See Tom Run (28 page)

They were free.

Molly smiled when Tom gave her a thumbs-up and then
motioned for her to wait while he checked out the situation. He
inched the door open just enough for him to slip through and enter
the kitchen.

Tom’s first task was to grab the phone and dial 911,
but his heart sank when he discovered that the wireless kitchen
phone had been removed from its wall cradle. Swearing under his
breath, he realized he was going to have to proceed with Plan B. He
returned to where Molly was standing on the other side of the
door.

“Here’s what I want you to do: I’m going to open the
backdoor and you are going to run like hell away from this house to
the BP station less than a block away. I want you to tell whoever
is on duty there that you need to make an emergency 911 call. Tell
the operator that you have been kidnapped and that there is an
assault in progress at a house on the east side of Summit Street
just south of the BP station. Then I want you to call your mother
and tell her where you are—she no doubt is worried sick about you.
Think you can do all of that, Molly?”

“Yeah, but what will you be doing? You should go with
me—these men are dangerous!”

“I’ve got to see if I can locate the friend I’ve been
looking for. She may not have much time left. I’ll be okay, don’t
worry. Just get yourself out of here and run like the wind!”

“I’m scared, Tom! What if I get lost?”

“You won’t get lost, I promise. All you have to do is
hop over the fence and run between the houses toward the street.
When you reach the street, head right and you’ll see the gas
station less than a block away.”

“Okay, I guess I can do that,” Molly said slowly.

“That’s my girl! Now, come with me.”

He took her by the hand and led her over to the back
door, opened it quietly and held the storm door open for her.

“Remember, go to the right, over the fence and head
toward the street. Be careful!”

She gave him a quick hug and a peck on the cheek.
“Thanks, Tom, for saving me. Please be careful!”

“I will—now go!”

Molly ran outside and out of his sight. He heard a
rustling sound as she scaled the old wire fence and then the soft
thud of retreating footsteps in the snow.

Tom moved quietly toward the front of the house,
aware that he hadn’t heard a single sound since escaping the
basement. Could they have already abandoned the place? he wondered.
He reached the living room, paused, and listened hard. After a
moment, he thought he heard the faint muffled sound of voices
coming from upstairs.

He scanned the living room for his flashlight and
cell phone but came up empty. Then he tiptoed over to the stairway
and ascended the stairs. As he neared the top, he could clearly
hear voices. He carefully peered around the corner and saw that all
of the doors to the second story rooms were shut. The voices were
coming from the same room he had believed Tracy to be in. He
slipped around the corner to the nearest room where he’d been
whacked and put his ear to the door. He didn’t hear anything.
Praying that Tracy’s cell phone might be there, he inched the door
open.

A light was on in the unoccupied room. He closed the
door behind him and searched around for his gear. After rifling
through all of the drawers of the dressing bureau, he checked the
closet and found nothing but a few shirts and a vacuum cleaner.

Tom wasn’t sure what to do next. He had no phone and
no weapon. He was up against two men that were armed and holding
all of the aces. What in the holy hell could he do,
realistically?

Not much, he realized. But he had to at least try to
save Tracy. He had a feeling that she was still alive only because
the men hadn’t killed anyone as far as he knew. If they were
murderers, they would certainly have killed either Molly or himself
by now. He could only hope that the same held true for Tracy.

Only one way to find out, Tom thought.

He crept back out into the hallway. Quietly, he
walked over to the door where the voices were coming from and held
his ear to it.

“Looks like she’s out like a light,” he heard a voice
say.

“She is. We’ll give her ten more minutes, then the
Versed,” a second voice said.

“Why do we have to wait so long to give her the shot,
Doc?” another voice said.

Christ! Tom thought. There were three of them in
there! Who was the third man?

And what in the holy hell were they doing to
Tracy?

“Because, Ernie, this is all about timing. The GBH we
gave her will knock her out for several hours and make her an easy
lay. I’ve also added something to help control the vomiting, which
will make our experience all the more pleasant.

