Ground Zero Part 43

Time for a change of tactics.

He heaved a sigh of resignation. "Okay. You got me. But you don't need the hardware. I'm not a cop."

"I never thought you were."

"Then who-?"

"You killed my mother!"

The words came at screech pitch, forced through Alice's clenched teeth. She looked bug-eyed scary, ready to pull that trigger, like she knew of nothing else in the world she wanted to do more.

And at this range, she couldn't miss.

So much for the theory that she was in on her mother's death. But if she didn't blame her father for it, then who-?

Later for that. Had to keep her calm.

"I killed your mother?" He pointed to Goren. " killed your mother?" He pointed to Goren. "He killed your mother." killed your mother."

"He did not not!"

"That's what everybody thinks."

"But you know better!"

Who did she think he was?

"Look, I'm not here about any of that. I simply want to ask your father some questions."

"Bulls.h.i.t!" That screech again. She inched the pistol forward. "She was burned alive and now you're here to finish the job!"

The new angle on the pistol allowed Jack a look at its safety ... she had it in the on on position. position.

Sweet.

"Easy, Alice, easy," Goren said. He faced Jack. "We don't want to hurt you-"

"I do!" do!"

He ignored his daughter and spoke in a rush. "Look, we could kill you here and now and get away with it, but I'm sure you've reported back already, and they'll only send someone else. All I want is to live in peace. You can go back and tell them I won't say anything. I haven't breathed a word in all these years and I'm not about to change now. I've proven I can keep silent. Please, there must be a way we can work this out."

"Don't beg, Dad."

Baffled, Jack said, "Who do you people think I am?"

A hint of uncertainty crept into Goren's tone. "You ... or someone connected to you ... you tried to kill me and my wife."

That could simply be the story he concocted to square himself with his daughter. But he seemed to believe it himself.

Jack looked around. "Did they ever film The Twilight Zone The Twilight Zone here? Because I feel like I just stepped into it." He faced Goren. here? Because I feel like I just stepped into it." He faced Goren. "I "I'm not who you think I am. Let go of my arm. She's got the drop on me. Let's discuss this like civilized people."

"Civilized?" she screeched.

Goren hesitated, then released him.

"Dad, no!"

Jack had had enough. He took a quick step toward Alice, saw her finger pull against the trigger, but it wouldn't move. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the pistol away and pushed her into her father.

"You forgot the safety."

He made a show of flicking the lever as he trained it on them.

Goren pushed her behind him. His mouth worked but no words would come. If this were one of the movies they tended to film here, he'd be saying, It's me you want! Kill me if you must, but let my daughter go! It's me you want! Kill me if you must, but let my daughter go!

Or something like that.

Jack popped the magazine from the grip, ejected the chambered sh.e.l.l, then tossed the pistol to Goren. He caught it and gave Jack a baffled look.

"I don't ..."

"Like I said: I have no idea who you think I am, but I had nothing to do with anything that happened to you in the past. I heard your name for the first time yesterday. I just want to ask you some questions."

"Oh, G.o.d!" Alice said through the fingers pressed against her mouth. "If the safety had been off, I could have killed you."

Jack smiled. "Trust me, lady. If the safety had been off, I wouldn't have made that move."

"How did you know to follow Alice?"

He looked at her. "If you've got something to hide on your computer, Wi-Fi is not a good choice. An investigator tapped into your e-mails."

"Investigator?" Goren said. "Who's investigating Alice?"

"Someone unconnected to whatever you saw down there or what happened after. Someone with questions about nine/eleven. I'm here to find the answer to one of them."

"Are you with the government?"

"Not likely. But let me get this straight: You didn't torch your house and you've been on the run from somebody other than the police?"

He nodded. "Don't ask me who because I don't know."

If Goren was telling the truth-and Jack believed he was-then Weezy was right: Something more than Islamic fanaticism hid behind the fall of the Towers.

Conspiracies everywhere.

"Maybe I can find out-if you tell me what you saw. Nothing you say will be recorded anywhere. Only one other person besides myself will know, and we won't be talking."

"But what value-?"

"It may furnish a missing piece to the puzzle, it may be useless. The fact that someone tried to kill you tells me it's important. So what do you say?"

Goren hesitated.

"You never know," Jack added. "We might bring down whoever torched your place. Give you a chance to get right with the law."

Though Jack doubted very much that would happen, it wasn't impossible.

