Prey for Us Page 17

  “It looks like he only tried to send a text message, but it failed to transmit, just as you suspected.”

  The screen showed a Failed: Retry indicator beside a text addressed to a Frank Mercelli.

  “That’s his partner at his firm,” Thane said.

  Need help @ Syke’s place quick

  “Erase it now. That can’t transmit—ever!” Thane said, reaching again for the phone.

  Morana pulled it away and said, “Don’t worry. No one will ever see that message.” She let Thane watch her delete it and then turned the screen to him, so he could verify that it was gone. She slid the phone back into her pocket. “Come with me, I need to tell you something privately,” she said, leading him from the chamber.

  In the corridor, Thane closed the door and said, “I was going to ask you to leave so I can raise him to the surface.”

  “That’s a bad idea,” Moana said.

  “Why? We have his phone, and he’s bound, so we can safely turn him over to the police.”

  “At this point, turning him over to police will guarantee that things get worse for you.”

  “But we agreed that was the plan?”

  “No, we agreed that he deserved to be punished. Thane, when I was alone in the chamber with him, he threatened to have kidnapping charges filed against you, and he told me exactly how he could accomplish that.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I didn’t kidnap him.”

  “He says he can prove it.”

  “Then what are you suggesting?”

  “We’ve confirmed that no one is looking for him and it’s impossible for him to be found. I’m suggesting that we keep him until we are absolutely sure you won’t be charged for kidnapping.”

  “He trespassed and attacked me. I defended myself. I didn’t kidnap him. I’m the one who should be pressing charges.”

  “Listen to me,” Morana said, grabbing his shoulders. “I agree with you, but the law defines kidnapping as detaining someone against their will. The instant you dropped him with the trap floor, technically, that was kidnapping. And if he claims any injury, he’ll construe his ride on the trap floor as assault.”

  “So, it’s illegal for me to protect myself?”

  “There are no guarantees with our justice system.”

  “I don’t know what to do!” Thane looked like he might cry.

  “First, let’s stay calm. If we don’t release him, no one can prove he was ever in your garage—even with the search warrant.”

  “Search warrant? What are you talking about? That can’t happen! Waylon forced his way into my shop. I told him to leave, and he refused. He chased me and grabbed my shirt. He should be charged with assault!”

  “Except that you’d have to produce evidence that he assaulted you. And if he claims an injury and shows so much as a scratch after we turn him in, you’re looking at assault and battery. And then you can expect to be served a search warrant that will allow investigators to completely dismantle your shop for evidence.”

  “This can’t be happening…” Thane pressed his back to the wall and slid to the floor.

  “He’s a lawyer,” Morana said. “The law is his toolbox, but he uses it as an arsenal. You’ve seen from his professional success that he’s good at it. If he gets out of here and succeeds, you’ll be left to hope that a judge has great latitude in sentencing.”

  “Sentencing?”

  “Depending on the severity of the charges. We can’t know that yet, so why risk it?”

  “If I go to jail instead of him, then the law is completely wrong.”

  “I agree, but even if a trial exonerated you, Waylon threatened you personally. Whatever you said to him at the job fair must have ignited a personal vendetta against you. He essentially said you are a dead man. Has he ever threatened to kill you before?”

  “Not outright like this.” Thane swallowed.

  Morana nodded, watching Thane absorb the full impact of his dilemma.

  His voice quivered as he said, “I was only trying to protect myself. The trap floor was the only way I could keep him from getting to me.”

  Morana sat on the floor beside him. “Listen, you did exactly what I would have done. You took a drastic measure to protect yourself, and because of that, you escaped harm.”

  “From what you’re saying, that’s only temporary. Everything about this is unfair.”

  “And Waylon is counting on it remaining unfair. Was it fair for him to shove your face in the mud years ago?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Was it fair for him to offer tickets for the other kids to watch?”

  “No.”

  “What about all the other times he beat you up? When did Waylon ever play fair?”

  “Stop it!” Thane covered his ears. “You helped me with this—you’re in on it with me.”

  Morana gently pulled his hands down. “That’s true, I am. And that’s how you can be sure that I won’t give bad advice. I’m worried that a poor decision would bring an end to your magnificent work here in the sub-lair. If I were you, I’d be willing to do whatever is necessary to prevent that.”

  “Which is what?” Thane’s voice cracked.

  “Waylon knows he has intimidated you by threatening to use the law as a weapon. But what he hasn’t realized yet is that his position is far worse than yours.”

  “How?”

  “We can ensure that Waylon doesn’t press charges.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Have you ever heard the saying the only one way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him?”

  Thane nodded. “My mom used to say that.”

  “She was right. I told you how I stood up to the girls who teased me. The way I retaliated against them may have been a bit extreme, but it worked, and they never teased me again.”

  “But if I retaliate against Waylon, it could get me into more trouble.”

  “Only if anyone discovers it.” Morana put her arm around him. “You haven’t stood up to him yet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you know what the term V1 means?”

  “No.”

