Panic Room

by Patti Larsen

  They could fire her ass.

  As for Alan, she’d had enough. Reached forward and undid the button on his jacket. The whole side of his shirt was blue, but whatever left the stain was gone.

  “I had it.” At least he admitted it. “The draft. Found it in the safe, in the binder. But someone took it from me in the confusion.”

  Which meant it had to be here, in this room. In the possession of one of the others.

  The murderer? Or did that mean the kid was the one who killed the congressman?

  Alan must have seen where her mind was taking her, because he panicked big time, shaking his head, licking his lips. “I swear,” he said, voice shaking while her gut grumbled, “I might have taken advantage of the situation and stolen the paperwork, but I did not kill the congressman.”

  Truth.

  God damn it.

  ***

  INT. – CONGRESSMAN BARNES’S OFFICE – NIGHT

  Ray knew the moment Kinsey introduced her to Belle the girl was paranormal. So, her heritage either came from her father, or both of her parents were of races. Which, Ray had no idea. She hadn’t paid enough attention to Linda Barnes in the early excitement to know if the woman’s death showed on her face or not. But whatever it was, could it be tied to the reason the congressman was killed?

  After dragging the blonde aside and informing her, Ray was shocked by Kinsey’s reaction.

  “We have to ask her.” All right then, she’d clearly gone off her rocker and needed the nice men with the white coats and three injections a day.

  “May I say you’re looking very looney this evening.” Ray’s sarcastic response made Kinsey grin.

  “If the murder is motivated by the congressman being paranormal, the daughter might have information.”

  Reaching. Ray realized, in that moment, how hard it had to be for Kinsey, looking for ways to help in a difficult situation where she didn’t feel needed. And squeezed her shoulder.

  “Better option,” she said, “make sure Gerri knows the congressman and the girl aren’t human. And let her sort things out.”

  She had to lead Kinsey away from Belle just to be sure she wouldn’t blurt some inappropriate question at her. Then again, maybe she did the girl a disservice keeping Kinsey from her. Belle’s pinched, homely face told Ray she was trapped here, as much as Gerri was trapped in the panic room. Would uncovering what she was set the poor girl free?

  ***

  INT. – THE PANIC ROOM – NIGHT

  Gerri answered the phone the second it rang, partially irritated by the distraction, partially grateful to talk to someone outside the room. Her attempt to search the others had been rejected, all but Doug Divers who seemed to enjoy offering to take his clothes off for her.

  “I’ll understand if you want to strip search me,” he said.

  Jesus.

  “We believe both the congressman and his daughter are paranormals.” Ray kept her voice down for obvious reasons. Gerri’s bheast ears had no problems hearing her, though.

  “They’re what?” Oops. She didn’t mean to let that outburst slip. A half turn toward the others and a short wave of one hand settled them down from high alert to anxious observation.

  “Kinsey has a theory. Hang on.” The sound of the phone shuffling made Gerri want to rip hers from the wall in frustration.

  “Gerri.” Kinsey sounded excited. That meant trouble.

  “Just fucking spill it, Kins.” She was not in the mood for preamble.

  “What if the congressman is dead because he’s a paranormal?”

  Okay, super farfetched considering she just uncovered the theft of secret legislation—

  Holy fuck.

  Secret legislation about what? About paranormals, by any chance? Surely the man wasn’t that stupid. Or had a death wish. Though, the body on the floor seemed to indicate otherwise.

  Sweat broke out on her own brow as her mind turned over. She whispered what happened to Kinsey who fell silent. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “That the congressman was going to out paranormals?” Kinsey’s breathlessness had lost its excitement. “That can’t be it, Gerri.”

  She was right. He wouldn't do anything that stupid. And they’d seen how far the powers that be would go to shut up anyone—or steal bodies from morgues along with all evidence they’d even existed—to protect the fact paranormals existed.

  Shit. She was proving her own paranoid case to herself.

  Alan said he worked for another congressman. But, what if he worked for the Nightshade League? Would they go that far?

