Suddenly, the wall of the tunnel dropped away from his hand on the right. He stopped, realizing that he was passing a side tunnel but that the girl and her light were ahead in the main tunnel. It might even be the side tunnel I was standing in when I grabbed the girl that night, he realized. He also recognized that, since it was the first side tunnel on the right, it was a perfect landmark to locate the spot where the girl was doing whatever she was doing up ahead.
I could go back out to the entrance, steal the padlock so she can’t lock it back up, then come back in here after she’s gone. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the girl, but it’d be so much simpler to come in and collect some platinum when there wasn’t anyone here to cause a hassle. Besides, after her dad died in here, if I hurt the girl, they’ll lock this place up so tight I’ll never get back in.
Dan wondered whether he could get close enough to see what the girl was doing without alerting her. Not worth the risk, he thought, starting to move backward.
A light flashed on just to his right. As he turned he saw a shadowy figure behind it.
Something flashed into the light coming toward his face.
He recognized a hand, holding something.
A spray hit his face.
Agony exploded.
Dan was on his hands and knees, coughing and desperately wiping at his eyes. He’d pulled up his T-shirt and was doing his best to use it to wipe the burning stuff off his face. He felt the girl—by then he’d figured out that it’d been the girl with some kind of pepper spray—doing something behind his back.
Dan reached back and batted at her. Irritatedly, she said, “You want another shot of Mace?”
His heart started pounding at the thought of it. He croaked out a “No.”
“Then don’t mess with me.” Distantly, he thought she sounded just as young as he’d thought. But tough. He remembered her punching him in the balls. A tough little bitch, he thought.
From the shifting sensations at the small of his back, he realized she was taking the gun out of his holster. Dammit! he thought.
She’d moved down to his feet and was screwing around with something down there. He tried to move his ankles apart, but they were immediately jerked back together. She’s tying me up?! Why would she even have the stuff to tie me up with? She couldn’t possibly have known I was coming!
The girl and her light walked away down the tunnel. Dan rolled onto his side and felt down at his ankles. They were bound together with what felt like extension cord wire. He tried to pick at it, but she’d put the knot behind his ankles where he could barely reach it. The knot felt really tight, like he’d never get it undone. Besides, he couldn’t stop wiping at his face and eyes.
The light returned. It was much brighter now. He realized that she’d used a cell phone light to attack him and tie him up. Now she’d gone and got the big flashlight she’d used as a decoy. She turned it on his face and the brightness hurt his highly sensitized eyes. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“None of your business,” he choked out.
“Ah, but I think it is,” she said getting up and walking around behind him. She started patting him down. She reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “And, if you didn’t want me to know, you probably shouldn’t have brought your wallet with you.” After a moment, she said, “Dan Norwood, huh?”
Dan gritted his teeth, then put on a regretful tone, “Hey, look Miss, I’m sorry about all this. Real sorry. If you’ll just let me go, I promise you’ll never see hide nor hair of me again.”
“You know, Dan, it’s only been five days since the first time you visited our mine. That time you killed my dad. Yet here you are, back again. Somehow I’m thinking you probably aren’t the most trustworthy guy.”
“That was an accident! If you hadn’t punched me in the balls, it wouldn’t’ve ever happened!”
“Uh-huh. And why’d you feel it necessary to threaten me with harm if my dad didn’t come to you? And why’d you have your gun out? Is that just the way you normally greet people?”
“I wouldn’t’ve ever been down here ‘cept I work for some real bad people. My boss told me I had to figure out where your dad was getting’ the platinum. If I don’t come back, they’ll just send someone a lot meaner ‘n me.” He paused for a moment, but when she didn’t say anything, he continued, “I’d urge real strong that you let me go. I’ll do my best to negotiate a deal with the boss that lets you keep a good share of whatever you produce.”
