Justice for Hire (28 page)

The bolt scraped as she pulled it back. She eased the door open and stepped inside.

David sat up abruptly as his mouth dropped open, his eyes wide. He stood and watched her curiously as she approached. “Who are you?”

She shushed him with a finger to her lips, and whispered, “Shhhh. I’m here to help you. My name is Annie.”

He whispered back, “Can you get me out of here?”

“I’ll try.”

He frowned at her. “Are you alone?”

Annie nodded. “I’m alone, but I think my husband is in here somewhere.”

He looked at her doubtfully. “There are at least four of them. Two monsters and two doctors.”

“One of the monsters is outside. I saw him earlier, and he’ll be back soon, so we have to hurry.”

He looked her up and down. “You don’t look like you could handle them. Do you have a gun?”

She shook her head. “No gun, but they don’t know I’m here.” She slipped her cell phone from her back pocket and worked it frantically. “No signal,” she said, as she moved to the door. “I need to find my husband, and then get outside and call the police.”

She opened the door a couple of inches and peered into the hallway, straight into the startled eyes of a man in a long white coat. Annie jumped back as he sprang forward and pushed the door.

“It’s Muller,” David whispered.

She backed up against the wall as the doctor took a step into the room.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Annie remained silent and wished she’d brought a tire iron with her.

David had moved to the side of the room, his back to the wall. In her peripheral vision, she saw him push off the wall and spring forward. He tackled the doctor, forcing both of them to their knees.

Annie didn’t hesitate. She moved in to help David, who had been thrown backwards, his arms pinned underneath, struggling against the larger man on top. She gritted her teeth and aimed the heel of her running shoe at Muller’s head. The blow stunned him, long enough to allow David to free his arms and help Annie force the man to his back.

With the look of a maniac in his eyes, David straddled Muller and pounded his captor’s face, over and over. The doctor’s breath rasped, and blood spewed from his nose and mouth, as he fought to breathe, until finally he stopped struggling and lay still.

Annie reached out, clenched the furious boy’s shoulder, and spoke sharply. “David. That’s enough.”

David took one last blow, and then sat back and looked up. He panted, his breath coming in short, quick gasps.

“It’s over, David.”

The boy stood and looked at his hands, spattered with blood. “He deserved it,” he said, as he gazed on the ruined face of the doctor.

“I’m sure he did, but we’ll lock him in here and go.”

David looked at her and nodded.

Chapter 60

Friday, August 26th, 2:37 PM

JAKE HAD BEEN trying to loosen the hinges on his cell door.

He had been able to twist loose a piece of iron bar from the cot, and was using it to work at the metal pins that held the door securely, but at this rate, it would take him hours to get free.

He didn’t have hours to waste. Annie was in danger and he was desperate to get to her.

He stepped back to the side of the door, out of sight, when he heard the viewing panel slide back, and then a faint voice came through the glass. “Nobody in here.”

It was Annie.

He spun back to the door and looked through the panel, straight into Annie’s eyes. He tossed the metal bar aside, as the bolt was slid, and the door swung open. She dashed forward and wrapped herself around him as he smothered her in his arms, planting kisses on her hair.

She looked up at him. “Are you ok?”

He grinned at her. “I am now.”

Annie pulled loose and motioned toward David who had stepped into the room. “This is David Haines.”

Jake recognized the boy from the photo. He nodded at David and asked, “Do you know your way around here?”

David shook his head. “I haven’t been outside of my cell until now.”

“Then, let’s go,” Jake said, as he moved to the doorway. He peeked into the hall. “All clear. Stay behind me.”

Jake led the way, and they moved cautiously into the passageway. He spun toward the door leading to the garage as he heard a metallic scrape, and the door began to open.

He turned and motioned with his arm, and he and David flattened against the wall. Annie dashed back into the open cell, out of sight.

The thug appeared and stopped short when he saw the intruders. With a low growl he wrenched his pistol from its holster across his chest and leveled it.

The goon’s small eyes became smaller. “Don’t move,” he said, as his mouth twisted into a cruel smile.

Jake and David raised their arms. They were a few feet away, and Jake calculated his chances. They didn’t look good.

