By the time Jessica turned into Municipal’s parking lot, the rain had finally slowed to a drizzle, and she felt on the brink of a nervous breakdown. It had taken them nearly an hour to travel the twelve miles between the Daigle house and here. Street flooding and downed tree limbs had caused her to detour repeatedly and rarely allowed her to reach speeds higher than fifteen miles an hour. Not a great response time for someone hell-bent on getting to her brother.
“Why’re you parking way back here?” Sharon asked.
“Because there’s no other lot,” Jessica said, flexing her stiff fingers away from the steering wheel. “This is it. You have to take a sidewalk to the—”
“Look!” Lisa said as the car’s headlights cut a bright swath across the back of the clinic.
Jessica hit the brakes, and the car slid to a stop. There was no mistaking the man now pinned in the glare of the headlamps. Eli stood leaning against the brick building near a glass exit door about sixty feet away. He turned sideways, away from the light and hunched his shoulders.
“What the hell’s he doing here?” Lisa asked.
“Oh, this is not good,” Sharon muttered, and wiggled to the edge of her seat. “Not good at all.”
Jessica threw the gearshift into park. She wasn’t surprised to see Eli. In fact, the moment she spotted him she sensed that somehow he would be the avenue she needed to get into Municipal. What did puzzle her, however, was how he’d managed to get here at all. It would have taken a healthy person much longer to hike the twelve miles than it had taken them to drive it. Eli seemed barely capable of standing. How could he have possibly made a trek that long in so short a time?
Keeping one eye on him, Jessica unbuckled her seat belt. “Stay put. I’m—”
“No way, kiddo. You’re not going this one alone,” Lisa said, and she was out of the car before Jessica could stop her.
“Lisa Clare, you get back in here this minute!” Sharon cried. “Jess, make her come back!”
Jessica hurried to open the driver’s door, but it felt cemented to the frame. Refusing to waste time by fighting with it, she swiveled around on the bench seat and scooted toward the passenger door, which was still open. It banged shut before she reached it.
“Oh, Lord, Lord, Jess, I can’t get out. The window won’t even go down!” Sharon slapped a palm against her window repeatedly and shouted, “Lisa Clare, you listen to me and come back in here this instant! Jess, do something!”
In one quick scan, Jessica caught sight of Lisa standing near the hood of the car, hands on hips, threatening to skin the rest of Eli’s body if he didn’t leave them alone and Sharon in the throes of a panic attack in the back seat. Jessica hit the automatic window buttons set in the front door panels and heard them whine, but the windows remained motionless. Riding on impulse, she immediately jammed her feet against the passenger door, bent her knees, then leaned over and grabbed the door handle. She whispered a hasty, “Please, God,” then yanked up on the handle. The lever moved, and Jessica stuck the toe of her tennis shoe beneath it to hold it in position, then shoved hard against the door with both feet.
Every tendon and muscle burned as she strained to straighten her legs. Gradually the door squeaked open a few inches—then a bit farther—a little farther still. When she finally had her legs stretched out to full-length, Jessica hastily dropped her feet to the ground and was about to do a tuck and roll when the door slammed back against her left shoulder. It continued to urge itself shut, pinning her between it and the doorframe.
Jessica heard Sharon yelling her name and tried to call out for help, but her lungs didn’t seem to contain enough oxygen to push the words past her lips.
“Hold on!” someone shouted, then Lisa’s face suddenly appeared in Jessica’s line of sight. Locking her fingers around the lip of the door just above Jessica’s shoulder, Lisa said sternly, “Push while I pull.” Then Lisa tugged on the door, leaning back for leverage. Jessica gritted her teeth and pushed, already feeling some of the pressure ease from her shoulder.
“Try now,” Lisa commanded.
Hunching forward, Jessica strained against the narrow opening until she popped free. She landed on her side in the flooded parking lot.
“Ya’ll wait for me!” Sharon yelled.
“C-can’t,” Lisa said, still clinging to the door. Her feet began to slide across the wet pavement. “Can’t hold it.”
Jessica struggled to her feet in time to see Sharon dive for the front seat, then do a belly bust between the headrests. In that instant, Lisa let out a loud whoop, and the passenger door swung shut, smashing her fingers between layers of steel.
“Jesus!” Lisa bellowed, and her knees buckled.
Jessica lunged for her friend and looped an arm around her waist to hold her upright. With her free hand, she quickly ran a finger along the edge of the door, searching for the slightest crevice with which to latch onto. There wasn’t one.
Sharon’s terror-stricken face appeared in the back passenger window, and she beat on the glass with a fist. “Open it, open it, her hand! My baby’s hand!”
“G-get it—J-Jesus, m-my f-fingers.” Lisa slumped against Jessica, and her head lolled back.
“No, no, breathe, honey. Come on, hang on.” Jessica eased Lisa against the car, then pulled up on the door handle with both hands. It wouldn’t budge. Jessica yanked harder, her fingertips numbing. “Help!” she shouted, and threw a desperate glance toward Eli. “Help me get it open!”
He cocked his head slightly to one side, then leaned over and picked up the tire iron lying at his feet.
Lisa groaned loudly, drawing Jessica’s attention back to her. “J-Jess, s-stop p-p-pulling. You’re just—just pissing it—” Lisa’s eyes rolled to full white, and she slumped into a heap, both arms suspended awkwardly over her head.
Sharon shrieked, and the car began to rock with her frantic efforts to get out of the car.
“Don’t just stand there, goddammit, do something!” Jessica glared at Eli, then zeroed in on the tire iron in his hand. “Use that! Pry the door—”
“You don’t got no time for dat now,” Eli said calmly. “It won’t let you do nuttin’ wit’ her anyway. Leave her.”
“I can’t just leave her!” Jessica screamed.
“You don’t got no choice. If we don’t gets to you brother now, we lose. Hurry—now.”
Jessica let go of the door handle and hovered over Lisa, who was still out cold. “I can’t!” she insisted. “She could lose her fingers if I don’t do something.”
“You gonna lose you brother if you don’t COME NOW!” Eli’s voice inflated to a booming roar. Then without warning, he spun about and swung the tire iron into the glass door, shattering it.
Jessica gasped and waited for an alarm to sound. None did.
“Come now!” Eli demanded.
A blast of wind suddenly detonated behind Jessica and shoved her away from the car and toward Eli. She had to run to keep her feet in sync with the momentum of her body.
As Jessica neared him, worries of Sharon and Lisa faded. The force that physically compelled her forward seemed to encapsulate her thoughts, focusing them in one direction. She had to get to Todd.
Ducking beneath icicle-length glass shards, Jessica followed Eli into the building, where he led her down a long corridor awash with light from the car’s headlamps to a heavy wooden door that signaled its end.
Eli motioned for her to stay back, then raised a hand and splayed his fingers. Immediately, strips of wood began to rip away from the door like giant banana skins.
Jessica glanced nervously over her shoulder. Though they were at the very back of the building, far from the reception area, she was sure the vehement tearing and ripping sounds would summon a security guard from somewhere. But the corridor remained empty, and when she turned back she found the door had been literally stripped open.
Eli walked nonchalantly over the debris, tossing wood scraps aside with his metal rod. Jessica tagged along mutely, as though what had just happened was the most natural process in the world. After the last couple of days, a Sasquatch could jump off a rooftop doing the merengue, and she’d probably just toss him a quarter tip. There just didn’t seem to be much shock value left in anything anymore.