The Great Below

The Error - Part 1

Alex sat facing a dark row of hedges, his back against the neighbor's side-yard shed. He and Nick watched the lit windows of their target's house. A sort of play was being acted out by the inhabitants in silhouette. And much like at an actual play, they were having a hard time mustering up enthusiasm from the audience.

"I think I have mud on my pants," Nick said.

Alex preferred to focus on the task at hand: the tense waiting, the fear of being discovered and even the chill that crept in through the mud they were likely sitting in. Anything, if it would tune out what he feared was his final interaction with Octavia.

"There," Nick said, pointing. "The bedroom light just went out."

Alex set the timer on his watch. The average person fell asleep between twenty and thirty minutes after going to bed. At least the wait was nearly over.

"Is Octavia trying to leave with Victor?" Nick asked.

"It makes sense," Alex whispered. "He's already proven to her that he can break out. It doesn't force me to disobey Dominic. She gets to live and better than that – she's free."

"Dominic wouldn't let them go, and even if he did, she'd still be with Victor. At best, she's right back where she started."

Alex pictured Octavia, her hands stuffed in the pockets of that sweatshirt. "Does she have any resources, if she wanted revenge on him?" he asked.

"I gave her my keys. She needed a place to crash this afternoon and I didn't feel right turning her away."

"Just your room key?"

"I knew we were taking your car tonight, so I gave her the ring. She can't use the car key unless she gets outside, and I don't see how Victor could get her out of there without the two of us to manipulate." He looked down, considering the blow his words dealt. "Did you give her anything?"

"Just the clothes she's wearing," Alex replied.

"She didn't sneak the gun from your holster again?"

Alex smiled reflexively, remembering the early night in which she'd frightened him with her resourcefulness. An alarm clock, a pocket knife and a gun, all stolen in one evening. He hadn't even known—

"Shit," Nick said.

"What is it?"

"There is a spare piece hidden in my room. She might have found it by now."

"If she has it, Victor has it." Alex was starting to panic, checking the clock on his phone and debating trying to race back.

"Or it could protect her from Victor," Nick insisted. "She knows how to handle a gun."

A new light came on in the kitchen window next to the garage. A much-needed lucky break. Alex looked down at his timer, which hadn't quite hit fifteen minutes yet, but the head and shoulders of a robe-clad figure appeared, opening the refrigerator. "He knows," Alex said.

"He doesn't know. Sometimes I think they feel it."

"Like animals before an earthquake," Alex replied.

Nick began to rise, brushing himself off. "Or he could just be hungry. Let's move."

#

Victor hadn't spent much time creating a viable excuse to see Dominic, which was good, because he didn't end up needing one. He just forced himself to knock politely at Dominic's office door at the appropriate time – a solid thirty minutes after seeing Nick and Alex leave – and tried to stay calm.