Chapter Forty-One
Jackson ran through the halls of the sub-basement toward the room that led to the Bilco doors.
His chest hurt. His throat was dry and scratchy.
Mimi was being held captive. Kara was going to die.
He had to get help. The terror in Mimi’s eyes flashed in his mind.
He had to do something. He was all turned around. He couldn’t think straight.
The passageway ended in a “T”. Jackson looked from left to right.
His shoulders ached from the heft of the fire extinguisher.
He set it down and leaned against the wall, breathing hard, willing himself to remember which way to turn.
Sweat dripped down his neck and back, despite the brisk basement air.
He took a deep breath and started down the passageway to his right.
Cobwebs brushed against his face, sticking to his eyebrows.
He batted at them, focusing on finding a way out.
A room opened before him. A solitary light bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a soft, yellow glow in the bleak, deserted chamber.
Jackson glanced behind him, then rushed toward the Bilco doors.
A thick, heavy chain held fast, strewn between the rusted handles like handcuffs.
“Damn it,” he cursed. He looked around for something, anything to help him break the chains. It was his only way out. The room was empty.
“No, no, no, no, no,” he said, walking in a circle in the room.
Come on, think, he told himself. He tried to remember where there might be a crowbar or some other instrument he could use to break the lock.
He brought his fist back to bang on the metal doors, then lowered it, fearing the attention it would draw from Mimi and Kara’s captor.
His shoulders curled forward. He had to figure out something.
He ran back toward the stairs that led to the basement.
He had to take his chances and get back to the room where he’d lost his cell phone. It was the only way out.
Roland stumbled through the darkened halls. Now he’d done it. Mimi and Kara would both die. That wasn’t the plan. The bitch would be with them forever now. Everything was ruined. He passed the elevators and weaved his way back toward the room where he’d left that nosey coworker of Marissa’s.
A door behind him creaked open.
Roland spun around, his heart pounding. He pressed his body against the wall and watched a mouse of a man peer around the door.
He could run into the door and break his neck.
He drew his hands together in clenched fists.
No, no, he wasn’t taking anyone else with him.
The desire to snap the intruder’s neck was strong—nagging at him like a craving.
Roland suppressed the urge to crush anyone who stood in his way.
He just had to make it until their birthday, then this would all be over.
He reached into his pocket and rubbed the photograph of Marissa, calming his pounding heart.
He moved slowly away from the view of the door.
The man crept quietly out from the doorway and walked in the opposite direction from where Roland stood.
Roland watched him walk toward the room where that stoner kid had gotten in. Shit. He couldn’t let him leave. He had no choice. He’d have to remove him from the equation or he’d get the police. Roland walked quietly down the corridor, stalking his prey.
“We have to get you out of here,” Mimi said to Kara. “This is our only chance. We have to escape.”
Kara was silent.
Mimi spun around. “Kara, now. We have to go.” Her daughter’s eyes were closed. Spittle dribbled down her chin. Mimi’s heart jumped. “Kara!” She pulled her daughter to her chest. “Kara, wake up,” she sobbed.
Kara’s body was dead weight in her arms.
Mimi pressed her ear to Kara’s lips. Breathing. Thank God. Mimi’s heart raced within her chest.
“I’ll get you out of here, baby.” She laid Kara down gently.
Mimi stared into the dark, empty hallway.
She had to risk it. She had to get help.
She walked slowly down the hall, listening for Roland.
An eerie silence surrounded her. The dim, yellow glow of the emergency lights revealed particles of coal dust in the air, like a fine mist. Mimi quickened her pace, heading for the elevators.
Jackson was probably already on his way with the police.
God, she hoped he was. Where is Ted? Oh, God!
Had Roland killed him, too? She held back her tears and tethered her urge to run screaming for help.
Wherever Roland was, she needed the time to get Kara to safety.
The elevator doors were partially open. Mimi banged on the button, watching from side to side for Roland.
She turned back to the elevator, pushing the buttons repeatedly.
The electricity. Damn it. She hurried past the elevators and ran around the metal cart.
She stopped, looked back, and contemplated the cart.
Wheels! She’d use the cart to move Kara.
She’d get her out of here. She had to. God only knew how much time she had—if she had any.
Mimi pinched her eyes shut, willing herself to not think about the worst.
The wheels of the cart rattled as Mimi pushed it down the hallway.
She cringed at every sound as she moved quickly toward Kara, her senses on high alert.
She focused on getting down the corridor without running into Roland.
She could see the room, just ahead. A sharp pain moved through her stomach, fear prickling her skin. The antifreeze!
Kara was in the same position as Mimi had left her. Mimi rushed to her and touched her neck, feeling for a pulse. She whispered, “Kara? Kara, honey?” A lump swelled in Mimi’s throat. “Kara?”
