Britt pulled Rachelle around another set of crates, giving her an extra tug at the last second that kept her from running into them, still she didn’t say anything. She trusted him to lead her. He slowed their pace as they approached the back wall, drawing her to a stop behind a pile of casings. For the first time since they entered the warehouse, he got a good look at her face. Fear shown there.
“It’ll be all right,” he whispered, then unable to stop himself he pulled her to him and gave her a hard kiss. Rachelle clung to his side while he forced his eyes away to search for a way out. A wave of despair hit. The door that they entered was almost at the opposite end of the warehouse. The main entrance with the loading doors was at the far end.
He went over the layout in his mind. There was an emergency exit half way along the wall behind them. The question was, did Carlton know about it, and would he be waiting there for them to make their escape?
Britt listened. Silence again echoed in the warehouse, giving no clue which direction to go. The slight sound on metal steps was like a beacon, telling Britt, Carlton was climbing the stairs to the upper level toward the office. The balcony was in clear view, as they would be when Carlton reached the top. The building was planned that way, so a person up there could get a view of the whole warehouse, especially if he moved out on the cat-walks. The strong lighting illuminated every corner. They would be like ducks in a shooting gallery if they didn’t get out of there before Carlton reached the top.
“Come on,” Britt whispered. “We’ve got to move.”
They raced for the closest exit. Britt knew Carlton had to be close to the top but didn’t dare to glance that way. His attention focused on the path to the door and anything that might trip Rachelle. He released his hold when they reached the door shoving against it. He might as well have hit a brick wall. There was no budge in the door. He pushed again, though he already knew it wasn’t going to move. It had been jammed.
“Britt.” For the first time Rachelle spoke, she kept her voice low, but there was a touch of panic in his name. He pulled her down behind a stack of pallets.
“The door’s barred. I’m afraid the others will be too. We got to make it to the door we came in.”
“Okay.”
“Carlton has to be on the upper catwalk. From there he can see everything.”
She nodded, biting the edge of her lip. “Let’s go.”
Britt knew she understood their odds of making it as well as he did, but she wasn’t any more willing to give up than he was.
He brought her hand to his lips before tucking it back to his side. Their pace was slower this time, Britt moving them with as much shelter as he could. They had made it only about twenty feet when the first shot burst from above. Britt shoved Rachelle down behind some shelving, flattening his body over hers.
“Britt.” Terror screamed in her voice.
“Are you hit?” Panic shot through him at the thought of her getting shot.
“No.”
He again forced himself to be calm and think. “We’ll never make it to the door. We’re too visible, and he knows where we are.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We can’t stay here. It’s only a matter of time until he picks us off.” He shifted his weight feeling the sonar jab into his leg.
He looked back at the wall by the exit. There was no exit sign above the door, but the breakers were there. The warehouse only had a few high windows, and with the cloudy night sky outside, there wouldn’t be any moonlight to filter in. If the lights went out, it would be dark in the building. Carlton wouldn’t be able to see them.
He glanced back at the breakers making up his mind. “Stay here.”
“Britt.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you. I’m just going to do something about all the lights. The breakers are on the wall.”
“No, he’ll see you.”
“He’ll be over us in a minute. This is our only chance.” He rolled to a crouch before she could object again. He knew there was little chance of making the breaker and flipping it before Carlton saw him, but it really was the only chance he and Rachelle had.
“Stay down,” he ordered. Coming up, he sprinted for the box. A shot sounded. Rachelle screamed. The bullet hit far behind him. He slid into the wall by the breaker-box, pulling open the panel. The next shot sounded followed closely by another shot before he could touch the switches. Pain sliced across his shoulder. In front of him, the box sparked. Britt stumbled back and threw up his arms to cover his face as the power box sparked again. Then the lights went off. The whole warehouse fell into darkness. Carlton’s shot did what he didn’t get a chance to do.
“Britt.” Rachelle’s cry led him back toward her.
“Rachelle,” he said her name when he couldn’t locate her in the void. “Where are you? The lights are out.” It was blacker than he expected. No light at all filtered in from above.
“Here.”
He heard her move but was still unable to see her. Then she touched him and he locked his arms around her. Amazed at the relief he felt in her. He had only been in total darkness for seconds, but he felt a wave of helplessness and a gripping fear knowing Carlton was still out there waiting to kill them, and he couldn’t see to protect Rachelle.
“Are you all right?” She clung to him.
“Yes, it’s just so dark I can’t see anything.” He held her to him, aware of the stickiness running down his chest. “Can you lead us out of here?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure where the door is. I lost the point of reference when we were running.”
Britt thought for a minute trying to get his bearings. “It’s that way.” He took her hand and pointed the direction he thought was the way they entered. “At least, if we go that way, we will eventually run into the wall and can follow it to the door, but there are a lot of things to maneuver around.”
