Midnight's Lair (8 page)

    He would need to keep her quiet.

    Kyle patted the pocket of his jeans and felt the knife inside. Moving his hand over a bit more, he gave his erection a gentle squeeze through the heavy denim, felt a surge of pleasure, and imagined sliding it into her. Then imagined the lights coming on suddenly.

    
Forget it,
he warned himself.

    Even if he had all the time in the world and could somehow find his way around the entire cavern, there was no place to get rid of the body. There'd be a search as soon as they got out of here, and she'd be found.

    Only one way to have Paula - she has to go along with it.

    

    

    'Just for the fun of it,' Darcy said. 'The pay's not good, but this is pretty interesting for a summer job.'

    'What's your major?' Greg asked.

    'You tell me. You probably have a theory.'

    Greg laughed softly. 'Majoring in tour guidance?'

    'Yeah, sure.'

    'The obvious, of course, is geology.'

    'Wrong again.'

    'That was an observation, not a guess.'

    'So, what's your guess?'

    'Psychology.'

    'Oh, come on. Only fruitcakes go into psychology. You think I'm a fruitcake?'

    'No, your head seems pretty well screwed on. How about phys-ed?'

    'Now I'm a jock. Thanks.'

    'Jocks are air-heads, right?'

    'You got it.'

    'But they're also physically fit and graceful, so you shouldn't consider my guess to be an out-and-out insult.'

    'Okay, I won't.'

    'How about a clue?'

    ' "It is an ancient Mariner, and he stoppeth one of three." '

    'Seamanship.'

    Darcy elbowed him.

    'Archery?'

    She looked at him with surprise. There was nothing to see. 'You do know your literature.'

    'I wonder if someone down here recently murdered an albatross.'

    'Not me,' Darcy said.

    'We could ask around. All this might be punishment for some kind of transgression.'

    'Right.'

    'As a matter of fact, I'm serious.'

    'You don't sound serious.'

    'I find it intriguing. You take life, a lot of nasty business goes on.'

    'I'll buy that.'

    'It all comes down to one of three things,' Greg said. 'About fifty per cent is crap that just happens, nobody's fault, just God or Mother Nature or Fate or Chance dropping on you like a ton of bricks. The other half of the bad stuff is caused either by human evil or ignorance. Evil and stupidity are about equal.'

    'Nifty theory.'

    'I think so. Now, you take our present situation, I figure the odds are fifty-fifty that we're victims right now of somebody doing what he shouldn't.'

    'Twenty-five per cent that somebody shot an albatross.'

    'Right.'

    'So where does that leave us?' she asked.

    'Right where we were before I started my lecture.'

    'Except I'm wiser, now.'

    Greg laughed softly.

    'And we're a few minutes closer to getting out of here.'

    'I sure hope so.'

    Darcy didn't like the sound of that.

    'Have you thought about…?' He stopped.

    'What?'

    'You said, yourself, we don't know what happened up there. We've been assuming that, whatever the problem is, it'll be fixed before long. But what if it's not? I think we have to… consider the possibility.'

    'Great. Thanks. I've been trying like hell not to consider that.'

    She felt Greg let go of her hand. He stirred beside her. Then his arm went across her shoulders, and she leaned against him.

    'I figured to give it a couple of hours,' she whispered. 'Then what?'

    'Then, we get our asses out of here.'

    'That's what I like, a woman of action.' She thought she could hear a smile in his voice. 'But how do you plan to accomplish this feat?'

    'With great difficulty.'

    

    

    When Paula began to sniff, Kyle thought she had a runny nose. Then he wondered if she might be crying. 'Are you okay?' he asked.

    Her voice trembled as she answered, 'Not very.'

    She is crying.

    'What's wrong?'

    'I'm just… so scared.'

    'Hey, there's nothing to be scared about.'

    'It's so dark. Why aren't the lights on yet? What's taking so long?'

    'They'll be on pretty soon,' Kyle said. He hoped not. It'd be just fine, he thought, if the lights stayed off for hours. Maybe we could even spend the whole night down here.

    He liked the blackness. He liked the feel of Paula, and wanted more. The moment the power came back on, that would end it with her.

    'Maybe you should try to take a nap,' he whispered. 'It'd pass the time.'

    'I don't think I could sleep.'

    'My butt's already fallen asleep.'

    Paula made a loud, wet sniff. 'Mine, too.'

    'Let's try lying down. Even if we can't sleep, it'd be a lot more comfortable.'

    'All right.'

    Kyle took his hand out from under her sweater. He felt her hand on his shoulder as he lay down. The chill of the cavern floor seeped through the back of his shirt. He rolled onto his side.

    'This isn't all that comfortable,' Paula whispered.

    'Here.' He touched her hair, then slid his arm under her head. He put his other arm around her back, 'Is that better?'

    'Yeah.'

    Paula's hand found his side just below the ribcage. But she didn't move any closer to him. Their bodies were apart.

    
A couple more inches,
Kyle thought,
and we'd be touching
.

    She's probably worried about that.

    He could feel her shaking.

    'Cold?' he asked.

    'A little.'

    He scooted himself closer. Her breasts pressed against him. He felt their warmth, and the warmth of her belly and thighs. Instead of moving away, Paula tightened her arm around his back and she squeezed him to her body. She sighed. 'This is nice,' she whispered.

    'Yeah.'

    'You feel so warm.'

    'You, too.'

    He wondered if she could feel his hard-on. She must. It was pushing right against her. But she didn't try to get away from it.

    
Maybe she likes it,
he thought.

    He'd never messed around with a girl his own age, never even taken one out, but he knew guys who had and sometimes they bragged about scoring. Unless those guys were lying, there were girls who put out.

