“Never mind. If we connect with these lamps, that should do it,” Allie said with determination.
It seemed as if they waited for hours. They slumped against their respective walls. Maggie wondered if it still was night. Could they have stood on these chairs all night?
“Psst.” An urgent hiss from Allie brought Maggie wide awake and alert. Allie’s sharp ears had picked up the faint sounds before Maggie heard them. Muffled voices were approaching. Maggie’s heart beat faster. She straightened on the chair. Her hands felt suddenly moist and clammy. The key turned in the lock and the door opened. The tall swarthy man entered the room, glanced up at Maggie in shock, then crash! Allie brought the heavy lamp down on his head with all her strength. His shocked face sank from Maggie’s sight to be replaced by a small, ferret-like face. Just as the little man turned to run the other way, Maggie brought her lamp down on him. He crumpled without a sound.
“Jeez, Mom. I was afraid for a moment you weren’t going to get him! Good job!”
Maggie grinned triumphantly, “Good for you, too. Good for us! Crude, but effective. These two are cluttering up things. Let’s pull them inside and tie them up.”
They jerked the lamp cords out and tied their captors hands.
“Oh, come on. Let’s just get out of here. There were cars in the garage. Let’s find some keys.” Hurriedly they went through the pockets of the two men. No keys.
“Now why don’t they have the keys? Let’s search.” Quietly and quickly they ran through the house, looking for car keys. It appeared that no one else was there. They ran from the bedroom into a hall, poking their heads into bedroom after bedroom. The rooms were completely bare and empty. One door opened out onto a roof garden that had an even more spectacular view than the bedroom. Back into the house, down stairs. A large empty living room, a small terrace, a lap pool.
“Nice. Come on.” Maggie was beginning to feel frantic.
Down more stairs. How many levels? Five or six. Maggie lost count. Finally, in the kitchen, on the counter were keys. Allie grabbed them all. Down another level. At last, the garage. It was as Allie remembered.
“Quick, Mom. Check keys and gas gauges.”
Maggie ran to the Ferrari. Quickly she found the ignition key. “This one has a full tank.”
“Great. Wait a moment.” Allie released the hood on the large black car. She reached inside and pulled the wires from the distributor cap. “Let me drive,” Allie called. Maggie already was in the passenger seat. Allie pushed the lighted garage door opener switch, threw the wires into the back of the shiny, red car, jumped into the driver’s seat, and started the engine. As the door opened, they eased out into the night. They were in a neighborhood of large houses perched one above the other on tiny lots. Allie pointed the car downhill. They raced away, elated to be free.
Maggie looked over her shoulder at their prison. It was an enormous, multi-leveled white house that appeared still to be under construction. For the first time, Maggie checked her watch. After two. No wonder traffic was so light.
“Mom, I know about where we are. Do you remember the phone number Harry Cavanaugh gave us? I think this might be a good time to use it. See if that phone works.” Allie was driving rapidly, taking curves at breakneck speed, doing her best to put the most distance possible between them and the big white house.
Maggie had not noticed the phone perched near her knees. Now she picked it up, held it to her ear. Nothing. She pressed some buttons. Listened again. A dial tone. God bless technology! She took a breath and punched the numbers in.
After one ring, “Hello.”
Only one word spoken in a quiet, tired sounding voice, but it sounded heavenly. A whole muscle family in her back and neck relaxed. “Hello, is this Harry?”
“Mrs. McGill? Is that you? My God, we’ve been worried. Where are you?” The relief was evident in his voice.
“To tell the truth, I’m not exactly sure. We have stolen a car and we’re going fast. But I think we are somewhere in Hollywood and moving very quickly away from it.”
This somewhat incoherent reply caused Harry to smile his first real smile of the day. He could hear motor and traffic sounds in the background.
“Tell Harry we are heading straight for the Hollywood Freeway. I want to put as much distance as possible between us and this neighborhood as quickly as possible. Describe our car to him. Ask for advice.” Allie spoke rapidly and jerkily between fast turns and screeching stops at red lights. The red car alternately roared and growled as Allie worked the gears.
