by Sara Hess
A hand gently touched my shoulder. “Are you feeling sick?”
I rolled to my back and frowned harder at the strange girl hovering over me. She was young, really pretty, and wearing black lingerie.
What the hell was going on?
“Who are you?” I went to sit up but my stomach cramped and dizziness swamped me. I pushed through it.
She stepped back and hugged herself. “Elizabeth. What’s your name?”
I rubbed my eyes. “Shaw. Why are you in lingerie?”
“Do you remember what happened to you?” She asked, ignoring my question.
I lowered my hand and frowned at her. “What do you mean?”
Her expression was sad as she stared down at me. “It took me a couple minutes to remember too.”
The frown was hurting my face but I couldn’t seem to lose it as I took in my surroundings. I was in a basement, a white basement I didn’t recognize, but an additional examination showed me something way worse.
I was in, what appeared to be, a translucent, two-inch thick gigantic plastic box. And the box contained a cot, a toilet with a curtain for privacy, a jug of water, and a very pretty girl in a black teddy.
What the hell happened to me!?
Panic was swiftly taking a hold of me. “Where am I? Who are you? Why do I feel like I was hit by a truck?” I stood and limped around the small area like a hunchback. Shit, my side hurt.
“I don’t know why you feel like a truck hit you. I only remember feeling kind of woozy.” I could feel the girls gaze following me as she talked. “I can’t tell you where you are because I don’t know myself. All I know is that I woke up here weeks ago, and I’ve been stuck down here ever since. The guy who took us…he’s one of those sex slavery guys who sells girls to the highest bidder.”
I stared at the girl in shock, and laughed. “You can’t be serious. They take beautiful girls, and I’m not beautiful.” I pointed to her. “You make sense.” I pointed to my face. “I don’t.” I shook my head. “No, this isn’t right.”
She frowned. “What are you talking about? You’re very pretty, and your red hair just makes you more eye-catching.”
My head hadn’t stopped shaking in denial…of everything. “No, this is wrong.” I spun in a horror-filled, heart-hammering circle looking for the door. I noticed the outline of one in the glass with a padlock on the outside. Shuffling over I pushed at it hard over and over again. It wasn’t budging.
“I’ve done that everyday since I’ve been here. I don’t think it’s even loosened.” Elizabeth said desolately.
My breath was coming out erratically as my fear escalated, coursing through my lungs to beat against my ribcage with every shaky breath. This whole thing had to be a nightmare. It just couldn’t be happening.
Elizabeth took my arm and directed me back to the cot. “Come sit down. I remember this part too, and it will pass…eventually.”
I sat down and stared up at her with wide terrified eyes. “How can you be so calm?”
She sighed. “I’ve been dealing with it for weeks. It’s old news now.” The corner of her mouth lifted but it wasn’t in a smile.
I finally really looked at her. She was gorgeous; long, honey blonde hair, full lips, creamy clear skin, and light brown eyes. She was leagues beyond me in beauty. And she was vaguely familiar.
“How old are you?” I whispered.
She sat down on the bed beside me. “Eighteen. How old are you?”
“Twenty, almost twenty-one.” I swallowed and asked something I really didn’t want to know but couldn’t stop my mouth from asking. “Has he been…raping you?”
She shook her head, eyes dark with misery. “No, he just sells us.”
“Us?” I looked around the basement.
“He’s kidnapped other girls and sold them. He told me he gets one girl at a time; that’s why there’s only one box with one cot. I was surprised when he brought you in.” Her face tensed and her eyes glassed over with tears. “But he told me I’ve been sold so I won’t be here much longer.”
“Oh my, god.” Without thought I reached out and wrapped my arms around her. She squeezed me back tightly, and I could feel the both of us trembling against each other.
She had to be so scared. I was scared. Sobs began to shake her chest and I held it together so she could fall apart. She’d been here so much longer than me…weeks. Oh god.
Her sobs ebbed after a few minutes and I asked. “Is that why he has you in lingerie?”
Elizabeth pulled back wiping at her red, watering eyes. “No. I’ve been in this crap from the beginning. There’s a camera on the wall.” Her eyes flickered up and I followed it to see that there was indeed a camera on the wall. “And he videos us all the time. The videos are sent out over his computer…” I followed her gaze again. “To prospective buyers.” Her mouth twisted in revulsion. “They watch us and at the end of one month the highest bidder gets the prize.”
I inhaled unsteadily at how disgusting, disturbing and wrong that was. “How long have I been here?”
“He brought you in around five last night, and now it’s nine in the morning.” Her head inclined towards a clock on the wall.
I looked around the sparse basement. All it contained was a small desk with a computer. There was a door to the right of us but it was closed so I had no idea what was behind it.
“How do you know if it’s night or morning? There are no windows down here.”
“I’ve been keeping track.” Elizabeth said. “It’s one of the only things I can really do down here.” Her gaze suddenly looked keener. “Did my disappearance appear in the news?”
I nodded because I remembered her story more fully now. “I recall a little of it. I don’t watch television normally, except for movies, but I’m on my computer all the time and I remember seeing your picture and story.”
