She sniffled. “I’m sorry.”
He let go of her face. “Fine. But you’re still not to be trusted for now. In this house, you have to earn things. I do not give away respect or privileges and you’re damn well going to learn that.” He looked her up and down. “Now turn around!”
She didn’t want to turn her back on him. But he raised up the knife and put it to her face. “Turn around now!”
She bit the inside of her lip to stop the tears and closed her eyes. He grabbed the back of her neck, pushing her face down into the small cot. Then he smacked her on the ass, hard. “You will obey me.” He then smacked it a few more times and pushed her onto the bed.
He turned away and walked out of the basement.
Emily sat there, perplexed and afraid. She had no idea what to make of this. A grown man just spanked her, and not in a playful way. The last time she’d been spanked was probably when she was five and spilled her mother’s nail polish all over the couch and carpet, and then tried to clean it up with her father’s favorite suede jacket.
She sat with her back to the wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. Inspecting the shackle on her ankle killed any hope that she might be able to get out of here without a key of some kind. The steel was thick and heavy and didn’t appear to have a weakness.
Maybe her only move here was to play along. If she could become what Harry wanted, she could earn his trust and then exploit it someday down the road. She shuddered at the thought of what it might take to earn his trust.
He might have called her a whore, but the truth was she’d only had sex with one guy, and only a few times. It was not her practice to just give it away. Her and Bobby dated almost a year before they went there. She definitely didn’t want to have to do that with Harry, the concept of it made her want to puke. Of course, if he wanted it, he could take it by force and that scared her more.
Lying on her side, she curled up into a ball and wished for peaceful rest. But the way her brain was racing, she knew it was all but impossible. So many thoughts fell over themselves in her head. She didn’t even know who to mourn. Asking Harry if her family was really dead seemed like a risky move. Maybe he would tell the truth, maybe not.
She missed Ren. Whenever things had gotten tough in life, Ren was always there. The idea of going on without her to lean on really didn’t make sense. Emily loved her and already missed her but it hadn’t quite hit her that Ren would never be there again.
Zack’s plan might have worked. She’d seen him taking the piece of steel and tucking it into his jacket, but never wanted him to do it. All she could think of was the scene from Back to the Future where Marty McFly used the stove door to stop the bullet. In this case, what Zack used looked far too thin. She might never know if it worked. Zack could be lying on the floor of that old millhouse, bleeding to death. That thought really hurt, and it surprised her how much it did.
Everything she thought she’d known about life was wrong. None of the things that mattered before seemed to matter anymore. An overwhelming need to rethink her entire life seemed to wash over her. But maybe it was a moot point. The chances of getting out of this alive seemed very slim. Maybe this was her new life and that’s why such things were popping into her head.
The weirdest thing of all was that out of everything she missed, she missed being with Zack the most. That sounded absolutely ridiculous to the rational part of her brain. It made her think she was suffering from some sort of psychological disorder or syndrome like post-traumatic stress disorder or Stockholm Syndrome. But she knew what they both were and neither one applied. Whatever it was, she didn’t know what it was, but it was.
Chapter 25
Zack got up to the crest of the hill, and looked down at the cabin. The moonlight provided the only ambient light around him, but he could see a dim glow inside one of the windows.
From what he knew, it was just a single room cabin with a bathroom. So somewhere, Emily was likely under close watch if she was there at all. The woods were mostly quiet; a few birds chirped somewhere from their nighttime nests.
Judging by the station of the moon, it was still a good few hours from sunrise. The cover of darkness would work to his benefit.
He got to his feet and took hold of the only weapon he could find. Fingers wrapped around the large stick, he took measure of it’s length and weight. It was something between a hockey stick and a baseball bat. It could definitely inflict serious damage at close range.
Carefully, he walked down the small hill, trying not to make any sound. There was nothing in that house like a television to distract the occupants, so any sound he made would probably carry straight into suspicious ears.
Once on the level with the cabin, Zack looked left to right, getting a full scope of the land. Creeping up to the side window, he wasn’t able to see inside, the windows were too tall. But there was a five-gallon bucket filled with dirt. He flipped the bucket upside down and stood atop to look into the cabin. He didn’t see anyone at first, but then he saw Harry on the bed, sleeping. A small oil lamp glowed in the far corner of the room, but Emily was nowhere in sight.
He climbed back off the bucket to ground level. A slight moment of worry hit him that this psycho already killed her. That had to shake off quick because he wasn’t accepting thoughts like that as reality.
He slid over to the classic Mustang parked on the side and wondered where the keys might be. Taking a chance to open the door and check would be far too risky. Running his hands under the wheel-well just in case there was one of those spare key things seemed like a reasonable risk. But there was nothing there. It did give him an idea. It was another risky move, but would be worth it. He just had to be silent as possible.
***
Zack wandered around the property, looking for another location where Emily could be captive. As he got around back, he saw the commonly familiar steel double-doors of an underground basement or bunker.