****
“I can handle that.” Rachelle pulled the little sonar from her pocket, turned it on then fitted it into her palm. She could feel Britt pressed against her. She was also aware of the tightness in his voice. He was in pain. Though he had been standing straight, and she felt no injury when she held him, she was sure he had been hurt. She prayed that since she couldn’t feel it, that it wasn’t bad. But she had to get them out of there as fast as she could.
She never thought in her life she would be grateful for being blind, but at that moment, she was. Darkness was an element she could handle now. She had proven it to herself over the last few months. She forced a calming breath into her lungs and focused on the direction they wanted to go and the little device in her hand.
Stealth was more important than speed, making it easy for her to have time to detect objects and move around them. Several times they had to make turns and back track as the aisle they were on ended, but she kept the point of reference in her mind, hoping that it was the right way. It felt like they had been moving for hours though it had only been minutes when they reached the wall.
Beside her she heard Britt sigh softly. He leaned over and brushed a kiss against her cheek. “Good, the door should be toward the left, but there are pallets and machinery that we’ll have to go around. There’s wide open area about ten feet square if that will help you locate it.”
“It will.”
“Remind me to have some emergency lighting installed in here. I didn’t realize there wasn’t any. This building is only used for spare building parts that are not in production at the moment.” She could hear the frustration in his words. He was feeling helpless, which was totally foreign to him. He didn’t like it.
“I love you.” She leaned forward to kiss him. When she touched his shoulder, he jerked slightly, and she felt wetness. “Britt.” Fear laced through her.
“It’s nothing, either a bullet just grazed me or I cut it on a sharp corner.”
“We should stop the bleeding.”
“It’s mostly stopped on its own. Don’t worry about it. We’ve
got to get out of here.”
Rachelle wanted to check it out but he was right. The best move was to get out of there and get help. Placing his hand back on her waist, she started to move. They had only gone about ten feet when they heard a scraping noise somewhere over head and froze. Britt pressed his body against her, forcing her back against a stack of crates. They stayed there in silence listening to the person move.
Rachelle could hear the faltering on the steps as Carlton slid his feet along, testing each step as if he was afraid the footing would disappear in front of him. She knew he was using the railing of the catwalk as a guide but was confused as to where he was at. She felt a wave of satisfaction, when she heard what was obviously Carlton’s toe hitting one of the railing posts and almost tripping.
They waited as the sounds moved away, than a minute longer before they started to walk again. They had only gone about twenty feet, when they heard some more rustling sounds from above, something clanked on metal. A scream pierced the air. It cut off with a crash and the clatter of falling boxes, somewhere toward the center of the warehouse.
Rachelle tried to muffle the gasp that escaped and grasped Britt’s arm. He pulled her to him again. “What was that?” she whispered, but she felt like she knew. It just seemed too impossible.
“I’m not sure. Let’s get out of here.” He kissed her on the top of her head. “We have to be getting close.”
Rachelle had to force herself to step back from the shelter of his arms. Then it took her a second to get her thoughts off the scream they heard and on to the sonar. It was another thirty feet when she detected the open area. She almost cried out with relief when her finger touched the cold metal door. When Britt pushed it opened, tears did slip from her eyes. Beside her she heard Britt sigh, and knew he could finally see.
“You are amazing.” He grabbed her up kissing her thoroughly before putting her back down. “Let’s get to the main building. We can call the police and wait there.”
Rachelle was more than willing.
Twenty minutes later they sat by the security desk in the main building waiting while the police checked out the warehouse. Rachelle clung to Britt’s hand as the paramedics tended his shoulder. He refused to let her out of his reach even as he drove to the main building and made the call to the police.
“How is he?” The question startled her, but she recognized the voice of Detective Todd.
The voice that answered was the same paramedic that described it to her a minute earlier and assured her it was hardly more than a scratch, though at Britt’s intake of breath as they worked on it she thought Britt might debate the scratch comparison.
“Not bad. He still should go to the hospital to have it checked out and get some antibiotics, but all in all, I’d say he was mighty fortunate.”
“Are you done with him then?”
“Just one more piece of tape should do it. I’ll say again, he should still go to the hospital. The bleeding has stopped, and they really can’t stitch it, but it should be tended more thoroughly. You don’t want to risk the possibility of infection.”
“I’ll see he gets a ride to the hospital when we’re done.”
The police officer fell silent for a moment. Rachelle figured he was waiting for the paramedic to finish up. It was Britt that broke the silence.
“Did you catch him?”
“We found him.” There was a long pause. “He’s dead. He fell from the catwalk. He landed in some machinery, and it looks like it broke his neck. We’ll have to wait for the medical examiner to give us the final verdict. For now, I have to ask you some questions since you were the only ones in the building, but I’m afraid I need to do this separately.”
