by Shaun Hutson
Her mind was made up for her by a low electronic whirr which came from behind her.
Jess realised immediately what it was and she spun away from the statue and ran towards the door of the room on her bare feet, wrenching it open and dashing through into the next space and then onwards out onto the cold marble floor of the hallway.
The whirring sound was now louder and Jess looked to her right as she moved towards the fire escape, now sure beyond all doubt of what she had heard only seconds earlier, certain of the source of the sound.
The private lift was rising. Someone was heading up to the Penthouse.
FORTY-THREE
Jess turned and sprinted for the door, hurrying across the marble floor towards the way out of the apartment.
The whirring as the approaching lift drew closer was growing louder and she glanced in the direction of the private lift doors as she reached the way out and pulled open the door, stepping back out into the area beyond. She paused there for a moment, ear pressed to the door, straining her ears to hear if whoever was in the lift had actually finally arrived but then realising that she would be better off just getting the hell out and away from this floor.
She hurried through the fire door and to the bottom of the steps before slipping her shoes on again then she walked briskly towards the lift that would take her back down to Hadley and the estate agent.
Jess felt mixed emotions as she jabbed the Call button.
She was feeling a strange kind of exhilaration due to the fact that she’d actually managed to infiltrate Voronov’s private penthouse but also a sense of frustration because now she seemed to have even more questions. What exactly she would have asked Voronov if she’d found him inside his apartment she had no idea and how this helped her as far as investigating the series of accidents that had occurred within the building went she was also unsure.
And of course there was that statue.
The more Jess thought about it the more incongruous it seemed and again she wondered what it had been doing alone in that room.
She was still pondering these questions when the lift stopped.
It bumped to a halt and Jess glanced up, waiting for the doors to slide open.
They didn’t and also, as she looked up at the illuminated numbers above the doors she saw that she wasn’t back at the floor she’d sought. None of the numbers were lit. She had no idea which floor she was at. Muttering to herself she pressed the button marked 23 again and waited.
Nothing happened.
This time Jess swore quietly under her breath.
‘Come on,’ she whispered exasperatedly.
She jabbed the button again.
All that happened was that the illuminated numbers above the doors began to light up. Every single one of them glowed yellowish-orange, lighting one after the other in rapid succession. Jess watched them lighting up and then fading again, wondering if there was some kind of electronic fault inside the lift. The numbers had now stopped flashing she noted but still the lift remained immobile and Jess shook her head, her finger extended towards the button marked 23.
‘Jesus,’ she muttered, preparing to press it again. Just before she did there was a loud metallic whirr and the lift lurched back into life.
Jess nodded, relieved that it was moving again. Her heart was thumping fast now and when she tried to swallow her mouth was bone dry.
The lift stopped.
This time it juddered to a halt so abruptly that Jess almost overbalanced. ’Shit,’ she hissed looking up again to see that the illuminated numbers above the doors were once more flashing quickly in turn, as if the lift was rising and falling past each floor in rapid succession. Jess steadied herself against the back wall of the lift and stood there for a moment, waiting for some kind of movement either up or down, wondering if it might just be a better idea to get out of the lift wherever she was and walk back to the apartment where Hadley and the estate agent were still waiting for her.
The lift juddered into life again and Jess felt a momentary stab of concern, anxious now just to be out of this metal box that seemed to be suddenly much smaller than it was when she first got in it. She was also aware that she was breathing more rapidly than she had been a couple of minutes ago.
There were mirrors on either side of the lift car and Jess caught sight of her own reflection. She saw how pale her skin looked and she could see the look of concern on her features that she was feeling all too acutely now. She had now convinced herself that when the lift stopped again no matter which floor it halted at she would get out and walk to the apartment where Hadley was waiting for her. She nodded to herself as if to reinforce her own determination to get out of this metal box.
She was reaching for the button again when the lift dropped like a stone.
FORTY-FOUR
Jess screamed.
She couldn’t help herself. The lift didn’t just drop it plummeted. Hurtling down the shaft like a bullet along the barrel of a gun.
Jess looked up and saw that the illuminated numbers above the doors were all blazing now and her ears were filled by a loud screeching sound that set her teeth on edge and made the ordeal even more unbearable. She pressed herself against the back wall of the lift, wondering what speed it must be doing and also wondering how long it was going to take before it hit the ground travelling at such an incredible velocity.
Her breath was coming in short sharp gasps now, her eyes bulging wide with terror as she felt the lift continue to speed downwards.
It slammed to a halt.
Jess overbalanced and fell to her knees in the centre of the car.
‘Oh God,’ she gasped, trying to swallow but not managing it.
She crawled towards the doors and pulled herself upright, trying to dig her fingers into the small gap between the two lift doors. Jess used all her strength and tried to pull them apart. They wouldn’t budge. She slammed one fist angrily and impotently against the metal but nothing happened except that a sharp pain shot up her arm as far as the elbow. Jess ignored it and hammered on the metal again. If the lift had stopped on one of the floors them maybe someone would hear her and get her out.
