Closing her eyes, Delta tried to get a feel for Elson. What would he do? Where would he go? In his need to show them up, what was his checkmate move?
Opening her eyes, panic ripped through Delta’s chest, spearing her heart with a fear she’d never felt before.
“Blow the lights, Con. He’s going after Megan, too.”
Chapter 41
Before Connie could kill the engine, Delta swung her legs out the door and jumped to the ground. Ignoring the searing pain shooting up her leg to the seat of her temples, Delta was in the elevator even before Connie had entered the building.
“Use the emergency override,” Connie said, running into the elevator just before the doors closed.
Wiping the sweat off her palms and from the back of her neck, Delta turned to look at Connie, who stood like an Indian in front of a nickel-and-dime store—arms crossed, legs shoulder-width apart, face frowning in anger. How much longer could Connie withstand the pressure? And just how long would she, herself, be able to withstand the anger and fear of knowing Megan was being held hostage by Elson?
Delta shuddered.
She had nearly lost Megan once. She couldn’t bear going through that again.
Finally, when the ding of the elevator sounded, Delta pushed open the slowly moving doors and started down the hall.
“If he’s here . . .” Delta said, trying to formulate some kind of a game plan should they encounter Elson.
“He’s mine, Storm. You leave him to me.” Connie’s words were hard and without emotion.
“Keep him alive, Connie. You keep him alive until we have Gina back, you hear me? She could be anywhere, and we need to know where before you go and whack him.” Delta started to put her key in the lock, but the door suddenly creaked open.
“Back,” Delta whispered, pulling her gun out in one swift motion. “Stay here.” Slowly pushing the door open, Delta let her .357 magnum lead the way.
The entry hall was dark, but dusk still filtered in through the living room window, casting an eerie, iridescent light on the dim pallor of the room.
As she rounded the corner, Delta felt movement behind her and reached back to feel Connie’s slender leg. As usual, Connie hadn’t done as she was told and, instead, joined Delta in the near-dark apartment.
Once in the living room, Delta’s eyes rapidly searched for any signs that whoever left the door open might still be there.
Nothing.
Listening to her instinct, Delta knew they were alone in the apartment. She did not feel Elson’s presence, nor did she sense anyone else. Delta and Connie searched the entire apartment, from the closets to the deck, and still, they found no one. Holstering her gun, Delta sat on the couch and rubbed her pounding temples.
“We’re too late.” Picking up the phone, Delta called the college bookstore at the university. If Megan wasn’t there, Delta didn’t know what she was going to do.
“This is Officer Stevens from the River Valley Police Department. Is Megan Osbourne in?”
“Let me check.”
As Delta waited, she drummed her fingers on the counter.
“No, Officer, she hasn’t come in. Does this have to do with the gentleman that came by to see her earlier?”
Delta’s heart raced. “A man came by to see Megan?”
“Yes. He said he had some news about her lost cat and wanted to see her right away. I thought—”
“If Megan does come in, would you please tell her that something very important has come up and that she must stay at work until I come to get her? If anyone comes to see her, tell her not to leave under any circumstance. Do you understand?”
“Yes, but, oh, wait a minute, Officer. There’s a note here that says she’s called in sick for the day. Said it was a family emergency.”
“Thank you. Please be sure to give her the message for me.” Hanging up the phone, Delta turned to find Connie gazing out the window. “She called in sick. I’m going to try your place.” Dialing Connie’s phone number, Delta caught her breath when she heard a busy signal. “It’s busy. Let’s go.” Writing Megan a quick note telling her to call the moment she walked through the door, Delta walked over and hugged Connie. “We’ll find her. You have to believe that.”
“I know.”
Delta pulled away and locked eyes with Connie. “Don’t you dare give up on her. Or me. I’ve never let you down, have I, Chief?”
Connie shook her head. “No.”
“And I won’t now. We haven’t even begun to fight yet, Con.”
