“Hey, my connections are with the street
people
, not street
gangs,
” said Keller.
“Sorry,” said Richard. “I didn’t mean to imply…”
“That’s okay,” said Keller, smiling. “Matter of fact, I probably do know a little bit. Who is it you’re looking for?”
A guy named ‘Crack’,” said Richard.
Keller’s face fell.
“You know him?”
“Yeah, I know him – know
of
him at least. Sorry to have to tell you, but Crack’s about as bad as they get – a real bona fide psychopathic killer. There’s a few of his kind around – too many. Not only is life worth nothing to them, they get a charge out of taking it away from other people. That guy would literally just as soon kill you as look at you.”
“And Danny was hanging out with him…” said Richard, hanging his head.
“I’m sorry,” said Keller. “Come on in the RV and I’ll tell you what I know. It isn’t much, but it’ll be a start.”
A Horse, a Rope and a Plan
The time for their escape approached and, as they had planned, Serena came to take Lacy to the bathroom. There was a tense moment when another girl insisted she be taken first, but Serena told her to hold it until they got back. Just as they were about to leave, Lacy whispered into Serena’s ear: “Give me your keys – I’m going to give them to Mei-Lien.”
“That’s not a good idea,” Serena whispered back.
“We can’t just leave them here.”
“Are you two gonna get going?” yelled the girl who had wanted to go first. “I gotta pee here!”
Serena passed the keys to Lacy, who knelt down with her back to the others. She slipped the keys to Mei-Lien and whispered, “I’ll never forget what you did for me. Give us half an hour. Then do whatever you want.”
She rose, leaving Mei-Lien with a shocked expression, and the two quickly headed out into the hallway.
On the way, Serena whispered, “That wasn’t very smart, but I guess your heart’s in the right place. So far, everything’s going great. They left about fifteen minutes ago, and Frank went back to his room. He said he was going to take a nap. It’s now or never.” She gave Lacy’s hand a squeeze.
They reached the end of the second corridor and Serena opened the door. The horse stood a few yards from the elevator shaft, calmly occupied with its feedbag. The cage was no longer in sight.
Obviously, thought Lacy,
because now it’s down on the ground floor
.
Serena handed Lacy one of the pairs of makeshift mitts, and one of the knives, a sturdy hunting knife with a partly serrated blade.
“Where on earth did you get this?” whispered Lacy.
“Never mind that,” answered Serena. “You go first.”
“Why me?”
“I’ll keep watch in case somebody comes. Come on – hurry – we haven’t got all day.”
Lacy shoved the knife firmly into her belt, put on the mitts, and reached out for the rope. She glanced over at the horse, but it was ignoring her. She pulled the rope toward her and got a good grip, then took a deep breath and threw herself out into the center of the shaft. She could tell right away that her arm muscles wouldn’t last long holding her full weight. She struggled to slide down quickly without burning her hands. As she started downward, she heard Serena whisper,
“Good luck. I’ll be right behind you.”
The rope angled out, as apparently Serena was pulling it toward her, preparing for her own descent. Suddenly, the little rope beside Lacy jiggled, and the bell at the top of the shaft rang out loudly.
“Oh shit shit shit shit shit!” she heard Serena say.
The horse started walking, and Lacy started moving upwards. Above her, through the open shaft, she heard the door opening, then Frank’s voice screaming,
“What are
you
doin’ in here!”
Lacy heard a scuffle, then a thud, and Frank yelled,
“You fucking bitch I’m gonna kill you!”
There was a violent struggle on the floor above her. She rose higher and higher, until she was less than a floor from the shaft opening.
Hugo’s voice boomed from below, “What goin’ on up there!”
“She’s trying to get away!” Frank screamed.
Lacy heard the crack of bone against bone. Serena screamed.
Lacy was almost at the top of the shaft. The light from the room illuminated her, and she heard Jun’s voice yell, “Look, somebody’s up there – hanging from the rope!”
