Page 69 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

“Duck!” Mars yelled, dropping into a squat beside me, and yanking out his gun. He got two shots off as I struggled to pull my door closed with no leverage in this position. Mars fired more shots, eliciting a scream as one of his bullets found home. I punched the up button but these were manual doors. Crap. He reached for the elevator door with his free hand, pulling with all his might until finally giving up and using his other hand as well.

The doors closed slowly, but just as the gap got to six inches, he lost his grip on his weapon, and it clattered to the floor…outside the doors. He started to reach for it when another spray of gunfire slammed into the elevator doors.

“FUCK!” he shouted, snatching his hand back as he abandoned the weapon, and grabbed the door with both hands, tugging hard until it closed all the way, shutting us inside without a phone signal, but worse, without his gun. He turned and slammed a fist at the wall, cracking the wood before yelling in pain.

“Mars! It’s okay! We’ll be okay! Your phone has GPS.” I punched the up button and we slowly creaked upward. Not fast enough. The gunshots into the elevator shaft freaked me out. We were sitting ducks.

Mars ripped open one drawer, then the next of an old filing cabinet that had been left inside the elevator. What the fuck?

“It’s full, give me a ‘and to push it over.”

We shoved on it, and it crashed to the floor, then we shunted it over to the control panel. Mars hauled me on top of it. “They’ve only got nine-millimeters, and with the paper inside, it might stop the bullets. Stay against the wall.” Terror stuck in my throat as I gasped and he hooked an arm around my shoulders, pulling me tightly against him. He buried his face in my neck. “I’m sorry…I’m so fucking sorry, Cam.”

I nodded, breathing in the scent of sweat, and the tang of fear and adrenaline on his skin. Seconds later, he let go of me, noted the floor we’d gone past and slammed the stop button, leaving us between floors. He pulled a pocketknife from his jeans and pried open the control panel, yanking out a bundle of wires. The knife severed them and a shower of sparks arced out. I slammed back against the wall as I watched him work, terrified at our circumstances but also awed by him. He could have been electrocuted.

“Let’s attempt a call out.” He eyed up the old-fashioned emergency elevator phone dubiously. The second he lifted the handle, half the curly cord came away with it. “Dammit!” he cursed, chucking the receiver onto the filthy floor. He pried at the phone panel with his pocketknife as I watched, helpless to do anything but wait and see.

It took him a minute, but he finally fished out several more wires and instantly severed two of them, quickly stripping off the colorful plastic coating. He touched the bare copper wires together, and more sparks spat out. Mars grinned widely at me. He touched the wires together in short bursts. I watched him in awe since it was clear he knew something I didn’t.

“What are you doing?”

He shook his head. “Shh…gotta concentrate.”

I nodded as he went back to making sparks each time the wires touched. It took me longer than it should’ve to realize the short bursts were actually a pattern he was repeating over and over again.

“Morse Code?” I asked.

He nodded once. “Smart lad.” He went back to it but a minute later, I heard someone below us rattling the elevator gate as a disembodied voice filtered up to us.

“We have you, so you might as well come out of there,” a man called out. The sinister voice sent deeper fear coursing through me. “No one’s coming for you, Camden. I doubt you can call out, so they don’t even know where you are. The FBI agent in there with you, won’t be able to protect you!”

I exchanged a look with Mars but he simply reached out, pulling me into his arms as he dropped the wires. I instantly wrapped my arms around him, quaking with fear. If they could figure out a way to get the elevator moving again, we’d be totally screwed. They had weapons. Seeing those bastards of Josiah’s shoot at the car my mom had been riding in, had been utterly terrifying. Before that moment, I’d never seen what could happen when one of them was used, other than in video games. Somehow seeing it up close in person, was a hundred times more terrifying than watching it happen on TV.

“It’s okay, Cam,” Mars whispered. “Candy and the team will be ‘ere any second. We only ‘ave to ‘old out a few more minutes.”

I nodded against his chest, squeezing him tighter. “They were right behind us, right?” I asked shakily.

“Right behind us, luv. Don’t worry. Candy will be ‘ere.” He went back to signaling where we were.

What if no one picked up the message or didn’t know what it meant?

“Send out the kid,” a female voice singsonged. “He’s the one we want, Special Agent Clifford. We won’t harm you if you hand him over.”

I lifted my head, looking at Mars’ face with its deep frown. He looked like a warrior, so handsome and brave. If there was anyone in the world I could ask for to be with me in this situation, I couldn’t wish for better company.

“How do they know who you are?” My voice shook.

Mars frowned, shaking his head. “They obviously did their ‘omework. Did ya know Josiah had a woman working for ‘im?” he asked in a harsh whisper.

I shook my head. “No. Until the last few days, I’d only seen him with a couple of his bodyguards, but there was never a woman in the mix.”

“We’ll make it painless for him…I promise,” she called up to us again.

Hushed whispers drifted up from several floors below and I knew others had arrived…or maybe they’d been with her all along. Either way, there were more of them than the two of us. We were six ways from fucked, any way we sliced it.

“Josiah doesn’t even want your mother anymore, Cam,” she said. “He’s focusing all his energy finding you and it’ll stay that way, as long as you cooperate. Give up now, and things will go easy for you. Stick with your plan, and we’ll kill her too…slowly.” She laughed and the sound of it sent a wave of terror flooding through my veins. They could do anything they wanted to me, but my mom…now, that was a different story. I stared at Mars as he shook his head again.

“Don’t, Cam,” he whispered. “The manky cow is trying to scare you.”