He’d toy with her inside the tunnel. Maybe he’d wait until she was almost to the end, and then the cat would pounce.
“Marco,” he said. He chuckled to himself as he thought about the childhood water game. “Don’t you want to play, Hiroko? You’re supposed to say ‘polo.’ ”
She was close enough to grab now. But he resisted the urge. He had no idea he’d enjoy the chase this much. He’d give her another fifty feet.
The tunnel was as black as Stein’s heart. And as cold. Hiro crouched low as she ran. She kept one hand touching the wall of the underground passage to give her a sense of direction. Stability. If that were even possible in a place like this. The rough surface of the concrete tunnel rose and fell under her fingertips. Like the sound of Stein’s panting behind her. Water rushed by her feet.
“I like it in here.” Stein’s voice seemed amplified in the tunnel. “You’ve picked a perfect spot, Hiroko.” His voice echoed past her. Sounded distorted. Or maybe his voice had become as twisted as Stein was on the inside.
Her foot hooked on something on the tunnel floor — and she went down. Instantly, she was on her feet again. But now her knee throbbed and felt like it would buckle. Webs stretched across her face. She swatted past them and kept going. It was like the tunnel was aware of her presence — and it didn’t want her to leave.
She was in a place of death. She felt it. This tunnel was a concrete coffin. What if Stein had fished Wendy’s body out of the lake and hidden it in here? An image of a tattoo — a pair of dice — flashed in her mind. Could there be a dead body in this tunnel? If she didn’t keep moving, there definitely would be.
Something in the water at her feet wriggled and thrashed. Hiro screamed.
“I’m catching up to you.” Stein laughed like he was enjoying the chase. “I can smell your fear.”
He really was an animal. He could shoot her now — or lunge and take her down. Why didn’t he? Because he was toying with her. Letting her grasp a thread of hope. He’d wait until she was within inches of freedom.
Hiro tried to go faster, but the tunnel slowed her down. Made her lose her footing.
She should have gone into the tunnel with the boys. Maybe she’d be less terrified now. Gotta go faster. She could hardly breathe. She expected Stein’s hand to grab her shoulder at any second.
She saw a smudge of gray ahead. The end of the tunnel. It was too far away. Too far. And Stein was too close — and gaining on her.
Rain pelted Cooper’s face, but it didn’t slow him down. He vaulted over an iron fence and picked up speed as soon as he got off the beach. He sprinted past the fountain. Lunk and Gordy were right behind him.
No traffic. Cooper bolted across the street. “Hiro!” He reached for the iron gate leading down to LeatherLips rentals and the docks in the bay below. Locked. “Hiro!”
The inlet was still. Lifeless. Covered boats were tied in the slips. They looked like funeral barges. Was she inside one of them? An open umbrella was lying on the dock at the far side of the little bay. Please, God, no.
Gordy and Lunk pulled up beside him. “Anything?”
Cooper pointed at the umbrella. “Hiro!” He looked in the black water for any sign of a disturbance. Nothing.
They crossed the bridge and hustled toward the docks. “Let’s spread out.”
Gordy passed him and headed down the narrow pier along the spillway. Lunk followed.
A shrill scream pierced the air. “Hiro!” Cooper wheeled around. “The tunnel.”
Gordy leaped off the dock into the water, then climbed over the concrete dam. Lunk was right behind him.
“I’ll go around,” Cooper said. “Meet you where it dumps into the river.”
Lunk waved a hand and ran past Gordy, but he never looked back. Together they raced down the concrete ramp.
Cooper darted around the spillway and headed toward the parking lot. Hang on, Hiro. Hang on! Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure running in the same direction, but on the other side of the tiny bay. Looked like he had a hand to his ear — was he on the phone? Did Fat Elvis have an accomplice?
Cooper pulled the flare gun from his waistline and loaded a cartridge in the chamber.
Lunk ducked into the tunnel just ahead of Gordy — his head low, fists clenched. He couldn’t see a thing, but he fought against every instinct that screamed for him to slow down.
Hiro needed him. Cooper needed him. And Lunk knew he would need some kind of miracle to get there in time.
