Surely, the guards needed a way to communicate with one another besides phones. What with spreading all about the building during the day and night, they had to carry walkie-talkies. Erin saw one sitting on the desk amidst the rubble and snatched it eagerly. She put the gun on the table and tried to figure out how to use the radio.
“Hello, is anyone there? Hello, this is an emergency,” she said desperately.
When there was no response, Erin started turning the channel indicator on the top. She tried every frequency with the same result. Either none of the other guards remained alive or the killer had also sabotaged the radios. She thought it far more likely that only the three guards she found were working in the building that night.
“Fire alarm,” she whispered to herself suddenly. If she could trip the fire alarm, someone would come to investigate.
Erin dropped the radio onto the floor and picked up the gun. She ran into the hall, leaping over the fallen guard and toward one of the fire alarms on the wall. Beside it was a heavy glass case that once housed a fire axe. The case had been broken and glass littered the floor, shining malevolently in the red wash of the emergency lights. It was no longer a mystery where the fire axe that had been used to kill the guard came from.
She avoided the glass carefully and happily reached up to flip the red lever down. Nothing.
This is impossible, she thought desperately.
The only other thing she could think to do was hail a cab to drive down to the police station and tell them what was happening. If her purse and keys weren’t back up on the sixth floor that was exactly what she would do. There was no way she was going back up there when she was so close to freedom, but she was very aware of time slipping away. Eventually the killer would come back downstairs and Erin needed to have a plan before then.
Well, if she couldn’t drive to the police maybe she could find someone outside that would help her. It was worth a shot and it beat being cooped up in the deserted building with a crazy man on the loose.
Erin ran out of the hall and back into the main entrance. Feeling tremendously exposed, she ran across the empty lobby and toward the front doors. She ran up the stationary escalator and across the main lobby, cursing the building architect all the way.
Through the frosted panes of glass Erin saw a police cruiser as it drove slowly through the raging snowstorm, snow chains clinking softly on the tires. A rush of adrenaline gave her the extra push she needed and she made it to the door before he got past. But when Erin pushed on the doors, prepared to rush out into the blizzard in her shirtsleeves, she discovered them locked.
“Dammit, this can’t be happening!”
Of course the doors are locked, it’s a security precaution implemented automatically every night. That’s why, when I leave late, one of the guards has to escort me to the doors and unlock them, she told herself miserably.
She considered pounding on the glass to get the police officer’s attention then thought better of it. If she did that, there was no hope that the driver of the car would hear her. With the heavy winter storm raging and his windows undoubtedly up, with the heater blasting away, it would be impossible. All that her banging would accomplish would be to bring the killer to her.
Erin turned back toward the inside of the structure so she could see what was going on around her. She didn’t want to be caught unaware and, with that thought, came the realization that she was going to have to clamp down on her habit of talking to herself when frustrated. It would be a sure fire way to give her position away if the killer was nearby.
Carefully, she considered her options. With all of the doors locked, Erin looked to the glass panes, but they were bulletproof. It was a concession to their insurance company for all of the sensitive material kept on the premises. That meant there was no way out unless she could find the keys on one of the security guards. Assuming she did, she still had to brave the blizzard without a coat. She’d freeze to death.
None of the phones or the fire alarm worked, and there wasn’t any power, so Erin couldn’t send a 911 message by computer over the Internet. Her cell phone had no reception, and short of lighting a fire and sending up smoke signals, she couldn’t think of a single way to get a message to the outside world.
It was late Friday night and, as she was in the middle of the business district, no one would be around until the storm passed. Or at least until it was time for the guards to change shift tomorrow morning.
The first and most important thing she could think of was to get somewhere safe and try to think of a way out. Erin had to remember that she knew the building and the killer probably didn’t. That is to say, she knew her own floor. She worked there almost every day, including most weekends, and had a better chance to find a safe place to hide. If she went to any other floor, she would be a sitting duck while she wasted precious time trying to orient herself.
Even if she couldn’t think of a way out tonight, she only needed to find somewhere secluded and safe and wait for the morning. When the next shift came on, they would find the other guards and sound the alarm. Surely, the killer would want to avoid capture and would be long gone by then.
That only left one problem as far as she could see. Erin had to get back to the sixth floor without a crazy murderer seeing her.
She took a calming breath and tried to think tactically. Stay low and stay in the shadows.
Luck had been with her so far. She had been running around without the killer seeing but she needed to be smarter than that if she was going to survive until morning.
Wait, she thought suddenly. The fire exits should still work!
Hope and adrenaline flooded her system and Erin turned back to the stairs she’d taken from the sixth floor. If she could descend one more level, the stairwell should end at the upper level of the parking garage.
Traversing her previous course, Erin bypassed the security hallway and continued on to the fire exit. She didn’t need anything else to haul around; the weight of the gun was enough, so she left her shoes in a dark corner of the floor. She held the gun ready like she’d seen on television, but carefully kept her finger off the trigger while she listened from inside the fire door. When she didn’t hear anything Erin stood up and glanced through the small window set in the heavy door. She jerked back quickly, but she didn’t see anything so chanced a longer look. The killer was nowhere in sight.
