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Andy put his hand up to the bump on his head. It still hurt. At least it hadn’t bled. “What if she’d found a way out of here?” he said. “I should have been more careful.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Brent said. “We all assumed she was out for the night.”
“She put on that act, pretending she was sick, just so she could get out of your date. She’s probably not the right one, you know. We need to learn more about them so we only take the best candidates.” He shook his head. “I’m the one cleaning their rooms, delivering their food and supplies, emptying out their waste. . . .”
Frowning, Brent said, “I do my share. Besides, you know we can’t trade places. It would never work.”
Andy was quiet. Brent was right.
“Do you think Rider will punish them all?” Brent asked.
Andy sighed. “I don’t know. You know I can’t control him. Maybe he’ll just forget about it. He seems pretty excited about this next one.”
“But he won’t want the others to get ideas.”
“You’re probably right,” Andy said. “I guess we’ll find out.” He paused. “We’ll be full up again at six.”
Brent nodded. “Right. Sarah was released so we can bring in Alex.” He closed his eyes. “I hope Rider’s really sending the women home. Not . . .”
Andy didn’t comment. Brent wasn’t the only one who questioned whether they could trust Rider to tell them the truth.
Brent stared at him for a while before saying, “Shouldn’t I take out the new girl tonight? Before the new one comes? What was her name? Merrie? A nice name.”
Andy shrugged. “I’m sure Rider will let you know.”
Andy knew Brent was frustrated with how long they’d been at this. He was too. Could this new woman be the one Rider was looking for? The FBI agent?
He hoped so.
When Tracy woke up, the light was on, and she realized she was back in her room. Correction. Her cell. This wasn’t a room. It was a prison. At least now she had a better idea of what she was facing. What they were all facing. This was some kind of large house—almost a mansion. There was a small amusement park on the grounds, and it was fenced all the way around. Unless you could turn off the electricity to that fence, there was no way out of this place.
She tried to sit up, but when she did, the room swam around her. A reaction to the electric shock? Or had he drugged her again?
Although she didn’t get a good look at the man who’d come into her room last night, she’d seen his blond hair. Except for the day when she was taken, she still hadn’t seen her abductor. If she didn’t remember his drugging her, she’d almost wonder if he was a victim too. But where was he?
She tried to get up again. Still dizzy, but a little better. She looked down at her hands. They were burned. She was lucky to be alive, and she whispered a prayer of thanks to God.
Tracy looked toward the door. No breakfast tray. Not surprising. She expected retaliation, but she hoped the other women wouldn’t have to suffer. Still, this couldn’t go on. They all had to be brave.
She rose and walked to the door, and after sliding the upper panel open, she called out into the hall as loud as she dared. “Is anyone there?”
She heard several panels screech open, and a few seconds later the eyes across from her were staring, “Shh! I told you—”
“Listen, I got out last night.”
“Why did you do that?” came another voice from her left. “Now they’ll punish us.”
“How?”
“It’s only happened once since I’ve been here.” The woman across from her again. “We talked to each other, and they didn’t like it. They didn’t give us food for three days, and all we had to drink was water from the sink. Didn’t pick up the bags from the toilet. And they turned off the lights. We couldn’t see anything. Couldn’t read.”
“But you had this light in the hallway, right?”
“They turned it off too,” another voice said, this one to her left as well, a little farther down. “I don’t want to go through that again.”
“Look, I don’t want to see that happen either,” Tracy said, “but we’ve got to get out of here.”
