"She's the enemy, Flora! They're killing all of us!" Andie said, "Beth, come out now!"
"Stay down, Flora!"
Andie yanked him up by one arm. "Come on, we're going in."
She kicked the door open. Beth screamed even louder. She was huddled in the far corner beneath a boarded-up window. "Leave me alone!"
Gunshots suddenly pelted the metal shutters outside. Just as Beth screamed, Tom whirled and flung Andie over his shoulder. She hit the floor hard. Her pistol slid across the room. Beth sprang from the corner and grabbed it. "Stop!" she shouted.
Andie and Tom froze, both on their knees. Beth was shaking and confused, moving the gun back and forth from Andie to Tom erratically. She wasn't treating Tom like a friend, but Andie still had to convince her she wasn't the enemy.
"I'm Agent Andie Henning with the FBI. Please, I'm here to help you."
"She's no FBI agent, Flora. She's leading the revolt. They've come to kill us all."
Beth aimed unsteadily at Andie. "If you're with the FBI, then show me your badge."
"I don't have one. I'm working undercover."
"She's one of the rebels," said Tom. "Kill her before she kills us both."
"Keep away from me!"
"Shoot her, Flora! You've already killed for us. Kill one more."
"I never killed anyone!" She looked at Andie, pleading, but still not convinced she was an FBI agent. "He's lying. He's trying to box me in."
"I believe you," said Andie. "Now just let me stand up, and give me the gun."
"No!" Beth shouted. "Both of you, just stay where you are!"
Tom rose and started toward her slowly. "Come on, Flora. You're one of us."
"No, I'm not!"
"Give me the gun."
"Stop! Don't come any closer."
He kept coming slowly. "It's time to break with the past. Join the inner circle."
"Not another step! I'll shoot!"
"That wouldn't make. Steve very happy, now would it?"
Her face flushed with anger at the mere mention of his name. It was clear he'd played the wrong card. He leaped toward her and reached for the gun. A shot erupted, then another. Andie ducked. Tom fell. Beth tried to speak, but her voice merely quaked. A pool of blood oozed from beneath Tom's twisted body. He didn't move.
Beth dropped the gun, almost threw it down. Andie slid across the floor and grabbed it. Beth cowered against the bed, sobbing. Andie checked Tom's pulse and got nothing. Cautiously, she approached Beth and gently touched her arm.
"It's all right. It's over."
Beth was crying as she struggled to regain control. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'm sure."
"Where's Blechman?"
Andie felt a chill. She didn't know. "Everything is under control," she said, doing her best to mask her own concerns.
Chapter Sixty-Seven.
The basement door squeaked on its hinge as it slowly swung open. Gus wanted to rush down and get Morgan, but he feared a trap. He stood at the top of the stairs with Carla in front of him like a human shield, the gun pressed to the back of her skull.
"Morgan, are you down here?"
The silence confirmed his fears. She wasn't alone.
He switched on the light. The single low-watt bulb barely illuminated the top half of the steep and narrow wooden staircase. Beyond the tenth step was total darkness, the bowels of an unfinished basement that smelled of mildew and gave up not a sound. There was only one way in or out--through this door.
"If there's somebody down there, I called the police?" said Gus. "They're on their way."
Gus waited, the seconds ticking in his mind. He actually had called the police. But the earlier screams had told him there was no time to wait. With a firm grip on Carla he called out, "Who's down there?"
A light suddenly switched on from below. A man was standing at the base of the stairs, the same attacker from Meredith's house. "We are."
Blechman, Gus presumed, the handsome young leader Meredith had told him about. He was using Morgan the same way Gus was using Carla, as a human shield with a gun to her head. Morgan would have been too small to protect his whole body, except that she was standing on the higher step and he was kneeling behind her on the lower one.
"Morgan!" Gus cried.
"Don't waste your breath," said Blechman. "She can't hear or see you."
A set of headphones filled her ears with music. Duct tape covered her eyes. A blessing, thought Gus. He noticed her hands and feet were tied as well. He pressed the gun more firmly to Carla's head. "Let go of my daughter, or Carla's dead."
"And where does that leave you?" Blechman said coolly. "Let her go!"
"You can't win this, Gus. Isn't it obvious? I'm holding someone you would die for. You're holding someone who would die for me. Tell him, Rosa."
"Rosa?" said Gus, confused.
"The woman who used to be your sister," said Carla. Blechman smiled. "Tell him you'd die for me."
"I would gladly die for you."
"See, Gus? Now hand over the gun and save your daughter."
"You think I'm an idiot?"
"We don't like to kill children," said Blechman. "Give us your gun, and we kill only you. Morgan goes free. Keep your gun, I blow your daughter's brains out right before your eyes."