Eighty-two

It was dark. Too dark to see anything. It didn’t matter though—she didn’t need to see to know she’d been led on a wild goose chase. She scanned the terrain anyway, hoping to catch sight of whatever it was that was supposed to be here without having to resort to talking to herself again.

How many times I have to tell you? You’re not talkin’ to yourself, darlin’. You’re talking to me.

Casting a quick look over her shoulder, Sabrina caught sight of the airbase, nestled in the basin west of the 95. It looked close, but looks were deceiving. It had to be at least ten miles away. Deciding it was worth the risk, she lifted the Maglite from her pocket and switched it on. Sweeping its beam from left to right, she caught sight of it. A concrete slab in the middle of the desert.

“What the hell?” she breathed as she approached it. Smooth and level, she recognized it as the foundation of a building that was long gone. The disappointed was crushing. “There’s nothing here.”

Sure there is, darlin’, you just have to know where to look.

The foundation had to be several thousand square feet in diameter. The building that used to stand here would have been enormous. Gritting her teeth, she walked the slab, peering closely at the smooth cement beneath her feet, determined to find what she was looking for. While she searched, Wade talked.

The building was still here when I found this place. It was a sanitarium—one of those places they used to stick TB patients back in the day. You and me, we had the run of the place … remember, darlin’? The fun we had?

She remembered. She remembered running blindly, bouncing and stumbling her way down hallway after hallway. She remembered the feel of his eyes on her. Watching her, giving her hope that this time—maybe this time, she’d find a way out before he caught her. Before he hurt her again.

Never did find that way out, did you? Even death couldn’t save you—not yours or mine.

She wasn’t searching anymore. She’d gone still, lost in the memories this place and his words called up in her, face tipped down. Hand gripping the flashlight so tight her fingers were numb. She blinked, clearing the shadows from her vision.

Something shined in the beam of her flashlight and she ticked it over just a bit so she could make out what it was. A padlock.

Staring at it for a moment, she spoke. “There’s no way he brought Ellie here,” she said, shaking her head. “Government property? He wouldn’t be stupid enough to risk it.”

Stupid? No. What he is, is obedient. She’s down there, darlin’. That’s a fact.

“And then he relocked the padlock behind himself—from the outside?”

There’s another entrance—more of an exit, really—about fifty yards in front of you. That’s how he gets in and out … and that’s where he’ll be waitin’ for you.

She didn’t move, thinking it through slowly. If he was down there, he’d have both doors locked from the inside to deter anyone who might stumble onto the place from poking around.

Unless he knew she was coming.

She clicked the Maglite off and flipped it around so she held the handle of it like a baton. Next, she hunkered down in front of the door, hooking the index finger of her free hand through the arms of the padlock, securing it in place. Choking up on the base of the flashlight, she delivered fast, hard taps to the side of the lock while pulling down on it with the hook of her finger. She had it loose in less than a minute.

There was a rumbling behind her and she turned, sure she’d see those Humvees coming for her, but it wasn’t arrest she had to worry about. It was rain. Clouds had collected overhead, pushing and crowding across the night sky, mottled and swollen like a bruise.

Pulling the padlock free of the hatch, Sabrina kicked the lever open with the heel of her boot before crouching to lift it up at its edge. The door was heavy and heat drifted off of it in waves, its metal still hot from baking all day in the sun. She pulled on it and it swung open onto a gapping maw so black it instantly swallowed the beam of her Maglite.