“Nothing to inspire confidence,” Megan answered. “I don’t trust him, I don’t believe his story and I think he’s hiding something.”
“You think Spalding put him down here as a spy?” Ellie asked, and Megan was glad she’d come to this same conclusion as herself.
“I don’t know, but he’s hiding something and we need total trust if we are going to get out of here alive.” Ellie nodded in agreement at this and glanced towards the bed where Carson Lemond was sleeping. He was on his side with his back to them. They were silent for a moment in thought.
“That’s it decided then,” she said, “We go the next time he leaves?”
“I guess so,” Megan agreed. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to think of their escape. The time had come and there was no more planning to be done. As soon as they knew Spalding was out of the house they were going. She reached her hand out and Ellie grasped it. “We can do this,” Megan said and was heartened to see Ellie's mischievous smile come back,
“Of course we can!” Megan smiled and the two women slunk back to their own beds, each hoping and praying that this would be the last night they would ever spend in this horrible place.
Chapter 35
CARSON LEMOND WAS NEITHER asleep as this exchange took place, nor was he pleased with the content of the conversation. Something he hadn’t shared with anyone in the house was how good his hearing was. In a silent room in the middle of the night the two girls may as well have been using loudspeakers to his keen ears.
“Bitches,” he seethed in his mind. Well, he could repay their kindness to him tenfold. As it turned out Megan was partly right to shut him out. He was hiding things. Chief among them being what Spalding had told him before he sent him down here.
Carson had woken up, groggy and aching in a hard kitchen table seat. It was bright daylight and the sun poured in through the windows. Sitting across from him was a huge man and Carson knew at once they had met before.
"If only you had taken my advice on the bathroom in ‘Vito’s’," he said. Carson tried to struggle and to his surprise found he was not too well tied down at all. "You can free yourself easy, but you're in no state to try taking me on," the man said.
"Who are you?" Carson asked.
"Dwight Spalding." The name didn't mean anything to Carson.
"Who are you working for?" To this his captor only laughed.
"I have never done another man's will or bidding in my life!"
“Then who are you? What do you want with me?” Carson asked as he wriggled free of his straps. He stood up and stepped fast away from the table. Spalding didn’t move. He just looked on in what seemed to be amusement. Carson’s legs felt like jelly suddenly and his head spun with dizziness. “What did you give me?” he asked, worried now that he had been poisoned.
“You need to take it easy,” Spalding said, “Settle down, you’re not in imminent danger here.” His tone was friendly and it made Carson understand this was also the man who had put him in contact with Tyler Ford. The benevolent giant who said he could help him? It had been a set up from the start. Was this guy trying to get at Tyler by doing this? An image of Tyler coming home this morning and finding him gone flashed through his mind. He felt weak now after his exertion and he shuffled back to the table and sat down.
“What do you want?” he said, breathlessly. He felt like he’d just run a half marathon.
“For now, I just need you here, but I will return you to Tyler Ford in a few days.” So it was Tyler he was really after.
“What am I supposed to do here?” Carson asked, relieved that he was at least not going to be killed right now.
“There are people here, down in an underground dwelling. It is nice and they are well looked after. You will be joining them,” Spalding said with a big smile still adorning his face.
“Are you talking about a dungeon?” Carson said, alarmed again though still unable to rise to his feet.
“You could be crass and call it that, but it is a luxury place, better than your old apartment by a long shot. Besides, for you it will only be a few days.”
“How long have the others been down there?”
“It varies,” Spalding answered and the smile was drifting from his face now. Carson felt it was time to lay off the questions for a bit. “I have a couple of rules for you down there,” he went on. “You can tell them anything you want about how you wound up down there—they all have their own stories and I’m sure you will hear them. But, don’t mention that we had this chat up here and definitely don't mention that you are only going to be down there for a few days.” Carson nodded and he spoke but at this last point he saw Spalding was waiting for an answer,
“Sure, no problem,” he croaked from a drying throat. Those eyes alone looked like they would be able to kill you.
“That’s all there is to it. If you need to for any reason, you can contact me by tapping five times on the pipe that runs down the side of the slide room wall. You can’t tell that part to the others either and if you do it make sure none of them see you doing it.”
“Got it,” Carson acknowledged. He wanted to ask what the slide room was but he was sure he would figure it out when he had to. With that Carson wad led to the other side of the room where he suffered the same surprise fate as everyone else down below when the floor opened up unexpectedly beneath
