Sudden Danger

by Sharon Sala

  She stood with her ear to the door, her heart pounding as she waited for him to pass by. Moments later she heard the faint clank of metal against metal and knew he was coming closer. She looked out the peephole just in time to see him pass by and then he was gone.

  Determined not to let that ruin her shopping trip, she hurried to her bedroom to change clothes. The stores would be crowded with after Christmas shoppers but there was nothing to be done for the fact. She wanted to get the baby’s gift in the mail as soon as possible.

  As she was changing, Scott was downstairs, talking to the building superintendent.

  “The maintenance man,” Scott asked. “How long has he been with you?”

  “Almost a year. He’s a good worker. Never late and knows his stuff.”

  “Does he live on the premises?” Scott asked.

  “No, why?”

  “Just checking,” Scott asked, then started to leave when he noticed a huge stack of pornographic magazines on the floor by the sofa. “Do a lot of reading?” he asked.

  The super caught the drift of Scott’s gaze and grinned.

  “Oh, yeah…I’ve got a real intellectual mind.”

  Scott looked at him again, seeing the grease spots on the belly of his shirt, the stub of an unlit cigar hanging from the corner of his mouth and the dissolute expression in his eyes.

  “How do you spell your name?” he asked abruptly.

  The smile froze on the man’s face. He blinked twice, as if trying to come to terms with the question, and then yanked the cigar from his mouth.

  “That’s Abrams. Pete Abrams. A-b-r-a-m-s.”

  Scott wrote it down without speaking, gave the man another long, studied look and then left.

  Pete Abrams shuddered slightly as he shut the door, then jammed the cigar back into his mouth. To hell with cops. Who needed them?

  Chapter 4

  The shopping bags in Kristie’s arms were getting heavy as she came out of the last store. It had been impossible for her to stop at just one gift for the baby and the longer she’d looked, the more she’d bought. It was only after she realized she’d bought more than she could comfortably carry that she’d decided it was time to go home.

  As she came out to the street, the rain that Marjorie had warned about was just starting to fall. Kristie dashed toward the curb to hail a cab. Luckily, one was just unloading a passenger in front of the department store. She ducked into the cab, her lap full of shopping bags, and leaned back against the seat, gave the driver her address, then breathed a slow sigh of relief. By the time the cab arrived at her apartment building, the rain was coming down in sheets.

  “Driver, would you please pull into the parking garage. I’ll take the elevator up from there.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and accelerated past the front door to the parking area a hundred yards ahead.

  He turned right and took the tunnel into the garage. As he did, the cessation of rain upon the cab was abrupt and welcoming.

  “There,” Kristie said, pointing toward a single elevator to their left. “I’ll get out here, and thank you,” she added as she paid him and gathered up her bags.

  He drove away, leaving her to make her way to the elevator on her own.

  Kristie punched the button on the wall and glanced back toward the street as she waited for the elevator car to arrive. She knew it was deceiving, but from where she was standing, the rain looked solid. Visibility was nil beyond the entrance to the garage. As she stared into the downpour, she thought she saw someone step out from the street, start into the garage, then stop abruptly.

  At that moment she remembered Scott’s warning not to drive because there would be an inevitable time when she’d be alone in the garage. She hadn’t driven, but she’d still wound up in the parking garage, and she was still alone. A little nervous, she punched the up button again, although she knew from experience that the car would not arrive any sooner. When she turned around to look back at the street, the figure that she’d seen was gone.

  Breathing a quick sigh of relief, she readjusted the bags she was holding and settled down to wait. As she did, one car came down from one of the upper levels and took the exit out onto the street. A short while later a second car did the same, and still she waited. Just as she was about to decide that the elevator was out of order, the doors opened and two men exited. She recognized them as residents in the building and nodded cordially as she entered the car. She punched the fifth-floor button, then braced herself against the back wall as the car jerked, then started its ascent.

  She was picturing the look on her sister’s face upon opening the baby gifts and wishing she could present them in person when the car suddenly shuddered to a halt. Thinking that had been a shorter ride than normal, she waited for the door to open. When it did not, she looked up at the number display above the door and frowned. The display was off. She knew it wasn’t a power failure, because the light was still on in the car. She had no sooner thought it when the car suddenly went dark.

  “Oh, no,” she muttered. Dropping her packages where she stood, she felt her way toward the floor panel and used the flat of her hand to push at the buttons in the hope that one of them would be the alarm. But nothing sounded.

  It wasn’t the first time this had happened in the building, but it was the first time Kristie had been involved. Feeling her way toward the doors, she began pounding on them with her fists and yelling as loudly as she could.

  “Help!” she yelled, and pounded on the door of the car. “Somebody help me.”

  “What’s wrong, Kristie Ann? Are you beginning to feel a little trapped?”

  Kristie froze. She knew the voice. She’d heard it before, in the middle of the night, on her phone. She plastered herself against the back wall of the car and willed herself not to scream.

  “I’m up here,” the voice said.