  “V1 is the maximum speed at which a pilot can abort take off. It’s the point at which maintaining full throttle and committing to fly becomes a safer option than attempting to stop. Aborting takeoff after V1 risks disaster.”

  “Okay,” Thane looked at her suspiciously.

  Morana said, “When you dropped him into the trap floor shaft, and then I bound him, our plan for Waylon passed V1.”

  “I still don’t understand. What am I supposed to do?”

  “I’ll answer that with a question. What is a perfect outcome for you, here?”

  “That Waylon would leave me alone forever and that I would never have to see him or hear his voice again.”

  Morana shrugged and said, “That’s only possible if he never leaves the sub-lair.”

  Thane laughed.

  When Morana didn’t join in, he frowned. “What do you mean—never?” He slowly shook his head. “You can’t be serious.”

  Morana strolled a few paces from Thane, then came back, tapping her chin. “Based on your history with Waylon, we’re in a zero-sum game. That means the only way for either of you to win is for the other to lose. One of your lives is about to be ruined, and there’s no way around it. You happen to be in the power position. You get to decide who deserves protection. If you consider everything he’s done to you and that he’s made it clear it will never end, I suggest that you protect your life and freedom. By doing that, your problem goes away forever.”

  “Whoa! Are you suggesting… You can’t be serious.”

  Morana came closer to him. “I realize the idea may seem jarring at first, but let’s think about it. Fate is offering you a rare opportunity to even the score for crimes he committed against you and that he thinks he got away with.” She took his hand and softened her voice. “Everything happe
ns for a reason. From what you’ve shared with me, he put himself in this position by his own actions.”

  Thane took a deep breath. “I’ve always dreamed of getting even, but…” He nibbled his lip. “In all my fantasies of getting even with him, I never actually—you know—went all the way. I don’t think I could live with myself.”

  “You can either live with yourself, or you can let him go and live with what he’ll do to you for the rest of your life.” Morana interlocked her fingers on her head, watching him.

  Thane sat quietly, then said, “It’s true that there is zero chance he will ever leave me alone.”

  “If it’s any consolation, there is also zero chance anyone would ever know about anything you ever did down here.”

  “That might be true, but if we release him, I can make sure there is no evidence to support his claims. I’ll fill the trap floor shaft. I’ll make it impossible for them to ever discover the trap floor or the sub-lair.”

  “Let’s say that plan succeeds, and investigators find nothing. Do you honestly think Waylon will forget the miraculous things he’s seen you do today? What if he hires private investigators and they manage to get a photo of you moving a block? If that leaks, you’ll need the police for crowd control to prevent reporters and curious spectators from camping in front of your property for a glimpse.”

  As Thane listened, the anxiety in his face deepened. “I hate him more than anything.” He wrung his fingers.

  Morana put her arm around him. “Imagine your life without him.”

  “I imagine it every morning when I wake up.”

  “Sweetheart, do you remember when I promised that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you?”

  Thane nodded.

  “Let me keep that promise. Let’s end this now. He attacked, and you defended yourself. If we turn him over to the police, you can’t trust the justice system to see it that way, so make sure that the justice system doesn’t see it at all.”

  Thane stared at the floor, motionless for almost a minute before he said, “If he were to die, how would it happen? I don’t think I could bring myself to… you know… do it.”

  “If that’s your concern, there’s more than one way to insulate you from that part if that will help. What if we set things up so that I cause an unfortunate accident?”

  “So, you would do it for me?”

  “Without hesitation. Nothing triggers me more than the type of abuse you endured at the hand of this monster.”

  Thane covered his face.

  Morana patted her hand on the chamber door. “I’ve never seen an opportunity so safe and so perfect as the one you have here. The possibility that he could use his knowledge of the law to continue his abuse and to end all of your amazing work infuriates me.”

  “You still haven’t said how you would do it,” Thane said.

  Morana paused. “Slowly lowering a block onto him comes to mind.”

  Thane cringed. “I couldn’t use the blocks that way.”

  “Then show me how to lower one.”

  Thane thumbed at himself. “I control the blocks. Only me.”

  “Of course. I’m sorry.” Morana stepped back. “I should have taken care of him when I had him alone in the chamber. I considered it, but he’s more indebted to you than he is to me.”

  Thane sighed and said, “I need to think about this.”

  “What else is there to think about?”

  “I don’t know—this solution feels like it might be disproportionate. It just seems like killing a person is a steep price for abuse.”

  “Then consider something else. Do you believe you’re the only person Waylon has bullied?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then what about his other victims? And what about his future victims? What would they beg you to do if they knew you were in this position? How many of them would give anything to trade places with you at this moment? Add up all the pain he’s caused and ending this monster will be the perfect application of Newton’s third law of motion.”

  Thane scuffed his foot on the floor a few times. He took a deep breath and said, “You’re right.”

  Morana smiled. “You deserve the power for once. Remember how he restrained your arms and legs while tormenting you. Now he’s restrained, and I think it would be good for you to spend a few minutes letting him feel the role reversal.”

