Prey for Us

by Geoffrey Neil

  Thane walked along the edge of the opening to the opposite side and gently tugged the wire. “I never wanted things to end this way.”

  “Thane, I’m begging you,” Morana said. “I only wanted to help you. I care for you. We’ve spent so much time together, sharing personal stories. We made love.”

  “What?” Clay said, frowning at Morana.

  “Thank you for trying. This isn’t personal,” Thane said. “I’m not cruel. I’ve calculated carefully. This slab is 4.2 tons. Technically, you should feel nothing because, with at least one meter to accelerate, your loss of consciousness will be virtually instantaneous.”

  “Oh my God, Thane!” Clay said.

  “What about Waylon?” Morana said. “He’s still out there, and he won’t stop coming after you.”

  “If you had the desire or ability to take care of Waylon, you would’ve done it by now.”

  “No, that’s not true!”

  “I will stand up to him by myself. If you’re right, and he does come after me, I’ll soon have him right where you are.”

  “I don’t think you realize how determined—”

  Thane yelled, “Nobody will take away what’s mine! Nothing you’ve done has helped!”

  Clay began to pray aloud until Morana smacked him in the chest. “Knock it off. Thane, please listen.”

  Thane didn’t answer as he lowered the notched block to ankle height and stopped its sway over the trap floor opening before it dropped into the mouth of the trap floor.

  The shaft went dark.

  Morana yelled, “I know where Gus is.”

  The block stopped. A few moments later, it moved upward until light poured in again. Thane peered over the edge.

  “Tell me.”

  “Okay, listen...” Morana took a deep breath. “Thane, Sweetheart, I can tell where Gus is and more if you let me out.”

  Thane dropped to his knees and screamed, “You’re lying to me—again! Tell me where my cat is, you bitch! Say it!”

  “Thane, it would be better if I showed you. Please!”

  Thane climbed to his feet, and the lid block descended. From inside the chamber, Morana and Clay saw the thin seam of light around the lid block’s edges go dark as the block approached them. The massive tonnage accelerated.

  “No!” Morana and Clay screamed in unison. The air that rushed through the falling block’s notched edges generated a hiss that grew louder as the falling block closed in on them.

  “My God, we’re done. This is it,” Clay said.

  Morana screamed, “Thane!”

  They laid face down. Clay covered his head, bracing for the gruesome impact.

  Morana straightened her arms at her sides, her fists clenched.

  As the block came to within a few feet of them, it abruptly slowed and then stopped. The shaft went quiet. They began to breathe again. Morana reached up and felt the block, less than an arms-length above them—too close to sit up.

  They waited in silence, catching their breath.

  Clay rolled to his side. “Now what?”

  “Do we have a choice other than to wait, you idiot?” Morana said, panting.

  “I’m an idiot?”

  “What kind of a bonehead move was that to break into Thane’s garage after I told you to wait until I called you?”

  “Look, Mo,” Clay said. “Thane has gone nuts, and you can see it as clearly as I can. You heard the man—he’s soured on us and probably planned to get rid of us a long time ago. Whether I broke into his garage or not, this situation was going to happen.”

  “You’re wrong,” Morana said.

  Their body heat quickly made their cramped space stuffy, fanning Clay’s panic.

  “He changed his mind about crushing us. He’s going to leave us here to die. We’re going to suffocate,” he said.

  “Shut up,” Morana said. “He doesn’t want to torture us. You heard him say it would be quick. I guarantee that he knows the block hasn’t crushed us.”

  A memory gave Morana a shiver. Thane had not constructed drainage for the trap floor. If he had, then cleaning up the soil of the crushed bodies would be simple. Without the ability to wash and drain the trap floor chamber, killing them would produce an unforgettable literal and metaphoric stain on the sub-lair. Maybe Clay was right. Maybe Thane would kill them through suffocation to avoid the mess.

  “I think I’m going to throw up,” Clay said.