She reached the opening and swung herself over and onto the floor just as gunshots echoed from below and several bullets whizzed by. She scanned around the room. Serena and Frank were wrestling on the floor, both covered in blood. She wasn’t sure whose blood until they rolled over and she saw Serena’s knife sticking out of Frank’s back.
Serena spotted her and screamed, “Cut the rope! Cut the rope or we’re dead!”
Lacy was confused.
“Cut the fucking rope!” screamed Serena. “Hurry!”
Finally, Lacy understood. She ran to the rope supporting the rising elevator cage, pulled out the knife and began to saw through the rough strands. The horse had been driven into a panic by the gunshots. By turns it lunged ahead, bucked and kicked out its hind legs, stopped, and bellowed frantically. The rope jerked violently back and forth through Lacy’s hands. It was hard to make a sustained cut. The makeshift mitt on her left hand helped her grip the rope as it moved.
She checked Serena. She was still wrestling with Frank. He was dying, but hadn’t given up the fight.
“You fucking whores!” Lacy heard Hugo’s bellow from a point frighteningly close to the top of the shaft opening. “When I get up there you bitches are dead meat!” As if to punctuate the threat, he fired several shots up through the shaft into the room. One of the bullets ricocheted off a pipe in the ceiling. Lacy heard a gasp, and glanced over to see Serena holding her side. She was kneeling beside Frank, who was now either spent or dead.
“I’m hit!” she said.
She staggered over to where Lacy continued to saw at the rope. The latest gunshots had driven the horse berserk. With a furious shake of its head it threw off its feedbag and bucked, screamed, and kicked blindly at the walls of its prison. Its progress down the hallway all but stopped, and it sometimes even moved backwards.
Serena crawled over and peered down into the elevator shaft. She screamed as several more gunshots whistled up from below. The shots missed, but drove the horse into an even more desperate frenzy. Lacy was thrown off her feet as she clung to the snapping rope. One second it would be so taut she swore it would break, the next it would be loose in her hand. She had cut about two thirds of the way through, and was sawing at the remaining third in a panic.
She glanced over and saw a hand reach out of the elevator shaft to grip the edge of the floor. Serena pulled off a shoe and hammered at the fingers with the heel. Jun’s scream echoed down the shaft as his body fell past the cage to the ground eight floors below.
Lacy had cut the rope almost through; she was sure it would snap any second. Inexplicably, the horse began to plow forward, as if somewhere deep within its terrified brain it had suddenly remembered its mission. In seconds, the cage had risen high enough that Hugo could almost reach his hand above the level of the floor. He began firing off his gun in random directions, hoping to hit something.
The renewed gunfire drove the horse into a blind fury. It stood rampant and charged brainlessly forward, bellowing and foaming at the mouth. Lacy heard a loud pop as the rope stretched as taut as a piano wire.
She looked down at her cut. The last few strands snapped and curled back. With a deafening crack that knocked her off her feet, the rope finally snapped in two. One end followed the elevator cage down the shaft. A torrent of curses and screams echoed from below as the cage careened off of one wall of the shaft, then another. Lacy was gratified that the last pathetic shriek she heard came from the voice of Boris.
The horse, freed from its burden, exploded down the hallway, kicking and screaming. It was as if the pain of all the years caged in the dark corridor had climaxed in an uncontrollable fury that it now chose to unleash on anything nearby. It reached the end, where the stairwell had been blocked off and, whether through some dim understanding of what was behind it or just through blind rage, began kicking at the barrier with its hind legs.
Lacy crawled over to Serena, who still lay beside the open shaft.
“Can you stand up?” Lacy said.
“I don’t know.”
Serena turned to hoist herself up. A patch of blood was expanding over her midsection.
Lacy could hear the wood shattering as the horse lashed out at the stairwell barrier. She sprinted down and got as close as she dared. The horse had knocked an opening almost big enough for them to squeeze through, and it continued to hammer away with its hind legs. Occasionally, the poor animal would stop and charge up the hallway, kicking at the walls as it went.