  Thane nodded. “I suppose that would be fair.”

  “It’s more than fair.” She patted the chamber door.

  Thane pushed it open, and they went inside.

  Waylon’s legs shifted when he heard them.

  Morana said, “Lower him enough for him to step out of the shaft.” She pulled the stun gun from her bag.

  Thane looked at it. “Is that how you got him bound?”

  Morana raised the gun to her shoulder and blew the tip. “The right tool makes any job easy.”

  Waylon kicked his heels against the wall, yelling something unintelligible through his gag.

  “Please wait outside,” Thane said.

  “Sweetheart, please. I want to support you.”

  “You’ve given me plenty of support,” Thane said, pointing to the door. “I’ll let you back in after I pull him from the shaft.”

  “Okay,” Morana said, offering him the stun gun.

  “I won’t need that.”

  Morana tucked it back into her bag and said, “Although he’s bound securely, you should still keep your distance.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and went to the door. Before exiting, she said, “Leave this open in case you need me?”

  “No, all I need now is some privacy,” Thane said, aiming a flashlight into the space that contained Waylon.

  Morana stepped out into the corridor.

  Thane came to the door, and as he pushed it closed, Morana said, “Trust nothing he says.”

  Chapter 20

  MORANA RETURNED TO Thane’s bedroom. The door was still open. She took Waylon’s phone from her bag and dropped the bag on the mattress. She pulled the memory card from her burner phone and inserted it into Waylon’s phone. The photos she had taken of the garage interior displayed beautifully. She copied the photos to Waylon’s phone, then selected an image that showed most of Thane’s work area. She attached it to a new email message and sent it to Waylon’s own email address. A spinning hourglass appeared for 10 seconds before a message displayed:

  Send failed… Retrying…

  Morana smiled, turned off the screen and tucked the phone back into her bag. While she waited for Thane to finish extracting Waylon from the trap floor shaft, she wandered between the aquifer room, the bedroom, and the corridor before coming back to rest on the mattress, she laid back and listened to the occasional trickle of the water in the aquifer room.

  After waiting a while, she checked her watch. After having seen Thane so easily manipulate the blocks, the simple task of removing Waylon from the shaft had gone longer than she expected.

  She left the bedroom and went to the door of the trap floor chamber. She tried to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. She pounded on it with the butt of her hand knowing that the door was thicker than her body and that there was no chance Thane would hear her.

  She returned to the bedroom and waited another half hour before returning. This time she kicked the door. “Thane! Are you okay? … Let me know you’re okay… Thane!”

  She pressed her ear to the door and held her breath. A possibility came to mind, sending a chill up her spine. What if Waylon somehow broke free of his restraints and lost his temper with Thane. He might not realize that Thane was his only way out of the sub-lair. If he killed Thane, she and Waylon would also die, separated, but both entombed in the sub-lair forever.

  She checked her watch again. Something had to be wrong. She wiped sweat from her hands and paced in the corridor. As time went on, Thane’s absence in the silence of the sub-lair piqued her anxiety. She went to the aquifer and splas
hed water on her face, then dried it on a sheet from Thane’s bed.

  An hour later, Morana had retrieved her bag from Thane’s bedroom and sat with it on the floor in the corner of the lift chamber, trying to breathe deeply and slowly to stave off panic. She had pressed and kicked every block on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the small cubicle, but nothing triggered the lift.

  She wiped her face on her sleeve and then felt the slightest movement of air. She held her breath, listening. “Thane?”

  She heard a foot scuff from around the corner. She quietly got up and sidestepped toward the corridor.

  “Thane?” she repeated.

  She looked around the corner.

  “I’m here,” Thane said, he stood outside the doorway of the trap floor chamber. He held a flashlight at his side. Its beam had dimmed from white to yellow and flickered on the floor by his feet.

  “Thank God!” Morana said. She rushed to Thane and threw her arms around him, rocking him. “You had me panicking!”

  “Why?”

  “You said it would be quick!”

  “Things didn’t go exactly as planned,” Thane replied.

  “How so?” Morana pushed the door to enter the chamber, but it didn’t budge.

  “What didn’t go as planned?” she asked, using both hands to push the door harder.

  When Thane didn’t answer, she turned back to him. “What’s going on?”

  Thane wore an odd smile. He said, “Waylon is no longer a threat.”

  Morana grabbed his arms, containing her excitement. “You took care of him?”

  Thane nodded. “His days of harassing are over.”

  Morana hugged him tightly. “I’m so proud of you.” She gently pushed him to arms-length. “It was the right thing to do.”

  Thane said, “Follow me. We need to get to the surface.”

  “Why? I want to see him—for closure and all that!” Morana said, laughing as she patted the chamber door.

  “Not now. The sooner we get to the surface, the better.” He turned and walked toward the lift chamber.

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  “I’ll tell you on the way,” he said, leading her back to the lift chamber.

  “Thane, should I be nervous?” Morana nearly tripped over him.