Twistered

by J. L. Wilson

  Jack and Drew exchanged amused looks, visible by their up-tilted flashlights. "I had inside information." Jack turned to Drew. "What happened?"

  "I got to the cave but before I could get in place outside, they showed up. I had to hide. That's when I remembered this passageway. I came into the main cave and left through the back. I figured I could get out, go to Mel's pasture, and get back in place on top. I didn't expect to get caught between a rock and a hard place."

  "Wait a minute." My mind was reeling. "You're in cahoots? You're working together?" I turned to Jack. "I thought you suspected Drew."

  Jack winced. "We had to do that."

  Drew moved to stand directly in front of me. Even in the gloom, I could see the pale outline of his face, highlighted by reflected light from both flashlights. "We let it get around that I removed myself from the case so we could draw people out."

  My mind raced through the implications. "Do you mean you slept with me as part of the investigation?" I struggled to keep my voice low but I knew I didn't succeed when Jack put his arm around me from behind and clamped a hand over my mouth.

  "Be quiet!" he hissed in my ear.

  I wiggled in his arms and he let me go. I started toward Drew, my fist raised but he turned suddenly and swept me into his arms. He kissed me so hard my knees sagged. When he let me go, I staggered back, stepping on Jack's foot. I heard his strangled gasp.

  "No," Drew said, cupping my face in his hands. "Never."

  When I regained my equilibrium, I turned to Jack. "What about you?"

  Drew looked from me to Jack. "What are you talking about?" he demanded.

  Jack smiled. "We had to make people believe there was enmity between me and Strawn. What better way than romance?"

  Drew stepped in front of me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

  I evaded his stormy green eyes. "I'll explain later." Like hell I will, I thought. "We're a little busy now."

  Jack snapped, "Backup?"

  That diverted Drew's attention. "In place."

  They were talking in a kind of police code that I wasn't privy to. "Backup. Wait a minute." I scowled at Jack. "You said your partner was going to join you."

  "I lied." Jack turned to Drew as though those two words explained everything.

  "Whoa. I don't get it. How come--?"

  Drew put his hand on the back of my neck, squeezing gently. "I'll explain later." I heard implied in his voice, Like hell I will.

  "What's the plan?" Jack pulled out his gun and I swallowed hard.

  "They've got Dorthea, her boyfriend, and Mina in an area off to the right side." Drew also pulled his gun from its holster, touching a lever on it that made a clicking noise. "The strike team is outside, near the barn. They'll move when I call."

  "Strike team?" I asked faintly.

  "You're a complication I didn't plan on."

  "I'll stay out of the way. You and Jack go rescue Baby Dot. That's the most important thing." I took a deep, reassuring breath and pushed away from the safety of the wall. "We'll go in there and get her and--"

  "Why don't you let us handle it?" Jack said softly, pulling me back behind him. "It's what we do."

  "You're not doing it very fast. Who knows what they're doing to her?" I remembered Mina's breathless words. "They want me at the Fleming farm. I'll bet they've sent people there already. If I can get out, I can drive there."

  "Let us do this." Drew nodded to Jack and they both stepped off to one side I longed to shout at them. We had already wasted precious minutes. If that gang thought I was on my way to the Fleming farm, how long would they wait? What would they do when I didn't show up? Would they hurt Baby Dot? I remembered the sight of Wade and his bloody body. She was a fourteen year old girl. Good God, anything might happen.

  A sound from my left made all thought evaporate from my brain. Were we followed? I suppose it was possible. It was a relatively straightforward path from the yellow door. I retraced our path in my mind. The alcove where we stood was probably hidden from anyone coming in via the passageway but we weren't keeping our voices quiet.

  Drew was speaking into the device on his ear, his voice low. Jack stood nearby, glowering at the floor. I heard the noise again. It was a scraping, sliding sound, as though someone was dragging their feet in the dusty floor. "Drew," I whispered. "I heard something."

  He turned. "We're going in. You stay behind us. Jack will go to the left and I'll go right. You stay behind, out of sight. You'll be fine."

  "I don't like it," Jack muttered. "We need a distraction. We can't go straight in if they have hostages."

  "I heard something," I said insistently.

