“Well, Hey! Great to see you!” Mike said, with a grin.
Heather looked in the small vertical opening between the doors, thrilled to see Mike. He was holding on to the cable that moved the elevator up and down. “We’ll get you out of there,” She said.
“Okay, now. I need help to get these doors open,” Rod said. He was breathing hard just from the effort to force the doors apart a few inches.
Vincent and Heather together grabbed onto one door, Rod had the other one. They pulled for all they were worth and the doors protested, squeaking horribly.
Then they all fell on their butts when both doors suddenly swished open.
Heather started laughing and got up. “We got it open!”
Mike let go of the cable and moved to the side of the elevator. He stretched up and put his hands on the lip of the doorway, looking up at the three faces staring down at him.
“I have to help Dr. Franz get up on top of the elevator,” Mike said.
He went to the trap door, and they could hear them talking in low voices.
Mike came back to the opening. “Dr. Franz wants to wait for a maintenance guy. He doesn’t think he can climb out.” Then Mike whispered. “I think he’s kind of afraid to try, even with my help.”
Wimpy doctor, Heather thought. He might be stuck in there for hours.
Rod and Vincent each grabbed one of Mike’s arms, but they didn’t have to help him much. He pretty much hauled himself out of the opening. Then he was standing and grinning with the others.
“Let’s go find Michelle,” Rod said.
“And Lucifer,” Heather added.
“I learned some things,” Mike said as they went back to the stairwell and started climbing. “Michelle is in a room on the tenth floor, the eggs are stored in a lab on the twelfth. Dr. Franz told me that Leilanie, Omar’s girlfriend, was implanted with three fertilized eggs.”
“Ewww, gross. Fertilized! Oh my God!” Heather snorted.
“Yeah,” Mike said. He put his arm around Heather as they climbed and said, “Omar provided the sperm.”
“But three? Leilanie will have three babies?” Heather asked. She moved closer to him, enjoying his strength. Mike made her feel protected and stronger. She knew they would confront Omar soon and was a little scared.
“Maybe. If all the eggs stick, or adhere, to the uterus lining.”
Heather smiled up at him. “You’ve really done your homework.”
“God damn,” Rod exclaimed. “Are there any eggs left over?”
“Five,” Mike said. “But they might die if the power doesn’t come back on soon. They have to be kept very cold.”
“Most important question of all,” Heather said, raising her finger in the air, “are those five eggs...um...fertilized?”
Mike shook his head. “No. Evidently they’re easier to keep frozen and viable if they haven’t been. So Michelle has five more eggs that Omar will try to use sooner or later, unless we can get them first. And hide or transfer them someplace.”
Chapter 17
Michelle went through the exit doorway and shined the laser light up the stairs, just to see how many floors the hospital had. It looked like there were two above the one she was on. When she focused the laser down she realized she had a long way to go.
Her hospital slippers were cotton and didn’t make a sound, but she could feel the cold steel steps through the thin material, making her shiver. The steps were slippery, so she went down carefully, still weak and fragile after the operation, gripping onto the handrail.
She kept the light on, but it was a thin focused beam that hardly gave any illumination. She was totally surprised and almost lost her footing, skidding, when she saw something small and white bounding up toward her. She wondered if the darkness was causing visual hallucinations. Whatever was streaking toward her was coming fast. Maybe the hospital had ghosts. Or maybe Omar was producing the phantasm. He’d done it before; fabricating horrible visions to scare her.
Then she heard the familiar meow and felt a ball of fluff land on her foot.
Michelle sat down and hugged Lucifer, feeling his abrasive tongue on her chin, his little paw patting her cheek. She had no doubt this was her cat.
It was a miracle, surely. She felt tears prick her eyes.
Omar said friends were taking care of the cat at her condo. And here he was in Mexico. It was unbelievable.
“I love, love, love you. And we’re going home,” Michelle said, petting Lucifer.
She had to keep her eyes on the prize. Home meant Hawaii. Home meant her friends and work and beautiful beaches, and sunsets to see from her balcony.
Eyes on the prize. She couldn’t think of how she would get out of the hospital, alone on the streets of an unknown city, wearing only a robe and hospital slippers, not knowing the language. It was too formidable. She had to take it one step at a time. And keep up the hope that she could escape Omar.
Michelle pulled herself up by the handrail with some effort. She cradled Lucifer’s against her and was able to steady herself by the handrail, shining the laser down the stairs.
She saw some dim lights from a few floors below, and then they were gone. She could hear doors open and close in the stairwell. It was totally black, but having Lucifer with her made her feel safer, more comfortable. He was chewing on her hair, which meant he’d been traumatized recently as well, so she murmured comforting words to the little cat as they descended.
There was a voice calling, “Lucifer, Lucifer. Here kitty, kitty, kitty. Please come back...”
Now she was having auditory delusions; what she heard was impossible. Omar was trying to trick her. She ducked under the stairs on a landing, hiding, waiting. He was so sneaky. He probably thought she