  “Stifle it!” Morana yelled.

  After being entombed for about ten minutes, a six-inch slat along the bottom edge of their confined space slid open, and light streamed in. They struggled to adjust themselves for a better view. They breathed freely as fresh air flowed in.

  Morana recognized the chamber in the sub-lair where they had held Waylon before Thane let him go.

  “What in the hell is this place?” Clay said. Pressing his face to the opening.

  “Thane created an underground labyrinth,” Morana said.

  A door block on the opposite side of the chamber opened. Thane entered and walked straight toward them and stopped below to the open slot.

  Morana said, “Thane, don’t make this mistake. You need to let us out.”

  “Thank you for not crushing us, buddy,” Clay said. “You tell us what we need to do to get out of here and we’ll do it.”

  Thane raised to his toes and aimed his flashlight into the space, illuminating their faces.

  “It was a mistake to involve you two in my life. It has resulted in nothing good. Now, you tell me where my cat is, or I’ll crush both of you thinner than coins.”

  “Yes, I will tell you everything I know.”

  “She will,” Clay said. “Give her a chance!”

  “You have ten seconds to tell me precisely where Gus is,” Thane said, looking at his watch.

  “He’s probably with Waylon,” Morana said.

  “Probably? I knew you didn’t know,” Thane said, spreading his fingers on the wall below the opening.

  The lid block began to descend toward Clay and Morana. When it came to within an inch of them, Clay became hysterical, thrashing and pleading for his life.

  They laid as flat as possible on their stomachs and soon the tonnage made contact, beginning to slowly compress their shoulder blades.

  “Thane, for God’s sake!” Morana wheezed. “You will guarantee your worst nightmare if you kill the three of us.”

  The lid block stopped. Thane frowned. “Three?”

  “Raise it!” Morana grunted.

  The lid block ascended a few inches. Clay coughed, and Morana gasped, breathing deeply.

  “What three?” Thane asked.

  “Me, Clay, and Gus,” she said. “You know you will never see Gus again unless Waylon is confident that he has your secret. You can’t trick him. If you let me finish dispensing with Waylon, I can finish the job without you having to risk any legal culpability, and if you are sure Waylon has Gus, I will get Gus back safe and sound. You win, and nothing happened on your property. If I fail, you keep your plan in place and handle Waylon because we are both 100% sure he will return. Either scenario, you win. Letting me out carries the least risk and the best chance of getting you what you want.”

  Thane looked down and scuffed his foot on the floor. “Now you can hold this against me.” He pointed along the opening that restrained them.

  “What do you mean,” Morana asked.

  “You could go to the police and say I kidnapped you just like Waylon threatened to.”

  Clay laughed, “No, no, we won’t!”

  Morana found Clay’s leg behind her and dug her nails into it.

  “Ouch! Dammit!”

  Morana said, “Thane, you should know how I feel about police and my privacy by now. What would I gain if you were prosecuted? Nothing… Sweetheart, time is wasting. You should let us out before Waylon hurts Gus, or leaks what he knows about your secret.”

  “Speaking of that,” C
lay said, “Thane, listen, you need to know that Waylon published a photograph of your garage on a website.”

  “Published?” Thane said.

  “Yes.”

  “Where? How do I see it?”

  “I’d show you, but my hand is stuck underneath me. Can you raise the block just a little more, so I can show you my phone?”

  Thane widened the slat slightly.

  Clay worked to fish his phone from his pocket and then found the photograph. He squeezed his arm past Morana and through the opening.

  Thane took the phone. “This is the one! This is the photo I told you he sent!” He said, turning the phone for Morana to see. “Wait, how did you bring up this webpage on your phone down here? There is no signal.”

  “That page is cached on my phone. I opened it before I came here to look for you two.”

  “This is why he emailed it to himself,” Thane said. “I knew he wanted to publish it.”

  Clay said, “Thane, I can get that photo removed from the Internet for you.”

