He held her tightly, pressing his face against her hair, inhaling the presence of her. “Yeah,” he said tightly, “RCMP Special Constable Barkhouse to the rescue. Only trouble is I’m as much a prisoner as you are. I’m sorry, Sarah. It was like they knew I was coming.”
He pulled her down onto the bed and sat beside her, one hand on hers, the other stroking her hair. “Did they hurt you?” He had difficulty getting the words out for fear of her answer. The thought of her being abused made his blood boil.
But she shook her head. “Not yet, though it’s clear enough what they have in store for me … for us.”
“Have you seen Kitty then? Is she here?”
“Yes, and I’m so scared for her, Garrett. The men were very angry at her. She killed five of them. You should have seen her. She was fighting back until they forced us to give up. She was completely drained by being back under their control. Her will just seeped away. She’s already been raped by one of those bastards. The one named DeMaio. I don’t know if she’ll be able to survive going through that again. I pleaded with the men to put us in together but they wouldn’t. We’ve got to help her, Gar.”
Garrett could hardly get his head around what Sarah was telling him. “Kitty killed five of them? I can’t believe it.” He felt his estimation of the willful reporter turning on its head.
Sarah proceeded to fill him in on how Kitty had escaped, helped free her, their ordeal on the platform, and how they were finally forced to surrender.
He shook his head and stared at her in dumb admiration. “Don’t know how the hell you ever got designated as ‘the weaker sex.’”
“It wasn’t me, Gar. It was all Kitty. I was scared to death.”
“You were the one holding that wrench, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but I don’t know if I could have really used it. Thank God Kitty had that gun, and she helped me get away, probably minutes before they were going to come for me. Now, they’re poised to use Kitty again. And me. We have to do something, Gar.”
He got up and surveyed their room. No windows. The walls were so solid he suspected they had steel studs. They were in a luxuriously furnished prison. The door was thick and firm. Outside, they could hear the wind picking up to yet another level. The platform vibrated as the gale whistled through and around the superstructure.
“I picked the lock the first time,” Sarah said. “But they placed a guard outside and warned me not to try anything like that again. There’s probably someone outside right now.”
Their position seemed hopeless. And Kitty was probably suffering God only knew what sort of abuse.
Garrett finally sat down on the bed again. “Nothing we can do till they decide to let us out. Then we’ll see. But I won’t kid you. It doesn’t look good.”
Her face was bleak. “Doesn’t anyone know you’re here?”
“By now, Tom and Tuttle should know. I had no time to arrange backup myself once I realized where you probably were. I don’t know what Alton will do. Aside from the fact he has no jurisdiction out here, the last time I tried an assault on this rig, he thought I was brain-damaged.”
“How did you get here?”
“Roland. I commandeered his boat. He’s still out there, floating a ways off, pretending to fish. But he won’t stay long in this weather.”
“Maybe it’s best if he leaves. He’ll call someone when he gets back to land, won’t he? Hell, he’s got a radio on the boat.”
Garrett shrugged. “Hard to say what Roland will do. He’s not real big in the initiative department. But …”
“What?”
“There’s always Lonnie.”
54
K
ITTY SAT ON THE SOFA
in her stateroom, legs pulled up, arms tightly clasped around them. She’d been sitting that way for over an hour. Every time there was the slightest sound from the hallway outside, she shook.
She was ashamed for acting this way but utterly incapable of controlling her fear. After her brief sojourn as an escapee with a gun and an anger that seethed at what had been happening to her, it was all the more humiliating to be thrust back into abject terror. She never would have thought she was capable of killing someone. But something had snapped in her when DeMaio’s underling tried to take advantage of her. Once she’d killed the first time, she felt strangely liberated and powerful. Each subsequent killing had been easier. There was no question in her mind that she was justified in what she’d done.
Once she’d been captured, however, the sense of helplessness reasserted itself. She stared at the door. Whatever came through it next was going to be extremely unpleasant. And the men would be taking no chances this time. After the deaths of their comrades, she had little doubt she would be accosted by several men at once, with some ready to hold her down if necessary.