“Right behind you,” Gordy panted. “Slow up and I’ll run you down.”
Gordy obviously couldn’t see a thing either. He was counting on Lunk to keep his speed up and stay ahead of him.
Lunk skittered for a second, regained his balance, and pressed on. He heard voices echoing ahead of them, getting louder. He was closing the distance between them.
Water poured in from overhead. Some kind of drainage pipe from the street? There hadn’t been anything like that the other day — but it hadn’t been raining then, either. He splashed through and kept running.
Whimpering. He was sure he heard whimpering, but he couldn’t stop to listen and be sure. It was Hiro. Had to be. What was Stein doing to her?
Hiro tripped again and her injured knee struck the tunnel floor. She struggled to get up, limping hard this time. Terror behind her. Terror ahead. But if she stopped — if she slowed down — he’d get her. This wasn’t the boogeyman. It wasn’t an overactive imagination. It was Stein. He was real. And he was going to hurt her. Holding one hand out in front of her, she ran.
“You run like hell, Hiroko,” Stein said, laughing.
Not like hell. She was running from hell. And she could feel the heat.
The air felt heavy. Stagnant. Dead. Even the tunnel felt evil. Like it was alive. Grabbing at her. Wanting to pull her down. Hold her back for Stein.
The tunnel opening grew bigger. Almost there. Almost there. And then what? At least she’d be out of this demon tunnel.
But the demon would still be chasing her. Her phone was in her pocket. If she could get some distance on him, she could call — someone.
“You’re mine!”
Stein grabbed her braid — slowed her — and slammed into her. She went down, and her head plunged underwater for an instant. She squirmed and twisted to face him — then kicked with all her strength.
He grunted. Swore.
She kicked again. Connected.
Stein snickered. And took a swing at her.
The blow glanced off her cheek. She raised her arms to protect her face. “Please!”
He forced her head underwater — then jerked her out again. She gasped for breath.
“I am so sick of you and your friends!” His fists exploded against her jaw. Shoulders.
Hiro ducked. Screamed. It was impossible to fight back. “God, help me!”
Stein drove his knee into her stomach. She couldn’t breathe. “Time to say good night, Hiroko.” He leaned into her, ground his knee in harder — forcing her head under the black water.
She reached for his face. Felt his beard. Clawed at his eyes.
Stein roared and recoiled — and Hiro wriggled free. She crawled through the rushing water for a few seconds before getting back on her feet. But Stein’s iron grip locked onto her ankle.
“Daddy!” Hiro screamed. “Help me!” Her dad couldn’t come to her rescue, though, could he? Yet she was running to him — and in moments she would be safe in his arms.
Cooper heard a police siren in the distance. He pounded across Center Street and headed for the other end of the tunnel. Hiro’s scream was different this time. Not just terror. Pain.
She screamed again. She was close. Was she out of the tunnel?
He swung past the trees, down the embankment, and toward the river. Hiro was there at the mouth of the tunnel. Thrashing, trying to kick free from someone. She fell backward into the shallow river and slammed against a rock.
Cooper splashed into the river. Raised the
flare gun.
A figure stood over her. “It’s time to say good-bye, Hiroko.”
Stein. Wearing a wetsuit? Cooper clambered over the rocks. Had to get to her. Now.
Stein raised his arm like he was pointing at her. Something glinted.
Strike first. Strike hard. Cooper aimed the flare gun at Stein’s chest and pulled the trigger.
The flare hit Stein in the gut. Bright red sparks and flames shot in all directions, but the flare deflected off the wetsuit. Stein, momentarily blinded, dropped to his knees in the river. The cartridge lodged itself between the rocks on the shoreline — still alive and lighting the area with an eerie glow.
Hiro struggled to her feet. Cooper ran to her, loading the second cartridge on the fly. He grabbed Hiro’s hand. “C’mon!”
Hiro clutched his hand with both of hers.
“Run!” He tore right down the middle of the stream — pulling Hiro along as his own feet stumbled on the rocky bottom. He had to put distance between them and Stein. Too slow. Too slow. He chanced a shoulder-check.
