In the Shadow of the Tiger (The Fighter Series Book 2) Read online

  In the Shadow of a Tiger

  By

  Kolleen K. Bookey

  Copyright©2017 by Kolleen Bookey

  All rights reserved

  ISBN:9781522094753

  Cover design: Kolleen Bookey

  Dedication

  Dedicated to my husband who has a wonderfully creative mind. With great patience, he checks on me when I’m engulfed in work because when the last page is written so begins the tedious task of rewriting. To my sweet Rowdy who sleeps near my desk on plastic bags and reminds me often that he needs attention too.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my husband. I could have never written a book without his ideas, direction, and support. Thank you to John’s family and my family, daughters Jolleen, Corri and to those who cheered me on. Thank you to our American soldiers who keep our country safe.

  CHAPTER ONE

  CURRENT DAY

  The scream, distant filling a depth of hollowness, sounded agonizing. Residual loneliness trickled through corridors lingering in the ship’s bowels reminding an eeriness not forgotten. As he slipped out into the walkway, glass shattered followed by another blast of screams. Eric could see his exit from the ship that would lead him back to Jack's boat in the harbor. Instead, he headed invisibly into the chaos hiding deep in the recesses of shadows. Footfalls shuffled over broken fragments of glass. Shadow and light danced from an opened door further down the hallway. Eric told his dog Shift to be quiet with a hand signal, he and the dog pressing themselves hard into the walls. A man figure paused outside the room turned toward him then disappeared down another corridor. Now silence.

  Risking an unfair battle by going back the way he'd come, Eric knew without backup he’d never make it out alive. On his own, he'd risked certain death or even capture. The sudden quietness hummed like electricity; white noise no longer active. Thirty feet from the door and well hidden behind the vending section of the corridor, Eric and Shift watched. Seconds ticked by. Short bursts of clanking and a muffled conversation followed.

  A splash of light sprayed outward and a woman appeared hidden in obscurity. She stepped out into the corridor camouflaged. She paused looking back into the room. The sweet but bitter scent of floral invaded the stagnant air, spice combined with sweetness. Too much fragrance, Eric held his breath to keep from coughing.

  “Idiots can’t even fix the corridor lights.” She mumbled aloud turning on a hand lantern.

  The dim glow produced an eerie light across her face capturing the darkness below her eyes and neck. Long stilted legs stepped away from Eric, stilettos sliding gracefully across the carpeted floor. Long blonde hair flowed from a ponytail sashaying with each stride. Near him, he saw her features on her face. Something about her didn’t appear normal.

  Passing by him, he could've reached out and touched her. He let her go. The sound of her footfalls and the glow of her lantern moving further away until the black abyss of the ship swallowed her up as well. Too many narrow escapes, Eric thought. The time exit the ship had come. Eric needed to tell the team what he'd found. Backtracking, he held to the shadows using the darkness like a blanket. His dog followed. Eric scanned every corner as he worked his way back in the direction he'd come, almost to his exit there was a click. Overhead emergency lights flickered on. They blinked before holding a steady glow. Eric quickened his pace, but a movement from behind him triggered him to slow. He slid through an elevator shaft stepping on top of the car. Thick cobwebs stretched and then broke free as he pressed inward. No arachnophobia concern but a passing thought of spiders as big as his hands played with his imagination.

  When he saw a white blur half the height of a human but just as long vertically through the beveled glass, he forgot the spiders. The contrast of white and brown, lines and legs suggested his imagination was after all playing tricks on him. A chill passed over his flesh as he strained to see through the distorted barrier of the window and fragmented cracks. Dust blanketed the surface of the glass opening. The blurry white silhouette, too big to hide, emerged. He knew what it was, but he couldn't believe it. He blinked, and the tiger was gone.

  Eric craned his head forward convincing the dim red lights to work in his favor. The distorted glass made everything around him appear thick and blurred. He strained to focus. His sister, Riley owned the imaginative mind. Not Eric, so he reasoned with his mind. He was a black and white guy. However, he'd just seen a tiger on the Queen Mary. He felt a creepy chill clinging underneath the layers of his clothing. His thoughts turned to Ringo as he stepped out under the red lighting.

  The exit was just ahead. Eric wanted off the ship. He felt an unsettling presence here. Something, he’d already fought. No longer able to hide in the folds of the darkness, he reached an area where the light grew slightly brighter. In front of him, the outline of doors and entryways became shapes rather than shadows. Feeling relieved and finding it so much easier not to believe, Eric took one look back.

  The white tiger darted out running down the corridors challenging Eric’s beliefs in the supernatural. Seeing amid the impossibility made him believe. Eric hadn't run away from the consequences of one of his decisions; he'd run straight into it. Was this Ringo? Had he sent the tiger to do his dirty work? The mission on the ship had just taken an unusual twist. Unable to let it lay, Eric turned and started back in the direction the giant cat had run. With his wife's death still haunting him, he allowed something so illogical to steer him away from the exit. Eric moved back into the belly of the ship when he should've gotten off the ship. He caught glimpses of the tiger that never allowed him a solid look.

