Dr Nikki Roberts should never have gotten herself involved with him. But the good doctor made her own bed. Mick Johnson knew what he had to do – if Luis Rodriguez, the boss, hadn’t already done it for him.
Turning on his flashlight, Johnson swiftly found the fuse box and flipped up the main switch. Light flooded the cramped space, momentarily blinding him. He heard footsteps, running, on the floor above.
‘Luis!’ he called out, his deep voice echoing up the empty stairwell.
He started to climb.
Luis Rodriguez shielded his eyes against the dazzling light, instinctively pressing his back against the wall and raising his gun blindly. He could hear someone calling to him from below, but he didn’t give him much thought. He would deal with them later. Right now he was on the hunt, his nostrils flaring for the scent of blood. Dr Roberts’ blood.
The thought of the kill excited him. He could almost taste her. ‘I’m coming!’ he called out in a sing-song voice, taunting, like a child playing hide and go seek. As his eyes began to adjust to the light, he saw dark splashes of blood, leading towards the staircase. His groin still throbbed but the pain was nothing compared to the thrill of the chase. Killing Willie Baden had been the hors d’oeuvre, an amuse-bouche before the main event. After all this time, he was finally going to do it. He was going to execute that bitch. Then he and Anne would live happily ever after.
‘Come out, come out wherever you are!’
He pushed open the door to the stairs.
Nikki had been asleep when the lights came back on, dazzlingly bright, dragging her reluctantly back into consciousness. The land of the living. But not for long. Rodriguez would find her and kill her, like he had killed Baden. She knew that now. She couldn’t move and no one was coming to save her. But she didn’t care.
Soon she would be with Doug. Then she would know the truth at last. Either that, or she would be in a place where truth no longer mattered.
I’m so tired.
Her eyelids fluttered. She gazed blankly at the bloody wound below her knee. Her whole leg had stiffened and no longer felt part of her. There was pain, but it wasn’t the sharp, stinging pain of before. More of a numbing ache, like the kind you get swimming in the cold ocean.
With a click, the door above her opened. She heard Rodriguez’s voice, taunting her, thick with cruelty and excitement. ‘Where are you, Doctor? I’m coming.’
Fear returned to her then, unexpected. Some primal instinct to survive, its roots deeper than exhaustion, deeper than pain, took hold. She shrank back into her alcove, her terror building with each slow, deliberate step he took towards her. She saw his boots first, black and polished, then the legs of his suit trousers. She heard a whimper of fear and submission, before realizing with shame that the noise came from her own lips.
‘There you are, my dear.’ He loomed above her like a malevolent giant, his legs slightly apart, his gun held casually at his side as she cowered beneath him. ‘Look at me, please.’
Nikki shook her head, pleading.
‘I SAID LOOK AT ME, BITCH!’ Luis roared, his voice ricocheting off the stairwell walls like the boom of a canon.
Shaking uncontrollably with fright, Nikki did as he said. She found herself looking up into a face that might have been handsome were it not so contorted with hatred. Luis’s eyes were two hard brown stones of polished cruelty, glinting down at his victim, compassionless and cold. He raised his gun slowly, savoring the moment, a wolfish smile spreading over his thin, sadist’s lips.
‘Rodriguez! Put your hands in the air! Police!’
Goodman’s voice sounded distant to Nikki. Unreal, like a voice in a dream.
Apparently, Luis Rodriguez felt the same as he continued raising his gun and smiling, unconcerned.
‘I’m right behind you, Luis. Do not shoot her.’
Nikki saw Goodman then, standing on the top landing, his service weapon pointed directly at Rodriguez’s back. He wasn’t in uniform, but everything about him radiated confidence and authority. The firm set of his jaw, the steady command in his voice.
He’s come to save me! Everything’s going to be all right after all.
The relief was overwhelming. Nikki looked from Goodman to Rodriguez and back again as for a long, tense moment, neither man lowered their weapon. Then, his smile still fixed, Rodriguez slowly lowered his arm and let his pistol clatter to the ground.
Turning around, he seemed oddly relaxed, greeting Goodman almost like an old friend. ‘See, Detective? I didn’t shoot her. I’m sure she appreciates your romantic gesture.’ He chuckled, as if all this were some sort of elaborate practical joke. ‘So what happens now? Are you going to arrest me?’
He held out his arms as if for handcuffs, still grinning.
He’s insane, thought Nikki, wondering how she hadn’t realized this before. He’s not just bad, he’s mad. Crazy. Deranged.
She looked gratefully up at Goodman, waiting for him to read Rodriguez his rights, and wondering if any back-up were on its way. She wouldn’t feel completely safe until Rodriguez was cuffed and taken away. Even without his gun he was a strong man and …
Bang!