  “Kins, I need you to ask Benedict a question.” She paused and lowered her voice even further. “Ask him if the congressman’s death was a hit by the League.”

  Kinsey gasped. “I’ll be right back.” The phone shuffled again but Gerri barely noticed. All of her tension was back, stomach in knots. She’d barely come to terms with the fact she was a freak. Okay, hadn’t, not completely. She couldn’t imagine having everyone in the world know about it.

  And the world’s reaction… her mind went to concentration camps and forced screenings, to panic stricken humans attacking paranormals. To bloodshed and violence and death…

  Surely there was no way someone like the congressman would even consider outing paranormals. Not without understanding the possible consequences.

  The dead body wasn’t answering any of her growing panicked questions. The bastard.

  “Gerri.” Kinsey was panting when she returned. “Benedict doesn’t think it was the League. But.” She caught her breath. “He said if they suspected he was going to do something so stupid, they’d stop him.”

  Good enough for her.

  Gerri hung up, leaned against the wall a moment. She had to find that draft. And uncover if it really was what she feared it might be. And burn the fucker. Evidence or no evidence, she’d burn that piece of crap into ashes.

  Someone gasped. Gerri turned, still distracted. And into the barrel of a gun.

  Meredith’s hand was shaking, but she was close enough she couldn’t miss. Gerri’s stunned moment of shock lasted long enough for her to bark one question.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “You’re one of us,” she said, voice calmer than her hand. “And from the worry on your face, you understand what this might be about.” She looked down at the congressman, face twisting in fear and horror. “I needed to stop him, to make him see reason. He wouldn’t listen. And now, he will never reveal what we really are to anyone.”

  “You fool.” Mayor Price’s growl woke the bheast in Gerri. Her head whipped around, focused on the man she thought she knew. On Captain King whose own bheast showed through while the mayor’s skin mottled, his eyes shifting to a softly glowing silver before reverting to brown. “He wasn’t going to go through with it.”

  Doug Divers had straightened, eyes huge. Alan Jenkins seemed no less shocked and terrified. “Jesus H,” Divers said. “What are we talking about here?”

  No one answered. But Meredith was distracted. Long enough for the mayor to roar and leap forward. The gun whipped around, went off. Gerri lurched toward the pair, the sound muffled by the room but still loud enough to make her ears ring.

  The mayor collapsed on Meredith, carrying her to the ground. Linda, weeping, leaped for the gun, but Alan was faster. Before Gerri could pull Price free of the fallen woman, the fake aide had the weapon pointed at all of them.

  And his hand was rock steady. His grin was about as happy.

  Asshole.

  “Whoever has the draft,” he said, tone totally changed, arrogance showing through, “hand it over or I start shooting.”

  Linda whimpered. He spun toward her, pulled the trigger. Lucky, the bullet embedded in the concrete wall behind her instead of ricocheting around the space. She screamed and leaped as his smile deepened.

  “Next time,” he said, “I’ll put one in a person. If any of you are actually people and not things.” So much disgust. Gerri unde
rstood at last. More so when Linda crawled to the wall and pressed a panel, the side of it opening. And jerked out a sheaf of papers. She handed them to Alan, terror on her face.

  The draft of the legislation. He scanned the cover, flipped it open with one hand. His face twisted in disgust. “We were afraid of something like this,” he said, tucking it into his jacket. “That someone might be stupid enough to try to protect the monsters you are by revealing your presence to the real people of this world.” He jerked the gun toward the wife. “I know your husband was a monster. Are you one, too?”

  The mayor groaned, Captain King pulling him free of the unconscious Meredith. When he did, blood gushed from Price’s shoulder.

  First casualty. And, if Gerri was guessing correctly, not the last. From the fanatical look in Alan’s eyes—if that was even his real name—he planned to kill them all.

  Damn it, she’d been right. Only she hadn’t counted on there being another player. Whoever Alan really worked for had it in for paranormals. She just needed to get them out of there safely, then figure out who and why, though her gut writhed at the idea of wasting any time at all.