Wrapping his fingers around the handle, he pulled, expecting the doors to be locked, but they were open. He saw the flicker of an oil lamp and eased down the steps. His heart did a little dance when he saw Emily, curled up on a cot. Her blonde hair was like a beacon of sunshine in the darkest of rooms as the throbbing light made it shimmer in a lemon color.
Zack didn’t know what he was feeling, but something inside him was soaring. He was amazed at how much he’d missed her. This moment in time seemed too perfect—he didn’t want it to end because he knew what lay ahead.
Breaking his frozen gaze, he went over to the bed and touched her arm. She didn’t wake up at first. He moved some of her hair from her face, her eyes eased open and widened.
Zack put his finger to his lips, urging her to be quiet. She nodded and sat up quietly. Then she threw her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear, “I’m so happy to see you.”
He hugged her tight. She showed him the heavy cuff around her ankle and his heart sank. Inspecting it, it didn’t seem like it would be an easy pick and impossible to break. It was a tumbler lock with a skeleton type key. He could pick it if he had some tools, but he didn’t have anything. He’d picked her cuffs earlier when they first met by smashing it open with two rocks. But those were flimsy security guard type cuffs. This was some sort of old-fashioned iron chain.
He got up and started looking around the room. There were some old toolboxes, but they were empty. There was a dresser, but again, the drawers were empty. Some heavy noises went off above his head. Distinct footsteps clumped on the floor and Zack quickly stopped what he was doing.
Going back to the basement doors, Zack closed them quietly and went back down to Emily. He sat next to her on the bed and whispered, “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
The noises upstairs became more hurried. They could hear the front door open, the stairs. A car door opened and closed. Harry appeared to make several trips to his car.
Then the basement doors opened. Zack had no good place to ambush him down here. It was too ope
n; there was nothing to hide behind and get the drop on him. He kissed Emily on the cheek and dropped to the floor to slide under the bed. He hoped he’d get another chance.
Harry came down the steps and stood in front of Emily. “Get up,” he said. “We’re leaving.”
Zack stayed silent. Hearing Emily being yanked around against her will was breaking his heart. He wanted to jump out and pummel this guy right now. But that wasn’t a smart play from this position. If he had a gun, yeah—he’d do it. But with a stick, he was going to need a much more sure shot. Unlike the movies, hitting a man with a stick didn’t always knock him out, or even down. And Harry was a big guy. He was probably two-hundred plus pounds, and men that big didn’t just drop when you hit them with a stick, unless it was an open headshot.
Emily’s ankle bracelet dropped to the floor and he pulled her out of the basement.
Zack waited a beat before he slid out. When he did, he tried to interpret the sounds he was hearing. He didn’t quite know what it was. There were several noises, which he couldn’t place. Waiting for another chance might be a bad idea, but he had to make sure Harry wasn’t around when he popped out of this basement.
He heard the car start and the smell of gasoline became apparent. But it was more gas than he should have smelled.
Starting up the stairs, an explosion rocked the cabin with a thud, shaking the entire floor above his head, knocking him down onto his backside. He scrambled to his feet as a huge beam above split and fell, part of it crashed at his feet.
Orange droplets of fire started to spill around him, and in almost no time, the basement was filled with fire. The blinding heat threatened to engulf him within seconds if he couldn’t find his way past the maze of fallen beams and flames.
Chapter 26
There was a time when Emily loved this Mustang. The day Harry brought it home was something of a neighborhood spectacle. Just about every man on the block came over to inspect the perfectly restored classic. Now she hated every second of being in it. If she wasn’t cuffed to the door, she might throw herself out of it. It was another pair of those same cuffs he’d used on her before. Harry must have had a dozen pairs or something. She also knew they could be broken open easily if you could whack them on both sides with some big rocks. But she didn’t have any rocks.
She hoped Zack got out of there, but the propane tanks exploded with such force she literally saw the cabin lift into the air off the stone foundation. But something told her he got out alive. He was too smart to get trapped in there.
They drove in silence for a while until Harry turned on the radio. He started to change the stations constantly and didn’t stop. It was driving her crazy, it made her want to scream. But finally just a hair from her breaking point, he stopped and turned off the radio.
She sighed in relief. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere far away.”
She wanted to test the waters a little. “Somewhere nice?”
He looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and didn’t quite appear to believe she was being sincere. Then he said, “You’ll like it.”
“Does it have a pool?”
“No, but there’s a lake.” He smiled. “Remember when we all went out to Lake Hopatcong a couple years ago?”
She nodded. “I remember. It was so hot that weekend.”
“I’ll tell you what was hot. You, in that orange bikini. That was the first time I really noticed what a beautiful woman you’d become.”
Emily didn’t know what to say now. She’d backed herself into this corner and now she had to play the cards. “I still have that bikini, although it’s a little tight in the chest now.”
He smiled. “I bet it is.”
“I have a really sexy purple one now, you’d love it. Maybe I can model it for you sometime.” She gauged his response and it was more subdued then she’d hoped. He wasn’t going to be that easy to manipulate. That might have scared her more than anything else. After all the people he’d killed, and running around the woods chasing them, you’d think he’d be a little more unglued, or over the edge. But he seemed very calm and very cool, and that was scary beyond words.
