Problem Child (Jane Doe #2) - Victoria Helen Stone Page 0,55
too much to risk trading it for prison. There are ways to make a point without committing murder. But Derrick sure would go down quick and easy.
CHAPTER 15
Derrick exits the highway onto a paved road, but a few minutes later it transitions to red dirt and isolation. There are a couple of turbines ahead of us now, and I lean forward to get a full view of them through the windshield, their giant metal bodies filling my vision.
My nerves thrum with excitement or maybe with the low vibrations of the spinning blades. Either way, it feels great. Just because I’m here to search for a missing girl doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have fun along the way.
Derrick drives past the nearest turbine and turns onto a track that’s barely there. It dips down into a small hollow, and two tire ruts of the trail climb back out to the base of the next turbine. He stops while we’re still in the depression and parks the truck.
I clap my hands. “Just look at it!”
He’s grinning like a little boy now. “You were serious about this, huh?”
“Absolutely! We can go inside when it’s turning?”
“We sure can. That’s no problem.”
Before he even has a chance to shut off the engine, I’m out the door and looking up at the tower. The beat of the blades is like a giant mechanical heart filling me up with happiness. “Let’s go!” I call as I head up the low rise.
I hear the jingle of keys behind me and then Derrick catches up and brushes past me to clang up the stairs first. I follow, making as much racket as I can on the metal grates just to entertain myself. There are twelve of them, carrying us high above the foundation.
While he tries to find the right key, I turn and survey the area. He’s right: I can just barely make out the highway from this elevated point. His truck definitely isn’t visible from any road. No one will catch us.
“Are you ready?” he asks as the lock slides open.
“I’m so ready.”
“Don’t touch anything. There’s a lot of voltage coming through here.” And then he pulls the metal door wide.
I hold my arms out, hands and face raised to the sky in triumph as he walks through the opening. I love getting what I want. Then I collect myself and follow, stepping right into the cool white beast.
The first thing I see are what look like banks of lockers. “Grid inverters,” he says as we walk by them; then he starts explaining that they convert the electricity generated by the spinning blades into some other kind of electricity that can be sent to a central location, but all I can hear is the thrumming power.
“It’s so loud!” I say.
“Ear protection.” He reaches toward a shelf, but I’m shaking my head.
“No, I like it!”
“Suit yourself.”
He walks me farther in, past the lockers, and I see a control panel with lots of numbers on it. I’m disappointed to find no spiral staircase winding up. There’s just a high ceiling. I point to a giant metal box. “What’s that thing?”
“Elevator.”
“There’s an elevator?” I hurry toward it, but he shakes his head at me. “It’s only safe to use when the turbine is powered down.”
“Can you power it down, then? Take me to the top?”
“There’s no way. An alert will be sent to the main station with my code if I stop it. Everything will be on the record.”
“A Please?” But I can see by the set of his jaw that it’s not happening. I don’t want to beg for something I won’t get, so I move on and wrap my hand around a metal ladder that climbs up the wall. Now I feel the real pulse of the robot deep in my bones.
I wish I could look up and see the whole chilling height of it, but the ladder disappears into an opening in a platform only fifteen feet up. “Can we go there at least?” I shout.
“We need climbing gear.”
“For that? It looks harmless. I bet you could catch me if you stay right behind me.”
He cuts his eyes toward the door, then up the ladder. His jaw isn’t set so firmly anymore.
“Come on,” I urge. “We’re all alone here. And I promise to hold on tight, Derrick.”
We both know he’s thinking of his penis right now, but he hesitates for one more valiant moment. “There’s not much to see up there.”