  Unintentionally, forgetting about the hostages and team a day and a half from arriving, he moved forward anxious to shake off the demons leading him astray. The tiger slipped in and out of the corridors leading him deeper and deeper inward. Minutes later and after a fast pace, Eric could no longer see the cat. A holograph? He looked around trying to remember his path behind him. Shift saw her master’s confusion and let out a small whine.

  “Don’t you see it?” Eric said to the dog.

  Eric searched for the tiger, but with each turn he made he saw only darkness. The ship groaned. Other sounds joined in mocking his stupidity. With an eerie chorus of rubbing and shifting, the boat moaned loudly. Misleading shapes called him forward and then evaporated into thin air. While Eric found himself lost in confines of the ship, the tiger was reeling him inward. The Queen Mary, one big maze of metal and steel with hallways and signs that once directed, damaged and erased. Eric stopped suddenly as shattered glass crunched below his feet. The sound snapped him out of his desperate need to chase the tiger.

  He stepped through an open door where every third or fourth light revealed enough for him to see overturned tables and chairs. Oversized letters spray-painted over historical murals reflected the times of the Shift. The tiger disappeared through a large room. Eric stopped where the center floor, covered in broken glass and tile, held a musky odor. Once was a brightly lit dining room was now a dark abyss. Eric saw no sign of the tiger. The hair on Shift’s back lay in a relaxed position. Bred to chase lions, the dog would have smelled the cat. Shift was at ease. There was no tiger.

  “Ringo,” He whispered.

  The mere mention of his name caused him hatred. Ringo and the Manic Shift were two like evils of the world. He’d been close to making a trip to Las Vegas to marry Shay the first time. They never did make it thanks to Ringo and his men. Otherwise, the name Ringo would've never taken up any space in Eric's mind. Ringo kidnapped Shay and their unborn child keeping them for his own. For nearly two years Eric searched for her until one
day, Shay escaped and ran into Jack Colton. Jack killed Ringo's brother and rescued Shay. Hours later, an intense snowstorm brought them all together in the same building near Prescott. His twin sister Riley included. Ironically, fate happened at one time in the same place. Five people interconnected and brought together by chance. Influenced by something other than chance, fate brought them together.

  Ringo’s thirst for Riley was insane. Ringo’s focus shifted from Shay to Riley. Ringo’s hunger fixated on Riley from the start. He took her hostage on the wildlife conservatory outside of Prescott. The conservatory housed several exotic wildlife species, including a white Siberian-Bengal tiger. Ringo had nearly killed his sister. Eric should’ve killed him then, but the slippery devil escaped all of their grasps. After only hours of saying their vows, Ringo murdered Eric’s new wife Shay in cold blood. Revenge determined Ringo’s destiny. There was no hell, for Eric, big enough for Ringo's sins. In the end, Eric, with Jack's help, captured Ringo. He and Jack made the Bengal tiger judge and jury.

  Jack and Eric’s vow of silence was mutual. Until now, silence held solitude of a memory forgotten. Once again, Ringo wedged into his mind like a sharp knife sawing away at the nerve endings in his brain. The only mistake Eric made that night was not watching the giant cat eat every piece of the devil. They’d locked him into the tiger’s enclosure. Escape was impossible.

  Eric washed away Shay's blood from his skin but not from his memory. He'd lost her not once, but twice. Eric thought the wicked were put to rest, but here he stood now chasing a ghost tiger. He was on this ship to do reconnaissance for a rescue mission. Instead, Eric had trailed a shadow. A deep quietness settled around him, and he suddenly became aware of what he'd just done. The distraction had put him in imminent danger. He turned away and let Shift lead him back, but the mistake had already determined his fate. A hot burning sensation formed in his neck. Eric reached up feeling metal and feather. Seeping into his blood, the drug began to take effect.

  It was fortunate he couldn't see through the abyss. His vision began to go, and his body began to fail. He hoped he'd wake and prayed for Jack to hurry up. Then everything went black.

  CHAPTER TWO

  FOUR MONTHS AGO

  It was close to midnight when Eric staggered to the forward head after succumbing to another nightmare swearing, as he moved through the dark, that blood covered him. When he found the light, Eric realized it was sweat, and that's when he felt a chill. His gun clanked loudly on the sink, and after a few cuss words, he realized he hadn't eaten in several days, and dehydration had set in. The small bathroom spun. The mirror looked like a blurred version of human flesh. He made his way back to the bed grabbing the bottled water along the way. Emptying the bottle, he grabbed another.

  The water was cool on his lips and could feel the liquid run down his throat and slid down into his stomach. Drinking the bottle dry, he fell back onto the bed. In one hand Eric held his pistol, the other a water bottle.

  His thoughts rolled through his mind jumbled and messy. In the corners of his foggy brain, he could hear Jonah laughing, Shay crying, and Jack’s last words before he left. “Just feel better. I need you here. Riley needs you here and more than anything that little boy needs you here. Tully will take care of everything, you just hurry up and get your ass back here." Jack Typically said few words.