  “Why didn’t you do that already?”

  “I saw it only minutes before I rushed to your place. Finding you and Mo was more important.”

  “This is most important! This can ruin everything! Can you remove this photo from the Internet?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. At a minimum, I can cripple the site to prevent anyone from accessing it. But I can’t do it if I’m dead, so let me the hell out!”

  Thane’s eyes welled up. He collapsed to his knees and wept. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Sweetheart, you need to pick somebody to trust,” Morana said. “If you don’t trust Clay and me, then you have to trust yourself, and you’re on your own. Kill us, and you have to protect yourself from Waylon while having to answer for our disappearances and deal with Waylon publicizing the photo of your garage. Release us, and you have a team with a solid chance for justice the law won’t give you. But you need to decide quickly.”

  Thane stood and walked back toward the door. He turned off the lights.

  “Thane? Buddy!” Clay said, his voice panicked again.

  They felt their platform moving. Moments later, the lights came back on, the opening alongside them had widened enough for them to roll out and drop into the chamber floor.

  On the opposite side, Thane leaned against the wall, watching them.

  “Thank you. I promise you won’t regret this,” Morana said.

  Clay rushed Thane, grabbed his collar and slammed him against the wall. “Don’t you ever pull that shit again!”

  Morana lunged, tackling Clay to the floor.

  While Thane backed to the door, smoothing his shirt, Morana mounted Clay and squeezed his neck. She put her face to his and said, “You ever lift a finger to Thane again, I will kill you. Do you understand?” Clay’s face turned red, and a vein bulged from his forehead. He managed a small nod. Morana let go, and he gasped for air. She stood up, glaring down at him, then stepped away. She turned to Thane and said, “I will never let anyone hurt you again. I promise.

  †

  Thane led them from the trap floor chamber along the corridor. Clay examined the perfectly-sculpted walls, ceiling, and floor, gawking at the precision and craftsmanship of the underground labyrinth.

  When they rounded the corner to enter the lift chamber, the column of rock that supported the lift shaft slid downward in the center of the wall.

  “What is that?” Clay asked.

  “You’ll see in a minute,” Morana said. “It’s the proper way to enter and exit the sub-lair.”

  Moments later, the lift slid down into view, Thane pointed at it and said, “Go.”

  They pressed together on the narrow platform and began their ascent to the surface.

  “Unbelievable,” Clay said, as the opening to the chamber slid away, leaving them in darkness.

  Morana tried to take Thane’s hand, but he pulled away.

  “I promise this will end well for you,” she told him.

  “You’ve promised before.”

  “I can’t wait to prove it. Just a little more time.”

  While they rode in silence, Clay laughed quietly to himself a few times as he marveled at their location and the ride on the lift. When they smoothly emerged into the light of the garage, Morana and Thane stepped away from Clay, who stayed on the lift, staring at his feet and repeating, “Wow” and “Unbelievable.”

  “Let’s go,” Morana said. “We have work to do.”

  Clay walked to the garage entrance, directing his attention to his phone as its signal was restored.

  Thane hurried to the work counter to check for phone messages.

  “Anything?” Morana asked

  “No.”

  As they followed Clay to the door, Morana said, “I’m going to leave you for a while to work on keeping my end of the bargain… Will you feel safe enough locked in here?”

  “You know what will make me feel safe,” Thane said, opening the door for her.

  “Meanwhile, Clay will wait here with you. He has guns.”

  Thane looked at Clay, standing just outside. He held his hands up and said, “Not on me. They’re in the car.”

  “What about the website that shows the photo of my shop? You said you could get rid of it.”

  “I can, but I need to get my laptop from my car.”

  She rested her hand on Thane’s shoulder. “Clay will shut down Waylon’s web link to the photo, and I’ll be trying to make sure your trap floor won’t be necessary. I promise to call you with any news.”

  Thane nodded, closed and locked the door after Morana stepped outside.