Maggie repeated this information to Harry, giving him street names as she glimpsed them. “We are in a red Ferrari, top down.” She gasped as they narrowly missed a convertible that pulled out directly in front of them. The two couples were laughing and seemed not to realize their narrow escape.
“Tell Allie to take it easy,” Harry said. “We’ll get you an escort as soon as possible. We want you both in one piece,” he continued with a chuckle. “Where’ve you two been? We have been worried about you.”
Into the phone she said, “I’m not sure where, Harry. In a big white house up on the hill behind us.” Then in an outraged voice, “They kidnapped us!”
The powerful red car zoomed through the quiet streets heading steadily downhill toward the Hollywood Freeway. Street lights, neon signs flashed by dizzily. Maggie was grateful for her seat belt and especially grateful for Allie’s skillful driving.
“Another time I might enjoy this,” Allie said. “This is some car. It’d be fun to open it up and see what it can do.” They bounced through an intersection. Ahead Maggie could see an overpass.
“There! There it is, I think, “Allie said breathlessly. Now, if we can just find an on-ramp. The little car skidded around a corner and accelerated, searching for the entrance to the freeway. “Okay. Here we go. Tell Harry we’re . . .. Oh! Oh!!!”
Allie slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a stop inches from the front fender of a large black car that was blocking their entrance onto the freeway. Allie jammed into reverse gear, spun the car around and headed back onto the streets of Hollywood. The black car followed closely behind them.
“Oh, dear!” Maggie groaned.
“What just happened?” yelled Harry.
Into the telephone she told Harry what had happened.
“Damn!” said Harry.
“Right.” Maggie gasped.
“Tell Allie to open that thing up. Tell her to get on the Hollywood heading north if she can. We have two cars up there heading your way!” Harry shouted.
“Get on the Hollywood heading north. Harry has help coming there.” Maggie shouted to Allie.
“I’m trying, I’m trying,” Allie answered.
“Tell him we’re headed west on Franklin. No, we just turned north on Highland. We’ll get on it there.”
Maggie relayed the message, clutching the telephone like a lifeline.
The little car swung sharply to the left and there was the ramp. They zoomed up the ramp, the heavy black car close behind. Then suddenly Allie jammed on the brakes again. A second black car sat across the ramp. The red car skidded to a stop inches from it. The pursuing black car skidded sideways next to the red car.
“Harry! Oh, my God! Harry. We’re surrounded. There are two cars. There are men coming. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I’m afraid they have us. We were almost . . .” Maggie’s voice squealed to a stop as one of the men grabbed the phone from her hand.
“Hello, Maggie, Maggie!!” Harry Cavanaugh called helplessly as a dial tone answered him. He grabbed a second telephone and shouted into it. “They got them! My God! How’d they find them so fast? They’re at the Highland ramp onto the Hollywood. Get over there pronto. Maybe you can catch them!” He replaced the phone and groaned in frustration.
Chapter Seven
Allie and Maggie once again were in the back seat of the large black car. “Oh, Mom. I’m so sorry. I really thought we’d gotten away. How do you suppose they found us so quickly?” A
llie asked dejectedly.
“I can’t imagine unless they had one of those little things on their own car,” Maggie answered.
“Rats! I didn’t even think of that. That must be it, of course. So it was pretty simple for them. Rats!”
The back seat of the heavy car swung this way and that so that Maggie and Allie clung to each other for support. The car slowed and again they heard the sound of a garage door opening. The car entered and stopped. The door to the back seat opened and two bearded men wearing turbans pulled them from the car. It was the same garage. The disabled black car stood on their left, its raised hood telling a story. Maggie thought they must buy those black cars by the dozen. As they were being led into the house, the far garage door opened and the red car entered.
“You two . . . cause . . . much trouble,” one of the men said in heavily accented English. “We fix . . . soon . . . you trouble no more. Me . . . I want fix now.” The menace and the threat were blatant.