“Have they given up looking?” She seemed so very young as she asked that; hoping the world hadn’t forgotten her.
“I’m sure they are.” I recalled the girl was part of a very prominent family. “You know the news moves on pretty quickly to newer stories, but that doesn’t mean the police aren’t still looking. Your parents are probably hounding them daily.” I had no idea if they were, but it was probably something she needed to hear, and people with money always seemed to have more clout with the police.
She heaved out a sigh but didn’t say anything.
“So he feeds you regularly?” She was slim, but she didn’t look emaciated.
Elizabeth nodded. “Three meals a day.”
I looked her over. “What about bathing?” She was also extremely clean for being here for weeks.
“There’s a bathroom over there.” She pointed to the door I’d been checking out earlier. “Every other day he takes me in there to shower.” She looked away from me. “I refused at first, but when he withheld food I caved.” She looked back at me and my heart pinched at the shame in her eyes.
I took her hand and rubbed it. “You have nothing to be ashamed off. You’re surviving, and part of surviving is eating. I can see that you’re not a quitter.”
More tears filled her eyes. “He watches.” My stomach twisted. “The whole time.” She whispered hugging herself. “It’s so humiliating.”
I pulled her into another hug. “But he’s never touched you?”
She shivered. “Not in that way.” She whispered brokenly, telling me in other ways he had. “I’m a virgin. My price is higher if I stay that way.”
I closed my eyes. This was another question I didn’t want to ask. “How did he know?”
“He searches for his victims through medical files. My file said I wasn’t sexually active.” She pulled back and looked at me. “You’re not either, right?”
I chuckled darkly. “I’m not a virgin.”
She frowned. “He told me he only picks virgins.”
“He messed up with me then.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” Her eyes were anxious as she stared at
me.
I moaned softly at the thought of Evan. “I don’t know.” Evan had called me his girlfriend but I hadn’t really felt like one. Not that any of that mattered now. We’d kind of broken up and it looked like I wasn’t going back. At Elizabeth’s frown I explained. “I’m kind of dating someone, but it’s new, and I don’t think either of us was expecting it to last…but I really wanted it to last.” With everything in me I’d wanted it to last.
Her eyes darkened with sorrow. “Will your parent’s be okay?”
She was speaking like she had no hope. After being here for so long I could see why. “I don’t have any parent’s.”
“They died?” She inferred.
I shook my head. “I’ve never had them. They got rid of me when I was a baby.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “At least no one is crying for me.” Carrie and David would though.
She hugged me this time. Tears fell down my face, and while I was able to keep the sobs contained shudders raked my body. A form moving out of the corner of my eye had me jerking in surprise, which in turn set off pains in my stomach. I turned and went rigid in alarm when I saw a man standing there watching us.
He was a mildly attractive male in his thirties with light brown hair and dull blue eyes. He looked in good shape, but he was shorter and leaner than Evan.
He lifted a flap on the box and I saw a fifteen by three inch rectangular slot. He pushed a tray of food through it. Elizabeth stood up to take it, handed back an empty one, and came back to sit next to me setting the tray of food on the end of the bed. It contained and some fruit, scrambled eggs and toast for two.
“Hello, Shaw. How are you feeling?” The man asked.
I glared at him through my terror. “Like shit. Did you kick me in the stomach?”
His brows pinched as his gaze roamed over me. “No, I only used chloroform. I came up behind you and put it over your mouth. Knocked you right out.”
The last thing I remembered was getting out of the cab and heading for my apartment; not someone grabbing me, or drugging me.
“Why does my side feel like you kicked me a few times while I was unconscious?” I gritted.
His lips tightened. “I don’t damage my merchandise…if I don’t have to.”
There was a threat there and I didn’t miss it. “You’re a pretty sick asshole.” I informed him.
He pulled his computer chair over so he could sit in front of the box. “I’m a person with an almost non-existent moral compass but high intelligence.”
“Almost?” I sneered.
“I don’t deal in children. That’s why I didn’t take McKay’s daughter-in-law. I’d at first planned to but the only times I would have been able to get to her was when she was with her daughter and I didn’t want to have to deal with that.”
I frowned at his mention of Maya and Dan. What did they have to do with this? Maya was obviously not a virgin because she had a child so why would he be stalking her? And if he was looking at medical records than he should know I was on birth control.
“If you’ve been watching me you should have realized I’m not someone you would want to deal with either.” I gritted out as bitchily as I could through my fear.
The smile that spread across his face was creepy. “You have a smart mouth. The next few weeks with you should be fun.”
Terror rolled through me. “Fun’s not the word most people use when my mouth gets smart. You’ll probably regret using it.” I glowered.
“That’s probably because most people are idiots and can’t appreciate an intelligent individual. At least that’s been my experience.” He smirked.
“How many brain cells does it take to kidnap a girl, put her in a box, dress her up, video tape her going to the bathroom and sleeping, and then ship her off special delivery? Sounds pretty damn lazy to me.” I raised my brow testing him.
He grinned, not looking at all upset at me questioning his intelligence. “I really like that mouth.” Yuck. Elizabeth squeezed my hand. “Most of the girls try to make themselves invisible. Honey here…”
“That’s not my name.” Elizabeth growled.
