Trapping the Gazelle

Chapter 8

The two weeks leading up to their departure to Berkeley, California passed by quickly. Kiera used the time to finish her appointments with the young patients. In addition, Kiera talked to each of the parents about the month long absent she would be taking.

Kiera did tell the parents and her patients that they could reach her by phone if they need her for anything. They repeatedly told Kiera that they would leave her alone during this special time. As they, all knew about the vacation. In addition they knew how it was time, Kiera wanted to spend with Ryan, her family and to celebrate the engagement. Kiera still insisted that she would be available for them regardless.

On the other hand, she had two more nightmares during the two weeks. The problem was how vivid the nightmares were. During the last nightmare in particular, Kiera could have sworn that she smelled and felt the dampness in the air. As if, she really was in the basement again.

Between different sessions with patients, Kiera tried researching if anyone had the same experiences. Soon she found it to be a dead end. Most sites led her to out of body experiences or spiritual revelations. Sitting back in her chair, Kiera closed her laptop and let out a deep breath.

'This is impossible.' Kiera thought as she used the palms of her hands to rub her tired eyes. 'I must be going crazy then.'

Kiera and Ryan stepped out of the car and onto the tarmac at Perranporth Airfield. Ryan's private plane sat of the runway waiting for them. The sight of the plane cause Kiera to shutter as old memories flooded her mind. The last time she flew in a private plane was during that long flight from Rome after the event, alone with only nightmares to trouble her during her sleepless flight.

"Are you alright, Kiera?" Kiera heard Ryan ask in her ear. She heard concern in his voice and felt a reassuring hand on her lower back.

"I fine Ryan." Kiera replied with a small smile as she stepped onto the access stairs to the plane.

Once inside the plane, Kiera took a seat across from Ryan. both seats faced each other and Kiera crossed her leg over the other. In the process, the knee length grey skirt moved exposing some of her thigh. Ryan leaned over and ran his hand up her calf to her exposed thigh, gently squeezing it. Kiera smiled warmly at him feeling electric tingles at his touch.

"Excuse me Ryan and Kiera," Kiera looked up to see Lisa the flight attendant looking down at them, "Would you care for anything before takeoff." Kiera noticed that she adverted her eyes slightly.

"Two orange juices would be nice, Lisa." Ryan replied, Kiera noticed that he kept his hand on her thigh. "Thank you Lisa."

As Lisa nodded and walked off, the Captain spoke over the cabin speaker. "Good morning Ryan and Kiera. We will be taking off soon, so please buckle your seatbelts. Our flight time to Oakland California will be 17 hours with two refueling stops in Iceland and O'Hare. The weather is great for flying today, so we should have you in Oakland around Ten O'clock in the evening pacific standard time." There was a pause and then the Captain continued. "We are happy to have you two again and congratulation on your engagement, but are you really sure you made the right choice, Doctor Reid." Kiera heard laughter over the speaker before it when silence.

Kiera could not help but laugh a bit herself, "They are in a good mood this morning." She said.

"That they are." Ryan responded shaking his head then he looked up as Lisa approached, "Thank you Lisa for the drinks."

"You are welcome Ryan." Lisa said with a smirk on her lips. Then she walked over to the cabin door to prep the cabin for departure.

"Kiera time to wake up love," Kiera heard Ryan's voice in her ear, "We have arrived."

"Great," Kiera murmured sitting up and rubbing her eyes, "What time is it?" She looked up at Ryan.

"It's half past nine o'clock." Ryan answered, "We landed a few minutes ago and our luggage is in the car. I wanted to let you sleep a bit more. You seemed pretty tired."

"Thanks," Kiera responded as she stretched upward and rolled her shouldered. She noticed Ryan eyeing her and she gave him a tired smile.

Kiera stood up and followed Ryan out of the plane and onto the tarmac. Kiera saw that night had settled on the west coast. Kiera shook hands with the Captain, First Officer and the flight attendant. She thanked them for another wonderful flight.

She settled herself into the car as Ryan gave the address to the driver. Before she knew it, they were driving north towards Reid Ranch. The drive took roughly forty-five minutes as Kiera held Ryan's hand while looking out the window at the darken landscape.

