by C. L. Stone
Ethan’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Where? I came to fix the tower. It informed me there was a power shortage or something.”
My heart thundered and my eyes widened. It was too soon for Doyle and Blake to have done anything for Ethan to make it over so quickly.
Which meant someone else had beaten us to it. My eyes flitted to the door and wondered where they were. Was that why they were still gone? Because someone was up there waiting to ambush Ethan, and instead they got two people interfering? If it wasn’t Alice, it might be Eddie.
If that might be the case, Blake and Doyle might survive. If it was Alice, then I had to get Ethan out of here before he was trapped, and we had no way to fix this. It would be hard to convince him his new bride wasn’t who he thought she was.
“Ethan,” I said quietly. “I know you don’t have any reason to trust me, but I need you to come with me.”
“Where?”
“For the moment, anywhere but here,” I said. I checked the church, not knowing the layout. “And we need to go out a door that will be discreet. We’ll need to make a run for it.”
Ethan’s face turned white. “Was someone following me?”
“Several people,” I said. “I don’t have time to explain. We just need to leave without being seen.”
Ethan turned toward the back door and then toward the altar. “There’s a small alcove just behind the confession booth,” he said, pointing. “And there’s a door behind it. A fire escape for the priests in the booth.”
Good enough. “Listen,” I said, focusing on his face. “I need you to follow me. No matter what happens. We can sort it out later. I just don’t want you getting killed.”
Ethan pressed his lips together, looking uneasy. “I don’t know.”
“Please,” I said. My body started to shake. I was tired. I was terrified. They were coming to put me in a trunk again, and this time I might not escape. “I know you don’t know me, but right now, there’s two groups of people chasing you, and people have died. They’ve got three of my friends, possibly more at this point. People are dying because of your experimental cell thing and it had nothing to do with me or my friends. We’ve been put in the middle and I just want my friends back. I’m sure you’d love to shake off whoever is chasing you before any more of your friends die for this.”
“I hadn’t realized they’d died because of it,” he said quietly. “It’s hard to believe...but then my own cell phone did go missing sometime last night.”
I smothered the guilt and tried to go with pleading. “Please? It’s just me. You’re bigger than I am. You can take me out easily.”
He smiled a little. “I should warn my wife.”
“She’s probably fine. It’s you they’re targeting. I’ve got reason to believe they shut off your tower to lure you...”
There was a crash at the door. I heard the priest say a greeting, but he was then cut off. Then there was a thud and a gurgling, pained cry.
I silently swore to kill them all later for harming an old priest. I grabbed Ethan, before he had time to look and ask. They weren’t waiting for him to leave. They were coming in after him.
Ethan stumbled behind me and then caught up. He took the lead after we got to the booths. He opened what looked like a simple wood panel, went in, and then pulled me inside.
The moment we entered, he closed the panel and hit a latch inside, which slid a safety bar into place. There were footsteps and some shouting behind us, but Ethan redirected me further into the narrow space.
I put a hand on his shoulder, and he led the way. It was a tight fit and dark. I wasn’t sure how he knew where to go.
At the far end, he hit another latch and a door opened up to the outside.
I took a moment outside to get my bearings. We were at the edge of a small graveyard on the far side of the church. Just great. Now we’d get zombies next.
I’d go back for the car, but I didn’t have a key, and if Blake and Doyle hadn’t been caught, they’d be able to use it to get away. Ethan was the key for us now, and it was most important for me to get him out for now.
“We need to get away from the church,” I said.
“Should we take my car?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “They’ll follow. We need to run somewhere else. Somewhere harder for them to follow. We can worry about a car later.”
Ethan pointed, directing to the street just beyond the graveyard. “That way,” he said. “It’s just a small neighborhood, but I know the area. Plenty of places to—”
There was a crash behind us, and the sound of splintering wood.
“Sounds good to me,” I said, and then started to run.
Ethan caught up. I lost one of my shoes in the escape, and then kicked off the other one when running became difficult. I tripped over a headstone, smashing one of my toes.
I felt horrible for leaving the guys now. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I had to swallow and focus on getting away. I could only hope Doyle and Blake could get away.
Ethan stayed in the lead, running. I did my best to keep up. Once we were out of the graveyard and across the street, he passed by two houses, took a left into the side yard of the third. As I followed, he slipped down a narrow alley where there were fences on either side and ducked around the back of a house. On he went, leading me on a maze through the neighborhood.
I got to the point where I was completely lost, thinking we were making a circle. When I couldn’t run any more, I reached out for Ethan, grabbing at his sleeve. “Wait!” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Are they still following?”
Ethan paused and then we both listened. We were in the backyard of some house. There was a swing set, with one broken swing and a slide that was crooked. The grass was around my ankles, and I was worried about snakes and spiders, but right then, I’d take on a snake to simply be able to breathe and listen for anyone chasing us.
Moments passed as we stood in the dark, and no one came. Wind swept through the trees around us, slicing through my clothes and freezing me. I wished I had Brandon’s sweatshirt. I wished I was back at the Sergeant Jasper.