  Her kingdom for a gun.

  ***

  ***

  INT. – THE PANIC ROOM – NIGHT

  She had to get the weapon from Alan. That much was absolutely imperative. But, the moment Gerri made a move, he covered her expertly with the barrel, his smirk telling her not only was he comfortable holding a gun, he’d be happy to shoot her.

  Did he know she was a freak?

  “Go ahead,” she said with far more confidence than she should have felt. “Pull the trigger. The moment that door opens,” she jerked her thumb behind her, “the SCPD will be all over you. You’ll never escape.”

  “It’s a tragic story, really.” He gestured at Meredith who was only now coming around, gaze falling on his own wrist in a flicker of motion before lifting again. “She was deranged, shot everyone after killing the congressman to hide her insanity. I’ll make up a pretty story, I promise. Then, I wrestled the gun from her.” He faked shock. “She’d shot me, but I managed to get the gun away from her, only after she killed all of you.” Alan chuckled, shrugged. “I’m sure they’ll find your prints on the murder weapon, Meredith.”

  She shook her head, groaning softly. “What have you done?”

  “What you didn’t have the guts to do.” He snarled at her. “What you were supposed to take care of months ago.”

  So, Meredith worked for the same organization? But she seemed genuinely upset by the congressman’s death. Linda pulled away from her, horror on her face.

  “You killed him?” The congressman’s wife shuffled back, pressing her shoulders to the wall, arms around her legs. “You betrayed us?”

  “Linda, I’m sorry. It’s not like that.” Meredith shuddered, looking down at the ground. “He wasn’t supposed to die.”

  “When you hit someone on the back of the head hard enough to shatter their skull, there’s a good chance they won’t survive.” Gerri had no idea where her levity came from, but honestly. This was screwed up.

  Meredith nodded, heavy and limp. “I shouldn’t have let you live.”

  She wasn’t talking to Gerri. Alan’s slight frown and refocus of the gun barrel told him he was the target of those words.

  Meredith looked up, jaw tight. “You have no idea, you young idiot,” she said. “No idea who you really work for.” She pushed herself to her feet. “You think your little purist society is in charge? That the ‘real’ humans are running the show? The Purists are a joke. And so are you.” She rubbed her hands together as though she were cold, eyes meeting Gerri’s.

  In the dark, frustrated and irritated beyond belief, her bheast grumbled as she ground her teeth together in an effort to just hold onto the last bit of control she retained before tearing the pair of liars in front of her new assholes with her bare hands.

  “I hate to be last to the race,” the detective said, amazed how calmly her words emerged, “but what the hell are you talking about?”

  The older aide shrugged, like nothing mattered anymore. Captain King hissed at Meredith from where he hovered over the silent and bleeding mayor, but she ignored him. “What, you’re worried someone might hear and tell the world?” She barked a laugh. “That paranormals are real and everything we’ve ever been fed is propaganda?”

  Doug Divers looked like he wished he had popcorn. “Tell me I can have this idea for a TV show,” he said. “Secrets revealed, lives destroyed, all in a ten by ten.”

  Gerri shot him a shut the fuck up look which he ignored. Come to think of it, he didn’t even seem to realize what they were really talking about. Asshole.

  He was about to get an education.

  “The Purists are a small group of high powered humans,” Meredith said. “Fed by the Church. Or so they think.”

  Gerri thought about the exorcist whose death she’d investigated. The red leather exorcist’s book Kinsey had in her possession. The fear of the Church of all things paranormal. “But that’s not true?”

  Meredith shook her head, some of her silver hair coming loose from her updo. “Not even remotely,” she said. Laughed at the furious look on Alan’s face. “You think your daddy and his buddies made up the Purists? That you’re responsible for the ‘safety of mankind’?” She snorted, wiped at her face with one thin, trembling hand. “I can’t even imagine living in a world as small as yours.” He waved the gun at her, spluttered, gaze falling again to his wrist. But the older aide focused on Gerri. “You already know who really runs them,” she said. “And you’ve met their Grand Prophet a time or two.”

