by Steven James
“You haven’t asked to feel my face,” Mia noted.
“I—”
Tane arrived and told Nicole, “We need Poehlman’s keys.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“That wasn’t the plan.”
“Screw the plan.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Nicole is with Tane when he returns.
As soon as they get to me, I ask her what she’s doing.
“I’m gonna help you.”
“Nikki, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I have pepper spray.”
“I know, but still, it’s . . .”
Tane hits a button on the key fob and the trunk of a Ford sedan parked about thirty feet away pops open.
With Nicole beside us, we start dragging the man toward the trunk.
“Tell me about the face thing with Alysha,” she says.
“What?”
“She thinks you’re cute.”
“Oh, right. No, that was nothing. I had her at a disadvantage—wait, I don’t mean . . . That doesn’t sound right. I’m just saying, I could see her, but she couldn’t tell what I look like.”
“Okay.”
“She’s the cute one,” Tane mutters under his breath. “I’d let her feel my face anytime she wants to.”
Hmm.
I didn’t see that coming.
At the car, because of my shoulder, he insists on doing most of the heavy lifting.
“So nothing happened?” Nicole asks me.
“No. Trust me.”
Once the guy’s inside, Tane slams the trunk door. “Think that’ll hold him?”
“Let’s hope so.”
He pockets the keys and we hurry back to the Estoria.
I say to Nicole, “Whose phone number is that on your wrist?”
“Just this guy from the basketball camp, but, I mean—no, no. That’s not what it seems like.”
“I believe you.” We get to the building. “So believe me.”
“Okay.”
“We cool?”
“We’re cool.”
Before we go in, I try one more time to dissuade her from coming along, but her mind is made up.
“Keep that pepper spray ready.”
She pulls it out of her pocket.
Cautiously, I press the door open and peer inside.
Beyond the lobby, an empty hallway stretches before us.
It’s relatively dim, with only a few ceiling lights on. The rest of the light bleeds out from windows to the rooms.
The storm rages behind us.
After a short internal debate, I decide that since there are prisoners housed in here, this door might be set to lock from the inside as well. So, I leave the rock in place to make sure we can get back out.
As we enter, I ask Tane if he has any idea where Petra might be. “Did Malcolm give you any specifics when you were in the trance and heard him tell you that she was here?”
He shakes his head. “Uh-uh.”
Okay.
Plan C.
I mentally review the layout of the hotel. “We might as well start on this floor. Let’s go.”
Together, we cross the lobby and, after passing the stairwell, we come to the first room.
A man with black-as-night eyeballs is in it. Despite his bizarre appearance, I recognize him immediately.
Ty Bell.
“Daniel, is that Ty?” Nicole whispers.
“Yeah. It is.”
“What’s he doing here?” Her voice trembles. “What happened to his eyes?”
“I don’t know. Come on, we—”
“Wait.” Tane grabs my arm. “Someone’s coming. Get in the stairwell.”
“I’m done with this, done with the lies,” General Gibbons said to Adrian as he attempted to bluff his way past her suspicions. “This has to do with the senator and his daughter, doesn’t it?”
He blinked. “What?”
“You left me alone in here earlier. I work for the Department of Defense. How long do you really think it took me to get past the password prompt on your computer? Your brother’s date of birth? Really? That’s touching, Adrian, but hardly secure.”
She spun the laptop around on the desk to face him.
The ransom video that Deedee and Sergei had filmed was paused on the screen.
“Well,” Adrian said. “Look what you found.”
“Blackmailing a United States Senator after kidnapping his daughter? Are you insane?”
“Sometimes justice requires bold and decisive action.”
“Bold and decisive action? That’s what you call this? Where is that young woman? Is she here? Did you bring her here?”
He stepped around to the other side of his desk while the general leaned over and snatched up the satellite phone. “I’m shutting this down.”
Adrian opened the drawer and reached inside. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
“Excuse me?”
He pulled out his 9mm handgun and aimed it at her.
“Oh. Are you really going to shoot me?”
“I would prefer not to.” He gestured toward a chair by the window, then took out a pair of Henrik’s handcuffs. “Sit down over there by the radiator.”
“I’m not sitting anywhere. Where is Petra Amundsen?”
“Please sit down, General.”
But instead, she took a step backward toward the door.
He squeezed the trigger.
He’d never shot anyone before.
And now, seeing the dismay on her face, and the red stain spreading across her stomach, he found that it did not bother him as much as he thought it might.
No. It didn’t bother him at all.
We left the stairwell door open a crack, and Tane is staring through it down the hall.
“Yeah, there’s a guard. I don’t think he saw us—but I don’t think we should stay on this floor.”
“Alright,” I say. “Let’s hit the basement. Work our way up.”
As we descend, Tane asks us, “So you recognized that guy in that room back there?”
