Peggy Dulle - Liza Wilcox 04 - Saddle Up (23 page)

“But he only owns fifty percent of the company. He can’t do anything because Priscilla can block him,” said Tom.

“Not if he gets fifty-one percent,” I replied.

“How is he going to do that?”

“By courting and marrying Grace. She’s Priscilla’s daughter and will inherit one percent when she turns twenty-five, although she’s trying to fight and get her one percent now,” I explained.

“Then the partner would have fifty-one percent and Priscilla couldn’t stop him.”

“Wasn’t there some old guy hanging all over Grace at the dance?” my dad asked.

“Yes, Henry Mullins.”

“He’s got to be the partner,” my dad said.

“So why is Doc working for him?” asked Tom.

“I have no idea.”

“You think the cancer cluster that Doc reported is just a way to scare the people and get them to move?”

I thought for a moment. “Maybe. When I looked at some of the medical records it seemed that the original cause of death was something else and then they found the cancer during the autopsy. Maybe the cancer never really existed? It’s always easier if you can get people to leave on their own.”

“Henry Mullins is behind the corporation that’s partners with Blue Stripe.” Tom said, pulling all the information together into one simple sentence.

Dad nodded.

“Great. We’ve got the who, why, and what dealing with the land in this town, but what about the family who’s going to be killed?” I asked.

“It’s got to be related.”

Tom was a few inches from the window, so he placed the end of the tube onto the window seal and inserted his revolver.

“Try to hang on to something, Liza. I don’t know what’s going to happen when I pull the trigger.”

I placed my free hand on the wall. When he pulled the trigger, it echoed in the small space that wasn’t filled with water and then sent a shock wave through the water. It hit Dad and me and knocked the wind out of my lungs. We both went under and I scrambled upward to get air, then dove downward to find Dad. When I found him, I kicked my feet and sent us both to the surface, just to get hit again with another shock wave. This time I stayed afloat, holding Dad with one hand and using the other to steady me near the wall.

“Are you hitting anything?” I asked.

“Nothing on the first, but I think I might have touched a transformer on a pole outside.”

“Try it again in the same area,” I suggested.

Tom lifted the pipe and gun and fired.

I saw sparks fly in the distance beyond the window.

“Hit it again,” I told him.

Four direct shots later and the transformer exploded, sending sparks out in all directions.

“We’ve got to get out of here, those sparks might light the trees on fire,” Tom said, letting the gun go into the water.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m out of bullets and I can’t swim and hold on to the piece at the same time. I’m going down to see if I can open the door with this pipe.”

“I can go with you,” I suggested.

“Nope, you keep your dad afloat, I’ll see if I can get the door open.”

Tom disappeared into the murky water.

The water continued to rise. I was level with the window and could see a few little fires in the trees around the pole. At least if the forest caught on fire, the fire department would arrive and they could get us out of here.

Tom came up, gasping for air.

“Any luck?”

“I think I got it to budge. I’m going back down.”

As he disappeared again, another explosion, much stronger and louder hit the building.

“What was that?” I said to my dad.

“I think the marina store and café just blew.”

“Great! Now we’ve got one big fire and several small fires at the Lagoon.”

Dad shrugged. “The big one should bring the fire department quicker.”

I rolled my eyes. The water was in the middle of the window and Tom hadn’t come up again in several minutes. Something was wrong.

“Dad, can you tread water for a few minutes. I want to check on Tom.”

“It has been a while since we’ve seen him, hasn’t it? I’ll be all right. I can reach the shop lights on the ceiling, so go ahead.”

When my dad had a grip on one of the chains holding up the lights, I dove under. The water was considerably clear and I saw Tom pulling on something. I kicked my feet harder and got next to him. His foot was caught under some piping that must have fallen when the second explosion shook the building. He was pulling his leg but nothing was happening and he had lost the small pipe he had been using to open the door. Tom was trapped, Dad was probably sinking and I started to feel a full scale panic attack coming on.

CHAPTER 23

We were in serious trouble and I just didn’t have the time to panic. I shook my head to clear it and dove down where Tom’s foot was caught. Several large pipes had fallen on it, so I found the small pipe he had probably dropped when hit with the shock wave, put the tip under the large pipes and swam downward as hard as I could, kicking my feet and forcing the pipe downward. Just like a fulcrum effect on a teeter-totter – if one end goes down, the other must come up. Within a few seconds, the large pipes were loose and Tom and I shot toward the ceiling.

When we broke the surface, both of us were gasping for air. Dad was still above the water which had completely covered the window. At least some of the water was going out the window. Maybe somebody coming to put on the raging fire would notice the building leaking water from a tall window, so they would come to investigate and open the door. The water will rush out and they would find our bodies. No way!

“Let’s go down and try to open the door together,” I told Tom.