  Why wasn’t Gerri shocked to discover Gideon Orter and the Collective of All Souls were involved in a story this convoluted? “Paranormals,” she said, right to Alan’s face.

  Meredith laughed again. “That’s the irony, isn’t it?”

  Alan’s spluttering turned to rage. “SHUT UP. Both of you. Or I pull the trigger.” He glanced at his wrist yet again.

  No, not his wrist.

  His watch.

  Gerri’s gut twinged.

  Why did he care what time it was?

  Meredith fell silent, leaned back against the wall while Doug Divers seemed to finally understand he was missing part of the story.

  “What exactly are we talking about here? Secret societies, private churches?” His questions fell on silence as Gerri turned, slowly, hands out and unthreatening, circling to where the captain crouched next to the mayor. She joined her boss, wincing at the sight of all that blood.

  Only to realize none of it was fresh in the same instant Mayor Price’s eyes opened and met hers.

  She glanced quickly at Captain King, fingers under the edge of the mayor’s shirt, the bullet hole already sealed, skin clean and fresh. It was so hard not to freak at both of them, to lose her mind. To challenge the two of them, paranormals both. Who had dragged her ass into their shit and not told her a fucking thing.

  Just like Margot DanAllart.

  “You’re both League.” She had the sense remaining to keep her voice down, hissing the words through a tight throat. God damn them all to hell.

  Captain King nodded. “We’re here to stop Barnes from releasing the draft.” He licked at dry lips, cleared his throat. “We knew there was a chance we wouldn’t be the only ones. But we didn’t expect a hit.”

  The mayor’s eyes closed again, faking hurt. “I made it to the safe too late. Damned safety ink.” His dark eyes blinked slowly. “Your job now, Detective,” he murmured, lips barely moving. “Stop that boy from taking the draft out of this room. And destroy it.”

  “Gerri.” Captain King shifted slightly, still whispering. “Who triggered the door of the room to close?”

  She hadn’t had time to ask that question. Thought of Alan and his watch.

  “He has a plan,” she said.

  And now she felt like a total idiot.

  ***

  INT. – BARNES’S OFFICE to EXT. BARNES�
�S HOUSE – NIGHT

  Kinsey perked as the young technician leaned back from his console and checked his watch. Weird, why would he do that? Didn’t matter. She watched him stand, salute Mills and Purcell and walk out of the room.

  “Need some software from my truck,” he said, vanishing through the door.

  Kinsey followed him, more out of curiosity than any real concern. The reopening of the panic room seemed to be taking forever. He should have been able to just unlock the damned door, shouldn’t he? After all, his company built the stupid thing.

  Ray and Chase were elsewhere, so Kinsey was on her own. Not that it mattered. She just wanted something to do and a stroll behind the tech seemed like that something. He checked his watch again. She found that immensely odd, considering he was a tech guy. They didn’t wear watches, did they? She didn’t and she wasn’t that techie. In fact, she relied on her cell phone and her computer for the time.

  Working on the door, he had checked his watch. But he was at his computer at that point, right? Time clearly displayed on the screen, lower right corner. What did he need his watch for?

  Now real suspicion kicked in, a feeling she blamed on Gerri. Okay, so it was a stupid, random thing to notice and likely meant nothing, but she blamed a lot on Gerri since they were reunited. Might as well follow through on this, tell her redheaded friend she’d made Kinsey paranoid later. After all, checking his watch could have just been a habit he carried with him from when he was younger. You know, check the wrist for the time. But it was enough of an anomaly to slow her down to the point she was acutely aware when he took the back stairs, exiting through the kitchen door at the rear of the house, instead of going out the front.

  Mind you, she thought as she ghosted after him, feet silent from the majority of the pressure on the balls of her feet, there are a ton of cops and departing guests at the front, right? Easier to go out the back. But, how did he know where to go? His people installed the damned room, duh. Hang on. She paused. Did that mean he was part of the team that did the installation, then?