40

Whirling, Balenger saw a dark specter crash into JD and knock him down.

"Husband. Killed my husband." Cora had an ashtray in her hands, pounding. "Motherfucker killed my husband."

JD groaned.

Lights zigzagged insanely.

"Motherfucker." Cora aimed the ashtray at JD's teeth.

JD raised his arm. Taking the blow on his wrist, he moaned.

"Don't try anything, hero." Tod aimed the pistol at Balenger.

"Furthest thing from my mind."

"She's your date," Tod told Mack. "I thought you were watching her. Get the bitch under control."

"Pull her off me!" JD shouted, frantically protecting his face.

"Motherfucker. Motherfucker." Cora plunged the ashtray toward JD's forehead.

JD blocked it.

Mack grabbed her, straining to pull her away, but her fury was more than he expected.

"Get her off."

Mack yanked the ashtray out of her hands.

Now she pounded with her fists.

"I sure hate to do this." Mack picked up the crowbar. "A terrible waste."

"No!" Balenger said. "I'll do it! I'll stop her!" He lunged toward Cora, hooking his taped wrists over hers. She struggled to disentangle her arms, but Balenger twisted to the side, the pressure torquing her off JD. He crawled onto her, resisting her efforts to squirm away.

"I guess you're useful for something after all," Tod said.

"You need her. Don't kill her," Balenger said.

"Oh, I need her, all right," Mack said. "But afterward…"

JD came to his feet, wiping blood from his lips. "Give me the crowbar."

"No! You need her! You need all of us! The gold coins!"

"Are you still bullshitting about that?" Mack said. "Those gold coins, if they even exist, are worthless-we can't get into the damned vault."

"No! I think I heard the tumblers click. I think I unlocked it."

"From the start, all you did is lie!"

"If I can open the vault, if I can show you the gold coins, you're going to need all of us."

"For what?"

"To carry the coins! They'll be heavy. You'll need help getting them downstairs and through the tunnels. Otherwise, it'll take twice as long. You won't get out before the storm hits."

"You think there are that many?"

"Why else would Danata have put in a vault that big?"

Tod and Mack looked at each other.

"Do it," Tod told Mack, "while I make sure this bunch doesn't try anything."

Balenger felt pressure inside his rib cage. The force of adrenaline made his chest seem to swell, about to explode.

Still holding the crowbar, Mack put his flashlight under his arm so he could grip the vault's handle.

Tick, tick, tick. No past. No future. Now's almost over, Balenger thought.

Mack shoved down on the handle. He pulled. The vault door moved. Time seemed to stop.

"Fucking amazing," Mack said. He got out of the way as he swung the door outward.

Balenger's headlamp shone inside. So did Vinnie's. And the flashlights that Tod, Mack, and JD aimed. Thunder rumbled through the broken skylight outside the room. The hotel trembled. Then everything became silent. No one seemed to breathe.

The gold coins were in metal trays on shelves all the way up the right side of the vault. More coins than any of them could have imagined. Perfectly preserved. In pristine condition. The absence of dust on them made them seem to absorb the lights aimed into the vault and give off a glow.

But that wasn't what they stared at. It wasn't what made them gape.

"No," Vinnie said.

The stench of piss and shit escaped from the vault. What occupied all their stunned attention was a woman in a dirty, transparent nightgown, which showed her breasts, her nipples, and the triangle of her pubic hair.

For an instant, Balenger was tricked by the shadows. His horror mounting, she appeared to be someone he knew.

The woman's blond hair hung like a rag mop. Frail, haggard, in her late twenties, she cowered, pressing as far back into the vault as possible. A sleeping bag was crumpled at her feet. Candy-bar wrappers and empty water bottles lay on it. A toilet pail was in a corner. She raised her hands to shield her frightened eyes from the stabbing lights.

Balenger felt his knees weaken. He had the dizzy sensation of dropping through a trapdoor into insanity.

2.00 a.m.

41

"Jesus," Vinnie said.

Mack's voice broke. "What the hell is…"

As Balenger rose to his knees, he noticed that even Cora was stunned into submission.

Mack stepped toward the vault's entrance. His flashlight cast a stark shadow of her head. "Lady, how did you get in there?"

She whimpered, cowering with such desperation that it almost seemed possible she could push her way through the vault's back wall.

Mack still had the crowbar in his hand. "What happened?"

"For God's sake, you're scaring her," Tod said. "Give JD the damned crowbar, and get her out of there."

"Is he here? Is he coming?" The woman moaned.

"Is who here?"

"Did he send you?"

"Nobody sent us."

"Help me."

Mack stepped into the vault. Headlamps and flashlights cast his shadow as he reached for her. "Who did this to you?"

The woman gaped at his hand.

"Whoever he is, I'm not him," Mack said.

"… not him." The woman gaped now at the grotesque night-vision goggles dangling around Mack's neck.

"He didn't send me."

"… send you."

"But I'd sure like to know who the sick fuck is. Take my hand. Let's get you out of there."

Legs unsteady, the woman stepped across the sleeping bag. She hesitated, sobbed, and took his hand.

"How did she breathe in there?" Tod wanted to know.

Mack peered at the back of the vault. "Holes. Somebody drilled them."

"You need to…" The woman almost collapsed. Mack held her up. "Hurry. Get me away from him."

"Don't worry," JD said. "If he shows up, with us here, he's the one who'll need to worry."

"Thirsty."

"How long has it been since…"

"Don't know. No sense of time."

"Give her some water," Tod said.

She drank greedily, so desperate that she didn't seem to notice the white burn scar on Mack's cheek.

"Hurry," she pleaded. "Before he comes back."

"What's your name?" Mack took her from the passageway into the candlelight of the living room.

"Amanda." Her voice was raspy from not having been used. "Evert. Are we in Brooklyn? I live in Brooklyn."

"No. This is Asbury Park."

"Asbury…? New Jersey?" It was as if she'd been told she was thousands of miles from home. She frowned at the shadowy wreckage. "My God, what is this place?"

"The Paragon Hotel. It's abandoned."

Amanda inhaled sharply. In the candlelight, she recoiled from the tattoos rippling across Tod's cheeks.

His hand shot angrily to his face.

"You're not listening," Amanda begged. "We need to get out of here before he comes back."

"Who is this guy?" Mack asked.

"Ronnie. That's what he makes me call him."

"No last name?"

Eyes wild, Amanda shook her head desperately from side to side.

"What's he look like?"

"There isn't time," Amanda wailed, tugging at Mack to take her to the door.

"There are three of us," JD said. "Believe me, if we find him, whatever he did to you, the bastard won't be doing it anymore."

"Three? But what about…" Amanda turned toward Balenger, Vinnie, and Cora. Her gaze dropped to the duct tape binding their wrists. She moaned.

Thunder rumbled.

"To hell with this," JD said. "We found what we wanted. Let's go before the rain starts. Hey, Big Ears, were you telling the truth that the tunnels might flood?"