The building’s empty. Who’s going to hear you?
She dug her fingertips into the gap again and tried to part them.
The lift shot upwards suddenly.
As if the cables that had first caused it to drop were now retracting, the car hurtled back upwards at dizzying speed. Jess stumbled backwards, slamming into the rear wall so hard that her head spun. She gasped and sat motionless on the floor as the lift continued to rise, the pace of its ascent terrifying.
Jess dug her nails into the carpeted floor and closed her eyes, praying to a God she didn’t believe in to stop the movement.
The lift continued upwards at breakneck speed, the scream of metal on metal now filling the car. Jess closed her eyes more tightly, fighting back tears now as her journey continued.
It stopped again.
The impact was so violent that Jess screamed again, the sound reverberating inside the claustrophobic space. There was a loud strident whiplash sound and Jess looked to her right in time to see a long crack had appeared in the mirror on that side of her. It had split the glass from one corner, scarring it as far as the middle of the reflective surface. Several small pieces of glass had already fallen from the frame and were now spread on the floor of the lift like glistening confetti.
Jess saw her own distorted reflection in the glass, almost transfixed by the terror in her own expression. Jess scrambled to her feet and slammed her hand against the Emergency button.
The lift dropped a few feet, then rose again just as suddenly.
More fragments of glass fell from the wall to her right.
The lift rose twenty or thirty feet higher although for all Jess knew it could have been more. She was trying to haul herself to her feet again now, her back pressed so tightly against the rear wall of the car that she feared she might push right through it into the lift shaft. The entire stru
cture continued to rise until it halted once again and Jess looked around frantically, terrified that it was going to plummet earthward once again.
Seconds later that was precisely what it did.
Her whole body was shaking as the lift again shot downwards, that terrible high pitched shriek of metal on metal now filling the small space.
It slammed to a halt, the impact so strong that it knocked the wind from Jess.
Wheezing slightly she sat motionless on the floor of the lift, her heart hammering madly against her ribs.
Jess dragged herself upright and hit the Emergency button again then she moved towards the lift doors, banging furiously on them.
‘Help me,’ she shouted, frantically as she drove her fists against the recalcitrant doors.
Jess could feel the perspiration on her back now and the heat inside the lift seemed to be intensifying, as if someone was slowly increasing the temperature within the small compartment. She hammered again on the doors, pausing for a moment when the effort became too much but as she stood there she swallowed hard, wondering if the lift was about to fall or rise again with the terrifying speed it had already demonstrated. A thought flashed through her mind that she tried to suppress.
What if it fell again but this time didn’t stop? What if it simply hurtled to the bottom of the shaft and slammed into the ground doing Christ alone knew what speed when it hit? Jess gritted her teeth, trying to force that image from her mind. She knew she would have no chance if the lift fell. She would be pulverised, mangled in the twisted metal.
She banged the doors again and shouted.
Then she heard the voices.
At first Jess thought that she was imagining it but then as she pressed her ear to the lift doors she was sure that she had been correct. There was someone outside the lift.
FORTY-FIVE
Jess screamed and hammered on the doors with all her strength, not knowing or caring who was outside but only aware that whoever it was might actually be able to get her out.
‘Help me,’ she shouted.
Only as she was battering wildly on the metal did she think for one fleeting second that the repeated impacts might cause the lift to move again but the prospect of rescue from this metal coffin seemed more pressing than the possibility of it lurching up or down again.
‘In here,’ Jess shouted again, trying to control her breathing.
She heard the voices again and realised that they were male.
‘Help me,’ she continued.
‘Jess?’
The sound of her own name from the other side of the doors raised her hopes even further and she realised that the voice belonged to Hadley.
‘Alex,’ she called. ‘Get me out of here for God’s sake. The lift is out of control.’
She heard banging from the other side now.
‘The doors are stuck,’ she called. ‘You’ll have to force them open.’
There were several muffled grunts from the other side of the doors and then another tremendous impact.
‘We can’t get them open,’ Hadley shouted.
‘You have to,’ Jess told him. ‘You have to get me out. The lift is going to fall.’
‘Press the emergency button,’ Hadley told her.
‘I’ve done that, nothing happened.’
‘Get that,’ Hadley said to whoever was with him and there was a moment’s silence then she heard a heavy thump on the other side of the doors. ‘Jess, stand back,’ Hadley called to her. ‘I’m going to use a fire extinguisher to batter the fucking things open.’
Jess did as she was told, backing away to the rear of the lift car as Hadley slammed the extinguisher against the doors, his efforts aided by the frantic knowledge that he had to get her out. Several thunderous bangs echoed inside the lift, each impact causing the car to shudder, the sound reverberating inside it as if amplified. Jess gritted her teeth and stared fixedly at the lift doors. She tried to swallow but couldn’t manage it her throat and mouth were so dry.
Hadley struck again and a small chink of light showed between the sliding doors.
The lift lurched slightly and Jess gasped in terror. It was as if it was hanging by a slender thread, ready to plummet the full length of the shaft and slam into the ground so many hundreds of feet below.
