“Have you called the police?” I asked.
“I have. Cutter has just contacted Jennifer and Alex. He’ll contact Blackwell next. I’m standing by with my own men—we’re at Wenn. We’ve been here since you went missing. We’re tracking the phone you’re using as we speak.”
“How?”
“We have software that can track your signal. We’re trying to pinpoint your location now, but it takes time and it’s not perfect because whoever owned your phone has blocked its signal. The software can work around that, but the process can be slow. But we’re trying. And it will work—it has to work. All of us are ready to move when the moment is right.”
“And when is that?”
“When you shoot one of those cars,” he said. “When you blow one of them up. That will change everything. If our tracking software doesn’t work fast enough, that explosion will let me know exactly where you are.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“You want me to do what?” I asked.
“Shoot one of the cars outside your window.”
“Are you insane?”
“Listen to me. Shoot whichever car is closest to you, but not right in front of you. You need to make sure it’s not in front of you, or it will explode into you. Is there a car close to your right or to your left that won’t blow through your window?”
“Yes. A Toyota Camry.”
“Can you see the door to its gas tank?”
I squinted into the night. “I think so.”
“Then shoot it and let the motherfucker explode.”
“I’m not that good of a shot.”
“Your gun is outfitted with a laser for accuracy—don’t forget that.”
I hadn’t forgotten it. I just didn’t trust in my ability to shoot anything at that point given how badly my hands were shaking. I was a hive of nerves.
“If I shoot that car, parts of it still could blow through the window at me.”
“That’s why you need to drop to the ground the moment you shoot it.”
“What if I miss? They’ll hear the gunshot. And the car probably has an alarm that will go off. They’ll rush out onto the sidewalk.”
“That’s why you need to be fast. Shoot the car, fall to the ground, and wait for the explosion. If there isn’t one, you’ll know that you missed and that you need to shoot it again until you do hit it. When you succeed, the car will blow. But here’s why you need to keep dropping down every time you shoot—if that car blows, there’s a solid chance that other cars will explode along with it. When that happens, people will call the police—of course they will. And that's when we’ll know where you are. The explosions and the alarms will draw us to you. That’s what I told the police to be looking for. What I’m hoping is that whoever is holding you hostage will flee the building because they’ll know the police will be on their way. I’m aiming for two things here—creating a situation in which I can locate you and getting those bastards the hell away from you.”
“What if it doesn’t work? I could waste a bullet. I don’t have enough bullets to spare on something like this. I could miss. I’m a mess right now. My hands aren’t steady. I’m telling you, Tank—I could miss.”
“I don’t think that you will—the car is probably twenty feet from you, right?”
I looked out the window. “I don’t know. About that, I guess.”
“Then you have a fair shot at this—literally. Now, come on. I need you to do this for me. I need you to try. I don’t see another way. Do you?”
Before I could answer, the house’s front door swung open and snapped shut. There was movement outside the building. I turned left and saw what looked to be a shadow stretching across the sidewalk. Then, fleetingly, I saw a man come down the building’s front steps and quickly disappear as he moved onto the sidewalk and toward the basement’s far left window.
At the sight of him, I caught my breath, pulled the window shut as quietly as I could, and then got off the chair.
“They’re starting to come out,” I said. “They’re going to surround the building. A man just went down the front steps. I think he went to the left window. In a minute, he’ll come to this window. He’ll see me.”
I can’t let him see me.
Without hesitation, I whirled around and hammered the bulb above me with the butt of my gun, smashing my only source of light. The bulb exploded in an orange blast of fiery smoke that I ducked away from as darkness fell and glass started to tinkle upon the floor.
At some point, I knew that my eyes would adjust. But how long would it take before they did? I was almost completely blind, which left me feeling more vulnerable than I had when the light was working.
You fucked up.
What choice did I have? They’re outside now.
So they are. And now they know two things—you’re aware that they’re outside and you now have no source of light. Smart move, girl. Really smart.
“What was that sound?” Tank asked.
I told him.
“You did what?”
“They’re going to look through the windows. They obviously have guns. I can’t let them see me. If I do, I don’t stand a chance.”
“Lisa—”
“Look, I’m in the middle of this. You’re not. I know what I need to do next. I know I have to shoot that car. But with them outside right now? I’m not taking the chance of being seen so easily.”
As I said this, the window at the far left of the room shattered, startling me to my core. Glass broke into a room into which nobody could see.
Or so I thought.
Above me, the front door opened again and clicked shut. I heard footsteps clip down the stairs and move onto the sidewalk. Then, beyond the broken window came a new voice, one that was just several notes above a whisper: “Can you see her?”
It was the older man’s voice—the one who had threatened and filmed me earlier. The one who had sprayed me with holy water. The fucker who knocked out my tooth.
The devil man.
