As soon as he had disappeared from view, Veena was off again. Now she was up against a time constraint. In the conservatory, she quietly let herself out into the garden, where she put on her shoes, then sprinted across the lawn. She met the driveway just before it entered the trees, and once in the trees, she had to slow to a walk in the darkness. A few minutes later, she reached the garage.

She unlocked the upper door and left it open to take advantage of the flashes of moonlight that filtered down through the trees as the night breezes rustled their leaves. At the base of the stairs it was nearly total darkness, with only a bit of moonlight visible when Veena looked back up to the open door.

She used the key to rap on the door. “Miss Hernandez,” she called out. “It is Nurse Chandra.” Only then did she struggle to open it. The door swung in to utter blackness. “Miss Hernandez,” Veena called again. “I’ve come to get you out of here. This is no trick, but we must hurry. I have clothes and shoes for you.”

Veena felt a hand touch her chest. “Where are the shoes?” Jennifer asked. She was leery, even though Veena said there was no trick.

“I have the shoes and the clothes in a pillowcase. Let’s go upstairs and at least take advantage of the moonlight.”

“Okay,” Jennifer said.

Veena turned and mounted the stairs, moving toward the faint, flickering silver-gray light. She could barely hear Jennifer coming behind with her bare feet. As Veena emerged into the cool night, she glanced back at the house. “Oh, no!” she voiced. Through the trees she could see there were now lights on. A second later, she heard something that made her blood run cold. She heard Cal’s voice yell her name out into the night.

Jennifer loomed out of the stairway, peeling off the bathrobe in anticipation of putting on the clothes that Veena had brought.

“There’s no time for the shirt and pants,” Veena blurted. “But you must have something on your feet.” She struggled to get the tennis shoes out of the pillowcase and handed them to Jennifer. Jennifer pulled the bathrobe back on and snatched the shoes from Veena.

“Why the rush?” Jennifer hastily questioned.

“Cal Morgan, the head man, has somehow realized I’m gone. If he hasn’t already, he’ll soon figure out that I meant all along to come out here and free you.”

Jennifer pulled on the tennis shoes. “Where should we go?”

“Back through the trees away from the house. There’s a fence, but it’s fallen down someplace. We have to find it, and we have to put some distance between us and this bungalow or we’re both going to end up back in that basement.”

“Let’s go,” Jennifer said, cinching the bathrobe’s belt.