“Where does this lead?” Ken asked.
“The corridor parallels the side of this room until it’s almost at the outer wall. Then steps lead down under the house and out to an opening on the edge of the woods near the cliff.”
“You stay here,” Robin told Nelly. “Ken, come with me.”
Robin stepped into the dank interior of the passage. The light from the room that illuminated the area near the entrance grew dimmer as she walked deeper into the gloom.
Robin played her light along the floor and walls. Cobwebs had been disturbed, and there were scattered footprints in the dust.
“Someone’s been in here recently,” she told Ken.
The tunnel turned, and they lost the light from the room. Robin saw the stairs that led to the exit near the woods. She walked down them. A tunnel led off to the left. She followed it to the end. That’s when she saw the exit to the grounds and the body propped up against the wall.
Robin walked up to the body and played her light over it. Victor Zelko’s eyes were staring away from her, and his head was bent at an impossible angle.
Robin started to examine the body when she heard something tumble down the stairs. She turned just as Luther stepped over Ken.
“Sorry, Miss Lockwood. I never wanted to hurt anyone. But I won’t go back.”
Suddenly, Robin understood why Luther had disappeared when the director of the state mental hospital had arrived at Black Oaks.
“Zelko set a fire when he made his first attempt to escape from the state hospital. Two patients escaped with him. That’s how you were injured.”
Luther didn’t answer. He just moved forward. Robin’s gun was in a holster attached to her belt. She was holding the flashlight and wouldn’t have time to drop it and draw the gun, so she swung the flashlight at Luther. He swatted it out of her hand and moved in on her.
Robin stepped back, but the wall prevented her from going any farther. She was close to the exit, and there was a good chance that she could make it out of the manor house, where she would have no trouble outrunning Luther. But there was Ken to think about. If she did get away from Luther, he would probably kill Ken. And Robin had no idea what Luther had done to Nelly. Robin decided to see if she could talk Luther into letting her and Ken go.
“You don’t have to hurt me or Ken, Luther. You helped capture Zelko. I’ll tell everyone. You’ll be a hero.”
Luther kept coming. He looked sad. Robin knew she would have to use every fighting skill she’d developed if she was going to get herself and Ken out alive.
While she was training as a professional cage fighter, Robin had studied street fighting, where ending a fight as quickly as possible, by any means necessary, was the rule. She knew she’d have one shot at what she planned to do. Luther was huge and powerful. If he landed a blow, the fight would probably be over.
Luther’s punch was a looping, overhand right; the punch most commonly thrown by an untrained attacker in a street fight.Robin threw up her left arm to shield her face from the punch as she rushed in, leaped up, and smashed her right elbow into Luther’s jaw as she came down. The strike acted the way a hammer blow would, shattering Luther’s jaw and stunning him.
With a smooth, practiced motion, Robin threw her arm across Luther’s shoulder, pulled his head down, and slammed her knee into his gut, driving his air out. Luther’s mouth gaped open, and he fell forward. Robin stepped back and smashed her foot into Luther’s head. When he hit the ground, Robin stomped on it.
As soon as Robin was sure that Luther was unconscious, she rushed over to Ken. He moaned, and his eyes opened.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m not okay, but I am alive, so no complaints. What hit me?”
Robin pointed at Luther, who was sprawled on the stone floor.
“Is he dead?” Ken asked.
“Just unconscious,” Robin said.
“Did you…?”
Robin nodded.
“Jesus. That guy is a Mack Truck.”
“It wasn’t easy.”
“Are you okay?”