“Fighting is something we know how to do. Getting a step ahead of that bastard is another story. I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming. How could I have been so stupid? You know, the sad part is, he’s right. My arrogance led to—”
“Shut up, Connie. I won’t stand here and listen to this shit. Right now, our women’s lives are at stake. We don’t have time to stand here berating ourselves for it. So pull yourself together.” Delta watched as her words changed the beaten look Connie had in her eyes to a look of determination.
“You’re right, Storm. We’ve got two things to do tonight: find Megan and Gina, and kill Elson.”
Delta headed for the door. “Then let’s do it.”
Chapter 42
After speeding through town and blowing every red light, they came screeching to a halt in front of Connie’s house. Parked out front were Megan’s car and a metallic blue Porsche, which Delta didn’t recognize.
“You know that car?” Delta asked Connie.
“Nope. And it would be just like Elson to drive up in a Porsche.”
Delta drew her gun again as she waited for Connie to unlock the back door. Without a second’s hesitation, Delta slammed through the door and pointed her automatic at a tall gentleman wearing a tan smoking jacket. He was sitting opposite Megan, who wore a mixed look of surprise and outrage.
“What in the hell are you doing?” Megan asked, staring at Delta.
“God, you’re here.” Limping over to Megan, Delta reached out and pulled her to her feet and held her tightly.
“Well, of course I’m here.” Wrenching herself free of Delta’s vice hug, Megan blushed. “Excuse me, Dr. Rosenbaum, but we’re usually not this demonstrative in front of people. You’ll have to excuse my over-zealous girlfriend.”
Turning toward the professor, Delta put her weapon away before shaking his hand. “Dr. Rosenbaum? The professor?”
Dr. Rosenbaum smiled and shook Delta’s hand. “And you must be Delta.”
Delta nodded and introduced Connie. “Please forgive us for the, uh, unconventional entrance. We thought maybe . . . well . . . we just weren’t sure . . .”
“What she’s trying to say, professor,” Connie offered, “is that we were worried something had happened to Megan.”
“Why didn’t you just call?”
“We did. The line was busy.”
Megan looked intently at Connie. “What’s happened? Connie, what’s the matter?”
Delta blew out a heavy sigh. “Elson has Gina.”
“What?” Megan sat back down, visibly shaken.
Delta sat on the couch next to her. “He took her from work. We thought—”
“That he had me?”
Delta nodded. “Your apartment was unlocked. He tried to get you at work, but you changed your schedule.”
Megan stared at her hands. “I called in sick. I wanted to get Dr. Rosenbaum’s help just in case the racetrack thing didn’t work. I take it that it didn’t.” Fanning herself, Megan got up and poured herself and glass of water.
“He probably stopped by here to get you, but Dr. Rosenbaum’s car must have discouraged him from trying it.”
“Well, I’m glad I could be of some assistance,” Dr. Rosenbaum said.
Delta laid her hand on his shoulder. He was a very handsome older man, a little taller than she and sporting graying sideburns. “You’ve helped us more than you know.”
“Well,” he said, clearing his throat. “I haven’t d
one enough yet. It appears as if I may be of some assistance to you in the last stretch of the journey.”
Nodding, Connie walked over and called her two large Dobermans into the house. “We were off on our last guess. We didn’t get in-depth enough to see that Nemesis takes away something the arrogant one really cherishes.” Connie plopped next to Megan and laid her face in her hands. “And he couldn’t have taken anything more precious to me than Gina.”
“We’ll get her back,” Megan said, eyeing Delta for some reassurance.
“And we have less than twenty-four hours to do it.”
“Oh my,” came the soft sounds of Dr. Rosenbaum. “I hadn’t realized the situation was so dire.”
Delta nodded. “You couldn’t have come at a better time, Professor. If you hadn’t been here . . .” Delta’s voice trailed off, and she shook her head. The thought of Megan in Elson’s grasp was too much for her to comprehend. No wonder Connie was barely hanging on.
Suddenly, Connie was on her feet. “I assume Megan has filled you in thus far, Dr. Rosenbaum?”
