Creepers

40

Whirling, Balenger saw a dark specter crash into JD and knock him down.

"Husband. Killed my husband." Cora had an ashtray in her hands, pounding. "Motherfucker killed my husband."

JD groaned.

Lights zigzagged insanely.

"Motherfucker." Cora aimed the ashtray at JD's teeth.

JD raised his arm. Taking the blow on his wrist, he moaned.

"Don't try anything, hero." Tod aimed the pistol at Balenger.

"Furthest thing from my mind."

"She's your date," Tod told Mack. "I thought you were watching her. Get the bitch under control."

"Pull her off me!" JD shouted, frantically protecting his face.

"Motherfucker. Motherfucker." Cora plunged the ashtray toward JD's forehead.

JD blocked it.

Mack grabbed her, straining to pull her away, but her fury was more than he expected.

"Get her off."

Mack yanked the ashtray out of her hands.

Now she pounded with her fists.

"I sure hate to do this." Mack picked up the crowbar. "A terrible waste."

"No!" Balenger said. "I'll do it! I'll stop her!" He lunged toward Cora, hooking his taped wrists over hers. She struggled to disentangle her arms, but Balenger twisted to the side, the pressure torquing her off JD. He crawled onto her, resisting her efforts to squirm away.

"I guess you're useful for something after all," Tod said.

"You need her. Don't kill her," Balenger said.

"Oh, I need her, all right," Mack said. "But afterward…"

JD came to his feet, wiping blood from his lips. "Give me the crowbar."

"No! You need her! You need all of us! The gold coins!"

"Are you still bullshitting about that?" Mack said. "Those gold coins, if they even exist, are worthless-we can't get into the damned vault."

"No! I think I heard the tumblers click. I think I unlocked it."

"From the start, all you did is lie!"

"If I can open the vault, if I can show you the gold coins, you're going to need all of us."

"For what?"

"To carry the coins! They'll be heavy. You'll need help getting them downstairs and through the tunnels. Otherwise, it'll take twice as long. You won't get out before the storm hits."

"You think there are that many?"

"Why else would Danata have put in a vault that big?"

Tod and Mack looked at each other.

"Do it," Tod told Mack, "while I make sure this bunch doesn't try anything."

Balenger felt pressure inside his rib cage. The force of adrenaline made his chest seem to swell, about to explode.

Still holding the crowbar, Mack put his flashlight under his arm so he could grip the vault's handle.

Tick, tick, tick. No past. No future. Now's almost over, Balenger thought.

Mack shoved down on the handle. He pulled. The vault door moved. Time seemed to stop.

"Fucking amazing," Mack said. He got out of the way as he swung the door outward.

Balenger's headlamp shone inside. So did Vinnie's. And the flashlights that Tod, Mack, and JD aimed. Thunder rumbled through the broken skylight outside the room. The hotel trembled. Then everything became silent. No one seemed to breathe.

The gold coins were in metal trays on shelves all the way up the right side of the vault. More coins than any of them could have imagined. Perfectly preserved. In pristine condition. The absence of dust on them made them seem to absorb the lights aimed into the vault and give off a glow.

But that wasn't what they stared at. It wasn't what made them gape.

"No," Vinnie said.

The stench of piss and shit escaped from the vault. What occupied all their stunned attention was a woman in a dirty, transparent nightgown, which showed her breasts, her nipples, and the triangle of her pubic hair.

For an instant, Balenger was tricked by the shadows. His horror mounting, she appeared to be someone he knew.

The woman's blond hair hung like a rag mop. Frail, haggard, in her late twenties, she cowered, pressing as far back into the vault as possible. A sleeping bag was crumpled at her feet. Candy-bar wrappers and empty water bottles lay on it. A toilet pail was in a corner. She raised her hands to shield her frightened eyes from the stabbing lights.

Balenger felt his knees weaken. He had the dizzy sensation of dropping through a trapdoor into insanity.