“Can you open this?” she asked him.

“What is this?”

“An old bomb shelter.”

“In San Francisco?”

“Built back during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Can you break the lock?”

He nodded and pulled his knife out of his boot. Luckily, he never left home without it. He held the padlock with one hand, then stuck the knife into it and twisted.

“Quickly. I can feel my skin prickle. He’s close,” she whispered.

Gabriel didn’t question what she sensed. If she felt him close, he wasn’t going to doubt her. He doubled his efforts and twisted harder. A moment later, he heard a click, and the lock sprung open. He unhinged it from the door, and pressed down the handle. The door opened to the inside.

Darkness greeted him. “Are you sure?”

Maya was already behind him and pressed inside. “The sun is coming. Quick!”

He stepped inside, pulling Maya with him before he let the door snap shut. All he could hear was her heavy breathing.

Thirty-one

Yvette heard the dog’s hesitant woof just outside the entrance door. She could sense his confusion as he sniffed, wondering whether it was safe to enter. How she was able to connect with an animal, she had no idea, but she’d had the same strange feelings when she’d wandered through the streets of San Francisco a few nights earlier and had noticed how dogs had suddenly started to follow her. One had even gone so far as to follow her all the way to Samson’s house. Maybe she’d tapped into a gift she didn’t know she had.

“Here, doggie, doggie,” she coaxed from her position at the fireplace, still strung up by her wrists, the silver painfully burning her skin. If she ever got out of this one, she’d string Ricky up by his balls and let him suffer until he fried in the rays of the rising sun.

A look out the window told her she didn’t have more than fifteen minutes until sunrise. This was cutting it close.

The dog’s claws scratched against the wood floor as he entered the house. “Good dog,” she praised. As he rounded the corner, she saw him, a light colored lab with big, brown eyes. His head tilted to the side as if he was trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

“Yes, my boy, come here.”

The good-natured beast approached and wagged its tail. She spotted a collar around its neck. Good. He had an owner, and hopefully that owner wasn’t too far away. “Where’s your daddy?” she asked him in the same crooning voice she’d used before. She only hoped that nobody would ever see her like this. They would all make fun of her, for sure.

“Hey boy, how about you play Lassie for me?” If a TV dog could summon its owner, surely this Labrador could do it too. His eyes looked intelligent, his ears perking up as if listening intently.

“Good doggie, go get you owner,” she ordered. “Go get Daddy.”

The dog wagged its tail again. Did he understand her? Yvette felt sweat build on her forehead. “Come on, doggie, do this for me, and I’ll give you a big meaty bone.” Yes, cutting off a piece of Ricky would be just up her alley.

The dog took a few more steps toward her and nudged at her legs.

“Do it, doggie, go on.”

“What are you going to have him do? Lick the chains off you?”

At the voice from the door, Yvette snapped her head toward it. “Stop joking and untie me, Zane!” She’d never been so happy to see her nasty colleague than at that moment.

Zane stepped into the living area, his gait relaxed, almost bored. “Never thought I’d see you like that. Looks like you’ll have to finally beg me for something.”

Yvette clenched her jaw. “You little shit, untie me now.”

He laughed, and she froze. She’d never heard him laugh. In fact, she had always assumed he was incapable of laughing. But the rumble that tore from his chest was definitely a laugh.

“I guess that’s as close as you’ll ever come to begging me for anything, huh?” he ventured as he approached. He pulled leather gloves out of his pockets and put them on. For a moment, she was reminded of the gloves Ricky had worn and instantly tensed when he reached her.

“Now that,” he commented at her indrawn breath, which she knew he recognized as fear, “that just made my day.” His grin widened. “Who would have thought that you’d ever be scared of me?”

Yes, and for an instant she had been scared of him, but the moment he loosened the silver chains and freed her, the fear vanished. “You’re such a sick bastard.”

“Ain’t it grand?”