Uninvited

by David Anderson

  I nodded, feeling embarrassed.

  “Okay then, let’s do it, no more moaning and time wasting. If those morons are stupid enough to come upstairs, I’ll pick them off one by one.” Wheeler slapped his rifle and Toby gave him another scowl.

  We threaded our way through broken glass and books strewn over the floor. Wheeler made a detour to the bar, reached under the counter, and grabbed a gaudily-labelled circular bottle filled with clear, colourless liquid. He jammed it into his hip pocket with a satisfied grunt.

  “Double-distilled Croatian rakia – sixty per cent proof Balkan brandy,” he explained to no-one in particular, “I’m going to need it tonight.”

  We squeezed out the door. Wheeler led the way, prodding the gun out in front of him, but there was nothing suspicious in the hallway. When we got to the staircase, he turned and scanned behind us.

  “Get upstairs and I’ll watch your backs,” he said.

  I took the lead, my soles soundless on the thick stair carpet. Three quarters of the way up, I heard a creaking sound ahead, and froze in my tracks. It wasn’t loud, just a door opening or closing. I peered into the darkness above, and at the same time raised my hand to signal a warning to those behind.

  There was another creak; movements, figures emerging from the gloom.

  “Quick, back down!” I screamed, twisted around and pushed Nora and Toby down the stairs. We got to the bottom and I turned to look back.

  Peterman stood at the top of the stairs, perfectly still and silent, like a figure from some old black and white horror film. Then he began to descend.

  Wheeler pushed past me. “Stop right there, or I’ll shoot,” he shouted, aiming the rifle up the stairs.

  Peterman continued coming down, each of his steps stiff and slow.

  “Last warning, Peterman, keep back or I’ll blow your fucking head off.”

  Peterman must have heard but ignored his boss’ threat and took another step. Wheeler adjusted the rifle butt on his shoulder and took aim.

  “No!” Toby lunged forward and grabbed the rifle barrel, pressed it downwards. A shot went off and nearly deafened me. The stair carpet right in front of us seemed to explode and a hole appeared.

  Wheeler turned; his face purple with rage. “Fucking Jesus freak! Do that one more time and I’ll put one in you. Get the fuck away from me.”

  Toby stood his ground. “There’s no need for that,” he protested, “That’s an old man you’re aiming at.”

  Nora pulled Wheeler’s sleeve. “Quick, let’s just go somewhere else. Find another room, lock the door and sit it out till morning.”

  Wheeler glared at us, as if we were mad. “Peterman’s getting close,” I reminded him. Wheeler took a last look up the stairs then, without another word, turned his back on us and stormed down the hallway.

  We caught up with Wheeler outside the kitchen as he was about to fling open the door and charge in. I got my arm in front of him just in time.

  “Take it easy. Be careful.”

  He didn’t acknowledge my advice but paused and calmed down a bit all the same. Nora gave me a silent pat on the back.

  Wheeler cautiously entered the room and we followed behind him. The back door lay wide open, the wood around the lock shattered into sharp splinters. Sanders stood there, framed by the black night, with the long handled axe resting along his bloodstained left arm. As soon as he saw us he came forward, raising the axe above his head.

  Wheeler aimed and fired. This time none of us intervened. Sanders froze and a great grimace of pain spread across his face. He lowered the axe and looked down at his right side, where a crimson blotch appeared and spread in his shirt. For long seconds he stood immobilised and for a minute I thought it was over.

  Then Sanders looked up at us again and his face was back to totally blank. He lifted the axe in the air.

  “Leave him, let’s get out of here.” Toby pulled at Wheeler’s shoulder and hustled him back into the hallway.

  We looked up the staircase. Peterman had stopped halfway down, frozen in position like a shop window mannequin.

  “Looks like he’s been switched off,” I said, “But there’s no getting past him.”

  Nora pointed ahead. “How about the front door?”

  “Why the hell are we running away?” Wheeler replied, “They’ll come after us wherever we go.”