The villain waved his gun toward the open cell and advanced a couple of steps. “Get back in there, both of you.”

David dashed back into the room. Jake stood still and scrutinized the goon, his flat ears, his square head, and a scarred face, which looked like it had been punched one too many times. Maybe not so bright, but he looked like he could use a gun.

“Get in there,” the goon repeated.

Jake took a backwards step into the cell.

The man eased forward and gestured with the weapon. “Back up.”

Jake retreated into the room and stopped beside David, his back to the wall.

“Shut the door,” the goon ordered.

Jake stood still.

The goon frowned, forced his small brain to make a decision, and then took a step and reached for the door handle.

“Don’t you want my gun?” Jake asked.

The man paused and glared.

“It’s in my belt, behind my back.”

The goon advanced one step. “Turn around.”

Jake turned toward the wall and raised his arms, his palms against the concrete. The man stepped forward and frowned. “I don’t see it.”

Annie stepped from behind the door and swung the iron bar. The goon wobbled on his feet, and his gun arm dropped to his side. His eyes rolled, and he crumbled to the floor, out cold and harmless.

David dove forward and wrenched the pistol from the thug’s hand. His eyes were on fire and his hands trembled, as he stood, raised the weapon, and pointed it at the fallen thug.

Jake touched the boy’s arm. “It’s ok, David. He’s not going to hurt anyone now.”

David dropped his arm, glared at the thug a moment, and then stuffed the pistol in his waist. He raised his eyes toward Jake and nodded.

“We need to get out of here. Now,” Annie whispered.

Jake nodded at her, and then asked David, “How many people are in this place?”

“I think there are four altogether, but Annie and I locked up one of the doctors.”

Jake nodded. “And I tied up a goon in the garage, so that makes one left.”

“Dr. Wolff,” David whispered.

Jake wondered if he should try to catch the doctor, or leave and call the police. He thought it better to leave. “Let’s get out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” a voice said.

Jake spun around. An elderly man in a long, white lab coat stood in the doorway. He gripped a pistol with both hands, his head hunched forward, the butt of the gun clenched to his chest below his chin. Jake saw panic in the doctor’s wild eyes. A dangerous thing to see when faced with a man carrying a loaded weapon.

“Dr. Wolff,” David said.

Wolff twisted his head toward David, and then back at Jake. “Come out of there. Put your hands up,” he said in a frenzied voice, as he backed into the hallway.

The three captives obeyed and Jake stepped out first. “Don’t shoot,” he said. “We just want to get out of here, and then we’ll leave you alone.”

“No, no. You can’t leave now,” Wolff said, as he backed up toward the exit door and freed one hand from the gun. He pointed a shaky finger toward the lab. “Go that way.”

They moved down the hallway to the laboratory as Wolff followed, a few steps behind.

Jake looked around at the collection of equipment, electronics, and chemicals; it looked like a serious operation. A Bunsen burner spit flame into the air beside racks of test tubes and rows of beakers. Wolff must have been doing some kind of experiment when he was interrupted.

“Over to the far wall,” Wolff said. “Sit on the floor.”

They obeyed, and the elderly doctor followed and stopped across the room opposite them.

“What . . . what are you going to do with us?” David asked.

The man was silent as he glared at the boy. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll have to call Mr. Craig. He’ll know what to do.”

Chapter 61

Friday, August 26th, 2:49 PM

ANNIE SAT AGAINST the wall and watched as Wolff edged to the desk and picked up the telephone receiver.

Keeping his eyes on his captors, the doctor dialed a number, the gun trembling in his right hand.

“Mr. Craig,” he said into the phone. “I’ve captured the Lincolns. I . . . I don’t know what to do with them.”

He listened intently for a moment, and then carefully hung up the phone. “Mr. Craig is already on his way here. I have to lock you in one of the rooms until he arrives.”

David sprang to his feet, reached to his waist and removed the pistol he had stashed there. “No,” he shouted, as he raised the weapon and pointed it at Wolff. “I’m not going back in there.”

Wolff swung his pistol toward David. His voice shook as he talked. “Put the gun down, David.”