“I can see her,” the other man said. “She’s just beyond the staircase. A green blob with an orange core. Breaking that bulb was the worst thing she could have done, because now I can see her clearly. Do you want me to take her out?”
“Your gun has a silencer?”
Blood thrummed in my ears. Sweat popped along my forehead. I knew enough from researching my books that, in order to see me in the dark, they must have night goggles of some sort. They could see me just as clearly as if it was daylight.
I had to find a place to hide. The most logical place was against the brick wall between me and the left window that concealed a good third of the stairwell. I could hear Tank talking into the phone, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying or take the time to hear him. With my hands stretched out in front of me, I moved toward the wall until I touched its rough surface. I turned around, sank to my knees in an effort to make myself as small as possible, and then leaned my back against the wall.
“Does your gun have a silencer or not?” the devil man asked in his hushed voice.
“It doesn’t, but I think there’s one in the house.”
“What do you mean ‘think’?”
“It’s either there or it’s in the van.”
“Then figure it out. In a few hours, dawn will break. People are asleep now. We need to kill her before things get even more out of hand. Can you see her?”
“Not now.”
“What does that mean? You just said that you could.”
“I don’t know. I don’t get it.” The man paused. “Somehow, she just disappeared.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
In the darkness I had created, I sat still and waited.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to focus. I needed to get out of this mess, but the voices in my head wouldn’t listen. They were arguing with me and doing battle with me, but they weren’t cooperating with me. They were reminding me that I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and that I was incapable of the s
ort of rational thought required to act in a situation as dire as this. I had to wonder if they were right, and when I tried to press the self-doubt back, I failed.
You can’t do it.
I can.
You screwed up.
I’m not dead yet.
You honestly thought you could do this? You seriously thought that you could outwit all of them?
I can.
You can’t and you know it.
I’m not dead yet.
Give it time, girl.
There was no time. Though I did have some advantages. Even in the dark, I knew this end of the basement. I’d seen enough of it that I could make my way around in the darkness. Had breaking that bulb just cost me my life? I didn’t know, but the mere thought of what I’d done was like opening a window through which a tide of self-doubt smashed into me. And then, as insane as it was, I thought of the blond man I’d killed earlier, and guilt threaded through me.
You’re a murderer.
I had no choice. I had to act.
You didn’t have to kill him.
I did have to kill him. And I had every right. My life was in danger. It’s still in danger.
You’ve got death on your hands.
I could be dead myself at this point. I saw the hammer on the table. I knew I could lure him to it. And it worked. I killed him.
That’s right—you killed him. And look where you are now. Soon, they’ll surround the house. You’ve pissed them off. Because of you, one of their own is dead. They’re going to shut you down because of that. You’ve committed suicide because of that. You did this. You’re the murderer.
It took a full five minutes before I dared to lift the phone to my ear. “I’m still here,” I whispered.
The concern in Tank’s voice was clear. “I thought I’d lost you.”
“I had no choice but to go silent. They have night goggles—they must have. When I broke the bulb, I heard one of them say that they could see a green blob with an orange core. You and I both know what that means.”
“Where are they now?”
“One is still outside—the older man who is behind all of this. The one who hosed me down with holy water and knocked out my tooth.”
“He knocked out your tooth?”
“That’s right.”
Tank went quiet for a moment, and I could sense him trying to control his rage. “Where did the other one go?”
“Inside, to get a silencer—if one is even there. He said if it isn’t, it might be in their van, wherever that is. Either way, they want to finish me off before dawn. What time is it?”
“Two o’clock.”
“Then I’m not far away from the end, am I?”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Have you been able to track the phone?”
“We’re trying. I’m now in a van with Cutter and Max. The van is essentially a mobile version of our headquarters at Wenn. We’re waiting for the computer to lock down your location so we can get to you.”
“What’s taking so long?”
“It won’t be much longer. We’re also trying to find out which cell phone tower is emitting your signal. If we can nail that down, it’ll be easier to find you.”
“You’ve got to hurry.”
“I promise I’m trying.”
“I’m frightened.”
“Just know that I’m doing my best. Where in the room are you now?”
“I’m leaning against a brick wall that covers the top third of the staircase. The window on the right side of the basement is about ten feet away from me. I’m sitting on the dirt floor with my knees against my chest. Hopefully nobody sees me.”
“The man who went for the silencer—is he back outside yet?”
“No—but I can hear a lot of commotion coming from upstairs. He’s obviously trying to find one, and by the sounds of it, others are trying to help him.”
Above me, a rush of footsteps passed along the floor. Metal raked across wood—a table being moved? Or a chest? Whatever it was, it was heavy.
“If he’s looking to fit his gun with a silencer, then he would have taken his gun with him,” Tank said. “But, let’s play it safe and say that the other man has a gun, too. If he’s still at the other window, do you think you can get back to the window closest to you and do what I told you to do earlier?”
“Shoot one of the cars?”
