Already Gone

– 44 –



I hear several more gunshots as I hurry down the stairs, taking them two at a time. Every muscle in my body screams at me to stop, but I ignore the pain.

Halfway down my foot slips and I fall backward, hitting the stairs hard, then there’s nothing. When I open my eyes again, I’m lying at the foot of the stairs, staring up at a dark ceiling, my vision fading in and out.

Gabby’s gun is lying next to me. I reach over to pick it up, then feel hands on my shirt, lifting me, slamming me against the wall.

Alek Pavel is in front of me, holding me up. One of his hands moves to my neck, and I feel my feet leave the ground. I can’t breathe.

He watches me struggle, silent.

I grab his hand and try to pull away, but my ribs shift in my chest, and I don’t have the strength.

Alek’s breath smells like peppermint and sour milk.

He leans in, whispers, “This isn’t over between us.”

My legs twitch, slapping against the wall.

I can’t stop them, and I close my eyes.

Behind the slow rhythm of Alek’s breathing, I hear a soft click. Then my feet touch the ground and he lets go.

I can breathe again.

I look up and see Gabby standing behind Alek with a small pistol pointed at a spot just behind his left ear.

For a minute, there’s only silence. Then Gabby says, “I don’t want to break our deal, but if you won’t honor it, I won’t have a choice.”

Alek turns, and Gabby takes a step back.

“You will control this one,” Alek says. “Or I will.”

Gabby lowers the gun, slow.

Alek walks through the door leading out to the loading dock. He doesn’t look back.

I lean forward, bracing my hands against my knees, waiting for my breath to return.

Gabby slides the gun into the back of his belt and says, “Come on, let’s go.”

“But Diane—”

He turns on me, fast, and I can’t help but flinch.

“Enough! You stick with me, or you’re on your own.”

I swallow, taste blood. If I don’t follow him, I have no doubt about what will happen. Right now, Gabby is my only chance of finding Diane and getting away.

“What’s it going to be, Jake?”

“I’m with you.”

He nods, then walks through the door to the loading dock.

I follow him, and when we step out by the freight elevator, my legs stop moving. No matter how hard I try, I can’t take another step.

“My God.”

Two of Briggs’s men are dead, their bodies stacked on the loading dock just outside the elevator. Hull is still lying where he fell in the parking lot, and Alek Pavel is kneeling over him, searching his pockets as the snow falls soft around him.

I don’t see Diane or Briggs.

“Where is she?”

Gabby presses the call button on the elevator, then looks up at the floor light above the doors. He doesn’t answer me right away.

I ask again.

“Don’t worry, they’ll bring her in.”

I look down at one of the men lying on the dock next to the elevator. His eyes are open, staring at me, his lips twitching. There is a wide hole in his stomach, and the blood leaking out looks black.

The elevator stops. Gabby pulls the doors open and steps inside. “Let’s go, Jake.”

It takes a second to turn away, but I do.

I stand next to Gabby as the elevator doors close.

Neither of us says a word.





When the doors open, the heat hits me hard, pushing me back. The air in the basement smells like gas, making it hard to breathe.

Gabby doesn’t seem to notice.

I follow him out.

The sliding metal doors separating the main basement from the oven room are open, and I see the orange light from the flames climb the cement walls and cut into the shadows, revealing a spider web of pipes overhead.

Mathew Pavel is standing next to the oven with two of Gabby’s men, all three trying to lift Carlos’s body onto a metal rack in front of the open oven door.

I can’t turn away.

Gabby walks to the desk in the corner, then takes the gun out of his belt and sits down. He runs a hand over his face and through his hair. He stares at me.

“How hard are you going to make this?”

I’m focused on the flames, and I don’t answer him.

“You really don’t see it, do you?”

In the oven room, the three of them manage to get Carlos on the rack, then slide him into the oven. Once he’s inside, they close the metal door and press down on the handle, locking it in place.

“What are you talking about?”

“Your wife, Jake.”

One of Gabby’s men slides a lever on the side of the oven. There is a soft hiss of gas, then a low rush of fire.

I turn away and look at Gabby.

“Nothing you say is going to make me believe she’s working with Briggs,” I say. “Nothing.”

“I shouldn’t have to say anything to convince you.”

“I should just take your word for it?”

“You’re goddamn right, you should.” He frowns. “Don’t you think you can trust me, Jake?”

There’s an edge to the question, and I know I have to be careful. “I trust you,” I say. “But I know you, and you always have to be right, even when you’re not.” I hesitate. “And you’re wrong about her.”

Gabby laughs. I don’t like the sound.

The light above the elevator flashes and the doors open. Two of Gabby’s men are inside, standing next to three bodies. I feel my chest clench, and for a second I think one of them is Diane, but it’s not.

I listen to the blood pulsing behind my ears and try to focus. I recognize two of the bodies as the men lying outside the elevator upstairs on the dock.

The third is Hull.

Matthew comes over and helps the other two pull the bodies out of the elevator and move them to the oven.

Gabby watches.

When they’re gone, he looks up at me and says, “You need to prepare yourself for what’s coming.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see his men lift one of the bodies onto the metal rack.

I already know, but I ask anyway.

“What’s coming?”

The men slide the rack into the oven and close the door.

“You’re leaving here alone tonight.” He pauses. “I’m sorry, but it’s out of my hands. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

In the next room, one of the men pulls the lever, and I hear the soft hiss of gas followed by the familiar hiss of fire. Something slams against the door, and an instant later, the screaming starts. The sound is flat, muted.

One of Gabby’s men runs forward, reaching for the door.

Mathew holds out his hand, stopping him.

The screaming stops as fast as it started, leaving only the hollow roar of the flames.

The floor under me shifts, and I reach out for something to brace myself on.

“Are you listening to me?”

“He was still alive!”

“Yes,” Gabby says. “And now he’s not.”

I want to say something, but the words don’t come.

“You need to listen to me.” He points to the oven. “If you don’t, they’re going to throw you in there and I won’t be able to stop them. My ass is on the line here, too. I can’t help you this time.”

I open my mouth to speak, but my throat burns. All I can say is, “I can’t leave her.”

Gabby gets up and puts a hand on my shoulder. “But you will.” He turns and walks into the oven room, leaving me alone.

Beside me, the elevator light flashes.

I step closer.

I tell myself that when the doors open, I’m going to make a run for it. I’m going to go back up and find Diane, then I’m getting her away from here, even if we have to jump the gate to get out.

The elevator stops. I close my eyes and breathe deep. All my muscles are tight, ready to go. Then the doors slide open, and I hear voices.

I open my eyes.