Under the Boardwalk

by Barbara Cool Lee

  "I tried to call you, but you didn't pick up."

  "I left my phone in the barn when we were talking earlier. What did you call me about?"

  Hallie quickly told him what she'd figured out about the storage area below the haunted house.

  Kyle breathed a big sigh. "Well, there's the big fat clue we've been looking for, but it doesn't make much sense."

  "Could Windy and Zac be down there?"

  "We'll find out soon enough," Kyle said softly. "I think—." He abruptly grabbed Hallie by the arm and pulled her back into the shadow of the building.

  "What the—?" Hallie whispered.

  "Shhh!" he said, and pointed to the upstairs window in the wall above them. The light had gone out.

  They heard a door close upstairs, then heavy footsteps on the stairs.

  "Come on, let's get away from here," Kyle whispered. "I don't want Tom to see us." They walked quickly toward the truck in the parking lot.

  "If he asks, we'll just say I was late picking Chris up," Kyle said softly when they had gotten a little farther away. Hallie nodded.

  They got to the truck and Kyle unlocked the doors.

  "But what about the cellar?" she asked. "You can't be thinking of just leaving here without checking for them?"

  She glanced at Kyle to see his reaction. He wasn't even paying attention to her. He seemed to be studiously examining the paint job on his truck's side mirror.

  "How can you worry about your paint job at a time like this?"

  "Tom's up to something," he whispered. She saw the tension in him again. "He didn't come this way."

  She turned to look back at the carousel building. "I don't see him."

  "I was watching him in the truck's mirror, all ready with my cover story. But he didn't come toward the parking lot."

  "Then where did he go?"

  "I'm not sure. He came out the door, but then he stopped and took off down the service road along the back of the buildings."

  "Maybe he parked his car over there," she said.

  Kyle shook his head. "Nope." He pointed to a sedan sitting a couple rows away from them. "That's his car." He handed her the keys to the truck. "You wait here. I want to see which way he went."

  "But shouldn't we go to the haunted house and look for the kids?"

  "We still don't know if Tom's involved. I have to find out."

  She started to protest, but he stopped her. "Wait here, I don't want to lose him in the dark." He took off toward the buildings.

  She stood next to the truck, holding the keys, then set off after him. "I'm coming too," she whispered when she caught up.

  Kyle sighed. "I don't have time to argue," he whispered. "But if there's any trouble, you take off running, you understand?"

  She crossed her heart in a silent gesture and he nodded. "Come on."

  They ducked into the shadow under the overhang of the buildings and walked along in the direction Tom had gone. Their sneakers made a soft pat-pat on the pavement as they walked. Around them the fog was thick, and they couldn't see far ahead of them.

  After a little ways, they stopped next to a closed door. "Bumper car building," Kyle whispered. He tried the doorknob. "Locked," he muttered.

  Hallie looked around. "Where did Tom go?"

  Kyle shrugged his shoulders. They stood in the damp mist, listening. Hallie strained her ears for any sound of footsteps. The night was quiet. Far off, she heard the sound of a foghorn, and somewhere closer, she heard water dripping.

  "Maybe he left," she whispered.

  Kyle touched her arm, and pointed further down the road. She looked where he had pointed, and at first saw nothing but more gray, but then she saw an orange pinpoint of light. A second later, the light went out again.

  They set off that way, keeping in the shadow of the buildings and padding along as softly as they could. When they got closer, they could see a van parked in front of one of the buildings, facing away from them. Two people stood talking in back of it. One of the people, bundled up in a heavy jacket, was smoking a cigarette. The person dropped the cigarette to the ground, crushed it under one boot, then immediately pulled another one out and lit it with a quick orange flash from a lighter. The two moved away from them toward the front of the van, still talking.

  Hallie and Kyle hugged against the side of the building and stood still. Hallie pulled on Kyle's sleeve, and he bent his head down to her. "It's just a delivery van," she whispered. "I saw him drive in earlier." She motioned that they should go back the way they had come, but Kyle shook his head.

  "We don't accept deliveries at midnight," Kyle whispered. "And Mama Thu doesn't sell her hot dogs in the haunted house."

