remember how I’d found and wasn’t able to bring it up again.
So be it. I hid the device in the closet. I wasn’t going to give John Savenue a chance to muscle it away from me. One last look at the quiet house and I jumped in the Jeep with Nikki in the back and the gun on the seat beside me and drove down the long driveway into the night. I was taking my own car this time. I was never hiding from him again.
We sped past miles of isolated farmland toward the mountains. After the split to Cashtown and the sign to the Grasslands, I took the road into the woods, dimmed my headlights, and opened the windows.
Long, wolfish shadows spread across the road as the whispers rushed past us. We drove until the woods thinned out and the land opened up under the eerie light from the dome that radiated over every hollow and hill. My gut instincts told me John Savenue was holed up in there like a snake.
Another curve in the road, and I turned off the headlights, passed the little white cross at the scene of the accident, swung into the gravel parking lot, and idled the Jeep by the doors with my hand on the gun. Mike’s empty Toyota sat beside the construction equipment on the far edge of the lot. He was still out in the company van.
I turned off the ignition to listen. The whispering grew louder, the voices saying something over and over in an indecipherable stream of words that blended with the sounds of the night, an undercurrent beneath the groans of trees scraping against each other, the distant rush of faraway cars, the stirring of animals in the fields. Urgent, urgent, help me, help me, no, no, no .
Nikki growled and kept her dark eyes on the window. The fur bristled on her back.
Ten minutes later, headlights washed over the ground. The van pulled in, circled the lot, and backed up to the doors. Mike’s pale face peered out the window. He jumped down, rolled out a hand truck, and loaded it with big cardboard boxes, his breath puffing out in icy clouds.
“ Come on, Nikki,” I told her and got out with the gun hidden in my coat.
“ Five minutes,” Mike called. The light from the dome cast a green pallor over his face.
“ We’re coming in with you. It’s too cold out here.”
“ I told you, John doesn’t want anybody in there.”
I pulled the gun on him. “I said we’re coming in. Open the doors.”
His mouth fell open. “Oh, no, Amy. Come on, don’t do this.”
“ I said open those doors.”
“ You need help. I mean, seriously, let me help you—”
“ I don’t want to hear it.”
He pressed his mouth in a tight line, went through the keys, and unlocked the doors.
I waved the gun at him. “You first.” We entered a wide corridor with a concrete floor, whitewashed walls, and an industrial ceiling with exposed white metal beams. It looked more like the basement of a mental hospital than a resort under construction. The corridor ended at heavy double doors without windows.
Mike wheeled the boxes over to the wall beside a stack of identical boxes he must have brought in earlier. He spread his hands, the way people do when they’re trying to reason with somebody who’s lost it.
“ I don’t know where Ben’s boots are. Honest, I don’t. If you want, we’ll tear all these boxes open right now, and I swear to God I’ll do that for you, but his boots aren’t here. I picked all these up tonight.”
“ I know they’re not here. Open those doors.”
“ I can’t do that. John told me not to go in there.”
I cocked the gun. “Do it, or I blow them off the hinges.”
He shook his head and pressed his mouth shut again, walked to the end of the corridor, looking over his shoulder at me, and unlocked the double doors. I motioned him in with the gun and followed him into an enormous space the size of an arena.
Nikki flattened her ears and bared her teeth. We were under the dome. The shadows and the whispering hit me first and then I saw the thousands of shoes.
Chapter
So be it. I hid the device in the closet. I wasn’t going to give John Savenue a chance to muscle it away from me. One last look at the quiet house and I jumped in the Jeep with Nikki in the back and the gun on the seat beside me and drove down the long driveway into the night. I was taking my own car this time. I was never hiding from him again.
We sped past miles of isolated farmland toward the mountains. After the split to Cashtown and the sign to the Grasslands, I took the road into the woods, dimmed my headlights, and opened the windows.
Long, wolfish shadows spread across the road as the whispers rushed past us. We drove until the woods thinned out and the land opened up under the eerie light from the dome that radiated over every hollow and hill. My gut instincts told me John Savenue was holed up in there like a snake.
Another curve in the road, and I turned off the headlights, passed the little white cross at the scene of the accident, swung into the gravel parking lot, and idled the Jeep by the doors with my hand on the gun. Mike’s empty Toyota sat beside the construction equipment on the far edge of the lot. He was still out in the company van.
I turned off the ignition to listen. The whispering grew louder, the voices saying something over and over in an indecipherable stream of words that blended with the sounds of the night, an undercurrent beneath the groans of trees scraping against each other, the distant rush of faraway cars, the stirring of animals in the fields. Urgent, urgent, help me, help me, no, no, no .
Nikki growled and kept her dark eyes on the window. The fur bristled on her back.
Ten minutes later, headlights washed over the ground. The van pulled in, circled the lot, and backed up to the doors. Mike’s pale face peered out the window. He jumped down, rolled out a hand truck, and loaded it with big cardboard boxes, his breath puffing out in icy clouds.
“ Come on, Nikki,” I told her and got out with the gun hidden in my coat.
“ Five minutes,” Mike called. The light from the dome cast a green pallor over his face.
“ We’re coming in with you. It’s too cold out here.”
“ I told you, John doesn’t want anybody in there.”
I pulled the gun on him. “I said we’re coming in. Open the doors.”
His mouth fell open. “Oh, no, Amy. Come on, don’t do this.”
“ I said open those doors.”
“ You need help. I mean, seriously, let me help you—”
“ I don’t want to hear it.”
He pressed his mouth in a tight line, went through the keys, and unlocked the doors.
I waved the gun at him. “You first.” We entered a wide corridor with a concrete floor, whitewashed walls, and an industrial ceiling with exposed white metal beams. It looked more like the basement of a mental hospital than a resort under construction. The corridor ended at heavy double doors without windows.
Mike wheeled the boxes over to the wall beside a stack of identical boxes he must have brought in earlier. He spread his hands, the way people do when they’re trying to reason with somebody who’s lost it.
“ I don’t know where Ben’s boots are. Honest, I don’t. If you want, we’ll tear all these boxes open right now, and I swear to God I’ll do that for you, but his boots aren’t here. I picked all these up tonight.”
“ I know they’re not here. Open those doors.”
“ I can’t do that. John told me not to go in there.”
I cocked the gun. “Do it, or I blow them off the hinges.”
He shook his head and pressed his mouth shut again, walked to the end of the corridor, looking over his shoulder at me, and unlocked the double doors. I motioned him in with the gun and followed him into an enormous space the size of an arena.
Nikki flattened her ears and bared her teeth. We were under the dome. The shadows and the whispering hit me first and then I saw the thousands of shoes.
Chapter
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