    Maybe Paula's one of them.

    Even if she's not, Kyle was pretty sure that a lot of girls her age would let you do other stuff - everything but that.

    He slid his hand down her back and rested it on her hip. Her dress was a soft fabric. He moved his hand over it, feeling the curve of her rump.

    Her head moved. Kyle felt her face against his. Her lips brushed over his cheek, then found his mouth. She kissed him. It wasn't a noisy smack like he got on the cheek from his aunt and grandmother. It was a soft, quiet suck on his lips, and afterwards her mouth didn't go away.

    Nobody had ever kissed Kyle this way.

    She was a girl his own age, kissing him because she wanted to.

    
She must like me,
he thought.

    He pressed his lips against hers. He was hard and aching and wanting Paula more than ever. But there were new feelings: amazement, gratitude and tenderness.

    
This must be what it's like,
he thought,
to have a girlfriend
.

    But she'll go away when the elevators start up.

    It isn't fair.

    
I'll still have room 115
, he told himself.
And I'll still have Darcy
.

    
But I won't have Paula anymore.

    He felt a tightness in his throat.

    
Even if she does like me, she'll go away.

    
The hell with her.

    Keeping his mouth on Paula's, he twisted enough to make room between their bodies, and closed a hand gently over her breast. She made a small gasp and stiffened.

    'Kyle, don't,' she whispered.

    'It's all right.' He moved the sweater out of his way. He squeezed her breast through the blouse and bra. 'Nobody can see anything.'

    'What if the lights come on?'

    So it was okay with her; she just didn't want to get caught. 'If they do, I'll stop.'

    'I don't know.'

    He covered her mouth with his lips. She was breathing hard and trembling. He fumbled with buttons, opened a way in her blouse, and slipped his hand inside. Some of her breast wasn't covered by the bra. He caressed its smooth warmth. She moaned into his mouth, a moan that seemed partly desire and partly protest. Then Kyle pushed his fingers under the bra. She flinched and squirmed.

    'No, don't.'

    'It won't hurt anything,' he said, digging deeper into the yielding flesh until his fingertips found the rigid post of her nipple.

    She yanked his hand away. She held it motionless by the wrist. 'I told you no, Kyle.'

    'I thought you liked me,' he said.

    'I do. But… you're going too fast. I've never let anyone… There are people all around us.'

    'I don't see any.'

    'Silly.' She squeezed his wrist. Then she guided his hand through the blackness and placed it on her breast. He felt the blouse. 'Outside my clothes, okay?'

    'But your skin is so smooth and nice.'

    'Kyle.'

    'Please?'

    'Do you promise to leave my bra alone? And not go below the waist?'

    'I promise.'

    'Okay.'

    She released his wrist.

    Kyle unfastened the other buttons, then slid his hand inside her blouse.

    
Pretty soon she'll let me undo her bra,
he thought.
Pretty soon, she'll let me do everything.

    

    

    'She took your car?' Darcy asked.

    'And my stereo and VCR and all the cash in the house.'

    'That's awful. After everything you did for her.'

    'Well, she was such a mess,' Greg said. 'I was pretty upset for a while, but I was relieved, too. It was no kind of relationship. Once the shock wore off, I realized how lucky I was to be rid of her.'

    'Did you love her?'

    'I don't know. I thought so. At first, anyway. She was very attractive and vulnerable, and she needed me. There was certainly a strong element of sexual attraction. But putting up with her…'

    'It must've been terrible.'

    'On top of everything else - her fits of rage and jealousy and all the rest - she tried to commit suicide twice, and one night I woke up and found her holding a butcher knife to my throat.'

    'Good Christ.'

    'She said I'd put a radium bulb in the bedside lamp to poison her chromosomes.'

    'I don't know how you could live with that kind of thing.'

    'It wasn't easy. I kept hoping she'd get better. But she'd come back from the clinics and be fine for a while and then it would all start up again. I felt totally trapped. I really wanted her out of my life, but she was so dependent on me - I knew she'd go off the deep end if I tried to throw her out.'

    'Why did she finally take off like that?'

    'I don't have any idea. As crazy as she was, maybe she decided I was plotting against her. Maybe she met someone at one of the bars. I just don't know. I'm just thankful that she left.'

    'Do you think she'll come back?'

    'She's been gone more than a year, now, so I doubt it.'

    'And you haven't been… involved with a woman since she left?'

    'No. And it's been wonderfully peaceful.'

    'So, you've let your experiences with Martha turn you off completely to…'

    'Not turn me off, just make me careful. The last thing I need is to get messed up with another emotional crip - what's that…?' His voice stopped.

    Darcy tensed.

    Greg's hand tightened on her shoulder.

    She listened. The sound came from behind her - from the elevator shafts? A far-off, skidding rumble that reminded her of a subway train approaching a station. It grew louder, louder.

    Greg's hand darted under her armpit. Her other arm was grabbed and she felt herself being lifted, hurled forward through the blackness with Greg at her side until they stumbled over people who yelped with alarm.

    Greg, on Darcy's back, pressed her down onto a squirming body.

    She heard the roar, shouts and screams, a tremendous crash.

    Greg rolled off her. Raising her head, Darcy saw that she was sprawled on top of Beth Donner. The woman's face glowed with fluttering yellow-orange light. She had a look of terror in her eyes.

    'Sorry,' Darcy muttered. 'You all right?'

    Beth nodded.

    Darcy pushed herself up. She looked over her shoulder.

    Into the flames.

    The elevator on the left, its wooden doors blasted apart, was a closet of fire.

    Darcy squinted into the burning, twisted wreckage of its car. She saw no bodies.

    
That's something,
she thought.
At least…

    There came another roar.