Stein was on his feet again. He looked at Cooper and smiled. His face glowed red from the nearby flare. With dark shadows shrouding his eyes, he only needed a pair of horns for the effect to be complete.
“Stop!” Stein raised his gun. “This is a Saturday Night Special. Untraceable 22-caliber. Six shots. Should be plenty to finish the job.”
Cooper squeezed off his last cartridge. Stein ducked — and the flare whizzed past his head.
Lunk appeared in the tunnel opening and did a flying leap for Stein, tackling him hard.
Cooper tried to pull his hand free from Hiro’s grip so she could get away and he could go back to help Lunk. “Run, Hiro!”
She didn’t let go.
And everything went into slow motion. Stein was on his feet again somehow. Lunk was sitting in the river — dazed — blood trickled from a gash in his forehead. Gordy flew from the mouth of the tunnel, rushing toward Lunk.
Stein glared at Cooper. Raised the gun. Cooper turned, pushed Hiro behind him to shield her — heard the shot — felt himself falling.
Cooper felt the water rush around him. Felt Hiro squirming. He was alive. She was alive. Had Stein missed?
He tensed, expecting a second shot to do the job where the first one had failed. Cooper looked behind him. Stein was lying on his back — half in the river, half on the bank. He was clutching his shoulder and moaning. Gordy was helping Lunk to his feet.
A figure climbed down the embankment on the other side of the narrow stream. He was holding a gun.
Cooper pointed. “Lunk — Gordy — look out!”
“Easy, Cooper,” the man said as he stepped out of the shadows.
Detective Hammer? “How in the world . . . ?”
Hammer waded into the river and picked his way closer to them. “Ask Hiro.”
Hiro let go of Cooper’s hand and splashed over to the detective. She threw her arms around him. “I didn’t think you’d come.”
“I’ve been hanging around for nearly eighteen hours.”
“I never saw you.”
Hammer laughed. “You’ll never see me. Didn’t I mention that?”
Stein groaned louder and rocked from side to side. His pistol lay on the bank, a dozen feet away.
Hammer waded over to Stein and held up his gun. A red laser dot danced in a tight circle on Stein’s forehead. “This is a 9mm Beretta 92-FS semi-automatic. Luminescent and laser sights. Seventeen shots — plenty to finish the job.”
A police car screeched to a halt on the roadway above them. Officer Tarpy bolted out of the car. “Everyone okay?”
“Everyone that matters,” Hammer said.
Tarpy ran down the embankment and splashed into the river. He stopped next to Hammer and put a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for the call. Got here as fast as I could.”
“I need — ” Stein gasped and gritted his teeth against the pain — “an ambulance.”
“It could take a while,” Tarpy said. “Some idiot set fire to the casino. Every ambulance within a twenty-mile radius is busy at the scene. We’re calling in help from Kenosha.”
Stein held up a bloody hand. “But I need help!” He clamped his hand around his shoulder again. “Can’t you see that?”
“Oh yeah,” Hammer said. “You need a lot of help. Life in prison isn’t going to be much fun.”
Cooper sat on the bow of The Getaway, taking it all in. Mom. Dad. Mattie. Gordy’s folks. Lunk’s mom. And Hiro’s mom. Everyone was present and accounted for. Even Detective Hammer and Officer Tarpy were there. The adults stood on the teak deck on the other end of the boat and laughed. Hugged. Downed more pizza from Olympic Restaurant.
“We’re like celebrities now,” Hiro said. She sat cross-legged next to him. “Katie says they’ve renamed The Getaway.”
Cooper exchanged glances with Lunk and Gordy. “Really?”
Hiro nodded. “The S. S. Minnow. She said it’s a reference to an old TV show back in the sixties.”
“Gilligan’s Island,” Gordy said.
She shook her head and smiled. “What? You know all the old TV shows?”
He looked at her like she was joking. “Only the important ones.”
“Anyway, “Hiro said, “that would explain why they’re calling you Gilligan.”
Gordy grinned. “Gilligan. I like that. I should get a white sailor hat and a red shirt or something. Walk around town.”
