The three of us manage to escape the room and decide to meet up on the beach, heading there separately just in case we're being watched. It feels a little extreme, but Javier was insistent. I take the round-about way to the shoreline, forgoing the path, and instead, cutting around through the wooded area behind the bungalows. Every creak, crunch of dead leaves, and shadow has my heart skittering.
I tell myself that I'm just being silly, my nerves on edge from everything that has happened the last few days, but as I weave around the tall palms, I can't deny that feeling that someone is following me.
I duck into the folds of shadows behind one of the palms and lean my back against the rough bark to wait. I crane my ears for any sound. If I can make sure I'm not being followed, then I know my imagination is getting the best of me, but if I am being trailed, I need to know.
The wooded area remains quiet other than the chirping of cicadas and the laughter of hotel guests hanging out by the pool not far away. Through the moonlight area, the pool and torches cast a glow into the air. I allow my body to relax, chuckling to myself at how paranoid I've become when I hear the crunch of footsteps across the pine-needled ground.
My ears ring and my body stiffens. Someone is near. Within a few steps of me, in fact. I dare to peek around the tree trunk and spy the dark form crouching by a set of bushes, waiting. Could this lurker just be a perverted hotel guest or is he connected with the kidnapping and heist?
The instinct to run, and run fast overpowers me, but rational thought holds me in check. I'm not a natural runner. What if I'm not fast enough? My eyes sweep the ground, searching for something to protect myself with. There is nothing about other than a few twigs, pebbles, and coconuts.
Suddenly, my stalker springs to life, eating up the distance between the bushes and my tree in a few terrifying seconds. I hear myself screech and I claw at the ground for something to protect myself. My nails scrape across a coconut, and I snatch it up.
The shadow looms before me, reaching for my body. In the moonlight, I catch the brief outlines of a man's face. Light skin, crooked nose, a scruff of a beard. I don't hesitate, but smash the coconut against his head, shoving all my might into the blow. The man grunts and staggers backward. I bear the coconut down on his head once more and he crumbles into a heap.
The moment I'm free, I take off through the grounds, sprinting and wheezing from the run as I search for Javier and Jake.
A set of wooden lounges are on the beach where two dark shapes sit. That has to be them. I keep running, gasping for air as I careen up to the chairs.
"You're okay," I say, hunched over, panting.
They both jump up, startled.
"Hey," Jake says, but when I collapse into the sand beside his chair, he springs to my side. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
"A man." I gasp for more air. "Followed me. Attacked."
"Where?" Javier grabs my shoulders and looks around as if to protect me. There's a slight shake of his hands.
I've never seen Javier lose his cool, no matter what we've seen or experienced in the Dreamscape.
"I was in the wooded section over here. Not sure if it was just some creeper or someone who is tied to Dad's kidnapping. I smashed a coconut on his head. I think I knocked him out."
"It was stupid of me to let you walk alone here," Javier mutters. "What was I thinking? From now on, we need to be more careful.
"Especially you, Aria," Jake says, frowning. "I think they're targeting you. Did he hurt you?"
My body still shivers in horror from the experience. "No. I'm okay, just freaked out."
"We should find him," Jake says. "We can't let him get away and tell anyone about us."
Pretty much everything inside of me definitely does not want to go back into the woods, but Jake's right. This guy could be more dangerous than I'm realizing.
"Did he have a gun?" Javier asks.
"I don't know," I say. "But he tried to tackle me rather than shoot so I'm guessing maybe not."
The three of us creep back into the woods with me leading the way. I find the guy lying on the ground where I left him. Javier crouches at his side and checks his pockets.
"No gun," Javier says. "And his pockets are completely empty."
"Who do you think he is?" Jake asks. "Does he look familiar to either of you?"
I shake my head. "I've never seen him in my life."
"We need to take him with us," Javier says.
"What are we going to do with him?" I ask.
"We'll take him to my room." Javier grabs the guy's shoulders while Jake takes the legs. "It's the bungalow right behind yours."
"This carrying bodies around is starting to get old," Jake mutters.
"People are going to get suspicious when they see us carrying him around," I point out as I hold up his midsection.
