Rebel Princess - Book 2 (The Hope Saga) (18 page)

Footsteps approached.

I lunged to the right and hid behind a tower of crates. Horror ripped through me, and I feared my heart might just explode out of my chest.
Mr. Tams is gonna try to kill me, strangle me like the others. He has no soul. He’s just a monster, born from the depths of hell, and my aunt’s been screwing him!  

I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them.
Calm down, Sky! Formulate an attack strategy,
I tried to tell myself, but nothing could calm my thundering heart.
 

The footsteps came even closer.

I hoped he couldn’t see me, since I could see nothing at all. I’d seen a box-cutter before the lights went out, but I hadn’t had time to grab it or any kind of weapon. I could hear his heavy breathing, so I was pretty certain he could hear mine. After all, the sadistic asshole had turned off the lights just to taunt me, and it was definitely working; I was scared to death, like a scared little mouse with a hungry, drooling cat bearing its fangs right outside her hole.

I stepped back, and something crunched under my shoes.

“Who’s there?” a voice said, cutting through the darkness.

Suddenly, I was hit by a jolt of recognition.
That’s Walter, not Mr. Tams. Did he follow me here? Did he know I’d be alone? Maybe he sent the others away.

When I didn’t answer, he demanded to know, “Who’s here?”  

There were a few more footsteps, and the lights turned back on.

I scooted behind another box.
Maybe he came in here randomly and didn’t really know I’d be here…or maybe he’s just fucking with me.
I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t feel I could trust anyone but Rachel and Brett at that point.

In a blur, he came from behind me.

When I felt the cold blade of a knife on my throat, I elbowed him.

He moaned, holding his side. “What was that for?” he asked.

“I-I didn’t know it was you,” I said, my gaze shooting to the huge knife in his hands. “Why are you carrying that around?” I asked.

“Protection.”

Walter put the knife away, which made me feel a whole lot better. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You scared me to death!” he said. “I just came down here to close up. I shut off the lights, then realized I left my keycard on one of the crates. When I tried to grab it, I heard a noise. Why didn’t you answer me when I asked who was in here?”

“You know we have a strangler running around,” I replied. “It’s not really nice to sneak up behind girls, brandishing a knife.”    

His gaze narrowed. “Exactly, but why are you here all by yourself?”

“Mr. Tams ordered me to put all these supplies away,” I said.

“By yourself?”

I shrugged. “I guess it’s his way of punishing me for not cleaning yesterday.”

“If you think Mr. Tams is rough, you oughtta see what happens when Dante’s pissed.”

“Dante will have nothing to complain about with me. I’ll fulfill all my duties on the surface.”

I thought again about the blue moon petals in Lizzy’s hair, the ones that had come from the surface. I didn’t know how they got on her body, but Walter or either of his brothers could have brought them down. Mr. Tams had access to them as well, but for all I knew, I was standing alone in a secluded room, talking to a strangler. My knees began to shake as I considered the very real possibility that I was standing face to face with a murderer in a giant warehouse. No one would hear me if I screamed. Still, when I took a moment to size up my opponent, it was some relief to realize I could knock him into next week with my moves, once I got that knife out of his reach. 

“You can’t possibly do all this alone. I guess you came all the way over here for nothing,” he said.

“He said four others were supposed to help me. I’ve must’ve made a mistake about the time. Maybe he meant we should do it after dinner,” I answered. 

“I can help, Sky. We can be done in no time, and maybe it will put you back in Mr. Tams’s good graces.”

I took a few steps back. “Um, I think it’s still way too much for two people. I’ll just come back later.”

“It’d be a great chance to catch up. I’d love to hear how everything is going.”

“How about another time?” I asked, plastering a fake smile on my face.

“But we never get time together like this.”

It was weird and felt awkward. Sure, we chatted now and then, but I’d never thought of us as anything more than casual acquaintances. He was way too old for me, so there would never be anything more to it than that. “I’ve gotta go,” I said, as nicely as I could.

“I think we should get this done,” he replied.

“How about I come back after I eat? I’m starving. Maybe you could even join me.”

“Are you inviting me to dinner?” he asked.

“Sure,” I said, hoping it would give me a chance to get away from him.

“You’re so cute when you’re nervous,” he said.

I backed up against the wall as he closed in and touched my face. “Walter, stop!”

“Sky,” he said, “I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time, but you had that stalker and Brett, and I wasn’t sure if the right time would ever come.”

“We’re just friends, Walter,” I said.

He pulled me closer and tried to kiss me.

“Get your hands off of me!” I demanded. When he wouldn’t comply and let go of me, I grabbed his balls as hard as I could and gave them a fast, powerful twist.

He groaned and released me.

I looked around in a panic. I knew I couldn’t just run, because he could easily catch me. Somehow, I had to temporarily subdue him so he couldn’t give chase. I didn’t see the box-cutter I’d noticed earlier, but I did see a pipe to my left. I reached for it and swung it hard, knocking him unconscious in one fell swoop. 

Suddenly, eerie applause erupted behind me. “Clobbering people isn’t going to look good on your résumé, Sky,” the clapper said.

Chapter 28

My jaw dropped when I turned and saw Mr. Tams standing there. “I-I didn’t mean to hurt him,” I said, fearful that I was in a whole lot of trouble. “It’s just that he pinned me against the wall, and I got scared and thought—”

He shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Tsk-tsk. You’re in real hot water now, young lady, attacking security personnel.”

I swallowed hard. “Please, Mr. Tams. It was an accident, just self-defense. He was acting strange, and I thought he might be the strangler.”

“Walter? Pssh. He’s a bit of a weirdo, but he’s no killer. He doesn’t have the brains for that.”