  Although it was pitch-black in the car, she looked up instinctively, remembering the trap door in the ceiling. Fear shot through her body, piercing her like a knife and leaving her feeling helpless and trapped. With nowhere to run and no one to help her, she was at her stalker’s mercy.

  Suddenly she thought of the cell phone in her purse. She dropped to her knees and began digging through the bags until she found it on the floor beneath the sacks.

  Her stalker laughed. “I hear you, Kristie. Are you on your knees? That’s good. One should always pray before dying…just in case that fairy story about a heaven is really true.”

  Kristie’s hands were shaking as she finally felt the phone beneath her fingers. She yanked it out, shielded it with her body so he wouldn’t see the face when it lit up, and dialed 911, mentally counting the rings until the dispatcher answered.

  “Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?” a woman asked.

  Kristie’s voice was shaking so hard it was all she could do to speak.

  “Help! I need help! I’m trapped in the elevator of my apartment and a man who’s been stalking me is on top of the car.”

  “What is the address?” the dispatcher asked.

  Kristie blurted out the address and then started to cry.

  “Please…please… Oh, God…don’t let him get me.”

  A soft, evil chuckle drifted down to her from above. Then he spoke, his voice little more than a loud whisper.

  “Why, Kristie, why did you go and do that? We don’t need anyone else for our little party. Besides, it’s already too late. I already have you. You’re mine. Anytime. Anywhere.”

  Bile rose in the back of her throat as she crawled on her hands and knees into the opposite corner of the car.

  “Ma’am! Ma’am! Are you still with me?”

  Kristie put the phone back to her ear. “Yes. I’m here, oh, hurry. Please tell them to hurry.”

  “There’s a patrol car less than two blocks away,” the dispatcher said. “Just stay with me. They’ll be there in minutes.”

  “I’m stuck between floors and the power is off.”

  The dispat
cher relayed the information, then got back to Kristie.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Kristie Samuels. Tell Detective Scott Wade. He knows about the man. He knows I’m being stalked.”

  Immediately, the dispatcher had another person relay the information to the Chicago P.D. while Kristie waited with one ear tilted toward the ceiling, praying she didn’t hear the sound of that panel coming off, praying that her stalker would not suddenly drop into her lap.

  There was a loud thump, as if someone had hit the top of the car with a fist, then the voice, taunting her once more.

  “Kristie…my Kristie. You had no right to drag someone else into our world. Our relationship was special and now you’ve ruined it,” he said. “You have to be punished.”

  “You’re crazy!” Kristie screamed. “Do you hear me? How can there be an us when I don’t even know your name. You’re nothing to me but a bad dream. Leave me alone! Just leave me alone.”

  “Kristie! Is he still on the car, above you?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Yes.”

  “The officers are pulling up in front of your building. They’re on the way. They’re on the way.”

  * * *

  Scott had been worrying about Kristie for more than an hour. Finally he’d gotten tired of waiting for her to call and was on his way to her apartment. Unfortunately, the weather was impeding the flow of traffic and it was getting worse by the minute. He’d expected to hear from her hours ago and had called her apartment three times already, but gotten nothing but the answering machine for his troubles. How long could it take to buy a baby gift?

  He was less than five blocks from her apartment when his cell phone rang. Pausing at a red light, he answered absently, but his focus shifted as Kristie’s frantic plea for help was relayed to him. At that point, panic set in. It didn’t take long for him to realize his promise to protect Kristie might have been futile. He slapped the portable police light onto the dashboard just as the traffic signal turned green, then accelerated through the intersection, trying not to think of the danger she was in.

  He reached the building in record time, pulling up right behind a police cruiser that was skidding to a stop. He got out on the run, flashing his badge at them as rain beat against his face.

  “Kristie Samuels! What’s her status?” he yelled.

  One officer answered as they ran. “She’s stuck in the parking garage elevator. The power is off and there’s some nut on the roof of the car who’s hassling her.”

  Scott pushed past them and ran into the building. He hit the door to the stairwell with the flat of his hand and bolted up the stairs. Halfway up the first flight, he heard Kristie screaming and his blood ran cold. The two officers were right behind him, their footsteps thundering as the men raced to save her. With the car stuck between floors, they needed to cover all their options, so one of the officers exited on the second floor while Scott and the other one kept going. They went up to the third-floor landing and were about to head up to the fourth when Scott stopped and listened. He could still hear her screaming, but the sound seemed to come from below him now.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  The other officer pointed. “I think she’s below us.”

  “Me, too,” Scott said. Taking a chance that she was stuck between the second and third floors, they exited the stairwell on the run.

  The maintenance man was coming down the hallway.

  “The elevator!” Scott yelled. “Which way to the elevator?”

  The man pointed behind him and then stepped aside as Scott and the officer ran past. Seconds later, he took off down the hall, running in the opposite direction. Scott didn’t see his reaction to their appearance, and at that moment, wouldn’t have cared. His focus was on the ear-piercing shrieks coming up the elevator shaft.

  He reached the doors and punched the button, but it was obvious that the power was still off.

  “Kristie! I’m here!” he shouted. “I’m coming to help.”