Maggie was grateful he wasn’t making the decisions, because he was a nasty looking character. She imagined that his name might be Bruno. She turned bewildered eyes to her daughter’s pale face. Allie attempted a smile of encouragement, but it was more of a grimace.
Instead of being taken upstairs to the bedroom, they were led into an open courtyard and down a few steps to a door in a blank stucco wall. One of the men unlocked the door with a key, opened it and pushed the two women inside.
Maggie and Allie fell on the floor together. “Mom, are you okay?”
“I’m not hurt, but I’m certainly not okay!” Maggie said with some asperity. “How about you?”
“Ditto.” Allie mumbled.
They sat up and looked around. Once again they found themselves in darkness. High on one wall was a small oblong of slightly lighter darkness that probably was a small window. Apparently they were locked in some sort of a storage or garden shed.
“Well, what do you say? Shall we do a Braille explore again? We’re getting pretty good at it by now. I wish I had eaten more carrots. Isn’t that supposed to give one better night vision?”
“Actually, I don’t think diet can make a significant improvement in night vision.” The voice was softly melodious, accented and definitely masculine.
“What . . .?”
“Who . . .?”
Maggie and Allie clutched one another and scooted back away from the voice.
The soft masculine voice said, “Please do not be alarmed. I assure you I mean you no harm. It seems that we find ourselves imprisoned by the same people. Therefore, it would seem that we may have a common interest.”
“Who . . . who are you?” Allie asked in a small shaky voice.
“Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mohammed Hadi El Kabir. But please call me Hadi. It is my favorite of all my names and it also is the most appropriate. May I inquire the names of my most charming fellow prisoners.” His vaguely mysterious voice was gentle, with a soft sing-song cadence.
“My name is Allison Lynn McGill and this is my mother, Margaret Ann McGill. You may call me Allie,” Allie said.
“How do you do, Hadi. You may call me Maggie,” Maggie said.
“How do you do, Allie and Maggie,” Hadi said courteously. “Well, how do you suppose it is that Allah has chosen to have us meet in these peculiar circumstances? How is it that you two lovely ladies have attracted the attention of our captors?”
“Well, you see, that’s just it,” said Maggie. “We haven’t the least idea. I came here to visit my daughter. We have done nothing out of the ordinary. But from the beginning of this trip, there have been extraordinary occurrences. It still is very mysterious.” Her voice tremulous.
“Tell me exactly what has happened. Maybe I can enlighten you,” Hadi said soothingly.
Together Maggie and Allie once again recited the events of the past week, their voices telling their fear and outrage and bewilderment. By silent agreement they omitted reference to their beach club meeting with Harry Cavanaugh.
Hadi listened without interrupting except now and then with a quiet question for clarification. When they had finished he was silent for a few moments. Then he said, “It would seem that there is something that you know or have that you do not know you know or have. Therefore, if we could determine what that something is we might plan a correct course of action.”
“A correct course of action! The only course of action I’m interested in is getting as far away from this place, this situation and these people as I possibly can, as soon as I can!” Allie’s voice conveyed all the frustration and indignation that the events of the last week had brought about.
“Amen. Me, too,” said Maggie. “But what about you? Why are you here?”
Hadi murmured musically, “Why am I here? Ah. That is a most interesting question. One with that we could occupy ourselves for years. Why is the moon in the sky?”
“A philosopher! We are caged with a philosopher!” Allie said in disgust.
“Oh, no. I am not a philosopher. I am only a humble servant of Allah,” Hadi said.
“Well, humble servant. What about it? Is there a way out of this place?” asked Maggie.
Hadi said, “Now we come back to the correct course of action. There are times, you know, when the correct course is inaction. We must first determine what the proper course is in this situation.”
A duet of disgruntled sighs.
Hadi continued, “Now, if I understand your story correctly, you escaped this place once and have been returned. This would lead one to suspect that the fates wish you to be here, would it not?”