  “What choice do we have?” Toby answered, “It’s that or mass slaughter.” Without waiting for Wheeler’s agreement, Toby went to the front entrance, slid back the bar and flicked up the lock. He tugged the handle and the heavy wooden door swung wide open, thudding against the wall beside me. I looked at Toby again just as something long and hard came crashing down on his head from the darkness outside.

  Toby stumbled back and crumpled in a heap on the floor. Ned Mackie stepped into the doorway with one of the old fence posts in his hands. A cruel smile spread across his face when he looked at poor Toby moaning on the floor. Then Ned turned his attention to me.

  There was something about that stupid, wicked grin that triggered me. Anger and aggression surged up, and I dearly wanted to vent it on Ned Mackie. I stepped in front of him and a volcano erupted inside me.

  My first punch caught Mackie on his shoulder and had no effect whatever. If anything, his smirk got bigger. That really did it. I crouched and wound up my entire body like a coiled spring and flung my tight fist into his face. There was a tremendous smack of knuckles meeting nose, and suddenly Mackie wasn’t grinning anymore.

  I wasn’t done. This time I whipped my left fist straight up and caught him square on the chin. Pain surged through my hand, but it was worth it. Mackie fell backwards and tumbled to the ground outside. I wrenched the fence post out of his hands and threw it into the dark. In a last surge of effort, I pulled at his limp legs and dragged them out of the doorway.

  It was over. Breathless, I gulped in the warm night air and felt a tide of adrenalin retreat from my body. I straightened up to close the door. Suddenly arms shot out of the darkness, dirty fingernails scrabbling for my eyes. I jerked my head away.

  Abby Mackie’s hands flailed the air. I jumped back, frantically groped behind me and found the edge of the door with my hand. Then I stepped aside and slammed the door shut as hard as I could.

  Abby was right there in the doorway and the solid wood door walloped into her face. There was a sickening crack of breaking bone before the door slammed shut.

  I slid the bar lock back into place and sank to the floor.

  * * *

  Gradually my heart stopped pounding and my breathing got back to normal. My rage was gone now, replaced by a cold, clammy fear at what I’d just done. My own violence shocked me, though I had a grim sense of accomplishment too.

  Nora helped Toby up off the floor and onto his feet. He held a red-stained paper tissue to the top of his head where a trickle of blood was flowing. His face looked pale but otherwise he seemed okay.

  “How’s the head?” I asked him.

  Toby lifted the tissue and a crimson trickle ran down his forehead and along the side of his nose. “Not too bad,” he replied, “Looks worse than it is. Head wounds always bleed like crazy.”

  I got to my feet and looked around. Wheeler stood facing the stairs and hallway, rifle raised and ready. Wheeler had been no use at all when a real threat had been going on behind his back.

  “What’s happening back there?” I called to him.

  Wheeler partially lowered the gun and scowled at me, as if he could read my thoughts. “I’ve kept them back or they’d have been all over us by now. They know I’ll shoot, so they’re hiding behind walls and doors, watching us, waiting for their chance.”

  Nora came alongside me. “You okay?” she asked.

  I took a deep breath before answering. “I’ve never done anything like that before, Nora. I didn’t know I could.”

  She nodded, understanding me. “How do you feel about it?”

  “Not sure I ever want to do it again.”

&n
bsp; “We’ve got to get out of here,” Wheeler interrupted, “No time for chitchat.”

  “Where to?” Nora asked, “Wherever we go, they’ll follow.”

  Wheeler thought for a moment. “There’s one place they can’t follow us,” he said, “We’ll go there. Stay close behind me.”

  He led us to a dark alcove beneath the stairs. Recessed into the wall was a tall display cabinet, otherwise the place was a dead end. He flicked a wall switch and a single spotlight on the ceiling shone down on the nearly empty shelves. I’d never even noticed this area before.

  “This is it?” I said glumly. We were really going to trap ourselves here?

  Wheeler ignored me and groped around under the lowest shelf. His fingers found a small lever which he pulled straight down. Then the magic happened.

