Blood Orchid

62

Grant shifted his body until he was lying close behind Holly, and he put his lips close to her ear. “Can you roll over and reach my cellphone?” he whispered. “It’s in my inside jacket pocket, down low. Your hands are near it now.”

Holly groped behind her and felt his belt buckle.

“To your left six inches,” Grant said.

Holly found the phone.

“Now, pry it open-it’s already turned on.”

Holly got the phone open.

“Press one and hold it down for a few seconds.”

Holly felt the keypad of the phone, located the number one, and held it down.

Grant waited a moment, then began shouting. “Now!” he yelled. “Do it now!”

“What?” Holly asked, as if he were talking to her.

“You two shut up,” the man with the shotgun said.

“Why now?” Holly asked, hoping to confuse the man.

“Now! Do it now!” Grant yelled again.

The man with the shotgun rapped him sharply on the top of the head with the barrel. “I told you to shut up.”

“Why do you want to lock us in a vault?” Grant asked the man loudly. “Why can’t you just shoot us?”

“Believe me, I’d just as soon shoot you, but the boss says to put you in the vault!” the man yelled back. “He didn’t say I couldn’t crack your skull first, though, and that’s what I’m going to do if you open your mouth again!”

The van stopped, and the driver got out and opened the rear doors. He dragged Holly and Grant to their feet, and the two men unlocked the front door and shoved them roughly into the building, then into the elevator.

Holly and Grant each stood in a corner of the elevator, looking at each other as they descended one floor.

“Don’t open your mouths,” one of the men said.

They were dragged off the elevator in the basement and taken down a hallway to a vault, the door of which stood open. The two men kicked them into the vault and then swung the foot-thick door slowly shut.

Holly heard the mechanical sound of the bolts closing. “Well, shit,” she said.

“My sentiments exactly,” Grant replied.

“Back in the van, who was on the other end of the cellphone?”

“I hope to God it was Harry,” he said. “He’s out there somewhere with forty or fifty men.”

“Out where?”

“Outside Blood Orchid, ready to storm the place at my signal. At least I hope he is; that was the plan. I didn’t have time to tell you everything in the car. As soon as we figured out who Shine was, Harry went into action, getting warrants and marshaling resources.”

“You think he got your signal?”

“I was yelling loud enough, wasn’t I?”

Then came the sound of running water.

“What’s that?” Grant asked.

“The sound of running water,” Holly replied. “Do you think that was what Ed meant by ‘emergency mode’?”

“Oh, shit,” Grant said, and as he spoke a sheet of water made its way across the floor of the vault. They heard the sound of another valve opening, and more water began to pour in.

“Why the hell would anybody want to put water into a vault?” Holly asked. “Apart from drowning us, I mean?”

“I think the vaults at Fort Knox can be flooded. Maybe that’s where they got the notion. Any ideas?” Grant asked.

Holly stepped around him and nuzzled close. “Put your hand in my pocket,” she said.

“Is sex all you can think about at a time like this?”

“The left-hand pocket,” she said. “Get ahold of my car keys.”

“You want to drive somewhere? That’s okay with me.”

The water was up to their shins now, and rising fast.

“There’s a handcuff key on my key ring,” Holly said.

“Oh,” Grant replied, groping in her pocket. “Got them.”

Holly turned around and backed up to him. “Now, unlock my cuffs and don’t drop the keys.”

Grant dropped the keys.

“I told you not to drop them!” Holly moaned.

“I’m sorry, they were slippery.”

She put her back against the wall and slid down into a sitting position, then began groping around the floor for the keys. Sitting down, the water was up to her chin. “Don’t just stand there, help me!”

Grant sat down beside her and joined the effort.

“Got them!” Holly said, and her mouth filled with water. Leaning against Grant, she struggled to her feet. “Can you stand up?”

“I’m trying,” he said.

“Lean against me.”

He managed to get to his feet.

“This time, I’ll do the unlocking,” she said, feeling for Grant’s wrists. After a moment she got one of his cuffs off.

He took the key and unlocked her cuffs and his other wrist. “There,” he said, “that’s better.”

“Not much,” Holly said. “What do we do now, the backstroke?” The water was waist deep and rising.

“Brackish,” Grant said, tasting a finger. “River water.”

“What is this, a tasting? Or do you want to get us out of here?”

“My cellphone’s in the van; how about yours?”

“Dead battery; I tried it in the ladies’. I doubt if we could get a signal inside a steel basement room, anyway.”

“You have a point,” Grant said, then he ducked under the water and started feeling the vault door.

Holly watched him, wondering what the hell he was doing.

Grant came up for air. “There’s got to be some sort of safety feature in this thing. Surely they can’t let people get locked into vaults these days without having a way out.”

“Let’s both look,” Holly said “At least the lights are on.”

The lights went off.

“We’ll just have to feel,” Grant said.

Holly took a couple of deep breaths and began running her hands over the inside of the vault door. Her air gave out, and she came up. The water was up to her neck.

Grant surfaced. “I don’t think this is going to work,” he said. “Anything you want to say to me before we drown?”

“Yes,” Holly replied, “what are you working on in Orchid Beach? What’s your assignment?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Grant replied. “It’s a secret.”

Holly burst out laughing. The water was up to her nose now, and she was forced to tread water.

“Come on, let’s keep trying,” Grant said, and went under again.

Holly dove after him, wondering if there would be any air left in the vault when she came up.