Javier shrugs. "We'll walk fast."
By the time we are on the walkway right near Javier's bungalow, we are all out of breath. We set the passed-out man on the ground for a moment.
"You sure got him good," Jake says.
I follow Jake's eyes to the gash on the stalker's forehead. The blood has dried, a black slash trailing across his forehead and down his face.
"He does kind of look like he belongs in a haunted house," I mumble.
A couple ambles past, arm in arm as if they're out on a romantic stroll. But upon passing us as we heft the intruder back up, the woman stops and gasps.
"What happened to him?" she says.
"Aw." Javier grunts as he adjusts the body. "Drank a little too much at the tiki bar down the beach and hit his head. He'll be fine other than a slammer of a headache in the morning."
"Oh, dear," the woman says, which spurs the three of us to grab the guy back up and hurry even faster to Javier's room.
Once we enter the bungalow, a little smaller than Jake's and mine, we drop the guy on the floor. Javier works quickly to rip up one of his shirts and gags my stalker. Then he procures a long tasseled rope.
"From the curtains?" Jake asks, eyebrows raised.
"Yep," Javier says. "Got to use our resources, right?"
Once the man is secured, Javier inserts a dose of Temazepam. "That should keep him out of it for a while. At least until tomorrow morning. Then I'll give him a second dose before we head out of here. Hopefully, we'll be out of the country by then with a cold trail at our heels. I'd say we could enter his dreams, but we've already entered four times in the last week. That's more than we've ever done before and too risky."
"Yeah, the last time was rough on my system as well," I add.
"We've got all the information we need," Jake says. "No reason to push things. Plus, I'd like to run a diagnostic on Dr. Hale's laptop. Check for its vulnerability to virus or malware."
"Absolutely." Javier passes him the computer. "Just don't do anything to risk Aria's safety. This isn't a video game, you know. These criminals are professionals."
"And so are we." A rush of anger floods through me. "We might not be thieves or professional killers, but we've got skills. That's what we need to focus on."
"Skills in sleeping and dreaming?" Javier scoffs. "Some skills."
"Don't forget we've got Jake," I point out.
"Just call me Batman." Jake settles down on one of the seats, opening the laptop, but his face is paler than usual.
"Right and a computer nerd," Javier says, gloomily. "The dream team."
I glower at him because I hate how right he is. "What do you guys suggest?"
"Looks like Ms. Lau's main office is at Casino Kam Pek Paradise," Jake says.
"Then we go there." I pull out my phone to look up flights. As I do, I notice messages from Mom, Tony, and Sun. I tell myself I'll read them later. "We need to get there as soon as possible. I'm going to look up flights out of here."
"And do what?" Javier says. "Waltz in there and say 'Hello, we think you kidnapped Dr. Hale and maybe even stolen 81 million dollars, too. Hand the doctor and the money over.'"
I don't answer. I turn off my phone in frustration and face the window looking out into the ocean. The dark waves crash and then rush onto the shoreline. He's right, isn't he? Who am I kidding?
"How is it that after all we've done and experienced we're held up at this point in the game?" I say, bitterly. "If we could just find Zhang Lau and put her to sleep."
"You want to enter her dreams?" Jake's eyes widen. "That doesn't sound like a great idea. I mean, I'm sure she's heavily guarded. And if we do get a hold of her, we'll just get one shot. And there's no guarantee that she'll dream about your dad or the heist either. Right?"
"We've been entering the Dreamscape more than our allotted time," Javier adds. "It's dangerous and not healthy for our brains. I think it's time to contact the federal investigation team back home."
"You want us to call the feds after everything we've done?" I ask. "And tell them what? That we got solid evidence from breaking and entering people's minds and resorts? They'll lock us up in prison."
"Wait a second." Jake squints at the computer screen. "Do either of you like to gamble?"
I cock my head to the side, trying to read Jake's expression. "I'm a scientist. I deal with hard evidence and results. So no, not really."
He leans forward and pats the lounge cushion in front of him. "Now it's my turn for wild ideas."
"I'm listening." I plop down in front of him.
"I don't like this already," Javier mutters.