She tsk-tsked. “Now Mr. Norwood, just a minute ago you were promising me I’d never see hide nor hair of you if I let you go. Now you just told me that once you’re gone, the big bad bogeyman’s going to come and hurt me worse. And, then you let me know that the best you plan to do for me is to negotiate me a deal that’s bad, just not as bad as it might’ve been. Seems like I’d do a lot better turning you over to the police. Maybe they can figure out who those ‘real bad people’ are and put them somewhere where they won’t hurt anybody, much less me.” She got up and walked around to the front side of him. “Put your wrists out here for me.”
Realizing she intended to tie up his wrists, Dan jerked his hands back away from her. “No goddamn way I’m lettin’ you tie my hands!”
“Now, now Mr. Norwood. I am gonna tie up your hands. The only question’s whether I’m gonna have to give you another shot of Mace first or not.”
Suddenly Dan realized that he actually wanted her trying to do something with his hands. He slowly put them back out, as if he was reluctant. She slipped a loop over his left wrist and reached out in preparation for wrapping the wire around his right wrist, but as she reached out, he grabbed her left wrist with his right hand. As he’d expected, her wrist was slender enough for him to get a solid grip on it. He started to pull her closer, reaching out with his left hand and feeling victory in reach.
Suddenly, she surged toward him. Dan’s initial thought was that his grip on her right wrist was painful and she was getting closer to relieve the pressure.
Then her elbow slammed into his already inflamed nose.
Dan arched back, trying to get away from any follow-up blows. Nonetheless, she viciously smacked what felt like the palm of her hand into the middle of his face. The bitch twisted her wrist out of his loosened grip. Then she leapt away from him.
At first, he thought she was just trying to get away. Despite the agonizing pain in his mid-face, he surged after her, grabbing for an ankle or any other part of her he might use to get control of the situation. He couldn’t crawl, because his ankles were tied together, but he kicked out off of them like he was diving.
The sudden jerk on his ankles told him that she’d not only tied his ankles together, she’d also tied them to the rails. His face slammed into the dirt as he reached the end of the short wire.
He hadn’t been able to catch himself and protect his face because she was pulling hard on the wire loop around his wrist. He tried to jerk her back towards himself by the wire, but evidently she’d hooked it around something because he couldn’t budge it. Sounding completely unworried, she said, “Okay, I won’t tie your wrists together. Just stretch that left one out here a little farther.”
Realizing she wanted to tie him to the rails with his body stretched into full extension, he jerked back on his wrist. It still didn’t budge.
“Now, now. Stretch on out here or I’m going to have to give you another dose of Mace. I know you don’t want that. After all, you’ll only have one hand to wipe at your face with.”
Dan’s eyes were watering so badly he could only see her as an indistinct blur. Something was running out of his nose. He wiped at it with his hand. Even in the dim light he could see it was bright red. She probably broke my nose! he thought.
He realized she was coming closer.
Her hand reached out toward him.
He made a flailing grab at it with his free right hand, but missed.
She sprayed his face again.
Dammit! he thought as
agony surged through him again.
Dan was flailing around, grabbing gravel and throwing it in her general direction and thinking there was no way a skinny little girl like her could possibly win a fight with him, when he realized that every time he stretched a little bit she was cinching the wire that held his left wrist. He was already stretched out full length. He jerked hard on the wire, thinking he should be able to break it. It felt like it might’ve broken the skin on his wrist, but he didn’t gain any slack.
She said, “That wire’s really cutting into your skin. I’m going to tie your wrists to the rail with another wire. The new one won’t have a noose that cuts off your circulation.”
Dan felt her start to pass a second wire around his left wrist. He grabbed for her with his right-hand. Since he was lying, stretched full-length on his right side, he had to twist to get the right arm out from under him and that slowed him down. Besides, he couldn’t see worth a damn. The light was dim and his eyes were watering so he completely missed his grab. But then he felt a wire settle around his right wrist. Mere seconds later it had noosed down, pulling his wrist hard against the rail.
