Pandora's Box (28 page)

“Do you really need to ask why I ditched you?
 
I’ve already killed one person I care about.
 
The farther you are from me, the better off you’ll be.”

His expression softened.
 
“I think that’s my decision.
 
Anyway, you could have at least told me where you were going.
 
If something went wrong, if you got hurt, I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look.”

The concern in his voice pulled at her heart strings.
 
It had been a long time since anyone had cared about her.
 
Her father had warned her not to trust anyone, but she was done listening to ghosts from her past.
 
She pulled the folded paper from her trouser pocket and handed it to
Tyler
.

“Grainger gave me that,” she said.
 
“First he went on and on about how great Rico Boracci is, how the mobster saved his life.
 
Then he hands that to me in a sly way that kept the guard from seeing.
 
He’s in trouble.
 
I think Boracci has shown his true colors.”

“I’m surprised the guy is still alive.
 
Boracci is known to have a hair trigger temper.”

“I think Boracci must still want him for something,” she said.
 
“Once Grainger’s outlived his usefulness, then he’s dead.”

An old familiar whine filled her head.
 
It brought the sharp edge of a knife with it and together they threatened to rip her head apart.
 
She pressed both hands against her ears, but the noise was coming from inside her head.
 
Her vision blurred until
Tyler
disappeared altogether.
 

And then she felt the evil presence again.
 
It hung over her shoulder, watching.
 
How long would it be content to merely observe?
 
How long would it be before the thing ripped her to shreds with its sharp teeth?

******

One minute
Madison
was talking to him like a regular person and the next she flew at him with swinging fists and hard kicks.
 
She’d caught him off guard.
 
He went down on the motel room floor.
 
He expected a replay from the last time when she’d jumped on him and tried to kill him.
 
But this time was different.
 
She seemed out of control and confused.

It only took her a few seconds to get by him and out the door.
 
He rolled over, pushed to his feet and ran after her.
 
He went to the center of the parking lot, looked and listened.
 
For a moment he thought he’d lost her.
 
The night was too blasted dark with only a sliver of moon.
 
The sky was probably covered in clouds because it was starting to rain.
 
Not a light rain either.
 
The drops grew bigger and more insistent by the second.

Unfortunately the motel she’d chosen was on the edge of town where streetlights were few and far in-between.
 

He slowly revolved, his trained eyes scanning the area.
 

She was running at top speed, heading down the center of the street.
 
Lucky for her there were no cars traveling it at the moment.
 
Tourists were in town at the casinos and locals were either at work or in bed.
 
He had to stop her before she hurt herself or someone else.

******

Madison
tried to outrun the pain, but it stayed with her, keeping pace with her as her legs pumped in frantic rhythm.
 
Her head was splitting apart.
 
How could she be in such agony and not die?
 
She couldn’t think beyond the pain.
 
And there was also the matter of the monster chasing her.
 
It was right behind her.
 

She tripped and fell, hitting the road hard.
 
Her knees struck the asphalt and her hands scraped against the rough surface, saving her face from nasty cuts.
 
She had to keep going!
 
Madison
struggled to her feet and began to run again.
 
She darted down a dark alley.

“Hey, honey, where you going?”

Some guy in ratty clothes tried to grab her.
 
She realized he was trying to help the monster.
 
He wanted it to get her, wanted to watch it devour her.
 
She struck him in the chest with her elbow, hit him in the mouth with her fist and stomped on his foot.
 
While he yelped in pain, she did a flying kick.
 
Her foot hit him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards into a line of overflowing garbage cans.

“
Madison
!”

She heard a voice yell from somewhere behind her and new fear blossomed in her heart.
 
The thing knew her name.
 
With a wild cry, she ran as fast as her tired legs could carry her.
 

Where was
Tyler
?
 
His face floated in her mind for a brief second.
 
If only she could get to him, he would know what to do.
 
He would fight the monster for her.
 
She could trust him.
 
Only
Tyler
.
 

Madison
found a pay phone on the next street just outside of a closed gas station.
 
She jerked the folding glass door open and stepped inside.
 
She knew she was taking a risk by stopping long enough to call
Tyler
, but she had to do it.
 
Her gut screamed at her to call him.

She shoved her trembling fingers deep into her trousers, searching for a quarter.
 
Her pockets were both empty.
 
Tears welled up in her eyes, born from frustration, fear, and a desperate clawing loneliness.
 
She couldn’t do this anymore.
 
Not alone.
 

She grabbed the receiver off the hook and slapped the number pad again and again as if
Tyler
would magically answer if she hit them hard enough.
 
She cried, “
Tyler
?
 
Where are you?”

“I’m right here, baby.”
 
He pulled her from the phone booth, his arms wrapping around her.

