Hastings leans back in his chair. “Start from the beginning.”
Doc
There’s a sip or two of soda left. But the candy is gone. So are the heart palpitations. The pounding headache. I’m still weak, but we’re running out of time.
Across from me, Gladys sits against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. Her lips took on more color after she had some of the soda. Her hands don’t shake so badly.
I manage to get to my knees, and when the room only spins for a moment, try standing. So far, so good. But that was the easy part.
This is going to hurt. I bend over partway, ball my hands into fists, and raise my arms as high as I can before slamming them down against my ass. The plastic bites into my skin.
It takes me three tries before the zip tie snaps in half and my hands are free.
“Fuck, that stings.” My fingers are nothing but pins and needles.
“You could have done that thewhole time?”Gladys asks. “You’ve been holding out on me, Dr. Sexy Pants.”
“My blood sugar still isn’t stable. I’ll crash again before the insulin’s out of my system. But those assholes upstairs know it. They’ll be back. And we can use that. Did you see anything when they brought you in here? Is this a business? A house?”
“I saw a whole room full of computers behind some thick glass doors. Must’ve been hundreds of them. People too.”
Shit. Are there people upstairs right now? If so, could we make enough noise for them to hear us?
“What time was it? Do you remember?”
“It was still light outside. Hot enough sweat was pourin’ off my tits. The big one—the one in charge—told me if I made trouble, I’d regret it. That’s when he gave me this.” She points to her cheek.
I was already planning on killing Bastian for what he did to Natasha—if I ever get out of here. But hitting Gladys too? I hope I get the chance to make him suffer.
“They’re taking a serious chance keeping us somewhere with people. Why?” I press my ear to the door, but I can’t hear shit.
“The guy with the soda? What’s his name?”
“Doherty.”
“His brother owns this place. He said no one would hear me ‘cause of the big air conditioners they needed to cool down all those computers. But the big one wasn’t so sure.”
“Well, we are now. You can yell with the best of them, Gladys.”
Her chest puffs up, which only serves to highlight the fact that she’s not wearing a bra.
“Donald always said he could hear me halfway across the island.”
“Your husband was a wise man. But if there were so many people up there, how did they get me in without someone noticing?”
Gladys snorts. “Shitcicles, Doc. They had you stuffed in a damn suitcase.”
No wonder my back hurts like hell.
Some of the sensation has started to return to my fingers. I drop to one knee and reach in to my boot. The comms unit won’t work if it can’t get a signal from my phone. But West said it could also connect to any unsecured wi-fi network. Though it would default to broadcast only mode. Would it work all the way down here?
I shove the tiny device into my ear and tap it. Nothing. No reassuring beep. Only the dull hiss of static. I’m not surprised. Either we’re too far underground, or there’s a signal dampener somewhere.
“What are you doing?” Gladys shuffles closer. The soda and candy bar did her some good. She’s steadier on her feet than she was.
I drape my arm around her shoulders and lead her over to the wall next to the door. “Sometime in the next hour, at least one of those assholes is going to come down here to check on me. Hopefully with another soda.”
I pop the earbud free and show it to her.
