Weecho: First Shots

Chapter 16 - Ghost of a Chance

Weecho twisted the handle. It turned. 

Let him into an empty dining room. He ran past the table and high-back chairs to a swing door at the other end, pushed through just as Lynch came in, could hear the footsteps behind him.   

In the kitchen now, cooks and waiters too busy keeping the party fed to pay him any mind. He slid past a big black guy at the stove, past choppers at the prep table, pushed through another door. 

Into the garbage room. Full pails ready for the dumbwaiter. Obvious escape, the dumbwaiter, sitting there open and waiting. Obvious to Weecho, obvious to Lynch. Weecho hit the dumbwaiter’s Up button, sending it off to an upper deck, like he’d gotten onto it. Looked around for another way out. Saw just walls and an open porthole too tight to squeeze through. Looked back at the open dumbwaiter shaft, at a pair of dangling cables.  

Ducked down, reached into the shaft and grabbed one of the cables. Like grabbing a greasy snake. Jumped in and wrapped his legs around the cable, started sliding down into the dark, still with the camera around his neck. Even if Lynch came into the room and looked down the shaft, he couldn’t see Weecho now, just blackness.    

Of course Weecho couldn’t see a thing either. Had no idea where he was going. 

Slid until his feet hit the deck. Or bilge, since he’d landed ankle-deep in wet garbage. His hands were greasy and stung, probably bleeding, couldn’t tell in the dark. He wiped them off on his tux pants and looked around for how to get out. Saw nothing but blackness. No sense of direction. Started inching through the bilge water, could hear rat chatter over the sloshing – Easy guys, just passing through. Went maybe three feet when he sensed some presence behind him.   

Turned around. 

Almost screamed. 

Nina Galleon’s ghost. 

As burned and bloody as she’d looked before, it was nothing to how horrific she looked down here, shimmering in the dark with her smoldering aura. 

“What are you doing here?” All he could think of to say. 

“My kind of habitat now. And I didn’t want to miss the party.” 

He could picture the pandemonium if she actually made an appearance. 

“I’m glad it’s working for you with Alex,” she said. 

“Alex is a little disappointed right now, you and Lynch and the smack.” 

“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll have a shot at redemption.” 

“Like how?” 

“Like helping you keep his fashionable ass solvent.” She nodded toward the bulkhead behind him. “Starting with how to get your ass out of here. Grab that wheel.” 

He looked at where she was pointing. Her aura was giving off just enough light so he could see there was a watertight door in the bulkhead, with a wheel in the center to open it with. He grabbed the wheel with both hands, tried to turn it. 

Didn’t happen. 

Nina said, “Wipe your hands off. Grab it tighter.” 

He wiped them on his tux pants again, gave it another try. 

Still no give. 

“This is your only way out,” Nina said, “so you better make it work.” 

He braced his feet, called up an extra jolt of juice, kept twisting hard as he could. 

Suddenly his feet slipped, Jesus, and he went down in the muck. Got up so quick he almost lost his camera.