She wanted to laugh, but between the pain and her fear that someone would hear her, she couldn’t. And telling Terry how scared she was wouldn’t help anyone. “Okay. Hurry. I don’t know how much longer we have. And I can’t keep the earbud in. If he comes back, he’ll see it.”
“I love you, Dana. Stay safe,” Terry said, and she ached to tell him she loved him too.
“Micah, put the earbud back in my pocket now,” she whispered.
He was being so brave, but she could hear the little grunts of pain when he moved.
“Wipe your hand off before you touch my pocket, okay? You’re bleeding. Or I am.”
As soon as his hands fell away, Dana twisted around and pushed to her knees. “What are you doing?” Micah asked.
“I need to break this zip tie. If I can hook it on the doorknob, I might be strong enough.” Every movement brought a fresh wave of pain, but after a couple of semi-deep breaths, she didn’t think her ribs were actually broken. Just bruised. “Auntie Dana was in the Army for long enough to learn a few things, baby.”
“You can’t fight Big Daddy.” Micah’s words were barely intelligible through his sobs. “He’ll lock me in here for days if you try.”
Oh, God. No wonder he was so terrified. “How many times have you been in here?” she asked.
“Dunno…lots.” Micah’s breaths came in short pants, and dammit. If she couldn’t get her hands free, she was afraid he’d pass out.
Shuffling forward on her knees with her left shoulder against the wall, she prayed she wouldn’t find the doorknob with her face. One corner, then a turn, and she sensed the knob just as her nose touched it. Getting to her feet was harder, and the world spinning in the dark almost took her down, but she managed to turn and find the knob with her fingers. Thank God it was one of the lever types. Easy to slip the tie all the way to the mounting plate. This was going to hurt.
Micah was still gasping for air, and Dana focused on him, not the pain, as she yanked her arms as hard as she could. The door rattled, the sound so loud in the confined space her own panic ratcheted up to a hundred, but the tie snapped, and her arms were free.
Quickly, she dropped to her knees and crawled back to her nephew to wrap her arms around him. “I’ve got you. Breathe for me. In. Out. In. Out.”
Heavy footsteps pounded outside the door, and Micah cried out, his face pressed to Dana’s shoulder. She curled her entire body around him, praying they’d both survive whatever happened next.
“Bitch,” Gravelly said when light flooded the small space, blinding her. “Should have known you were going to be trouble.” He grabbed her by the hair, but she held on to Micah for all she was worth and he only managed to pull her up a couple of inches. “Let the kid go or you both suffer.”
“I just wanted to hold him!” Dana cried. “Stop!”
The enforcer let go of her hair, and her knee rammed into the ground. The shock loosened her hold on Micah, and the boy lunged for Gravelly’s ankles, sobbing. “I won’t be any more trouble. Tell Big Daddy I’ll do anything if he lets me out of here! Please!”
Dana’s heart shattered into a million pieces. The sweet, happy, laid-back kid she’d known was gone—hidden under three years of pain and fear, beatings and rapes, and God knew what else. The boy who’d held her earlier…that had been Micah. This? This was the person Otto had turned him into.
“Micah, baby,” she said, but Gravelly kicked free of the boy’s hold, sending him flying back to the corner of the room where his head hit the wall with a sickening thud. Dana screamed until the enforcer wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed.
She couldn’t breathe. Her body fought, her brain focused on only one thing. Survival. Clawing and scratching at Gravely, she tried to loosen his hands, but he was too strong and dragged her out of the closet before slamming the door.
Her eyes watered, darkness creeping in around the edges of her vision until he dropped her on her ass. Dana sucked in huge lungfuls of air, barely able to focus. Fists rained down on her from above, hitting her back, her arms, her hips. She curled into a ball, tensing her muscles to try to protect her internal organs.
“Stop!” Otto shouted, and thank God Gravelly listened. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“She got untied and was rattling the door, boss.”
“Was it still locked?” Otto asked. A punch sent Gravelly staggering back—or at least that’s what she thought happened since she could only see his black boots from between two fingers she was pretty sure were broken—or at least dislocated.
“Yes, boss.”
“Idiot. Get her ready for transport. As soon as Niko’s back with Tustin, take her out and dump her at First Creek Trailhead. It’s remote enough it’ll take them hours to find her.”
Hours? The nighttime temperature would drop into the low thirties that far up in the mountains. She’d die of exposure. “Please,” she croaked. “I won’t…survive…out there…”
“That’s what I’m counting on.” Otto shrugged, turned on a heel, and headed out of what must have been a basement in a house given the unfinished walls and the dank smell. “Oh, and toss a bucket and a couple of bottles of water in with the boy. A week in the closet should take care of whatever hope he might have found seeing his aunt again.”
No. Micah won’t survive a week in the dark. Dana wasn’t even sure if he’d live another few hours. If his panic attacks got any worse with no one around to help him…
Gravelly approached, pulling a fresh zip tie from his pocket. Before he could reach for her arm, she rolled away. Every movement brought a fresh wave of agony, but that was nothing compared to what her nephew was going through—had gone through.
