Night Watch

FIFTY-TWO

“Alexandra Cooper.” Peter Danton repeated my name aloud, over and over. Each time he said it, he lifted a bale of hay from one of the taller piles and threw it onto a smaller one.

With three or four more tosses, I would be completely exposed.

“I’m going to find you in a moment or two, Alex, and then you and I are going to join the party.”

He lifted another block and bounced it off a nearby pile.

“You could scream, of course, but then the only people who might hear you are the men who work for me. The vault is completely soundproofed. Nobody wanted to hear those bombs exploding around them in the good old days,” he said. “And the men who work for me don’t have a reputation for being the friendliest sort.”

I heard another bale land on the floor.

“That’s what I get for hiring ex-cons to do my security. They’re a little rough around the edges-all the edges-but then again, they don’t scare easily out here in the boondocks, which so many people do. Well, there you are!”

I was crouched in a corner of the shed, and now my cover was completely gone.

“You can come to me, Alex, or I’ll just get over to you and drag you out. It might take a minute or two longer, but I’ll get there.”

I stood up. I stepped on the pile of hay between me and Peter Danton. He reached out to grab my arm and pull me down beside him.

“Sorry. I was up most of the night. I just fell asleep back here.” I figured I looked dazed enough to make believe I hadn’t heard any of the conversation.

“I would have thought you’d be the type to enjoy some fresh air,” he said, “which would have been much healthier for you. But now I think it’s time for a rendezvous with your friends in the vault.”

I looked out the door of the small shed and thought about making a run for my car. I’d prefer anything to being entombed in a bomb shelter. Mike had a gun and knew how to use it, though the idea of leaving him and Luc trapped behind the steel door terrified me.

“If you want me to take off, I’ll just get in the car and go,” I said.

“A little late for that plan, don’t you think? And don’t look so longingly at all that open land out there. My foreman is a great hunter. Unfortunately, he once mistook his wife for a deer, I guess. Did twelve years for it and I’d say he’s completely rehabilitated.”

I was backed against the hay bales when Danton grabbed my right arm, above my elbow, with his good hand. “Just listen to what I say and stay calm,” he said. “You’re walking with me.”

Peter Danton led me toward the steel door, the entrance to the vault. I looked back over my shoulder, hoping against hope that Mercer would be arriving any minute. But there was no sign of anyone approaching the graveled parking lot.

“I’ve got the lives of your dear friends in my hands, Alex, and Luc tells me you’re a very emotional girl. High-strung is what he called you.”

There would be time for me to argue with Luc about that one later on.

“You’d be wiser to control yourself once we see the others. Maybe we can sort this out and get you on your way.”

“I’m sure we can do that,” I said, knowing that my brain was scrambling to think of ways to counter whatever Danton had in mind.

“I don’t scare easily, Alex. I lost one finger to my own negligence a long time ago in a kitchen, as I told you,” he said. He had clamped his other hand on my neck to keep me close to him. “The other one was hacked off by a drug dealer in Nigeria who thought I’d been poaching from his stash. Both times without the benefit of anesthesia.”

He laughed at his own story, or maybe at the look on my face as I checked out his mutilated fingers.

“Don’t look so surprised, Alex. You and the detective obviously came up here today because-”

“I asked him to bring me here to find Luc. That’s all. I was desperate to spend a few hours with Luc before he goes home.”

“Such a sweet thought. But I think the truth is that your friend Chapman believes I knew something about Luigi and his drug business. He’ll be happy to see you come in with me, Alex. Both Mike and Luc will be glad you’re there.”

I tried to dig my heels into the seams of the wooden floorboard, but Peter Danton pulled me forward. “I’ve learned to work with what I’ve got left, in case you’re thinking there isn’t much strength in my hands.”

I wanted them off me-off my neck. I shook my head but he grasped me even tighter.

“Come along, Alex,” he said, as he steered me through the opening of the vault. “Don’t keep everyone waiting. It’s cold in there. Bone-chilling cold.”