Although her mind registered this was
Tyler
holding her, she kept imagining the monster, the thing grabbing her.
 
She tried to fight him.
 
Her hands slammed against his chest again and again.
 
He grabbed her wrists, spun her around and swept her off her feet.
 
A wave of dizziness flipped her stomach over.
 
She squeezed her eyes shut.

“It’s okay, baby,” he whispered.
 
“We’ll get you some help.”

His soothing voice reassured her.
 
She relaxed against him, content to be in his arms.
 
The pain in her head receded to a dull throb.
 
A dark blanket settled over her and she lost consciousness.

Her last thought:
Where did the monster go
?

******

Chapter Thirteen

Utter devastation.
 
That’s what
Tyler
was feeling as he waited in the near-empty hospital’s visiting room for word on
Madison
.
 
Every time he heard footsteps, he leaped off the center row of orange plastic chairs and eagerly searched for the doctor he’d briefly spoken to earlier.
 
What was taking so blasted long?

He couldn’t stop picturing the last time he’d seen
Madison
, her face pale, skin cold.
 
There hadn’t been a drop of color left in her cheeks.
 
Her breathing had been shallow, her pulse weak.
 
He’d realized something as he’d watched the doctor and nurses wheel her away on a gurney, taking her somewhere deep into the bowels of the sterile building.
 
He cared about her.
 
No, care wasn’t strong enough a word.

He actually thought he might love her.

Tyler
leaned back in the uncomfortable waiting room chair and stared at the tiled ceiling.
 
Each square boasted several rows of tiny holes.
 
He wondered how many people had gone insane trying to count them while they waited for news on a loved one.
 
Sighing, he patted his pockets for a cigarette before remembering for the millionth time that he’d quit.
 

Had he done the right thing in bringing her to the hospital?
 
If
Madison
had a microchip in her brain, what could they do about it?
 
Brain surgery?
 
There’s no way he’d allow them to tamper with
Madison
’s life.
 

Damn, too much bloody time to think!
 
He needed to do something.
 
He had to find a way to help her.
 
He glanced up at the doorway and like an answer to his prayers there was Dr. Grainger.

“How did you know where to find us?”
Tyler
asked.

“I overheard a security man telling Boracci.
 
They were watching her to make sure she left Vegas.
 
I had to sneak out of the house and borrow a car.
 
I don’t think anyone followed me, but I can’t be sure.”
 
Grainger took a nervous glance around.
 
He shook his head sadly.
 
“I was afraid this would happen.
 
It’s because of the chip, isn’t it?”

“You son of a bitch!”
 
Tyler
flew at the man, grabbed him by his shirt, and shook him hard.
 
“You did this to her!”

“No, I didn’t.”
 
Grainger’s head swung back and forth in denial.
 
His eyes widened in fear behind the glasses.
 
“Please believe me.
 
I only wanted to help people.
 
My chips were never meant to control people.
 
Unfortunately my associates don’t see things like I do.”

“
Madison
almost died tonight.”

“And she still might if you don’t let me help her.”

Tyler
released the doctor, temporarily appeased by his offer to assist them.
 
“What can you do?
 
Can you remove the microchip?”

Grainger motioned for
Tyler
to be quiet.
 
The man looked around as if he thought they were being spied on.
 
He took
Tyler
’s arm and steered him back to the plastic chairs.
 
They sat together, just two old friends consoling each other in a hospital waiting room.
 
When Grainger spoke again, his voice had lowered dramatically.

“No one can remove the chip.
 
It is too tiny and the brain is too fragile.”

“Then what the hell can you do to save her?”
 
Tyler
’s rage boiled below the surface.
 
He could quite happily snap the other man’s neck for creating this situation.

Grainger explained, “I can deprogram it and make it useless.
 
If it’s dead, then it won’t be able to harm her anymore.
 
Also no one will be able to use it to control her.
 
If someone has already programmed her to do something, killing the chip will make those orders vanish.”

“I don’t think she’s acting under orders right now.”
 
Tyler
chose his words carefully, not wanting to divulge too much because he didn’t know where the doctor’s loyalties rested.
 
“She goes into a sort of trance, becomes violent, and she doesn’t seem to recognize me.
 
Why would the chip make her attack me?”

Grainger scratched his bearded chin thoughtfully.
 
“Well, it’s possible the chip has shorted out somehow.
 
Perhaps when she was stunned on the airplane.
 
The electricity might have altered the programming.
 
If something is wrong with the chip, a variety of things could be sending her on a violent rampage.
 
Light blinking in a certain pattern or at a certain rate of speed could trigger violent behavior.
 
Or sound could make her lose control.
 
Although, I’m quite certain when she attacked you she was seeing someone else.”