by J. A. Dennam
Chapter 29
Mac scrambled to his knees and dove for the hood. When it was removed, a mop of short brown hair piled out in wayward disarray. Heavily shadowed eyes were closed and long, thick eyelashes rested against smooth, pale cheeks.
Mac blinked in shock. “What the hell? A woman?”
Ty shoved him away. “Don’t! She’s not like the others!”
Melanie stood apart from the fray, her focus on DJ as she moved the cloth away from his face, checked his breathing, his temperature. “What did she do to him?” said with a hint of panic.
“What do you mean?” Mac scowled darkly as he got to his feet. “Is he alright?”
“He’s not waking up!”
“I doubt she did anything to hurt him,” Ty said, feeling Crystal’s pulse.
Mac reached down, took Ty by the front of his clothes and slammed him against the wall. He jerked his head toward the ghost on the floor. “Are you with her, Ferguson? You one of them? Because if anything happens to that kid...”
Ty held up his hands in a show of good faith, though the angry spark was back in his eyes. “I’m not the enemy, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“What’s going on?” Danny was now on the scene absent her husband. “You’re making enough noise to bring every ghost in the building down--” Her mouth fell open at the sight of her nephew. “Oh, my God! You found him! Is he okay?”
“I don’t know!” Melanie gently massaged his feet to coax a reaction out of him. “He’s alive, he’s breathing, but I can’t wake him up!”
“Ty!” Danny shot over her shoulder.
“If you get your ape off of me,” Ty growled, “I can look at him.”
Mac held onto the glare for a moment, effectively showing his mistrust before letting go. Ty gave a violent return shove in passing.
Melanie held him as Ty lifted the boy’s eyelids, felt his tiny pulse, checked his forehead. Next, he unsnapped the buttons of DJ’s sleeper and, during his search for wounds, found the small one over his thigh.
Melanie gasped. “She must have removed his tracking device!”
“His signs seem normal, pupils look good...” Ty wrapped up his inspection and stuffed DJ’s limbs back into his clothing. “She might have given him a mild sedative,” he deduced while buttoning the sleeper back up.
“She put drugs in my baby?”
The wrath was building. Mac noted something the rest of them missed. “You don’t seem all that surprised DJ was being tracked.”
Ty had the decency to look somewhat guilty. “I’m not. Crystal told me just before I talked to Mel tonight. By then you were already here.”
“And you failed to tell us this until now?” Mac went into his take-no-prisoners stance. “You better start giving me a good reason not to fuck you up, Ferguson.”
“Is that true, Ty?” Danny asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “You knew Crystal had him?”
He ran fingers through his hair, avoided her gaze. “I met her when we first got here this afternoon. She’s Rena’s half-sister.”
After a pregnant pause, Mac barked out a laugh. “You can’t be serious.”
“I didn’t know Rena had a sister,” Danny mumbled with disbelief.
Melanie’s reaction was to hold her child closer to her heart. “Another Hellberg. Just what the world needs.”
“She was kidnapped by Sophie when Rena was caught digging into IGP’s history,” Ty explained. “Sophie wanted to make sure Rena brought her the sample instead of giving it to someone else. Rena really didn’t have anything solid against IGP, but she was afraid Derek wouldn’t help her if he knew that.”
Mac filled in the blanks. “So, Rena’s motivation was to get her sister back.”
“Yes, but when she got here, Elsa wasn’t the same innocent she was years ago. Sophie had turned her to the ‘dark side,’ per se.”
“And you didn’t think DJ was in danger?” Melanie asked with horror.
“Honestly... no.”
“That wasn’t your call!”
“I know! But I’m swimming in just as much shit here as you are and she assured me he was safe! I’m telling you, she’s not like the others!”
“How can you be so sure?”
A look of unease crossed his features. “Because Rena thinks she’s salvageable.”
Melanie blew air through her lips. “Sounds to me like a good enough reason to put a hammer through her head.”
