"Wendy's on her way up," I said.
"Treehouse is cozy, " Corry radioed back.
We got into the elevator, putting Her Ladyship at the back while Natalie pressed the button. I kept my eyes on the hall until the door was closed, and then the car started up.
"This is going to make me late for the luncheon, won't it?" Lady Ainsley-Hunter asked.
Natalie glanced at me, and I got as far as saying, "You shouldn't have to cancel but…" when the elevator stopped so abruptly Lady Ainsley-Hunter lost her footing, pitching into me.
"Motherfucker," Natalie said, and drew her weapon.
I followed suit, moving to put my back against Her Ladyship, to push her into the far corner with my body. I keyed my transmitter, opened my mouth to put up the alarm, and there was a screaming burst of static in my ear, feedback that threatened to open a crack from between my eyes to the base of my skull.
"We're being jammed," I told Natalie, and she started to curse again, but I never heard it, because the access hatch to the car was already opening, and just before the lights went out in the car I saw the grenade hit the ground between us, a flash-bang, and then another one. The darkness was complete, instant, and then it exploded into white, the light chasing after the concussion. The noise was incredible, disorienting, clogging my ears with echo and pain, and I felt Antonia's hands on my back, felt her fingers clinging to me as I went down. She had to be screaming, but I couldn't hear anything.
Then the burn started, finding my eyes and my lungs and my skin, the racing flame of pepper gas, and I had enough sense left to understand that was the second grenade. The car vibrated beneath me as something fell to the floor, and Lady Ainsley-Hunter's fingers were pulling at my jacket, she had wrapped her arms around me, and then her grip was gone.
Somehow, Natalie had managed to get her flashlight off her hip, the tiny Sure-Lite that we all wore, and the beam danced frantically for an instant, and I saw movement block the light. The car vibrated again and again, and the light fell to the floor, blinding me as it rolled free, and it caught Natalie's face as she hit the ground, the tears streaming from her closed eyes, the mucus and blood shining from her nose and mouth. Then the light rolled away again, and I saw a leg that wasn't Her Ladyship's, and I pushed off, bringing my gun up, and then my right arm went numb below the elbow and I lost the weapon.
I didn't take the hint, tried to keep going up, to find someone to attack, eyes to claw or flesh to bite, and then the club struck me again, and I was on the ground again, blood filling my mouth.
Natalie's Sure-Lite had rolled into the corner, and I saw the smoke and gas floating in the car, and then there was another pain as my hair was pulled, forcing my head around to look at the nightmare of bug eyes and deformed and shining black insect features. From beneath the Nightvision goggles and gas mask, I heard Drama say my name.
"Any alarm and she dies, Atticus," she said, her voice breathy and almost too soft to hear. "If you're not at home in thirty minutes, she dies."
I croaked at her.
"I've missed you, too," Drama said, letting go of my hair.
Then she kicked me in the face.
Chapter 11
My watch said I was a minute late as I came up through the apartment door, just in time to hear the phone's last ring echoing in the kitchen. I went for it anyway, diving across the table, but there was only the dial tone when I got the receiver to my ear. I hung up, trying to convince myself that I hadn't just killed Antonia Ainsley-Hunter, then broke into a fit of coughs that led to dry heaves and ended with me at the sink, running cold water over my head. I shut off the tap and straightened, felt the drops running down the back of my neck, beneath my collar, mixing with my sweat. Everything hurt, but the only thing I really felt was the drops falling from me to the counter and the floor.
I've killed her, I thought. I was as fast as I could be and I wasn't fast enough and I've killed her and…
The phone was ringing, and this time I answered it before it stopped.
"I told you thirty minutes," Drama said. "You're lucky I believe in redemption."
"I want to talk to her," I said.
"She's fine."
"Fuck you," I said. "Let me talk to her."
"Atticus," Drama said. "I could have killed you. I could have killed Natalie. That should tell you something."
"Put her on the line."
"Oh, all right," Drama said. "I'll have to go get her."
There was a thud as the phone was set down, then a silence. I heard the front door of the apartment open, and I pulled my gun and sighted at the corner, and Dale came into view and immediately threw up both hands. I lowered my gun, and each of us caught our breath. Over the phone I heard Drama telling someone to say hello.
Antonia's voice was thin, like a sheet that had been bleached one too many times. "Atticus?"
"Do what she says," I told her. "We'll get you back, just do what she says."
"I wi…"
Then she screamed, and the phone made another thud as it was dropped, and I started shouting for Drama to come back, to leave her alone. There was no answer, and I stopped shouting and started listening again, but there was nothing to hear. Dale was still standing at the edge of the kitchen, both fists balled.
The phone was picked up again. Drama said, "She screams like a girl."
"You hurt her…"
"Think it through, Atticus. Do you really want to be threatening me?"
I didn't say anything.
"Stay by the phone. I'll call when I'm ready. And I reiterate: Any word of her abduction, she dies. And I will know if you raise the alarm, Atticus."
Then I was listening to the dial tone, looking at Dale as he waited to hear the news.
The haze had started to lift by the time the elevator doors opened, and through the tears and the dissipating smoke and gas, I'd seen Corry running down the hall toward us, his gun out. All he needed was a glimpse, Natalie on her side and unmoving, me trying to find my feet, and it didn't matter that I was shaking my head, trying to tell him no, don't, he was on the radio immediately.
"Alarm alarm alarm," Corry said. "Repeat, alarm, Wendy is…"
"Dammit, shut up!" I shouted, and it felt like crushed glass was running in two directions inside my chest.
Corry gaped at me, but came offhis transmitter. Over my earpiece, I could hear Dale and Moore each calling in for status.
"Help Nat," I wheezed. "See if she's okay."
Without another word, Corry holstered his pistol, took a deep breath, then stepped into the elevator.
The voices on my radio were getting frantic. I clamped down on my transmitter, said, "All units – this is Tink, stand by."
There was a pause, during which the elevator doors tried to close. Corry used his leg to block them, then slapped the emergency stop. Natalie was making a wet noise from the back of her throat, and as he took her by the armpits to drag her out of the car, she started coughing.
"Timmy standing by, " Dale said.
"Hook standing by, " Moore said. "Request status. "
I pulled myself upright using the wall, fighting for breath. The only part of me that wasn't screaming from the pepper gas was my jaw, and that was because it had gone numb from the kick Drama had given it. My watch read eleven thirty-eight, and my best guess said I had to be at home, by the phone, by five past twelve. I tried to fill my lungs with good air, tried to sound as calm as I could before I transmitted again.
"All units, false alarm. Request Timmy to free house at convenience, Hook landline in ten minutes. Confirm."
"Timmy confirms, en route. "
"Hook?" I asked.
"Hook confirms."
"Tink out," I said, and came off the transmitter and the coughs I'd been fighting off struck back then, doubling me over. By the time the attack ended Corry had Natalie out of the hall and into the suite. I released the emergency stop on the elevator, started to follow, then realized my weapon was still in the car and managed to halt the doors just in time. I got my gun, then made my way after Corry.