The Darkness Beyond

by Alexis Morgan

  “What the hell?”

  Cody read Reggie’s e-mail again. Then he rubbed his eyes and tried once more. Nothing changed except the sick feeling in his stomach that intensified with each reading. If this was a joke, he wasn’t laughing.

  He hit Reply and sent her a succinct “WTF?” message. While he waited for her to respond, he punched her number on speed dial, first trying her cell phone and then her home number. No answer on either of them, so he left messages and hung up to see if he heard back from her.

  While he waited, he paced the short distance from one side of his studio apartment to the other. With his long legs, it only took him five steps in each direction. Not nearly enough space to walk off his increasing fear for Reggie.

  What was she up to that she’d felt it necessary to take such a precaution? As far as he knew, he was her closest friend. If there’d been any problems on the home front, he would’ve known, which meant this had to be something to do with work.

  The only hot case she was currently working on was the Knightwalker. If she’d found him wouldn’t she have said something? A victory of that magnitude would’ve been a major accomplishment for anyone in their business, giving her bragging rights for years to come. For sure, if he’d been the one to track the bastard down, he would’ve been shouting the news from the rooftops.

  On the other hand, they did all their hunting by computer. There was no need to meet anyone in person. If there were special circumstances that required face-to-face contact with clients, Mr. DeLuca handled it. Another option eliminated. If this had to do with the Knightwalker, it was the man himself who was the real threat to Reggie.

  Had she tripped some kind of alarm, alerting the guy to her interest in his affairs? Despite the hacker’s near celebrity status, Reggie was smart enough not to meet with the guy. Not without backup. He popped the top on a cola and grabbed a handful of tortilla chips, fueling his body with junk food to keep his energy level high.

  Was there someone who had it in for her? One answer jumped out at him. Big Ed had resented Reggie even before that latest incident. Cody was willing to bet that the jerk really hated her now that the boss had backed her play when she’d knocked Ed on his ass for getting handsy.

  Would Ed have made a grab for her? Not openly. The big slob was all bluster and no balls. He could’ve tricked her somehow though. But how and why? All of this was getting Cody nowhere. If Reggie really was in danger, the clock was ticking.

  He checked his e-mail one more time. Nothing. The phone also remained ominously silent. What could be wrong enough for her to want him to contact D.J. for help but not the authorities? It made no sense. He reached for the phone. It was time to alert D.J. to the problem although Cody didn’t want to.

  After all, how long had Reggie known this guy? And how well? Okay, that last part was none of his business, but there’d definitely been a lot of hot energy humming between the two of them the other night. Reggie had never acted like that around anyone in all the time Cody had known her.

  He’d had a big-time crush on Reggie himself from the moment they met. Looking back, he suspected she’d picked up on it, but she’d never treated him like anything other than a friend or maybe a kid brother. That was okay with him. Between work and school, he didn’t have time to make a lot of friends, and he didn’t have any family.

  Neither did she, for that matter. So as the closest thing to a brother she had, it was up to him to raise the alarm. He’d notify D.J., but he fully intended to ask some questions of his own. Like what did Paladins and Regents mean? And why D.J.?

  If he didn’t like the answers he got, he’d be calling the police, Mr. DeLuca, and anyone else who might be able to help. He wasn’t going to lose Reggie because she’d trusted the wrong guy.

  “Can I get you anything else?” the middle-aged waitress asked with a dimpled smile.

  D.J. studied the plate heaped high with bacon, eggs, and hash browns and shook his head. “This will do for starters.”

  She laughed. “I love a man with a healthy appetite. Let me know when you’re ready for seconds . . . or dessert,” she added with a wink.

  He grinned back at her. “Don’t worry. I will.”

  D.J. dug into his cholesterol-laden meal with relish and no regret. Thanks to his souped-up Paladin metabolism, he didn’t have to worry about such things. After only a handful of bites, his cell phone rang. He yanked it out of his shirt pocket and glanced at the screen. It wasn’t the number he had for Reggie, but it was from the Portland area code. Maybe she was calling from work.

  Only one way to find out. He punched the button and barked, “You’ve got me. Speak.”

  A vaguely familiar voice stammered, “D.J.?”

  Who the hell? Then it hit him. “Cody, how did you get my number?”

  Sounding more confident this time, Cody said, “Reggie told me to call you if she disappeared.”

  D.J.’s fork clattered to the table as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat that had nothing to do with the eggs he’d just swallowed.

  He had to grab his glass of water and take a big gulp before he could choke out any kind of response. “What the hell are you talking about? What do you mean she’s disappeared?”

  Cody’s breath came in ragged tatters. “Reggie never told me what she had planned for today. She just sent me an e-mail saying that if I got it, she’d run into trouble. I was to call you and nobody else. She’s not answering her phone or my e-mails.”

  Son of a bitch, what kind of trouble had the woman gotten herself into? “Was there anything else?”

  “Oh, yeah, she said to tell you two words—Paladins and Regents. Is that some kind of code?”

  For a second, D.J.’s world spun backward. “Yeah, it is.”

  “What’s it mean?”

