“That’s just it,” Clayton growled. “It doesn’t make sense.” He showed the phone to Ben.
Ben looked at the screen and frowned. “Onedrlnd?”
Luke strode up. “What’s happened?”
“Clayton received a text from Ellie.”
“Oh, thank Christ,” Luke breathed. “Let’s hope it’s truly from her.”
“Yeah, well, she could have been a little less cryptic,” Clayton said.
“What did she say?” Luke asked.
“Look, the number one dr lnd,” Clayton replied.
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
Luke fell silent. A few moments later, he clicked his fingers, excitement exploding across his face. “I’ve got it! It’s text for Wonderland, Australia’s Wonderland! The theme park at Mt Druitt.”
“What theme park?” Clayton asked, impatience sharpening his words.
“It was huge when I was a teenager. We used to love going there on the weekend. It was Sydney’s answer to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, the owners couldn’t make it pay.” He shrugged. “It’s been closed for nearly a decade.”
“So what’s there now?” Clayton asked.
“I don’t know. Most of it was demolished, but I think the old roller coaster’s still there.”
“We get calls every now and then from people complaining of unsavory types hanging around there,” Ben added. “The place is surrounded by an eight-foot fence, but you know how it is, there are ways and means.”
“Is it possible Wilson could have taken Ellie there?” Though it wasn’t easy, Clayton curbed his instinctive urge to jump into the nearest squad car and hightail it to the theme park. He waited.
Ben frowned in thought and then nodded. “It’s possible, especially if he’s been there before. He may have cut a hole in the fence. There’s no security monitoring it, so breaking in is relatively easy if you have access to wire cutters.”
Clayton’s heart rate picked up its pace. “How far away is it?”
“About twenty minutes or so,” Luke supplied. “Less if we use the sirens.”
Adrenaline poured through Clayton’s veins. He stared at Ben and waited for the man’s approval.
“Let’s do it.”
Clayton spun on his heel and strode back into the squad room. Ben called to the men who lounged against various pieces of furniture and quickly brought them up to speed. The air filled with electric anticipation as officers readied for the task ahead.
Clayton checked the weapon he’d been issued and collected his Kevlar vest. With his heart hammering, his thoughts turned to Ellie. He sent a silent prayer heavenward that they weren’t too late.
* * *
Lex brought the taxi to a stop outside the high wire fence that surrounded the old theme park and ordered Ellie from the car. Eyeing the Taser gun balefully, she did the best she could to exit the car without falling. The bindings cut into her wrists and she’d long since lost feeling in her fingers.
There had been a moment when Wilson had pulled into a gas station. Hope had flared in her heart. She’d thought frantically of a way to escape, or at the very least, to attract someone’s attention.
But the place was deserted and Wilson had parked as far away from the console operator’s window as possible. He’d locked the car on his exit and paid for his gas with a credit card at the pump. The whole episode took less than five minutes. The disappointment of not making good her escape had almost suffocated her when Wilson climbed back into the driver’s seat and continued on their way.
She thought about Clayton and the text she’d sent him and hoped desperately that he understood. Otherwise, there was no way anyone would find her. He was her only hope.
With a large flashlight in one hand and the Taser gun in the other, held close to her side, Lex nudged her forward. Barefooted, Ellie stumbled on a sharp rock that bit into the soft skin of her foot. She cried out and almost fell.
“Keep moving!” Lex shouted and prodded her forward. Drawing in a quick breath, Ellie’s ribs burned in protest. She bit down on a gasp of pain and continued on until the dark shadow of the old roller coaster loomed ahead of her. Like the vertebrae of a forgotten dinosaur, it was silhouetted against the night.
As they moved closer, Ellie made out a few of the individual carts that used to run on the roller coaster track. She remembered coming to the theme park with her parents when she was a kid. She’d beg them to allow her to ride on the roller coaster, but they’d always turned away, telling her it was too dangerous. The machinery had been old, even back then.
“Get in,” Lex ordered, indicating the cart with a thrust of his head.
The flashlight played over the rusted metal. Cobwebs clung to its crevices. Ellie shuddered at the thought of climbing into it. The park had been closed for years. She couldn’t believe the roller coaster could still be working.
“It’s perfectly fine,” Lex explained, sensing her reticence. “I was here only a few months ago. Wait until you see the view. Your final moments looking out on one of the most spectacular sights of Sydney. It doesn’t get any better than that.” He chuckled in genuine amusement.
Ellie shuddered, refusing to even contemplate it. In an effort to distract him, she questioned him about the ancient ride.
“H-how do you make it go?” she asked, knowing the electricity to the Park would have been disconnected when it closed.
“By gas-powered generator. I brought one out here a couple of years ago. It goes like a dream. With no one around for miles, it’s the perfect place to come and reflect on my handiwork.”
Lex prodded her again with the Taser gun. “Now, get in. We’re wasting time. I’ve waited so long for the perfect end to my creation. Now that I have you, I’m getting impatient. The sooner we get to the top, the sooner I can end this.”
Casting around in the darkness, Ellie searched frantically for a sign that Clayton was on his way. The only illumination came from the distant glow of street lights. For a moment, she thought she heard the sound of sirens, but a few seconds later, she realized she’d imagined it. The night was still and quiet.
Her heart sank. Fear renewed its grip on her mind. Lex pushed her hard from behind and she fell into the cart with a cry. Unable to use her hands to cushion her fall, she collapsed awkwardly against the hard, rusted metal. Pain shot through her hip and radiated along her spine. Her ribs and belly were engulfed in fire. She couldn’t move.
“Move over,” Wilson shouted. “There’s hardly enough room as it is.”
Tears of pain rolled down Ellie’s cheeks. “I-I can’t,” she gasped. “It-it hurts.”