She rushed back to Serena.
“We’ve got to go down the stairs!” she yelled above the horse’s screams. “We’ve got to get you to a hospital.”
Lacy put her arm around the other girl and helped her to her feet. There was a large puddle of blood where Serena had lain.
“The horse knocked a hole in the barrier,” She yelled into Serena’s ear. “We’ll wait until it moves away then sneak past it to the stairs.”
“It’ll kick us to death!” panted Serena, who looked worse by the second.
“We’ve got no choice,” yelled Lacy.
As if in answer to her prayers, the horse paused in its frenzy of destruction and bucked up the hallway toward them.
“Now!” yelled Lacy. The two stumbled down the passage, Lacy supporting Serena’s weight. They approached the panic-stricken horse and pressed themselves against the farthest wall. They were almost past when the horse unleashed a massive kick with its hind legs. The wall beside Lacy’s head exploded as the kick missed her by inches. She dragged Serena out of the horse’s range and toward the opening.
When they got to the barrier she could see that the hole was no larger than when she’d first checked. A length of two-by-six effectively cut it in half, leaving two openings, neither wide enough for them to squeeze through. Lacy pulled at the remaining board. She glanced at Serena. The girl’s eyes were partly closed, and her chin was resting on her chest.
“Stay awake,” Lacy yelled. Serena lifted her head and looked around.
Lacy jammed her knife into the gap behind the board and pulled with all her strength.
“The horse is coming back!” cried Serena.
Lacy glanced over. The horse was careening down the hallway toward them. She applied the entire weight of her body to the knife. The blade snapped, and the handle flew up, landing with a ‘pinging’ sound. Lacy fell backwards and banged her head on the floor. She almost blacked out, but with a shake of her head forced herself awake. She stared up at the board. The knife blade was still jammed into the gap, but the board had pulled out more than an inch.
The horse was about ten yards away and coming fast. She could now get both hands into the gap, and she pulled at the loosened board, bracing both feet against the wall. With a snap the board finally broke free and they could pass through. She positioned Serena in front of the opening.
“Go,” she yelled. “Hurry! The horse is right behind us!”
“I’m tired,” said Serena, as white as death.
“Come on,” said Lacy. “We’re almost out!”
Serena entered the opening. Lacy supported most of the other girl’s weight, and, pushing with all her strength, finally squeezed Serena through. As soon as it was clear, Lacy jumped through herself. She’d no sooner reached the other side when the wall above their heads was shattered by a new blow from the horse’s hooves. The crashing and screaming of the horse was deafening as they half ran, half staggered down the stairwell.
“I don’t know if I can make it,” said Serena, when they had gone down a couple of floors.
“You can do it,” said Lacy. “Come on – put your weight on me. Come on!”
They had gone down three floors when Lacy heard a horrifying sound. The horse had punched a hole through the barrier, and was now crashing down the stairs, all the while bellowing and kicking at the stairwell walls.
“Oh my God!” she said. “We’re dead if we don’t make it out of here before it gets to us! Here – climb on my back.”
Serena wrapped her arms around Lacy’s shoulders and her legs weakly around Lacy’s waist. As soon as she was in place, Lacy took off, taking two stairs at a time, trying desperately to maintain her hold on Serena, who was weakening with every stride.
They heard the horse crashing down closer and closer. Lacy prayed that it would break a leg or injure itself, but it just seemed to keep coming. It was right behind them, about to turn the last bend in the stairway above, when Lacy finally saw the light from the outside door. She gripped Serena’s clasped hands tightly and raced toward the light, emerging from the stairwell doorway just as Serena began to slide off.
She cushioned the now unconscious girl’s fall to the ground and dragged her out of the way seconds before the horse burst through the door and out into the street. It bucked, kicked up, and screamed in rage for several minutes until suddenly, as if it finally dawned on the poor beast that it had actually escaped, it settled down and began a slow canter around the square in front of the building.