Chapter Thirty-Seven
The darkness folded in around Kelly Ingersol, thickening as she watched the minutes tick by on a Rolex watch.
Sitting in the nearly deserted parking lot of the Charlestown Navy Yard visitor’s center, she stared into the expanding night. She checked her watch again as the waif stood in the tunnel’s entrance, fidgeting nervously, waiting for their target to arrive. Cold beginning to settle in to her bones once more, Kelly turned on the heater and checked her watch a third time. Murphy was late.
She dared not move any closer to the tunnel for fear that Murphy might see her or sense the trap.
Where is he?
Tense and expectant, she felt no small measure of relief at the sight of the single figure approaching from within the tunnel. A small red glow bobbed and weaved as the waif’s cigarette arched into the snow before she entered the tunnel to meet Murphy.
“Finally…” Kelly muttered, the echo’s energy magnified by her seclusion.
Suddenly feeling a rare flash of uncertainty, Kelly stood on pins and needles, tension gnawing at her senses while she waited for the pair to emerge from the darkness.
This is taking too long!
Seeing the tunnel entrance was still clear, she left the relative warmth of her car and moved closer to the edge of the lot. The cold forcing her breath into quick gasps, she stepped further into the shadows behind a small concrete barrier separating the old naval base from the rest of the public park.
She quickly scanned the area for any signs of observance and finding none, sprinted to cover the last few yards from the barrier to the tunnel entrance. She stopped and listened, now standing only feet away from where her accomplice had been smoking a minute before. She waited, listening to her heartbeat in her ears for several tense seconds before the sound of footsteps surrounded her. Kelly palmed the gleaming automatic, silently racked the slide and crossed her arms to hide the weapon in the folds of her Norwegian blue fox coat.
She stole a look down the tunnel and could just catch a glimpse of the pair as they closed the distance to where she stood. Walking briskly against the falling temperature, they moved closer and stepped into a circle of dull yellow light, the dingy ring cast by a bare bulb hanging from the tunnel’s plywood ceiling. Between the footsteps, muted words drifted to her on the frozen air.
“All right Susie, where’s my bag?” Murphy asked. “I have a plane to catch.”
“It’s close,” she said.
“Why didn’t you bring it with you?”
“Because I want my money first,” she said. “You promised me two hundred bucks and I want it now.”
“You’ll get your money.” he waved his hand in dismissal.
“That’s right, I’ll get it. Then you get your bag.”
His voice suddenly became menacing. “Don’t push me. It’s not a good idea.”
The waif steeled herself, putting her hands on her hips in defiance. “I’m not pushing. I just want what’s mine.”
His motions a blur, Sean’s right hand shot out, fingers tangling in her hair. Pulling hard enough to make her squeal, he yanked her matted tresses and drew her near. He leaned in still closer, his face twisted in anger. Stopping only inches from her nose, he hissed through clenched teeth. “Give me my bag. I’m not going to ask again.”
Keeping to the impenetrable shadows along the walls of the tunnel, Kelly crept up on the arguing pair undetected. Stepping into the dim light, she placed the automatic next to Murphy’s ear. Hearing the unique metallic click of the weapon’s hammer, he froze in mid-sentence.
“Let her go,” Kelly ordered, her controlled voice projecting a dispassionate calm she didn’t feel. “Both of you face the wall…now!”
He released the woman’s hair and the pair turned away from the pistol’s cold barrel.
“On your knees!”
When he hesitated, she kicked Murphy behind his right knee, dropping him to the cold ground with a painful grunt. She moved closer, placing the barrel of the automatic against the back of his head.
“Hands behind your back.”
Murphy turned to his captor. “Who are you and what do you want?”
“No talking!” Kelly barked. “Just sit there and shut up!”
“You’re making a mistake. I demand you release me immediately!” he said, the words echoing off the tunnel’s makeshift walls. “You have no idea who I am.”
“I know exactly who you are…Mr. Murphy,” Kelly replied, an artificial sweetness dripping from her voice. “Why do you think I’m here?”
“You,” She barked a command at the woman facing the wall, handing her a zip-tie and a blindfold. “Put this on him.”
The gaunt woman moved in behind Murphy and slipped the tie around his wrists, effectively binding the man.
Trembling, the younger woman then tied the blindfold tightly around Murphy’s eyes before stepped back, turning to the woman, and the gun, now facing her.”
“Your turn. On your knees and face the wall.” Kelly ordered.
The kneeling woman began to shake violently. “Please, don’t…don’t do this!”
“You know too much. I’m sorry.”
Kelly carefully aimed the pistol and squeezed the trigger. The shot rang out with the clarity of a church bell. The ominous concussion split the silence of the tunnel, careening off the walls and rolling away in concentric waves. As the echo of the blast faded, Murphy finally spoke in an unsteady voice, “Y-y-you killed her didn’t you?”
“She saw me.”
“I’ve seen you. Are you going to kill me next?”
“You still have value… for the moment. Now get up!”
She pulled him to his feet, poking him in the back with the automatic’s sharp barrel.
“Move.” she ordered, pushing him forward as she guided him back toward the tunnel’s entrance and the tenuous safety of her waiting car.
Loading Murphy into the back seat of her rental, she slammed the door and seconds later the engine sputtered to life. Kelly watched with a carefully controlled relief as the form of the small thin woman crept from the tunnel entrance. Kelly followed her progress as she sprinted across the parking lot under the dim lights to make her way into the bushes along the riverbank. With a quick look over her shoulder, the waif disappeared between the branches and into the night.
Reaching over the seat, she laid the barrel of the automatic against Murphy’s chin, feeling his body tense as he flinched in fear.
“If you want to live, sit still and don’t make a sound,” she ordered. “We’re going someplace we can talk.”
Kelly turned on the heater and a small breeze of warm air began to fill the cabin. She put the car in gear and pulled out of the empty parking lot into the heavy evening traffic.
"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Page 48