Once they reached the backcountry of the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve, Kiera instructed the driver to take the second unmarked dirt road. The driver shrugged and turned down the dark road. As he drove a sign appeared out of the darkness, the sign read that 'These lands were under federal protection and any trespassers will be arrested or shot.'

A mile down the dark dirt road, Kiera said there would be a small gate with a guard. Kiera looked ahead through the windshield, but to her confusion, the small gate was gone. As she was about to say they when down the wrong road, bright lights flooded the road from all around. The driver hit the brakes hard and Kiera closed her eyes as the lights blinded her.

"This is not right." Kiera said as she covered her eyes.

Kiera heard a tap on the glass of the back passenger window near to Ryan. Kiera looked over, trying to cover the side of her face from the bright floodlights. She saw Ryan rolling down the window and Kiera noticed a shape silhouetted by the lights.

"Show me some identification please." Spoke a gruff voice of a male, "Nice and slow." Kiera noticed something gleaming in the floodlights.

"Kiera I need your ID it appears that the Military is in control." Ryan said turning to look at Kiera. Kiera reached into her purse, withdrew her ID and handed it to Ryan. Ryan in turn handed it to the silhouetted figure. "Mind telling me what is going on?" Ryan asked the shadow.

"Stay in the vehicle and give us a few minutes to identify who you are." The person said not answering Ryan's question.

Kiera saw the shadow disappear into the flood lights and hand the ID's to someone else, who Kiera could not identify.

"Looks like someone stepped up security," Kiera said to Ryan, "There was a small guard shack last time I was here."

"Seems to be a military detachment from the Army or Marines," Ryan replied. Kiera saw him scanning the area, "Seems to be about six men and they are armed."

"How the heck are do you know that." Kiera blurted out, "Those lights are blinding."

"I'm looking down and not up at the lights." Ryan said simply.

"I will ha..." Kiera could not finish her sentence as they heard the fall of footsteps.

"Doctor Reid and Mister Westbrook," The guff voice spoke as a person materialized from the floodlights, "You have been cleared to proceed to the Reid Ranch." The man handed there identifications through the window.

"Thank you, sir." Ryan said "Driver plea..." but the gruff voice spoke again.

"Please exit the vehicle. We will escort you and Doctor Reid from here."

"Why can't the driver just take us?" Kiera objected she started to feel uneasy about this. It seemed like an odd request.

"The driver does not have clearance to proceed onto the property." The gruff voice replied with an irritated tone, "Please exit the vehicle and follow me please."

"I think you irritated the Captain." Ryan said with smirk, "We better do as he says."

"This does not feel right, Ryan." Kiera whispered, "Why would they be out here and my parents did not alert me."

"Maybe they could not tell anyone about the upgraded security." Ryan said with a shrug.

"Please exit the vehicle." Kiera heard the man repeat.

Kiera and Ryan exited the car and followed the man toward the floodlights. Kiera slipped her hand into Ryan's hand. She felt a reassuring squeeze from Ryan as she noticed two soldiers carrying rifles flank them. Once pass the flood lights, Kiera saw dimmer lights, which lit up a military Humvee. She noticed their luggage loaded onto the vehicle. Ryan helped Kiera into the back of the Humvee and they buckled their seatbelts.

"Why is there more security, Captain?" Kiera asked not sure of the man's rank.

"Captain Johansson Ma'am," Johansson responded as he took the passenger seat, "And I will let Doctor Reid explain at the ranch."

"Can you please call me Kiera?" Kiera asked.

The Captain glanced back at Kiera and she saw this was not a request he was going to give her. His expression had the irritated look as if this was below his experience level. Kiera sat back in her seat and pushed up her glasses.

"Don't even try, Kiera." Ryan said, "Marines are dead set on protocol."

The drive to the Reid ranch took about thirty minutes. As they go close to the ranch, Kiera noticed the lights were on. Kiera assumed that the Captain had phoned ahead to tell her parents. At the gate to the ranch, there was another checkpoint. The Captain handed over everyone's identification for the guard. Satisfied with the ID's, the guard lifted the heavy metal gate and the Humvee drove up to the main entrance to the ranch.

