Steady… steady, he told himself.
Then he was inside and running. He hit the first set of stairs and went to the second floor. He checked each of the doors and found them locked. Where the hell were the kids? Then he remembered. It was the end of May. Finals had just happened and the summer session hadn’t started yet, which was why campus was so decidedly not crowded.
He dared to glance behind him, worried that at any second the police would come up the stairs. He checked three more doors, rattling the handles of each one, but they were all locked.
One of the doors he’d just tried flung open and a head poked out.
“Ethan? Is that you?”
He turned toward the voice. She was his height with an athletic build. She wore her dark brown hair in a ponytail. Narrow glasses did little to conceal her blue eyes. They were supposed to have met in the student union.
His heart stopped. “Shanny, I—” Somehow he’d guided himself to the science building where Shanny was a graduate student. The door to the stairs at the end of the hall was opening. He grabbed her by her shoulders and shoved her into the room, then closed the door gently behind him and locked it.
“What the hell, Ethan?” She stood stock-still, her features locked in anger. “What’s with being rough?”
“Shanny, get down. I’ll explain later.”
“Don’t Shanny me. What the hell?”
He got down on his knees, aware that any passerby could see into the room through the small square window in the door, see her staring in anger at him, and know he was there.
“I swear I’ll tell you, but you have got to get over here and be quiet. If they find me…”
“What do you mean if they find you? Who’s chasing you?” She crossed her arms. “Ethan McCloud, what have you done?”
The sound of footsteps grew loud outside and someone tapped on the window.
“Ma’am. Open the door, please.”
“Sure.” She opened it a crack and in a sweet voice asked, “What can I do for you, Officer?”
“We’re looking for a known felon. He was seen entering this building.”
“Oh dear. Known felon. I haven’t seen any of the sort. Is he dangerous?”
“How’d you know it was a he, ma’am? Are you alone in there?”
Ethan heard the boots shift on the floor outside as if the man were about to push Shanny aside and burst into the room.
But Shanny set the guy straight. “I don’t think you’d be chasing a girl. What I meant was, I don’t think a girl would be a known felon. Then again, I bet she could be. Women can be as mean and nasty as men. Just look at Lizzie Borden, for instance. Can you believe how many times she—”
“Ma’am, I have to keep searching. If you see a stranger let us know. He’s definitely dangerous. He may be armed.”
She nodded and watched the officer as he hurried down the remainder of the hall. Then she closed and locked the door.
“Known felon.” She snorted. “Dangerous.” She snorted again. “Armed. What kind of trouble have you gotten into now?”
Ethan stood shakily to his feet. He was experiencing the aftereffects of his adrenaline rush. “I can’t tell you.”
“Then let me get the nice officer.” She made to open the door.
“Shanny, seriously. This is deadly.”
“Ooooh.” She mock shivered. “Deadly,” she teased the word until it dripped.
“Please,” he begged. “Not here. Not now. I didn’t know how quickly this was going to happen. Part of me thought it was a joke. But it took them seven minutes. Seven.” He wiped his head and closed his eyes. “I don’t think I’m up for this.”
“Who is it, Ethan? Who’s after you?”
“You’d never believe me if I could even tell you.” Seeing her about to respond, he cut her off. “And I can’t. I’ve already put you in danger because I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“You’ve got to give me something,” she said impatiently. “You have to make me believe that you aren’t just crazy.”
He stared at the ground. He did need her help. And if she was the same person she was back in college, which he had no doubt that she was, then she was incredibly competent. In a moment of selfishness, he decided to tell her everything.
“All I can say now is that there is an organization called the Council of David and a six-fingered man and that one if not both of them killed my father.”
She stared at him long and hard, then nodded, as if to herself. “Okay. I’m going to get you out of here, but then you’re going to have to explain everything. Got it?”
Against his better judgment he nodded.
FACT: “Preeminent among the extraordinary articles ever held by a railway company is the fossilized Irish giant, which is at this moment lying at the London and North-Western Railway Company’s Broad Street goods depôt, and a photograph of which is reproduced here. This monstrous figure is reputed to have been dug up by a Mr. Dyer whilst prospecting for iron ore in Co. Antrim. The principal measurements are: Entire length, 12ft. 2in.; girth of chest, 6ft. 6½in.; and length of arms, 4ft. 6in. There are six toes on the right foot. The gross weight is 2 tons 15 cwt; so that it took half-a-dozen men and a powerful crane to place this article of lost property in position for THE STRAND MAGAZINE artist.”
—December 1895 issue of The Strand Magazine
Found several dozen websites that refute this as being real —Jonas
Of course they did. It’s a mass plan to discredit all evidence, duh! —Matt
FOUR
Getting Ethan off campus proved to be harder than they’d expected. Twice they’d attempted to slip out of the building, but both times they spotted surveillance. Ultimately they went to the basement and crossed through the attached environmental sciences building into Cristol Chemistry. Then, careful to avoid internal closed-circuit cameras, they followed a service tunnel into the Memorial Center. The student union was still open. They had a few moments of freedom before the cameras would pick him up, so while Ethan waited beneath a camera, Shanny bought him a pink hoodie, taking care to keep it in the bag so no one watching would associate her with the color.
They eventually found a blind spot, and she gave it to him. He immediately refused to wear it.
“No way in hell.”
“Come on. No dangerous felon is ever going to wear a pink hoodie. Now put the damn thing on.”
“But this will draw attention.”
“Not to your face. Only to the color.”
He looked long and hard at her, but she wasn’t about to give. She’d just turned her life upside down for him. Wearing a pink hoodie didn’t seem that big of a deal in light of her sacrifice.
They left through the student union entrance with a group of undergrads heading toward Euclid Parking Garage. Ethan noted several people positioned outside conducting active surveillance. It wasn’t something he would have noticed before, but with his ever-increasing sense of paranoia, he almost felt expert at detecting them. He forced himself to act naturally when they turned their gaze on Ethan’s party, but the group could have been anyone, and as soon as they were noticed, they were dismissed.