“He’s from our hometown,” Nicole explains.
“How did he end up as one of Waxford’s test subjects?”
“That’s a good question.”
We arrive at the basement door and I whisper, “We’ll figure it out later, when all this is over. Right now we need to find Petra. They’ve obviously remodeled this place since that book came out, but according to the floor plan, there should be nineteen rooms down here.”
Tane offers to take the left side of the hall.
Nicole and I take the right.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
8:49 P.M.
11 MINUTES
Adrian stood beside the general and watched her bleed.
She’d collapsed near the desk and was crumpled on the floor now, leaning against it.
The bullet had hit her in the lower abdomen and, based on his knowledge of anatomy, Adrian didn’t expect that she was going to die immediately. He was curious what it would be like to watch her fade away, though, so he didn’t shoot her again.
“If you keep pressure on that,” he told her, “it’ll buy you a little extra time.”
Then he radioed his team. “Deedee, bring Petra to my office. There’s been an unforeseen turn of events. Garrett, go find Henrik. The last I heard, he was out by the shed. And keep an eye out for Sergei. I haven’t seen him come in.”
Then Adrian went online and typed in the code that would allow him to confirm when the senator’s email went through.
Just ten minutes to go.
“They’re sending someone named Garrett out here,” Alysha, who was monitoring the radio, told Mia. “We need to leave.”
Mia grabbed the flashlight Daniel had brought in earlier.
Before passing out the shed door, she used the Taser on Poehlman once more. “That’s for making me walk two miles.”
And then again. “And that’s for it being uphill.”
S
he took Alysha’s arm and hurried her outside, then around the back of the shed behind a downed tree.
In his estate on the outskirts of Atlanta, Senator Amundsen thought this through for the millionth time, still unsure how to solve things.
If he didn’t cancel the inquiry, his daughter would die.
If he did, others would suffer.
He needed a way to both save her and save them. A third option.
But he still couldn’t come up with what that might be.
Petra finished with the screw, tossed the clasp aside, and yanked the window open.
Rain blasted in, drenching her shirt.
It was nearly dark outside, but light from her window allowed her to see partway down the building.
The kudzu wouldn’t support her, but the poison ivy vines were thick enough. From walking through a patch of it last year she knew she was allergic, but she didn’t really have a choice. She could deal with any sort of reaction later.
But as she stared at them, the vines stopped being vines and became snakes again, scaling the building, coming toward her.
No, no they’re not. They’re just vines. You can get out of here.
Poised to strike.
Go. You have to!
Rain pelted her as she peered down.
Serpents.
They’re serpents.
It had to be close to nine.
She needed to go.
Leaning out the window, Petra grabbed the stoutest vine she could reach. As she swung her left leg out, the lock of the door behind her clicked loudly enough to get her attention.
She paused.
Turned.
And saw Deedee standing in the open doorway.
“Where do you think you’re going, my dear?”
“Don’t come any closer or I’ll jump.”
“Well, if you want to die, I’m sure that can be arranged, but I’m just here because it’s almost time to see how valuable you are to your father. I’m going to need you to come with me.”
“You want me? Come and get me.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
So far we haven’t found anyone in the basement.
We’ve passed a window to a room filled with thousands of swarming flies, and another room set up for surgery, outfitted with strange wired caps and brain electrodes.
This hotel is like something straight out of a nightmare. It doesn’t need to be haunted—it’s horrifying enough as is.
No sign of Petra.
Tane is ahead of us and when he peers into the next room, he shouts for us to get over there, then disappears inside.
“What is it?” I call, as Nicole and I sprint toward him.
He just yells for us to hurry.
Petra? Is it her?
Nicole must be thinking the same thing, because she exclaims, “Is she okay?”
I enter the room.
A man is strapped to what looks like a dentist’s chair.
Bloody utensils and grim-looking tattooing equipment lie beside him.
Nicole is right behind me and I tell her to wait in the hall. “Nikki, you don’t need to see this.”
“What is it?”
The man has been beaten and his face is pulpy and swollen. One of his eyeballs is colored completely black, just like Ty Bell’s were.
At first I don’t recognize him.
But then I do.
Malcolm.
He’s unconscious.
Tane is working to undo the straps holding him in the chair.
“Daniel?” Thankfully, Nicole is still in the hall. “What is it? Tell me.”
“It’s Malcolm. He’s hurt.”
I shake him gently to wake him up.
It takes a few moments, but finally he stirs.
“Malcolm? Can you hear me? Are you alright?”
Tane finishes freeing his ankles and wrists.
“Daniel?” Malcolm’s voice is raspy and weak.
“Yeah.”
“I heard them talking. Petra is upstairs. Fourth floor.” Every word sounds strained and full of effort. “Third room on the left. Forget me. Just get her out of here.”