He nodded and we both dove downward. I picked up the pipe and we tried to wedge it between the door and jamb, but it was just too big. If we had something pointed, it would work better. I pointed upward and Tom and I swam for the surface again.

When we were up, I said, “You think if we used one of the gears, it might slip in between the door and the jamb?”

“If we could find one thin enough, maybe. Once we got it stuck between them we can insert the pipe into the opening in the middle of the gear and force the door.”

“Okay, let’s go search for a thin gear.” I dove down again. I used my hands to search around the floor since we had dislodged several gears when we were moving the pipes to allow the water to escape. I found several, picked them up and swam toward the door. Tom was already there trying to insert a gear. His was a quarter of an inch thick and he still couldn’t get it between the door and jamb.

I handed him a smaller gear. It was only four inches in diameter but was very thin. Tom signaled that it would probably break. I shrugged and pointed toward the door.

He easily inserted the gear, then stuck the pipe into the center. When he pushed on the pipe the gear broke into pieces.

We both went up to get air again. The water was within three inches of the ceiling, even with the amount escaping through the window. I had to lift my face upward, so close that my lips brushed the ceiling.

“That last gear almost did it,” Tom said. “We need more time. We should consider opening the door between the two rooms, it would bring the water down several feet.”

“We can’t keep Agent Souza afloat,” I told him. “We can barely keep ourselves above water.”

“He’s probably dead already, Liza and if we don’t we’re all going to die.”

If Agent Souza was anything like Tom, he would agree with the latest plan.

“I can do it,” my dad said. “I think I’ve finally got a handle on treading water.”

“Okay, I’ll go down and open the door and get Agent Souza. I’ll bring him up to you,” Tom said before I could argue further.

He dove down and was gone.

“I love you, Liza. You know that right?” my dad said.

“Don’t talk to me like we’re not going to make it, Dad! We are not dying today!”

A few seconds later, Tom came up without Agent Souza.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“The water pressure is keeping the door shut. I couldn’t budge it.”

“Let me see if I can help you,” I told him and dove down.

Tom followed me and together we pulled on the door handle. It just wouldn’t budge with all that water holding it closed. Too bad the door didn’t open inward and then the water would help us to push it open. He pointed to the surface, at least what was left of it, and we swam upward. There was only an inch left of space.

“Now what?” I said when my lips broke the surface.

“We need a little more time to find another gear to try and open the door,” Tom said.

Repeating the same tactic wasn’t helping us, I thought. We needed a new plan. “How much water do you think is in the other room?”

“If we assume that the water hasn’t been going in there, then is shouldn’t be any higher than when we closed the door.”

“The platform Agent Souza was lying on is twelve inches high, just like the one near the door in this room. There was at least four inches left before the water was going to reach him, right?”

Tom nodded.

“The door is only made of wood, so if we make a small hole in it, some of the water is going to flow into the next room. I think that should buy us a little time and still not drown the agent, right?” I suggested.

“The water is going to go into that room very fast, like an end of a fireman’s hose. It’s not going to buy us much time before we drown Agent Souza.”

“The alternative is that we all drown, somebody eventually comes and finds our dead bodies and his, because he’s not going to be alive either much longer,” my dad said.

“Okay, I’ll find the small pipe we were using and put a hole in the door. Wait a few seconds and then Liza, you find us some small gears and I’ll meet you at the front door.”

I nodded.

Tom leaned over and kissed me, then he dove down. I waited.

“He really is a good guy, Liza.”

I smiled, kissed my dad on the cheek and said, “Thanks, Dad.” That was high praise from a man who despised all government agencies and their agents.

I took a deep breath and dove down, searching the floor for more gears. When I found four of them, I went to the door. Tom was waiting there.

I leaned my head toward the door between the room and he nodded.

The first two gears snapped in half when we tried to use them like a wedge. My lungs were screaming for air, so I tapped Tom on the shoulder and pointed to the surface.

He nodded and we both shot upward. When we broke the surface, the water had come down several inches, half of the window was exposed again and it looked like the little fires had put themselves out. I could hear sirens in the distance.

“The cavalry is on its way,” my dad said.

“Yeah, but they’re going to the marina building,” I told him.

“How’d the marina get on fire?” Tom asked, looking at me and than at Dad.

“Too much water is escaping this room,” I told Tom, trying to distract him from thinking about who blew up the marina. “Agent Souza is probably in the water already.”

“Let’s go at that door again. The last time I think we budged it a bit before the gear broke.”

Tom and I dove downward and back to the door. When the first gear snapped in half, I felt all my hope dissipate. We had just killed Agent Souza if he wasn’t dead already and we were on the last gear. In the movies or television shows, it’s always in the last few seconds that the people get saved or the bomb gets diffused with just two or one seconds before it would have blown them up. I hoped it was going to work for us like that too!

