The Hazing Tower

by Leland Roys

  His heart sank. He was putting the pieces together in his mind.

  “You told them they got the wrong people?”

  She nodded. “I know a bit of French.” A tear rolled down her cheek.

  “They said if that were true, that the injections would kill us. Josh, I’ve been coughing up blood. I don’t think I have much time left. I wanted to tell you Josh — I love you. I just wanted you to hear me say it again.”

  He felt like he’d been dropped into the deep end of a pool and couldn’t swim. Jinny looked so pretty. Her eyes were so sharp, so caring. This was his fault. He had gotten her into this. He had killed her — the only person he had ever loved — and he had done this.

  “Jinny, you know I love you more than I can explain. I’ve been so stupid. If I hadn’t involved you . . .”

  His voice started shaking.

  “I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” Jinny said as she tried to smile.

  She started to cough and some blood dripped down the side of her cheek.

  Josh strained against the straps; he had never felt such rage. He had to get loose; he had to save her. There must be some way. He couldn’t give up yet.

  He could hear footsteps coming fast, more than one person. He focused on Jinny and her eyes.

  “Please forgive me.”

  “Josh—”

  She was cut off as three people entered the room. He looked but couldn’t see; he couldn’t lift his head.

  “I will kill you! Let us out of here! It’s me you want. My blood is more powerful than Nikki!” Josh tried to move, it was impossible.

  “You fools!” someone shouted in English, clearly angry.

  “These are the wrong people! What were you thinking?”

  “Rebecca, they were in the manor; we thought, they must be—”

  “You thought, that’s what went wrong. Leave them to me! I will get rid of the bodies, just go!”

  “But he said, he told us never to...”

  She stopped him.

  “Do you want to be the one to tell him you got the wrong people?”

  There was silence.

  “I will cover for you just this once; I will take care of your mess.”

  Josh heard more footsteps and doors closing. He could feel someone close to him; he knew he was going to die. He didn’t care. It was Jinny who didn’t deserve to go like this.

  Suddenly all his straps were off. He slowly lifted his head.

  “Who are you?”

  “No time for small talk. Can you stand up?”

  He staggered off the metal slab and found his balance. He saw the woman lifting Jinny up. He rushed to her side.

  “You are both going to die unless you follow my directions closely. Do you understand, Josh?”

  “You know my name?”

  She grabbed his face. “Focus! You’re a smart guy; you need to think now if you want to live.”

  He snapped awake and nodded.

  “Listen to me: take my car from the garage downstairs. In the glove box, there are directions to a house outside the city. You get her there.

  “There’s equipment in the house. My friend should get there to help you. If he doesn’t, well. You’ll need to do a blood transfusion with her. I won’t have time to explain how; you’ll have to figure it out.”

  “Blood transfusion?”

  Rebecca grabbed a syringe from the table.

  She turned so Jinny could not hear. “Josh, are you willing to die for her, because this most likely will kill you. They didn’t inject enough serum into you, meaning you can still live. You don’t have to die.”

  “I can save Jinny? There’s a way?”

  “Maybe, it’s a very small chance, I haven’t had much luck with it, and we don’t have time to find the expert. They need you alive, Joshua. Hunter told me you know about the time trick, I’ve been waiting decades to understand. We need your help, Nikki needs your help. Sometimes there is a bigger picture in life. I know you understand how groundbreaking this discovery of yours is. Don’t let your love for this girl cloud your judgment.”

  “Hunter? How do you know him?”

  “We’re working together. I don’t have time to explain now.”

  Josh shook his head. “No, not if Jinny dies.”

  “Do it, inject me. Whatever it takes. I don’t want to live if Jinny dies.”

  Rebecca stuck the needle into his thigh and pushed the plunger down.

  “Get to the safe house. My friend and I will try to get there as fast as we can. You have to go now; we don’t have long before their backup gets here.”

  Josh glanced back, he saw the look on Rebecca’s face. She was going to die here; he could see it in her eyes. “What’s your name?”

  “Rebecca. You need to go, don’t look back again.”

  “Thank you, Rebecca.”

  She nodded, then pointed to the stairs. “Go!”

  He hobbled down the stairs with Jinny on his arm. He kicked open the door to the parking structure and pressed the car remote. Nothing.’’

  “Jinny, I need to find the car. I will be right back for you, OK? I’m not leaving you here, I promise.”

  “You better not,” she said, managing a weak smile. Tears filled her eyes.

  Josh let her softly slide down against the wall and took off running down the garage while pressing the car remote. After what seemed like centuries, he finally heard a beep.

  He jumped in the car and screeched around the side of the garage to where Jinny was.

  “Stay awake, Jinny, stay awake, please!” He tried his best to put a seat belt on her in the passenger seat and jumped back into the driver’s seat.

  The gears of Rebecca’s car crunched loudly as he found first gear and floored the accelerator.

  The bright light of the streets almost blinded him as he flew out of the parking garage. He had forgotten to check the directions in the glove box. He punched the steering wheel in anger. Come on, get it together, Josh, you can do this. It was the best pep talk he had for himself, given the time. The traffic was terrible; cars and motorbikes were everywhere. He felt the daze of disorientation ready to shut him down; he had to fight it with every ounce of his energy.