Panting, Ethan, stepped closer, checking me out. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. I held on to my ribs, trying to ease a painful stitch, wheezing.
“You sound like you’re about to die,” he said with a chuckle. “Do you have asthma or something?”
I made a face, although in the dark, he probably didn’t see it. “I’m just not much of a runner.”
“What’s your name?” he asked.
I stood, trying to swallow and not wheeze so much. “Kayli,” I said, although it was on the tip of my tongue to lie. “I was simply too worn out and tired to come up with one. Kayli Winchester.”
“You do look so familiar,” he said. “You look exactly like my niece.”
“Angela,” I said.
There was an outline of a smile on his face. “You know her?”
“No,” I said quietly. “Not exactly. Last night, at your party...you...mistook me for her.”
He laughed at first, and then stopped short. “You’re serious?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But first, we need to get out of here.”
His head shifted from side to side, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to make of me. Slowly, he removed his heavy coat and angled to place it on my shoulders. “It’s freezing out here,” he said.
I was going to deny this, and tell him he was going to get cold, too. Part of me was overheated from running, but my legs were chilled and my arms were icy. It wouldn’t be long before I was simply chilled through. I accepted, nodding and put it on. He really was a nice guy. How did he get wrapped up in someone like Alice?
But then, Alice was tricky.
“Where do we go?” he asked. “What next?”
I didn’t really have a plan at this point, but I pulled out Mr. Anderson’s cell phone and lit it up. There was only one number I actually remembered by heart now.
; It took five rings this time, I was sure he was dead asleep. “Kayli?”
“Avery...I know you’re asleep but...”
“Where are you?” he asked quickly, and the sound of a crash on the other end. He groaned and then returned. “I’ll come get you. Give me a second to put some pants on.”
I blew out a breath in relief, grateful.
PHYSICS
Avery apparently lived on John’s Island, not far from where we were, so it only took him about ten minutes to find us after Ethan identified the street and house number of the yard we were standing in. We stayed in the backyard until we caught Avery’s taxi sign on top of his car rolling down the street.
“We’re probably scaring the neighbors,” I said as we walked to the car. “Slinking around at night like this in their yards.”
“No worries,” Ethan said. “I know most of them. If anyone had looked out, I could have said hello.”
“You know people in this neighborhood?” I asked, looking around. It wasn’t quite middle class. The people probably owned their own homes, but couldn’t afford the upkeep. Homes were run-down in one way or another, with older model cars and secondhand children’s toys littering the lawns. Not exactly upper class circles.
“Some might actually work for me,” he said. “It can take an army to run an empire, you know. Every person is essential, even if they don’t realize it.”
“What exactly do you do?” I asked.
Ethan shrugged. “Everything.”
Avery was out of his car and holding open the door when we emerged from the backyard. Avery wore only a ribbed tank shirt, jeans and a pair of sandals. His hair was hanging in his face.
Avery stretched. The tattooed words on his chest moving with him. “Where to this time?” He turned to Ethan. “Who is this?”
Ethan held out his hand in offering. “Ethan Murdock.”
Avery looked confused and extended his hand slowly. “Avery.” Ethan shook it and then Avery dropped it quickly, looking at me. “Where’s the others?”
“Gone.” I was trying to figure out where to go from here. I didn’t think going to the hospital was a good idea. I couldn’t take Ethan to his house. If Blake and Doyle managed to make it out without getting kidnapped or killed, they’d probably head to Blake’s house as it was closest. I thought at least I could use it as a starting point to figure out what to do next.
“They took him, too?” Avery asked. “Blake?”
I sighed. “Let’s get going. They could be on the way looking for us.”
Avery got into the driver’s seat. Ethan slid in the back. I raced around to the front passenger seat. Avery pulled the car around and headed out. Moments later, we were heading North toward the Charleston peninsula.
When it started to get warm in the car, I slipped Ethan’s coat off my shoulders and passed it back to him. I slumped in my seat, catching my breath and willing my heart to settle. We might have been standing in that yard for a while, but my heart was still racing like we’d been running the whole time. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I said.
Avery slid a glance at me. “What happened now? What’s wrong?”
“Everything,” I said. “I’m hungry. I’m tired. I can’t sleep, though. My friends keep getting kidnapped over a cell phone service that doesn’t even exist.” I shoved my hair away from my face. “I mean, how stupid do they have to be to be killing each other and not even know what they’re going after?”
Avery frowned. “Hey,” he said. “Not our place, you know? Wasn’t any of your business, right? We don’t have to figure out why. We just need to stop them. We should call the police. Get some help.”
“I can’t just stop,” I said. “They’ve got everyone, now.”
“We need the police,” Avery said. “The FBI should get called in on this. It’s gotten way out of hand.”
“I agree,” Ethan said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can’t just run all over the place. The authorities need to be called in. We’ll be safe, and they will find your friends.”
I shuddered, and slid lower into the seat. Maybe I should, but I wanted to get to a safe spot first and think it over. “I don’t know. Eddie said he’d be able to tell if I called the police.”
“Eddie wasn’t who was killing people, was he?” Avery asked. “And Alice…well…”
“Alice?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah,” Avery said. “The bitch that started kidnapping guys, too. It’s a long story...”
