Tears swelled in Lauren’s eyes. Just the reference to sparing her daughter was enough to collapse the columns of morality that held up her belief system. Everything she had just argued against seemed to pale next to saving Sarah. Still, a force inside her fought against the abdication. How could she help a madman take innocent lives? What would her daughter’s life mean if it came at that cost? Slowly, her conscience beat back her maternal impulse and concluded that she had to refuse. She had to make a principled stand. But when she opened her mouth, the words that tumbled out were not angry defiance, but a mumbled defeat. “I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt my baby.”
Dr. Mansfield eyed her carefully. “I’ll have to keep her somewhere until we’re finished on the work. In case you change your mind, you see.”
Lauren nodded.
“These other men, they can’t know about our arrangement. Huckley has filled them with promises about how Sarah will change their lives.”
“But I thought you were the leader.”
“It’s more complicated than that. With these men, I can’t afford to look weak. I have to plan this carefully. If you want to save your daughter, not a word, understand? No matter what happens.”
Lauren nodded her head, remembering the analogy Dr. Mansfield had used earlier about God. She looked up at the doctor and realized she had done exactly what she had accused him of doing. She had made a deal with the devil and there was no going back.
She looked up as voices approached from outside. The door swung open and she saw Huckley, the sheriff and Deputy Sorenson, whom she recognized from the first night in the hospital with Jack.
Janney called out. “What about her, Boss? Are we taking her down with us?”
Dr. Mansfield shook his head. “She stays up here. I’m going to convince her to help with the project.”
Huckley snorted and hawked a gob of spit against the wall. He wrinkled his nose at Lauren as if she were a spoiled piece of meat. “She’ll never help.” He nodded to Deputy Sorenson, “Maybe the kid here can break her spirit a little while we’re gone.”
Sorenson smiled. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
Lauren looked to Dr. Mansfield but he avoided her eyes. He had his arm over Janney’s shoulder was walking him outside, talking softly in his ear. Huckley watched them walk out and then turned back to Sorenson. “You’re a big boy. I’m sure you can figure it out. Just make sure she’s alive when we get back. Don’t be too gentle though. She won’t learn her lesson unless you bloody her up at least a little.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll be my pleasure,” Sorenson said, stepping toward Lauren, his eyes roving over her body.
“Not right now you idiot. Later, when we go down.”
“How long’s that going to be?”
Huckley shot Sorenson a glance that told the deputy his tone of voice alone was enough for Huckley to consider killing him. He shook his head. “We’ll go when we’re ready. When the two of them are done with their little secrets,” he said, jutting a chin toward the doorway through which Dr. Mansfield and Janney had disappeared. “We’ll head down in about fifteen, give Butcher and Moran time to finish up. And son, no matter what happens, don’t you dare come down that elevator shaft.”
Sorenson was still staring at Lauren, shifting his weight from side to side, dragging the palms of his hands across his chest. “Don’t you worry about that. I have plenty up here to keep me occupied.”
Lauren closed her eyes, praying that Dr. Mansfield wasn’t lying and that there was still a chance she could save Sarah. She would endure any pain and indignity from these men, but only if it meant Sarah could go free. Otherwise she thought she would go insane from helplessness. She thought of her poor Jack, locked up in the Midland prison. How terrible the last day must have been for him. But at least he was safe, the publicity of his arrest probably the one thing keeping him alive. At least Becky would have one parent at the end of it all. It was a small consolation, but given the circumstances, it meant everything to her. You stay alive, Jack, she murmured under her breath. You stay alive for our girls.
Lauren jumped when the scream erupted on the floor beneath her. Her heart sank knowing, as only a parent can, that the sound meant her daughter was in pain. She looked down and saw Sarah struggling to her feet, the shriek coming from her mouth reaching an impossibly high pitch. When Sarah turned toward her mother, Lauren shuddered. Her daughter looked right through her.
“Sarah. It’s all right. Come here,” she called out, trying to reach out toward her.
But her bindings made it impossible to move. Even without the rope around her wrists and legs, she would have frozen in place when she realized Sarah’s screams were actually words.
The same words.
Over and over.
Daddy’s dead! Daddy’s dead! DADDY’S DEAD!
SEVENTY-SEVEN
At first he thought there was some kind of mistake. He had felt the water rush over his lips and slide over his tongue on the way down his throat. He remembered knowing the moment had arrived when there wouldn’t be another moment to follow. Time was through with him. It was over.
But there he was, still in the tunnel. Still floating in the dark water. Everything was the same. Except the burning in his chest was gone. And he breathed freely. It didn’t make any sense. It didn’t make any sense at all.
Jack looked down at his hands and lifted them to his face. They shimmered like they were made of water. The beam of light from his miner’s helmet shone right through them. With the sight came sensations of his new body. It was loose, not like free falling because that meant motion. It was more like how he imagined walking in space would feel. Smooth and effortless. He felt oddly comfortable with the sensation, as if he was in a place he’d visited before.
Before he had a chance to question where he was, a little girl came and took his hand. He mistook the girl for Sarah and felt a pang of guilt for wishing it had been her. His intuition told him it was better that Sarah was not there with him. It was better that his daughter was someplace else. Even if it meant he never saw her again, it was better than if it were her holding his hand and guiding him forward. Better that is was this strange little girl he didn’t recognize.
He let the girl holding his hand lead him through the tunnel. Even without looking down he knew he wasn’t moving his legs but he still went in the direction he wanted. Forward. Toward the light ahead of him.
“Do you remember me?” the little girl asked.
Jack looked away from the light glowing in front of him and down at the pretty face staring up at him. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I—”
Then the image hit him, fast like the beat of a strobe light. The side of the girl’s head was caved in. Her face gouged by glass. Bright red blood poured down her neck and chest. Her mouth stretched wide in a scream. Then, a beat of the strobe light later, the girl was back, pure and beautiful.
“Oh God.” It didn’t occur to him to pull his hand away. It didn’t occur to him to be shocked by the little girl’s identity. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you. I’m so sorry. So sorry”
The girl whispered back, “I know you are.”
Jack didn’t know what to say. Somehow he knew throwing himself at her feet and begging for forgiveness wasn’t allowed. There were rules in this new place. Nothing posted or written, but clearly there were rules. He could feel them.
“Did it hurt?” he asked.
The question felt somehow too personal, too intrusive. But he couldn’t stop it from coming out. He’d spent every day for over a year wanting to know the answer to the question.