  He reached down to the glove box, found a plastic folder, stuck it in this shirt and started to look back up. All he could see was glass shattering, seemingly in slow motion. Their car went spinning in circles and ended up on a sidewalk.

  He tried to shake off the daze. A huge man walked up to the now broken window and started yelling at him in French. He stuck his hand through the window and pulled the car door open.

  “Go, go, Josh!”

  He could hear Jinny trying to tell him to go. He had hit another car, without realizing he’d even been in a crash. The man grabbed his arm and started to pull him out of the car.

  The engine of Rebecca’s car was still running; he put it in gear and floored it. The man fell backwards as he tried to get his arm out from the door. Smoke filled the air as the tires burned on the wet pavement.

  Josh’s vision was becoming blurred now as he drove straight down the sidewalk, picking up speed.

  People screamed as they jumped out of the way; he hit a line of chairs and the debris cracked the front windshield.

  He saw a woman pushing a baby stroller and swerved hard left, smashing into another car. Sparks flew like fireworks as the metal of the two cars ate into each other. He pulled hard right and the car lifted into the air as it jumped back onto the sidewalk.

  “Move!” he shouted to no one. He glanced over at Jinny. Her eyes were closed and she had coughed up more blood. He couldn’t tell if she was still breathing. A wave of sickness overcame him and he threw up blood all over the steering wheel.

  Suddenly, the glass behind him shattered and a small hole opened in the front windshield. Glancing back, he saw a dark truck gaining on him. Where was he? Was this Paris? Everything was disorienting. He tried to locate any familiar landmarks, something that would tell him where h
e was and what was happening.

  He made a sharp left and the car slid sideways across an intersection. He was getting better at the shifting now and floored the accelerator in third gear, jumping back onto the sidewalk and heading for a bridge in the distance. He could hear the gunfire now, closer behind him. He could also hear police sirens. He figured everyone must be reporting a crazy driver. If what Rebecca had said was true, then the last place he wanted to go was the hospital. Whatever she had injected in him was the only thing that could save Jinny. He had to get to that house.

  The bridge seemed to be fairly clear, he gave the car everything it had as he climbed up over the grade – straight toward the huge hole in the center of the bridge. “No!” he screamed. Maintenance workers looked at him like he was insane as he locked up the brakes, stopping feet from the edge of the hole. He forced the car into reverse. As he looked behind him, all he saw was black — a black truck.

  • • •

  Crash

  It happened so fast Josh didn’t have time to process it. He watched the hood crumple into a mass of metal as Rebecca’s car hit the water. The car sank, the dark, ice-cold water covering them in seconds. He took one last deep breath before he was completely absorbed by the water.

  His eyes were open but he saw only a dark grey. He could feel Jinny and felt along her seat belt to the end, managing to open it. He could feel his mind starting to fill with panic; it was ready to take him whole, sweep him away. He couldn’t let it happen. Jinny, focus on Jinny, he said to himself.

  He couldn’t tell which way was up or down, and also didn’t know if they had hit the bottom of this water. It was a dark nightmare, something he never could have imagined. He could neither hear nor see, only feel, and even that sensation was dull.

  He pulled Jinny across to his side where the window had been smashed. He couldn’t hold his breath much longer. His lungs could burst any second. Pushing his head up, he found the bottom of the car. A small pocket of air had been trapped as the car turned over. He exhaled and gasped for air. He ducked back under the water and pulled Jinny up with him to the air space. He felt her nose and mouth. No air, she wasn’t breathing.

  He took a deep breath, pulled himself back down, and held tightly onto Jinny’s arm. He pulled himself through the window by feel and grabbed any part of Jinny he could to get her on the outside. He saw light, a tiny bit of light above him. He pushed as hard as he could with his feet and held onto Jinny like they were tied together. He didn’t think he could make it. He had to try. He would try. But the distance was so far.

  With everything he had, he fought the urge to take a breath of water. Memories flashed before his eyes: grass, trees, beaches, Jinny smiling.

  He could feel someone grabbing him, or was it Jinny? He couldn’t tell. He kept kicking even though he couldn’t feel his legs anymore; he couldn’t feel anything, not even Jinny.

  When it happened, there was no panic. He opened his mouth and sucked in the air that wasn’t there. A sharp pain shot through his head like a knife. Everything started to slow down, the visions slowed. The snapshots stopped on one memory, as vivid as if it was real life.

  Jinny.

  • • •

  Reborn

  The pain, intense pain; he coughed up more water. He opened his eyes and lifted himself up. He couldn’t hear a thing, but he could see people, lots of people. Someone pushed him back down and stuck a needle into him.

  He yelled out for Jinny and again couldn’t hear his own voice. He tried as hard as he could to get up; it looked like two men were holding him down now. A woman was trying to get a needle into his arm; it must have popped back out again with all his thrashing around.

  Suddenly, the crowd moved away; he saw the look of fear on their faces as they backed away from him.

  Hunter had been close behind the car chase. He had just missed them in the garage. He had watched them drop into the water.

