Robert Crais - Hostage

In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe , the children found a secret door at the rear of their wardrobe that let them escape the real world into the magical land of Narnia. Thomas had his own secret door at the back of his closet: an access hatch to the attic crawl space that ran beneath the steep pitch of the roof. It was his own private clubhouse (his and Duane’s), through which he could move along the eaves to the other access hatches dotted around the house.

Thomas pulled open the hatch and wiggled into the crawl space, being careful not to bump the rafters with his head. The heat in the closed space of the attic enveloped him like a gas. He found the flashlight that he kept just inside the hatch, turned it on, then pulled the hatch closed. The crawl space in this part of the house was a long triangular tunnel that followed the back edge of the roof. Where windows were cut into the roof, the triangle became a low rectangle, forcing Thomas to crawl on his belly. He worked his way along until he came to a second access hatch, this one in Jennifer’s closet. He listened until he grew satisfied that the turds weren’t in her room, then he pushed it open, knocking over a tumble of shoes.

The closet was dark, its door closed.

He eased his way out over the shoes and through a rack of her dresses, then turned off his flashlight. He listened at the closet door, and again heard nothing. He eased open the door. The lights in Jennifer’s room were off; that was good because he knew that most of her room could be seen on the monitors. He opened the door so slowly that it seemed to take forever to get it open enough for him to stick out his head. The room was lit by pale blue moonlight. He could see Jennifer bound to the chair near the front of the room, her back to him.

“Jen?”

She lurched in the chair and mumbled. He called to her, his voice low.

“I’m in your closet. Just relax, okay? If they’re watching, they can see you on the monitors.” She stopped struggling.

Thomas tried to remember what the camera saw of Jennifer’s room. He and Duane sometimes went into the security room when his parents were away so that Duane could see her naked. He was pretty confident that if he crept out of the closet on his belly, then hugged the wall beneath the windows where the shadows were darkest, he could get pretty close to the chair. If he heard Mars or those other turds coming, he could haul ass back into the crawl space, then go back to his room or run for the garage.

“Jen, listen up, okay? I’m going to come over there.”

She shook her head wildly, mumbling frantically into the tape.

“Be QUIET! I can untie you.”

He pushed open the closet a few inches wider, then edged forward on his elbows into the shadows. As he passed her desk, he saw that her phone had also been torn from the plug. Turds.

Thomas worked his way around the perimeter of the room, and soon he was stretched out beside her bed, using deep shadows as cover. He was about four feet from her now, and could see that her mouth was taped. He looked up at the corner of the ceiling where the camera was located. These cameras didn’t hang down visible to anyone in the room; they were what his father called “pinhole cameras,” set in the crawl space behind the wall where they peeked out through tiny holes. He slithered out to the chair and worked his way behind her. He figured that the camera could probably see her from the waist up, but not very well in the darkness. He decided to take a chance. He snaked his hand up behind her, then quickly yanked the tape from her mouth before ducking down to the floor again.

“Shit! Ow!”

“Be quiet! Listen!”

“They’re going to catch you!”

“Shhhh! Listen!”

Thomas strained his ears again, concentrating past the helicopters and the sounds of the police outside.

Nothing.

“It’s okay, Jen. They didn’t see, and they can’t see me now. Don’t look around. Just listen.”

“How did you get in here?”

“I used the crawl space. Now listen and hold still . I’m going to untie you. They nailed the windows shut, but I think we can use the crawl space to get downstairs. If we sneak to the garage, we can open the garage door and run for it.”

“No!”

Thomas worked frantically at the knots binding her. The cords weren’t that tight around her wrists and ankles, but the knots had been pulled hard .

“Thomas, stop! I mean it! Don’t untie me.”

“Are you on dope? We might be able to get away!”

“But Daddy will still be in here! I’m not going to leave him.”

Thomas settled back on his heels, confused.

“But, Jen-”

“No! Thomas, if you can get out, then go, but I’m not leaving without my father.”

Thomas was so angry he wanted to punch. Here they were, locked in the dark with three psychokillers who probably drank human blood, one maniac who wanted to eat their hearts for sure , and she wouldn’t leave. But then, as Thomas thought about it, he knew she was right. He couldn’t leave their father, either.

“What are we gonna do, Jen?”

She didn’t answer for a time.

“Call the police.”

“The house is surrounded by police.”

“Call them anyway! Maybe they have an idea. Maybe if we tell them exactly what’s going on in here it will help them.”

Thomas glanced toward her desk, recalling the wires ripped from the plug.

“They broke the phones.”

Jennifer fell silent again.

“Then I don’t know. Thomas, you should get out.”

“No!”

“I mean it. If you can get to the police, maybe you can help them. You know all about the alarms and the cameras. You know that Daddy is hurt. That asshole, Dennis, lied to them about Daddy. He’s telling them we’re all fine.”

“Let me untie you. We can hide in the walls.”

“No! They might hurt Daddy! Listen, if they find out that you’re not in your room, I’m going to tell them that you got out. They won’t know you’re still in the walls. They’ll never even think of that! But if both of us are gone, they’ll take it out on Daddy. They might hurt him!”

Thomas thought about it.

“Okay, Jen.”

“Okay, what?”

“We’re not going to leave him. I’m going to get us out of here.”

Jennifer jerked so hard against the cords that she almost tipped over the chair.

“You leave that gun alone! They’ll kill you!”

“Not if I have the gun! We can hold them off long enough to let in the police, that’s all we have to do.”

She twisted hard in the chair, trying to see him.

“Thomas, don’t you dare! They’re adults! They’re criminals and they’ve got guns, too!”

“Don’t talk so loud or they’ll hear you!”

“I don’t care! It’s better than you getting killed!”

Thomas reached up, pulled the tape back over her mouth, and rubbed it hard so that it would stick. Jennifer squirmed, trying to shout through the tape. Thomas hated the thought of leaving her tied, but she just didn’t see that he had no other choice.

“I’m sorry, Jen. I’ll untie you when I get back. Then we can get Daddy out of here. You’ll see. I won’t let them hurt us.”

Jennifer was still struggling as Thomas worked his way back through the shadows. When he reached the closet he could still hear her trying to shout through the tape. She was shouting the same thing over and over. He could understand her, even though her words were muffled.

They’re going to kill you .

They’re going to kill you .

Thomas slipped back into the crawl space, working his way carefully through the dark.

DENNIS