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Sometime later, someone knocked on Alex’s door, and the bottom panel slid open. A tray came sliding through the hole. Alex had wanted to open the panel at the top of the door and get a look at him, but he was past her cell before she reached it.
“You said you’d reveal the location of the missing women,” she called loudly through the slot. “All of them. That was the deal. This wasn’t what we agreed to.”
“I don’t know anything about that,” the man said.
“The FBI will find me, you know.”
The footsteps stopped. “I’m pretty sure they have no idea where you are. You can’t fool him, you know. It wasn’t cold, so why would you be wearing a jacket? It made him suspicious.”
“You won’t get away with this,” Alex said. She realized how cliché that sounded, and it made her angry.
“He’ll punish you for breaking that camera.”
Alex didn’t say anything else, just listened as he continued down the hallway, then closed the door at the end. Who was this guy? He obviously wasn’t in charge. She closed the panel, picked up the tray, and carried it to the table. She needed to think. To plan. She had no intention of eating the food. She felt so grimy. She needed to clean herself up. Change her clothes.
After taking the fresh clothes and a pair of new socks behind the curtain, she cleaned up the dirt mess she’d made earlier and then washed herself the best she could. After that she managed to shampoo her hair in the sink. When she was finished, she took the knife out of her boot, put on the clean socks, and rinsed off the boots before sliding them back on, carefully placing the knife back where it had been.
Next she changed the sheets on the bed even though she had no intention of sleeping.
But as she sat at the table, planning, she realized trying to overpower this guy could be a mistake. What if she failed? As much as she hated the idea, she needed to go on one of these dates. She needed a chance to profile both men. See if she could understand them and determine their weaknesses. A date would also give her access to the house. Although the prospect made her sick to her stomach, playing along with them made more sense. At least Tracy’s experience gave her the upper hand. She wouldn’t make Tracy’s mistake.
She decided to eat the food they’d sent, so she took the lid off the tray. Underneath it, she found linguine in pesto sauce with shrimp, still surprisingly warm. A smaller plate held garlic bread, and there was a bottle of water and the cup of tea she’d expected.
The food was delicious. She quickly downed the water but was still thirsty despite drinking from the tap earlier. Then she drank most of the tea. She didn’t trust them enough to drink all of it the first night, but she couldn’t take the chance that they’d think she’d thrown it out if she wasn’t sound asleep when they came in during the night.
After that, she put the plastic bucket with the bag from the toilet next to the door. She also tossed her dirty clothes and sheets into a bag and put that by the door as well. Then she covered the tray and carried that over too. She was a little worried that being submissive so quickly might make them wary, but she needed to get out of this room. No matter what it took. She had to go on one of those dates.
She’d been sitting on the bed for a while when the lights went off. Alex had a fear of the dark. She’d also been dealing with a sensitivity to germs for a long time, but she realized she hadn’t thought about that even once since waking up here. Why? Because she was focused on someone beside herself? Or was it because this room seemed so clean? Except for the dirt she’d added, it was spotless. Smelled slightly of disinfectant. Whoever cleaned during the night did a good job.
She fought the urge for a while but finally slid the top panel on the door open. Just the little light filtering in from the hall made her heartbeat slow and her breathing more regular. On her way back to the bed, she swayed and felt dizzy, then collapsed on top of the covers. Before she slipped away, she thought of Logan.
Logan was really tired, yet he couldn’t sleep. Where was Alex? Was she still alive? He wished she hadn’t agreed to the UNSUB’s instructions, but he understood. If he’d been in her situation, he would have done the same thing.
In a few hours he’d either get his life back or have to deal with one of the biggest challenges he’d ever faced. Up until now, God had always protected him. Would that continue? But even as he asked the question, peace washed over him. The Bible was so clear. Evil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. God gives life. Yet sometimes it was hard to hang on to his faith when darkness came. Would he ever just simply believe . . . without the struggle?
He thought about the redheaded EMT. Why did God send him? To stir up his faith? As a reminder of who God is? Or was God just giving him something to hold on to? Not because he didn’t have enough faith, but simply because he was loved.
He smiled to himself, then thanked God for watching over Alex and for a successful surgery in the morning. He still had things to do, and one of them was to tell Alex how much he loved her.
