“You’re safe now. The nightmare is finally over, Melissa. Let me help the others,” I whispered.
Out in the hall again, I saw Sampson unbolt a door. I heard him say, “I’m a police detective. It’s safe now.” His voice was soft: Sampson the Gentle.
The women we had freed were wandering, dazed and confused, out of the prison rooms. They hugged one another in the hallway. Most of them were sobbing, but I could feel their relief, even their joy. Someone had finally come to help them.
I entered a second hallway at the end of the first. There were more locked doors. Was Naomi here? Was she alive? The pounding in my chest was unbearable.
I opened the first door on the right—and there she was. There was Scootchie. The best sight in the entire world.
Tears finally streamed from my eyes. I was the one who couldn’t talk now. I thought that I would have a permanent memory of everything that happened between the two of us. Every word, look, nuance.
“I knew you’d come for me, Alex,” Naomi said. She staggered into my arms and held me tightly.
“Oh, sweet, sweet Naomi,” I whispered. I felt as if thousands of pounds had been lifted off
me. “This makes it worth everything. Well, almost.”
I had to look at her up close. I held her precious face in both my hands. She seemed so fragile and tiny in the room. But she was alive! I had finally found her.
I called out for Sampson. “I found Naomi! We found her, John! In here! We’re in here!”
Scootchie and I folded into each other’s arms, just like old times. If I’d regretted becoming a detective at any other time, this made up for it. I realized now that I’d thought she was dead—I just couldn’t give up the fight. Never give up.
“I knew you’d be here, just like this. I dreamed it. I lived for this instant. I prayed every day, and here you are.” Naomi managed the most wonderful smile I have ever seen. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I missed you like crazy. Everybody did.” After a moment I gently pulled away from Naomi.
I remembered about the monsters, and the way they had to be thinking now. Still plotting everything. Leopold and Loeb all grown up, committing perfect crimes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I smiled finally, the beginning of a smile, anyway.
I could see some of the old intensity returning to Naomi’s eyes. “Alex, go. Get the others out,” she urged me. “Please let the others out of these cages he kept us in.”
Just then a strange, terrible sound echoed in the passageway. A scream of pain. I ran from Naomi’s room and saw the one thing I could never imagine happening, not in my worst nightmares.
CHAPTER 109
THE LOUD, deep-voiced call for help had come from Sampson. My partner was in trouble. Two men, both wearing ghoulish masks, were struggling over him. Casanova and Rudolph? Who else could it be?
Sampson was down in the hallway. His mouth was open in shock and pain. A knife, or ice pick, protruded from the center of his back.
It was a situation I had faced twice before, riding patrol on Washington’s streets. A partner in trouble. I had no choice and probably only one chance. I didn’t hesitate. I raised my Glock and fired.
I surprised them with the quick shot. They hadn’t expected me to shoot while they were holding Sampson. The taller of the monsters grabbed his shoulder and fell back. The other looked down the hallway at me. The cold glare of the fierce death mask was a warning. Still, I’d taken away their edge.
I fired the pistol a second time, aiming at the second death mask. All the lights went out suddenly in the underground house. At the same time, rock ’n’ roll music erupted from speakers hidden somewhere in the walls. Axl Rose howled “Welcome to the Jungle.”
Pitch-blackness fell over the hallway. The rock music shook the foundations of the building. I clung to the walls, and moved steadily toward where Sampson had gone down.
My eyes pressed into the darkness, and a terrible fear swept over me. They had jumped Sampson and that was no easy task. The two of them seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Was there another way in or out?
I heard a familiar low growl. Sampson was up ahead. “I’m here. Guess I didn’t watch my back,” he gasped out the words.
“Don’t talk.” I moved closer to where his voice had come from. I knew approximately where he was now. I was afraid that maybe they hadn’t left. They had just improved their odds, and I was sure they were waiting to jump me.
They liked to work two on one. They needed to twin. They needed each other. Together they were unbeatable. So far.
I inched my way along the wall, pressing against it with my back. I moved toward shapes and shifting shadows at the end of the passageway.