Untouched The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,69

The slight smell of construction was in the air; my old room was just down the hall, after all. I still had the faint aftertaste of Swedish meatballs lingering in my mouth and I hoped that when I woke up there would be more in the cafeteria. If there weren’t, maybe I could order them directly from the caterer. Or that nice girl in the cafeteria who thanked me. Saving her life had to be worth a few Swedish meatballs.

I stared up at the lightbulb above me as my eyes started to shut. They squinted as I tried to force them open one last time, but it didn’t work. I saw the light and it distorted and glared, reminding me of the rising flame in the darkness that was Aleksandr Gavrikov, hovering above me like what the sun must look like, lighting up everything around.

I closed my eyes, and he was there, on fire, just like all the times I had seen him but one. The flames flickered where his skin should have been, an inferno in place of flesh. I could almost smell the burning, taste the ash that should have been in the air. He edged closer to me but there was no heat, and for a bare moment I couldn’t figure it out, then I did. “Dreamwalking,” I whispered.

He floated closer, and I watched the fire recede from his hands, from his face. His dark hair appeared, then his nose and eyes. He looked less pallid than he had when I’d seen him in real life, and the world around us coalesced into my old room. Fire crawled up the walls, slowly burning around us as his feet touched the ground. The silence consumed me like the flames, surrounded me. He stood in front of me, staring into my eyes. “You said you would help me.”

I felt the burn of his almost accusatory stare. “I was trying to save your life.” I looked away, walked a few feet in the other direction, as though placing distance between us could absolve me of my promise. “Not to mention the lives of the others.”

His voice came back to me, cold and empty. “Did you tell them? Do they know what I want?”

“I did.” I turned back to him. “They’re not going to release her. They think you’re a dire threat.”

I saw the haunting in his eyes, the guilt in his face. “I am a dire threat. I am more than that. I am death; more death than they can handle.”

I didn’t blink away from him as he said it, but a part of it hit home. “Sounds familiar. I don’t think they’re going to just give her up on your say so, though.”

He took a deep breath, in and out, closed his eyes and smiled. “Then I’ll convince them. I’m in Glencoe. It’s only about fifteen minutes west of you. Tell them to come and see me and we’ll talk.”

Something about how he said it raised the little hairs on the back of my neck. “You just want to talk? Why do I doubt that?”

“I have a message for them,” he said with an icy calm. “Tell them. I’ll be waiting in the middle of town. Bring as many of their men as they’d like.”

I felt a chill of fear. “I don’t love the way you’re saying that.”

He burst into flames again, his brown eyes replaced by soulless, dancing fire. “Tell them. Tell them to come to me. I’ll be waiting.” He remained afire, but dimmed in my sight until he was gone, replaced by the light over my bed.

Chapter 23

Less than an hour later I was cruising west along a highway with Zack and Kurt. In front and behind us were vans, one filled with agents and the other carrying M-Squad. It was early evening, the sun was already down and a bitter cold had followed with the darkness. The thermometer on the rearview mirror said that it was already -4 degrees and I had to guess it was falling. We had streaked through a small town already and now there were snowy fields to either side as we chugged along the highway. I could see the lights of another town in the distance, and as we drew closer the car slowed.

“He said he’s waiting there for us?” Kurt looked back at me, nerves plain on the older man’s pudgy face.

“Yeah. You scared?” I didn’t put much venom into it, but I didn’t need to. His gave me