“Really, Ty?” Danny said incredulously. “Since when are you a fan of Rena’s?”
When all eyes fell on him, Ty explained, “I’m not. But, I sympathize with her. She loves her sister. She was heartbroken when Crystal snuffed her, but she was determined to stay behind and watch over her regardless.”
“Yet, she murders two people and takes off.”
“And, last I heard,” Melanie reminded him, “she blames you for Derek’s death.”
“You saw her, Melanie,” Ty pointed out. “Something wasn’t right with her, and I’m not just talking about the killing. She was terrified over what she’d done. I think she left because she was afraid she was a danger to her sister, and now she has no one to trust or turn to. You have to remember, she and Elsa were children when they were first dragged into this. They didn’t ask for it or deserve it. Just like Derek. And now that we have a chance to end it, why wouldn’t I try to help?”
Though she was reluctant to admit it, Melanie knew he was right. Of course, he’d had more time to think it through. “You sure you know what you’re doing?” she asked grudgingly.
Ty shook his head. “I have no idea where to even start. At this point, I’m just hoping she doesn’t nail me when my guard’s down.”
“That’s something we can sympathize with,” Danny mumbled.
But Ty took advantage of Melanie’s silence, stepped closer. “Rena managed to get Sophie’s ID and password somehow. One thing I know about Crystal already is that she’s just as computer savvy. If you all are going to make a move against IGP, she could be an invaluable resource.”
“You sure you don’t just want us to babysit her for you while you go searching for your pet project?” Mac broke in with sarcasm.
Ty sliced him with a look. “Do what you want with her, Mac. Just remember, she didn’t have to rescue DJ from Rafferty.”
“She didn’t have to bring him back here, either.”
“You saying you don’t want every advantage you can get?”
“Look,” Melanie broke in. “I get why you need to go after Rena, Ty, but Crystal is still a ghost. You really want us to take the chance she won’t try to kill us when she can?”
Ty maintained eye contact with Mac. “Don’t let her.” When no one else had anything to add, he began to back away. “I’ll be in touch.”
With one last hesitant look in Crystal’s direction, he set his teeth and disappeared through the doorway. Chewie began to follow his master, but when no one else did, he stopped, looked back. His soft ears lay down and he dipped his head.
Melanie’s eyes began to water. “Go on,” she commanded softly. “You go, too!”
The dog looked between his master and the group one more time. Finally, he trotted up to Melanie, lifted up on his haunches just long enough to nuzzle DJ’s dangling leg. He whimpered again, dropped to all fours. A low whistle sounded from the darkness.
And Chewie scampered away.
“I can’t believe we’re just letting him go like that,” Mac said through clenched teeth as he watched the darkened doorway. “He was deceptive about DJ. About a lot of things, and I don’t trust him.”
“I know.” Danny sighed heavily, her attention also on the place where Ty had just disappeared. “I felt it, too. There’s something he’s not telling us, but I know that look. He’s determined.”
A muffled buzz sounded. Danny grabbed the phone at her hip and checked the screen. “Austin wants to know what’s happening. He sent me out here because we could hear you arguing.”
“Where
is he?” Mac asked.
Danny was sending a message. “In the main electrical room down the hall. Now that we have DJ, I’m giving him the go-ahead.”
Melanie shifted her load. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”
Mac watched the woman on the floor with half-hearted interest. “The go-ahead for what?”
“We’re using the C4 Emery recovered from his coal chute to take out IGP’s electrical system and back-up generator,” Danny said, replacing her phone. “The building will be shut down and uninhabitable for months while repairs are made.”
Melanie continued in her attempts to coax the baby awake. “Why not just blow the whole thing up? That’s what you do.”
“We don’t have enough C4 for that. And anything Austin uses from Cahill Demolition will be traced back to them. This way is just as effective. IGP will be homeless and with any luck, the fire marshal or health department will find something incriminating when they inspect the building.”
“And the ghosts will scatter,” Mac deduced with chagrin.
Danny shrugged somberly. “They’ll do that anyway.”