“That’s right.”
“Is that wise now? They’re watching me—listening to me. If I do that, they’ll come down here and kill me.”
“Actually, if you do that and if the car explodes, I think they’ll take off and run.”
I thought about that for a moment, and came to the conclusion that it made sense. They’d know that, with an explosion and with a car burning alongside a curb, it wouldn’t be long before someone called 911. And then the police would close in.
“If you’re going to do it, you’ll need to hurry, and do it before the other man gets back. What you don’t want is for him to get his hands on that silencer, especially if he has night vision.”
I looked at the window and swallowed hard before I stood up—the aged brick was so rough, it pulled down my shirt as I did so. I listened to the house, heard shouting and arguing above me, and tried to catch my breath, but I was too terrified about what I had to do.
Before crossing to the window, I wanted to see if the devil man was still at the left window, or if he had moved away from it. I inched along the brick wall, holding the gun high and tight in front of me with one hand and the cell phone with the other. Then, with every ounce of courage I could muster, I looked around the wall at the window.
The devil man’s face filled it.
Startled, I took a step back, but only far enough so I could still just barely see him. Could he see me in the dark? He could if he was wearing the goggles the other man had been wearing, but he wasn’t. I could see that. Better yet, his face was pointed in the wrong direction. It was turned slightly to the right, where I wasn’t standing. It appeared as if he couldn’t see me.
I looked up the stairwell as footsteps moved above me. I could hear what sounded like a drawer being rammed shut. More arguing. And then, above me, the door to the basement clicked open and a red laser beam swept down the staircase, almost causing me to faint as instinct made me rear back out of sight.
What have I done?
I put the back of my hand over my mouth and listened. Light fanned down the staircase from the room at the top of the stairs.
“Here piggy, piggy, piggy,” a man’s voice called. “Come to slaughter now. Stop causing trouble. You’re just going to make us angrier. And when that happens? Well, when that happens, we generally use the saw.”
I lowered my hand from my mouth. “I’m armed,” I said as firmly as I could.
“So am I.”
“If either one of us shoots, that will be the end of you. Someone in the neighborhood will hear it. Somebody will call the police out of fear that they also might be attacked. The police will come. You want more gunfire? I’ll shoot you and the rest of your fucking sect if I have to—and don’t think for a moment that I won’t do it or that I don’t know how to use a gun.” I gently pressed the trigger, and a similar red laser beam cut to the base of the stairwell where its red dot danced in the light alongside his. “Especially since I’m also equipped with a laser beam.”
“The devil’s spawn would know how to use a gun,” he said. “They’d also kill one of God’s children without giving it a second thought—as you already have done. I don’t doubt for a minute that you can actually shoot the gun—any idiot can press a trigger. What I question is how fast you are. And regardless of whether your gun has a laser, I also have to wonder how good your aim is.”
“I’m a Maine girl. I hunted with my family for years. Try me, fucker.”
“Such a mouth you have on you.”
“Here’s my best advice—get out of here. Leave this place. All of you. Save yourselves while you c
an.”
“The one who needs saving is you, both physically and spiritually.” I heard his foot descend upon the stairs, which groaned beneath his weight. “How about if I save you?” he asked. “How about if we put all of this behind us right now? I kill you, I say a prayer over you, and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll ascend into heaven.”
I stood as silently as I could and watched his laser beam swing right, then left, and then it shut off. He took another step down the staircase. And another. One or two more steps, and his legs would come into view.
That’s when I’ll shoot.
You’re not faster than he is—he’s been doing this for years. He’ll just lean down and shoot you. You’re going to die. It ends now.
The hell it does.
I took aim at the stairwell, but not with my laser depressed. I wanted to see his legs before I shot. And so I dropped the cellphone on the dirt floor, scooted down so I could peer up the stairs, and tried to keep my aim as steady as possible.
“Here piggy, piggy, piggy.”
Again, the laser roamed in front of me.
“Come to slaughter.”
I kept my eyes peeled on the stairs, waiting to see part of his leg, which I was prepared to blow to shit if I had to.
And then came a woman’s voice: “Get up the stairs, Frank. You’re letting light into the basement. Do you even understand the advantage that gives her? Get up here and close the door behind you.”
“I’m just playing with piggy,” he said.
“Are you an idiot? She’s got a gun. Get up here now. Close the door. Why do you always do this?”
“I’m just trying to make her go ‘oink, oink, oink’.”
“Do I need to pull you up here myself?”
“Relax, Janice. I’m just messing with her.”
“And while you do that, you put the rest of us at risk. Move it.”
Unexpectedly, he went up the stairs. The door shut, and I could hear an intense, muffled exchange of words between them. My heart had quickened to the point that I felt dizzy from fear—but also from relief. He was gone for now. But what about the devil man? Was he still there?
Unleash Me: Vol. 3 Page 7