Hide'n Go Seek by Dale Mayer

turmoil.

    Walking around the easel, Kali stopped midstride.

    The painting stood where she'd left it. With surreal and strangely enticing clarity, blacks and purples and browns popped off the canvas. Heavy paint splotched at places, then thinned and stretched across the top.

    She stepped back and frowned. Up close, the picture resembled a distorted nightmare. Not surprising. Still, she caught a glimmer of an intentional design. She tilted her head and looked at it from a different angle. Nothing changed.

    Sniffing the air, Shiloh ambled into the doorway.

    Kali smiled down at the dog. "Not very sweet smelling, is it?"

    She glanced back at the jumble of colors and stilled. There. She studied the abstract mess, letting the colors move and form to reveal the image hidden within.

    Shivers slid over her spine.

    Oh my God .

    No way.

    Kali blinked. It was.

    There was no mistaking the image of a person buried under small bushes, civilization of some kind crouched on the horizon, with a series of rough rock formations soaring behind the bushes.

    "What the hell?" she whispered.

    Kali was not a great artist, by any means. Blind escapism kept bringing her back to the process because it worked. She painted with wild abandon. The paint slapped on canvas with no thought discharged her emotions. For some reason it always worked.

    And it always looked like shit.

    This, on the other hand, was ingenious. Sure the subject matter was gruesome; however, given her volunteer work, not unexpected. Especially after she had found the letter.

    The artistic abandon was still there. The paint was so thick in spots the picture was almost three-dimensional. The terrain had depth and movement. The light was dark and terse, yet still shone with gruesome clarity - and was way beyond her artistic abilities.

    "It's fucking brilliant."

    It was also scary as hell.

***
    It had started. Finally. He couldn't stop beaming. And he'd learned to be a master of keeping his feelings to himself. Six months. For six months he'd been moving forward, taking tentative steps to clarify his path, bringing events into alignment and planning. Always planning. Finally, he'd reached the stage of dealing with the abomination called Kali. She couldn't be allowed to continue with her Godless ways.

    Hunkering lower into his makeshift bower on her neighbor's beachside entrance, he used his high-powered binoculars to keep an eye on Kali's cedar house. He had a perfect view of both the back entrance and a large chunk of the sundeck. She'd been storming in and out of the house all morning. Something was up.

    He smirked. He was up.

    With a quick tug, he delved inside his backpack for his water bottle and the granola bars he always kept handy. He should have brought popcorn for the show.

    Pushing an evergreen branch aside, he studied the road to Kali's house. She'd chosen the property for the privacy and beach access. Even better, the corner of both properties led to a pathway along the edge of the cliff. He'd have to examine those possibilities later.

    The heavily wooded properties, while designed for maximum privacy, afforded him a secure blind. And one far enough away from Shiloh's incredible nose. Settling into a more comfortable position, he relaxed, prepared to wait and watch. He had time. He wanted to make sure he got this right. She was a jumping off point - the supreme test, so to speak. If he rose to the challenge here, then he knew he could handle all of God's work - whatever that might be.

CHAPTER SIX

     
    T he small plane bucked in the heavy winds.

    Kali stared out the window, happy her stomach had learned to adjust to turbulence years ago. Dark gray clouds glared back. She hated flying through storms. The lightning hadn't started...yet. Not her idea of fun.

    But necessary today. An apartment building had collapsed on the outskirts of Sacramento, California. Sixty apartments lay in rubble. Occurring during the small hours of the morning meant the building