About ten minutes later she’d bound his right wrist to the rail right in front of his face. She made a bunch of loops around the rail and his wrist, then wrapped more wire around the loops between the rail and his wrist tightening the loops sufficiently that he knew there was no way for him to get his hand out of it—though he’d certainly try if she gave him an unguarded moment. Then she loosened the noose on that wrist. She moved up and bound his left wrist in the same fashion. She bound it where it was, stretched out, far above his head. As she did it, she calmly explained, “I’m leaving your right hand down there in front of your face so you can wipe at the Mace. Your other hand’s tied way up here so your two hands won’t be close enough to each another for you to be able to untie yourself.” She paused, then continued, “Now I know this’s all pretty uncomfortable. I imagine you agree with me that it’s no more than you deserve, but, I’m just trying to keep you out of trouble until I can go back up the tunnel and use my cell phone to check in with the police. I called them when you first came in the mine and I’m thinking they should’ve been here by now.
“Unless they got lost.”
The girl just stood there for a couple of moments, Dan suspected she was trying to think whether she’d missed anything. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of weaknesses in her plan. He was still resignedly wiping at his face with his fingers. She squatted down next to him and said, “Would you like me to cut a little section out of your shirt for you to use as a rag?”
Not trusting himself to speak, Dan nodded.
She walked around behind him and pulled up his jacket in back. She worked at his shirt for a few minutes with what he thought must be some kind of little knife. It seemed like she was taking an unnecessarily large piece of his shirt, but he didn’t say anything. When she walked back around to the front of him, she handed him a piece that must’ve been no more than six inches by six inches. She said, “I have another piece of your shirt here. After I talk to the police, I’ll see if I can get it wet. I read that you’re supposed to use milk on capsaicin, but I won’t be able to get any of that.” She picked up the flashlight, turned and strode away.
Leaving Dan in the doubly-damned dark.
***
Deputy Williams was just starting to ease the mine entrance door open when his radio went off. The dispatcher said, “Are you at the mine yet?”
“Yeah, Terry and I are just starting in.”
“Detective Chatfield says you won’t have comms very deep in the mine. He says you should wait until you’ve got enough backup to send a lead party of four into the tunnels while still leaving someone behind every so far to relay radio signals back out to the entrance.” There was a moment’s pause, then the dispatcher came back and said, “He also says to remember the perp’s armed. You should wear all your protective gear and proceed with extreme caution.”
“What about the girl? He’s probably caught her by now.”
“Um, the girl just called us. She claims she captured the perp and tied him up.” The dispatcher cleared her throat, “Um, Chatfield says that’s beyond ridiculous.”
“Okay,” Williams said. “Proceeding with all caution.” They had six deputies, so he took three and started down the tunnel with plans to leave one at the entrance and another wherever the radio faded out.
They’d just started to go around a slight bend in the tunnel, when someone appeared, walking toward them. Terry had drawn his weapon before they all realized it had to be the girl. She was hard to see. She was wearing all black and had black hair, so at first only her face was visible. She said, “Thank you for coming. Let me take you to Mr. Norwood.” She turned and started walking deeper into the tunnel. She spoke back over her shoulder, “I’d recommend you stay on the right. If you’re not careful, there’s a down-shaft you could fall into on the left.
Williams looked at Terry. They both shrugged at one another then followed. “Um, Miss, is that Dan Norwood?”
She nodded, “That’s what his driver’s license says.” She turned and held out a wallet and cell phone.
Williams took the proffered objects and passed them back to one of the deputies behind him. He glanced at Terry again, then said, “Uh, Dan Norwood’s pretty well known to the police. He’s kind of a hard case.”
She nodded without looking back, “I certainly think he’s a hard case. He killed my dad last Thursday.”
Williams blinked, then spoke quietly, “Sorry, I didn’t know.” After a brief silence he said, “Dispatch said you had Norwood tied up?”
“I do. I don’t think he can get loose, but the sooner we get back there, the better I’ll feel.”