Britt’s hold on Rachelle’s hand tightened. She clung to him not wanting to be taken from him either, though wasn’t given much choice. “This is Officer Hayes, she’ll stay with you while I talk to Mr. Clairbourne. Then I’ll come and talk to you. I’m sorry but it shouldn’t take too long.”
It felt like it took forever. Rachelle had nothing to do but count the seconds as she waited. She could hear several mutterings, but no one ever came close enough to hear what was being said. Rachelle was getting antsy by the time Todd returned.
“Sorry to take so long. Is it all right if I record our conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you, it makes it easier. Can you tell me what happened?”
Rachelle went through every detail. Step by step as close as she could remember it.
“So neither you nor Mr. Clairbourne went up on the catwalk?” he probed.
“No. I’m sure he meant to kill us up there. Britt knocked something over before we got to the stairs.”
“You did an excellent job making a distraction.”
“It was Britt’s idea.”
“Still, I must say you did amazing. He said you stayed calm the whole time.”
“I’m not sure calm is the word I would use. But I fought not to panic. I knew that wouldn’t help Britt and that he’d figure out a way to get us out of there, though I was terrified the whole time.”
“You both handled the situation well. Britt never went up on the cat walk?”
Rachelle didn’t miss the way he slid the question back in again. “No.”
“He was with you the whole time?”
“Yes, the farthest we were ever separated was when he went to cut the power, and then it wasn’t too far, because I could hear him clearly, even though he was being quiet. I would say within ten or twelve feet.”
“That was a smart move. It probably saved your lives. Well, that should be it. I’ll get Mr. Clairbourne over here.” The detective must have motioned when he first started the sentence because Britt reach her about the same time he ended it. Rachelle knew he was there an instant before he slid his arms around her and pulled her to him. She was more than willing to cuddle into him and relished the fact that they were safe. Mindful of his shoulder, she wrapped her arm around his waist.
His hand came up to cradle her face. “You all right?”
“Yes, but we should get you to the doctor.”
“I’m fine.”
She leaned forward and kissed his lips, silencing him. “You’re going to the doctor then I’ll take you home and take care of you.” She kissed him again, letting him know his care would be tender and loving.
“I’ll go to the doctor.” He sounded almost eager.
“I’ll get someone to drive you over,” Todd spoke up.
Rachelle had forgotten about the man’s presence and had to fight down a blush.
“I have to stay here and wrap this up. It’s nice that it’s all over. I have to admit. I never figured it would be Reese. We checked into him briefly, but he didn’t fit the profile at all. It’s hard to believe he could keep up the constant act on the phone. It was very convincing. He had the psychologist totally fooled. And Dr. Lamb is usually right on.”
It took a second for Rachelle to get what he was talking about. When she did, she started shaking her head and pulled back from Britt.
“Wait a minute. It wasn’t Carlton. The man on the phone wasn’t Carlton. It wasn’t the same voice.”
“Rachelle.”
“No.” For the first time that evening, Rachelle felt herself becoming hysterical. “It wasn’t him. I know his voice. It wasn’t Carlton. It wasn’t. He’s not the one after Britt.”
Britt pulled her to him. “It’s okay.”
She tried to shake her head again but was held too tight against his shoulder, and when she moved, he sucked in a painful breath. “Britt.” She stilled.
“It’s all right, Miss Harris. We’ll check it out thoroughly. I promise you.”
This time she did manage to step back. “It’s Mrs. Clairbourne. And I’m telling you, no matter how it looks, Carlton is not your man. The voice was wrong. It was not the same voice.”
“He was having allergies.” It was Britt that tried to pacify her with the comment.
“It still
wasn’t him. I heard him before. The tones in their voices are different.” There was silence for a moment. She knew the men were exchanging looks. She also knew they both thought they had gotten who was behind everything. Rachelle wished she could believe it, but she knew, to the very center of her soul, they were wrong.
“I promise you we’ll check it out,” Todd repeated. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Rachelle goes into the hospital in two days. Well, actually, I guess it’s the day after tomorrow. They’re going to restore her sight.”
“Congratulations. And congratulations on your marriage.”
Rachelle couldn’t manage a reply. She heard the man move off.
“Britt, I think we’d better postpone the surgery. There’s too much happening, with this guy after you, and now you’re going to have to handle telling your sister about Carlton. Think how she’s going to take that he tried to kill you. There’s going to be the funeral. And on top of that, when they find out we’re married … it’s not a good time.”
“No, we’re not going to postpone your surgery. I don’t care what else happens. I want you to have the surgery now.” The firmness that was in his tone was in the kiss that took her by surprise. His hands were on either side of her head, gripping her gently when he broke the kiss and laid his forehead to hers. His voice was husky as he spoke. “For a brief time there tonight, I couldn’t see anything. I know you have adjusted to it, but I don’t want you to have to be in that darkness any longer than you have to if there’s something that can be done. I would give anything for you to see. Please don’t say again you want to postpone.”
Blind Witness Page 20