Spider - Michael Morley [123]
Jack takes another step down the creaking wooden steps.
And then another.
Suddenly, the ground goes from beneath him. The whole staircase collapses.
Jack’s head smashes against something hard. A dull agony thumps through his back and chest. Nausea overwhelms him and he feels his mind going slack.
Fight it! Fight it! You have to stay conscious. Spider laughs louder than he’s done since he was a kid.
This is wonderful!
Pure slapstick!
The fool is like a clown in a circus, falling over things with perfect timing.
He glances at his watch.
Three minutes gone.
‘I don’t think Hubby is going to make it,’ he says to Nancy, who is still unconscious.
‘A shame you can’t see this. Your man’s final humiliation. It really is something to behold.’
Something even more delicious occurs to Spider.
He can make the child watch.
Yes, somehow that is even more fitting.
The child of Jack King forced to watch his own father’s humiliation and death.
Thank you, Mother, you always make things work out for the best.
Spider reaches for the boy.
But he isn’t there.
The child is gone.
Jack has no idea how far he’s fallen. The only thing he’s certain of is that he dropped both the knife and the gun as he crashed through the disappearing staircase.
Time. You’re running out of time!
He drags himself to his feet.
He can see light.
He’s facing the wrong way. He’s looking back up the stairs towards the kitchen. Jack turns around and waits a couple of seconds to steady himself and let his eyes adjust to the darkness in front of him.
Slowly the blackness becomes greyness and he can just about make out the basement door. He reaches down and feels the area around his feet.
His hand touches splintered wood.
Concentrate, Jack. Time is running out.
Jack wills all his feelings to the tip of his fingers.
Dirt, ground, wood, dust – metal.
Metal!
He has the knife.
He feels around for its blade.
Time, Jack. Time is running out!
Jack puts his hand down again.
No gun.
He can’t find the gun.
He stops searching and pulls himself up and out of the broken stairway.
In front of him, only inches away, is the basement door.
And behind it, the life or death of Ludmila Zagalsky.
Jack takes a deep breath and fears that it might be the last one he ever draws.
If the door is wired, it’s all over.
He crashes his shoulder against the wooden slab.
It doesn’t move.
He dives deep into his reservoir of mental strength and powers his entire weight into his shoulder.
The door creaks.
Jack goes again.
He feels it move, but only fractionally.
‘Aaargh!’ screams Jack, as he drives all his weight and effort into the door.
The lock bursts and he falls headlong into the room. His hands and knees slide along the black plastic sheeting.
Jesus Christ! What is this? Where the fuck am I?
Jack stands up and sees the walls and ceiling are also lined with the black sheeting. It’s as though he’s suddenly tumbled into one of his own nightmares. And then he sees her. The naked, dying body of Ludmila Zagalsky, spreadeagled before him. The woman he’s been instructed to kill.
Spider makes no effort to chase after the child. Instead, his finger hovers over the button on the remote detonator, itching to trigger the electronic charges and blow the house to kingdom come.
He watches as Jack checks the girl’s chains and smiles as he sees him discover that they’re attached to thick, metal hoops that are screwed into the basement’s concrete floor.
Four minutes gone.
Spider turns the detonator over and over in his hand.
Wait, Spider. It will be all the more special if you control yourself and wait.
‘That’s my knife, King,’ he says jokingly as the light glints off the steel in Jack’s hand. ‘You really have no right to be borrowing things without my permission.’
Spider watches eagerly as Jack cuts through the leather restraints on Sugar’s hands and legs.
He’s not going to kill her; the fool is going to free her, just as expected.
He glances