside the drawers, she would only find more maps.

In front of the file cabinets, there was a large table with several maps on it, laid out and ready for review. She suspected that those were maps of the local area as well as Denver.

On the wall across from the preserves, several flat screens were mounted. On the shelf beneath the monitors, sat more computer equipment than the sheriff's office could ever dream of having or using.

Glancing at the final wall, the one where the stairs were located, she noticed that the wall beside the stairs ran the full height of the room. She also noticed that the door in the middle of the wall was half open and a light burned within the room under the stairs.

Somehow, she knew what she would find there and tried to decide if she really wanted to look or not.

Letting out a disgusted snort, she wondered why she bothered with the hesitation. There was no way her curiosity would allow her to not look.

In a few short strides, she reached the door and threw it open.

A whistle of appreciation escaped her this time as she took in the shelves of electronics as well as the impressive collection of armaments.

Taking a moment to more closely scan the contents of the room, she got the uneasy feeling that several weapons were missing.

There was no way she could be sure, but there were some suspicious gaps in amongst the automatic weapons.

The harsh curse that slipped out at that realization was only a faint echo of the anger and frustration she felt, not to mention her worry.

Closing her eyes, she prayed aloud, “God, I know we don't talk much, but please, don't let them do anything stupid. Amen.”

Knowing there was nothing else she could do now that she had cleared the house, she closed the door to the supply room and headed back upstairs, making sure to turn off the lights and close the door to the basement behind her.

Putting her gun away, she turned her attention to the main room and the disaster therein.

Not knowing if, or when, Bob and Ranger would return, she set about picking up the various items on the floor and setting the room aright.

As she got to the table that held the tape recorder and other items, she straightened the papers already there and then picked up the ones that had been tossed to the floor.

The last paper she picked up was a map of Denver. What she saw drawn on it made her blood run cold and her stomach rebel.

Swallowing the bile that rose in her throat, she dropped into the nearby chair, her legs no longer strong enough to support her.

Her eyes continued to stay locked on the horror before her even as her hands began to shake so badly, she couldn't read the map any longer.

Clear sight no longer mattered.

What she had seen was now indelibly seared into her soul, never to be forgotten.

<Continued In Part 33 - 035. Coming Home

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