Kiera saw her father and mother waiting at the front door as the Humvee pulled up. When the Humvee stopped, Captain Johansson exited the Humvee and opened the back passenger door for Kiera and Ryan. Ryan helped Kiera out of the vehicle, the Reid's walked down the front steps and hugged their daughter and Ryan. Kiera's father thanked Captain Johansson in which he nodded and climbed back into the Humvee.

Once the luggage was unloaded from the Humvee, the vehicle drove off towards another direction. Kiera's parents helped Ryan carry in the luggage. Inside the ranch, they left the luggage by the front door.

"I'm sure you must be thirsty or hungry from your long trip." Fiona spoke, "We can talk in the kitchen."

Kiera noticed how tired her parents looked. They tired to hide it, but Kiera noticed how their shoulders slumped slightly. Then there was the beginning of dark circles under their eyes. Something did not feel right to Kiera.

In the Kitchen, Kiera spoke up, "What is with the heightened security Da?"

"Please sit and we will explain." James said pointing to the table. Beside the dark circles, Kiera discovered a worried expression as she faced them when she sat down.

"Well," James cleared his throat and rubbed his eyes, "We had a security breach a week ago in one of the labs."

"What happened?" Kiera asked with a concerned look. She remembered how Dragon told her Marcus on orders from someone watched the ranch for a short time.

"That is the weird part," Fiona answered before James could, "It was in one of the smaller labs, while we were out and nothing was taken."

"From the camera footage," James continued, "The person walked around the lab as if they were looking for something specific, but did not know where to look. The other weird part was, they knew exactly how long to stay before federal officers swarmed the place."

"Homeland security thought it would be best to increase security around the ranch. A lot has been added to the property since you last visited." Fiona said.

"Why did you not tell me?" Kiera asked, but knew the answer.

"In the interest of 'National Security' we could not tell you." Fiona answered with finger quotes.

"You said they looked around, but did not take anything?" Ryan asked.

"That's all," replied James, "The federal officers searched the whole property and nothing was missing."

Kiera studied Ryan for a moment. She knew he was thinking about something related to the break in.

"What are you thinking about Mister?" Kiera asked and stifled a yawn as she watched him.

"Sorry honey, old habits die hard." Ryan replied quickly and gave her a small smile.

Before Kiera could say anything James spoke up, "Look you two had a long flight. Kiera you go up to bed. I would like to talk to Ryan for a bit."

"Why?" Kiera said with another yawn and gave her father a suspicious look.

"It's not about business or anything." James chuckled holding his hands up in mock defense, "Just wanted to have a chat with my future son in law."

"It will be alright Kiera," Ryan said. "I will be up shortly."

"Be nice to him Da." Kiera warned as she pointed her finger at her father, "or else."

"Come with me dear," Fiona said to Kiera, "Let the men talk."

"Sure mom," Kiera said standing up and glanced at her father, but only saw a smile on his face. Kiera leaned over and gave Ryan a brief kiss. The she followed her mother up to her room.

"I left your room the way it was during your last visit." Fiona said opening the door to Kiera's bedroom. Fiona turned and hugged her daughter, which took Kiera by surprise, but she returned the hug, "I'm so happy that you are here and with Ryan."

"I'm really happy to be home too." Kiera responded as she hugged her mother.

Fiona stepped back as she finished hugging her daughter. Kiera saw her wipe away a tear, "Well you have a good night and we will see you in the morning."

"Is everything okay?" Kiera asked tentatively, "You and da seem tired and worried about something."

"Don't worry everything is okay." Fiona replied, but Kiera heard more in the way her mom replied. The tone was apprehensive and stressed.

Kiera did notice that her mom would not say any more, "Okay, well good night."

"Good night dear." Fiona replied.

Kiera walked into her room and closed the door as her mom walked down the hallway. She noticed their luggage in the room. Kiera decided to take a shower. After her shower, she noticed that Ryan was not in the room. Shrugging, Kiera put on pajama shorts with short sleeved button down top. Lying down in the bed, she tried to stay awake waiting for Ryan. Her bed felt comfortable, her eyes felt heavy and soon she fell asleep.