Hunter feared she was too shocked to speak.
‘Can you talk?’ he asked. ‘Are you hurt?’
Katia sucked in a deep breath through her nose and nodded.
‘Ye— yes, I can talk. No— no, I’m not hurt.’
Hunter kneeled down before her and took her in his arms. She hugged him tight and broke down in a barrage of desperate tears and high-pitched yelps. Hunter felt as though he was absorbing her fear through his skin.
Garcia stood by the door, both hands wrapped firmly around his gun, his gaze incessantly moving up and down the corridor outside.
Katia’s eyes met Hunter’s. ‘Than— thank you.’
‘Are there others here?’
She nodded. ‘I think so. I never saw anyone. I’m never let out of this room. The lights are always off. But I’m sure I heard something one day. I mean, I heard
Hunter nodded. ‘You are the first one we found, we’ve gotta look for others.’
Katia’s arms tightened further around Hunter. ‘No. . don’t leave me.’
‘We’re not leaving you. You’re coming with us. Can you walk?’
Katia breathed out and nodded.
Hunter helped her stand up. She looked much skinnier than the pictures he’d seen of her.
‘When was the last time you ate?’
She gave him a tiny shrug. ‘I don’t know. The food and the water are drugged.’
‘Do you feel dizzy?’
A succession of quick nods. ‘A little, but I can walk.’
Hunter’s questioning gaze moved to Garcia.
‘We’re good here, let’s move.’
Hunter moved Katia in between him and Garcia and drew his weapon again. They stepped towards the door cautiously, ready to brave the corridors again.
All of a sudden all the lights went off.
They were left in absolute darkness.
For an instant all three of them were frozen to the spot. Katia let out another cry, but the fear in her voice this time almost chilled the air.
‘Oh my God, he’s here.’
Hunter reached for her again. ‘It’s all right, Katia. It’s gonna be OK. We’re still here with you.’ As his hand touched her arm, he felt her shivering.
‘No yo— you don’t understand. It won’t be OK.’
‘What do you mean?’ Garcia whispered.
‘He’s like a ghost. He moves like a ghost. You can’t hear him when he comes for you.’ She started crying and her voice faltered. ‘And. . he. . he can see you but you can’t see him.’ Her breathing accelerated. ‘He can see in the dark.’
One Hundred and Eleven
Hunter pulled Katia into his arms again.
‘Katia, it’ll be OK. We’ll get out of here.’
‘No. .’ Desperation took over her voice. ‘You’re not listening. We can’t hide from him. There’s nowhere we can go where he won’t find us. We won’t get out of here alive. He could be standing behind you right now and you wouldn’t know. Unless he wanted you to.’
That statement sent a shiver up Garcia’s spine and he mechanically extended his left arm like a blind man, feeling the space around him — nothing but air.
‘I could never see him,’ Katia continued, ‘but I sensed him many times, right here, in the room with me. He wouldn’t say a word. He wouldn’t make a sound, but I knew he was there, watching me, just observing. I never heard him come in or go out. He moves like a ghost.’
‘OK,’ Hunter said. ‘The three of us moving blind isn’t a great idea. We won’t be able to cover each other.’
‘What do you wanna do?’ Garcia whispered.
‘Katia, stay in here. Stay in the room.’
‘What?’
‘I’ve been checking every inch of this place. He’s got no surveillance. There are no cameras, no microphones, nothing. He might know that we’re here, but there’s no way he can be sure that we’ve gotten to you or to anyone else. If you stay in the room just like you’ve been doing since the day you were captured, he’s got no reason to be angry with you.’
‘No. . no. I’d rather die than stay here alone for another second. You don’t know what I’ve been through. I can’t stay here. Please don’t leave me here to face him again. You can’t leave me here alone.’
‘Katia, listen, if the three of us move out of this room together right now, and if this guy can see in the dark and move as silently as you said he can, we’ve got no chance.’
‘No. . I can’t stay here alone. Please don’t make me stay here alone. I’d rather die.’
‘I’ll stay with you.’ Garcia said. ‘Robert is right. We won’t be able to cover each other if we move out of here together. He could easily pick us out one by one and we wouldn’t even know. I’ll stay here with you. As Robert said, he doesn’t know which room we’re in. For all he knows you’re here, alone, just like you were minutes ago. I’ll stay. There’s no way he can know I’m with you. If this door opens without the person identifying himself, I’ll smoke the bastard.’ He cocked his gun and Katia jumped.
‘It’s a good idea,’ Hunter agreed.
‘Why don’t you stay too,’ Katia pleaded. ‘Why can’t we all just wait for him in here and fight him together? We’ve got a better chance that way.’
‘Because he might not come directly here,’ Hunter explained. ‘We know for sure that he’s got at least one more victim held hostage. Our captain. He might go straight for her just to punish us. I have to try and find her before he gets to her. I can’t just sit here and wait. Her life depends on it.’
‘He’s right, Katia,’ Garcia said.
‘We can’t waste any more time,’ Hunter took over again. ‘Trust me, Katia. I’ll be back for you.’
Garcia put his arm around Katia and slowly brought her back into the room.
‘Good luck,’ he said as Hunter closed the door behind him and took a deep breath.
Hunter knew that there were about twenty feet between him and the end of the corridor. No more doors on this stretch. He moved cautiously, but he moved fast. The hallway swung left again. He stood still, listening as hard as he could.
Nothing except absolute silence.
Hunter had always been good at identifying sounds. Sneaking up on him would be a tough task. Though Katia had told him that Andrew could see in the dark and move like a ghost, he couldn’t believe anyone could be that quiet.
He was wrong.
One Hundred and Twelve
Andrew stood just a few meters from Hunter, observing, his breathing so quiet and smooth that even a