  Like he was going to tell the kid that. “Look, Cody, I’m not in a place where I can talk. I’ll call you back in a few minutes, but I’m on my way. I’m not in Portland now, so it will take me awhile to get back to you. In the meantime, stay away from Reggie’s place. It’s not safe.”

  He disconnected before the kid could ask any more questions and headed for the exit after dropping a pile of cash on the table. His waitress intercepted him, looking worried.

  “Is everything all right? Was there something wrong with your meal?”

  “No, ma’am, it was delicious, but I got an emergency call. I left money on the table.”

  The woman blocked his way. “You wait here. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

  She was gone before he could protest. While he waited, he did his best to look calm when inside he was anything but. What kind of mess had Reggie gotten herself into? Hadn’t he ordered her to stay out of Paladin business? Obviously she hadn’t listened.

  Good to her word, the waitress was on her way back with a bag in one hand and a tall coffee in the other. “Here, you take these. You’ll need all your energy to take care of that emergency.”

  D.J. grinned and reached for his wallet again. She was already shaking her head. “No, just get going. I’ve held you up long enough.”

  He accepted the gifts and then leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

  She blushed, but his gesture had clearly pleased her. “Stop in the next time you pass through.”

  “I will,” he promised and then took off for the parking lot.

  Outside, he set his coffee on the roof of the cab while he rooted around for his keys. Thank goodness he’d topped off the gas tank before stopping to eat. Now there was nothing between him and rushing to rescue Reggie except sixty-plus miles of highway. He couldn’t risk wasting time by being pulled over by the cops. He’d have to keep his speed close proximity of the posted limits, despite the temptation to drive like a bat out of hell.

  Once he was back on the interstate and cruising in the fast lane, he dialed Cody’s number. He answered on the first ring.

  “Tell me everything.”

  It didn’t take long. All
the kid really knew anything about was the e-mail Reggie had sent him. D.J. had him read it aloud, twice, but there was nothing in it that even hinted about what she’d been up to other than the two code words.

  “Okay, Cody, you did the right thing by following her instructions. I’m about an hour north of Portland. I’ll head for your place first so the two of us can check out Reggie’s apartment together. We’ll figure out where to go from there.”

  “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the police.”

  Okay, so Cody wasn’t going to follow D.J. blindly. That made him respect the kid even more.

  “For now, because Reggie told you not to. She had good reasons for that, ones I won’t share with you over the phone. You can trust me to do what’s best for her, but I also understand that you don’t have any reason to believe that. But I’m not lying to you when I tell you that the police can’t help you and might even make things worse for her.”

  “And who are the Paladins and these Regents she mentioned?”

  “I’ll tell you everything I can when I get there. Now let me hang up so I can drive.”

  “Okay, but get here as fast as you can. She’s already been gone for hours. In fact, call me when you get into town and I’ll meet you at her apartment. That’ll save time.”

  D.J. gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make his hands ache. Reggie would never forgive him for letting her young friend walk right into a trap. He injected as much authority into his voice as he could. “No, don’t go anywhere near her place alone. They could be watching it.”

  He waited to let that much sink in and then added, “Got that?”

  Cody didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, but you’d better haul ass. I’ll wait an hour and not a minute longer. If you’re not parked outside my door by then, I’m calling the police. Got that?”

  Ballsy kid. “Yeah, tough guy. I’ve got it.”

  Chapter 7

  Reggie moaned and attempted to open her eyes. She immediately regretted the impulse when it set off a whole litany of complaints, from nausea to a throbbing pain behind her eyes. The good news was that she had to be alive. Death couldn’t possibly hurt this much.

  That one brief glimpse had been enough to show she was still inside the panel truck. Okay, the most positive spin was that she was no worse off than she had been. The interior of the truck wouldn’t tell her much, so she kept her eyes closed and concentrated on what could be learned through her other senses.

  The truck was still moving, accounting in part for her upset stomach. She’d never tolerated riding in the backseat of a car, much less lying down on the unpadded bed of a truck and feeling every bump in the road. She could hear the muffled sound of the radio coming from the cab of the truck, but other than teaching her that the driver liked vintage rock and roll, it wasn’t much help.

  Well, unless the deejay happened to mention the time. It would be nice to know how long she’d been unconscious. There was no way to know for sure, but hopefully Cody had received her e-mail by now. He’d hate contacting D.J., but she was pretty sure he’d follow her instructions. God, she hoped so. The cops might eventually find her, but probably not until her body was cold.

  At least D.J. might know where to start looking. The man would be furious, but she had no doubt he’d come charging to the rescue.

  God, she hated feeling helpless. How many hours had she spent training in self-defense only to end up trussed like a turkey, alone and hurting? A tear trickled down her cheek, the first of several. It would be nice to think her eyes were just watering, but that would be a lie. She was terrified of what might happen at the hands of her captors. If their intention was simply to kill her, surely she wouldn’t still be breathing now.

  What did they have planned for her? She refused to follow that train of thought. The possibilities were too numerous and ran the full gamut, from bad to horrific.

