Chapter Eight

            Beside him, Reece's radio crackled. Occasionally, a voice interrupted the static calling his name, asking for him to answer, but he ignored it.

It was dark where he was, dark and smoky. He could see small shafts of light breaking through from far away and their glow gave a muted, ethereal quality to the air, but it wasn't enough to make out any details of his surroundings. Even without the detail, however, he knew where he was. He was buried under the rubble of a building, buried alive. Again.

"Detective Reece?" a voice asked. The voice was closer, clearer then the voices from the radio. His eyes darted back and forth but he could see nothing. He tried to say something but the dust got caught in his throat. The voice called his name a second time.

"Maybe you hit him to hard with that stuff," another voice said.

"Quiet!" the first voice snapped. "It's bad enough she sent you to watch over me like I was some kind of child, but I don't have to put up with your prattling. If I need someone to be grand marshal of the imbecile parade, I'll call you. Otherwise, keep quiet."

"I was just saying that maybe you-hey! Don't point that at me! If anything happens to me-"

"Your mommy might hurt me. Yes, I know. However, my patience is finite. If you continue to speak, I may just take that chance. It appears our dear detective suffers form a very real phobia, not just underlying irrational one. From the way his eyes refuse to focus, I assume he is somewhere dark. Perhaps he suffers from nyctophobia or claustrophobia, or perhaps even taphephobia."

"What are those?"

"Look it up."

Something began to snap in front of him, close to his face, and Reece focused on the sound.

"Detective," the voice came again, "I realize you're somewhere you don't wish to be. I can help you get out but you have to give me some information first."

"Anything," Reece managed to choke. "Anything. Just get me out of here."

"Excellent. I'm glad to see we're on the same page. Where is the girl, Helena Kanly?"

"Don't know," Reece gasped. It was getting harder to breath. He could hear his heart pounding. "Took her to Gordon. Only Gordon knows where she is."

"Commissioner James Gordon?"

"Yes."

"Now I believe we're getting somewhere." The voice turned away from him. "You can tell her that I'll have the girl soon." It turned back to him. "Now, Detective Reece, I can help you with our problem. And I have a suggestion on how you can avoid it in the future…"