  Past hunger now and filled with water, he fought sleep. Every time he fell into the slumber dark visions of Shay haunted him. Her dress blood-soaked and her eyes dead still. In the shadows of dreams was sheer evil, half man half tiger, Ringo. Eric longed for the return of the mother of his child and hated the man who took her from him. Eric's body was falling victim to his broken soul, and now he was too

  weak to sort out the havoc ripping his heart apart. Several days passed. Minutes turned into hours and hours into days. Eric tried to eat. He slept when exhaustion forced him and jolted awake when he realized he was asleep. He was falling and falling fast.

  It was predawn on the fifth day when Eric fell asleep. Before dreams turned wicked, something jarred him awake. His eyes felt weighted down with exhaustion. A man stood in front of him wrapped in a blanket of fog.

  Eric raised his pistol. The man stood his ground. Eric said nothing, but Shift was prepared to protect her master. The dog was standing. A low growl formed in her throat. Eric's head pounded, and his vision failed him. He could barely make out the thin stranger staring down at him.

  "Put the gun down son. I'm Tully. Jack hired me to take care of the boat, but it looks like the old girl is secure and you're not so."

  Eric's hand trembled keeping the gun on the old man. Through his fogginess, Eric saw a figure just behind Tully. He shifted the gun, and the old man put his hand out in a protective manner.

  “No son. No. You don’t need that now.”

  Shift stood down but moved next to her master with uncertainty.

  “Eric Collins. Shift.” The old man said pointing at the dog. “Jack told me you were coming.”

  Another round of chills wracked Eric's body, and the gun trembled under his hold. He crumbled back into the sweat soaked bedding more toxic than he'd ever been.

  “He’s sick papa.” An angelic voice said.

  Eric tried to look past the old man to the dark haired angel standing just behind him, and he thought of the angels hoping he was dead. The room spun, and before he knew what was happening, he started to slip into darkness.

  Eric heard the old man say, “Go rustle up some food Jesse.”

  “But grandpa, he needs….”

  “He needs food, sleep, and a shower.” Eric heard Tully say softly and then it all went quiet.

  An aroma of spice seeped through the galley waking Eric. His stomach grumbled because food hadn't been his priority. The sheets stuck to his skin. He twisted around to look at the clock. Shift was nowhere in sight. His demons had let him sleep. While his stomach complained, his mouth began to water.

  “You’re awake,” Tully said as he passed through the door holding a tray. Shift was close at his heels, following the smells while wagging her tail playfully.

  “You call yourself a guard dog,” Eric growled looking at Shift. The dog gave him a long look. Her eyes shone happily. “Traitor.”

  “She’s easily won over with food,” Tully said waiting for Eric to sit up. Instead, he placed the tray on the table next to the bed. “You’re not what I expected.”

  “What’d you expect?” Eric asked grumpily. He didn’t want any friends.

  "A fighter." The old man replied, and then he walked out of the room with Shift following.

  “I’m an asshole," Eric said to himself looking over at the food. On the tray homemade tamales and rice, refried beans and salsa. He sat up wanting to call the old man back. Instead, he looked to the food and started eating tell he was full and then slept again.

  When Eric woke just after dawn the next day, his first thought went to the old man. Getting up and looking for Tully, Eric realized the boat was clean. Tully was gone. A stack of prepared food and water lined the refrigerator, and a small pile of clothes sat on the couch. Eric stepped out onto the deck and Shift followed. Not having seen the sun in days, he slipped a pair of sunglasses on. He glanced down at his dog.

  “Wanna walk girl?” Shift let out a soft bark.

  “Howdy.” A man called from another boat not far from Jack’s boat. Eric turned to face a broad-shouldered man in his early fifties sanding the teak edges of his railing. Eric waved and started to walk on wanting to relish in his misery alone.

  "Are you living on Jack's boat?" he called out.

  Eric stopped. “No. Just visiting.”

  “People don’t visit no more. How’s Jack?” The man asked.

  “Busy,” Eric said trying to move on.

  “I was one of his PT instructors in the Marine Corps. Now he teaches me a thing or two.”

  Having not smiled lately, Eric grinned. "Hum mm, Marine Corps you say?" Jack Colton would've never said, but Eric had a
ssumed it was something like that.

  “I have a building over on the boardwalk.” The man stepped a little closer to his bow. “We’ve everything you need including a pistol range.”

  “I’d like that,” Eric replied giving the man a wave. “Thanks.”

  “You can bring the dog.” He hollered after Eric.

  For some unknown reason, the healing had begun. Eric knew there was no good coming out of him being so broken up. Shay wouldn’t want him this way either. When he and Shift returned to the boat, the dog raced down the docks to greet Tully who went to a knee to acknowledge the dog.

  “He lives,” Tully replied scratching his snow-white goatee.

  Eric bowed his head slightly seeing Tully for the first time. "I owe you an apology,” Eric said.

  "Not so. Greif can make a man evil."

  “Please accept my apology and my gratitude.” Eric extended his hand to Tully.

  Tully took it and then laid his hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss.”