  The truck abruptly made a sharp turn and then slowed to a stop, sending her rolling from one side of the truck to the other and banging her head. Despite the new wave of pain, she could hear the creak of metal on metal. As soon as the noise stopped, the truck lurched forward again. Through a gate, maybe? If so, it probably meant they were about to reach the end of the line.

  Okay, that was ominous.

  The drugs must have been clearing out of her system because her mind felt as if it was finally hitting on all cylinders. She couldn’t just lie there feeling sorry for herself. At the very least, she should be trying to free up her feet enough to kick the next bastard who put his hands on her.

  Better yet, if she could get her hands loose, she might be able to find a makeshift weapon or even locate her jacket and retrieve her stun gun. This time, she forced her eyes open and blinked until her small bit of the world came into focus. Unfortunately, her hands were tightly secured with what felt like one of those plastic strips people used to tie wires.

  Unless there was a handy sharp edge she could use to slice through the plastic, she was out of luck. Her feet weren’t bound, though. If she could kick herself free of her captors, at least she could run. But where? There’d be no way to know if escape was even possible until she knew where they’d taken her. She could be ten blocks from home or a hundred miles.

  Think, Reggie, think. Sitting up might help. Moving was awkward with her hands tied behind her, but not impossible. She managed on the second try, helped along when the truck lurched to one side, which sent her reeling in just the right direction.

  If the driver and his buddy were aware of her moving around, they gave no sign of it. Maybe they couldn’t hear her because of the wall separating the cab from the back of the van. There was a small window, but neither of them had even glanced through it to check on her.

  She reassessed her situation now that she was upright and able to look around. Her jacket was tossed in the back corner. She inchwormed her way toward it, hoping against hope that they’d forgotten to check the pockets. She had to turn around and lean backward to pick it up. After several long seconds of fumbling, all she learned was that the pockets were empty. Her captors had taken everyting.

  She dropped the jacket back down, trying not to let the disappointment paralyze her with fear. Okay, what else had she brought with her? Her cell phone! It had a GPS chip in it. Unless someone had disabled it, it wouldn’t take D.J. long to track her whereabouts once he thought of that.

  If he thought of that.

  She shoved that bit of doubt right out of her head. This was no ordinary guy she was talking about. He was the Knightwalker, one of the world’s premier hackers. There wasn’t much he didn’t know about the cyberworld and how to manipulate it. And Cody would be right there beside him to help.

  The truck had slowed to a crawl, and it had been a couple of minutes since she’d last heard any traffic sounds. They’d definitely left the public roads behind. The suspension bounced hard a few times and then smoothed out again.

  The silence was even more intense as the truck stopped moving altogether and the engine was shut off. The whole thing rocked a bit as the two men in the front climbed out. She held her breath, waiting to see if they were coming for her.

  No, their footsteps quickly faded away. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or terrified that they’d abandoned her for the moment. The continuing silence stretched her nerves to the breaking point. Would she die in this bucket of rust, alone and screaming for help that would never come?

  Hysteria wouldn’t solve anything. Rather than give in to it, she studied the back of the truck. Unless it was locked or chained shut from the outside, she might be able to kick it open and scream for help.

  The only problem with that plan was that most likely anyone near enough to hear her was in cahoots with her captors. Why else would they walk away, leaving her unattended? Had they underestimated how long she’d be unconscious or did they know escape was impossible? Either way, she had to try.

  Scooting to the center of the truck bed, she studied the doors. The handle would be
easier to manipulate with her hands, but then she’d risk falling out backward if she lost her balance. Using the toe of her shoe she pushed the handle down and to the side. It wasn’t locked! On the second try, she managed to unlatch it and used her foot to slowly push the door open enough to peek out.

  She was in a warehouse, an abandoned one given its run-down appearance. Light filtered in through some filthy skylights overhead to illuminate the place enough so that she could see a doorway next to a much larger garage door. She eased her feet down to the ground, going slowly enough to make sure that she didn’t take a header to the floor.

  Once she was standing, she had to lean against the truck for support until the swirling dizziness eased. At least she didn’t see any other people from where she was standing. Rather than take off blindly, she eased over to the edge of the truck and looked back in the direction she guessed her captors had gone. No one was in sight, but there was a staircase leading to an office at the top. The lights were on up there, highlighting the silhouettes of two men.

  Time to get moving. She’d be in plain sight if they looked down. Rather than head straight for the door, she cut across to the far corner at a forty-five-degree angle to the truck, keeping it between her and the men upstairs.

  She was breathing hard, mostly from nerves, when she reached the wall safely, but she kept moving. Staying low, she scuttled across the front of the warehouse, past the garage door to the exit. This time she had no choice but to turn around so that she could open it with her hands bound.

  Damn it, it was locked.

  She faced the door again and leaned down to study the lock. It shouldn’t be a problem. Feeling her way with her fingertips, she found the latch easily enough and sighed with relief when it flipped. Grasping the doorknob she tilted her entire body in order to turn it. Again, success.

  She pushed the door open far enough to see that it was still daylight outside. Unless the gods were really smiling on her this time, the sudden flash of bright light was bound to draw the attention of her captors.