Page 62 of The Chain

He falls forward and lands with a sort of pathetic clump on the edge of the mattress.

She has no idea where on the head she’s hit him but it has done the trick, all right. He’s out.

Now she knows she’s in a race against time.

She has to flip him over, get the handcuff key out of his pocket, uncuff herself, and run up the steps.

Out in the yard, there could be a dog or the woman or anything. She’ll have the gun. She’ll have to shoot. If there’s no one there, she’ll have to run straight for the fence as fast as she can. If she’s in the part of New Hampshire she thinks she is, it’ll be marshy and boggy, but if she keeps going east, she’ll hit I-95 or Route 1 or the ocean. She’ll keep going even if they yell at her to stop.

He’s a heavy man but she manages to roll him over onto his back, pushing on his sweaty chest and his armpits that smell like onions.

She takes the gun out of his waistband and searches in all his pockets for the keyto the handcuffs.

No wallet, no ID, no nothing, but especially no key.

She searches again just to be sure. He’s wearing old-fashioned brown slacks with deep pockets, but they’re totally empty. There are no rear pockets in the pants, but his shirt has a pocket at the front. It would be the perfect place to hide a handcuff key.

Yes!she thinks, but there’s no key there either.Damn it.

On to plan B. Kylie examines the gun. There are six bullets in the cylinder.OK,she thinks,all he has to do is wake up.

A minute goes by.

Two.

Oh my God, has she killed him? All she did was hit him with a wrench. That didn’t kill people in the movies. She didn’t mean to kill—

The man begins to stir.

“Oh, my head,” he says, smiling weakly. “Right in the noggin. You got me good.”

He groans, and after a few seconds he sits up and looks at her. She has the gun in her hand. The loaded gun.

“What did you hit me with?” he asks. He puts his hands under the ski mask and rubs his eyes, moaning.

“I found a wrench on the floor,” Kylie says.

“What wrench?”

Kylie holds up the wrench in her left hand.

“Oh, wow. How did we miss that?”

“It was under the boiler.”

“Impossible! I checked this room.”

“You had to be in a certain spot at a certain time. I remembered what Howard Carter said when he found King Tut’s tomb. You have to be looking, not just seeing.”

The man nods. “I like that. You’re very smart, Kylie. All right, so what is supposed to happen next in your plan?”

“I’ve searched you. You don’t have the key to the handcuffs, butshemust. I want you to yell for her and tell her to bring the handcuff key.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll shoot you.”

“Do you think you’re capable of doing that?”