Who? I couldn’t see.
“I see her!” Lien-hua yelled.
The echo of footsteps around me.
Flickering light. Flickering light.
I heard the slap of my Nikes. Ralph’s steady, pounding boots.
Lien-hua’s fluid stride.
But another set of steps too. A fourth set.
Then something clattered against the floor to my left, and I aimed my light toward the sound. Saw a figure bolting toward the other end of the dark warehouse.
“Stop. On your knees!” I yelled. The lights high above me flickered, flickered. “Now!” Thin light dancing across the interior of the warehouse.
A macabre dance.
“Stop!”
But he didn’t stop. I needed to make a decision.
Chase him or save Cassandra. Easy choice.
Cassandra.
I heard Ralph and Lien-hua. “There!” I yelled, I pointed. “He’s getting away.”
“He’s mine,” Ralph shouted while Lien-hua leapt with the grace of a doe over a dead conveyor belt and arrived by my side.
Water poured from the pipe that led down the wall of the warehouse and spanned the meter-long gap to the top of the tank. The water wasn’t just dripping anymore. The valves must have been opened all the way.
Cassandra Lillo pounded and slapped against the glass as the churning water reached her chin. She was screaming, still screaming as the water began to cover her mouth.
“Where’s the valve?” I yelled to her, holstering my SIG. “The valve?” But Cassandra was too busy trying to stay alive to answer.
Lien-hua pounded on the glass. “We’re going to get you out.
Hold on.”
The water bubbled over Cassandra’s lips.
“Pat.” Desperation rose in Lien-hua’s voice. “You have to stop that water.”
I ran to the back of the tank, pocketed the flashlight, jumped up, and grabbed the water pipe. I swung my weight, hard, trying to jar the pipe loose from the side of the building, but it held firm. I wedged my feet against the wall and twisted with all my strength.
Nothing.
Yanked. Yanked.
Nothing.
Cassandra tugged against the chain, took a gulp of air. The chain looked slack, but she didn’t notice. “Relax!” I yelled. “You’ll be OK!'
But it didn’t help. She was panicking.
“Hurry, Pat.” Lien-hua found a lead pipe and swung it against the glass, but only faint slivers of cracks appeared. “We’re losing her!”
I dropped to the ground, and Maglite in hand, I scanned the area surrounding the tank. My flashlight sent spatters of light across the walls, but I didn’t see any way to release the water.
The valve must be outside the building.
A memory of my river rafting days flashed through my mind.
Once a man who’d fallen from a raft got his leg wedged beneath a submerged tree branch. His head was a meter below the surface, but a friend of mine and I kept him alive by swimming down and passing him air, mouth to mouth, until he could get rescued twenty minutes later. If I could get into the tank, I could do that for Cassandra.
But when I studied the top of the tank, I saw that the metal bars were held in place with a thick, curved metal pins. I’d never be able to remove them fast enough to save her.
Fluorescent lights on. Then off. Darkness and light.
Darkness and light.
“Relax, Cassandra!” I called. “We’re going to get you out!” But her long struggle had exhausted her. She flattened her hand against the glass and opened her mouth slightly, sending a fresh burst of bubbles to the surface, swallowing, gagging on a mouthful of water.
For a moment she beat on the glass with a desperate fist, but then her fist uncurled.
Her fingers drifted back in the water.
Now, Pat. Now. Help her. Save her.
“Lien-hua.” I said. “Step back.” I unholstered my weapon, angled it so I wouldn’t hit Cassandra if my plan actually worked, and began to empty the magazine at the hairline fractures Lien-hua had created.
As soon as she saw what I was doing, she followed suit. The bullets ricocheted off the glass and flew into the psychedelic darkness of the warehouse. I hoped the bullets wouldn’t bounce back toward us, but there was no way to tell and no time to worry. Light and sound flashed and echoed, reverberated through the vacant air.
Lien-hua and I fired at least sixteen rounds before the growing web of cracks imploded and water rushed into the room carrying the shattered glass with it. The force of the water slammed into us, knocking both of us off our feet while Cassandra’s limp body dropped to the ground beside us amid a storm of clanging metal pipes.
My flashlight had flown from my hand and skittered across the floor, sending curling beams of light spinning around the room. I looked toward Cassandra and saw that Lien-hua was already at her side. “She’s still alive, Pat. Get an ambulance.”
I yanked out my phone and dialed 911 while Lien-hua leaned over, feeling Cassandra’s pulse, checking her airway. Dispatch told me an ambulance was already en route, but to save them time when they arrived, I relayed as much as I could about Cassandra’s condition and confirmed the warehouse’s address. In the meantime, I retrieved my flashlight and saw that Lien-hua had rolled Cassandra onto her side to help clear her airway. Miraculously, Cassandra seemed to be breathing reasonably well on her own.
“You’re going to be OK,” Lien-hua told her. “It’s over. You’re safe now. It’s over.”
Cassandra nodded feebly, letting Lien-hua hold her, reassure her.
Then I remembered that Ralph was pursuing a suspect-but that there were at least two people involved in the kidnapping. Shade and someone else. I flicked the light around the area.
“How many?” I asked Cassandra. “How many people were here?”
She shook her head. She didn’t know.
I swept my light around the room, scanning, scanning. My heart beating.
What’s taking those officers so long? I set my phone beside Lien-hua in case EMS needed more info.
“I’m taking a look around.”
“Be careful,” Lien-hua said.
I slid a new magazine into my SIG and began to search the creases of throbbing darkness all around me.
59
I’d made it halfway to the warehouse’s far wall when I heard footsteps to my right. I crouched low. Shooting stance. My heart hammering. “Stop right there.”
“Pat,” Ralph’s voice shot back. “I lost him.” Then Ralph let a string of curses color the air.
“We found Cassandra,” I said. “She’s OK.”
Just then, a flash of movement in the shadows caught my eye. I swung my light. Saw a glimpse of pale skin.
A face.
“Hey,” I yelled. The guy jumped to his feet. Bolted. Closer to Ralph than to me. I pointed my flashlight.
