Girl Jacked (28 page)

“It’s still locked!”

“It’s a keypad!” Replacement ran to the wall and frantically started punching in codes. “Four digits. I saw the first three.”

Replacement muttered as she kept typing and pulling the handle after each attempt.

“Bingo!”

The door swung open. Jack stepped back. Smoke was visible in the hallway.

“Wait!” Dr. Hahn’s muffled scream came from behind the glass. “Wait!”

Jack looked back into the control booth. Hahn and Missy were pounding on the window.

“We can’t get out! Something fell in front of the door. We’re trapped!” Missy yelled.

Jack took one-step towards them and Replacement grabbed his arm. He could see that the explosion had bent the control room door out of its frame.

“You’re going to get what you wanted Hahn. You wanted to find the God spot? It looks like God has come looking for
you
.”

“Please!” Missy begged.

“No, Officer… You must help! It is your duty!” Hahn pleaded.

Thick black smoke drifted into the room.

Hate flooded Jack’s heart as he glared at his torturer.

Jack gritted his teeth, but then he grabbed the stool and rushed towards the control room. He slammed it against the window but the glass didn’t break. He groaned and swung the stool again.

The fMRI kept whirling louder and louder. A metal pipe blasted a hole behind Hahn as it ripped through the wall.

“The shielding!” Hahn smashed his cane against the glass. “The shielding has been compromised. Officer!” His cane splintered from the force of his blows.

Missy screeched as she ran into the corner of the control room.

Metal objects from the hallway started flying through the air slamming into the glass. Hahn screamed as something struck him in the back.

The sound of twisting metal made them look toward the ceiling. The sprinkler system in the lab was plastic tubing but in the building, it was metal pipes. All of that metal started pulling towards the colossal super magnet now that the explosion had cracked the shielding.

Hahn screamed as a pipe ripped through his chest and pinned him against the window.

Replacement turned away as blood covered the glass.

The whole wall cracked as the metal bent toward the machine. Missy’s screams stopped as the ceiling in the control room collapsed in a deafening roar.

Jack grabbed Replacement and hurried through the door as they raced out into the hallway.

Holding each other up, they limped down the corridor. The smoke was already getting thick along the ceiling and they walked hunched over. Jack was in agony with each step. Beneath his feet the floor was moving.

Through the smoke, they could just make out an emergency exit sign and they stumbled toward it. There was a loud crash and they were flung forward. Ceiling tiles and lighting strips rained down on them as the hallway behind disappeared into rubble.

“Jack, come on. Jack!”

Replacement’s voice, and the need within it, gave Jack just enough strength to shrug off the debris littering his shoulders and pull himself up. He staggered back onto his feet. Keeping low, he grabbed Replacement’s hand and made a final dash for the exit sign.

They reached a stairwell that led up into the building.

“Here!” He took off his shirt and ripped it in half. He handed half to her and put the other half over his face.

“We can’t go up!” Replacement cried as she looked up the staircase filled with thick black smoke.

“Over here,” he said, leading her around the staircase to the utility doorway at the bottom of the stairs.

The door opened to a narrow service corridor that had no emergency lighting. Blackness loomed in front of them.

“Follow me and don’t let go!”

He gripped Replacement’s hand and started down into the darkness. The smoke burned his eyes and his chest heaved with the effort of breathing. With his right hand, he felt his way along the corridor. The whole building continued to shake and Jack could feel the dust raining down on them.

He reached his hand out and felt the cold touch of metal. He waved his hand around until he felt a handle.

A door!

They burst through the door, out into the night. Coughing, they staggered forward as glowing embers fell all around them. Under their feet crunched broken glass and debris that had been flung outward from the explosions.

A light snow was falling and the flames that engulfed the upper floors cast strange shadows on the trees. Stumbling, they climbed the small hill and found themselves at the corner of the parking lot.

Replacement reached out and took Jack’s hand. He looked at her. The thoughts in his head swirled like the snowflakes that drifted around them. The rising flames drew his eyes back toward the building. Half of the Psychology Center had blown up and the entire structure was now engulfed in flames.

They could feel the heat from where they stood. He wasn’t cold, his body still burned from the drugs. He looked back at the fire and once again realized that his fate could have been quite different.

Replacement must have realized it too. She closed her eyes and whispered; “Thank you, God.”

Jack pulled her close. The snow sparkled in her hair and the fire reflected in her eyes. They held onto each other and Jack watched the large snowflakes falling to the ground.

He could hear the sirens approaching in the distance. As they waited, Jack watched the snow create a veil of white on her hair and shoulders. He smiled. One of her eyes was swollen shut, her face was stained with soot, blood, and tears but she smiled back.

“How did you do that?” He nodded toward the fire.

“Brendan and Missy chased me into Hahn’s lab. I started trashing the place mixing everything together hoping it would set off the fire alarm. I didn’t think…” With wide eyes, she gestured to the destroyed building.

Jack started laughing so hard that tears ran down his face in spite of the pain. He looked down at Replacement and his smile changed to a smirk as he shook his head.

“Only you, kid!”

Replacement pushed him back then pulled him even closer than before.

“You suck!”

