She checked her cell. “Ten to eight.”
I parked the car and turned off the ignition. “I guess we’re a few minutes early.”
“Should we get out or wait in the car? What do you think?”
I looked around, but it was too dark to see much of anything, especially on this side of the facility. “Hmm, I guess we should get out. That way Bradley can see we’re here.”
Once we were out of the car, I realized just how incredibly creepy it was up here at Willow Point at night. There was a single light post in the corner of the lot, but someone had busted the bulb out. The only light was from the operational side of the building, but those few lamps were old and seemed only to cast a hazy, yellow glow on everything. This side, the abandoned half, was completely dark, a hulking shadow of a building silhouetted against an ebony night.
I suppressed a shudder and looked away, and that was when I noticed someone approaching the lot from the far west side of the property. “That’s odd,” I mumbled.
Helena eyed me curiously. But when I saw the person was a man in a guard uniform, I quickly amended, “Oh, forget it. That must be Bradley.”
At first, Helena relaxed, but then she suddenly made a gasping sound. “What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling a rush of panic.
She said nothing, but her eyes were glued to the man approaching from the west side of the property. He came closer and closer, tromping right through the heavy, dried-out brush. It was then I noticed the man wasn’t Bradley.
“Oh, shit,” I said, certain we’d been spotted by one of the other guards. I expected him to ask us to leave as soon as he reached us.
I was sure Helena was thinking the same thing, and that’s was why she’d gasped. But when she began backing up, her eyes never leaving the approaching guard, I knew there was something seriously wrong. “Helena?”
“Maddy, get out of here,” she hissed, glancing at me with eyes full of terror.
What was going on? I looked back at the guard; he was smiling. He was tall and thin, probably in his fifties, with a receding hairline and a mustache. Oh crap. He was the same guard I’d seen before, milling around over on the west side weeks earlier. The one who had given me chills. But why would his presence upset Helena so much? And how did she even know a guard who worked up at Willow Point?
“Maddy,” she said tightly, “get in the car. Now. Go!”
“Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you. Come on.” I grasped for her arm but she was still backing away. My hand slipped from her jacket.
The strange guard approached, more slowly than before, until he stood a few feet away. “Helena…” His voice trailed off.
Huh? How did this strange guy know Helena?
I spun to face him, readying for an explanation, but then, now that he was much, much closer, I was able to recognize the man. And…
Oh-my-god-oh-my-god-oh-my-god.
“No! It can’t be,” I cried, lunging for Helena.
Even if I had to drag her into the car, I wasn’t leaving her here. Not with…him. Because the man that stood before us was someone we both knew. And that man was supposed to be dead. But there was no denying that—though a little older-looking—this guy dressed as a guard was most definitely Helena’s evil stepdad, Ron Mifflin.
Helena appeared to be in shock, no surprise there. I began to pull her forcibly to the car, and Ron’s smile widened.
“Leaving so soon?” he said in an ominous voice. “I don’t think so.” He smiled wickedly, and his black eyes flashed to something—or someone—behind me.
Ron nodded, and I was roughly grabbed from behind. I spun awkwardly to face my assailant.
What?
It was Bradley. For a few seconds I thought we’d been saved, but when he covered my mouth with a sickly and sweet-smelling cloth, I realized the guard I had trusted was in on whatever it was Ron was up to. I’d been tricked.
I tried not to breathe in whatever chemical was on the cloth, but it was near to impossible. As things became fuzzy, I thought about how this had all been a ruse to get me up here. This was why Bradley had said to come alone. How could I have been so stupid to trust him? But why were they doing this? “Why?” I murmured incoherently.
Then everything faded to black as I crumpled into Bradley’s arms.
***
When I awoke, my hands and feet were bound with thick and heavy rope. I was seated on a dirt floor with my knees pulled up to my chest, leaning back to back against another person who was bound to me, wrist-to-wrist.
“Helena?” I rasped, my mouth cottony and dry.
“Yes, it’s me,” she whispered.
I coughed and felt as if I might get sick, but then it passed. Helena’s hands moved against mine and I felt the rope loosen ever so slightly. She’d probably been working on them the whole time I was unconscious, but I had no idea how long that had been. I started to ask, but she shushed me. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dim surroundings and I glanced around.
There was a single flashlight positioned on some kind of a metal cart, lighting up the area around us. I couldn’t see a whole lot though, just dark walls that appeared to be damp and a low doorway a few yards directly in front of me.
From the moldy smell and dampness permeating the air, and the empty and rundown surroundings, I had a bad feeling we were in the basement of the west wing of Willow Point. My eyes settled on the dim outline of the low doorway, once again. If we could just get free, we could escape.
It was our only hope, as I could tell when I shifted position that the cell phone I’d tucked into the back pocket of my jeans was gone.
