Chapter 9
Calliope
“Get up.” A bare bulb shines overhead and Ms. Mousy wakes me with a rough shake.
Huh?I squint into the empty, desolate bedroom. Maybe I’m still asleep, having one of those never-ending nightmares.
“Dress and be quick about it.” She throws a uniform on top of my blankets, swivels on her heel, and I jump out of bed.
“Wait? Bathroom?” I grab the clothes, walk to the door, and follow her down the hall.
In the bathroom, I pee, check under the sink, the vanity, and the closet. There’s a window but it won’t budge. Time is running out.
After dressing, I’m taken to the van, feeling my way in the dark. The engine starts, headlights go on, and a blue glow in the dash reads 3:00 AM. Tony Soprano’s look-alike drives us past the Lincoln Center, the Washington Monument, and turns onto a highway along the Potomac.
Two, huge black towers loom in the distance, backlit by the city. Atop, small red beacons twinkle, keeping air traffic at bay. This is our destination, the water treatment plant. Far below, is the entrance to the Blue Plains tunnel.
When we near the facility, the woman hands me a cell phone. “Enter your husband’s number.”
I type, hand it back to her, and she presses dial. With the phone to her ear, the van pulls into the lot. Hopefully, this trio will make a mistake soon or I’m as good as dead.
Even with the volume down, my husband’s shout carries throughout the interior of the van. “Oi? Who the fuck is this?”
My heart leaps, and I smile.
Ms. Mousy grimaces, her pallor gray in the phones light. “You have exactly five minutes, Mr. James. Text me the username and password for The Blue Plains control panel. Call no one. If anything goes wrong, I have no reason to keep your wife alive.”
“Let me talk to her.” His voice goes low and dangerous.
“You have five minutes.” She pulls the phone away from her ear, her finger poised over the hang-up icon.
“No proof of life, no password.”
Mousy frowns, lips drawn tight as she glares at me. “How about her screams when I rip your child from her belly? Will that be good enough?”
Without thinking, I grab the woman’s hand and shout into the phone. “Lucky, do as she says.”
Mousy pulls back her hand and the slap to my cheek is so hard I fall into the window but I don’t care. He knows I’m alive.