Erin quietly pushed the doors open and had already taken the first three steps when she heard a soft noise below her.
How long was I at the security center? Did he come back down?
She had no way of knowing and wasn’t eager to confront a lunatic head-on even if she was armed. As it was, Erin barely understood how the pistol worked and was smart enough to know that shooting on a range under controlled circumstances was a lot different from the situation she faced now. If she had to use the handgun, she would. Still, if she could avoid him until help arrived, that was by far the preferable scenario. With that in mind, Erin returned to her previously thought out tactics. It would be safer to return to her firm’s floor and find somewhere to hide.
Slowly and carefully, she made her way back up the steps. The building creaked and groaned from the storm outside and every few minutes she was convinced the psycho with the climbing axe was coming after her. By the time Erin reached the sixth floor, she was sweating and shaking with terror. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears and her mouth was so dry, it was difficult to swallow.
Ed Cupper lay undisturbed where she had left him, and Erin tried to ignore the body as she headed for her lobby. If the chance did come to get out of the building, she didn’t want to be unprepared. She went into her office and pulled on her jacket, overcoat and her winter boots. Then she slipped her useless cell phone into her coat pocket and checked to be sure that her keys were there too. Now where could she hide?
The sound of the stairwell door as it slammed back against the wall suddenly made her gasp and look around in fright. She was absolutely out of
time and had to find somewhere now.
Erin slipped out of her office through the rear exit and into the kitchenette. Even in here, there was nowhere to hide, and she looked around frantically. Light from the hall cast a large shadowy figure. It was slowly coming toward her.
The room was small without even a table to provide concealment so she did the only thing she could think of. Erin tiptoed to the door and slid between it and the wall.
Hesitant steps moved toward the kitchenette door and Erin fought to bring her staccato breathing under control. Her mind was in a fog of terror, and sweat beaded on her upper lip as the dark figure moved closer. She opened her mouth to increase her intake of oxygen and try to silence her harsh breathing.
The figure moved into the door and Erin was sure the killer knew she was somewhere around and was waiting for any sound that would give her away.
The gun, she thought frantically. In her fear, she had almost forgotten the weapon, but now she silently delved into the deep coat pocket to search for it. Her keys made a slight jingling noise that sounded as loud as an explosion in her panicked state, but Erin finally got the gun into her hand.
Someone suddenly yanked the door away from the wall and a tall figure loomed above her. Erin thrust the gun toward the threat, fully intent on blowing whoever it was into the next century. She pressed the trigger under her finger, and had already started to squeeze it when she recognized Carson Tierney.
“Oh, thank God,” Erin sobbed, and dropped the gun down by her side.
Chapter Four
CARSON JERKED BACK reflexively when she saw the muzzle of a gun thrust unexpectedly into her face. An involuntary cry escaped her lips and she rocked back on her heels. The sudden shift in weight caused her to lose her footing and Carson fell on her butt. She raised an arm in an idiotic urge to shield herself from a bullet when she realized Erin Donovan stood above her with a gun at her side, and was trembling in some kind of shock.
“Oh, thank God,” Erin whispered shakily.
Carson lunged to her feet and grabbed Erin by the forearms. “What the hell are you doing? You could have killed me!”
Erin didn’t reply at first, and Carson saw that her mouth worked frantically, but she didn’t say anything.
“Hey, what is it? What’s happened?” She realized that Erin was trembling violently and near hysterics. Carson was tremendously worried about what could have possibly caused the normally contained woman to become unhinged in such a way.
Erin’s eyes were wide and frightened. Carson could see the whites around them and they flitted around constantly as if she was afraid of an unexpected attack at any second. Erin started to wave the gun around to gesture as she mumbled incoherently.
“Whoa,” Carson said and reached up to take hold of Erin’s hand. “Let me have that thing before you kill one of us. Now tell me what is going on. What has you so spooked?”
Erin focused on Carson finally and took a deep calming breath. The shivering in her limbs let up a little, but didn’t cease completely. Still, the fact that she was obviously trying to compose herself gave Carson hope that she hadn’t suffered a brain aneurysm.
“There’s a murderer in the building. He killed Ed Cupper and the security guards on the first floor then he cut the power. I thought you were him. We have to get help!”
She said the words so fast that it took Carson a moment to catch up. “What? A killer? Erin, what are you talking about? The power is out because there’s a blizzard outside.”
“No, didn’t you see Ed’s body in the elevator? You must have passed right by him when you came down the hall.” Erin was so insistent that she was starting to scare Carson.
Carson thought back briefly and tried to remember anything suspicious. There wasn’t anything. Carson had been settling into her office on the tenth floor and then began to make a list of things to do. After that, she had measured the offices and the server center to decide how to situate people and equipment.
