Tess Gerritsen - The Silent Girl

“There are widows, and then there’s her. ”

“Do you know for a fact that Iris Fang is threatening you?”

“That’s your job to prove it. I’m just telling you what it smells like to me. She lost her husband that night, and she figures that I ordered the hit. I’m being blamed for the Red Phoenix and for once, goddamn it, I didn’t do it .”

A loud bang suddenly rocked the building. Jane caught a glimpse of Donohue’s face, frozen in surprise, just before the room went pitch-black.

“What the fuck?” yelled Donohue.

“I think the power’s out,” one of his men said.

“I can see the power’s out! Get the generator going!”

“If I can find a flashlight…”

A noise overhead made them all fall silent. Jane looked up as a rapid thump-thump-thump pattered on the roof. Staring up at the darkness, she felt her own heart thumping, felt her palms slicken with sweat as she reached down to unsnap her holster. “Where’s the generator switch?” she asked.

“It-it’s in the warehouse,” one of the men responded, his voice close to her and thick with fear. “Electrical box is against the back wall. But I ain’t gonna be able to find it in the dark. Not with that thing-” He stopped as they heard the sound again, light as raindrops skittering across the roof.

Jane dug in her purse and pulled out her SureFire flashlight. She clicked it on and the beam landed on Donohue, his face gleaming with sweat and fear. “Call nine one one,” she ordered.

He grabbed the portable phone on his desk. Slammed it down again. “It’s dead!”

She pulled her cell phone from her belt. No signal. “Is this place lined with lead, or what?”

“These walls are bulletproof and blast-proof,” said Donohue. “It’s a safety feature.”

“Great. The ultimate dead zone.”

“You’ll need to go outside to get a signal.”

But I don’t want to go outside. And neither does anyone else .

It was getting warm in the room, the walls trapping both their body heat and their fear. We can’t stay in here forever, she thought; someone has to step out and make the call, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be anyone but me.

She drew her weapon and went to the door. “I’ll lead,” she said. “Stay close.”

“Wait!” Donohue cut in. “No way are my boys going with you.”

“I need backup.”

“They’re paid to guard me . They stay here.”

She turned, aiming the light straight into his eyes. “Okay then. You go out there, and take your boys with you. I’ll just hang out here and wait till you get back.” She grabbed a chair, sat down, and turned off the flashlight.

A moment passed in darkness, the building silent. The only sound was Donohue’s panicked wheezing.

“All right,” he finally said. “Take Colin with you. But Sean stays.”

She had no idea whether she could trust Colin; she only hoped he had enough functioning gray cells not to accidentally shoot her in the back. At the door she paused, listening for sounds beyond it, but the barrier was too thick. Bulletproof and blast-proof , Donohue had said.

She slid open the dead bolt and pulled the door open a crack. The darkness wasn’t as deep outside the office; through a high warehouse window shone the dim glow of the city, just enough light for Jane to make out dark rows of hanging meat, like shadowy warriors in formation. Anything could be lurking in that gloom, posing as one more silhouette among those sides of beef.

Jane turned on her flashlight and quickly scanned the perimeter. In one sweep she registered hanging carcasses, the concrete floor, the fog of her own breath. She heard Colin standing right behind her, his breathing shaky with fear. An armed and terrified man was not the sort of backup she’d had in mind. I could wind up with a bullet in my spine, she thought. If the creature doesn’t slice off my head first.

“Where’s the closest exit?” she whispered.

“Straight ahead. Far end of the building.”

Swallowing hard, she started down the row of carcasses. She swept the light back and forth, scanning for movement, for a glimpse of a face, the flash of steel. All she saw were the products of the slaughterhouse, living creatures reduced to hanging muscle and bone. The flashlight felt slippery in her trembling hand. Whoever, whatever you are, she thought, you spared me once before. But that didn’t mean it would repeat the favor, not when it saw the company she was keeping.

More carcasses loomed ahead. Aiming her light straight ahead, she could not see the end of the row. Abruptly she halted, trying to hear through the thunder of her own heartbeat.

“What?” whispered Colin.

“Listen.”

It was just a faint creak, the sound that a tree makes when a rising wind causes it to sway. But the creak rose to a rhythmic groan, as if that tree were swaying with ever-building violence. It’s coming from above us . Jane lifted her light toward the ceiling and saw a suspended carcass swinging back and forth, as if shoved by an invisible hand.

They heard another creak, this time to their left. “There!” said Colin, and Jane swung her light toward the sound. Found herself staring at a second swaying carcass, moving like a giant pendulum back and forth across the narrow beam of her flashlight.

“Behind us!” said Colin, voice rising to shrill panic now. “No, over there!”

Jane spun, her light catching movement everywhere as the darkness came alive with a noisy chorus of clanks and groans and squealing metal.

“Where the fuck is it ?” yelled Colin, whirling beside her, wildly swinging his weapon as carcasses swayed all around them. He fired, and somewhere in the darkness metal clanged. He fired again, and the bullet thunked into cold meat.

“Will you stop it , before you kill us both!” Jane yelled.

He ceased fire but was still jerking one way and then the other, in search of a target. No doubt he imagined the creature everywhere, just as she did. Over there, was that the flash of a face, the gleam of an eye? How could anything move so swiftly, so soundlessly? Suddenly she remembered the illustration in the book of Chinese folktales. The Monkey King, clutching his staff, his long tail curling like a serpent. She thought of a sword whispering through the night, the blade slicing through her throat. Her gaze shot upward and for an instant she thought she saw it perched above, its feral eyes shining from the darkness. But there was no creature there, just an empty steel hook awaiting a fresh side of meat.

Slowly the groans and creaks faded to silence. Yet she and Colin stood in place, backs pressed against each other, both of them frantically scanning the shadows. In every direction that Jane aimed her flashlight, she spotted no intruder, yet the darkness seemed to be watching them. And with this light in my hand, she thought, whatever is here knows exactly where we are.

“Keep moving,” she whispered. “To the door.”

“What is this thing? What are we dealing with?”

“Let’s not wait around to find out.”

He was not about to be left behind. As she moved toward the door, she could almost feel his breath on her neck. For a man like Colin, a gun was fake courage, enough to transform a coward into a bully and a killer. But put that man in the dark where he can’t see the enemy, where blindness is the equalizer, and the coward is stripped bare again. Only after they’d reached the exit and stepped outside did she hear him give a relieved sigh. The air smelled of the sea, and in the sky, circling jets glittered like moving stars. She pulled out her cell phone, but hesitated before making the call. What would she say? The power failed and we all freaked out. Heard things in the dark and imagined monsters .