“I called Archie,” Susan said. “I left him a message. I told him that my car broke down and I saw you.” She looked down at the cold water. The light from the aquariums reflected off the surface, giving it a turquoise sheen. Don’t move, she told herself. Just don’t move. “He’ll come for us,” she said.

Chapter 48

CHAPTER

48

It was hard not to move. Susan’s leg was cramping up. She couldn’t stop shivering. How long had it been? Fifteen minutes, twenty? Her feet ached from the cold, from standing in flat rubber boots on concrete.

She should have stayed with the car. You were supposed to stay with the car. Everyone knew that.

Where was Archie?

“My leg hurts,” Susan said.

The blue glow all around them was not tranquil anymore. It made her head hurt. The black lights made everything look radioactive.

Heil was scanning the water. She noticed that he had a pattern, like he was tracing the spokes of a wheel. She hardly knew anything about him. Now she felt bad about that. She should have shown an interest.

He took his gun out of his shoulder holster and leveled it at the water in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Susan asked.

“I’m going to try to get to the door,” Heil said. “And if I see one of those things, I’m going to shoot it.”

Susan looked around at all the glass and concrete. Wouldn’t a bullet ricochet in there?

“Why don’t we wait?” she said.

“I’m going to try to get to the door,” he said again. He swallowed hard and slid one foot forward an inch, eyes trained on the water along with his gun.

He was going to get himself killed. They should wait for Archie. He was on his way.

Heil inched his other foot closer to her, to the door.

“Keep talking to me,” he said.

She couldn’t think of anything to say. “Do you like fish?”

“I used to.”

“What kind?”

He tilted his head at the north wall of aquariums. “See those weird silver fish that are shaped like little axes?” he said.

Susan scanned the tanks until she saw a dozen shiny silver fish with flat tops and large beer bellies. “The ones zipping around the top of their tank?” she said.

“They’re hatchetfish,” Heil said. “Good, dependable aquarium fish. They’re social. They like to hang out. Jump around. They’ll jump right out of the tank if you don’t keep a lid on it. They live longer if they have friends. So you want to keep a school of at least six.”

He was only a few feet away from her now, halfway to the door.

The water rippled between them. “Did you see that?” Susan said.

He leveled his gun at it. “Yes.”

“I think you should stand still.” She felt something move past her leg and she yelped.