Tom Pawlik - Beckon

“So… they tried to make it a racial incident?”

“Somebody had heard me make derogatory comments in my rookie year, and all that came back to haunt me too.”

“So was it about race?”

“That’s the thing,” Elina said. “I’ve been hating black men since my father was killed. And I didn’t care what people thought.”

“I guess there wasn’t much tolerance on the LAPD for that mentality.”

Elina wiped her eyes. “I kind of hit rock bottom. I had lost my job and stirred up all kinds of racial tension in my neighborhood. Then a few months ago I started to rethink some of my values. Started going back to church. Praying more. You know, trying to humble myself before God.”

“Do you still hate black men?”

“Not since I’ve come back to God.” Elina chuckled softly. “Now I only hate some of them.”

Jack laughed. “So why are you telling me all this?”

Elina sighed. “I don’t know. I guess it’s a little cathartic to talk about it. But mostly to pass some time.”

She could hear Jack moving around in his cell again. His voice held a tone of frustration. “There’s got to be a way to break out of here.”

“I haven’t seen any way out,” Elina said. “They feed us twice a day, I think. A bowl of oatmeal slop and a cup of water in the morning and evening. No utensils.”

“Have they taken anyone away during that time?”

Elina paused. “Mmmm, no. Not that I heard, anyway.”

“So as far as we know, it’s been at least a few days since this thing was fed. I wonder how long it goes between meals.”

Then Elina heard voices echoing up the tunnel, getting closer. Her heart began pounding. “I’m guessing a few days.”

The chorus of wails and curses from the other prisoners started up again, and Elina pressed her face against the bars, straining to see into the main passage. She glimpsed the erratic beam from a flashlight glancing off the sides and floor of the tunnel.

In moments a group of figures appeared around the corner. In the painful glare of the flashlight, Elina thought she saw four men. One in the lead with two others behind him, carrying a fourth man between them.

One of the men chuckled and Elina recognized his voice: Carson.

“It’s like Grand Central Station down here.”

The man in the lead stopped at the head of the passage and pointed to the door next to Elina’s. “Put him in that one.” She could tell it was Vale.

The other two dragged the man past Elina’s cell. She caught a glimpse of his face and gasped.

It was the man who had discovered them yesterday. The man she had hoped was going to call for help.

They deposited him in the cell with a sick-sounding thump and closed the door. Vale shone his flashlight in the window. “I’m sorry your wife lacked the vision to join us, George,” he said. “But I’m a forgiving man. You know that you’re more than welcome to come back, should you have a change of heart. You could still have a long and happy life here with us.”

Elina heard muffled curses from behind the door, but Vale only laughed and then turned his attention to the other cells, peering in through the bars.

“Good evening, Jack,” he said. “You must be feeling a bit of déjà vu, I bet.”

Then he crossed over to Elina’s door, and she backed away from the window.

“Ahh, Former Officer Gutierrez.” Vale peered in at her. She could see his yellow-green eyes inspecting her for what felt like an endless moment. “Yes… it’s been quite some time since she has enjoyed the taste of a woman.”

Elina retreated farther into the cell. “What are you talking about?”

Vale chuckled. “You mean you haven’t told them what’s waiting for them, Jack? Down in the caverns? You haven’t told them about Sh’ar Kouhm?”

“Of course I told them,” Jack shot back.

“She’s hungry tonight.” Vale’s eyes again appeared in Elina’s window. “She feeds on fear, you know. She can smell it in your blood. It’s like a drug to her. And women are capable of generating such… pure, unbridled fear.”

Elina’s pulse raced and she pressed against the wall as Carson unlocked her cell door. She could hear Jack and the others yelling and pounding their doors. Her senses heightened as adrenaline surged through her veins. Elina coiled down, ready to attack. She was outnumbered by bigger, stronger men, but she refused to go with them quietly. The door opened and Carson entered, carrying the black stun baton. Elina gritted her teeth against the pain she knew was coming. She would make them kill her rather than take her to this creature. She sprang forward, aiming her foot at Carson’s groin.

She was still in the air when Carson swung the stick toward her. She saw a blue spark of light and felt her limbs involuntarily stiffen. She hit the ground like a sack of rocks, her throat tightening so violently that she couldn’t breathe.

Then Carson pulled the stick away, electricity still sparking from the tip. Elina lay completely stunned and gasping for breath as the other man entered with a rope.

Jack screamed until his throat was raw, his throbbing fists pounding against the door. He alternated between threatening and reasoning with Vale as Carson and another man entered Elina’s cell.

But Vale ignored Jack, and a few minutes later his men emerged again, carrying Elina between them. She was bound and gagged, her hands and feet wrapped tightly with rope.

They hauled her back up the tunnel, around the corner, and out of sight. Jack leaned his head against the bars, listening to the other voices echo curses through the tunnels.

Jack closed his eyes and struggled to keep his thoughts focused. He tried to talk to the man in the cell across from him. The newcomer they had just brought down. Vale had called him George.

“Hey… hey, George.”

Jack could see a vague shadow moving behind the bars in the window.

“George,” Jack called again. “Did you ever find a way to contact the FBI?”

A voice replied from behind the door. It was husky and hollow, empty of emotion. “No. They were waiting for us as soon as we got out of the tunnel. Vale’s had us locked up in our room ever since.”

“Elina said you were with someone else…. Was that your wife?”

“Yes.”

“What happened to her?”

Jack could see the vague shape of George’s face through the bars of his door. “She’s dead. They said they had a cure for her Alzheimer’s, but… they lied to us. It killed her instead.”

Jack heard him begin to sob in the darkness. He stepped back to process this information in silence. It was just like Henderson had described. Vale lured people to town with the promise of curing some disease. George was probably wealthy or had something else Vale needed to continue his smuggling of human beings into town. That must have been why they were chosen.

“I’m sorry for your loss” was all he could think of to say.

The soft echo of footsteps brought Jack up from his thoughts. He strained to listen. Someone else was approaching.

A minute later another figure appeared in the tunnel, carrying a flashlight. He moved slowly down the passage, peering into the cells. The light glared in Jack’s eyes for a moment, then flicked away.

“He’s going to kill her,” a voice said.

Jack’s hope lifted. “Dwight?”

Dwight Henderson’s eyes darted around the tunnel. “We… we have to save her.”

“Save Elina?” Jack said. “Yes, we do. But you need to let us out so we can help you.”

Dwight shook his head. Jack thought he looked disoriented. “I—I begged him not to take her, but… he said she was too dangerous to keep.”