Chapter 33: The Rescue

Emerson

IT HAD GONE ON long enough as far as Emerson was concerned. She really had no proof that Keira and Jaime were talking in each other’s head, reading her thoughts, or talking to her. It could all be something she just wanted to believe. It could all be coincidences. It was possible their ‘girlfriend’ wasn’t even real and wasn’t at this inn anyway.

It was her own foolish fantasy that got her involved with them. They certainly read that right. She hadn’t felt this way about anyone since she left Dom and Raquel. And that was a disaster. She was just a training wheel on their bicycle, not a tricycle at all. They’d gotten married the day before without her.

She knew in her heart that any involvement with Jaime and Keira would end the same way. She was a third wheel, no matter who she was with. When school started up in two days, she was going to come back a changed woman. The couple of outfits she’d worn so far were nothing compared to the other things she’d purchased in Paris. It was too cold for some of the skirts, but she had enough great form-fitting clothes to knock their backwater school on its ass.

But it probably wouldn’t be enough to win a long-term place with Keira and Jaime. They’d go off someplace together and she’d ... She supposed she’d still go back to Paris. She’d made good contacts there over the summer and could pick up that part of her life, at least. If her software project worked even a little, she was sure she could interest one of the houses in bringing her on while she continued her studies at the Academe Internationale.

Keira had said she’d be out in ten minutes. That was nearly half an hour ago. Emerson got out of her car, locked the door, and headed toward the inn. Leave it to her to clean up the mess. She’d go find them herself.

The front door of the guesthouse was unlocked and she walked in to look around. No one was in the foyer and she couldn’t hear anything from the direction of the kitchen. She glanced at her phone and saw she’d lost service as soon as she entered the inn.

No sense calling attention to myself, she thought. I’ll just start looking for the stairway down.

The stairway leading up to the rooms was obvious, but she figured the most likely place for a staircase down was behind it, in the kitchen. She headed toward the kitchen and found a huge walk-in pantry behind the stairs. She supposed the original family had a ton of servants living in the building. She was pretty sure Oregon never had slaves. It was admitted to the Union just before the Civil War as a free state. But rich people always had a way of getting around that. If someone owed you money, for example, they could be bound to you to work off the debt.

This Schwartz character was a descendant of the shipping magnate who built the original house. She’d found a lot of information about him, including his published research on inner monologue and inner dialogue. He’d let a few things slip into it regarding the manipulation of weaker minds. If she accepted that Keira and Jaime had communicated with her telepathically, it seemed possible they could influence her thinking. They could exert outright power over another person’s mind if they didn’t let them know they were talking to her. It was confusing and made her head hurt.

She heard a noise from the pantry and quickly hid behind a door to the next room.

Schwartz and two others emerged from the pantry.

“Check up and down the street. Teenage boy. You know what he looks like from the photos I took. He’ll probably be trying to find a place where he can observe the inn. Clever kid. Sent his girlfriend in instead of coming himself. We don’t want him bringing cops. Find him and bring him in. I’m going up to the cupola and will monitor the cameras.”

“You got it. Shirley, go out the back. I’ll go out the front,” the other man said.

Emerson heard the back door close and footsteps retreat toward the front of the house. They faded quickly. She ducked around the pantry door and found the stairs downward she’d been looking for.

He’s so casual about leaving doors open and unlocked, she thought. It’s almost as if he’s inviting intruders. Shit!

She was only a step down the stairs when lights came on. She froze and listened, but nothing seemed to be approaching. She caught her breath and kept going. Acoustically, the passage was muted. She could barely hear her own breathing and footsteps. The door at the bottom of the stairs was a heavy-duty steel door, but it was unlocked. It had an old and faded sticker on the door that had three yellow triangles in a black circle. Under it were the words “Fallout Shelter.”

Handy if there’s a nuclear attack and they all have to get underground. I wonder if it’s still a fully stocked bomb shelter.

She went on into the hall and the heavy door closed behind her. The hall immediately branched into two and looking down each, she could see they branched again a little way on. She remembered Jaime saying the child services lady said the place down here was a maze.

Okay. So, you’re supposed to keep one hand on the wall and just keep following that wall until you get out or return to the start. I’ll use some lip gloss to mark this door so I know it’s the one I came in by. At least it’s not dark down here.

She marked the door, put her hand on the left wall, and started following the hall. Each time she came to a door, she opened it, looked, and then continued. She soon lost track of how many turns she’d taken in a quiet that even muffled her thoughts. She was getting tired, checking every door to see if it was the one she came in by.

Suddenly, she sensed a change in the atmosphere. It was as if her ears were unstopped and she could hear again. She hummed and could hear her own voice. When she walked in the hall, she could hear her footsteps on the carpet and the brush of her fingers against the wall. She took a deep breath, unaware that she’d been holding it.

And then she heard a voice.

Rose and Angus and Kate and Thursday

“What the fuck, Angus? Another girl just entered the front door,” Kate said into her cell phone. “Is the missing girl trying to track down her friends?”

“Another girl?” Angus said, looking at Rose. “No. We don’t know of any other girls. Rose, do you think they brought more people with them?”

“It’s possible. I told you they could command someone. Or it could be another of Kenton’s goonies,” Rose said.

“Speaking of goonies, the woman he had with him just came out the back door,” Angus told Kate on the phone.

“Shit! Here comes Tweedle-Dumbass,” Kate said. “He just bounced out the front door looking up and down the street.”

“He see you?”

“No. I don’t think so. We’re behind a car on the other side of the road. You want us to take him out?” Kate asked.

“Don’t. Wait.” «Did you get a read on her?» Angus asked Rose.

«Yes. They’re hunting for Jaime. They don’t know he’s inside.»

“Look, Kate. I think they’re out hunting for the boy. The farther afield they go the better we are. That means we let them go and get ready to enter the building.”

“Christ! Watch your ass!” Kate snarled. “The baddy is up in the cupola with a pair of binocs scanning around.”

“I see him. We’ve faded back to avoid the woman, so I don’t think he spotted us. Are you safe?”

“My bunny-tail is wet from the pavement. We don’t dare move, though. We’ll try to find a spot where we can see when he’s looking a different way and we’ll take a stroll farther down the hill.”

“I’ll make it my mission to dry your ass when we’re done,” Angus said. “Buzz me if you see anything else. And stay away from the guy. You know he’s packing.”

“Right-o, pops. Talk to you later.”

«What do we do now?» Rose asked Angus.

«Well, we’ve got the goonies in the street and Kenton’s on the roof. That means Keira, Jaime, and Miss X are inside, maybe being held and maybe on the loose. I think we should get ready for an assault.»

«If we go now, the lower level should be undefended, » Rose said.

«Watch for the woman. We’ll make for the back door when it looks clear.»

Jaime

Jaime investigated every doorway and passage in the annex as he came to it. He used a Sharpie to mark an ‘x’ on any door he couldn’t open and a ‘y’ on any door he could. The lights in the rooms came on automatically when the door opened. Jaime didn’t go into any of the rooms, but looked to see what was there.

That was how he found the stairway to the lower level. It was a heavier door than the others with a ‘Fallout Shelter’ sticker on it. It opened just fine and Jaime checked to be sure it wouldn’t lock when he walked through.