  "It's water. Condensation." Drew pulled his gun from the holster. "We don't have choices. The team is above and we'll come in on the flank. We don't have a distraction from the back."

  "I can do it," I said excitedly. "I'll throw a rock or something."

  "It might work," Jack said softly. Drew hesitated, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

  "I can do it," I insisted. "Tell me when."

  "It might work." Drew's voice was thoughtful. He stared at the ground for a minute then straightened. "It can work. Here's what we'll do. You count to fifty and come in after us. I'll leave the flashlight behind. Stop when you see it. Count to fifty again and throw the light into the cave." He gazed at Jack. "That should give us enough time."

  I saw the need to disagree in Jack's eyes. It was probably hard for him to take orders from a small town cop. Drew knows the terrain, I urged silently. He knows what he's doing.

  Jack must have heard my thoughts. He nodded once and started off, his flashlight bouncing in the darkness. "Are you sure, Dorothy?" Drew whispered.

  Of course not, I thought. An image of Baby Dot seemed to flicker across my vision. I cleared my throat. "I'll do it," I assured him. "Now go."

  "Do it, and get down. Stay in the passage until I call you. Do you understand?" He cupped my face in a brief caress until I nodded. Then he whirled and followed Jack.

  I hurried after them, anxious to keep the circles of light ahead of me. I stared back once over my shoulder and thought I glimpsed something gleaming at about knee-height, but I didn't dare pause. Jack and Drew were moving fast across the open middle of the cavern, their flashlights weaving to illuminate random aspects of our surroundings--a twisted rock formation, a small niche full of darkness, a puddle of water, a pair of eyes, a--

  I twisted to the left, peering into the darkness. A pair of eyes? "Drew, I saw something," I whispered, reaching for him.

  He was too far ahead of me and I missed, stumbling over rocks or debris and almost falling. My already-twisted ankle made itself felt again. "Ow." As though sensing my clumsiness, a rumble shook the cavern. I stopped. "What was that?"

  "It's probably thunder. Keep your voice low. We're getting closer." Drew spoke barely above a whisper. He stopped and tilted his light upward so I could see his face, ghostly white against the darkness that surrounded him. "We're not far now. We have to be silent from here on in." He touched my arm before turning away, pressing the gadget on his ear and speaking in an even lower voice.

  "Stay behind this rock." Jack's breath was warm on my ear and I shivered. "Stay here until it's time." He gently pushed me to my knees and I huddled against a big oval rock. "We're going through there," and his flashlight shone briefly on a narrow opening a few feet ahead. "Drew said it divides a few feet in. Stay right. That's the way he'll go and he said it's farther away from the main cave. Don't worry. We do this kind of stuff all the time." His hand was warm on my shoulder.

  "I don't do this stuff all the time," I whispered.

  He gently tightened his hand in acknowledgement then he pressed his flashlight into my hand and was gone, slipping away in the darkness. Drew came back. "Keep the light aimed at the floor," he whispered, his face next to mine. "Remember. Count to fifty and come in until you see my light. Then count to fifty again. It's going to be okay, Dorothy. We'll get Baby Dot out of there safely."r />
  "I'll do it." I shivered. "Good luck." I kissed him quickly then he was gone, too, leaving me pressed against a rock in the dark. I listened carefully as he and Jack hurried across the remaining few feet of open cavern. When their footsteps quieted, I peeked over my rock and started to count in my head. One Mississippi, two Mississippi.

  It was probably my imagination, but I thought I saw a glimmer of light to my right. Darkness huddled on me from behind, the weight of the Kansas hillside closing in. I could imagine that cavern, the big stalag-things on the ceiling, balanced precariously overhead. The dripping sound increased and I visualized a small fissure overhead, just a trickle that allowed water to come in. It was a small fissure now, but would it get bigger? I drew in a long breath, trying to quell the panic that threatened.

  I debated fiercely with myself for a few seconds then I left my rock, turning on Jack's light and pointing it downward so I could see my steps and not be a klutz and fall. Nineteen Mississippi, twenty Mississippi.

  I approached the declivity where they vanished. A cool breeze, gentle and moisture-laden, wafted over my face. I shone my light into the gap and saw a short passageway that branched to the left, another path to the right. Thirty Mississippi, forty Mississippi.