There was a sudden click in the lock. She froze, her fingers white against her knees. They were here.
Three men came into the room and closed the door. She’d seen two more outside, waiting their turns, no doubt. The man named Craig stared at her. “Two of those you killed were good friends of mine,” he said. “I’ve spoken to Mr. DeMaio about you and what’s to be done. He said to teach you a lesson. Little bonus for us. We don’t normally get the cream of the crop, if you know what I mean. I’m going to enjoy this.”
He began to take his clothes off. He didn’t bother to tell her to remove her own garments, just nodded at the others, who moved forward and lifted her off the couch. She hung in their arms, totally defeated and limp. One of the men grinned and began to unbutton her blouse.
Kitty felt her mind start to go away. She wanted no memory of what was about to happen. Complete amnesia would suit her fine. Her earlier decision that she would fight tooth and nail if ever caught again had evaporated. Try as she might, there was no blocking out the man in front of her, who now stood naked, waiting for the other men to undress her.
Then there was a funny sound from outside the door, almost like eggshells cracking, followed immediately by the door opening. Lonnie stood in the entrance. He held a pistol lightly in one hand as he stepped over the two men in the hall, whose bodies lay tangled and unconscious at his feet.
Kitty stared at this new menace. She’d never seen Lonnie before, and anyone who saw the man for the first time never forgot him. The wedge of his neck rose from thick knots of muscle on his shoulders. He was huge and filled the door frame.
“Who the hell are you?” said Craig.
It was perhaps the wrong thing to say. Lonnie stared at the man’s naked body and then at Kitty, still being held by the other men, everything in a frozen tableau. Then he kicked Craig in the groin in a move so quick that it seemed to be over before it began. The security chief screamed and went down as though poleaxed. Lonnie paid him no more attention, stepped over his prostrate and writhing form, and dispatched the two other men, who barely had time to open their mouths and gape. In a moment, all three were down, the two holding Kitty out cold, Craig still groaning on the floor.
“Are you all right?” Lonnie asked.
She stared at this huge man as though the archangel Gabriel on steroids had suddenly appeared on her doorstep. Then her knees buckled, and she began to slump to the floor. Lonnie caught her and picked her up carefully, like she was a rare flower he might damage.
“Who … ?” said Kitty.
“I’m Lonnie, Garrett’s cousin. We’ve been tracking what happened to you. Sorry it took us so long.”
Slowly, Kitty placed her arms around his huge neck and put her head on his chest. She felt safe for the first time in many days.
“Thank you,” she said in a voice that was a whisper. Then she lifted her head. “Have you found Sarah?”
Lonnie stared at her. “Sarah’s here?”
She nodded. “DeMaio’s men took her right from her house and brought her here. Probably to get leverage over Garrett, but also to replace me for their sex clients after I escaped. We’ve got to find her.”
“No argument from me. Can you stand up now?”
She nodded but clung to him a moment longer. Then Lonnie put her down, though she kept one small hand on his arm.
“Sarah must be in one of the other rooms,” she said. “I heard them walk her away and it wasn’t far.”
Lonnie took several plastic wrist locks out of his jacket pocket. He cuffed all three men’s arms behind their backs and around a heavy steel heating duct that ran floor to ceiling through the room, effectively immobilizing them. From another pocket he took a small roll of duct tape and slapped a piece across each man’s mouth. Then he and Kitty moved down the hall, opening one door after another. When they came to one that was locked, Lonnie leaned against it for what seemed like only an instant before the door gave way.
Inside, sitting on a couch and staring at them with their mouths open, were Sarah and Garrett.
Garrett recovered first. “What took you so long?”
“Thought I was making pretty good use of my time,” Lonnie said. “No Deputy Commissioners and the like wanting me to get permission to blow my nose.”
Garrett slapped his cousin on the shoulder and grinned. “Hoped you might show up,” he said. “My own rescue efforts weren’t going so well.”
Lonnie nodded at Sarah, who had gone over at once and hugged Kitty. “You all right?” he asked.
“I am now.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “Question is, what do we do next?”
“Any idea how many more men there are?” Garrett asked.