From the shape he’s in, I doubt he’ll be able to stand on his own, let alone get up the steps without help. With my recovering shoulder, I’m not the best one for that job. “You two help Malcolm. I’ll get Petra. We’ll meet you outside by Poehlman’s car.”
I still have that gun with me, and as I head toward the steps I start wishing I hadn’t unloaded it.
Mia and Alysha crouched behind the deadfall near the shed.
“What’s happening?” Alysha asked her.
“A guy left the hotel. He’s coming this way.”
“What should we do?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Do you know what time it is?”
“No. Why?”
“Petra’s deadline is at nine. It’s gotta be close.”
“Alright. That’s it. I’m going to help them—but you can’t stay here.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Maybe someone left their keys in their car. Let’s get you to safety.” She placed Alysha’s hand on her elbow so she could lead her. “C’mon.”
I take the stairs two at a time.
Past the second floor.
Third.
Thunder booms outside and the lights flicker.
To the fourth.
I push open the stairwell door.
Another poorly lit hallway.
By the looks of it, this level is still under construction.
The door to the room Malcolm told me to check is partly open.
With the empty gun out so that I can bluff if I need to, I approach it. “Petra?”
No reply.
I ease it open the rest of the way.
“Are you here?”
The room is empty.
Rain splatters in through an open window.
I cross to the sill.
Though it’s not completely dark yet, it’s tough to see very far—but then a thread of lightning illuminates the area and I make out a woman’s body lying on the ground four stories below me.
She isn’t moving.
But there is movement along the side of the hotel, about ten feet below the window. Someone is clinging desperately to the vines.
Thunder from that last lightning strike peels through the night.
“Petra?”
She looks up and there’s just enough light for me to recognize her from her college graduation pictures.
“Help!” Her voice is filled with terror. “They’re all around me!”
“You’ll be okay. You’re okay. Climb back up here. You can do it.”
“It’s the snakes. Please! I’m gonna fall!”
“There aren’t any snakes. Relax. You can make it. Come on.”
“Who are you?” The words tremble with a mixture of hope and fear.
“Daniel Byers. I’m here to help.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“I know about you.”
“Malcolm told me about you too. I met your dad.”
“My dad?”
“He’s really worried. You can do it. Come up and we’ll get out of here.”
With her arms shaking, she begins to climb.
In the darkness of the shed, Henrik raged against the ropes biting into his wrists and ankles, but they were too tight.
Then the door swung open and he heard Garrett’s voice. “Henrik? Are you okay?”
“Cut me free. Now!”
Nicole walked down the hallway beside Tane, who was supporting Mr. Zacharias, with one arm slung around him.
“I’m not sure how I’m gonna get Malcolm up the steps,” Tane said. Then, with his free hand he dug Poehlman’s keys out of his pocket. “Get the other girls from the shed and get out of here. We’ll follow you in the minivan. I have the keys to it. Go.”
Petra’s almost to me.
She keeps worrying about snakes gettin
g her and I keep telling her that she’s going to be alright.
Earlier today, her dad had mentioned that she takes antipsychotic meds, and that he wasn’t sure how well she would do if she had to go three days without them.
Well, here was the answer.
Hallucinations that don’t stop.
Listening to her reminds me of the videos of Jess and Liam—how they lost it.
I hope it’s not too late for her.
Finally, she reaches the windowsill and, gripping her wrist firmly, I help her into the room.
“She was trying to hurt me,” she gasps. “I didn’t mean to push her. I didn’t try to make her fall.”
“It’s okay.”
“Her name’s Deedee. I think she might be dead.”
“We need to go, Petra.”
“Did they bite me?”
“No, they—”
“I know they did.” She starts examining her arms and legs. “I know—”
“You’re okay.” I put my hand gently on her shoulder to calm her. “Listen. Let’s go.”
She shakes her head. “Malcolm’s here. They said they have him. We can’t leave. We need to find him.”
“My friends are with him. They’re going to meet us outside. C’mon.”
Because of the slope of the road and the slick mud, Kyle hadn’t been able to find his stride, and now, for the third time, he wiped out.
After scrambling to his feet, he checked the phone just in case.
No signal.
Drawing in a quick breath, he raced down the mountain toward the car.
Senator Amundsen read through his resignation letter.
It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was something. Yes, he would cancel tomorrow’s inquiry to satisfy the kidnappers, he would do that, and he would also resign from the Senate.
Then later, he could always fight for justice, for truth, as a private citizen, once his daughter was safe.
Mia didn’t find keys in any of the vehicles.
Alysha was with her, and Mia was trying to figure out what to do when she heard a man hollering. “Stop right there!”
Poehlman.
He stood twenty feet away, holding a gun—probably from the guy who’d gone out to the shed, and was now by his side.
Poehlman moved closer to her. “Drop the Taser. I know you have it.”