Lunk snickered. “Wasn’t he, you know, like a bozo or something?”
Gordy shook his head. “He was the star of the show. Without Gilligan — no Gilligan’s Island.”
“Katie calls Lunk ‘Skipper,’ ” Hiro said.
Lunk smiled at Cooper. “Your dad called me that too.”
“The way you handled that boat — it sounds like you earned the title,” Hiro said. “And Katie called Coop ‘Professor.’ She posted a bunch of pictures of the boat from when it was still on the beach.”
Cooper pictured the scene the way he and his dad had seen it late on Friday night after it was all over. The Getaway did look like the S. S. Minnow, beached and tilted to one side on the sand. But they were hardly shipwrecked.
“And she posted lots of pictures of some guy named Matt Ripkey from Gage Marine when they came to tow it.”
Cooper replayed the scene in his mind. Even though Dad had told him not to worry about The Getaway, Cooper was on the beach with him when Matt arrived in the Alert early Saturday morning. Cooper felt like a weight had been lifted when they found the source of the leak wasn’t a hole in the hull. Stein had unscrewed the threaded brass drain plug on the transom below the waterline.
Matt screwed in a new plug, pumped out the water, and towed it off the beach. Besides a little scraped paint — and the smashed cabin door — no serious damage had been done.
And now, not even forty-eight hours after Lunk had beached The Getaway, the cabin cruiser was tied to the pier at the Riviera for their celebration.
“Think Kryptoski and Stein will end up in the same prison?” Gordy said.
Cooper thought for a second. “Wouldn’t that be something?”
“It’d be perfect,” Gordy said. “Stein could keep his babysitting job.”
“Babysitting? I don’t think so,” Hiro said. “Stein didn’t do such a great job the first time.”
Cooper nodded. “I don’t know why he started gambling. He’s not very lucky — and he makes really bad choices.”
“And sooner or later, poor decisions land you in some sort of prison,” Lunk said.
Hiro smiled and shook her head. “Uh oh. Listen to Lunk. He’s really getting to be the philosopher of the group.” She stood up and waggled her phone at them. “You guys sit tight. I have a carryout order to pick up.” She climbed over the rail and jumped onto the dock.
Minutes later she was back with a bag from Scoops. She handed each of the guys a spoon. “Just a little something for the men in my life.”
She pulled a pin
t container from the bag. “For Gordy. Because you never change.”
Gordy pulled off the lid. “Yippee Skippee! My favorite.”
Hiro shrugged. “That’s what I’m saying. You don’t change.”
She pulled out another pint. “This is for you, Lunk.”
“Vanilla,” Gordy said. “Am I right?”
Hiro shook her head. “Dead wrong.”
Cooper moved in closer to see what she’d ordered.
Lunk pried off the cover, tilted his head, and gave her a questioning look. “Chocolate?”
“Zanzibar Chocolate.” She said. “The deepest, darkest kind.”
“That’s a total switch,” Gordy said.
Hiro nodded. “I chose that flavor for Lunk because nobody has changed more than he has in the last year.”
Lunk laughed. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”
“It’s all good,” Hiro said. “I even like the new haircut.”
Gordy reached over and rubbed Lunk’s head.
“There was a time when you wanted to be rid of me.” Lunk glanced at her like he was joking. But there was something deeper there. Like he really wanted to be sure of their friendship.
“That’s ancient history,” Hiro said.
Lunk stared at the water.
She studied him for a moment. “You don’t seem to realize how much you belong with us. How much we need you.”
Lunk’s face turned red.
“Let’s put it this way. I’m like a tattoo,” Hiro said, making a fist. “And if you try to get rid of a tattoo, it can get pretty painful.”
Lunk laughed and shook his head.
“Welcome to the club, Lunk. Once Hiro gets in here” — Cooper tapped Lunk’s head — “it’s all over.”
She tilted her head and smiled. “Consider yourself warned.” Hiro reached inside the bag again. “And for Cooper.” She handed him a pint packed with red, yellow, and blue swirled ice cream.
Below the Surface Page 31