The Stalker Read Online Free PDF Page A

making callsto Liz and me and now to Sam. He threatened us.”
    “Oh, man,” Jason said. “You are coming home, right?”
    I looked up at the boiling clouds above us. The rain hammered down now. “Yeah,” I said. “It’ll be tough paddling for Gerald and Sam but I think we better give it a try. If we run into trouble, we’ll find a place to wait out this storm. I’ll call you once we get close to the launch site. You can meet us there.”
    “I’ll wait for your call, then.”
    “Thanks, buddy.” I flipped my phone shut. “All right, everyone. Let’s go.”
    “But I haven’t seen the burial caves,” said Gerald. “And I’m not leaving until I do.” He climbed up the rocky beach in the rain, sliding on the slick rocks that led up to the closest cave.
    “Ah, hell,” I said. I climbed up after him, leaping from rock to rock. When I put a hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it off.
    “Are you going to knock me out and drag me back down this cliff?” he said. “If not, I suggest you allow me to see that cave. I’m not leaving here until I do.”
    “All right, all right,” I said. “We’ll all go together and see one of the burial caves.” The more eyes on Gerald the better, I thought. “Then we’re getting out of here. Agreed?”
    “Agreed.”
    I waved at Liz and Sam to join us. We all climbed the cliff with our hoods up, braving the heavy rain. We balanced along a thin ledge under a long, narrow rock overhang to view the grave.
    Gerald was disappointed. He looked into the grave glumly, like a child who has just dropped his ice cream. The cave was shallow, little more than a pocket in the cliff face. The remains of a body were still in there. The skeleton was partly covered by the rotted cedar burial box that had once contained it. If the cave had ever held anything else, it had long since been taken away.
    “That’s it?” said Gerald.
    “Well, what did you expect?” said Sam. “King Tut’s tomb?”
    “I think it’s amazing,” said Liz. “I know we’re not supposed to be here, Mike, but thanks for this.” She squeezed my hand.
    “Now,” I said. “Let’s go.”
    But as we turned to take our first step back down the cliff, gunshots zinged past our heads.

Chapter Seven

    The gunman fired down from the cliff edge above us. Because of the narrow overhang, he couldn’t actually hit us. But the bullets were close. I heard the zing as one flew just in front of our faces. We all pressed ourselves against the cliff face as the shots rained down.
    “Did you see him?” said Liz.
    I shook my head. “No.”
    “Why is he shooting at us?” asked Gerald.
    “That’s obvious: he doesn’t want us here,” I said. “He’s trying to scare us off.”
    “Someone from the Indian band?” Gerald asked.
    “I don’t know,” I said. But likely he was right. The stalker had warned us not to come outhere, and then he shot at us when we intruded on this cave.
    “We should just leave,” said Sam. “Run down to shore and get in our kayaks.”
    “Not with this guy shooting at us,” I said.
    “What, then?” she said. “We’re trapped.”
    I flipped open my phone. “I’ll call the cops.” But I got no signal.
    “Must be the storm,” Liz said. “I’ll try.” She tried her phone, then shook her head.
    Sam and Gerald both pulled out their cell phones. “Nothing,” said Sam.
    “Well, at least we won’t get any more calls from that stalker,” I said, trying to make light of the situation. Nobody laughed.
    The shots stopped for a moment. The guy needed to reload his gun, I thought. I squinted up into the rain to see if I could catch sight of him, but I couldn’t. “You want us to leave, we’ll leave,” I shouted up at him. “Just stop shooting.”
    Immediately the guy started firing again. I jumped back under the overhang. But this time he didn’t aim at us. He shot at our kayaks. One by one, the boats jumped as he shot them full of bullet holes. Then the shots stopped. We