Shackled

by Ray Garton

  Shockley looked over his shoulder at all the other cop cars gathering in front of the mansion, parking in a haphazard mess of spinning lights. He said, "So, you think we need this many units for one dead guy and the young female killer who is armed with nothing more than a straight razor?"

  Marcus laughed. "What're you kidding? This is the Calisto mansion. Every one of those guys out there knows this place is full of gorgeous women. A call went out for all available units. These guys are coming to look at tits." He laughed again, but only briefly. Then he became serious. "So, Detective ... you're tellin' me you made me bark at a captain over the radio because you think this place is full of a buncha devil worshipers and — "

  "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec, don't screw up my words! I said children are in danger! I don't care who or what those people worship, but if they're kidnapping and endangering children, abusing them, molesting them, whatever ... then they can worship fuckin' genital warts for all I care! Didn't you hear what I said? Were you asleep when I told you how many people have corroborated this whole thing? Didn't you hear me say I helped three guys get into that mansion before the killing, one of whom is the father of a little boy who is very likely being held in there right now! Unless they've killed or sold him already! On top of that, there's a good chance a journalist and a best-selling author are in there as well, if they're still alive. Yeah, you came here for the murder, and maybe all these other guys came here for the tits, but if you're the fucking cop you're supposed to be, you'll pay attention to this, too, and you'll help me look into it right away, while we're here, while we've got an in! At least five adults and god knows how many kids are in danger somewhere in or around this mansion, and — "

  "Hey, listen, Shockley," Marcus said quietly, his face expressionless, eyes narrowed slightly. "If you helped three guys sneak onto this property, I promise we'll get 'em outta here very quietly. No connection to you whatsoever. Because, as I'm sure you know — " He grinned suddenly and shrugged. " — that's a big no-no. You can get into some heavy trouble for that kinda thing." The grin disappeared in an instant. "But I really think you should go home. Get some rest. Know what I mean? We'll take care of this. After all, we've got more than enough help on the scene, right?"

  Shockley stared at the uniformed cop a long time, grinding his teeth together as he clutched the shotgun in his lap. Finally, he muttered, "You are such a pustulant prick." He threw open the door and got out of the car. He slammed the door hard behind him, and headed toward the massive staircase that led to the open doors of the mansion ...

  18

  "Your magic picks are working very slowly, Doc," Ed hissed nervously as he hunkered beside Doc and held the flashlight beam on the lock of the shack's metal door, shading the light with a cupped hand.

  Doc's voice rasped raggedly through clenched teeth. "Won't open, dammit."

  "Are you shittin' me?"

  Doc shook his head as he kept trying. The two metal picks cluttered in the lock without success.

  Less than two minutes before, those picks had opened the locked gate at the end of the glass tunnel within seconds. The four of them had jogged down the path to the deceptively insignificant-looking shack, where Doc had been working on the metal door for nearly a minute ... unsuccessfully.

  Ed wiped his perspiring forehead with the back of his hand. "Son of a bitch. This place is probably gonna be lousy with cops any minute, if it's not already."

  Hunched down beside him, Ethan clutched Doc's shoulder and asked, "But ... that could be good for us, couldn't it?"

  "Look, Padre, you should know better. It's one thing sneakin' past the suited goons in there, but what about a cop who's on their side and who's got fuckin' permission to blow our brains out if he wants to? Or maybe a lotta cops like that?"

  Ethan's head drooped forward. He scrubbed a hand over his mouth and said in a voice filled with defeat, "I ... see."

  19

  Marcus opened his door and got out of the car an instant after Shockley, slamming the door even harder. "What're you doing, Lieutenant?"

  Shockley spun around on the fifth step up, about twelve feet from Marcus. "I'm pulling rank, is what I'm doing, and I'm telling you right now to get the fuck off my ass!

  Stiffening his back, Marcus unsnapped the holster at his side. "I still think you should go home, Lieutenant." His voice was firm now.