“It’s gonna hurt a hell of a lot more when I start with the saw.” He shoved her hard with his shoulder. She gasped from the agony the movement caused. “Now, get over.”
Moments later, the sound of a motor started and Wilson scrambled in behind her. The flashlight glinted off something metallic in his hand. When Ellie realized it was a hacksaw, her blood iced over.
Biting her lip against the panic that threatened to overwhelm her, she closed her eyes against the nightmare unraveling before her and prayed for the end to be quick.
* * *
Clayton broke every record known to man in his haste to get to the theme park. A couple of miles from the park, he ordered everyone to cut their sirens and lights. No use giving the bastard a heads-up that they were onto him.
Seven minutes after he left the police station, he brought the police vehicle to a sliding stop outside a high chain fence. Followed closely by Luke, he leaped out of the car, a pair of heavy wire cutters in his hand.
Within seconds, he’d cut a hole large enough to allow entry. Shouldering his way through, Clayton paused only long enough to take directions from Luke before forging onward into the dark shadows that apparently housed the roller coaster.
Tugging his revolver out of the holster, Clayton eased off the safety and crept forward on silent feet. The sudden sputter of an engine nearby startled him. He spun on his heel in the direction of the sound. Luke came to halt behind him, swearing under his breath.
“What the hell is that?” Clayton’s whisper was harsh in the stillness.
“I don’t know. Sounds like some kind of motor.”
“It’s coming from over there.” Clayton indicated with his chin, hoping Luke could see him in the dimness.
“That’s where the roller coaster is.”
Blood pulsed heavily in Clayton’s veins. Dread tightened his gut. Was Ellie even now at the roller coaster, at the mercy of a madman? Signaling to Luke, he started in the direction of the noise, the other officer close on his heels.
* * *
The cart made its slow ascent along the steep steel rail, squealing raucously in protest. Ellie clung to the side with her fingernails, even as the bindings around her wrists cut into her flesh. The cart rattled and swayed alarmingly, sending renewed shivers of fear coursing down her spine.
Behind her, Wilson cackled in glee, shouting above the sound of the generator about the wonderful evening and the magnificent view of the city lights, far in the distance.
When the cart reached the top, he fiddled with some kind of contraption on the side of it and brought it to a stop. Ellie was grateful the inky dullness of the night camouflaged the full extent of their position, high above the ground.
A flimsy, wooden maintenance platform hung precariously at the top of the rollercoaster. Wilson yelled at her above the noise of the motor and prodded her once again with the Taser.
“Get out.”
With no choice but to do as she was told, Ellie stumbled awkwardly and half fell onto the platform. It creaked and swayed and she cried out in terror. The madman behind her laughed.
Joining her on the platform, he spread his arms wide.
“Does it get any better than this?”
Ellie shuddered and willed herself not to look down.
Wilson stepped closer and slid the back of his hand down her cheek in a slow caress. “I waited and waited for something special. I was always taught patience is a virtue.”
Ellie tensed. Her heart thudded inside her chest. Fear, more terrifying than anything she’d felt before, paralyzed her, leaving her powerless to do anything but stare at her tormenter in horror. He turned away and moments later, swung around to face her, brandishing the hacksaw.
Sheer desperation and a realization she no longer had anything to lose, took over. Adrenaline surged through her. Despite the agony in her chest, she thrashed around in a frenzy of motion, using her bound hands to attack him.
With the gag still tightly ensconced in her mouth, she snatched tiny breaths of air through the filthy rag, throwing her head from side to side while she battled to get away. Her moans of distress and terror were little more than faint mewlings through the thick cloth, but she refused to give in.
“Easy now, easy,” Wilson crooned, his hand grappling with a rope that he’d produced from his belt. “Don’t fight me. It is what it is. From the moment you climbed into my cab, there was never any doubt. You’re mine.”
He inched closer, the rope hanging loosely from his fingers, the hacksaw discarded on the platform—for the time being.
Fear, dark and impenetrable filled Ellie’s mouth. She retched and fought and tried to scream.
He flung the rope around her and pulled it taut, almost knocking her off her feet. She screamed again, the sound barely registering as the terror she’d tried so hard to hold at bay almost overwhelmed her.
With quick and efficient movements that spoke of previous experience, he secured the rope to the platform. Within moments, she was once again immobilized. Standing above her, he brandished the hacksaw, grinning maniacally. She flung her head from side to side in increasing desperation. Despite her efforts, the saw tasted her skin. She could do no more than whimper.
* * *
Clayton came to a halt at the foot of the roller coaster and watched in helpless fury as the cart containing Ellie and the man who sought to kill her, rattled its way to the top. Slipping the safety on his revolver, he thrust the weapon back into the holster and paced the ground while he took a few seconds to assess the situation.
Fear surged through him at the thought of climbing so high. His breath shortened, tightening his chest. He sucked air deep into his lungs in an effort to overcome his panic. Terror for the woman he loved congealed into a cold, dark mass of determination. There was nothing for it: He had to make the ascent.
Drawing in a couple more gulps of oxygen, he pushed his own fears aside, knowing he had to go up there after her, despite his own weaknesses. If Ellie died, he’d never forgive himself. He’d lived with that kind of guilt for too long. He refused to make the same mistake again. Steeling himself against his panic, he glanced at Luke who watched him with concern.
“Are you all right, Clayton?”
With his lips compressed into a rigid line and unable to form words if his life depended upon it, he gave Luke a tight nod and lifted his foot onto the first step. He would conquer his fear of heights—or he would die trying.
“What the hell are you doing? You can’t go up there without a harness. You don’t even know if it’ll hold your weight. If it gives, you’re good as dead! Wait for some of the others to arrive. They’ll—”