When the power went out, she finally noticed the blizzard, and decided it was time to pack it in for the day. A strange noise at the end of the corridor distracted her and Carson decided to check it out. It turned out to be nothing more than a poorly shut off hot water tap. She noticed a red stain in the sink diminished by the flow of water into the basin. It looked like simple rust in the red wash of the emergency lights and she had thought nothing more of it.
Then Carson used the bathroom, and took the time to put on her jacket before she stared out across the city lights for a few minutes. With the power out the lights below were exceptionally pretty. She remembered thinking how they resembled the natural shine of Erin’s hair.
Carson tried not to blush when she remembered that and was happy the main power was out. With only the glow of the emergency lights, Erin probably wouldn’t notice her high color.
After that, she locked the offices and took the stairs down. She remembered from rumors and from her own informal surveillance of the corporate attorney that Erin often worked late. Carson was concerned that Erin was alone in the building without any power and stepped onto the sixth floor to check on her. The stairs were right next to the elevator bank, and Carson walked right passed them. But she didn’t remember any dead body.
“Erin, listen to me...there is no dead body in the elevator.”
“But I saw him!”
She saw that Erin was starting to get angry as well as scared and she held up both hands in a gesture of peace. “All right, you saw him. Let’s walk down the hall together and you can show me.”
Carson didn’t mean to treat Erin like a child, but it was important for her to see that no one was there. Maybe then, she would calm down.
“Come on, I’ll show you.” She took hold of Erin’s hand, and slid the gun into her coat pocket on the other side.
Slowly she urged the smaller woman out into the hall with her. Erin was skittish and jumped at every little creak the building made. Carson went slowly with her as she would a frightened colt.
Erin followed Carson willingly, but checked the shadows carefully. Carson led the way to the elevator but when they arrived, there was no body and the doors were closed.
“Not this elevator. I didn’t even realize we were going the wrong way. He’s down at the other end of the hall.”
She looked up at Carson with confusion and anger warring in her eyes. Something in her firm demeanor, even in the face of terror, finally got through to Carson. Stubborn, willful and even cutthroat when it came to business, Erin Donovan was also an honest and immensely intelligent woman. She would not make up something like this.
“I’m sorry...I just assumed. I came down the south stairwell. Let’s check the other side, maybe he’s not dead and there’s something we can do for him.”
As soon as she said that, Erin visibly relaxed. Her shoulders slumped slightly and Carson could swear she saw the glint of tears in the low light.
“Thank you. I hope you’re right.”
Carson held the pistol in her left hand inside the coat pocket, just in case, and directed Erin to walk behind her with the other. She walked softly down the hallway, trying to keep quiet in case there was a killer lying in wait somewhere. No one jumped out but she found Ed Cupper lying right where Erin had said he was. She felt badly for not believing Erin or for failing to notice the dead man’s hand lying on the hall floor from a distance.
“Stay right here,” she said as they reached the lift. “I’ll check him. You don’t need to see that again.”
Erin nodded. “There was so much blood.”
She unbuttoned her overcoat and glanced down. Carson followed her gaze and after a moment saw the dried blood on the lawyer’s skirt and knees.
“Erin! Are you hurt?”
“It’s Ed’s blood. I tried to help him.”
Her voice was low, tremulous. She sounded so lost that Carson couldn’t help herself and reached out to pull Erin against her in support. There was nothing sexual in the gesture; it was simply one hum
an being reaching out to offer comfort to another.
“All right,” Carson said softly into Erin’s ear. “Just hold on for a moment. Let me see if I can help him.”
Carson released Erin and turned back to the elevator. She took a deep breath, trying to steel herself for what she had to do next. Carefully avoiding the dark stain on the carpeting, Carson knelt next to the man she’d never seen before and checked for a pulse. After a moment, she closed her eyes and sighed. It was far too late.
She stood up and returned to where Erin leaned against the wall. Even before she spoke, Carson saw that Erin already knew what she would say. Tears filled Erin’s dark eyes and she lowered her head. Compassion made Carson reach out to embrace her once again.
“I’m so sorry. I wish there was something else we could do, but right now, we need to focus on getting out of here alive. I’m here, Erin, and I won’t leave you. I promise.”
Erin looked up at Carson as if she had never seen her before. “What happened to that snooty woman who barged into my office today?”
Carson started to be embarrassed then noticed the teasing glint in the light brown eyes. How could she tell Erin that she had been so nervous about meeting her that she had acted like a complete jerk?
“Public speaking isn’t one of my strong suits,” she joked back.
Erin chuckled a little and took a step back. “I have to admit that I feel a whole lot better now that I’m not in this alone. I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m not,” Carson said with a touch of irony. “But I’m glad you’re not alone either. So, any suggestions?”
“Do you have a cell phone? Mine doesn’t have any reception inside the building.”
Carson shook her head and with a touch of her customary arrogance said, “I don’t carry it around with me. I left it in my car. If someone wants to contact me, they have my work number.”
Now You See Me Page 5