Chương 12
She answered on speaker.
No one spoke at first.
Then a girl’s voice whispered through static.
“Mrs. Irwin?”
Sarah gripped the phone.
“Yes?”
“This is Emily.”
Tyler sat upright despite the pain.
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“Emily, where are you?”
The girl breathed once.
Twice.
Then whispered, “Sheriff Barnes is outside the door.”
“Lock it,” I said.
“I did.”
Emily’s whisper shook so badly that the words blurred together.
“There’s a chair under the handle too.”
“Good.”
“Is Tyler alive?”
Tyler leaned toward Sarah’s phone.
“I’m here.”
Emily made a sound that was half sob and half laugh.
“Oh my God.”
“I saw you.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should’ve—”
“Tyler.”
Her voice cracked.
“You got shot.”
He looked down at his bandaged legs.
“That seems to be everybody’s argument.”
Sarah put a hand over his.
I took the phone.
“Emily, listen to me.”
“Who is this?”
“Tyler’s father.”
There was a pause.
“The janitor?”
Under any other circumstances, I might have laughed.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“I don’t know.”
“You called from a phone.”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
“In here.”
“What kind of room?”
“Equipment.”
“Describe it.”
“Gray boxes.”
“What else?”
“Old radios, I think.”
I looked at Sarah.
Black Ridge.
“Do you see windows?”
“One.”
“What’s outside?”
“Nothing.”
“Look carefully.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“It’s dark.”
“What can you hear?”
Emily stopped talking.
We waited.
A low metallic sound came through the speaker.
Then wind.
Then something else.
A repeating electronic chirp.
“I hear that,” she whispered.
“So do I.”
Tyler looked at me.
“What is it?”
“Battery alarm.”
“How do you know?”
“The old repeater building had a backup power cabinet.”
Sarah stared.
“You cleaned that too?”
“I cleaned everything nobody else wanted to.”
Emily whispered, “He’s coming back.”
“Who?”
“Barnes.”
“Is Renner there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Emily, did Paul Renner bring you there?”
“Yes.”
“Is he still there?”
“I heard him leave.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before Barnes came?”
“Yes.”
“Did Barnes say anything?”
“He yelled at Paul.”
“What about?”
“I couldn’t hear all of it.”
“Anything you remember?”
“He said something about copies.”
I glanced at Sarah.
“Your records.”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
Emily started crying.
“I don’t know.”
“Emily.”
“I sent them.”
“To who?”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“No.”
Her panic sharpened.
“He said if I told anyone else, he’d hurt my mom.”
Sarah leaned closer to the phone.
“Emily, your mother is already with police.”
Silence.
“How do you know?”
“Because they told us.”
Another sound outside the room.
Footsteps.
Emily sucked in a breath.
“Don’t talk,” I said.
The line went quiet except for her breathing.
A man’s voice sounded faintly in the distance.
Barnes.
“Emily.”
She did not answer.
“Open the damn door.”
Tyler’s fingers dug into the sheet.
Barnes struck something.
Probably the door.
“Girl, I am done asking.”
I whispered, “Keep the phone hidden.”
Emily breathed, “Okay.”
“Do not answer him.”
The next impact was louder.
Sarah reached for another phone, then remembered mine was broken.
She ran into the hall.
“Get Agent Price back on the line.”
A nurse looked up from the desk.
“Now.”
The nurse grabbed a hospital phone.
Barnes hit the door again.
This time Emily whimpered.
“Chair moved.”
“Can you push it back?”
“I’m trying.”
Metal scraped.
Barnes heard it.
“So you are in there.”
Emily froze.
His voice changed.
It became almost gentle.
“You don’t want this to get worse.”
Tyler whispered, “He said that to me.”
I looked at him.
“When?”
“Before he shot me.”
Barnes continued through the speaker.
“You made this bigger than it needed to be.”
Emily’s breathing became faster.
“You’re a smart girl.”
I hated the calm in his voice.
“I know you didn’t mean to cause trouble.”
Tyler closed his eyes.
“He talks like that before.”
“Before what?”
“Before he hurts you.”
Sarah came back with the hospital phone pressed to her ear.
“Price is on.”
“Speaker.”
Sarah hit the button.
Price’s voice filled the room.
“Dennis?”
“Emily called.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Dispatch traced the incoming number.”
“Can they locate it?”
“We have an approximate area.”
“She’s at Black Ridge.”
“We believe so.”
“She says Barnes is outside the room.”
“We are less than six minutes out.”
Emily whispered, “He’s doing something.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
A metallic scraping sound came through.
Then Barnes said, farther away, “Fine.”
Silence followed.
Too much silence.
“Emily.”
“I’m here.”
“What’s in the room with you?”
“I told you.”
“Anything heavy?”
“Boxes.”
“Anything you can move?”
“There’s a table.”
“Can you brace the door with it?”
“I think.”
“Do it quietly.”
Price interrupted.
“Dennis.”
“What?”
“Do not coach her into anything that puts her closer to the door.”
“I’m trying to keep him out.”
“We’re almost there.”
I heard engines behind Price’s voice.
Emily dragged something.
The noise was painfully loud.
Barnes shouted from outside.
“I can hear you.”
The dragging stopped.
Then something hissed.
Emily coughed.
My stomach tightened.
“Do you smell anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Gasoline?”
“No.”
“Smoke?”
She coughed again.
“Something chemical.”
Price swore.
“Dennis, get her low.”
“Emily, get on the floor.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
She dropped the phone.
We heard it strike concrete.
A second later she picked it up again.
“I’m down.”
“Is there ventilation?”
“What?”
“Vent, grille, anything.”
“I see one near the floor.”
“Get your face near it.”
She crawled.
Sarah looked at Price’s phone.
“What is he doing?”
Price answered.
“Possibly using a fire extinguisher or chemical agent to force her out.”
Tyler stared.
“He has pepper spray.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“He sprayed it into my car.”
“When?”
“Before he made me get out.”
“You didn’t tell us that.”
“I forgot.”
That was no longer surprising.
Trauma had turned his memory into broken glass.
Price said, “That helps.”
“Why?”
“Explains residue in the vehicle.”
Tyler looked angry.
“I don’t care about residue.”
Price’s voice softened.
“I know.”
Emily coughed harder.
The sound turned wet.
“Can’t breathe.”
“Stay low.”
May you like
“It burns.”
“Cover your mouth with your shirt.”