Goren finally nodded. "All right. Maybe somebody should know. But I gotta warn you: Some of what I'm going to say will be hard to swallow. You may think I'm crazy."

"Don't count on it."

He turned to his daughter. "Wait for me down at the parking lot, Alice."

"I want to hear this too."

He shook his head. "It's better if you don't. I wasn't supposed to see what I saw, and someone tried to kill me because I did. You're safer not knowing. Go. Wait by the cycle."

She hesitated, then started to walk off. Jack didn't like the thought of her hanging out alone down there. He pulled out his keys.

"Here." He tossed them to her. "Sit in my car."

She made a two-handed catch and stared at him with a confused expression. He understood. She'd tried to shoot him a moment ago, now he was offering his car.

"Yeah," he said. "Ain't life screwy?"

She entered the tunnel with a couple of backward glances. When she was out of sight, Goren pointed to the far side of the quarry.

"Let's talk over there."

They found a couple of neighboring boulders and seated themselves. High on a hillside far off to his right, he could see the famous Hollywood sign. And directly before him, a familiar cave mouth.

"Ro-Man's spot! And the place where the Blood Beast hid!"

"Yes-yes." Goren looked annoyed. "Christ, I thought you wanted to know what happened in the wreckage."

"I do. It's just-"

"Well then, let's get to it. I want this over and done with so I can get back to Alice."

Jack sighed. So much film history ... he'd have to let it go for now.

"Okay. I know the basics. You were part of a team of four-"

"Right. Alfieri, Lukach, and Ratner. Good guys, all of them."

"And I know that Lukach called up and said you heard voices. 'Experts' later wrote that off as some acoustical trick, but I've got a feeling you're going to tell me different."

His expression was grim as he nodded. "Oh, yeah. Ohhhhh, yeah."

3.

"There!" Lukach said, his voice m.u.f.fled by the half-face respirator. "I heard it again. Listen."

Ernie tried but couldn't hear much past the roaring in his ears.

What was wrong with him today? This was his fourth trip into the foundation of WTC-4 and he'd been fine the first three. But today ...

Sweat oozed from every pore, soaking his hair under the hard hat, darkening his shirt, fogging his goggles. His heart pounded like a wild animal against the cage of his chest. He felt shaky inside and out, and didn't seem to be able to draw a full breath. He fought the urge to pull off the respirator mask. The dust down here could be toxic.

Something else was toxic as well ... something he couldn't identify, couldn't smell or touch, but he could sense it. It hadn't been here yesterday, but sweet Jesus, it was here now.

Or maybe it was because they'd never been this deep-seventy feet below street level now. Like the towers, WTC-4, the nine-story building that had squatted next to the south tower, had six underground levels. No one had wanted to trust the weight of the Trade Center to the sediment and landfill at the site, so they'd excavated down to bedrock for the foundation. That's where Ernie and the crew were now-level one, the very bottom.

He'd never had a panic attack, but he sure as h.e.l.l felt panicky now.

Why?

It had started as soon as they'd reached this new search area. A little jittery at first, then building and building until ...

"It's coming from over there," Lukach said, pointing to a pile of rubble. "And-d.a.m.n! Turn off your lights."

Alfieri and Ratner doused theirs along with Lukach, but Ernie left his on. He did not not want to be in the dark down here. Not today. want to be in the dark down here. Not today.

"Hey, Goren," Lukach said. "You deaf? Put it out."

Ernie couldn't tell them that, at age fifty-one, he was suddenly afraid of the dark, so he took a breath, held it, and hit the off switch.

Lukach's voice floated out of the blackness. "See? See what I'm talking about? There's light on the other side of that mound."

Light? Any light would be welcome. Ernie squinted through his fogged goggles and saw it. Faint as could be, a dim, barely visible glow lit the upper edge of that pile.

"Got to be another team," Ratner said.

"Yeah? Last I looked, that's east of us, and we're just about as far east as you can go in the foundation."

"Then who's there?" Alfieri said.

Lukach turned on his light. "Good question. Especially since there ain't supposed to be any 'there' over there. Let's go take a look."

No-no-no, Ernie thought. Let's not. Let's not go near there. Let's turn around and get back up to clean, pure sunshine.

But he couldn't say that, because he couldn't tell them why why they shouldn't go there. He didn't know. they shouldn't go there. He didn't know.