“I’ll handle this one.” He produced a roll of duck tape and bound Crystal’s wrists and ankles. Then he put a strip over her mouth. The woman’s eyes fluttered open and connected with his. He hesitated a moment.
“Hurry,” Danny urged through the doorway. “We have to get out of here! That blast will go off right down that hall and then it’s lights out for good!”
Crystal’s frosty eyes grew wide against the heavy makeup and she began to struggle. Her frantic squeaks and moans went ignored.
“Quit struggling or I’ll knock you out again,” Mac rumbled, throwing her over his shoulder.
* * *
Something was happening. Derek heard the voices, knew that Melanie and the others were close by. No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t loosen his bonds or the tape over his mouth. Shit!
His gunshot wound burned like hellfire and the cut on his back chafed against the rough wool of Crystal’s blanket. Despite the pain in his chest, he twisted his legs in a vain attempt to break his ankles loose. But Crystal knew how to tie her knots and he was just too weak.
They were leaving. Three sets of footsteps, one much heavier than the others, grew dimmer by the second. He shouted and raged beneath the gag. No one heard him.
Another sound silenced his efforts. A slight shuffling coming from the electrical room next door. He could tell it wasn’t a ghost by the movements. He shouted again and ignored the stabbing pain through his chest as he pulled against the bed’s aluminum frame. At that point, he wasn’t sure whose attention he was trying to get, but anything would be better than nothing. Anything would be better than what Crystal would do to him when she came back.
All was silent for a long while. Whoever had been in the electrical room must have left. Dammit all to hell. The defeat that ripped through him hurt worse than the fresh scars he bore. They had been so close. Melanie, Danny, and a male voice he thought. He’d heard them.
But they’d failed to hear him. They were gone. And he was as good as dead.
The door pushed open a crack. Derek lifted his head, watched as it failed to move any further. What the hell should he do? There was no noise, no movement, nothing to tell him what to expect.
Then it opened a little more. Whoever was on the other side of that door was coming in. He braced himself.
A full head of black hair popped into view, then a familiar size-fourteen work boot. Joy burst through him and spread upward to reflect in his eyes. Come on you giant motherfucker, look left.
And he did. Austin’s dark eyes squinted a bit as he struggled to identify what he was seeing. Derek knew when the light came on; saw it in the way his old friend’s face smoothed out in disbelief. A low, gravelly laugh shook his chest and his head fell back against the pillow.
Like a shot, Austin was by his side, staring down at him as if he’d just discovered Atlantis.
“What in holy hell am I lookin’ at!” he exclaimed in a whisper as he loosened the tape from Derek’s mouth. “You’re about the prettiest goddamned sight for sore eyes I’ve ever seen!”
Austin had him by the face in a death grip that spoke volumes. Derek’s smile was big now that he could actually produce one. “Yeah, brother,” he rasped, “I’m glad to see you, too.”
“We all thought you were dead!”
It was something he’d feared since learning of Ty’s deceit. If the man could lie about the welfare of the others, he could lie about his, too. But their existence was in very real jeopardy at the moment. “We’ll both be dead if we don’t get out of here soon.”
Austin was already sawing at the rope with his pocketknife. “Believe me, you have no idea what almost just happened. I had that flame to the fuse and something told me not to light it. I don’t know what it was...” When Derek’s wrists were free, he moved to the foot of the bed and worked on the ropes at his ankles. “Something... a voice in my head telling me I needed to see what that freak-ass noise was. I nearly shit myself thinking the ghosts were closing in.”
Derek struggled to sit up, but his muscles were tight, making it damned near impossible. “What fuse?”
“I have a pound of C4 set to take out the power distribution and another pound for the emergency backup generators.”
Damn! “A little excessive, don’t you think?”
“Who cares?”
Derek was free. His wrists and ankles were rubbed raw, but he was finally able to swing his feet to the floor. “I’d have been blown to hell along with half the basement,” he observed with wonder, babying the soreness in his chest.