  Hallie's eyes widened. She looked up the side of the building above them. Sure enough, she could make out the shape of the gabled roofline overhead. The haunted house. She thought of the man who'd lurked in the darkness, waiting to choke the life out of her. She shuddered and moved closer to Kyle.

  "I want to hear what they're saying," he whispered in her ear. He started to quietly move closer to the two, and Hallie held his hand and followed in his shadow. She could feel her hands trembling the closer they got. Kyle stopped, and Hallie peeked furtively around him to see. The two people were only a dozen feet away from them, easy to see now because they stood in the light of the delivery van's headlights while they talked.

  "What?" Hallie whispered. The chain smoker was Charlie Greer, her red hair looking burnished in the headlights, her face washed out, ashen with worry. The man talking to Charlie had his back to them, but Tom's gruff, weary voice was unmistakable. Hallie glanced at Kyle, but they couldn't possibly be seen. They were hidden in the shadow cast by the haunted house's gabled roof. Anyway, the two were busy talking and not looking around them at all.

  "I'm not doing anything," she heard Charlie say. "I just decided to have a smoke when I got off work. There's no law against it. Why don't you just go home?" There was a plea in Charlie's voice.

  "That's a pretty ridiculous story," Tom said. His voice had that same tone of belligerent impatience he'd used on Hallie. "Everybody else is long gone by now. You're not authorized to be in here after closing and you know it. What are you really doing here, and where's the driver of this van?"

  "I don't know, I'm sorry. I don't want any trouble." The pitch of Charlie's voice was getting higher and louder, and Hallie could hear that nervous, placating tone she'd always hated when she found herself using it to try to turn aside David's anger. She wondered all of a sudden what kind of a man Charlie's husband was. Charlie was pleading with Tom again, fidgeting like a nervous little mouse. That description would have applied to her when she was married to Dave, Hallie thought.

  "Why are you lying?" Tom said gruffly. "I want to know what's going on here. Where's the driver of this van?"

  "I don't know, I don't know," Charlie whined.

  Charlie lit yet another cigarette with a stiff, nervous gesture. She lowered her voice and began to talk softly to Tom. Even though Hallie couldn't make out the words, there was no mistaking the pleading and cajoling in Charlie's voice.

  Tom waved his hand in Charlie's face. "We'll see what the cops have to say about that," Tom said, and he grabbed Charlie by the arm.

  Suddenly Kyle pushed Hallie flat against the wall of the haunted house.

  Something had moved in a dark gap in the wall only a few feet away from them. Hallie saw a flash of silver, and then the figure of a man stepped silently out of the shadow and stood in the path behind Tom's back. Hallie and Kyle held their breaths.

  It was the guy from the hot dog stand who'd flirted with her the first day she'd arrived. JJ, he'd called himself. He wasn't wearing tie-dye now, but black jeans and sweater that made him almost invisible in the darkness. And his face...

  All the flirtatiousness was gone. He looked cold, calculating. This guy was no charmer. She knew immediately what kind of a man he was. He was the kind of guy who had turned Charlie into a terrified mouse. Hallie recognized it now—a
ll Charlie's nervous mannerisms, her fast talking and appeasing tone. Julian, Charlie'd called her husband. Julian Greer was the kind of guy Hallie herself had mistakenly married before she saw what lurked behind the easy charm.

  Charlie saw the man, and her eyes widened, but she said nothing. Tom hauled on her arm. "You're coming with me," he said. "You're up to something. If you know where those kids are, you'd better tell me now, or so help me, I'll—"

  "I don't think so," JJ said, and Tom turned around, letting go of Charlie's arm.

  "What the...?" Tom said, and then he gasped.

  "Don't move," the man said. He motioned with one arm, and Hallie saw the flash of silver again. Tom silently put his hands up, and Hallie felt her breath catch in her throat. She felt Kyle press her back harder against the wall, as if he wanted to push her through it and out of harm's way.

