Simone walked the perimeter of the room, touching the Glassteel walls. They were chilly, almost icy. In the water, just outside the perimeter of light cast by the station, she could see the silhouettes of buildings and rubble. Grit floated in the water. By the metal doors there was a control panel with light switches, a switch for the doors, and blank monitors. She stared out at the water again and looked at the shadows of buildings and the shimmer of fish. She thought of her father’s ashes, poured down here. It wasn’t a bad place to end up. She was happy about that.
“Okay, Lou, I think we should get going.” Simone said, turning back to Lou.
“I don’t think you’re leaving quite yet,” came another voice. Simone spun around to find Dash, his arm around Caroline’s neck, a gun to her head. She tried elbowing him, but he swerved out of the way with a chuckle.
“You didn’t go in for the painting?” Simone asked, raising her gun. “You followed us?”
“I always have a backup plan. That tracker I left in your hatband was fun, but when I saw your wallet—with the hole in it—how could I resist? So I put another there. I thought you’d find that one too, eventually. Or at least get the wallet fixed. But I suppose not all of us deserve our reputations.”
“What’s the point now?” Simone asked, walking closer. Dash tightened the arm around Caroline’s neck, and Simone stopped walking. Caroline screamed in frustration and tried pulling away and kicking, but Dash held her tight. “We already found the station. We know about it.”
“Yes… but I don’t think my employer will mind that you found it first. I’ll just give him a call, and he’ll send over a small army of guards. Then it’ll be his—and his discovery. So I just need you to clear out and keep quiet about what we found—which I think you’ll do, so long as I have your deputy here.” Simone had never seen Caroline afraid before. Fierce many times, and snide and condescending and amused, but never afraid. Her face seemed oddly blank, her eyes wide. Simone tried nodding at Caroline, but Dash pulled her closer so their eyes couldn’t lock.
“So, you’re going to go,” he repeated. “I’m going to call my client, and he’s going to come and take this place over, and then I’ll let the deputy free and disappear. It’s so easy, you should be paying me, too.”
“You have a gun to the deputy mayor’s head,” Simone said. “The police will hunt you down.”
“With the amount of money I’m getting for this, I won’t be around long. I’m thinking of buying one of those custom-made islands, from the Japanese fleet. Live somewhere warm.”
“We’ll still be able to take this place over,” Caroline said, her voice hoarse. “The moment you let me go, I’ll have this place swarmed. The police will get rid of whoever you tell about this place.”
Dash laughed. “You’ll stay quiet. I’m pretty sure.”
“Why?” Caroline said. Dash just smirked.
“Who’s paying you?” Simone asked.
Dash shook his head with a smile. “Do I seem like the sort who would kiss and tell? Now get on the elevator. Take the old woman, too.”
Simone lowered her gun and started walking towards the elevator. “You killed Linnea, right? That was you who left her in my office.”
“I thought leaving you flowers would be too ordinary. Plus I wanted to let you know I’d found her first. That I was a step ahead—like I always am.”
“Aren’t torture victims supposed to tell you what you want to know before they die?”
Dash narrowed his eyes. “Sometimes things don’t work out right away. But as you can see, it’s been a good day.”
“Just pointing out I’m not the only one not living up to my reputation.”
“Get on the elevator,” Dash snarled. “And you,” he said, turning his gun on Lou, who had moved from the sofa to the control panel Simone had spotted earlier. “Go with her.”
“This is my home,” Lou said, her voice cracking with anger, or maybe sorrow. “This is where my husband and I were happiest. I won’t leave it.”
“That’s sweet. But then you die here. It’s funny, really, you’ll die under the water, but I’ll still have to drag you up and throw you in to sink you.”
“We all die eventually,” Lou said, and with surprising quickness, she reached out and pressed a button on the control panel.
SIXTEEN
IMMEDIATELY THERE WAS THE loud whining of sirens, and two red lights by the large metal doors began to flash.
“What the fuck did you do?” Dash asked. Lou smiled and walked back towards the sofa she had been sitting on. The doors began to groan.
“She opened the doors,” Simone said. “We have to get out of here!”
“Close it!” Dash screamed. Lou sat back down on the sofa, staring out at the water, her back to Dash and Simone. “Fuck!” He ran for the elevator, dragging Caroline with him by the neck. He got in the elevator and pushed Caroline aside as he activated it. It closed, locking them out.
Behind them, the doors had begun to open and the ocean was starting to rush in with the sound of an angry mob. It flowed over Simone’s ankles, cold and black.
“Lou!” Simone called out. Lou looked back at her and smiled, then went back to staring out at the water, the ocean at her feet splashing wildly and soaking her. The elevator was moving upwards. Caroline stared at Simone, still afraid. “Fuck,” Simone said, holstering her gun. The water was above their knees now, and the doors were opening wider. Simone grabbed Caroline’s wrist in one hand and, as the elevator rose above them, grabbed onto one of the bars on the elevator’s underside. They began to rise with the elevator, Simone and Caroline a human chain just above the water. She glanced back once at Lou, but the water had risen over her head, and all Simone could see was the ocean, taking back what it had been denied for so long, all angry froth and the smell of rot.
Caroline’s hand was slippery with sweat and the moisture in the air. Simone would lose her grip soon.
“I’m going to try to lift you,” Simone called down to Caroline. Below them, the water was churning up the elevator shaft, a storm in a bottle about to break free. She tightened her grip on the elevator bar and lifted up the hand Caroline clung to so that Caroline’s head was at her waist. Simone’s arm was getting weak and groaned against the effort, as Caroline got wetter and heavier.
“Grab my waist,” Simone said. Caroline stared at her like she was insane. They were flying upwards, and falling was death. Caroline’s hair streamed down behind her like smoke. “Hold onto me so you can reach the elevator, too. I can’t hold you like this much longer.” She could feel her arm giving way, burning with pain. Caroline was sliding away, as if the water were pulling her under without even touching her.
Caroline twisted herself, reached out with her free hand, and managed to wrap it around Simone.
“Let go!” Caroline called, her words muffled by the sound of the water below. Simone let go of Caroline’s hand and she slipped away. Simone felt a shock—the sudden cold of Caroline’s absence—and cried out, fearing Caroline had plunged into the water, and thinking of letting go, and joining her. But Caroline had just managed to wrap herself around Simone. Simone reached up with her free hand, grabbing the elevator more securely with both hands. The elevator rose quickly upwards for just a moment more, then stopped suddenly, jarring Simone. She felt Caroline’s arms digging into her ribs and gasped, half choking on her own breath. She re-tightened her grip and looked down. The water below had stopped rising, but it was still frothing and gurgling softly. The only other sound in the elevator shaft was the creak of straining metal.