Fight or Flight

by Natalie J. Damschroder

  And she, apparently, couldn’t even boil water.

  “What’s the matter, Kels?” Tom stood behind her and rubbed her arms. Her temper tantrum must have drawn him over.

  “I’m trying to make dinner, but it turns out my mother put weapon handling and offensive driving way above food preparation on the lesson list. I should be able to handle mac and cheese, but the fricking…water…won’t…boil!” She slammed her hands on the stove.

  Tom turned her and wrapped her up in his arms, rocking and shushing her until she relaxed. “We don’t need to eat mac and cheese,” he soothed. “Sandwiches are fine.”

  “I’m tired of sandwiches,” she whined into his chest. Then she pulled back, calmer, and bent to look at the flame of the stove. This was stupid. She’d helped her mother cook hundreds of times. “It’s because it’s a gas stove. I’ve never used one before. I don’t want to get the flame too high.”

  Tom made a weird noise. She turned her head to look up at him. His mouth twisted and she knew he was trying not to laugh.

  She narrowed her eyes. “Do not let that out.”

  He shook his head and pressed his lips together. “It’s just…maybe that’s why the water won’t heat up.”

  “Screw it.” She jerked the dial around to “off” and went to the cupboard where the bread was. “Knock yourself out.” She tossed it on the table and dropped into a kitchen chair, bracing her chin on both hands.

  Tom folded himself into the chair next to her, rubbing a hand across her back. “What’s going on, Kels?”

  She shrugged.

  “Seriously, I know it’s not just boiling water. Is it your mom and Tyler? You know.” He made a face.

  Kelsey shook her head. “No. I mean, ick, but no, that doesn’t bother me. It’s—” She sighed and sat up. “It’s what he said. About what they did to my father, that probably affected me. My blood, or whatever.”

  “What about it?”

  She stared at him. “What do you mean, what about it? I’m a tool for murder.”

  He made another face, this one telegraphing how stupid he thought that idea was. “No, you’re not. That’s like saying it’s metal’s fault they make bullets out of it.”

  “I didn’t say it was my fault,” she protested.

  “But that’s what you mean, right?” He closed his hand over the top of her shoulder. “You feel guilty. Or responsible.”

  That clicked. “Yes. Responsible. I mean, before, it was just me. Even with you and Van, it’s just two more people. Important people, but just two. Now, the fate of the whole world might rest on my shoulders.”

  “Nah, just enemies of America.” Kelsey glared. “Sorry. But like you kept saying, it doesn’t change anything. They’ll stop the guy who wants you, and then the past won’t matter. Once you’re safe, everything will be okay. And we’ll go back to school, and I’ll pretend to help you study for tests.” He grinned wolfishly.

  It shouldn’t have made her feel better. But the fact that Tom didn’t seem to care that she could be some kind of freak eased the pressure and made her believe him—that everything would be not only okay, but normal, once this was all over.

  “I hope Mom and Tyler are okay.”

  Tom leaned over to kiss her. “I’m sure they’re fine.” He straightened and opened one of the drawers. “Did we look in here?”

  Kelsey rolled her eyes. “You did. Twice. Why are you so obsessed with finding these keys, anyway?”

  He shrugged. “I just want to get the car unlocked. Look inside. Sit in it.”

  “But we can’t get back into the barn.” Tom had found a manual screwdriver in the house—none of the power tools were charged—and Kelsey and Van had held the door in place while he worked to replace the rusty screws of the hinges. The broken hinge, luckily, had snapped back together. Kelsey wasn’t sure either one would hold under pressure, but if they tried to open it again, they’d do damage they couldn’t repair. She wouldn’t want to face Tyler then.

  “I’m hoping the key to the padlock is on the same ring as the car keys,” Tom said.

  Van sat up and stretched. “You’re still on about that car?”

  “He never stopped,” Kelsey complained. “It’s getting old.”

