Through swollen eyes, he curved the corner of his split lip. “I’ll admit it’s not my best look.”
“Adrian…”
“Don’t worry, Doc. It looks worse than it is.”
She didn’t know how that was even possible. “I didn’t know…” She cleared her dry, scratchy throat. “I didn’t even know you were here. Why did they take you, too?”
“Funny story, actually. Turns out Hall can take a punch better than I thought.” Adrian huffed a breath then winced. “Asshole pretended to be knocked out back when I was letting Jenna in on our little plan.”
“He told Radcliff,” Ellena surmised.
Adrian nodded. “Rat bastard ran his mouth the first chance he got.”
“Was he the one who did that to you?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, though.” He winked as best he could. “I’ll take care of him.”
“How?” Ellena looked around the same concrete room Radcliff had been bringing her back to. “We have no way out.”
“There’s always a way out, Doc. We just have to wait for the right opportunity. But when it strikes, I need you to be ready.”
“We’re tied to our chairs, Adrian.” Ellena glanced down at her raw wrists. “What kind of opportunity are you expecting?”
The words had no more left her mouth when they heard an almost muffled booming sound coming from somewhere up above them. Despite their solid makeup, the walls and floors shook from the blast.
Ellena got a very bad feeling inside. “W-what was that?”
“Hard to tell from down here, but I’m pretty sure Radcliff’s house just exploded.”
“What?” She glanced around their makeshift prison cell. “So we’re stuck down here?”
The door to the room opened and Radcliff walked in. This time, Chris Hall was with him.
“Good.” Radcliff smiled. “You are awake. I was hoping you wouldn’t miss the excitement.”
“Nah, we heard it,” Adrian told the twisted bastard. “Sounded kind of like fireworks. Mighty sweet of you to put on a show in our honor.”
“Oh, it was most definitely in your honor. Well…more for the kind doctor, here.” With a nod, Radcliff motioned to Hall who in turn handed him a small tablet. “And since you couldn’t see the show in person, I thought I’d bring the show to you.”
He walked toward her, and Ellena looked over at Adrian. The sick feeling in her gut grew. If Radcliff was happy about whatever he was going to show them, it must be bad.
“Have a look, Dr. Dawson.” Standing beside her, Radcliff held the small screen up for her to see.
The image appeared to be from a home security camera mounted by the cabin’s front door. From its vantage point, Ellena could see the front porch steps and the central section of the manicured front lawn. At the edge of the camera’s view was a line of thick trees.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Patience, my dear.”
Not wanting to play into his hands, she started to look away when Radcliff fisted the hair on the back of her head. Ellena cried out as a sharp, burning sensation penetrated her scalp.
“Eyes on the screen, Ellena.”
“Don’t fucking touch her!” Adrian growled.
Ellena cried out again, but this time, it was because Hall had just punched Adrian in the jaw. He grimaced, holding his breath through the pain before spitting a stream of blood at Hall’s feet. Hall struck him again.
“Stop!” she yelled out. “I’ll watch it! Just please…stop.”