  Tom backed away from the man until he came up against the front of the van. He stood poised there between the headlights, arms raised, fear and confusion playing across his face. Hallie heard a sharp intake of breath from Kyle, and she could feel his body tense, as if he wanted to spring forward to tackle the man. But the man had a gun. Hallie put her hands on Kyle's arm, silently pleading with him.

  At the same time, Charlie took the man by the arm. "Please, Julian," she said. "You promised." Julian took a step back and brushed her arm away like a dog brushing off a flea. "Please, honey," she begged. "You don't have to hurt him. It'll be just like Zac and Windy. You can use him, too. No one has to get hurt."

  Kyle gripped Hallie's arm. Zac and Windy. They used the kids for something. But what?

  Julian chuckled. It sent a chill up Hallie's spine. "Don't be stupid, baby." He raised his hand toward Tom again, and Hallie saw the silver gun clearly, silhouetted against the headlights.

  Charlie moaned, a lost, mournful sound.

  Unconsciously, Hallie echoed her moan as a soft sigh of terror escaped her lips. Kyle grabbed her fiercely by the arm and pulled her along the wall. Charlie and Julian didn't glance their way.

  But Tom did. They froze where they were in the shadow as Tom's eyes fixed on them, widened in horror.

  Julian turned his head to see what Tom was looking at, and as Julian turned away, Tom leaped for him. "No!" Tom shouted.

  Julian's head instantly snapped back around to face Tom.

  At the same moment, Kyle grabbed Hallie around the chest, clapped a hand over her mouth, and pulled her backwards.

  A bang like a firecracker echoed in her ears as she and Kyle plunged into a dark gap in the wall.

  ~*~

  CHAPTER NINE

  Kyle took his hand away from Hallie's mouth. "Quiet," he whispered in her ear, giving her a shake on the shoulder for emphasis. To Kyle it seemed like Hallie's breathing echoed through the haunted house, although he supposed her breathing was no louder than his own. They were in pitch blackness, but he could feel Hallie's body trembling as she pressed against him.

  "Kyle," she whispered. "Do you think they shot Windy?" He could feel her shoulder trembling under his hand.

  "Nah," he lied, thinking furiously. The kids may be dead for all they knew. He pushed down a wave of fury that threatened to betray him. He had to get control.

  He clutched Hallie tighter against his body, drawing strength from her warmth. He felt sure now that Julian must be the one who'd made two attempts on Hallie's life. Julian was getting more efficient at killing, it appeared.

  Kyle stroked Hallie's hair. How was he going to get her out of here? He'd made for the dark cover of the haunted house's service doorway when he saw Julian raise the gun to fire, but now they were trapped.

  In front of them in the darkness glowed the lighted rectangle of the open service door. He could hear Charlie still sobbing outside. He crept back to the opening to peer out.

  Tom lay in a crumpled heap on the ground in front of the van, with Charlie bent over him, crying. She pulled out a rag and pressed it against a dark stain on Tom's shoulder. Julian stood over them with an unconcerned look on his face. Charlie's sobs carried in the still night. "Shut up," Julian said to Charlie. He handed her the gun. "You take this one." She took it from him with shaking, bloody fingers. "Don't drop it," he said gruffly. She took a firmer hold on it. "Good, baby," he said.

  She smiled shakily at him, like a whipped puppy. Kyle felt sick, wondering what kind of man brought a woman to that point. Julian pulled another gun out of the waistband of his jeans, an old Colt. He held it in his hand, caressing it nervously with his fingers. "Get yourself together. We've got a lot of work to do." He patted Charlie on the head, and she turned away.

  Kyle clenched his fists and glared at Julian. He wanted to kill him just for the look on Charlie's face alone. Who was he? And why was he trying to destroy the Madrigals? Most importantly, how could they keep him from succeeding?

  Kyle felt Hallie press up against his back. She peeked around him and saw Tom's body lying on the ground. "Is he breathing?" she asked softly.

  He saw Tom's hand move convulsively to clutch at the ground. "Yup," he whispered. But for how long? He turned, and wrapped his arms around Hallie. "We've got to try to get out past them and go for help," he whispered in her ear.

  "Let's go for it," she whispered back. Tough lady. Now if he could just keep her alive long enough for her to realize it.