  “It’d be cool to get inside, though.” Blinking heavy lids, Van slumped in the chair next to Kelsey and laid her head sideways on her folded arm. “Too bad it’s a two-seater.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it’s a two-seater. We’re not going anywhere in it.”

  Van reached into her pocket and removed her cell phone. She fingered the buttons while she sighed at the screen. “Still no signal.”

  “It’s not gonna change, Van,” Tom said from under the sink. He’d stuck his head and half his torso in there.

  “I know. I’m just worried about my parents, you know? I’ve missed a week’s worth of classes. What if they find out? Plus, it’s Sunday. I’m supposed to be calling them today.”

  “Too bad we don’t have a working TV here,” Kelsey moped. She ignored Tom’s continued prowling. “We could see if the news has anything about three missing college kids.”

  “Hey.”

  They looked up at Tom, who stood on the counter, holding baskets that had been stuffed into the space above the cabinets. He grinned the grin that had made her fall in love with him, and some of her worry and annoyance faded.

  “What are you doing up there?” she asked.

  “Look what I found.” He pulled his arm out, now covered with dust.

  Dangling from his forefinger was a set of three shiny silver keys.

  ***

  Almost nothing about her current situation made Regan happy.

  The plane they’d arrived in had been refueled and was on its way back to Minnesota. When she’d complained, Tyler explained it had been chartered by someone else for the next day and would never get back in time if it waited for them. So she had no easy way to get back to Kelsey.

  She was currently a passenger in a car she was not driving, in a part of California she was unfamiliar with, heading for an unknown destination. The only way she could be less in control was if she was in shackles.

  A baggage truck accident at the airport had held their plane away from the terminal for two hours. Tyler said the Harrisons no longer lived in Sacramento, but had a home two and a half hours away, beyond Clear Lake. He wanted to get a room overnight at Lakeport and arrive at the Harrisons’ well rested and in daylight. The delay completely erased the calm his massage and lovemaking had given her.

  “Did you call them?”

  He shook his head. “When could I have without you knowing?”

  “You went to the bathroom in the plane and in the terminal.”

  “So did you.”

  She laughed. “That’s not the point. The point is we were away from each other then and you could have called them to say we were coming.”

  “I could have, yes. But that would risk alerting someone on the inside of our location. Someone we don’t want to alert.”

  “You said we’d get in with no problem,” she accused. He shrugged. “You think the mole will stop us.”

  “Maybe. Depending on who it is, they could order the rest of security to stop us, without Ben and Jeanne even knowing.”

  “Great.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll handle it. Then once we’re there, everything will be fine.”

  Regan wished he hadn’t said that. Someone always said it just before everything went FUBAR.

  Tom had been right. The key ring he found did have a key for the lock on the barn. But since it was already dark and they hadn’t found any flashlights in the house—Kelsey was totally going to ream Tyler out for leaving them without flashlights—she convinced him and Van to wait until morning to explore.

  They slept late the next day, partly because they could, and partly because she and Tom and been awake until three, having sex. Kind of having sex. They didn’t have any condoms and she wasn’t going to risk getting pregnant
now. Not only because of what a screw-up that would be, but because she didn’t want to repeat her mother’s history and negate everything she’d sacrificed for Kelsey.

  Still, you didn’t need to have sex to have sex.

  They were all in much better moods by the time they traipsed out to the barn. Kelsey wondered what had cheered Van up so much, but decided she didn’t want to know.

  Once the barn doors were unlocked they opened wide, plenty far enough to let in tons of sunshine and let out the car, if it had been necessary to drive it. Which it wasn’t.

  Tom and Van made beelines for the vehicle, carefully removing the tarp and unlocking the door. Kelsey wasn’t really interested, so she let Tom be macho about engine size and performance and Van get all squealy about seats and dials. She moved deeper into the barn and started exploring the stuff stored there.

  She was wondering if the white things on the back of a workbench were bones, pieces of antlers, or very old wood when she heard the whirr of the car’s starter behind her.

  She whirled. “Tom!”

