Page 105 of Identity Unknown

“That could be what happened. We may never know,” I reply. “But I seriously doubt he ever met the alleged Zofia Puda here or even caught a glimpse of her face. Otherwise, he would have realized that’s who was following him in Rome several weeks ago.”

“Assuming it was Carrie he saw.”

“I think we know.”

“You’re probably right,” Marino says. “She grabs him as he was driving up to the lodge. Then she kept him here all night trying to get intel out of him and whatever else she wanted. Finally, she choppered him to the theme park and pushed him overboard.”

I remember when Carrie learned to fly helicopters long ago, using one to escape from the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Hart Island in New York City. She has to do everything that Lucy does, only in a way that causes the most harm. As we’re talking, I continue glancing at my phone, hoping the police are headed in this direction.

A lot of evidence to collect here,I text to Benton.

Help is on the way,he answers.

“She’s been working at Bando Solutions, likely doing aerial spraying with a vinegar solution to clean the miles of solar farms,” Marino is saying.

“The same thing I use to clean the old glass windows in our house,” I reply. “As long as it’s not too concentrated, vinegar and water won’t harm livestock like the sheep we noticed earlier. And it also helps mitigate weeds…”

I’m interrupted by footsteps, someone coughing behind us.

“Finding anything interesting?” An aggressive voice sounds as Marino and I spin around.

Norm Duffy strides toward us from the hangar’s big square opening. The security officer I fired last fall is in jeans and a loose-fitting denim shirt with the True North logo on it. He has an evil smile on his bearded face, his fists clenched at his sides, coughing quietly as if he has asthma.

“Take it easy, man…,” Marino starts to say.

“You’re trespassing, assholes!” Reaching around to the back of his pants, Norm pulls out a pistol.

Then Marino has out his gun, pointing, and nothing happens. He frantically switches off the safety, firing and missing as Duffy ducks for cover. The cartridge case is sticking up from the ejector port, the pistol jammed. Marino tries to clear what’s called a stovepipe while we run toward the door, zigzagging behind the helicopter, then the van as gunfire explodes.

Bullets ping as we dash back inside the building with Norm in pursuit, another shot ripping through the door as Marino slams it. We shut the office door, locking it, blocking it with a chair. Yawning open next to us is the entrance to the cavern, and I grab Marino’s arm, pulling him toward it. As claustrophobic as he may be, for once he doesn’t argue.

We hurry inside, the air instantly cooler, the sound of water dripping in the uneven shadows. Caged overhead lights push back the darkness as we duck into a recess as Marino clears his pistol jam. We listen, barely breathing, and I know Marino’s plan. He’ll wait until Norm Duffy steps inside the cavern, and then Marino’s going to blow him away. I hear footsteps at the cavern’s entrance, Norm Duffy coughing quietly and clearing his throat.

“Nighty night!” he yells, coughing again.

The light of his flashlight probes past us, then vanishes as the door bangs shut. For an instant I’m too shocked to move. That can’t just have happened.

“Jesus,” I whisper. “I hope we didn’t just get locked inside here.”

Marino has his pistol ready, making his way back to the door, trying the knob.

“Fuck.” He keeps trying to force it. “FUCK!”

He kicks the metal door hard, and suddenly it flies open to the sound of gunfire as Marino falls inside with a loud heavy thud. Then silence. I listen for him, hearing nothing, and I’m seized by dread. He would be calling out to me if he were okay, and I wait. Nothing except the sound of footsteps returning to the entrance of the cavern. Then they’re headed toward me.

Please no… Please no…

I make my way deeper inside, my heart hammering, sick with worry about Marino. The tunnel I follow is wide enough for a car, water drip-dripping from a ceiling of stalactites that look like icicles of all sizes. Reaching up, I break off one, and it crumbles in my hand, ruined after the thousands of years it took to form.

God forgive me for my sins,I think as I try another one, unable to break it.

I try yet again, this stalactite snapping off about eighteen inches from the tip. It seems sturdy enough. The lights inside the cavern suddenly go out, throwing me into blackness as complete as outer space. I feel my way along a wall, not daring to turn on my phone’s flashlight or make a sound.

I have no idea where I’m going, and should I get lost in here I might not be found anytime soon. Or far worse, Norm Duffy finds me first. The cold, rough stone is uncomfortable against my back, and I’m inching along when I see the first beam of light probing. I hear footsteps heavy on stone, loose pebbles clicking and clinking.

“I know you’re in here somewhere, Kay!” Norm calls out, followed by a wheezy cough. “Where’s the big bad chief now? Cowering somewhere, aren’t you?”

I can hear the triumph in his mocking voice as he closes in on me, breathing heavily, coughing some more. I think of the dangerous dust he’s been exposed to chronically if he’s out here often while making the security rounds for Briley Enterprises.

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