“That would lead one to suspect that the darn car had some sort of a homing device,” Allie said sarcastically.
“Ah, yes. That is possible,” Hadi said. After a pause, he said musingly, “Could it be that your return to this place was created so that we could meet? That, of course, is possible. If so, then it would not offend Allah if we were to leave since we now have met.”
Maggie and Allie, still sitting on the floor with their backs against the cold masonry wall, clasped hands. “Maybe that is so, Hadi,” Maggie said soothingly. Allie gave her hand an encouraging squeeze. Maggie continued, “How long have you been here? What is this place like? We can’t see anything. It appears that there’s a door and a tiny window high on the wall. Is that correct?”
“Many questions, dear lady. You are very perceptive with your physical eyes. Now tell me what else you have discovered about this place,” Hadi said. “If you will quiet your mind for a moment and just pay attention, much will be learned.”
Having little else to do, Maggie closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “I believe this is a masonry structure. I also think that it is quite small, no more than twelve feet by twelve feet. The ceiling appears to be slightly higher than the usual.” She was silent for a few more moments, then, “Ugh, I also think there are mice here!”
“Very good!” Hadi said approvingly. “You see, one can learn much without using one’s eyes.” Then in a regretful voice, “However, I fear there may be rats as well as mice.”
Maggie and Allie shivered in unison, “Oooooh!”
“They are not so lovable, yes?” Hadi said. “But we do not need to be bothered by them. We have only to wish them well and bid them to go elsewhere. They will leave us alone.”
“I certainly encourage you to do that,” said Allie with a shiver. “In the meantime, could we focus on bidding ourselves to go elsewhere?”
“Ah, yes. You wish to leave this place. If, indeed, it is true that the purpose in your returning here is for us to meet, and we have done that, then there really is no reason for us to remain in this small enclosure. If there is no reason for us to remain here, then it should be quite simple to find ourselves elsewhere.” Hadi was speaking low, almost as if to himself.
“It’s very difficult to know how to escape from here because we can’t see anything,” said Maggie in frustration as she began a cautious exploration of the perimeter of the room.<
br />
“You haven’t told us yet why it is you find yourself imprisoned here.” She thought to herself that she even was beginning to sound like Hadi.
“Oh, that. Yes. Here I am. Do you not think that it must be that I have somehow incurred the displeasure of those powerful men?” He responded mysteriously.
“Well, yes. It would appear so,” Maggie decided to drop the question because she was beginning to despair of ever receiving a direct answer. After a short silence she said in a small voice, “Hadi, I’m sorry to bring this subject up, but have they given you food. It’s been many hours since we’ve eaten and my insides definitely are complaining.”
Allie contributed, “Amen!”
“They bring food in the mornings. Soon it will become light and the sun will come up,” Hadi said.
“So, if we are to escape this place before morning probably we need to do so immediately,” Allie said. “It’d be easier to get away while it is dark.”
“That would seem to be so; however, when we move in harmony with Allah neither light nor darkness is important because we are going with the natural order of things,” Hadi said.
Maggie wished she could see this strange man who spouted these pronouncements. She tried to imagine what he might look like. “Well, Hadi, when do you think we’d be in harmony with Allah?”
“Ah, dear lady, that is an excellent question. Sometimes the proper course of action sets itself clearly in front of us; however, sometimes we can only sense and put one foot in front of the other one step at a time, slowly and cautiously. I have not yet received a clear image of the correct course in this situation, either to take action or to remain still. It appears that we need to wait for direction.” Hadi said the last slowly and quietly.
As he spoke Maggie noticed that the small opening high on the wall had become a shade lighter. She sighed and leaned back against the cold wall, realizing how very tired she felt. What she wanted more than anything right now was a hot shower, a clean bed and hours of quiet blissful sleep. “It would seem then, Hadi, that we’re to remain here a while longer. I do hope that they pay little attention to us today.”
Maggie's Image (Maggie McGill Mysteries Book 1) Page 8