I saw Tom’s shoulders slack downward and I handed him the last gear. He shook his head. It wasn’t going to work – he knew it and I knew it. We needed something thinner and sharper. Then I remembered my shirt and the nails in the boards. I pointed to the surface, Tom nodded and we shot upward.

When I broke the surface, I grabbed one of the boards.

“Hey, let go of my life preservers,” my dad tried to pull it back.

“What are you thinking, Liza?’ Tom asked.

I turned the board over and the nail was exposed. “You think we could ram these nails into the space between the door and the jamb?”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “Yes, the nails, by themselves, would be difficult to pound into the space because of the water. It would slow down any hammer affect I could make with the pipe, but since they’re attached to the boards, I can kick them into the space. How many of them have nails like that?”

“Dad, how many nails are on your life preservers?”

“Four.” Dad frowned and reluctantly handed over his boards.

I grabbed two, Tom took the other ones and we went back to the front door. It was more difficult swimming down with boards that wanted to float. When we got there, Tom put the nail into the space between the door and the jamb and then braced himself with his hands against some of the pipes. He brought his feet down several times on the board, kicking and slamming the nail into the space. Then he kicked his second board in a few inches above the first. The nail went in but the door didn’t move.

My lungs were screaming for air, so I pointed upward. Tom nodded and we went to the surface.

Dad was clinging to the metal grill in the window. The sirens sounded much closer now. They would soon be working on the marina fire. The little fires outside were barely visible. Nobody would see them and come to put them out, not with an entire building ablaze on the other side of the Lagoon.

Dad saw me looking at the small fires and said, “I think the evening dew put them out. It probably gets pretty damp here at night by the lagoon. How’s it going?

“We’ve got two in,” Tom told him. “I think it’s going to work.”

“Let’s get back down there,” I said.

Tom took one of the boards I held and we went back to work on the door. He slammed the first board above the other two – no change in the door. The fourth board he placed near the top of the door. When he kicked it into place, the door slid open just a half of inch, but the water immediately found the open space and rushed toward it. My body slammed against the door, forcing what little air I had in my lungs out and then my head hit the door – the world went black!

The next thing I knew my face was above water and I gasped for air. My dad had my arm in one hand and Tom’s in the other. Tom spit water and tried to take in air himself.

“What happened?” I said between gasps.

“When the water shifted, I figured you’d opened the door. But when you didn’t come right up, I knew something was wrong. I dove down, grabbed the both of you and brought you up,” my dad said.

“But you don’t know how to swim,” I reminded him.

“It’s amazing what you can do when you think your child is in trouble,” he said, with the biggest smile I had ever seen on his face.

“Thanks,” Tom said.

The water level dropped again, as the force of the escaping water pushed the door open further. When we finally could touch the ground, Tom and Dad went over and swung the door open the rest of the way which sent the rest of the water rushing out.

When I could walk easily, I went to the door between the two rooms and opened it. Agent Souza was sitting up, his back against the back door. His legs and lap were wet.

When I got close to him, he said, “The water was cold.”

I laughed. “We’re going to get you some help and some dry clothes, okay?”

Agent Souza smiled and closed his eyes.

Dad and I sat with Agent Souza, while Tom jogged back to the marina to get an EMT.

“I never thought I’d ever say these words in my life, but I like your cop, Liza,” my dad said.

“Thanks, Dad. I like him too.” I leaned my head on Dad’s shoulder.

“You better get out of here,” I told him.

“I’ll go before he gets back.”

“When will I see you again?”

“What about a trip to Monterey?”

“Oh, I love the beach.”

“I know that,” Dad said. “Your sister would build these elaborate sand castles.”

“And add landscaping by placing little shells, leaves for trees, and sticks for the picket fences.”

Dad laughed. “You would just sit, squish your toes in the sand and watch the water.”

“It was relaxing.”

“We always had to keep you away from her masterpiece because you wanted to stomp all over it.”

“What good is a sandcastle if you can’t knock it down?” I asked.

“Then we’d leave before the tide came in or your sister would cry when her castle would dissolve into the sea.”

“She’s such a girl,” I laughed.

Dad put his arm around me and hugged me. “Family vacations are the best and always filled with fights, tears, laughter and love.”

“Family is the best. I am so glad that you’re back in my life, Dad.”

“Me, too, Bobby.”

I frowned up at him.

He laughed and said, “Liza.”

An EMT came into the room and Dad and I moved aside and let him work on Agent Souza.

A second tech come into the room and said, “We’ve got a second unit outside, ma’am. The temperature outside is dropping quickly. You’re going to get hypothermia in those wet clothes.”

“Thanks,” my dad said. “We’ll grab a couple of blankets.”

When we walked outside the building, Tom stood there with a pair of handcuffs in his hands.