  The press of the darkness behind me was suffocating. I tried to summon a memory of the cavern as we crossed it but all I could remember was those terrifying images from that movie so many years ago. Gaping chasms and fragile rock bridges over bottomless pits seemed to loom in front of me. The whooshing sound grew to a low, mournful moan and I heard the noise again, the sound of feet on stone, a rasping of skin on rock.

  "Stop it!" The words echoed through the passage in front of me. It was a raw scream, torn from someone's throat. "Leave me alone! That hurts! Stop it!"

  Not just someone. It was Baby Dot. It sounded like hell was breaking loose. I instinctively lunged toward the sound, hitting my head on the rock and almost knocking myself senseless. I reeled back and was spun when something hit against my knees and overbalanced me. The flashlight in my hand went flying, skittering back behind me. I hit the rock again with my shoulder this time, and I cried out when an outcropping slammed into my upper arm. The erratic beam of the light shone on a golden-brown shape ahead of me, a long snout pointed my way before it vanished into the darkness.

  "Oh, for Christ's sake." It was King, the macaque. The damn monkeys were in the caves. How the hell did they get in? They should have been confined to the Tube. I didn't have time to worry about it now. I raced into the dimly lit passageway, my counting forgotten as I banged my head into a low overhand and saw stars this time. More shouts and thumping sounds echoed to me from ahead.

  I hesitated at the branch in the path then went right, going as fast as I dared. This passageway was wider than the last but I had to crouch, which cost me precious time. I went a few more feet and turned a corner, stopping barely in time before slamming into another outcropping.

  King the monkey crouched in front of me, Drew's flashlight in his hand. He peered into the shiny thing, waving the light madly.

  "You damn monkey," I hissed. "Give me that."

  "That hurts!" Baby Dot's voice echoed into my passageway, filling the confining space with terrified sound.

  King jerked as though hit. He whirled to stare around the outcropping that hid us from the sounds in front of us. I wondered what was going through that little simian brain of his. Baby Dot was his special favorite. Did he know she was in trouble? Did he even care?

  Oh, shit. I forgot to count. I longed to beat my head against the wall at my own stupidity. How long was I here? I was supposed to count to fifty when I got to the flashlight. I peeked around the outcropping. Shadowy figures were outlined in an open space about ten feet ahead of me. King leaned forward, flashlight in hand. I didn't see any loose rocks to throw. I needed a distraction and King was holding it.

  How much time had passed? Was it fifty again? I felt my coat pockets, feeling pens, pencils, papers, my phone, my car keys.

  My car keys.

  I groped in my coat pocket and touched my key ring. I carefully slid the protective covering away from the key fob and pressed a button at random. I expected to get Margaret Hamilton's cackling, maniacal laugh.

  I got the Wicked Witch's Guards instead. O-E-O, E-O-Uh! blared from my pocket.

  King went crazy.

  Chapter 18

  If I thought all hell was breaking loose earlier, I was sadly mistaken. All hell was breaking loose now.

  I followed King through the passageway, exploding like popcorn in a pan and stumbling into another long, low, rectangular cave. I swung my head around, taking in the scene. A low fire in a stone ring sputtered and glowed near what appeared to be a dark curtain at the far end. The walls were gray and glistened in the firelight and from three lanterns hanging from hooks on the wall. The ceiling was low enough that I could touch it if I stood on my tiptoes and stretched, which meant that some people in the space were crouched, hunched, or twisted in some way.

  At the front of the cave and on my right, King shrieked at the top of his lungs as he attacked a tall man in jeans and a yellow shirt who had Baby Dot's arm in his grip. The small monkey was crazed, tearing at the man's shirt and arms, crawling all over him and screaming until the noise threatened to rupture my eardrums. As I watched, the man reeled back from the assault, releasing Baby Dot, who tumbled to the floor of the cave. A dark hand reached from a recess behind her and she scrambled toward it.

  I took a step forward, peering around a bump in the rock. I glimpsed K.K., her boyfriend, huddled in a small alcove. Baby Dot threw herself into his arms and the two teenagers tucked their legs in, away from the melee around them.

