Once she got the rhythm, she ascended quickly. And she no longer heard Teddy behind her. Maybe he—
Deb pulled, her arms shaking, but she didn’t move an inch.
Deb hooked her elbow over the rung, waiting for him to tug.
Teddy didn’t tug.
Deb almost laughed hysterically when she figured it out.
The curve of the prosthetics acted like a hook, and it had apparently snagged onto the ladder. Deb lowered herself down a few inches, arched her back, and freed her leg.
But now her adrenalin had run out, and her arms were shaking from the strain. Going up any farther was impossible. She needed to get a foothold, rest for a moment, or else she’d lose her grip.
Deb prodded around with the tips of her Cheetah’s, trying to feel for a rung. Her leg found purchase. She tested it, easing herself down. It bore her weight. She stood there on one leg in the darkness, getting her strength back, straining to hear any sound of Teddy.
Deb almost fell when her foothold moved.
She scrambled to get a better grip on the rungs, and then began to ascend again, her tired muscles be damned. Fear gave her speed and strength, and after seven more rungs she reached up for the next and met with a ceiling.
Holding on with one hand, her chin resting on the top rung, she pushed up with her free palm.
The ceiling moved, because it wasn’t a ceiling at all. It was another secret entrance.
Deb pushed it aside, then chinned-up into the open space. There was a thin strip of light at face-level, and Deb realized she was looking under a door. She hoisted herself up, pulling herself into this new room. Then she moved the board back and stood on top of it, her head brushing against something.
Then the door flew open, and Deb was hit in the face so hard it knocked her down.
Felix stared out the rear window of the police cruiser. A tow truck hauling a Corvette passed them going in the opposite direction. It was the only other vehicle he’d seen in the last thirty minutes.
“Where are you taking us?” Cam asked the Sheriff.
He’d asked that same question at least a dozen times. The Sheriff had yet to answer.
Felix wondered what was happening. Was this going to be some sort of backwoods justice? Take them deep into the woods and beat the shit out of them?
Felix’s mind switched back to Maria. His brief elation that she was still alive had turned into a deep-rooted, sick feeling.
The enormity of the horror she had endured made Felix want to scream.
But alongside the outrage and the pain, Felix felt a twinge of something shameful. Something he had a hard time facing.
He couldn’t shake the image of her, gaunt and gibbering, her mind completely fried because of her ordeal.
Felix clenched his jaw.
But Felix didn’t see how he was going to save anybody, handcuffed in a squad car being taken someplace other than the police station.
He glanced at Cam. The younger man didn’t seem scared. If anything, he seemed hyper.
Not for the first time, Felix questioned whether bringing Cam along was the right decision. On one hand, Cam loved Maria just as much as he did. To leave him languish unjustly in a psychiatric institution was wrong, especially when Felix needed help looking for his sister.
On the other hand, Cam had been in the institution for a reason.
For ninety-five percent of the time, Cam seemed entirely normal. But every so often Felix would catch him talking to himself, and saying some pretty bizarre shit. And several times over the last few months, Cam seemed to zone out completely, even when Felix was yelling in his face.
Still, the enthusiasm he showed while breaking John’s fingers was definitely not normal. Willingly hurting another human being—even if that person was a kidnapper and a rapist—was really dark stuff.
“We’ll be okay,” Felix said, more to reassure himself than Cam.
“I don’t think so,” Cam said. “I think he’s taking us somewhere to kill us.”
The matter-of-fact way Cam said it was chilling.
“He’s a police officer. He won’t do that.”
“He didn’t call it in,” Cam said. “Didn’t report back.”
“It’s a small town. There’s no one to report to.”
Cam shook his head. “He’s not the only cop in the county. There are others. Murder is still a big deal. But he didn’t call anyone. Base. The coroner. Paramedics. That means he’s going to get rid of us.”
Felix felt himself get very cold. He was mentally and physically a wreck, hurting in a dozen places, his mind alternately torturing and tantalizing him with thoughts of Maria. To think that he was going to die soon was almost too much to handle.
“Don’t worry,” Cam said. “It’s not so bad.”
Felix let out a half-insane chuckle. “What’s not so bad?”
“Dying,” Cam said.
The police cruiser began to slow down. Felix looked around. Nothing but woods and darkness. A lump formed in his throat.
The lump got even bigger when the cruiser pulled onto the shoulder, into a copse of trees.
“Sheriff,” Felix said. “Please. Don’t do this.”
“Son, I can’t begin to describe what a pain in the rear you’ve been these last few months. Botherin’ the locals. Stickin’ your nose where it don’t belong. All for one little woman.” The Sheriff stared in the rear view mirror,