“I panicked. I’m all by myself in here, and I totally got jittery.”

“Do you think this deserves lockup?” he asked, smirking.

“You can’t punish me,” I said. “Didn’t you just hear what I said? I felt I had to defend myself.”

“This is a whole lot worse than shooting an orange with your crossbow, young lady. You actually assaulted a living person this time, and you have to pay.”

“Pay how?”

“What do you think you deserve?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe…ground me for a week?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then what?”

“I’ve got the perfect punishment for you.”

I bit my lip, waiting to hear my crazy sentence. I was sure he’d force me to scrub the floors like the last time he was mad at me, and he was so furious this time that I feared he might make me do it with a toothbrush. “Well?” I coaxed. “What’s the penalty for defending myself, Mr. Tams?” I asked, tired of waiting.

I wondered why Mr. Tams would send me here to do all this work by myself. It didn’t make any sense when I suddenly made the connection. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. Everything flashed through my mind. Mr. Tams had an office that was isolated, far away from everyone. Nobody could hear a person screaming for their life. And that’s where he usually killed his victims. His wife said he had offered her blue moons and that she refused them. They sat in his office. And that’s how the pot got knocked over. I’d seen the soil on his carpet. It proved he struggled with his last victim, Lizzy, and that’s how the pot fell, the blue moon petal embedding in her hair. Mr. Tams dumped her and we found her strangled. I’d pulled off the blue petal.

A shiver shot down my spine. And now I was alone with him where nobody would hear me scream. He planned it out perfectly but I had to play cool, calm, and collective. And that wasn’t easy when I debated knocking him out right there. If he attacked, I’d hit him with everything I had.

“We need to tell my aunt about this,” I said. “Right now.”

He stepped in my path. “But don’t you want the answer to your question? How will I punish you?”

“How?” I asked.

He didn’t respond.

“Mr. Tams,” I said nervously, “wh-what’s going on? What’s my punishment?”

“Simple. Death.” With a wild look in his eyes, he pulled out a long piano string.

My heart thundered at the realization that Mr. Tams, the one entrusted to find the Asha strangler, was the stranger himself. It wasn’t Walter or any of his brothers after all, and I’d just knocked out the only person who possibly could have saved me in that secluded place. Waves of terror swept over me. On the outside, other than being a bit of a slob and not too good of a husband, Mr. Tams had always seemed normal. He was relatively intelligent, and he was one of Dante’s yes-men. I’d always thought he was useless when it came to investigating the murders, but now it all made perfect sense:
He couldn’t catch the killer because it was him all along!
The guy was cunning; I had to give him that. My life was playing out like a crime thriller, complete with the huge twist.

Instinctively, I got into a fighting stance, keeping my eyes on my opponent. No wild blows. I couldn’t flail like a madman, hitting anything I could reach. No, each hit had to be well thought out. I had to deliver and execute my blows carefully.

“The boxing stance? Why don’t you just dance around like a moron?”

I shot him a scowl. “This isn’t a boxing match but I’m going to take you down.”

“Hmm. I kind of expected a long scream like the others, but you’re different. I should have known you would be.”

The person I’d least suspected was the killer, and I was about to take my last breath if I didn’t do something quick. Unfortunately, just as I tried to kick him, I was met with the all-too-familiar sting of a taser, and it sent me crashing to the floor.

I’m paralyzed!

My muscles locked up and I couldn’t move. My body stiffened like a board. I felt helpless. Tingling and burning washed over my body. Electricity pulsed through me. It felt like I stuck my finger into an electric socket.

Mr. Tams glared down at me and laughed. “Oh, Sky. Surely you didn’t think you could take me in a fight, skills or no skills.”

“I knew a monster was walking among us,” I panted out. “I-I just had no idea it was you.”

“Had you not knocked poor Walter out, I never would have attempted this today. He’s not supposed to be down here, but he’s the consummate workaholic. The poor guy. He’s not your killer, and he wasn’t your stalker. He’s just a sad, pathetic sap who wants to have a future with you. Personally, I think he’s a little creepy, but I’ve gotta give him credit for trying. Those diamonds were a nice touch.”

“You knew about that?” I asked.

“Of course. It was my idea, and I’ve been stoking the fires a little bit by telling him that you secretly adore him. As a matter of fact, I told him to make a move on you the next time he saw you and not to back down because you like things a little rough. And what’s he got to show for it? An egg on his head from a steel pipe! Oh, Sky, you are a bad, bad little girl.”

“I can’t believe you set Walter up like that. You’re the pathetic one!”

“I figured it’d keep you busy and off my trail,” he said with a laugh.

I tried to move, but my muscles, still reeling from the shock, refused to cooperate. “Damn it! Why are you doing this?” I asked.

He squatted down to look me in the eye. “We’re establishing a new world, Sky. We can’t risk any bad DNA getting in the gene pool up there. Let’s just say I’m…thinning out the herd. Bad DNA got my son killed in a gang fight by a bunch of thugs, and I mourn his loss every day.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” I said, “but I still don’t see how—”

“We have to get rid of the females who will breed filth into our society.”

“And what gives you the right to decide who’s bad?”

“Dante. He put me in charge of it,” he said.

“I don’t believe you!”

“Really? That’s strange, considering how much you hate the man. You don’t believe he’d give me permission.”

I said nothing and just glared at him.

He continued, “You were actually first on my list, but for some reason, Dante tries to protect you.”

“Protect me? Now I know you’re lying. He hates me.”

He shook his head. “He kept me from killing you, but he said I was allowed to take anybody else, as long as it wasn’t more than one a month.”