Page 54 of Just Hide

Cami took a deep breath and filled her lungs, knowing she had only a moment to scream as loud as possible to try and get help.

But the woman's voice, icily calm, spoke before she could let out the cry.

"You want to scream, it's okay," she said. "We're all alone here. There's nobody else on this floor. Just us."

She had a musical voice, clear and sweet. She sounded warm, inviting. Her words were so calm, so collected, that she almost sounded sane.

"You'll never get away with this," Cami said. Her only hope, she decided, was to keep this woman talking. Because as soon as she stopped talking, she was going to use that knife. Right now, Cami sensed, she was reveling in her power. She was enjoying the moment. With terror flaring, Cami guessed that she hadn't had the chance to speak to any of her victims yet, with the kills so quick and violent.

Maybe she was looking to enjoy this.

Cami stood her ground, her phone still in her pocket. Knowing it was there, she thought of something else she could do.

She had to dial Connor and tell him what had happened. To do that without this woman noticing, she had to activate the Siri app on her phone.

Cami knew which button could be used to do that manually. One of the side buttons. But now, she had to find that button—the correct button—and press it for long enough through her jacket pocket and without looking at the screen. All while a madwoman with a knife was threatening her.

"How do you know?" Her voice was hoarse, stressed. "How do you know it's just us?" She wrapped her hands around her as if she was trying to comfort herself.

Her fingers touched her phone. Pressing carefully, she found the side button.

"You think I'm stupid? I've synced the cameras to my phone. I checked before coming in here."

She pressed the button. Now, Siri would be waiting, listening out for Cami's voice commands.

"You know, I can call Connor," she said, making those last two words, the important words, much louder. "I can call Connor, my partner. If I scream, I'm sure he'll come here straight away."

"I think you're bluffing," the other woman smiled. "Nobody else is on the premises. I checked the login details. You were the only one the system let in. You came in alone."

By now, the call would have connected, surely? Would Connor pick up? If he did, she needed to let him know where she was and that she was in trouble.

"Connor knows I came back to Wave Management," she said loudly. "He knows I'm in the second floor computer room, and he knows that I'm after you, Teresa, because you probably took the job as a janitor here just so that you could pick out your victims. Just because you were hurt in that accident, because your face got burned. Which you caused, by the way, driving drunk. Now you're threatening me with a knife? You honestly think you'll get away with this?"

She had to do it. While she hoped and guessed that Connor was listening, she had to give as much information as possible. The risk was that it would trigger this woman into violence, and straight away, Cami saw that what she feared was happening.

Teresa had become positively furious. Her face was twisting, contorting in an expression of intense rage.

She was a couple of steps away, but she was coming at her with the knife raised.

"You're going to die," Teresa said. She moved closer, and Cami could see the sharpness of the gleaming blade. She was smiling, but it was a smile without joy. There was nothing in her eyes but a terrible darkness.

Frantically, Cami tried to glance around to see if she could find something to defend herself with. Her phone wouldn't get her far as a self-defense weapon and her laptop bag, which lay on the floor beside her, wouldn’t either.

The only other object that her hand closed around as she groped was the keyboard for the Wave Management computer. The wireless keyboard was not heavy. But it was something, and perhaps it could buy her time.

Cami closed her hand around the keyboard and then she flung it at Teresa with all her might.

Teresa ducked away, startled, and Cami knew this was the only break she was going to get.

She dodged past her and raced out of the room, her heart hammering. She had to get out of the building and call for help before this madwoman could catch up to her. The problem was that running wasn't Cami's strong suit, and it seemed that Teresa was fast. She was motivated by her own demons, and she had everything to lose. As she hurtled down the corridor, Cami could hear her cry of rage, and the footsteps pounding after her, closing swiftly in.

She had to find a way out. She had to get out of here.

Cami ran at full speed, hurtling down the corridor. Glancing behind her as she ran, she saw that Teresa was gaining on her, and the sight was so terrifying that it made Cami stumble, losing a few more precious moments of her lead. She hurtled down the stairs, praying she wouldn’t misstep again, but she didn’t gain as much as an inch.

The footsteps were closer. She was gaining steadily. Cami was running as fast as she could, but she wasn't going to be able to outrun this woman.

She had to find somewhere to hide. Somewhere she could barricade herself in while she waited for help to arrive, but she didn’t even know if it would. Gasping for breath, it felt like she had a knife in her own chest.

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