Again Hadley struck at the doors.
She heard the other voice from the far side of the doors say something but she couldn’t make out what it was, instead the words were eclipsed by another stunning impact.
The chink of light grew brighter, the gap in the doors wider.
Jess could see Hadley now and just behind him, gazing in bewilderment at what was unfolding before him was the estate agent.
‘Help me with this,’ Hadley snapped and Jonathan Tyler stepped forward. He and Hadley dug their fingers into the gap opened by Hadley’s assault on the doors and they began to pull, trying to part the doors far enough for Jess to get through. Hadley cursed under his breath as he used all his strength on the stubborn doors. There was a creak and they opened a little further, then a touch more.
Jess felt her heart jump in her chest and she too crossed to the doors to add her efforts to those of the two men. The gap was about a foot now. Another six inches and she might be able to slip through, she thought. The three of them re-doubled their efforts.
Another inch.
‘Come on,’ Hadley snarled, his face contorted as he pushed and pulled at the doors.
Two inches.
‘Nearly there,’ he hissed.
Jess pushed one arm through the gap.
The lift fell.
FORTY-SIX
Jess pulled her arm clear in the nick of time as the lift fell a full ten feet.
She stumbled backwards, falling against the rear wall of the lift, the realisation that her arm may well have been torn off by the sudden movement sweeping over her and making her breathe even more rapidly.
‘Jess.’
Hadley looked down into the lift, calling her name.
‘I’m ok,’ she told him none too convincingly. ‘Just get me out of here.’
‘That’s what I’m trying to do,’ Hadley called back.
She heard his voice again as he spoke to the estate agent, quickly spoken words that she couldn’t make out clearly.
‘There must be some workmen in the building somewhere who can open these doors,’ Jess shouted. ‘Go and find them.’
‘I’m not leaving you,’ Hadley shouted back.
There was a deafening sound of metal on metal and the lift slipped another inch or two.
Jess steadied herself against the back wall, her heart hammering against her ribs even more strongly.
‘Alex,’ she called, her voice catching.
Hadley peered through the gap once more, the concern on his face mirrored by that which Jess felt coursing through her like adrenalin. That feeling intensified when the lift began to rise once again. Jess braced herself as the lift filled with the strident screech of metal against metal. Hadley and Tyler, aware that the car was moving once again also stepped back, Hadley glancing at the gap between the doors where, seconds later, he saw Jess’s distraught face appear.
The lift stopped.
As precisely as if it had been called to that floor it stopped.
The doors slid open with the smoothness usually expected of them.
Inside the lift Jess stood motionless, seeing Hadley and Tyler gazing in at her.
Hadley took a step towards the lift, eyes fixed on the still open doors.
‘Get out,’ he said quietly as if afraid that his instruction would somehow trigger another movement of some kind.
Jess stood where she was, staring ahead, afraid that this was some kind of bizarre trick. If she moved towards the open doors she felt sure they would slam shut. If she stayed put she felt certain that the lift would fall or rise and she knew what the eventual outcome of that must be.
‘Jess,’ Hadley said quietly. ‘Get out, now.’
She
took a step forward.
The doors remained open.
‘Come on,’ Hadley urged, reaching out with one hand towards the open doors, preparing to hold them apart if possible should they attempt to slide shut once again. He nodded towards Tyler who also moved forward and did the same, his fingers poised only inches from the other side of the doors.
Jess was still standing in the middle of the lift car, her breath now frozen in her mouth, drawn by the possibility of freedom but also convinced that she might be once again imprisoned.
‘Come on,’ Hadley said again, his fingers now actually touching the open doors.
Jess hesitated, inching forwards, her eyes darting towards the doors then at Hadley who was nodding slowly as if to coax her.
He beckoned with his hand, moving slowly as if even the movement would spark some kind of reaction from the lift or the doors that still stood open.
Jess moved another few inches towards the sanctuary of escape, her breath catching in her throat. She saw Tyler move closer to the doors, slipping his arm across the yawning gap.
‘Jess,’ Hadley said, quietly, still motioning her forward.
She could feel her entire body shaking now but with one monumental effort of will she practically ran forward and between the open lift doors. She slipped and almost overbalanced but she didn’t care, she was out. That was all that mattered.
She saw the smile spread across Hadley’s face as he bent to help her up and Tyler too smiled as he prepared to step away from the doors. Doors which, a second later slammed shut on his left arm.
FORTY-SEVEN
Tyler screamed in pain as the doors crushed his arm, slamming together with such speed that he had no chance to pull the limb free.
Like the jaws of a huge mantrap, the lift doors crashed together catching him just below the shoulder and pinning him there, holding him upright. He struggled to free himself, fear and pain flooding through him, the loud crack of shattering bone still reverberating in the air. Jess could see the look of agony on the estate agent’s face and she was surprised that the arm hadn’t been severed outright such had been the speed and force with which the doors had slammed shut on his arm.