Annie took a sharp breath, and her eyes darted back and forth between the doctor and the frightened boy. With two nervous people, both pointing a gun at each other, something could go terribly wrong.

“I won’t go back there,” David repeated. “I’ve had enough torture from you.”

The doctor spoke soothingly. “I’m your friend, remember?”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am the Wizard. Do as I say.”

David frowned and bit his lip, and then lowered the gun a few inches. Jake stood and reached out carefully. “Give me the gun, David.”

The boy shook his head violently and raised the pistol in Jake’s direction. “Stay back.”

Annie realized, by invoking the name of the Wizard, the mad doctor was appealing to some kind of conditioning he must have put David through. Annie spoke sharply. “David, the Wizard is not your friend.”

David looked at Annie, and then at the Wizard. His lip trembled, and he tightened his grip on the gun.

“You must do as I say, David,” the Wizard said, and then raised his voice. “I am the Wizard. Put the gun down.”

David dropped the weapon and sank to his knees, his head in his hands.

Annie saw her chance.

She dove for the gun, retrieved it, and spun to a crouch. She wrapped her hand around the grip and aimed it at the Wizard. As Wolff swung his gun toward her, she saw his finger tighten on the trigger.

She closed her eyes and fired. The shot was deafening, and echoed through the confined space.

Wolff screamed, panic in his voice. “You shot me.” The pistol slipped from his grasp as he sank to his knees. He grabbed his reddening arm, and tried to stop the flow of blood. “You shot me,” he screamed again.

Jake lunged for the fallen pistol and recovered it.

Annie’s hold on her weapon loosened, her nerves shattered. “You’ll be fine. You only got hit in the arm.”

Wolff sank into a chair and held his wound. He looked at Annie and swallowed, his face going slack, a flicker of fear in his eyes.

Jake tucked his pistol away, moved forward, put his arm around Annie’s shoulder and grinned at her. “Nice shootin’, honey.”

She handed him the pistol. “Here, take this thing.”

He laughed and took the weapon. “There’s nothing to worry about. That little mouse can’t do anything now.”

“You watch him and I’ll call the police.”

Jake found a first aid kit and wrapped Wolff’s arm to stop the bleeding, and then dropped into a seat. He kept an eye on the vanquished doctor while Annie went to the desk and called 9-1-1.

“It’ll take them a few minutes to get here,” she said, as she dropped into the chair. She thumbed through the papers on the desk, and then brought down a few of the note binders from the shelf above.

“Mr. Craig will be here very soon,” Wolff said. “He’ll know what to do.”

“We’re ready for him,” Jake said, as he brandished the pistol.

Annie spun her chair around. She waved a paper at Jake. “You know who this Craig guy is?”

“Who?” Jake asked.

“Just as I originally thought. He’s Oliver Craig, the owner of Sheridan Construction.” She looked at Wolff. “Is that why he had Charles Robinson killed? Because he was bidding on some property against him?”

Wolff shrugged. “It was all for the best.”

Annie glared at him. “And what about Bobby Sullivan? Why was he killed?”

Wolff glared back defiantly. “He was a rapist. The girl’s father is a good friend of Mr. Craig’s. He was doing his friend a favor by ridding the world of the scumbag who raped his daughter.”

“And you think that’s justified?” Jake asked.

“Mr. Craig thought so. I must agree.”

“Why must you agree?”

“Because he’s from the bloodline of the elite.”

Jake frowned. “The elite?”

Wolf sighed. “Of course. It goes back many, many generations. His father before him was one of the few.” He paused. “The few who are destined to rule the masses.”

“How do you fit into all of this? Are you one of the elite?”

Wolff shook his head adamantly. “No, no. I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Mr. Craig’s father on the government project, many years ago.”

Jake and Annie exchanged a glance. “The government project?” Annie frowned.

“Yes, back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When the project was abandoned, Mr. Craig Sr. kept his own extensive notes on the project. When Mr. Craig inherited his father’s research, they made mention of me, so Mr. Craig, fortunately, looked me up. I was excited to get back on the project after so many years.”