Stealing Shadows - Hiding In The Shadows Part 23

"I know what you think." Daniels believed in nothing except what hecould see, hear, or touch with his hands-but Kane wasn't paying him toscoff, and he saw Daniels send a faintly apologetic glance to Faith a.s.she stood in the kitchen doorway with a cup of coffee.

Faith lifted her cup to Daniels in a grave salute of understanding, andKane decided she was holding up pretty well after having a monster dogtry to eat his way through a fence to get at her.

Kane, on the other hand, was moving restlessly around the living room ofthe apartment. Daniels watched him. "So let's talk about thatwarehouse."

And when Kane shot him a quick glance, he added dryly, "Don't think Idon't know you're planning to check it out yourself as soon as it getsdark enough."

"Somebody has to."

"That's a h.e.l.l of a big dog, Kane."

"Even a big dog can be handled-if you have enough sedatives and a hunkof raw meat."

"Unless he's trained not to take food from strangers. "

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

Daniels smiled slightly. "True. But before you start doctoring sirloin,let me make a few calls and find out what I can about that warehouse."

Kane went to sit on the piano bench and absently ran his fingers up anddown the scales to work out e of the tension his hands. "

Cochrane was the name on the building.

"I saw it. And I got the street address, so I should be able to find outwhat the place is and who owns it."

"I know who owns it." Kane began to play the piano softly, choosingwithout thought a piece he was very familiar with-and which had alwaysbeen Dinah's favorite despite her avowed tin ear: Beethoven's "MoonlightSonata."

"Jordan Cochrane and family. Mostly Jordan Cochrane."

"You know him?"

"We've met here and there. Not really surprising, since his familybusinesses include various aspects of construction. And since he'sbeginning a run for the governor's mansion."

Faith spoke for the first time since they'd returned.

"Construction again."

Kane looked across the room at her. "You noticed that, huh?

"And politics. Didn't Dinah say"

"That this story she was into involved business and criminal

elements-and possibly politics. Yes." Kane paused. "You told us you were

sure Dinah wasn't in that warehouse now."

Carefully, Faith replied, "I'm sure I would have felt something, being that close. But I'm also sure she was there, the night she disappeared."

"Then we have to check it out."

Daniels drew a breath. "Breaking and entering, Kane."

"I'm willing to risk it."

"Yeah. I thought you might be."

'You don't have to-"

Daniels didn't let him finish. "Are you kidding? in all these weeks,

this feels like the closest we've come to an honest-to-G.o.d trail without ice all over it. I'm definitely coming along."

"So am I." Faith kept her gaze on Kane.

He continued to play the piano for several minutes, looking at her rather than the keys, then broke off abruptly and rose to his feet.

"Faith ..."

"If that's where Dinah was held, where the where they hurt her, I'll be able to recognize the place, I know I will."

He nodded finally. "All right. You'll need a jacket, something dark. I

think there's one of Dinah's in my closet, if you want to grab that."

The dog had either never been trained not to take food from strangers, or defied his training in order to sink his teeth into the raw steak.

They had to wait a few minutes for the sedatives to take effect, but he

was sleeping peacefully by the time Kane picked the padlock on the gate

and they crept in.

"I don't think I want to ask who taught you to do that," Daniels said dryly.

A smothered laugh escaped Kane. "It was Dinah.

One of her shadier contacts taught her years ago, and she taught me last

spring after I got locked out of the apartment once. She made sure we both kept in practice, said you never knew when it might come in handy."

He kept his voice low.

Faith, walking silently between the two men, wondered if that was whyDinah's tormentors had bound her wrists with thin, brutal wire. Had theytried something simpler in the early days of her captivity, likehandcuffs, only to find that their victim was adept at picking locks?

"Yeah," Daniels said, "but that's a first-cla.s.s set of burglar's toolsyou've got there, pal. Should I ask where you got them?"

Kane patted the zippered leather case he had in his jacket pocket.

"It's amazing what you can get these days if you ask the right person.

Dinah knew who to ask."

"Uh-huh. Well, the warehouse is bound to have a security system,"Daniels pointed out. "How are you with those?"

"We'll see, won't we?"

Faith heard Daniels swear under his breath, thought he didn't sound allthat upset. In fact, it had already occurred to her that both menrelished this outing; after all the weeks of sifting through facts andtalking to people, taking even a risky action appealed to them.

As for Faith, she felt ... peculiar. Lost in Dinah's jacket, which wa.s.several sizes too large, and dwarfed by the two large men, she had anodd sense of not really being there. Or maybe that was because the soundof the water was back, so distant she caught herself straining to hearit, and that gave her a sense of some other place.

She tried to concentrate on the here and now, gazing warily aroundthrough darkness at the hulking shapes of the warehouse andoutbuildings, but the feeling of unreality persisted. Her hands feltcold; she jammed them into the pockets of the jacket. In the rightpocket, she felt something, and her fingers explored with idlecuriosity. A thin, flexible piece of metal. She had no idea what it was,but could not find the concentration to pull it out and look at it.

The warehouse loomed above them, and she tried to focus on it in anotherattempt to fix her consciousness on the present. But the faint sounds ofwater rus.h.i.+ng grew more distinct inside her head.

"Here." Kane had located a door into the ware- house, and his pencilflashlight examined it inch by inch. "As far as I can see, there's nosecurity system."

"They think the dog's enough," Faith murmured with certainty.

"Could be," Daniels agreed.

Kane shrugged, muttered, "In for a penny," and knelt to work on thedoor's lock.

Faith watched his agile fingers using the fine tools. She wondered ifthere was anything he had tried his hand at only to fail, and doubtedit.

like Kane seldom failed. At anything.

"Got it." Kane rose to his feet, putting away the tools and securing the case in his pocket, then cautiously tried the door. If there was any

alarm raised, it was a silent one.

They stood inside a cavernous s.p.a.ce illuminated by a few scattered yellow security lights. The place was virtually empty.

Kane glanced at Daniels, who shrugged and said, "Explains the lack of

any real security."

Faith was thinking of something else. "There are windows, and the walls don't look right. Is there some- thing below this level? A bas.e.m.e.nt of some kind?"

"Let's find out," Kane said.

Since it was easy to remain within sight of one another, they split up to search, and it was Kane who summoned the other two nearly ten minutes later. He had located a room, adjacent to the main warehouse, that was

clearly meant to house an office but currently held only an old slate-top desk and a wooden chair.

And another door.

The door opened onto stairs, and the stairs led down. There was a light

switch just inside the door, and Kane hesitated, glancing at Daniels.

"What do you think?"

"I think we're alone here."

"I know we are," Faith said, not even aware of her certainty until she