  “Don’t worry!” He stuck his head out the window, his expression rapturous. “I’m just putting the top down.”

  “I’m surprised the battery still has a charge,” Kelsey said. Tom was too engrossed in the instruments to respond.

  Once the top was all the way back Van stuck her arms in the air and “woo hooed” a few times. “Can you imagine taking this baby on the road?” She clicked on the radio and tried to tune it, but all she got was static.

  Kelsey shook her head and walked along the back wall, identifying car parts and wondering if they were all for the Corvette or if Tyler liked working on cars in general. Some of this stuff looked too modern.

  Her toe stubbed against something and she looked down. There was something metal on the floor. She kicked at it, but it didn’t move. That was weird. The floor was dirt. What was buried here?

  She crouched and brushed away some leaves and dried grass that must have blown in under the door, and stared at what she’d uncovered.

  “Guys! Look at this!”

  “What?” Tom craned his neck to see over the side of the car.

  “Come here.” Kelsey pried the iron ring away from the dirt and lifted it. It was attached to another iron piece she could only see the top of. “You know what this is?”

  “What?” Van repeated, looking over her shoulder. “Another rusty piece of metal? Big deal.”

  “It’s not rusty.” She pulled, but knew right away she wouldn’t be strong enough. She shifted to one side and motioned to Tom. “Help me.”

  He braced his feet and stuck two fingers into the ring, then pulled hard. A crack appeared in the dirt, like three sides of a square. Kelsey brushed away more leaves and saw where the back of the trap door had to be. Tom shifted position to stand behind the hinges and heaved.

  A wooden trap door slowly rotated open, exposing a large opening in the floor of the barn. Tom released it and it fell back onto the floor, showering their feet and jeans with dirt.

  “Awesome,” breathed Van. “Let’s go down.”

  “Wait.” Kelsey held her away from the opening. “We have no idea how deep it is, whether there’s a ladder to get out, or what’s in there. We need light.” She stood and went back to the tool shelves, where there was a spotlight-sized flash. She worried it wouldn’t work, but when she flipped the switch, it shone brightly.

  “Damned good battery,” Van said. “Let’s go.”

  They lay flat around the opening and stuck their heads into it. Kelsey shone the light around, first at the floor, then the sides. The floor was about eight feet down, the room probably the same size square. More of a chamber than a room. Off to one side, flat on the floor, was a wooden ladder. There didn’t seem to be anything else in there, but they couldn’t see all of the walls from where they lay.

  “Look.” Tom fingered a couple of grooves worn into the wood forming the frame of the opening. “I bet this is where the ladder rests. When they come up they drop it back down inside.”

  “I’m goin’ in.” Van swung her legs around and into the hole, then turned to balance on her stomach, grabbed the side, and dropped to the floor. “Give me the flashlight!” she called up. Kelsey held it over her friend’s hands and let it go. Van caught it deftly and shone it around. “Coooool,” she breathed. “You guys have got to see this.”

  Kelsey used the same move Van had and landed lightly on the floor. “Wait!” she called up to Tom. “Let me make sure the ladder works before you come down, or we’ll be trapped down here.” She raised the wooden ladder and braced it against the opening. It extended a mere three inches above the lip, but when she tested the rungs, they seemed solid. “Okay.”

  Tom ignored the ladder and swung down beside them.

  Van ran the light over the walls. “Look!”

  Tom let out a whistle Kelsey would have echoed if she’d known how. The bottom halves of the walls, the parts they could see from up top, were smooth dirt peppered with stones. But above the halfway point they were much more.

  Racks and racks of weapons, at least a dozen guns, were sealed in clear plastic cases to protect them from the dirt. Goggles, sensors, trackers, and tons of gadgets Kelsey had never seen before lay on neighboring shelves. A doorless cabinet was full of canned foods. She pulled down a small box from next to a row of beans and tuna and opened it. Silverware, two can openers and a stack of napkins.

  “It’s a panic room,” she said. “An old-fashioned one. But look.” She showed them the box. “Enough food to last a good long while.”

