Jessica hated the way she smelled. She wantednothing more than to soak in a bubble bath, until her skin prunedup. If it wasn’t for the two packets of tissues she had in her bag,she’d be smelling worse from squatting and relieving herself downhere. Even, that smell, was getting to her. As much as she tried tofind an area far enough from where she sat and slept, it didn’tprove far away enough.
She wanted to punch Corbat square in themonth, when he came to visit her last night. She hadn’t seen him,since her abduction. He never told her, why he was removing thecuffs from her ankles. All he did was keep poking her back, andpushing her forward along a thin path she didn’t know even existed,that led out of the chamber she was kept in. Her legs were weak andshe had a hard time standing, let alone walking. Every time shefell, he dragged her by the collar of her suit coat.
God! How she hated the son of a bitch. Ifonly her hands were free. If only the circulation in her limbshadn’t been cut off for so long, she could have disabled him.
It wasn’t until they were in cell range, thatthe reason for her tortuous journey above ground made sense.Hearing Bryan’s voice, made it all worthwhile. His voice was like acaress. It gave her hope. It made her believe in the possibility ofseeing the light of day once more. That’s all she thought about onher trip back down into darkness.
Once Corbat left her, she couldn’t stopcrying about the ever-expectant joy of seeing Bryan again, holdinghim, kissing him, and telling him how much she had fallen in lovewith him. Hearing his voice, had given her renewed hope. There wassomething in the tone of it though, something in what he said, thatmade her believe, the signal on her phone had worked and he knewwhere she was.
What was it?She wracked her brain totry and remember.
Their conversation had been brief. It hadn’tlasted any more than two minutes, at the most. She thought for amoment, trying to think back, as to what he had said to her … howhe said it … how adamant he was.
Corbat wasn’t a stupid man. He warned Bryanhe had him on speaker and; she knew Bryan would play it smart andbe careful with the exchange between he and her.
The first words he had spoken, made her crythough. She didn’t want to. She wanted him to know she was wrong.She couldn’t help it, when the tears started to flow, and her voicecracked with emotion.
“You okay, honey?”
“Bryan, oh god, Bryan!”
“It’s all going to work out, babe. Just staycalm. I’ve got you. Do you hear me, Jessica? I’ve got you.”
She wanted to say more, tell him she lovedhim. But, Corbat had pulled the cell away from her ear. She wantedto kick out at him, but didn’t have the strength, when he began tomimic, what Bryan had said to her. The sneer on his face, made hertemper boil and, she wanted to slap it off his face, so hard, thathis teeth would have shattered.
“I’ve got you, babe. How sweet,” Corbatwhined and then threatened, “Just make sure you got my fuckingmoney tomorrow night!”
He knows where I am. Bryan knows where I am.I’m sure of it.
She believed it. She had too. She couldn’tcrack now. She believed in her heart that Bryan was acting on thoseprimal detective instincts of his. He had all those years ofexperience under his belt. Just the confident tone of his voicesignaled something inside of her, he was close. He would rescueher. They would be together again.
She had to make sure, that would happen also.She had to do everything she could, take every precaution, to makeher rescue possible. Now that she knew the tracking app on herphone was working, Jessica removed it from her hiding place andtucked it inside her bra. She knew she was going to be movedtonight at ten o’clock.
Morris had told her that earlier, when hebrought her a fresh bottle of water, hot cup of coffee, and an eggand sausage sandwich from the local McDonalds. The only thing hedidn’t know was why she was being moved, where she was being taken,and if it was Bryan she was being handed over too.
Morris had also given her an old Timex watchthat morning, so she could keep track of what time it was.
Nearly two hours had already passed, since heleft. All she had time for, was reflection.
Each time Morris had visited her, he openedlike a flower waking to the morning sun. He told her about hischildhood. He confided in her about the many difficulties hemanaged to survive through, what his dreams were, and how much hehated being involved in her abduction. He told her, where she wasbeing held, and that it was closed for renovations. Morris vowed hedid not know from the beginning, what Corbat had been planning, andshe believed him.
Before her left her earlier, Jessica told himwhere her gun was hidden. She knew in her heart, that the boy’slife was in danger. More so, than hers. He was a victim, just likeshe was. She wanted him to be able to protect himself in caseCorbat turned on him. She had told him she was certain it wouldhappen.
Morris knew what kind of man Corbat was. Helistened intently, when Jessica had told him, that men like Corbat,wouldn’t leave any evidence behind, that tied him to herabduction.
Morris hadn’t argued that point. The poor kidwas scared out of his wits. And, so was she. She just couldn’t showhow much she was. She had to be strong for the two of them.
She also knew that Corbat had something elseup his sleeve, by the snide remarks he had made, after her callwith Bryan ended. She just didn’t know, what it was.
After Morris left, she fell back into theroutine, she had created for herself, so she wouldn’t go stircrazy. She cleared more stones as best she could from the area,where she stretched out to sleep. It took her the longest time todo even that, being so constricted with her hands and ankles bound.Her fingertips were sore from digging. Her fingernails were broken.It kept her busy though and helped to pass the time.
She took a break often and attempted to moveabout. It was difficult, because the surface was uneven and wearingone-inch heels, didn’t make it any easier. She lost her balancemany times and fell on her hands and knees. The palms of her handswere cut and bleeding. Her pants were torn and her knees werescraped.
She pushed herself though to keep busy. Thesmall area she managed to clear doubled as a tiny exercise course,where she shuffled slowly, back and forth rather than paced. Therewas nothing much else she could do to occupy her time. Everywhereshe looked, the terrain was impossible to traverse with her anklescuffed together.
Morris told her she was far away from theattraction areas the visitors toured and where the renovations weretaking place. She wondered, if, after she was rescued, whethershe’d want to ever come back to this place and take a tourherself.
She chuckled.