“Detective Chatfield passed along a message that Norwood would be armed?”
The girl nodded again, “He was. I took it away from him.”
“Where’s the weapon?”
“I hid it down near where he’s tied up.”
Unable to keep the concern out of his voice, Williams said, “So, if he has managed to untie himself, he may be armed again?”
She shrugged, “I doubt it. It’s about thirty feet away and he doesn’t have a light. It’s so dark in the tunnel he’d probably have a hard time finding his ass with both hands.”
Despite his concern over her cavalier attitude, Williams couldn’t help a little snort of laughter. However, once they got past the section where there were lights in the roof of the tunnel he began to realize just how dark it was in the depths of the mine. They couldn’t really see anything beyond the reach of their flashlights.
After walking quite a distance she moved to the side of the tunnel and pointed her flashlight down. They saw Norwood lying there. He’d been bound to the rails that ran along the floor of the tunnel. His ankles were tied together with wire and then more wire bound the ankles to the rail. He’d been stretched out full-length along the rail. His left hand was tied to the rail as far above his head as he could reach. His right hand had been tied right in front of his face.
Norwood flinched away when Williams shined a flashlight in his face. “What the hell happened to him?” Williams asked. Even a brief glance had shown him the man’s upper face was bright red. His eyes and nose were running and there was blood all over his lower face. Williams wondered if the girl had abused him once he was helpless.
“Mace,” the girl said matter-of-factly. She bent down and put a piece of wet cloth in Norwood’s right hand. As Norwood wiped at his face with the rag she continued, “Even after he’d been Maced, he grabbed me by the wrist. In the process of getting him to let me go, I hit him in the nose with my elbow… Well, and also with my palm.” She shrugged, “I guess I gave him a bloody nose.”
“She attacked me,” Norwood said nasally, “unprovoked.”
Williams was squatting down to check Norwood out. He looked up at the girl. Calmly, she recited, “Last Thursday, Mr. Norwood entered this mine and
attacked my father. His attack was documented on security camera recordings. My father got away from him, but then Mr. Norwood captured me. He held me hostage and used threats against my person to force my father to come to him. I made an effort to escape, during which time Norwood shot and killed my father. When the police investigated and searched the mine, he eluded them for several days. Concerned that he might return, I ordered some Mace. Today, as I’d feared, he did return to the mine. He followed me all the way back to this location. Since his malign intent was well-established, and in fear for my life, I did preemptively attack him with the Mace. In fear for my life, and thinking it unlikely I could win a fight, I felt that I had to disable him before he could attack me. Once he’d been disabled, I tied him up in order to hold him for you guys in law enforcement. While I was tying him, it turned out that the Mace had not adequately subdued him and he grabbed my wrist with evident intent to force me to release him. That’s when I attacked him.
“I would submit that I was adequately provoked.”
Williams looked over at Terry, astonished by the unemotional and precise description the girl had just given of what must have been a traumatic encounter. He shook his head, “You’d already called 9-1-1. Why didn’t you just wait for us to get here?”
She gave Williams a disbelieving look, then responded patiently. “He was herding me deeper and deeper into the tunnels. The tunnel system of this mine is extensive and confusing. Despite searching these tunnels Thursday night and all day Friday, the police were unable to find Mr. Norwood. In light of these facts, I didn’t feel it’d be prudent to let him keep pushing me deeper into the mine system where he might trap me and similarly elude another police search.” She shrugged, “So, I took a proactive approach.”
Having listened to hundreds of hysterical descriptions, explanations, and justifications in his career, Williams found this calm, orderly presentation of a logical thought process almost impossible to believe. He raised his flashlight to the girl’s face thinking she must be some kind of weirdo. Later he’d remember how icily-calm her brilliantly-blue eyes looked. He shrugged and turned to the other deputies, “Let’s get him cut loose. It looks like we’re going to have to take him somewhere for medical attention.”
The Transmuter's Daughter Page 21