“But the injection should make her forget that
anything bad ever happened to her. In fact, if all goes well, she
will have amnesia and forget everything that’s happened since we
picked her up. But we have to delay the injection. Otherwise, it
would not only screw up the metabolic process, but probably kill
her, too.”

“I see.” Ernie replied. “But why didn’t you give the
little girl a shot of that stuff, too?”

“She is too small for us to take the risk with that
combination of drugs. The last thing we need is a murder rap.”

“But she’s going to be able to ID us once we let her
go, isn’t she?” the first man argued.

The man referred to as “Doc” chuckled. “We haven’t
let her go yet, now have we? I’ve got another formula I want to try
on the young one before we turn her loose. And if this little
concoction works, she won’t know any of us from the man in the
moon.”

“Whoa, that would be awesome! So if all of these
drugs of yours work, we could get away with all kinds of shit with
any babe we want—and no one will ever know the difference!”

“I’m more interested in the money we’re going to
make, but yes, that’s what we’re shooting for. But neither of you
are getting a red cent until we perfect the process, so don’t get
all excited yet.”

“I know, Doc. But don’t think we aren’t enjoying
these little experiments, right Billy?”

“That’s for sure. God, she’s a looker, ain’t she? I
can’t wait to get my hands on those tits! When can we strip her
down, Doc?”

Ernie answered instead. “Jesus, Billy, hold your
horses! You damn near screwed everything up with that black chick
by being so gung-ho, remember? If Doc hadn’t saved the day, we’d
all be up shit creek by now.”

Tom stepped back from the door. His
first reaction was absolute shock. Tracy was being forced to act as
some kind of lab rat so this “Doc” lunatic could test his street
drugs! She had evidently just been given a date rape cocktail and
would be shot up with another drug in ten minutes.
Versed
—he’d heard of that
drug before. It was a powerful sedative given before surgery to
relax you.

So that’s what this is all about, he thought. These
cretins, led by the doctor, were trying to develop the ultimate
date rape drug—one that would not only make the victim more
vulnerable to abuse but able to induce total amnesia. This would
theoretically make it impossible for the guilty party to get caught
since the victim’s memory would be completely eradicated.

Tom thought of little Molly Barnes and realized that
she was very fortunate to have gotten out of this creepy laboratory
when she had. The doctor’s plans of future experimentation on the
girl would definitely have put her at serious risk.

And the “black chick” Ernie had referred to was most
likely the same girl that had been dumped off in the alley. Tom
recalled Frank saying that she had been raped and assaulted but had
had no recollection of her attacker. She must have been part of
these experiments, too, and the drugs had apparently worked.

He simply had to get Tracy out of there before they
gave her that shot—

But how?

And why haven’t the cops gotten there yet? Had
something happened to Molly to keep her from calling 911?

Tom looked at his watch. It had been almost five
minutes since Molly had left the house—plenty of time for her to
get to the BP and place the call. The cops should be here any
minute.

Tom couldn’t wait any longer.

He suddenly heard someone walk toward the door. In a
flash, he ran down the hall and into the spare bedroom. He stood
there holding his breath and heard someone go into the bathroom to
take a leak. He waited a little longer then heard the person go
back into the bedroom and close the door.

Out of nowhere, Tom had a flashback of his dream. He
and Erin had been speeding through the Midtown Tunnel with Chappy
and his crony in hot pursuit, gaining on them. They had almost run
out of time—

This gave him an idea. And it just might work.

He opened the door and peeked out to make sure the
hallway was clear. Then he fled the room and moved silently down
the stairs. Heading for the kitchen, he kept his eye out for
anything he could find to create a diversion.

He found a Bic lighter in a counter drawer near the
stove and considered the white linen curtains covering the window
above the sink. Kindling, yes, but not enough fuel to sustain a
fire. He peered over at the valence hanging over the window of the
kitchen door. That wouldn’t work either.

Tom glanced at his watch and estimated they would be
giving Tracy the injection in another two or three minutes. He was
going to have to hurry or it would be too late.