The Impala cruised down the highway toward Fairfield. Replacement stretched her legs out onto the dashboard and Jack winced. Her ankles were bruised where the restraints had been. Her jaw was swollen and her eyes were black and blue. He frowned and looked forward.

He looked in the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of himself.

I won’t be winning any beauty contests.  

“Replacement?”

“Yeah?” She turned her head to look at him.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“What?” she asked as she wiggled around in her seat.

“What’s your favorite color?” he repeated.

“Green!”

“Green?”

“Green like my eyes.” She perked right up. “What’s yours?”

“Black… like my heart.” He laughed.

“Seriously, what is your favorite color, Jack?”

“Pink.”

“Hey. You’re the one that started this.” She crossed her arms.

“Fine. Red.”

“Okay. I start next.” She sat up and turned to look at him, clearly enjoying the game.

“What’s your favorite movie?”

Jack smiled. “Rocky.”

“That boxing movie that you made me watch?” She rolled her eyes.

“It’s a great movie. It won an Oscar.” He saw her making a face. “Whatever. What’s yours?”

She wrinkled her nose as she thought. “The Wizard of Oz.”

“The flying monkeys didn’t freak you out?”

“I just like it.” She sighed. “It’s like my life.”

“Your life?” Jack raised an eyebrow. “And who are you, Dorothy?”

“Yes.” She impishly grinned. “You’re in it too.”

Jack sat up. “Me? What am I? The Tin Man?”

“Nope.” She shook her head.

“If you say the cowardly lion...” Jack scowled.

“Nope.” She giggled.

“The Scarecrow?”

“No brain? A possibility but… nope!” She hugged her legs to her chest.

“Who then?”

“Toto!”

“The dog! I’m like the dog?” Jack looked at her in disbelief.

“Yeah. You’re always running around barking at me. You follow me everywhere but… you are loyal too.”

“Seriously?”

“See. There you go getting yappy but if I give you a pat on the head you’re all loveable again.”

Jack frowned.

“Why do you think I gave you that ringtone?” Her hands shot up.

“The stupid barking dog one? Because I remind you of Toto?”

She burst out laughing. Jack shook his head but he still smiled.

Jack winced as he shifted his legs.

“Do you want me to drive?” She offered.

“No.”

“Fine. Sport?”

“Baseball.” Jack replied.

“Football!” Replacement shot back. “Superhero?”

“Ironman.”

Replacement closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, they glistened. “Batman…”

Jack swallowed and looked at Replacement. He remembered how she thought Chandler was Superman and he was Batman.

“Thank you for coming back.” She smiled. “TV show?”

“The Rifleman!”

“The what!?!” Replacement laughed.

They kept playing the game until they reached Fairfield. As they drove into the town, they both drifted off into their own private thoughts. The silence that followed ended the game but not in a bad way.

Jack parked the car and looked at Replacement. Her eyebrows raised and he understood the unspoken question. Jack started to get out of the car.

Replacement reached out and grabbed Jack’s hand. “Do you want me to do it?”

“No, I got this one.”

He looked down as he walked slowly. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders avoiding looking around. He was not looking forward to this but he knew he had to do it himself. A few moments later, he stopped and stared at his feet unable to look up.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he muttered. “I put off… coming to speak with you. I didn’t want to… you know.” He inhaled deeply, “but I need to tell you what happened. They caught the people responsible for Michelle’s murder. It was the doctor that ran the Psychology Center that Michelle worked in. It was him and two other students, they’re dead. All three of them. The sheriff’s department is opening cases looking into the other people they murdered too. They had been killing people for years and the victims’ families should know what happened.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Replacement should get the credit. If it wasn’t for her...”

He stopped talking. He wrung his hands together and waited. He was nervous when he heard nothing but silence.

Jack tried to keep going. “She’s going to stay with me now. I’m going to get a two-bedroom apartment. My landlady already offered me the apartment below mine. She said the people moved out because the guy above them was too loud.” Jack shrugged and faintly smiled. “That’s me. Anyway…”

He closed his eyes and exhaled.

“I miss you. Both of you. I’ll take care of Alice and Aunt Haddie. I promised her I’d stop by a lot.”

He walked forward and placed a flag in front of the left side of the tombstone and flowers on the right.

Jack looked up and sighed.

“I’ve been thinking about it. If it weren't for Replacement, no one would have known what happened to Michelle. More time would have gone by and we might never have known. You can tell she’s your sister. She has your courage, Chandler. You should have seen her at the Pit,” Jack laughed. “Michelle, she said that you taught her computers. She’s quite good at them. Anyway… I see both of you in her.”

Jack started to turn to go but stopped.

“Thank you… for everything,” he whispered.

He closed his eyes. He could almost see them. Michelle was riding her bike and Chandler ran alongside her. They both waved and smiled. Jack laughed and waved too.

He opened the door and sat back in the seat.

Replacement turned and looked up at him hopeful. “How did it go?”

Jack gripped the steering wheel. “Good.” His fingers tightened until the leather creaked then he relaxed his hand. “Are you ready, kid?”

Replacement grinned and rolled down her window.

“Ready!” She smiled and they headed down the road together.

The End.

Be sure to get Jack Knifed – Book 2 in the Jack Stratton Mystery Series!