“Avery...” I said carefully, cutting at my throat with my hand. “Ixnay… uh…”
“I mean, she threatened Kayli here, and then poisoned two of her friends just to get her hands on this core thing, right? Who uses poison as a threat? That’s crazy. I don’t really believe it. I’m ready to call her bluff.”
“Avery,” I said louder, cringing, and afraid to look at Ethan, hoping he didn’t hear the Alice part correctly.
“Who do you mean, Alice?” Ethan asked, bursting my hope. “You can’t mean my wife.”
“You’ve got a wife named Alice?” Avery asked. “This is going to be confusing.”
I sighed, placing a palm to my forehead. “Ethan, your wife’s got my friends. She threatened me and threatened to kill them. She wants the core. She killed off a lot of Eddie’s guys, that’s the German gang who wants the core, too.”
“Wait a minute,” Ethan said. He shifted, and leaned over the back of the passenger seat, looking down at me. “Just one second. You mean to tell me my wife is behind this?”
“You said you’d only known her for a month or two, didn’t you?” I asked.
“How did you know?” Ethan asked.
“You told me,” I said. “Last night, when you thought I was Angela.” I sat up, meeting him at eye level. “I didn’t know who you were. I wasn’t looking to hurt anyone. I just wanted to figure out where it was and possibly give someone access to it to save a life. You thought I was Angela, and I wasn’t supposed to be upstairs, so I just went along with it.”
“So you crash my party? My wedding? And now you’re accusing Alice of... well, basically you’re calling her a killer.” He gritted his teeth, his eyes wide. “I don’t believe it for a second. Alice has had a hard life, but she couldn’t kill anyone.”
He said it with such conviction that I thought there was a possibility I had it wrong. She did only imply she might have been responsible for the prior deaths. Despite his attitude about her, Alice flat out said she’d poisoned Axel and wanted access to the core. It was a fact I was trying to leave vague. I knew it would be hard to believe that someone you thought you knew very well turned out to be something else. I had no proof for him now, though.
I pressed a palm to his arm, wanting to draw his attention. “Will you at least believe that there are people out there willing to kill for access to whatever this core is? We need to be careful until we can sort it out.” I squeezed his arm, pleading. “Look, I don’t want your core. I want nothing to do with it. I just want to find my friends and make sure they’re safe. Your life was likely in danger, too. Right now, we need to make sure we’re not dismissing any possibility and play it safe until it’s sorted. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Kayli,” Ethan said. He stopped, closed his lips and sat back. He was quiet for a long time, studying me and then Avery and then looked out the window. “What do we need to do in order to get this matter over with?”
“Call the police,” Avery said.
“Apparently my wife is involved,” Ethan said, “and is being accused of murder. I’d like to clear her name before she’s escorted to jail when we’re supposed to be on our honeymoon.”
“We need a way to draw out Eddie and Alice and to get whoever has them to bring Axel and the others out.” I had an idea started, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible. “I’m thinking of doing a trade.”
“How?” Avery asked. “And where am I driving to?”
“Let’s go back to Blake’s. Do you rem
ember the way?”
“I guess,” Avery said. “Why are we going there?”
“We need to stop somewhere,” I said. “Just for now. Just until we come up with a plan.” I needed clothes, and food and possibly a quiet place to work from until I could prod Ethan for answers that could possibly help us and figure out the next move. I couldn’t go to Brandon’s shop; I didn’t know where it was. And I couldn’t go to the Sergeant Jasper. I didn’t know where else to go. I didn’t think Blake would mind if I invaded his house.
Eventually, Avery found his way to South Battery, and parked out front of Blake Coaltar’s three story home. The white house sat quietly under the street lights, the neighbors’ homes nearby were just as still. The park across the street was dark and quiet. The smell of the bay was strong. It was such a peaceful, picturesque setting that filled my senses, making me crave sleep.
Ethan and Avery followed behind me to the front door. The stars and moon were now covered with a hazy, low cloud, promising drizzling rain and dampness for a while.
I rushed up the steps, testing the front door: locked. I scanned the front porch, wondering where, and if, he might have left a key in a fake rock or above the framework or hidden in a potted plant.
“He’s not home,” Avery said behind me. He shuffled in his sandals. “He’s been kidnapped, remember?”
“Yeah,” I said. I moved around him, back down the steps and wandered around the side of the yard, finding the rear with the yard and the large back porch. I climbed those steps.
“Are you sure we should be here?” Ethan asked. He followed close behind me. “I mean, there could be an alarm system.”
“I don’t think there is,” Avery said, following behind Ethan. “He didn’t set one before we left. I’m surprised the front door is even shut. I remember he took off with the door open. I was going to close it when he said to get in the car and hurry.”
A neighbor could have shut the door for him if he left in that much of a hurry. I tested the back door, but it was locked, too. I turned to the windows then, and found one near the kitchen where the latch had been left undone. I dug my fingers into the outside screen frame, popping it off and then tried to yank up the window. It started going up and then stopped short, the antique frame catching on the many layers of paint.