He ran down the stairs into the basement and looked
around. He spotted a cardboard box filled with old clothes near the
workbench. He also found an old scuffed up baseball in another box
and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he picked up the box of
clothes and ran back up the stairs.

Tom closed the basement door and quickly dumped the
contents of the box out on the floor. Using his feet, he banked the
pile of clothes up against the basement door and ran over to the
drawer where he’d seen a can of lighter fluid earlier. He ran back
over to the pile of clothes, doused them in lighter fluid then
squirted the basement door with the rest of the can. He stooped
down, flicked the Bic and ignited the pile of clothes.

There was a huge whoosh as the clothes caught fire
and flames ran up the door, licking the ceiling. Tom threw the can
on the flames and dashed out of the kitchen.

His heart was nearly busting out of his chest as ran
up the stairs as quietly as he could—just long enough to open the
door to the spare bedroom. Then he ran back down the stairs halfway
and stopped. He took the baseball out of his pocket and took
careful aim at the large living room window at the far end of the
room. Drawing in a deep breath and holding it, he threw the ball as
hard as he could.

Tom saw the window shatter and then retraced his
steps up the stairs, entered the spare bedroom and shut the door
behind him. He immediately heard the door to the other bedroom
burst open and the sound of footsteps running down the hall then
down the stairs.

Tom held his breath. Any second now …

“Fire!” someone shouted from below.

Seconds later, he heard two more sets of footsteps
running down the hallway.

“Where is it?” the doctor shouted.

“In the kitchen—the whole room is engulfed!” someone
replied.

This was his only chance.

Tom ran out of the room, down the hall and into the
bedroom. He was outraged when he saw Tracy lying on a bed
unconscious, stripped down to her bra and panties.

He ran over and started shaking her.

“Tracy! Wake up!”

She was so lifeless that Tom wondered if it was too
late. He looked around and saw a syringe lying on the bedside
table. It was still full of the drug, thank god.

He held his ear to Tracy’s chest. Her heart was
beating faintly.

“Tracy, it’s Tom! Can you hear me?”

He stared at her closed eyes expectantly but they
remained closed.

Tom glanced around the room, knowing that he had
precious few seconds before they came back upstairs. He looked
around for a gun but didn’t see one.

He went over to the window, raised the mini blinds
and looked outside. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw an
eave just outside the window that jutted out a few feet. Beyond the
overhang he noticed that the roof gently sloped out over the front
porch. Tom couldn’t believe his good luck.

He unlatched the window and raised it up as far as he
could. He then went over and placed his hands under Tracy’s armpits
and pulled her body gently down to the floor. He dragged her over
to the window and set her down, grabbed the blanket off the bed and
hastily wrapped it around her half naked body.

He could tell from the shouts of the men downstairs
that they were trying to put out the fire that he had started in
the kitchen. It wouldn’t be much longer before one of them
remembered that Tracy was still upstairs and run up to get her. Tom
scurried over to the bedroom door, closed and locked it.

He hoisted the unconscious girl up until her back was
resting against the wall directly below the windowsill. He then
backed his way out through the window, carefully planted his feet
in the snow and took hold of Tracy from behind. He was surprised at
how light she felt as the adrenalin kicked in. He gingerly pulled
her body through the window and out onto the eave of the roof.
Tracy’s feet had just cleared the windowsill when Tom suddenly lost
his footing and nearly fell off the eave. Fortunately, the overhang
was only slightly pitched and he was able to regain his balance
while still keeping his hold on Tracy.

Tom paused long enough to catch his breath and figure
out the best way to move Tracy from the overhang onto the porch
roof. Then he heard the sound of someone banging on the bedroom
door.

Realizing that it wouldn’t take too long for them to
break down the door, Tom tightened his grasp on Tracy’s body and
dragged her toward the area where the overhang met the line of the
porch roof. Tom’s heart sank when he heard the sound of smashing
woodwork and knew that they had just busted the door down.