  To my amazement, the right side of the cabinet slid noiselessly away from the wall, revealing a grey metal door behind it. Wheeler punched in a sequence of numbers on an electronic keypad set into the wall. Four loud peeps sounded, and the metal door slowly opened.

  “Get in quick,” Wheeler ordered.

  I let Nora and Toby go ahead of me into the dark interior. As I squeezed past Wheeler, I took a last glance behind me and saw Sanders approaching from the kitchen.

  “Watch out, Sanders is coming,” I warned Wheeler.

  Toby said from behind us, “Leave him, Julius. Just get in.”

  Wheeler kept his rifle trained on Sanders as he backed inside, lowering it only at the last moment. With his free hand, he fumbled on the wall, the electronic peeps sounded again, and the metal door hissed shut. I heard dead-bolts slot automatically into place.

  Safe, at least for now, I hoped.

  Overhead lighting had come on, and I turned to inspect my new and very surprising surroundings.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was a small room, cramped and sparsely furnished. A single bed, with a rolled up sleeping bag on top of it, took up most of one side. Some sort of high-tech water dispenser stood next to it, and metal lockers were built in to the walls. A large flat screen monitor was mounted high up, opposite the door. In a partitioned recess was a tiny toilet.

  Wheeler waved a hand in the air in an exaggerated gesture. “Welcome to my secret lair.”

  Nora pointed to the monitor on the wall. “Is this some kind of spy hole?”

  “Haven’t you seen that old movie ‘Panic Room’?” Wheeler replied, treating us like children, “Well, this is a real life panic room.”

  “I suppose this is where you keep the family jewels,” I said sarcastically.

  Wheeler frowned. “No, it’s not a vault,” he said, “It’s a secure place to go if you get a home invasion. Or a tornado, things like that. People call them panic rooms, but the proper name is ‘safe room’. I’ve got one in each of my homes.”

  “Do Peterman and Marie know about it?” Toby asked.

  “Of course they do. But they don’t know the access code. I keep that to myself.”

  Typical, I thought. If the Petermans had a home invasion when Wheeler wasn’t around, they were out of luck.

  “Very cool,” I said, keeping the “and very selfish” to myself. “You’re sure we’re safe in here?”

  Wheeler grunted contemptuously. “Kevlar-covered steel walls, multiple dead-bolts in the door, independent air filtration system, chemical toilet, and enough dry food and water for two weeks. I think that’s pretty safe, don’t you?”

  “What if they smash the keypad on the wall outside?” Nora said.

  “That would be very stupid,” Wheeler replied, “Never mind totally pointless.”

  I sat on the edge of the bed and pent up tension seeped out of me. We really were safe here. I vowed not to leave this room until the helicopter came.

  “How will we know when to leave?” I said.

  Wheeler pointed to the big screen. “Outside camera trained on the helipad.”

  Nora stood with her ear against the door. “I can hear banging noises,” she said, “And feel vibrations.”

  “But they’re pretty faint, eh?” Wheeler smirked, “This room is heavily soundproofed so that no-one outside can hear us. That also means we can’t hear them. But we can watch.”

  He sat in the single chair the room possessed and flicked a switch on the console in front of him. The screen of the video monitor lit up and displayed a combination of six images, from which Wheeler selected and enlarged the first. It showed an overhead view of the hallway outside the safe room.

  “Hidden camera in the lighting fixture,” Wheeler explained.

  There were six figures standing in front of the safe room door.

  Wheeler pushed a lever and the image zoomed in. It showed Sanders swinging the axe, pounding it against the door over and over again, like a robot. Wheeler pressed a tab on his keyboard and now we could hear loud clanging thuds every time Sanders brought the axe down.

  “Ruining a good axe,” Wheeler said, grinning. He seemed to be enjoying this. “What an idiot, all that effort and not even a tiny dent.”

  “They’ll keep it up for hours, though,” Toby replied. Sweat gleamed on his face, even though the room was cool, and his hand shook nervously as he fingered the ugly cut on his head. “I’m still not feeling too good,” he continued, “I want to see a doctor. For the last time Julius, will you finally call the police and get us out of here? Or can’t you do that from inside this tin box?”