  He thrust his fingers into the crack between the doors and started to pull, but before he could make any headway, the car began to move upward. He banged on the doors and then punched the button, trying desperately to make the car stop, but it moved past the floor and continued to go up.

  Panicked, he and the officer dashed back to the stairwell and started up. By the time Scott reached the fifth floor, his heart was hammering against his chest and sweat was running down the middle of his back. He burst into the fifth-floor hallway while the other officer was still negotiating the stairs. He turned a corner and looked for the doors. The car was just coming to a halt. He heard the familiar ping signaling that the elevator car was at this floor. The doors were opening just as he dashed into the small foyer, but when he realized that Kristie was no longer screaming, his heart sank. Was he too late? Had the stalker already done his worst?

  “Please, God,” Scott muttered as he dashed forward and grabbed at the doors, forcing them open faster than they were meant to go.

  To his relief, Kristie was not only alive, but standing in the corner of the car. He started toward her then realized that she didn’t even know he was there. Her face was devoid of color, her gaze fixed upon the ceiling of the car and the gaping hole above her head.

  Scott saw the screened panel from the ceiling lying on the floor in front of her and immediately pulled his gun. He could only imagine her fear when it had hit the floor of the car, believing that the stalker would follow suit.

  Only a second passed before he put himself between her and danger. Moments later, the other officer arrived, took stock of the situation and radioed his partner on the floor below that the stalker had escaped.

  “Seal off the building and call for backup,” Scott said, holstering his gun as he turned to Kristie. “Honey… Kristie Ann…”

  She shuddered and then swayed on her feet.

  Scott reached for her. “Kristie…it’s over, honey. He’s gone.”

  She looked at him then, her gaze shattered and unfocused.

  “It won’t ever be over,” she mumbled, and then fainted in his arms.

  * * *

  Kristie awakened in her bed and for a moment couldn’t remember what had happened or how she’d gotten here. Then suddenly everything came flooding back.

  Scott was coming out of the bathroom with a wet washcloth when he saw her eyes opening. Remembering what she’d just gone through, he tossed the washcloth back into the sink and then called out her name, wanting her to know she wasn’t alone.

  “Kristie.”

  She gasped, then turned toward the sound of his voice. Within seconds, she was out of the bed and in his arms.

  “He was here…in my building…on top of the elevator car. I heard him, laughing, taunting me. Oh, God… Oh, Scott…how did he know I’d be in the elevator? How could he know? Is he following me everywhere I go?”

  Scott held her close because it was all he could do. Never had he felt so helpless or so afraid.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he kept saying. “Halfway up the stairs I heard you screaming. Dear God, Kristie…I was so afraid I wouldn’t get to you in time.”

  She laid her cheek against the front of his shirt, wrapped her arms around his waist and just held him. There was no way to describe how safe she felt within his arms. She didn’t want to ever let him go.

  “I’m not safe anywhere anymore,” she said. “Oh, God…I don’t want to die.”

  Scott tunneled his fingers through her hair and then tilted her head until they were looking into each other’s eyes.

  “I won’t let that happen,” he promised.

  “You can’t stop it,” Kristie moaned. “He knows where I live, where I work, what I’m doing, where I’m going. He’s playing with me, Scotty. He’s waiting for the moment when it’s no longer fun and then he’ll kill me. That’s what I believe.”

  “Believe in me, Kristie Ann. I need you to believe that we’re going to find him and we’re go
ing to put him away for a long, long time. I need you to trust me when I tell you that I won’t let you die.”

  Kristie shuddered, then closed her eyes and leaned forward, resting her forehead against his chest.

  Scott’s lips thinned into a hard, angry line as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

  “We’re going to make this okay. I don’t yet know how, but we will.”

  He felt her go limp as she stood within the circle of his arms. Silence lengthened between them. Kristie was the first to pull herself away. She looked around the room in some confusion.

  “What are you looking for?” Scott asked.

  “The baby presents. They were in the elevator with me.”

  “The officers brought them in for you. They’re in the living room.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” She looked at him and sighed. “I’m sorry. That must seem like such an inconsequential thing to worry about after what just happened.”

  “You don’t apologize for anything,” he said.

  She shuddered, then straightened. “I’m suddenly so cold,” she said. “I think I’ll make some coffee. Want some?”

  “Yes, but let me do it,” he said.

  She looked at him and managed a wan smile.

  “Your coffee tastes like mud.”

  “Well, I told you I couldn’t cook, but with that much caffeine, I damn sure don’t go to sleep on the job.”

  “I’ll make the coffee. You can watch,” Kristie said.

  “Deal,” Scott said, and put his arm around her as they walked out of the room.

  But the good mood lasted only until they walked into her kitchen.

  There, written in red on the door of the refrigerator were the words You Can Run But You Can’t Hide.

  Her heart stopped and then resumed its beat in a rapid and irregular rhythm. He’d been inside her home. He’d touched her things. She felt as violated by the message as if he’d put himself inside her body. She covered her face with her hands.

  Scott grabbed her and pulled her out of the room as he took his phone from his pocket.