Council of Peacocks by M Joseph Murphy Read Free Book Online

breath.
    “What’s the matter?” Jan very deliberately
kept her eyes off the dead bodies.
    “There are a lot of keys on here. I’ve no
idea which one opens what.” He stood. “Here’s the plan. We’ll go up
and down this hallway. There are doors on each side. I’ll open the
window on one side, you open the other. If you don’t recognize the
person, close the window.”
    “We’ve got to help them…”
    “No, we don’t. Look, by rights we should just
get out of here and leave everyone behind.”
    “By rights?” Jan narrowed her eyebrows. “Is
that what your secret agent father would do? Would he even save me?
Or would he leave me to die?”
    Josh looked at her and said nothing.
    “I see. Well, whatever you think, you’re not
your father.”
    Josh walked away from her. She followed and
grabbed his arm.
    “You’re not your father.”
    “I don’t know what I am. Not anymore.
But I know this scenario. My dad trained me for this. I can get us
out of here as long as you trust me.”
    Reluctantly, Jan took her hand away.
    They opened four windows before they found
Rebecca. Like Jan, she wore a blue dress and her arms were covered
with strange symbols.
    She wasn’t alone.
    An elderly blond man held a knife to her
throat. His pants were around his ankles.
    “Bugger off, Keith,” the man said over his
shoulder. “You said I could have this one. Leave me be.”
    Blood pounded in Josh’s head. He looked at
the gun in his hand. ‘I can’t risk shooting from this angle. I
could miss and hit her.’ He thought over his options. Then he
kicked the door. Jan squealed – instinctive shock. Josh motioned
for her to press against the wall. He knelt down, back on the
opposite wall, and raised his gun.
    “What the hell is your problem?” A face
appeared in the window, eyes wide with realization.
    Josh fired.
    Rebecca screamed. With a thud, the body
collapsed.
    He tossed the keys to Jan. “Try them all if
you have to. Get the door open. I’ll keep you covered. He looked up
and down the hallway. Sooner or later someone would investigate the
shots. But that wasn’t what ate at him. It was the look in the
man’s eyes. He’d seen it hundreds of times in horror movies. It was
the look every victim had when he or she confronted the monster in
the darkness. ‘And I’m the monster,’ he thought.
    Jan didn’t hesitate. It was one of the things
he loved about her. Most people would collapse in hysterics. But
not her.
    “Hold on, Becka,” she said through the
window.
    “Get me out of here,” Rebecca moaned. “I’m
not sure he’s dead.”
    It took ten minutes before Jan found the
right key. Once the door opened, she stepped over the man’s body
and tried keys on the manacles. Josh watched the hall. When she was
free, Rebecca fell against Jan, crying.
    “Move quietly,” he said as he bent down to
take the dead man’s knife. It had smudges of blood on it, blood
that had to be Rebecca’s. He wiped the knife on his jeans and
passed it to Rebecca. “We’re going to find Matt and get out of
here.”
    “What about Brian?”
    ‘ Crap’, he thought. He turned to face
her, opened his mouth and tried to think of the words to say
it.
    Her face went numb.” Oh,” Rebecca said. She
gave several quick, shallow nods, took a quivering breath and let
the tears fall down her face. Then her eyes glazed over as Jan led
her out of the room.
    ‘She handled it better than me,’ Josh
thought. He searched the dead man’s clothing and found a gun in a
holster attached to his belt on the floor. ‘But then, she didn’t
see the body.’
    They found Matt in the next room. Thankfully,
he was alone and unharmed. He still had his pants, but was also
missing his shirt, socks and shoes. Jan unlocked the door with the
same key that had unlocked Rebecca’s cell.
    Matt opened his mouth, his eyes asking where
Brian was. Josh shook his head and passed him a gun. Matt took it,
going pale as soon as his fingers touched the