  Wheeler glared back contemptuously. “Of course I can. See that thing over there?” His thick finger indicated electronic equipment across the room. “Radio transmitter, independently powered, and wired to an antenna on the roof. It’s set up to contact the police directly.”

  “Why didn’t you use this earlier when your office was wrecked?” I asked.

  “I told you before, no need to then.”

  “You need to make that call right now,” Toby said.

  “I think so too,” Nora agreed.

  “Me too,” I said, “They’re destroying your place. You have all the evidence you need now.”

  Wheeler looked at us as if we were frightened children. “As you command,” he said sarcastically, and made a mocking salute. He picked up the communications handset and flicked a switch. Then he flicked it twice more. A green light came on but nothing else happened. Wheeler’s face darkened to near purple and he began flicking other switches and pushing buttons. He turned a dial and adjusted frequencies. Finally, he slammed the handset down so hard I thought it would break.

  “What the hell. I don’t understand this stupid thing. It’s powering up fine, but I can’t transmit.”

  Toby sighed. “Could they have got at it?”

  Wheeler thought for a moment then shrugged. “I suppose it’s possible. The cable runs inside the walls until it comes out on the roof. The antenna’s attached to the main chimney. Peterman did roof repair in the spring, so he’d know it was there.”

  “That’s just great,” I moaned.

  Wheeler ignored me, lost in his own thoughts. “Ladder onto the roof and Sanders is an experienced climber. All he'd have to do would be cut the cable at the base of the antenna. The radio would still work but couldn’t transmit far enough to contact anyone.” Wheeler stood and paced the narrow room. “That’s what those bastards have done,” he concluded, “Which means we’re on our own.”

  “They won’t let us get to the helicopter either,” Nora said, “We’re safe in here but we’re trapped.”

  “Sooner or later we’ll have to open the door,” Toby added gloomily.

  “If those creeps try to stop me getting to the chopper, I’ll blow them to hell,” Wheeler said, “They know better than to stand in my way.”

  Toby gave him a disgusted look. “Do they?” he said, “What if they don’t? How do you propose explaining six corpses to the police, Julius? Never mind the media and all the suing relatives?”

  “That’s what I pay lawyers for,” Wheeler replied, “And I pay them a lot.”

  “Six deaths
all traceable to your rifle,” Toby countered, “The best lawyers in the land won’t be able to get you off that hook.”

  “And we’re not going to lie for you,” Nora added.

  Wheeler looked about to explode but said nothing.

  Our choices? Remain stuck in here forever or come out shooting. Neither sounded like a good idea to me. There had to be some other option. “Is there any other way out of here?” I pleaded, “Any at all?”

  “No,” Wheeler replied, “A safe room only has one door.”

  After that depressing confirmation, we all shut up and lounged around on the bed and the floor. After a while, Nora went over and examined the air filtration contraption. It resembled a vacuum cleaner stuck to the wall, with a thick hose extending down to a large battery on the floor.

  “How does this work?” she asked quietly.

  “It ventilates the room,” Wheeler replied, “Filters air and protects us from biohazards and gases.”

  “It’s connected to an air vent that leads outside?” Nora bent down and gave it a closer look.

  “You’re not seriously suggesting–” Wheeler began.

  “It’s the only possible way out apart from the door.”

  It sounded crazy but maybe Nora was onto something. “Where does it come out?” I asked.

  Wheeler pulled a diagram out of a bottom drawer and traced a line with his finger. “It goes up behind the dining room wall, through the arch connecting the dining room to the kitchen and exits at the back of the house, near where the woodpile is now.”

  “I don’t remember seeing it,” Nora remarked.

  Wheeler grinned. “You wouldn’t. It’s concealed by a false panel. There’s also a dummy vent that comes out the side of the house, and does nothing, leads nowhere. It’s all part of the safe room security package.”

  “Is it wide enough to get through?” Nora asked.

  Wheeler waved a hand, palm outward. “How would I know?”

  “Can we get the machinery off and take a look?” Toby asked him.