  As Morana and Clay walked along the driveway, Clay whispered, “You’re pushing Thane too hard and damn near got us killed. If he snaps again, he’s FUBARED, and we get nothing.”

  “I have a new plan with no need to pressure Thane anymore. The only thing Thane will experience from now on is relief, but I need a day or two to set it up.”

  They passed through the pergola to the street.

  “Days? The guy is on edge. We’ll be lucky if Thane doesn’t have police swarming his place before then.”

  “That won’t happen. I’ve learned some things about Thane that make our plan foolproof.”

  “Are you going to clue me in?”

  “Yes, but not now. You stick to the tech stuff. Just keep Thane safe and calm and get him to let you install a phone in the sub-lair. Everything will work out.”

  “God, I hope so. You have a lot of catching me up to do. You had sex with Thane?”

  “I’ll call you as soon as possible,” Morana waved over her shoulder as she headed down the block.

  Clay took the sidewalk in the opposite direction to retrieve his laptop and guns from his car.

  Morana got into her Explorer and changed her makeup and wig to a different disguise before going shopping for a business suit she needed as part of their plan. She managed to change into the suit while in the car and then drove to Clay’s office to see if she could meet Uncle Jesse in person. She understood the gist of Uncle Jesse's modus operandi from Thane's description, but she wanted to profile him for herself, in person. She came up with an impromptu sales pitch while walking to the front door, then asked the receptionist to see him.

  Uncle Jesse came out to see who the unexpected guest was. One look at her and he invited her back into his office with almost slobbery hospitality. The meeting provided Morana with everything she needed to know about him.

  Afterward, while driving from the office she called Clay.

  “Everything okay?” Clay answered.

  “The cargo is fine and secure,” Morana replied. “What’s going on there?”

  “I’ve been working on Thane. Two hours of consolation and he finally agreed to a single line, wired to the sub-lair.”

  “That’s great news.”

  “But he wants the line to access only his voice messa
ges, not to make phone calls from the sub-lair. I told him his voicemail is built into his phone. He doesn’t care. He told me to figure it out or forget about it. He doesn’t want any phone connection in the sub-lair.”

  “Then design a custom system if that’s what he wants,” Morana said. “Do whatever you have to do to get the sub-lair wired today.”

  “Not happening today. I’ve already checked with both local hardware stores, and they don’t have enough of the cabling line I need. I looked up another supplier who promised to have it in my hand tomorrow by noon.”

  “Tomorrow works,” Morana said. “I’ll talk to Thane. I want the sub-lair wired while he still has a strong reason to.”

  “There’s another thing. Thane won’t let me pull the new line. He insists on doing it himself, so I told him I would come back tomorrow with the cable, supplies, and instructions. He may be great at moving rocks, but that might not translate to electronics.”

  “Clay, tell him that you need to be with him. It could be a prime opportunity for a clue about how he does what he does.”

  “Believe me, I know. When I deliver the supplies, I’ll try once more to convince him to let me handle the wiring.”

  “You have to get his permission. It’s critical,” Morana said.

  That night at Clay’s place, Morana arrived and they met to compare notes. She revealed a new adjustment to her plan and told Clay about her visit to his office and the brief meeting with Uncle Jesse. When she finished, Clay seemed stunned, repeating, “Brilliant.”

  “It’ll be brilliant when it works,” Morana said.

  †

  The next morning, Morana and Clay continued planning over breakfast. As Clay handed her some more cash, she asked, “What’s the status of the cabling?”

  “Package tracking says I’ll have the cabling supplies for the sub-lair later this morning,” Clay said.

  “Excellent. Get it done.”

  Clay phoned Thane. While Morana listened, Clay successfully got permission from Thane to visit and wire the sub-lair as soon as the cabling supplies arrived.

  Morana left and drove to the storage facility where Waylon was stored. She exited her Explorer, pulled her duffel bag from the passenger seat, and unlocked the unit.