Authors: Glenn Bullion
The key fit and turned easily.
Mason opened the locker to find it completely empty.
“
Wow,” Kelly said. “So much for treasure.”
He nearly closed the door when he noticed something odd.
There was a hole about the size of a finger drilled into the bottom near the back.
He pushed his finger through the hole and wiggled it around, feeling pebbles and dirt.
The bottom of the locker moved.
“
Is your finger stuck?” Kelly asked.
He pulled slightly harder. The entire bottom of the locker lifted up. It wasn't held in place at all. Kelly gasped next to him.
Mason pulled the false bottom out of the locker completely. Sitting in the rocks and grass was a USB flash drive, carefully sealed in two zip-lock bags.
They both were quiet. Kelly felt a sense of foreboding.
“
That's it?” she asked. “That's why those guys broke into my house and followed me at the mall? They thought I had that?”
Not exactly the right details, but Mason nodded anyway. He grabbed the flash drive and wiped dirt off the plastic bag.
“
Dad was just a doctor, a psychiatrist,” she said. “What could possibly be on it?”
She didn't know her father like Mason did. Mason was almost afraid to think of what was on it. Whatever it was grabbed the interest of a serial killer with a unique mental power.
He was definitely curious.
It was the middle of the afternoon when Mason and Kelly walked into a clothes store. She gave the store a quick look over as she tried to find the women's section. She spotted the sign on the far side of the store.
“
I'm over there,” she said. “Meet me at the register in a half hour?”
He nodded. She noticed Mason was distracted ever since the docks. She had no doubt he was as curious as she was about the flash drive. But clothes first, hotel second. There was a Best Buy across the street she already planned on buying a cheap laptop from.
“
Yeah,” he said. “I'm just gonna grab a change of clothes, maybe something to sleep in.”
She looked up at the ceiling. “You can't see through these cameras, can you?”
He laughed. “Nah, not these.”
“
Good. Don't go peeking in my dressing room either.”
“
You just sucked the fun out of my day.”
She flashed a sexy smile over her shoulder as they went their separate ways.
Kelly picked out some essentials. Panties, socks, some light shorts and shirt to sleep in. She picked out a change of clothes for tomorrow.
She passed by the lingerie section. She was tempted, but wasn't sure when the opportunity would come to show it off. She planned on making some kind of move, soon. But they needed to start slow. Lingerie wasn't exactly slow.
Not to mention her last experience browsing lingerie was odd, to say the least.
She watched from across the store as Mason stared at a pair of shorts. She'd dated men over the years, but none like Mason. She had to remind herself they weren't even dating. They hadn't even kissed yet.
It was only a matter of time.
Other men she dated always had some issue with her. Some of those issues she understood completely. She knew it wasn't normal to triple check the locks before going to bed at night, or not be able to take her eyes off any dark van that passed by.
Mason didn't care about any of that.
Of course, he had his own problems.
She smiled as he browsed through a rack of shirts. Lean body, gorgeous smile, kind and caring.
She could definitely put up with watching over him during a storm.
She laughed as she headed for the front register.
They were a perfect match.
She waited near the exit as Mason paid for his clothes. The woman working the register flirted with him. Kelly couldn't blame her.
They walked to the Jeep and put their bags in the back.
“
Check into a hotel?” he asked. “Separate rooms?”
She gave a shy smile. “I vote one room. If we're gonna order out and watch a movie, we're gonna be in one room most of the night anyway. Besides, there might be a storm tonight, remember? Who's gonna watch over you?”
He smirked. “You know, I can watch over myself.”
“
You
can
. But not with me around.”
He met her gaze across the Jeep. If they stayed in the same room he wouldn't be able to keep his hands to himself.
“
One room it is,” he said. “If I make any moves, slap me.”
Her eyes sparkled with playfulness. “Same goes for you.” She pointed across the street. “I'll be right back. I need something from Best Buy.”
She jogged across the street before he could offer to go with her.