  Uniformed cops were getting out of the cars and beginning to rush by them, hurrying between the dragons and up the staircase.

  "Yeah? You think so?" Shockley walked down the steps toward Marcus and raised the barrel of the shotgun until it was aimed somewhere in the area of Marcus's belt buckle. "Well, you wanna know what I think? I think you'd better do some more thinking, boy. Maybe you and Berger are chummy with these people, and maybe a lot of these uniforms are, too," he said, gesturing toward the cops who were moving around them. "But you're outta your fuckin' mind if you think all of them are. And even if they were, there are plenty more people who aren 't! So maybe you're not as invincible as you think, buddy. If you think Calisto's murder isn't gonna saturate the news for the next month at least and people aren't gonna start asking a lot of questions, you're crazy. And one more thing. If you twitch so much as one finger over that holster, I'll blow you into segments like a fuckin' Tootsie Roll."

  Marcus did not move as he stared at Shockley. His face was taut with anger.

  Marcus stepped backward slowly.

  Shockley watched, expecting him to turn and run to his car, maybe spout something over the radio. But that was not what he did.

  In one swift movement Marcus threw himself at the back door of the car and opened it as he drew his gun and raised it, aiming into the backseat.

  Shockley took two quick steps toward Marcus, but knew he would not make it.

  From the backseat of the car, Tex screamed, "No no no please god no plee-hee-heeeze!"

  Shockley lifted the shotgun and fired.

  The top of Marcus's head popped open with a small splash and he slammed to the pavement, disappearing behind the two open doors.

  All the officers heading into the mansion froze. Some drew their guns, dropped to one knee, and got a bead on Shockley. He slipped his badge from his front pocket.

  "Lieutenant Leonard Shockley, LAPD!" he shouted. "There is a dead man in this house! Rex Calisto! The killer is loose on the grounds, a young woman armed only with a straight razor and probably very frightened!"

  They stared at him. They did not lower their guns. They did not move.

  He sucked in a breath and decided to jump into the deep end of the pool. After all, he had just killed a cop. What did he have to lose?

  "There are also a number of children being held against their will — very likely mistreated and molested — somewhere in or around this mansion. I want every goddamned officer here to look for that killer and find those children! We've got, what — forty cops here? More inside? More coming? I don't wanna hear any shit from any of you! I had to shoot Officer Marcus because he was going to kill a suspect I have in custody! He was going to do that because the suspect knows exactly what's.going on in this mansion and Marcus wanted to cover it up!"

  Slowly, very slowly, guns were holstered and officers stood. But none of them moved. They just stared at him.

  "Now," Shockley went on, "there's a good chance some of you are aware of what's going on here! If so, then you'd better forget you knew it, or get the fuck outta here! But I'm positioning three officers right here, out front, to see who takes off! I'll see your fuckin' asses're nailed, you understand? Nobody, and I mean nobody, leaves this place!"

  The officers began to relax. Shockley stabbed a finger at three of them, one after another. "You, you, and you! Get your riot guns from the patrol car and stand right out here. You see a patrol car trying to leave, you shoot its fuckin' tires out. You see anyone trying to get out on foot, give them a warning, then fire. You understand?" He slipped his badge back into the breast pocket so it was visible.

  One
of the officers — a young guy, blond and handsome — muttered meekly, "Um, look, I don't know if that's right, 'cause we — "

  "Then you don't know shit, kid! You just shut the fuck up and do what I say! And the rest of you? I want you to spread over this property like a fuckin' blanket! I'm serious as shit, now! If you came here to look at tits, change your minds fast! And if you came here to cover up what's happening on this property, you can fuckin' forget it, 'cause you're not goin' anywhere now. You can keep your mouths shut all you want, maybe you'll get busted, maybe not. But I can tell you one thing. You try anything with me here and I'll create a work of art with your fuckin' guts!" He aimed the barrel of the shotgun into the air and jerked the pump. The clackety sound echoed around them. "And if any of you think I'm joking, just take a look at that headless cocksucker behind me!"