“But you weren’t!” Austin exclaimed, folding the knife and returning it to his back pocket. “That’s the weird part, man, I’m telling you something told me not to light that fuse! You are the luckiest bastard alive!” And he clapped his hands around Derek’s face once again, gave him an overzealous shake. “Jesus, man! You’re alive!”
“Ow,” Derek shook the fog from his brain. “You just head-butted me, dude.”
Austin beamed with excitement. “Oh, I’m sorry, Mary, did that hurt?”
Derek fell back to the mattress and groaned. “Hell yeah, it hurt. Everything hurts.”
Austin twisted until he was wedged beneath Derek’s arm. “At least you aren’t dead.” He hoisted him up and gave him the support he needed to walk.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of pep-talk?”
They shuffled one step at a time. “If that doesn’t work for you,” Austin said, “maybe this’ll help.”
They rounded the doorway and entered the main electrical room. Huffing from his exertions, Derek inspected the plastic explosive Austin had wedged in strategic places. “Yep. That’ll do it.”
Austin’s mouth spread wide. “What do you say, brother? You light one while I light the other?”
A thought gave Derek pause. “There’s a laptop in that room we were just in. It might be useful.”
While Austin disappeared to retrieve it, Derek propped against the doorway, gazed at the unassuming gray bricks of putty. Wow. This is really going to happen.
When Austin reappeared with the laptop under his arm, he grabbed the box of matches he’d left earlier. “Now, when those fuses light, we won’t have much time to make it out since I didn’t plan on being hampered by a cripple.”
“Cripple my ass.” Derek took the offered match, looked at it and then at the long fuse of the blasting cap closest to him. His grin appeared. “I feel like it’s my fuckin’ birthday.”
They laughed together, something they hadn’t done since they were sixteen. “Let’s do it, birthday boy,” Austin said, handing him the matchbox.
Derek accepted the gift. “Try to keep up while I show you the way out, Cahill.”
And they struck them together. The flames hissed and flared. Austin nodded above the glow. “Show me the way, Bennett.”
Chapter 30
“Where the hel
l is he?” Danny paced, checked her watch. “He should have been done and out by now.”
But the lights of IGP headquarters were still on in a few random windows. It was a big building. People were inside, but only a handful would actually get hurt in the explosion. Not nearly enough in Melanie’s book. They waited in the woods in back. Insects sang loudly around them and it frustrated her that she couldn’t hear better if someone were to sneak up on them. The longer they stayed, the greater their chances of being caught.
Come! On!
DJ slept in her arms and she worried over the fact he still hadn’t woken up despite Ty’s assurance he would. Her eyes darted over to the ghost in Mac’s big, burly embrace. Crystal had quit struggling against it as she finally accepted her fate.
A boom vibrated the ground beneath their feet. Glass shattered from the first few floors of the building and everything went completely dark.
“Wait...” Danny shielded her eyes from the moonlight overhead. “Did anyone see Austin come out?”
“I haven’t seen anything yet,” Mac answered guardedly.
“No. No, no, no, no...” Panic edged Danny’s voice as she paced. Hands on hips, she chewed her bottom lip.
“Don’t even think about it, Monkey,” Mac warned, using the pet name she’d acquired at Cahill Salvage. “He’ll be coming along any time.”
Still nothing. A cloud of smoke and dust began to billow out of the entrance they’d left propped open just in case Austin needed direction in the darkness. Danny rested hands on knees, panting like crazy as she continued to watch for signs.
Finally, she straightened. “I’m going in.”
“Danny, don’t do this to me!” Mac hissed. “Boss will have my ass!”
“Only if he makes it out,” Melanie said grimly. She could feel Mac’s glare as soon as the words left her mouth.
“Not you, too,” he rumbled. “You ought to know him better than that by now. You both should.”
“No one is invincible, Mac.” The angry pessimist in her came out in full force. “After everything that’s happened, I don’t blame her for wanting to go check.”