  Five or six feet ahead of me, Drew had his gun leveled across the cave at a short fat man with greasy long brown hair in black biker leathers. The man held a shotgun but it was loose in his hands, not pointed at anyone. Jack was opposite him on my left, aiming at a slim businessman-type with blond hair who wore Dockers and a windbreaker. The man had his hands in the air but something in his posture made me--and Jack--suspicious. I saw it in the way Jack approached the man warily, his gun up and ready.

  Mina stood near the black curtain. She wore all black clothing which made her white face and hands stand out in sharp relief. Lightning flashed behind her and I saw she was standing at the entrance to the large cave. A rumble of thunder cascaded into the space and another flare of lightning backlit Mina, outlining her in fire.

  King suddenly stopped screaming. The absence of sound was palpable. I glimpsed a limp heap of fur to the left of where I lurked, a foot or two away. The yellow-shirted man had kicked him, hard. King's small paw-hands twitched and he made a moaning, whimpering sound. Then he turned his head and I saw pain glazing those mischievous brown eyes.

  "You bastard." I moved from my protective niche, hands clenched. "How dare you come into our town like this? You broke into my house and all of Wade's stuff was there, in plain sight." I laughed sarcastically. "You didn't even have to take Baby Dot. All you had to do was check my kitchen table."

  The businessman thug shot me a look like I was insane, his bushy eyebrows drawn together in a straight line of confusion. "What break-in? We're all here."

  I took a step forward. "Well, damn. If you didn't terrorize us in the Tube, who did?"

  "Get back, Dorothy." Drew's sharp voice brought me to a stop. I took a gulping breath when I noticed I was about to walk between him and the man he was aiming at.

  "Oh. I'm sorry." I took a hasty step back, bumping painfully into a stone protrusion that jabbed deeply into my left shoulder. "Ow."

  "What happened?" Baby Dot peered from her protective hidey-hole, her mascara smeared on her face into a grotesque mask. "What happened to King?" Her eyes swept around the space and when she saw the fallen monkey, they widened. "What did you do?" She scrambled from K.K.'s arms, launching herself across the intervening space.

  The yellow-shirted man scooped her up in his arms.
"Baby Dot!" I started forward.

  "Get back, Dorothy!" Drew moved forward, his gun raised. "Let the girl go. This can't end good."

  I swallowed hard, my knees wobbly. The man had a knife and it was held at Baby Dot's throat. My goddaughter was like a small china doll, her white throat, face, and arms standing out in stark relief against the blackness of her jeans and the redness of her T-shirt. She hung in his arms, her eyes huge as he moved the knife against her throat.

  "Let her go," I implored.

  Baby Dot's eyes swung to me. I saw panic there and terror. Tears started down her cheeks. "Auntie D," she whimpered.

  "Let us go," the yellow-shirted man said. He was tall and had to hunch in the confines of the cave, putting Baby Dot even further into the protective crook of his arms. He seemed younger than the other two and meaner, as though fear was making him bold.

  As he spoke, K.K. peered out from his alcove, his eyes huge in his face. "Hey, man, let her go," he said in a tremulous voice.

  The yellow-shirted man didn't even glance his way. "Shut up. You did what we needed. Don't press your luck."

  "What do you mean? K.K., did you betray Baby Dot? What did you do?" I was outraged and used my best Librarian Voice to show it.

  K.K. flushed a dark red and pressed back into his niche. "I didn't know what they were going to do. I met him at the store in Kansas City. He asked me to come to the campground. I didn't know what they were going to do."

  Baby Dot moaned and King whimpered again in response, paws twitching feebly. The businessman type was starting to lower his hands. Drew gestured with his gun. "Keep them up." The device on his ear crackled. Drew's eyes didn't leave the man as he listened. "We have the others. It's over. Let the girl go."

  I frantically examined the cave. Mina hadn't moved. She stood in the entryway and appeared as terrified as I felt. The greasy-haired man still held the shotgun but he seemed more alert now. The businessman eyed Drew with a cold, calculating intensity. I turned to my left and froze when I saw Jack, his gun aimed at Baby Dot and the yellow-shirted man.