Dr. Rosenbaum nodded. “Yes. My field of specialty is Greek mythology, and please, call me Mort.” Mort Rosenbaum strode over to the sheets of butcher paper like a professor nearing the chalkboard. “And if I have the story correct, your little warrior faced Poseidon and retrieved the trident from him, yet you can’t manage your way beyond him.”
Connie nodded. “Getting the trident is one thing, Professor, but moving to the next level is what the game is all about. I don’t know how to do that.”
“Right.” Dr. Rosenbaum studied the paper and scratched his chin. “Well, I may not be of any help where the game is concerned, but if it’s mythological answers you need, I may be of some use to you. What is happening in the game as we speak?”
Delta studied Connie as she turned the computer on. Her movements were quick and jerky. “We’re counting on that help, sir.”
“Mort.”
Delta smiled. She liked this man with graying temples and steel blue eyes. He reminded her of her grandfather when he was much younger. “Okay, Mort.” Handing the tape from the racetrack to him, Delta explained what had happened there before he listened to the entire tape.
When the tape finished, Mort Rosenbaum nodded to himself, wrote down a few notes and examined the sheets taped to the fireplace. “Your culprit sounds most insane.”
“He is. And he’ll make good his threat if we fail this time.”
Dr. Rosenbaum nodded as he studied the many pieces of butcher paper taped across the room. “I am assuming, of course, that you are aware that Poseidon is immortal and cannot be killed.”
Everyone in the room nodded.
“Then the clue he gives you on the tape leads me to believe only one thing.”
Connie turned completely around in her seat to hear him. “What clue was that?”
“Why the Laestrygonians, of course. He mentioned you would face them after defeating Poseidon.”
“But you just said—”
“I said he couldn’t be killed. I said nothing about defeating him.”
Connie and Delta looked at each other but said nothing.
“The Laestrygonians,” the professor explained in his most professorial tone, “were cannibals who lived on the islands around Sicily. They lived in a city called Telepylus, which was founded by Poseidon’s son. Odysseus and his men faced the Laestrygonians in The Odyssey, and it was a slice of luck that Odysseus was able to escape unharmed and uneaten.”
Delta cringed. “Uneaten?”
“They’re cannibals. Giant cannibals.”
“So, what’s the clue in all of that? That we have to eat Poseidon?” Delta asked, feeling somewhat stupid for even suggesting it.
Mort nodded. “Precisely.”
“What?”
Dr. Rosenbaum was in full lecture mode now. “You see, as the myth goes, Poseidon’s father, Cronus, devoured him, his four siblings, and a rock when they were born. Only Poseidon’s brother, Zeus, hadn’t been swallowed by Cronus.”
“How’d he luck out?”
“Cronus ate them so fast, he didn’t know he was swallowing a rock instead of Zeus. Anyway, years later, Zeus came back and made Cronus vomit his children back to life.”
Delta rubbed her aching temples. “Damn, those Greeks had some kind of imagination.”
“For many years, the Hellenes, which is what Greeks were called then, didn’t believe these were just stories. They regarded the existence of all the gods as real and capable of changing mortal lives. It’s pretty much the same thing as our Bible is: stories that are too far-fetched to be believed, but we believe them nonetheless.”
Delta nodded. “Like the parting of the Red Sea.”
“Precisely. The Hellenes prayed to these gods and even sacrificed to them.”
“Really. But aren’t Cronus and Zeus immortal as well?”
Connie rose from the computer and nodded. “Right. It took another immortal to defeat Poseidon. Cronus ate them, and it still didn’t kill Poseidon. Dori is just a little warrior. She doesn’t have the capabilities.”
Mort nodded. “Of course she doesn’t. And that would lead you to believe that at this point, there is nothing you can do, correct?” Connie nodded.
“Then, may I be bold as to suggest,” Dr. Rosenbaum offered, step-ping away from the paper, “that you do nothing.”
“What?” came three voices in unison.
“You must be joking,” Delta said, joining Connie.
Dr. Rosenbaum smiled patiently, like a man used to having his students not understand him.