  "Let's try—" he began. She gripped his arm in warning.

  "We can't just leave him there," Charlie said to Julian. Her voice sounded louder. Julian had grabbed her by the arm and was pulling her toward the door where he and Hallie now stood.

  "Shut up and move," Julian growled.

  Hallie pulled on Kyle's arm, and he followed her back into the deeper blackness of the haunted house, leaving the light of the doorway, and escape, behind. Charlie and Julian were heading their way.

  Hallie reached her hands out in front of her in the pitch black, her only goal to get away from the light of the doorway. She stumbled over something in the dark and fell on her knees on top of a hard-edged piece of metal. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. She felt Kyle's arms pull her back up. "The track," she whispered. They felt their way along it until they turned a corner and the light of the service doorway was out of sight behind them.

  Charlie's pleading voice and Julian's gruff responses still seemed to be getting closer. Two beams of light had switched on when Julian and Charlie entered the building, and Hallie and Kyle stumbled along the track, trying to get further away from the dangerous, revealing lights. The flashlight beams bounced off the walls and ceiling behind them, occasionally reflecting some light in Hallie and Kyle's path, but it was still hard to find their way. Hurry up, she said silently to her eyes as she strained them wide open, trying to see anything in front of her. Dilate, you stupid pupils!

  They struggled on, passing by the eerie forms of mannequins on either side of the track. They didn't dare leave the path of the track. There was too much risk of running into one of the displays and bringing it down with a crash.

  Behind them somewhere, a bobbing flashlight beam bounced off an angle in the wall, reflecting on a large silvery object directly in front of them on the track, bringing them up short. It was the flying saucer, tipped on its side. She and Kyle dodged around it and continued on around the next corner.

  Behind them, the lights stopping coming their way, and the voices stopped getting louder. She and Kyle stopped in the middle of the track. They held each other close, hearts pounding. Hallie could feel sweat pouring off her body in spite of the cool, damp air around them. She burrowed her face under Kyle's jacket and pressed her ear to his chest. His heart was racing.

  Kyle took her hands in his and led her further down the track. Some light from Charlie and Julian's flashlights continued to glow behind them, and spilled over the top of the partitions. Finally, when they rounded the last corner, Hallie was able to make out the shape of King Kong in front of them. "We're all the way to the entrance," she whispered.

  Kyle nodded. He gestur
ed for her to stay behind him, and slowly crept up to the arched doorway leading outside. She peeked out after he'd gone through, then followed.

  "Just what I was afraid of," he said softly. He put his hands up to the steel gate that barred the entrance to the ride. Hallie stood there beside him.

  "I don't suppose you have a key?" she asked.

  "Sure." He chuckled and rested his head against the bars. "It's hung up next to the kitchen door. Wanna call up Halloween and tell her to bring it down here?" He put his arm around her.

  "Chris has the phone," she whispered.

  He lifted his head from the bars. "And mine's in the barn."

  "But I told Chris to call Joe Serrano if I wasn't back in an hour."

  Kyle held his wrist up against the bars. She saw the shimmer of gold as his watch caught the reflection of the building's exterior lights. "It's only ten after twelve. What time did you leave?"

  "I don't know."

  Worst of all, Hallie could see a pay phone across the promenade, maybe thirty feet away from them in the fog. It might as well be a mile.

  She turned away, and saw the control panel for the ride. "Hey," she whispered, pointing it out to him. "Maybe we should turn on all the lights."

  Kyle shook his head. "Then they'd know somebody's in here."

  "And it would make it easier for Julian to aim straight with all the lights on," Hallie said. "No need to give him any more advantages."

  "The gun's enough," Kyle agreed. "This isn't an old Humphrey Bogart movie. Those are real bullets. And he's obviously not afraid to really kill people."

  She nodded.

  He turned around and leaned back against the bars. "I think we can bet we haven't been here an hour. We've got to hold on for a little longer before the cavalry rides in."

  Hallie touched his arm. "Tom might be dead by then," she whispered.

  He nodded. "But we've got to stay alive or we won't do Tom any good either." He shook his head. "It's a no-win situation."