He continued like she hadn’t even spoken. “She had some spunk in the beginning, but lately she likes to ignore me. But you, Shaw, I have a feeling you just can’t control what comes out of your mouth. I like that, but whoever buys you might not. You know, when I first decided to kidnap you it wasn’t to sell you.”
I frowned but didn’t say anything…a display of my self-control.
He smirked, but then his features turned hard. “You’re boyfriend and his boss interfered in a project of mine and I lost a shit-load of money. I only planned to use you as ransom, force your Mr. Michaels to transfer my money to me and I would return you, but it would be a waste of your beauty to give you back.”
His words swirled around in my head. “Project? What project?”
He leaned back like he was about to enjoy a story. “I had been wooing this accountant in their firm for months…”
Going stiff…which made pain stab through me…I broke in. “Her name wouldn’t be Carol, would it?”
He scowled. “Your boyfriend told you about it?”
Holy Shit! This was the guy who had conned Carol the accountant into loading that program to steal from Dan’s company. I so wanted to tell him I was the one that had found it and stopped it but I wasn’t sure what he would do if he found out. He seemed upset at not getting that money and I was already in a deep load of shit.
“Yes.” I confirmed. “You appear to be a jack of all sick trades; slaver and con-man. Do you have a room where you design new date-rape drugs too? You’re the type of asswipe that makes all women wish we had bear traps in our vaginas.”
Elizabeth gaped at me.
The asswipe just shook his head with a small smile. “I hope whoever buys you likes your tartness, or you might not last long. It’s sad, but some men like to buy a woman just so they can break her.” He didn’t sound like he was sad about it at all.
I swallowed and found myself leaning into Elizabeth; from the pain in my stomach and the overall situation. “Evan’s not going to steal from Dan in the hope that you might release me. I’m sure he knows the statistics of ransom transactions, and we basically broke up today…or yesterday.”
I probably shouldn’t be telling him there was no way he was going to get any ransom for me, but I just couldn’t let him think he was going to win.
He tilted his head like he was examining me. “And how did that come about?”
“His month with me was up. If your smart, which I have my doubts, and have done any investigation work than you know Evan only goes out with a woman for about a month before he gets bored with her.” My side cramped and I winced at the pain. Why was it hurting so badly?
“I’m a pretty good judge of human nature; it’s part of being a con-man.” He smiled like he was proud of himself. “And the way he stares at you tells me he would do just about anything to get you back. I kept your phone for a couple hours and he was blowing it up looking for you. That doesn’t sound like a man breaking up with a girl.”
Was Evan worried about me? He was a good guy; if he thought something bad had happened to me he would be worried. That was just part of his character. But Evan wouldn’t steal, and he would know better then to expect a kidnapper to follow through with a ransom honestly. He was a genius after all.
“Have you asked him for the ransom yet?” I asked.
“No, not yet. I wanted to let him sweat a little.” With a grin he stood up and returned the computer chair back over to the desk. “But I should probably get the ball rolling. I’ve been waiting for that payout for awhile.”
“Don’t trip on your self-inflated ego on the way out.” I gritted and gripped my side as another wave of pain rolled through me. “Forget that, please do…and then fall on something sharp.”
He laughed. “If that happened both of you would slowly starve to death.” His lids slit evil
ly. “I’m the only person who knows that you’re here, and starving would be a slow painful death. Elizabeth tried it and couldn’t hack it.”
“You’re just not worth starving over.” She snapped.
He walked forward with a smile. “Shaw, it appears you’ve given Honey back some of her spirit. Her owner will thank you.” He closed the flap he’d opened for the food. He started speaking again but it was mumbled. “In case Honey didn’t tell you, this plastic is nearly soundproof so don’t waste your time yelling for help.”
I watched him walk away with a sinking heart, and unfortunately my terror didn’t leave with him. Another wave of pain rolled through my belly and I groaned clutching at it. I raised my shirt to make sure I didn’t have any bruising on my side, but it was clear.
“Your stomach really hurts that badly?” Elizabeth asked.
I nodded. “Yeah, it feels like especially bad cramps, but I’m not due for my period.”
She touched my side. “Does it hurt here?” She pressed.
I groaned, flinching away from her. “Yes…there.”
Her brows knitted in concern. “Have you had your appendix out?”
“No.” I frowned.
She grimaced. “Cruck, I would have liked to eliminate that.”
Cruck? “Why?”
My stomach cramped more at the acute dismay on her face. “Because the pain you’re having sounds like appendicitis. My cousin went through it a couple years ago while she stayed with us and she complained about the same pains.”
She didn’t have to tell me any more; I knew what appendicitis led to if not treated. And I had a feeling our kidnapper wasn’t going to be sending me to the hospital…for any reason. That was my luck; kidnapped to be a sex slave but then killed by appendicitis in captivity.
Beleaguered, I lay down on the small cot and curled up. Elizabeth took my hand and began rubbing my back. My throat constricted and tears welled at her comfort.
“What was with the ‘cruck’?” I sniffed.
She gave a weary grin. “My parents have an issue with swear words so I made some of my own up.”