Richard Hale - Frozen Past

They went through the kitchen and stepped to the basement door. A red light caught his eye and he pointed to it, the web cam just within reach. He knocked it off of the wall and crushed it beneath his shoe. He turned and looked at Victoria who shrugged.

He was reaching for the doorknob when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. Even with the ringer off, the buzzing seemed extraordinarily loud in the silent house. He hesitated, raising his eyebrows to her but she shook her head, ‘no.’ He’d check it later.

The door swung open on quiet hinges and he reached into the dark. If anybody was down there, they were hiding in the blackness. The void below them remained eerily silent.

Jaxon went first and felt his way along the steps, the feel of them stirring up memories of the house when his life had been happy and full. It was surreal stepping down into a hole of blackness, feeling nostalgic and terrified all at the same time. He pushed the memories from his mind and concentrated on keeping his footing in the dark.

Reaching the bottom landing he panned around the space, but the little bit of light leaking from the open door above provided nothing he could discern and the space felt empty. He didn’t know how he knew this, just a cop’s sixth sense and one he didn’t analyze, so he lowered his gun and holstered it, moving to the light switch and flipping it up. Nothing happened.

“I guess the electricity was too expensive to turn on here,” he said, his voice booming in the quiet dark. Something moved behind him and he spun, pulling his weapon out and crouching low. Victoria turned on a flashlight and shown the beam around, keeping her body hidden behind the stairwell wall in case somebody shot at the light source. Jaxon followed the light beam and then saw a rat the size of a small kitten skitter through the beam and disappear into a hole in the wall. He relaxed and lowered the gun.

The basement was empty.

Ellie woke to a rag being pressed hard against her face and the familiar fumes invading her lungs. The world spun, and then she was out again. She had dreams of being carried away by a cool stream, the raft she floated on bobbing easily in its gentle wake. The water faded and she dreamt of home. Her mother, brother, and even Bentley. The feel and smell of her house comforted her and cradled her in a feeling of peace and warmth, safety and familiarity. Then it shifted again and she dreamt of blood.

Jaxon and Victoria searched the basement with her flashlight for thirty minutes and found nothing. It was barren. A chair, table, and Styrofoam cooler were all that remained of the missing Ellie. Apparently, she had gotten sick on the floor and Jaxon worried she was being tortured.

The urgency he felt ramped up a notch and his nerve endings felt fried. He was jittery and the headache that had followed him all day grew stronger, with white pinpoints of light invading the perimeter of his vision. He didn’t need a migraine now and he downed four more aspirin, dry, his acid stomach protesting but letting him keep it down.

“Who called you?” Victoria finally asked as they made their way back up the stairs.

Jaxon had completely forgotten about his phone vibrating while they entered the basement. He pulled out the phone and looked at the caller ID. It was a number he didn’t recognize and the icon for a voice mail blinked in the upper left corner.

“I got a voice mail,” he said and let it play out through the speaker.

“Mr. Jennings?” a young female voice said. “This is Deana Harrison. Luke’s sister. Can you please call me back. Luke has left the hospital and says he’s going to find Ellie. I’m scared! My parents are still in the hospital and we need your help. Call me back as soon as you get this.”

“Damn that kid!” Jaxon said. “This is all we need.”

“Call her back,” Victoria said. “Maybe he’s come to his senses and returned to the hospital.

Jaxon called and the phone was answered almost immediately. Deana told him what had happened and what she thought Luke was going to do.

“When did he leave,” Jaxon asked her.

“About eight hours ago.”

“And you’re just telling me this now?”

“I’m sorry,” she said and started to cry. “My mother tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. We didn’t know what to do.”

“Alright,” he said. “It’s alright. I’ll find him. We won’t let anything happen.”

She cried a little more and he reassured her they would get to him before he did anything stupid. She seemed to relax a little and he was finally able to get her off the phone so he could try and call the Harrison boy.

“How long has he been out?” Victoria asked.

“Eight hours.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah. Let me see if he’ll answer the number I have for him.”

He scrolled through his call log list and found the number, dialing it. It rang eight times and just when he was about to hang up, Luke answered it.

“Have you found her?!” Luke said, the excitement in his voice palpable through the connection.

“No,” Jaxon said. “And I don’t need you keeping me from my job.”

Luke was silent for a moment and then Jaxon could hear the disappointment and anger in his voice. “From what I hear, you don’t have a job.”

“That won’t keep me from finding her, but if you’re out there blundering around in the dark, it only makes my job harder. What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What you can’t,” Luke said and Jaxon winced.

“Don’t do this. I don’t have time to be protecting you while I hunt for her. Stay at home.”

“You can’t stop me. And I have the edge.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You couldn’t find him before,” Luke said, “but we did. And we’ll find him again.”

“Don’t be messing with this guy. You know what he’s capable of. Just about your whole family is in the hospital because of him. If you’re willing to risk your life and theirs, then by all means keep doing what you’re doing, but this man will hunt you down and take everything that means anything from you.”

“He already has.”

“Dammit Harrison! I’m warning you! Stay out of it!”

“Too late.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s already contacted me. We can track him.”

“Then give the information to me,” Jaxon said quickly. “Victoria and I can stop him. We have the whole DC Metro area police force behind us. Tell me where he is.”

Silence.

“Harrison?”

“I don’t know where he is yet. But I will soon.”

“Give me what you have then.”

“No. You botched it before, you’ll botch it again.”

Jaxon turned to Victoria looking for help. He was losing and didn’t know what to do. She signaled for the phone.

“Hold on,” Jaxon said and handed the phone to Victoria. She put it on speaker.

“Luke, this is Victoria. You can’t do this alone. You know that.”

“I have help.”

“Even if you do, you’re putting your friend’s lives at risk. Can you live with that? Think about what you’re asking of them. Is it worth their lives for you to stumble around blindly, anger this man, and get them killed?”

“They know what’s at stake. They’re with me.”

“I can tell you have your mind made up and I know what Ellie means to you. She means the world to me and I’m sorry we failed her. But we will not fail again. We will not let her die! Jaxon and I are willing to give up everything to save her. Let us do our job. If you won’t listen to reason, then at least let us work together.”

“You had your chance,” Luke said. “She’s where she is because of you two.”

“I don’t blame you for being angry, but don’t risk her life because you blame us. You do know that’s what you’re doing, right? You’re taking her life into your own hands. A kid from the suburbs of Virginia, putting his girlfriend’s life in his untrained hands because he has something to prove. If you know something that can save her, tell us what it is and let us save her.”