She looked out the window into the extreme darkness of the winding country road. They hadn’t seen another car or a house in miles. Not even a streetlight as a marker. She wasn’t good with the moon or stars, so she had no idea which direction they were heading.
The car started to buck and sputter. Harry looked down at the console., “What the hell is this?” he said. “How is that possible?”
“What’s wrong?” Emily asked, but he didn’t respond, he just kept swearing and hitting the steering wheel.
Finally, the car died and Harry pulled off the side of the road. He looked over at her. “We’re out of gas.”
Emily didn’t know what to say. They were in the middle of nowhere, on a dark highway. “Is there a gas station nearby?”
He looked at her and slid his phone out of his pocket. “There’s one about twenty-five miles from here.”
“Maybe we can just wait until another car drives by.”
He showed her his pistol. “If they do, we’ll be ready for them.”
“Why do you have to hurt them? Can’t you just steal their car or something?”
Harry looked at her and intensity flashed in his dark eyes. “This is an operation and it’s us against the world. No one will understand our love. You don’t even understand it yet.” He reached over and took hold of her hand. “But you will. I’d do anything for you, Emily, and no one is going to take you away from me again. Ever.”
She felt something in her bones, a chill from the core of her marrow that exploded and sent goose bumps leaping off her skin. A quick shudder quaked through her. With every fiber of her being she tried not to let him read her true feelings. Instead she forced an uneasy smile. He held her hand for an uncomfortably long time, then he touched her knee and she had to work hard not to jump under his touch.
He finally let go and got out of the car. As he moved around to the trunk, Emily tried to see if there was a way to get her handcuff off the door. She pulled it, yanking as hard as she could, but it didn’t budge.
The trunk slammed and she stopped pulling. He yanked open the door and she had no choice but to follow the swing and step out. As he took hold of her arm he said, “You’re not going to run. Are you?”
She shook her head.
“Verbal response to all questions and commands, please. So I ask again, you’re not going to run are you?”
“No.”
“No, what?”
Emily thought for a second. “No, sir.”
“That’s my girl.” He unlocked her cuff from the door. “We’re going to get along perfectly if you remember two key things: Respect and obedience. Those are the two things every soldier learns and eventually lives by. It will make you a better person and eventually, a great wife. Because when you’re ready, we will marry.”
She was glad when he turned away and she didn’t have to fake a response or smile. It was going to take every bit of self-control she had to play along. But then he turned back to face her.
Emily stood next to the car. The nearly full moon stood over his shoulder and she focused on that as he stood close to her. He reached up and moved her hair behind her ear, touching her face. “My God, you’re beautiful.”
She hoped he didn’t kiss her, but she prepared to fake it if he did. Thinking she could fake it and actually faking it, however, were probably two very different things. A huge relief hit her when a set of headlights popped up in the distance over the crest of the hill. “A car.” She motioned with her head.
He turned around. Taking hold of her wrist very hard, he walked around to the back of the car. Emily prayed the people didn’t stop. As much as she’d like the opportunity to get away, she knew he was going to kill them.
The car slowed as it approached them. The lights shined in Emily’s eyes and Harry pushed her behind him as the car slowed and stopped n
ear them. Harry leaned towards the car and waved. The passenger window rolled down.
An attractive, young, dark-haired girl smiled at them as a young man leaned across the seat. “You guys okay?”
“We broke down,” Harry said.
“You have help on the way?” the man asked.
Harry pointed down the road. “Yeah, I called, they should be here.” He then pulled out his pistol and fired several shots into the car, killing both occupants.
Emily tried not to make a sound but an involuntary moan escaped her as the tears streamed from her eyes. “Oh God.”
Harry yanked her arm. “Stop blubbering like a baby. This is war, there’re going to be casualties.”
She tried to yank her arm away from him. “No, this is not a war, you psycho. What in the heck is wrong with you? You can’t just kill innocent people, you freaking psychopath.”
He pushed her against the car. “Hey, you watch your mouth. You’re disrespecting me and I told you I don’t stand for that in my house.”
She punched him in the chest. “We’re not in your house, we’re on the street in the middle of nowhere and you just murdered two innocent people for no reason.”
He slapped her in the face, twisted her around, and pushed her face-first onto the hood of the car by the neck. “You’re in a lot of trouble, young lady. Speaking to me like that is going to get you hurt.”
Emily thought this was it. He was going to rape her or kill her or both right here on the side of the road. But he didn’t. He just held her there. He was so caught up in the moment he didn’t see the lights bearing down on him.
The moment she had some space, Emily jumped up onto the hood of the car and kicked him into the path of the ATV. It slammed into Harry, sending him flying through the air and sprawling onto the pavement.
With a loud screeching whir, the machine skidded to a halt. Emily slid off the car and saw Zack looking back at her from the saddle of the ATV.
He swung the quad around and stopped in front of her. “Get on!”
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