“There were at least fifteen we actually saw,” said Kitty. “I killed five. Lonnie just took care of five more. That leaves maybe half a dozen. But there could be others, including some oil executives who came in to enjoy their special privileges. I haven’t seen anything of them.” She glanced back down the hall at the two men still lying silently in a tangle. “What about them? Shouldn’t you cuff them too?”
Lonnie shook his head. “Hit them together pretty hard. They’ll be out a while and will be pretty concussed when they wake up. They’re not going to be doing much more than staring cross-eyed at the floor for a couple of days. Still, I’ll drag them into the room and close the door, so they won’t be stumbled upon.”
Garrett said, “The men who captured me had plenty of weapons. Not something you might expect on a simple operating oil rig. We could try to take over the platform, but I think the risk would be too great, especially with Sarah and Kitty here.”
“I agree,” said Lonnie. “I sent the boat that brought me away. He would have been too conspicuous hanging around the rig and he was at the edge of the craft’s ability to withstand the storm. How did you get here?”
“Roland. He’s sitting a ways off pretending to fish. Or at least he was before the weather began to deteriorate. But maybe it’s time to bring in reinforcements. We’ve certainly got proof now of what’s been going on here. Cell phones haven’t been reliable, but they must have a radio communications center.”
“I’ve been there,” said Kitty. “I can take you.”
“First, we should try to call in Roland’s boat and get you two out of here,” Garrett said.
“No way. I’m not going to leave you here,” said Sarah. “We finish this together.”
Garrett looked exasperated, but Kitty sided with Sarah. Lonnie’s presence had given her, indeed all of them, new confidence. As far as Kitty was concerned, Lonnie was the Army, Navy, and Air Force all rolled into one.
“I agree—we stick together,” said Kitty. “But we’re not going to finish anything here today. DeMaio’s not on board.”
“And he won’t be easy to get to,” said Garrett. “Wherever he is. He has foreign ties and spends most of his time abroad, from what Alfred Nichols told me. For all I know he may have dual citizenship somewhere. Some place you can bet doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Canada. He had to figure a day like this might come.”
The wind suddenly picked up, as though someone had turned a switch. It howled through the rig, banging loose parts and blowing anything that wasn’t tied down swirling off into the near blackness of the storm. Then a tortuous, rending sound split the night, like metal being ripped apart. It rose above the wind, dominating the nighttime cacophony.
“My God,” Sarah cried. “What’s happening?”
“Come on,” said Garrett. “Let’s take a look.”
He led the way down the corridor and opened the first outside door they came to. The wind almost tore it out of his hand. The rig’s lights were back on, and they gathered at the opening and stared at a mind-numbing sight.
The enormous crane that the men had used to force Kitty and Sarah to give up was swinging in the wind. In all the excitement the operator had evidently not battened it down sufficiently. Even as they watched, the wind swung the crane back and forth, screeching metal protesting the ill treatment. Then, suddenly, the support gave way and the entire crane collapsed onto the rig with a sound like a Boeing 747 crashing into a metal scrapyard.
The entire rig shook from the impact and they were barely able to keep their feet. Across from them, another door opened and several men stood, wide-eyed, peering out at the devastation.
Kitty stared at them with daggers coming out of her eyes. Every last one of the men working on this rig was aware what went on here and what had been happening to her. If it had been in her power, she would have killed them all. “You should have put a bullet in the others while you had the chance,” she said to Lonnie. “Someone will find them, and we’ll have to deal with them all over again.”
“Maybe,” Lonnie said, gently. “But we’re talking about five men. I wasn’t ready to kill that many just for the pleasure of it.” He raised one massive hand. “Believe me. I understand where you’re coming from. None of us have gone through what you have. Maybe it was a mistake to leave them alive. It could stiffen the odds against us again.”
The men spotted them. One gestured animatedly, clearly urging his companions to go after them. But no one was in a mood to go out onto that platform. Who knew what was going to come crashing down next?
Lonnie closed the door, which only minimally lowered the sound of the wind. “No one’s going anywhere in a boat in this,” he said. “And communications are probably down too.”