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Had it really only been thirty minutes? Had it already been that long? I actually had no idea; I’d lost all concept of time in this dark hole. The hole I was going to get out of.
Positive thoughts. If I could think it, I could make it happen.
Fear still pushed at me, urging me to give in. But I’d already come too far. In just a few moments I’d be out of these ropes. I could feel I was near the end.
Should I rip off the brain monitor? I considered my options. It felt invasive beyond belief that they were watching my brain waves, but I could be shooting myself in the foot if I did something so drastic, practically inviting them to come check on me.
What if there were no cameras? These guys were cocky. I didn’t need Ella’s profiling skills to get a pretty good idea of how they ticked. They worked in the shadows. They liked situations that made them feel powerful. I thought about the lights and masks. They liked to put on a show. They wanted to drive fear into the hearts of their victims. They were bullies.
And bullies were almost always overconfident. They would love the power of a brain monitor, but might overlook something as mundane as cameras.
So I wouldn’t touch the brain monitor. I had to keep the element of surprise as long as I could.
If they knew I was free, I had to assume all ten men would come in at once, along with any reinforcements I hadn’t met yet. I’d tried to survey them during their song and dance earlier, and they were all able-bodied men. Nearly all of them had at least fifty pounds on me.
But I’d fought off bigger men before. Even multiple men. Maybe never ten at one time, but I had this chair.
I wriggled my leg and sure enough, I could feel both my knife and gun holsters empty.
I didn’t have a weapon, but I could still do this. I hadn’t been beaten up for hours on end, training for this very moment, just to falter now.
The last of the rope loosened and I knew that one final tug would free both my hands and feet.
Suddenly I heard the heavy tread of footsteps—they sounded like they were just outside my door. They’d seen me. They knew I was trying to escape. My muscles tensed as I waited for the door to open. I would throw off my ropes and give them the fight of a lifetime.
But my door didn’t move. Instead, voices started yelling, followed by many more footsteps.
Were they all coming for me? My heart beat loudly against my chest as I waited for who knew what. Hating that I was a sitting duck, I threw off my ropes and crouched behind my chair, as ready as I could be. I considered booking it for the door, but I knew the door swung inward. If that heavy metal door was thrown open while I was behind it . . . well, that was one injury I didn’t need to start with. So I stayed behind the chair, hands clenched on it, ready to use it as a weapon.
“Now!” was the only word I could make out between all of the yelling. The footsteps grew fainter, as though they were retreating.
Were they all leaving?
Would they actually leave me behind?
Where were they going?
A bright thought lit my mind. All of the yelling I’d heard . . . it had sounded like panic. Could someone be here to save me?
That was too high a hope and I forced myself to banish it. I couldn’t think like that if I wanted to make it out of here. Maybe I’d been saved, but more likely I hadn’t. I had to be prepared for the latter.
As quickly as all the noise had started, it ended. The place was eerily silent once more. Were they coming for me now? I wondered nervously if I should alter my plan. Not that it was a good one, but I didn’t know how to change it. I knew nothing other than the brief clues I’d gathered from the sounds: shouting, followed by what sounded like people leaving. If so, I’d gotten lucky beyond belief. But if they were right beyond that door, about to take me elsewhere, I knew I had to be ready.
So it was time to put my plan into motion. I was going to get to that door, pick the lock with the bobby pin in my hair and hope that I could get out of the room before anyone descended. I’d have to listen carefully for footsteps so the door wouldn’t slam open and knock me out. And then I would fight like hell.
I had to assume people were still here. Monitoring me. Waiting for me. It didn’t make sense that after all their care in securing me, tracking me, and gloating over me, they would just leave me here alone to escape.
I drew in a deep breath, knowing that every second I didn’t act was wasting precious time. I should have already been at the door. But my clammy, shaking hands demanded just one more breath before I dove in headfirst.
What about the brain monitor? Obviously they weren’t watching me, but surely they would notice that. I wasn’t sure what it was connected to and bringing whatever device with it would waste too much time as I needed to get out of the room. Taking it off would alert my captors, if they were still around, but then again, so would opening that door. And if I was as good as I claimed to be at my job, the lock on the door would only take me seconds to pick. It wouldn’t really make that much of a difference if my captors found out from the monitor or the door opening.
Showtime.
I reached for the bobby pin in my hair as I lunged for the door, fear pumping through my veins, driving me to move faster.
Sure enough, the plastic pad on my head flew off as I ran, clattering to the floor behind me.
But my eyes were turned toward the door, even though I couldn’t see it in the dark. I’d open it and then face whatever was on the other side. I slammed into it with my outstretched hands and felt desperately for the lock.