  They began to move then, gathering together, as if awaiting orders.

  "You heard me!" Shockley shouted. "You're on this place like flies on shit as of now! There's an army of security assholes here, but if you see somethin' suspicious, somethin' bad, you defend yourself. Shoot to kill if necessary. I'm giving the orders ... and I'll take all the responsibility myself. Swear to god."

  Still, they did not move. More were arriving, approaching the group with curiosity.

  "I outrank you sons a bitches, goddammit!" Shockley screamed. "Move your asses now!"

  Suddenly there was a rush of movement up the steps as murmuring voices blurred together into a low hum that was nearly drowned by the sound of their feet on the steps.

  You've either made yourself a hero, Shockley thought, or you've locked the door of your prison cell and thrown away the key.

  He rushed into the house and hurried through it onto the grounds in back ...

  20

  Deanna hurried to the desk and stood behind Dr. Corbus as he turned on the computer.

  "You can shut down the elevator with your computer?" she asked.

  "Of course. My dear, you would be amazed what I can do with this computer," he said as his fingers began punching keys.

  "But ... we won't be trapped down here ourselves?"

  "Of course not. I've already told you ... that's taken care of. If it comes to that, we will get out of here safe and sound. And whoever is trying to come down will never find us." He stopped, looking up over his shoulder at her, and smiled, his face glistening. "I promise ...”

  21

  Lacey stood beside and slightly behind Ethan. When she saw his head drop forward so heavily, she leaned down and placed a hand on the back of his shoulder, stroking him gently, soothingly. Ethan stood, his head still bowed.

  Samuel's dad, she thought, poor little Samuel‘s dad ...

  She moved to his side and locked her arm through his and squeezed. She wanted, somehow, to ease his mind, though that was probably impossible. What must he be feeling, knowing that his son was locked away somewhere beneath them?

  Minutes ago, as they walked the last few yards through that tinted-glass tube and stopped at the gate, he had leaned over to her ear and whispered, "Is he all right? My boy? When you saw him last, was he all right?" That breathy whisper had held more fear and love than Lacey had ever heard in the loudest cry. She envied little Samuel.

  She looked at Ethan a moment, thinking about everything that had happened down there, everything Samuel had been forced to do to her ... and everything she suspected had been done to Samuel. Then she whispered, "He was fine, really. Just fine."

  Ethan exhaled slowly then, and smiled wearily at her response.

  Still clutching Ethan's arm, Lacey looked down at Ed and asked quietly, "Can you, um, you know ... shoot it open?"

  Doc stopped what he was doing and looked at Ed, waiting for him to answer the question.

  "Not without being heard," Ed replied, no longer whispering. "I'd have to use the magnum. I don't know how thick this fucker is, so I don't even know if that'll work."

  "Well, after we're heard," Lacey said firmly, "by the time anybody gets out here, we could be down there!”

  Ed stood, smiling coldly. "Well, aren't we a bossy little girl."

  Lacey's lips bunched together and turned downward into a very angry sneer. "I haven't been a little girl for a long, long time, mister."

  Ed's expression softened a bit as he looked at her, then he said, "Keep tryin', Doc. You can't get it in another half a minute or so ... then I'll try the gun ...”

  22

  Shockley was in a section of the sprawling grounds behind the house when a gun fired once, then again, reverberating through the night some distance away ... but not that far. Shockley froze and looked in the direction of the gunshot, finding himself standing a couple feet behind one of the security men — burly and red-haired — who had also stopped in his tracks at the sound.

  The security man did not notice Shockley standing there as he pulled a lapel toward his mouth and said quietly, "Gunfire, north end. Check beyond the tunnel gate, now."

  Shockley stepped toward him slowly.

  When the man responded to the voice in his ear, he continued to speak quietly, in spite of the tension in his voice. "I don't care what you think. We didn't think she was carrying, either, but somebody fired a gun back there. So, maybe she couldn't get through that gate and maybe she could, now check it out, dammit!"