“You must admit, Professor,” Megan added, “it sounds like a preposterous thing to do.”
“Exactly. But hear me out. Since Cronus was the only force strong enough to apparently destroy his five children, why don’t we stick with that vein for a moment and wait for Cronus to destroy Poseidon.”
“But there isn’t a Cronus in the game. I’ve been everywhere on this level, and all there is me and Poseidon. No Cronus, no Zeus, nothing.”
Again, a warm smile spread across the professor’s face. “Ah— nothing that you can see. That is key. It appears as if we are searching for an agent to destroy Poseidon; is that correct?”
All three nodded.
“And, if the games master ascribes to Greek mythology as we know it, then he has supplied that agent.”
“We’re hoping so.”
“Then, it’s there. You simply cannot, as you stated, see it.”
Connie’s eyebrows knitted together to form a frown, but she did not move out from under the gaze of Dr. Rosenbaum’s blue eyes.
“You know the answer, Connie, but you’re too close to the game and, I would imagine, too scared to slow down long enough to see it.”
“You mean it’s invisible.”
The smile deepened. “Tell me, ladies, what exactly does Cronus mean?”
The frown instantly disappeared from Connie’s face and was replaced by a wash of brilliance in her eyes. For the first time in days, Connie’s face lit up.
“That’s it! Time! Cronus means time!”
Dr. Rosenbaum smiled proudly. “It is where we get words like chronological.”
Megan and Delta shrugged at each other. “What? What does that have to do with anything?” Delta asked. Time was something they had little of, and Connie was cheering as if she’d solved the puzzle.
Sitting back down at Eddie, Connie released the pause button and maneuvered Dori directly in front of Poseidon. “Stop me if I’m wrong, Professor, but that son-of-a-bitch knew that I would try everything to get past Poseidon. He knew I would exhaust every possibility we could think of.”
“Which we have.”
“Right. We’ve done everything except the one thing that he never thought I’d try.”
“And what’s that?” Megan asked, standing behind Connie at the computer.
“Nothing,” came Connie’s short response.
For a moment, no one in the room m
oved as unspoken questions whirled around in the air.
Delta was the first to speak. “Nothing?”
Connie nodded. “Exactly. See, we know that Cronus was the only immortal ever to contain Poseidon, and he did this by eating him when he was a baby.”
“Right. I followed all of that.”
“That means we need a Cronus in this damn game so we can kill or get rid of Poseidon, right?”
Everyone nodded.
“But there doesn’t appear to be one does there?”
Again, Megan and Delta shook their heads. “I sure as hell haven’t seen him.”
“Exactly. And we might not have ever seen him had the good professor not reminded us that Cronus means time. Elson anticipated that I would stop at nothing to find a solution, when the solution is actually to do nothing.”
Delta moved slowly to join Megan behind Connie at the computer. “Do nothing.” Megan echoed.
Connie nodded “Right. Absolutely nothing. Elson understands that we’re doers. We’d do anything to find Gina; anything, except the hardest thing, which is to do nothing.”
Delta inhaled slowly. Doing nothing would be far harder than trying everything again. Watching the screen, Delta saw Dori standing quietly before the looming Poseidon. “We could be wasting valuable time on a strategy that might not work.”
Dr. Rosenbaum completed the circle by joining them at the computer. “Precisely. If this man is as deranged as he sounds, then he most certainly would enjoy putting you in a position to do what does not come naturally for you.”
Connie leaned back and just let Dori sit in front of Poseidon. “Doing nothing goes against everything Delta and I are about. He’s gambling that time will run out on us because we will keep trying and trying until the buzzer sounds and the game is over. It makes sense if you see it through his distorted eyes.”
“How long should we wait?”
Connie shrugged. “I’d say two, maybe even three hours.”
“And if nothing happens?”
Connie rubbed the back of her neck. “Then, we will have wasted three hours of Gina’s life.”
“And if something does happen in that time?”
“We’ll face the Laestrygonians and take it from there. Dr. Rosenbaum—”
Con Game Page 24