  “Back up slowly. You, you stay, help me get the girl into the van.”

  Hunter felt bad about this. The paramedics had saved them, helped him pull them out of the water and gave them both CPR. But he had no choice; they would never believe his story. He knew he needed to get them to the house; there was no other way.

  He got behind the wheel and drove. “Is she breathing?”

  “Barely. Listen, we need to get them to a hospital now, she’s going to die. She’s sick, and not just from the water.”

  “Sorry, that’s not going to happen. I just need your help for a bit longer now.”

  He had worked Paris for years when he was an active agent. He knew the streets like the back of his hand. And he knew what his training told him.

  He pulled slowly into a parking garage, no need to attract attention. He pressed the button for the ticket just like any other person would, then pulled the van around the lot until he found his target: a nicer Mercedes with a powerful engine.

  He jumped into the back of the van. “I have two children, please, don’t kill me, I don’t want to die,” the woman begged.

  “You are not going to die. You will see your children very soon, I promise you. What’s your name?”

  “Becky . . .” She trailed off at the end, realizing she probably shouldn’t have given him her name.

  “Becky, you’ll be fine. Please check on them; we’re almost done here.”

  He smashed the back door glass on the Mercedes and opened the doors. It didn’t take him long to override its security and get it started. He cleared the glass completely so it wouldn’t attract attention; it just looked like an open window.

  Hunter opened the back of the van. Becky jumped back and started to cry. He motioned for Josh to come with him. Josh crawled out of the van while Hunter held Jinny and put her in the back of the car. He helped Josh into the back seat and tried to motion to him to stay down — head down — he clearly had lost his hearing in the accident. Hunter had been there before; it’s hard the first time. Josh actually was holding up amazingly well, considering what he had been through. Most people would have shut down by now, turned off the internal sanity switch.

  Hunter went to the back of the van; Becky was sobbing now, head in her hands. “I’m leaving now,” Hunter told her. “I’m incredibly sorry for all of this. You saved their lives. Go see your children now. The keys are in the ignition.”

  She looked up in disbelief that he wasn’t going to kill her, and he was already gone — just the sound of the car leaving.

  Hunter knew the routine well. Keep a normal speed, smile, look like nothing is wrong. It was the same in a crowd. You have to walk calmly. Stupid criminals run, the worst thing you can do; everyone notices someone who is running. The same thing applied to escape driving. Try to keep it normal. If the traffic around you is going above the speed limit, then you go above the speed limit; never stand out.

  He didn’t need a map, he had memorized these streets long ago.

  • • •

  Sleepless

  “I can’t sleep.” Alex didn’t hear her walk in. She was changing, he thought to himself. He looked up from the desk.

  “Nikki, come in, are you feeling OK?”

  “I feel great. I just can’t sleep, Alex. Something’s wrong. I haven’t slept in a couple days, but I don’t feel tired.”

  She started to cry. Alex jumped up and held her arm gently. “Nikki, why are you crying? Please, tell me.”

  “Am I getting sick again? Is it back? I think I’m dying again.

  “There’s something about me, I always thought it was the sickness. I’ve never been able to sleep more than an hour, my whole life, even as a kid. I even did a sleep study once, but, well, it ended when my parents died.”

  “These last couple days I slept for the first time ever, but now, it’s back again. I can’t sleep again.”

  “Oh, my dear Nikki, no — you’re not sick.” He tugged on her arm and pulled her to the couch. They sat next to each other. She stared off into the distance.

  “I
recall you used to be a runner. You jog?”

  She wiped the tears off. “I did, a long time ago, I was on the track team on school. But, Alex, I can’t run anymore. Since I got sick, I’ve been too weak. I can’t make it a yard.” She looked at the floor.

  He was pulling on her arm again. She liked it when he did that.

  “Come with me, let me show you something.”

  She held onto his hand as he led her outside.

  “This view is amazing!” The moon was full, and she could see a long path along the ocean cliff.

  “It’s your backyard now,” he smiled. “Let’s just say I’ve purchased a lot of land over the years.”

  It looked like a painting; if she weren’t standing right there, she would never believe it was real.

  “Ready?” Alex asked.

  “Ready for what?”

  “Let’s go for a run. I bet you can beat me.”

  “Alex, I told you. I can’t.”

  “Do you trust me, Nikki?”

  “Yes, I do trust you. I’m not sure why, but I do.” She smiled a bit.

  “For me? Try? I’ll be right behind you.”

  This was going to be so embarrassing. She thought back to when she was an awesome runner. She used to live for her morning jogs, but those ended soon after the pain started. If only she could have that feeling back again. She remembered the last time she tried to run; she fell hard. That was the end of it.

  She looked over to Alex. Why was he always so patient? Oh, damn. Whatever. She started to run, slowly at first. She didn’t fall. She kept moving. She looked down and realized she had already made it several yards, not just one.

  She picked up her pace. She could feel the wind in her hair, her skin felt alive; she felt alive. Faster, faster. She broke into a full run, faster now than she had ever run.

  “Alex! I’m running!”

  She could hear him running right next to her.