  He let go of his lapel and started walking again.

  Shockley followed him a bit, then fell into step beside him.

  "What's the tunnel gate?" Shockley asked. "And where is it?"

  The security man spun to face him, almost raising the gun in his right hand instinctively. He studied Shockley's badge silently for a moment, then looked him straight in the eyes. "You're one of the cops."

  "Yes, I am. I overheard you talking to your suit, and I'd like an answer to my question."

  "Well, the security force here is very confidential about the property that we — "

  "What and where is the tunnel gate?"

  "I'm sorry, but there are sections of this property that are private and — "

  Shockley raised the gun and leveled it with the man's abdomen. "Where is it?"

  "Look, you may be a cop, but you can't just come in here and tell us — "

  Shoving the barrel of the shotgun into the man's stomach,

  Shockley said, "You'd be surprised what I can do. Now, I want you to drop your gun ... drop it!"

  He let go of the gun and it thunked to the grass.

  Shockley picked up the gun and said, "Okay, now turn around."

  The man turned around.

  "Great, now take me to that gate. And you know what? We're gonna move fast, we're gonna jog to that gate! You understand me?"

  Shockley saw him nod from behind. He poked the man in the back with the barrel of the shotgun. "Then let's get going!"

  The security man led the way, and Shockley followed, keeping the shotgun barrel pressed to the center of his back ...

  23

  The computer screen was glowing a soft blue and Dr. Corbus's fingers were chattering over the keyboard when the telephone chirped again.

  "Shit," he muttered, stopping to push himself away from the desk.

  "I'll get it for you," Deanna said. She went to the table, grabbed the receiver, and brought it to him. He snatched it from her hand and barked, "What?"

  He sat very still, listening.

  "How did that happen?" he shouted.

  Deanna touched his shoulder and asked quietly, "What? What is it?"

  He glanced up at her and muttered, "There are people outside the shack, trying to get in. Shooting at the lock ...”

  24

  After the two shots, the four of them exchanged looks. Ed threw himself against the door. It was loose, but not open. He backed up and growled, "Tough son of a bitch," then fired two more shots.

  Very, very slowly, the door opened a few inches.

  “Hah-hah!" Ed laughed, kicking the door. It swung open heavily. "Open sez-me!"

  They walked into the
darkness beyond the door with the flashlight beam leading the way.

  The beam slid over the dark, blank walls of a small, rectangular room. Directly in front of them was the elevator. But there were no buttons beside the elevator. No switches. Nothing that might make it work.

  Ed turned, pointed to Lacey, and hissed, "You! C'mere!"

  She hurried to his side.

  "How the hell do you get this thing to work? There aren't any buttons!"

  "I've only gone up," she replied. "I've never gone down."

  "Oh, great, now you tell us!" He looked over his shoulder and beckoned to Ethan and Doc. "Everybody start looking! There's gotta be some way to make this, damned thing work. A hidden button, a lock, something!"

  They went to work, searching for a way to get into the elevator ...

  25

  Dr. Corbus stood up so fast that his chair shot away from him and the desk on its squeaky wheels, and Deanna had to step out of the way.

  "How long have they been there?" he shouted.

  Deanna began to chew on a thumbnail; it was a long and well-manicured nail, because she hadn't chewed her nails in about four years.

  "Why the hell didn't you notice them?" Dr. Corbus barked. "The place is surrounded with cameras!"

  Deanna covered her face with her hand, rubbing up and down.

  "I don't give a damn what kind of chaos you've been dealing with! ... Well, yes, of course I've been preoccupied with the murder, but that's my job, not yours! Your job is to watch, that's all, just watch those fucking screens! In other words, you should be able to tell me precisely what is going on out there at this very moment, correct? ... Yes, of course I'm correct. So tell me, you imbecile, tell me what is going on out there!"

  Shockley looked over the security man's shoulder as he followed him, the shotgun's barrel positioned in the middle of the man's back.