There was no response.
Mimi rushed to the back room and picked up the bottle of alcohol she’d tucked away earlier.
She swigged it down, wincing at the burn as it slid down her throat.
She clenched her eyes shut, willing herself to drink more.
Roland isn’t as sick as Kara, she thought.
The alcohol should work. She guzzled down some more.
Heat burned across her chest and up her neck.
She rushed to Kara’s side; she bent Kara’s head back and poured the alcohol down her throat. It pooled in her mouth.
“No. Oh, baby.” Mimi moved quickly, turning Kara’s head to face the floor.
The liquid ran out onto the floor. She tucked the bottle into the back of her pants and slid her hands under Kara’s armpits.
She walked backward toward the cart, dragging Kara’s legs through the small puddle of antifreeze, leaving wet streaks on the floor.
Mimi put Kara’s shoulders on the cart, then lifted her legs, swinging them to the side and up onto the cart.
Mimi pushed the cart into the hallway, her heart pounding in her ears.
Roland would be back any second, she just knew it.
She had no idea where she would take Kara, but she had to find a way out. The elevators and stairs were not an option. There was no way she could carry Kara up the stairs. Where was Ted when she needed him? Where the hell were the police? Didn’t anyone know they were in trouble?
She pushed the cart toward the elevators, then remembered the room Kara had been trying to escape from when Roland had found her. Yes! She would find that room.
Mimi’s muscles complained with each step as she pushed the cumbersome and heavy cart.
It vibrated beneath her hands as the wheels creaked along the uneven concrete floor.
Where was that damn room? A noise burst through her thoughts, echoing off the concrete walls. Mimi froze, listened. Shit. Shit. Shit.
She reached down and touched Kara, then pulled the alcohol from behind her and took another long drink.
The liquid burned as it slid down her throat, like knives dragging slowly along her esophagus.
She swallowed, gathering her courage. The noise faded into silence.
Mimi pushed forward, leaning over the cart, putting all her weight into her effort.
An opening appeared on her right, a room with barrels on either side, a walkway in the center.
Light dissipated quickly from the bulb in the ceiling, leaving the edges of the room dark.
Mimi pushed the cart into the room, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from her brow.
She felt blindly along the walls, her fingers trailing along the darkness.
She felt with both hands in front of her—a gap, a doorframe, a handle.
She reached for the handle, turning it slowly in her palm.
The room before her was pitch black. Mimi peered inside, looking for movement, listening for shuffling, any sounds that would indicate someone or something was inside.
Silence. She rushed to the cart and pushed it to the side of the room. She had to hide Kara.
Another bang echoed in the corridors.
She lifted Kara’s shoulders and dragged her toward the pitch-black room, her heart pounding so loudly she swore it would give them away.
Each drag took all of her might. Mimi stopped before the opening to catch her breath, then, with a groan, she pulled Kara’s unconscious body backward, into the darkened room, laid her gently on the floor, and closed the door behind her.
Her hands flailed in the darkness, trying to find anything they could hide behind.
Her shin banged into something and she cried out, immediately clasping her hand over her mouth.
She bent down and felt the sharp edges and angled metal of the thing before her.
She dropped to her knees, using her hands to feel along the floor.
She found a narrow path between large heavy, metal objects on her left—machinery, she imagined—and what felt like stacks of loose metal objects to her right.
She crawled a few more feet, breathing hard and feeling along the floor before each kneeling push forward.
Her outstretched hands touched something immovable.
She stood, running her hands up and across the jagged concrete wall.
Her heart ached, and the pain in her stomach made her double over.
She pulled out the alcohol, unsure of its effects, and swigged it down.
She couldn’t give up. She had to save Kara.
She silently prayed for Jackson to bring help.
She’d stay put until help arrived—if help arrived.
Mimi bent down and felt her way to the corner of the wall.
Her shaking fingers trailed along the concrete.
Part of her hoped for a door, and part of her was too scared of what might lay beyond it if she found one.
She knelt down and felt two large pieces of machinery, side by side.
She inched between the wall and the equipment, feeling behind them.
Her heart raced—just enough space to hide.
She hurried back to Kara, careful to avoid the shin-height obstacles.
With a heavy heart, she knelt next to Kara and placed her hand upon her chest, her cheek next to her daughter’s lips.
She could not feel any sensation beneath her hand.
Kara’s skin was cold. Mimi pressed her lips against her daughter’s cheek, leaving a sweet kiss there.
Then she lowered her own cheek to Kara’s mouth.
Her baby’s soft breaths, like warm tufts of wind, brought tears to her eyes. She hadn’t lost her yet.