He climbed behind the wheel and enjoyed the sun. He smiled at the thought of spending another night with Kelly.
He hoped it wouldn't storm.
Thoughts of Kelly in sleepwear faded as he pulled the flash drive out of the zip-lock bags. The thought of a murderer who could mind slide terrified him. He was glad Gabriel was locked away, but what could be on a flash drive that was worth breaking into Kelly's house?
He didn't even hear Kelly approach. He jumped when she put a box in the back of the Jeep.
“
What's that?” he asked.
She climbed in next to him. “A laptop.”
“
You bought a laptop?”
“
Yeah.” She pointed at the flash drive in his hands. “You can't tell me you don't want to know what's on that thing.”
He smiled. “You know me too well.”
“
I'm getting there. There's a hotel down the road. Let's go check in.”
Ten minutes later Mason was sliding an electronic key-card into a third floor hotel room door. He carried her laptop. Their clothes were still in the Jeep.
He glanced at his cell phone as they settled in. It was only four in the afternoon. Still plenty of day left.
He opened the curtain, revealing the parking lot and main road below. The swimming pool was just below the window. A few men and women swam back and forth and splashed water on each other.
Kelly stood next to him.
“
Didn't even think about swimming,” she said. “We should have bought swimsuits.”
He imagined her in a bathing suit. Nice image.
Mason looked over the hotel room. Two separate beds. A television on a dresser. A table and chair in the corner. Tiny refrigerator. The bathroom was to the side near the door.
He had stayed at a hotel once a few years ago. He worked an affair case, and stayed at the same hotel as the suspects.
Sleeping at a hotel with a beautiful woman was completely new.
“
I'll go get our clothes.”
“
Wait a sec,” Kelly said. She put the laptop box on the bed. “Curiosity is killing me. Let's look at that flash drive first.”
Mason helped her unpack the laptop. He guessed they wouldn't understand anything on the flash drive. He was smart, but didn't speak the same language Doc did. Obviously, it was important to hide.
Kelly set the laptop on the table and turned it on. Mason sat on the edge of the bed behind her as she inserted the flash drive.
“
First, my dad has millions of dollars. Now he's hiding things under lockers.”
She browsed through the flash drive. It was neatly organized, with folders for spreadsheets, documents, graphs, charts.
She saw a folder labeled
Video
.
“
I
really
hope this isn't my father doing private things in a bedroom.”
He laughed.
She opened the folder to see hundreds of videos.
“
Oh wow,” she said. “Get ready to cover your eyes.”
She was already double-clicking on a random video when Mason noticed how Doc labeled them.
Each video was labeled with a time and date, followed by a dash and number.
He recognized every date. The data on the flash drive became crystal clear.
“
No, wait.”
Too late. The video started playing.
Mason stood behind Kelly. He wanted to lean over her and close the laptop, but his legs were frozen.
It was the same lab he spent so much of his life in, although from a different angle. Doc stood facing the camera in his lab coat. Doctor Fuller and the rest of the staff were working in the background.
Mason was laying on the metal table in the center of the lab, screaming at the top of his lungs. He remembered that day. He remembered
every
day. He was nine years old.
He never once knew the lab was recorded, from the glass office in the corner that Doc always stayed in.
“
The subject has just completed successful projection number seven. Lasting a little over eight minutes.”
“
It hurts,” Mason cried in the background. He thrashed on the table as technicians held him down. “Please make it stop.”
“
The subject had a reaction to this latest batch of Cocktail that we'll have to correct. The most recent projection, while the longest so far, seemed to cause discomfort.”
Mason laughed shortly behind Kelly. Discomfort.
Doctor Fuller ran toward Doc and knocked on the glass.
“
Albert,” he said. “Something's wrong. He's projecting again.”
“
What?”
Doc left the glass office, but the camera kept recording.
“
Where am I?” the nine-year-old screamed. “I don't know where I am! Doctor Rierson? Are you there? Anybody?”
They strapped Mason down and pumped more drugs into his body. He continued to scream and fight.