Page 59 of Niall

“I have a gift for you. I was going to bring it down later, but since we’ve run into each other, maybe you could come to my room and I can give it to you?”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Nonsense. You and Una have been so nice. I have a little something for her too. But I’d like to give you yours now if I could.”

I felt a ripple of unease. I shook my head mentally. I was in the hotel. Surrounded by security. Niall could pinpoint my location at any moment. And it was only Heidi.

“Sure.”

“Great.” She dug in her purse, bringing out the keycard. “My room’s a bit of a disaster,” she confessed. “I call it disorganized chaos. My husband calls it messy.”

I laughed. “You must be looking forward to seeing him.”

“I am glad this chapter of our life is closing,” she replied. “I want to move forward with our plans.”

It seemed like a strange answer, but I just nodded. We stepped off the elevator and headed to her room. She walked in, holding the door open for me. Inside, I felt my eyes widen. Clothes were strewn everywhere. Shoes lying around as if kicked off carelessly. I noticed all sorts of makeup containers on the dresser. Towels hung over the open bathroom door. A large suitcase sat on the floor, hard-sided and new-looking. It was empty and looked odd among the disarray. “You should let housekeeping clean up,” I murmured.

“I don’t like strangers in my room,” she replied, searching for something on the dresser top. Her voice sounded different. Removed and cold, not the usual singsong voice I was used to hearing from her.

A flutter of nerves rolled through me. I looked around, not seeing anything amiss. Just an untidy room and clutter. I glanced back at the dresser, noticing the bottle of contact lens solution. Then the box of daily wear contacts. I squinted, trying to read the label. Colored lenses. Then I noticed something else. A wig lying on the floor as if forgotten and discarded. A long, braided dark-colored wig.

For some reason, my breathing picked up. The flutter became a torrent.

“Maybe you should give me and Una our gift together,” I said, trying to control the sudden quaver in my voice. “We could do lunch tomorrow.” I slid my hand over my wrist, finding the toggle on my bracelet. It was caught on my sweater, wrapped in the folds of wool. I tugged, trying to loosen it.

“No need, I found it,” Heidi said, turning to me. Her usual smile wasn’t in place. Her eyes, even with the colored lenses in them, were no longer friendly. They were cold. Angry.

“I really should go.” The toggle slipped out of the heavy knit on my arm, and I turned it, trying to get it between my suddenly trembling fingers.

She smiled, nodding. “You’re right. You are going to go.”

Then she plunged a needle into my arm. “You’re going far, far away.”

The room began to spin, and I grabbed at the back of the chair to keep upright. I felt hot, unsteady, and dizzy. I stumbled and fell, my fingers reaching for my wrist.

But not fast enough.

Blackness closed in, and I was gone.

I woke, groggy, my head aching and my body protesting. It was pitch black and cold. I tried to lift my arms, but they were tied together at my back, pulling my shoulder blades together tightly, the muscles pinching. The air around me was hot and damp. I tried to stretch my legs, but I couldn’t. Moving my head was impossible. I searched my foggy brain, trying to piece together the puzzle of the fragmented memories. It hit me all at once. Running into Heidi, her seemingly innocent request of giving me a gift. Her disastrous room.

The sudden awareness that somehow I had walked into a trap.

The needle plunging into my skin and the cold of whatever she injected me with running through my system.

Her furious eyes.

Falling.

The vague sensation of being moved. Shifted. Enclosed.

My eyes flew open in the dark.

The suitcase.

I scratched at the enclosure, feeling the slippery material underneath my skin.

She had stuffed me into the suitcase.