opportunity.
“My father was such a good Christian man. I was only thirteen when he was murdered… and something happened to me. I guess I just stopped caring about God. I couldn’t forgive Him for letting my father die.”
She heard Jack grunt softly. “I think I can relate to that.”
“So I was angry most of my teenage years and even through college. And when I joined the LAPD, I was an angry cop. A good cop, but an angry one.”
“You said you
Elina’s chest began to ache. “I was on a call, a robbery. And I ended up pursuing a suspect. I followed him down an alley and lost sight of him for a moment. When I found him again, he had turned and was walking toward me.”
“Was he armed?”
“I thought he was, so I fired my weapon. But I didn’t warn him. I didn’t identify myself. I just fired. Three or four shots. One to the head. And I didn’t care. I didn’t know who he was, but I hated him and I wanted him to die because he was just a thug like the one who killed my dad.”
“But it wasn’t the right guy, was it?”
“No….” Elina could feel the tears in her eyes. They dripped down, cutting a salty path through the grime and dirt on her cheeks. “He was just some kid. Some innocent kid the guy had passed in the alley. Some kid just walking home from a party.”
“Let me guess—an internal investigation, a reprimand. Mandatory leave?”
“The suspect was black. The kid was black, and the guy who killed my father was black….”
“So… they tried to make it a racial incident?”
“Somebody had heard me make derogatory comments in my rookie year, and all that came back to haunt me too.”
“So
“That’s the thing,” Elina said. “I’ve been hating black men since my father was killed. And I didn’t care what people thought.”
“I guess there wasn’t much tolerance on the LAPD for that mentality.”
Elina wiped her eyes. “I kind of hit rock bottom. I had lost my job and stirred up all kinds of racial tension in my neighborhood. Then a few months ago I started to rethink some of my values. Started going back to church. Praying more. You know, trying to humble myself before God.”
“Do you still hate black men?”
“Not since I’ve come back to God.” Elina chuckled softly. “Now I only hate some of them.”
Jack laughed. “So why are you telling me all this?”
Elina sighed. “I don’t know. I guess it’s a little cathartic to talk about it. But mostly to pass some time.”
She could hear Jack moving around in his cell again. His voice held a tone of frustration. “There’s got to be a way to break out of here.”
“I haven’t seen any way out,” Elina said. “They feed us twice a day, I think. A bowl of oatmeal slop and a cup of water in the morning and evening. No utensils.”
“Have they taken anyone away during that time?”
Elina paused. “Mmmm, no. Not that I heard, anyway.”
“So as far as we know, it’s been at least a few days since this thing was fed. I wonder how long it goes between meals.”
Then Elina heard voices echoing up the tunnel, getting closer. Her heart began pounding. “I’m guessing a few days.”
The chorus of wails and curses from the other prisoners started up again, and Elina pressed her face against the bars, straining to see into the main passage. She glimpsed the erratic beam from a flashlight glancing off the sides and floor of the tunnel.
In moments a group of figures appeared around the corner. In the painful glare of the flashlight, Elina thought she saw four men. One in the lead with two others behind him, carrying a fourth man between them.
One of the men chuckled and Elina recognized his voice: Carson.
“It’s like Grand Central Station down here.”
The man in the lead stopped at the head of the passage and pointed to the door next to Elina’s. “Put him in that one.” She could tell it was Vale.
The other two dragged the man past Elina’s cell. She caught a glimpse of his face and gasped.
It was the man who had discovered them yesterday. The man she had hoped was going to call for help.
They deposited him in the cell with a sick-sounding thump and closed the door. Vale shone his flashlight in the window. “I’m sorry your wife lacked the vision to join us, George,” he said. “But I’m a forgiving man. You know that you’re more than welcome to come back, should you have a change of heart. You could still have a long and happy life here with us.”
Elina heard muffled curses from behind the door, but Vale only laughed and then turned his attention to the other cells, peering in through the bars.
“Good evening, Jack,” he said. “You must be feeling a bit of deja vu, I bet.”
Then he crossed over to Elina’s door, and she backed away from the window.
“Ahh, Former Officer Gutierrez.” Vale peered in at her. She could see his yellow-green eyes inspecting her for what felt like an endless moment. “Yes… it’s been quite some time since she has enjoyed the taste of a woman.”
Elina retreated farther into the cell. “What are you talking about?”
Vale chuckled. “You mean you haven’t told them what’s waiting for them, Jack? Down in the caverns? You haven’t told them about Sh’ar Kouhm?”
“Of course I told them,” Jack shot back.
“She’s hungry tonight.” Vale’s eyes again appeared in Elina’s window. “She feeds on fear, you know. She can smell it in your blood. It’s like a drug to her. And women are capable of generating such… pure, unbridled fear.”
Elina’s pulse raced and she pressed against the wall as Carson unlocked her cell door. She could hear Jack and the others yelling and pounding their doors. Her senses heightened as adrenaline surged through her veins. Elina coiled down, ready to attack. She was outnumbered by bigger, stronger men, but she refused to go with them quietly. The door opened and Carson entered, carrying the black stun baton. Elina gritted her teeth against the pain she knew was coming. She would make them kill her rather than take her to this creature. She sprang forward, aiming her foot at Carson’s groin.
She was still in the air when Carson swung the stick toward her. She saw a blue spark of light and felt her limbs involuntarily stiffen. She hit the ground like a sack of rocks, her throat tightening so violently that she couldn’t breathe.
Then Carson pulled the stick away, electricity still sparking from the tip. Elina lay completely stunned and gasping for breath as the other man entered with a rope.
Chapter 37
Jack screamed until his throat was raw, his throbbing fists pounding against the door. He alternated between threatening and reasoning with Vale as Carson and another man entered Elina’s cell.
But Vale ignored Jack, and a few minutes later his men emerged again, carrying Elina between them. She was bound and gagged, her hands and feet wrapped tightly with rope.
They hauled her back up the tunnel, around the corner, and out of sight. Jack leaned his head against the bars, listening to the other voices echo curses through the tunnels.
Jack closed his eyes and struggled to keep his thoughts focused. He tried to talk to the man in the cell across from him. The newcomer they had just brought down. Vale had called him George.
“Hey… hey, George.”
Jack could see a vague shadow moving behind the bars in the window.
