20
Luke froze in the darkness.
Silence hung between the three of them and then Eric said, ‘This isn’t coincidence. No way. You were followed.’
‘Me? No, I followed you. I wasn’t-’
‘You don’t know what these people are capable of,’ Eric said. ‘You’ve just killed us all. They found us. We had them tricked into believing we’d gone to Thailand.’
‘It’s just a blackout.’ It had to be. ‘The Night Road couldn’t control the power to a city utility.’
‘You’re an idiot. You found these scumbags for Henry and now you’re going to underestimate them? They’ve put major plans into place for a massive attack. Screwing with the power grid is entirely possible for them.’ Terror wrenched his words into a half-scream.
Aubrey said, ‘We have to get out of here.’ Now steel calm coated her voice.
Luke went to the window. ‘They can’t have killed the power to the whole neighborhood.’ But he could only see light in a distant gleam, several streets away. Holy God. His surprise was eclipsed by an immediate sense of danger.
In the hallway, they could hear rumbling, voices calling out to each other, neighbors hailing neighbors.
‘They could be waiting for us in the hallway,’ Luke said.
‘There’s not a fire escape,’ Aubrey said.
‘The ledge is wide enough – maybe-’ Eric started.
‘Are you insane?’ Luke grabbed his arm. ‘We’re not climbing the outside of the building.’
‘You don’t know what we’re up against. These people – they’re brutal.’
‘Let’s go, please.’ Panic now creeping into Aubrey’s voice.
‘Take her with you,’ Eric said. He went into the kitchen, rummaged in a drawer, and produced a flashlight. ‘They want me, they want the money. Take her with you. Let them chase me.’
‘No. You come with us,’ Aubrey said. ‘I’m not leaving you.’ She sounded outraged at the suggestion.
‘I can’t. I’ll stay here, make a deal with the Night Road.’
The money was key to the Night Road’s survival, Luke realized. It had to be, funds for a cataclysm far bigger than the train bombing in Texas. It couldn’t fall into their hands, so Eric had to come with them.
‘Forget it, Eric, we’re sticking together.’ Luke opened the door. Most of the neighbors huddled in the hallway, a few with flashlights. Luke heard laughter, the pop of a beer can opening, people making the convivial best of the blackout, not wanting to sit alone in the dark.
Luke grabbed Aubrey’s arm – she was the only way he could ensure Eric stayed with them. She didn’t pull her arm away as they winded through the hallway.
‘The stairway’s ahead to your left,’ Aubrey said.
His circle of light found the door. He eased the door open. The stairway was pitch-dark.
Luke had to assume the worst. Where will they strike? The stairways and hallways were crowded right now, and Mouser and Snow would want privacy to kill him. The staircase would spit them out into the foyer. He pictured the small lobby in his mind – the staircase on the far left side, the old-style tile flooring, the dimensions of the room. If you wanted to ambush someone – it was close to a front exit. In the confusion Snow and Mouser could be out in the street and gone in seconds.
He stopped and Aubrey ran into his back.
‘Stop at the second floor – we’re not going out into the lobby.’
They went down the stairs and opened the second floor door and the hallway was empty.
‘Is there an exit to the back?’
‘Only through the lobby. Not from the residential floors.’
‘Stop,’ Eric said. Luke pulled the light toward his face and Eric blinked.
‘I’m going to talk to whoever’s after us. I’ll make a deal.’ Eric sounded confident again.
‘They won’t stop to talk.’
‘They will with me. I’m calling the shots, Luke. I’m sorry.’
‘Talk later, move now. Please,’ Aubrey said. Then she gave a gasp and in the disc of the flashlight’s glow Luke saw the pistol in Eric’s hand.
21
Waiting in the lobby for his targets to emerge, Mouser had not foreseen a big problem.
People with flashlights in a darkened building tend to shine the circle of light square in the faces of people nearby. They expect to see neighbors, and maintenance men, and they have a sudden bright suspicion of people they don’t know. Mouser edged back toward a column.
Two older women were standing in the lobby, miffed at the inconvenience of ruined dinners, and one kept pointing a light in his direction.
‘I’m sorry,’ she finally said. ‘Do you live in the building?’
‘No, ma’am, my friend does and she asked me to wait in the lobby.’
‘Who’s your friend?’
‘Grace Crosby.’
The answer seemed to satisfy the woman. ‘Well, they better get the power back on. We got half-cooked pork chops sitting in a skillet.’
‘Told you we should have baked them,’ the other woman said. ‘Oven would have finished the job, kept ’em hot.’
The first woman growled in annoyance and agreement. But she performed a valuable service for Mouser – she flashed her light toward every entrant into the lobby from the stairwell, as regular as a sentry. So he would see Aubrey and Eric before they saw him, and they would be blinded for a second or two. His hand in his coat pocket held a Glock 18. He could kill the woman immediately, hustle Eric to a place where he could be questioned, and find the missing money. If the two elderly women got in the way, too bad. Darkness and chaos would give him cover enough to escape with Eric.
Then the job would be done and he could take Snow someplace safe. They would have their reward; they could start to reshape the world. Make Hellfire happen and begin to truly kill the Beast.
Sooner or later, his targets would come.
Ten minutes went by and they hadn’t appeared.
The stair door clanged again and the old woman shone light against unfamiliar faces and he knew he’d worried too much about extracting Eric quickly onto the street. Wrong approach in the blackout. He headed for the stairwell.
22
When Eric got the flashlight, Luke realized. Aubrey had a gun hidden in the apartment and Eric grabbed the gun when he got the flashlight.
‘Aubrey, come here,’ Eric said.
Aubrey stayed put. ‘This is insane, Eric. Just – stop it.’
‘He’s going to force my hand. I’m not going to the police. Neither are you. If he’s gone, we’re free.’
‘Free?’ Luke said.
‘They’re not here for us. They’re here for him.’
‘Bull. They’re here for Eric and their fifty million bucks, and he knows it,’ Luke said. ‘That’s why he offered to go talk to them. Unless that was just his way of abandoning you, Aubrey, and he was going to run for his own sorry life once he hit the front door.’
‘That’s a lie!’ Eric snapped.
‘Eric, stop it,’ Aubrey said.
‘Don’t you switch sides on me, Aubrey, not after all I did for you.’
Luke shone the light on her face and her expression had turned angry. ‘You’re an asshole,’ she told Eric. ‘I should have broken up with you ages ago. You are not a hero.’
‘Stop this, we need each other,’ Luke said.
‘Spare me the idiotic let’s work together sentiment,’ Eric said. ‘Aubrey. Move away from him.’
‘And go where?’ Aubrey stayed at Luke’s side. ‘Where are we supposed to hide? How are we supposed to live that way? There’s no rock quite big enough for us to set up housekeeping.’
‘I could have left you to die, Aubrey.’ All the warmth bled out of Eric’s voice. But it wasn’t replaced by anger. Luke heard anguish and bitterness. ‘I gave up everything for you. Even after you dumped me.’
‘Eric, it’s not too late.’
‘I killed a man for you! Jesus, you don’t get a do-over. I killed him.’