  “And water.” Van pointed up at the corner behind Kelsey. A dozen gallon jugs hung from the ceiling.

  Kelsey breathed the crisp, clean air smelling only of fresh earth and not of the musty staleness she would have expected. “Why does it feel like we’re outside?” she wondered. Her friends looked at her like she was insane.

  “We’re in a box, Kels. Underground.”

  “I know, Van. I mean, the air is fresh.” She took the flashlight from Van and aimed it at the upper corners. The rear corners on the left and right both looked darker than the rest of the walls. She moved closer, and discovered a tube embedded in the spot where two walls and ceiling met. “Circulation.”

  “So no one would suffocate,” Tom figured. “And maybe to keep the other stuff from getting too damp or whatever?”

  “Why didn’t Tyler tell us about this?” she wondered. “It’s the perfect place if someone finds us.”

  “Because of the guns.” Tom was still studying them. “He probably thought it was a bad idea to let us know there were guns here.”

  “I know how to handle a gun,” Kelsey protested.

  “You do. But we don’t. My family doesn’t hunt or anything. And they could easily be turned against us.”

  He was right. But it didn’t stop her from selecting a small pistol and a box of ammo before she went back up.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The rain pounding on the roof of the car was so loud Regan and Tyler couldn’t talk. So much for going in daylight—the storm clouds and sheets of water reduced visibility to “don’t be stupid enough to drive” levels.

  They were going anyway. Regan didn’t think Tyler even considered suggesting otherwise. He knew she wouldn’t bother to argue; she’d just leave him behind.

  Not that she knew where they were going.

  Regan was glad for the noisy rain, at least for now. The upcoming confrontation and all the possible scenarios tied her stomach in knots until she had to put a halt to it, breathe deeply, and think about something totally innocuous. The difficulty of finding a topic like that distracted her enough to ease the tension until she realized it had eased, and the whole cycle started up again.

  After far too long, yet oddly way too soon, Tyler pulled the car over and turned off the engine. The trees overhead muted the rain somewhat.

  “We’re a mile away from the access road.” He half turned and stretched his arm across th
e gap between the seats. “There’s no security posted at the end of the road, but there is a trip sensor so they’ll know we’re coming and will have visual of both sides of the car.”

  “I know this, Tyler. We went over the plan and layout last night.”

  “I’m repeating it anyway. Protocol.”

  Again, arguing was pointless, so she took up the recital from there.

  “The access road ends at the main gate, where there’s a guard house with one guard. He’s likely to be one of your colleagues and should let you by fine. But—”

  “Yeah, but.” He looked grim. “There’s a chance they’re not happy I went off the grid. Or they might have concerns about why I did. So we might have difficulty getting through. Follow my lead.”

  “Inside the main gate we’ve got another quarter mile of driveway to another gate, where they’ll search the car and us.”

  “Whatever happens, follow my lead,” Tyler repeated. “I know these people and how to handle them.”

  “Let’s go. I’m tired of wasting time.”

  “Regan.” He waited until she met his eyes. “Follow my lead.”

  She sighed. “Fine. As long as it seems to be working.”

  His jaw flexed. “Fine.”

  “And Tyler?” She put her hand on his arm before he started the ignition. “Thank you. For everything so far. No matter what happens, I do appreciate your help.”

  He scowled. “You sound like you expect me to betray you.”

  She dropped her hand and looked away so he wouldn’t see the truth of her feelings for him, which by now were the opposite of what he thought. “I have no expectations. I’m keeping open to all possibilities.”

  “Great,” he grumbled as he started the ignition. “Perfect.”

  He pulled back onto the main road behind a tractor-trailer that seemed out of place way out here, then made a left turn onto a road she could barely see until the nose of the car entered it. She imagined this was beautiful countryside when it was visible. She had an impression of mountains, evergreens, and a variety of oaks. It was also likely inhospitable to someone on the run, on foot. Something she hoped to avoid.