The Hellfire Club

'Do what he says,' said Leo Morris. The lawyer's voice came out in a high pitched squeak.

'Leo, isn't it obvious that I am in charge here?'

'Not for long,' Holly said.

'Move against that wall.'

Holly slowly began going to the other side of the hall, and Nora followed.

'No, Nora, you go back into the doorway.' Dart pushed the gun barrel into LeDonne's head and walked the policeman toward her like a doll. LeDonne's face was mottled scarlet, and rage and pain filled his eyes. Nora glanced at Holly Fenn, who frowned and nodded. She stepped backwards.

'What do you think you're doing?' Holly asked.

'Simple exchange of prisoners,' said Dart. 'Followed by a daring escape and a successful flight, that kind of thing.'

Holly opened his mouth, but before he spoke, Dart sent LeDonne reeling toward him and immediately materialized beside Nora. LeDonne collided with Holly, and Dart circled Nora's neck with his arm and pressed the barrel of LeDonne's revolver to her temple. The metal felt cold and brutal, and Dart's arm cut off her breath. 'Ready?' he asked. 'Bags packed? Passport in order?' He pulled her into Holly's office and slammed the door with his foot.

BOOK IVGENTLE FRIEND

The old man turned to the trembling boy and said,

'You have entered my cave for a purpose. In this darkness shall you learn about fear.'

43

Dick Dart bent Nora back over his knee to turn the lock on the office door. 'You and I are going out that window. If you give me any trouble I'll kill you on the spot. Do you understand?' She nodded, and he propelled her across the room. 'Where's your car?' She pointed through the window at the Volvo. Holly Fenn shouted from the other side of the door, and the knob rattled. 'I lead a charmed life,' Dart said. 'Open the window. Now. Jump out and get into the driver's seat. I'll be right behind you.'

Nora's hands moved to the bottom of the window, efficient little hands, and pushed it up. She thrust her left leg through the frame and saw it outlined against the grass below, her slim leg encased in blue denim, her ankle, her narrow, sockless foot in a brown basket-weave loafer. Her leg seemed entirely surreal, suspended above the grass. What would it do next, this entertaining leg?

The entertaining leg strained toward the strip of green between the building and the concrete path, and, when she pushed her bottom over the windowsill, abruptly landed on the grass. Awkwardly, she pulled her right leg through the window. As soon as she hopped backwards, Dick Dart flew face first through the empty space, the revolver clutched to his chest. He got his feet under him in midair, landed so close to her that she felt the shock in the earth, spun her around, and jabbed the gun into her back.

'Keys,' Dart said. She reached in her pocket and pulled them out as she trotted toward the car. 'Get in and drive. Go!' He was already sliding into the passenger seat.

Sweating, Nora backed out of the parking space. 'You want me to take that little road?'

'What a piece of shit you drive. We're going to have to trade up. Faster, faster. When you get to the end of this street, turn left and get to 1-95.'

Nora slowed down for the stop sign at the end of the road, and Dart swore and held the gun to her head. Nora pressed the accelerator, rocketed past the stop sign, and turned left. Holding the gun to her head, Dart checked the rear window and whooped. 'They're not behind us! Those dummies are still talking to the door!' He lowered the gun and slapped his knee. 'Hah! They couldn't get through the reporters. Shows you how shitty the press in this country is.' He grinned at her. A stench of sweat, oil, bad breath, and secret dirt floated out of him. 'Brighten up, you're on the road with Dick Dart, it's an adventure.'

Traveling at sixty miles an hour down a tree-lined, completely foreign street she knew she had seen dozens of times, Nora barely took in his words. Her hands had clamped to the wheel, her teeth were gritted, and her eyes felt peeled. She ran two more stop signs. Where was 1-95?

'I knew we were connected the first time I saw you. I'm protected, I'm guided, and nothing bad is ever going to happen to me. What the fuck are you doing?' He rammed the revolver's barrel into her ear. 'Stop, damn you.'

Nora slammed her foot on the brake. Her hands shook, and her throat had constricted.

'Where are you going? Hardly the time for the scenic route.' Metal ground into her ear,

'I don't remember how to get there,' she said.

'Cool under fire, are we?' He glanced at the rear window, then removed the gun. 'Back up past the stop sign, turn right. Go to Station Road, turn left. We want north, toward New Haven.'

She backed up and made the turn toward Station Road. In the distance, sirens wailed.

'Step on it, bitch, you cost us about thirty seconds. Move it!'

Nora hit the accelerator, and the Volvo jolted forward. At the next stop sign, she nipped past a Dodge van just entering the intersection. The driver hit the horn and held it down.

'Asshole,' said Dart. 'Blow these guys off, run around them.'

Two cars proceeded down the road ahead of them. The sirens seemed to get nearer. A man in cycling shorts and a helmet rode a bicycle toward them in the center of the opposite lane. 'What about-'

'Go through the dumb fuck.'

Nora accelerated into the cyclist's lane. The man driving the car in front of them turned his head to stare, the surprise on his face nothing compared with the astonishment on the cyclist's. Nora honked. The man, who had something like five seconds in which to decide what he wanted to do, wasted two of them on wagging his index finger and shouting. Nora locked her elbows, stretched her mouth taut, and uttered a high-pitched, panicked whine.

'Eye-byeee,' Dart sang.

The cyclist wrenched himself sideways and disappeared from the windshield a moment before being struck by the Volvo. Nora twisted her head. She had a momentary glimpse of man and bicycle entangled at the bottom of a shallow, grassy ditch, then blew past the second car at seventy miles an hour.

'Hope he broke his dumb neck,' Dart said. 'Good work, kiddo. But if you stop for the Station Road light, I'll shoot off your right nipple, am I understood?'

Nora blasted up a little rise, and at the top felt the car leave the road for a second before thumping back down. Dick Dart yipped and waved the revolver. Two blocks away, at the end of the empty road, the traffic light burned red. Cars streamed in both directions through the intersection.

'I can't do this.'

'Poor baby, you'll miss that nipple. Gonna smart, too. But you know what?' He patted her on the top of her head. 'I bet it turns green before we get there. If I win, you have to tell me everything you did to Natalie Weil.'

'If you lose, we get turned into tomato soup.' She roared through an intersection, and one block separated them from the traffic light.

'C'est la vie.'

Making a low sound in her throat, Nora straightened her arms and locked her elbows.

'Slow down a little for the turn.' Dart sounded completely calm.

Nora slammed her foot on the brake, and her chest bumped the wheel. Dick Dart, who had been lounging back in his seat, slipped forward and down until his knees hit the dashboard. The car slewed halfway around and shot out into the intersection just as the light turned green. Dart pushed himself back into his seat and grabbed the door handle. Nora hauled on the wheel and brought the car into line.

'Hooray! Nora keeps her nipple,' Dart shouted. 'Personally, I'm very happy about that.'

He's happy about that? Nora thought. She said, 'I have to slow down - look at all these cars.' A line of automobiles was strung out in packs of two and three on the long four-lane straightaway of Station Road.

'Pass 'em, crank it up and pass 'em, I'm not kidding. We get on the expressway, we're outta here. Then you can tell me about Natalie Weil.'