Chapter Seven
Kara’s head throbbed. She struggled to break free of the ropes that bound her arms and legs.
She screamed until her throat ached and her cheeks felt as if they had been scraped with knives.
It was no use. The duct tape swallowed the sounds of her voice.
She squirmed, twisting her head from side to side, trying to get her bearings.
Encased in darkness, her heart raced and panic swelled in her throat. Breathe. Breathe.
Drag. Stop. Drag. Stop. Something was moving, or being pushed toward her from behind.
Her body convulsed as she fought to break free.
Her hands were duct taped to a metal pole.
Where the hell was she? The familiar smell of coal surrounded her.
Her mouth tasted like metal, blood. Something behind her moved.
She froze. Her eyes opened so wide, they stung.
She twisted her head from side to side. It was no use. She couldn’t see a damn thing.
Drag, stop. Drag, stop. Kara held her breath with every drag.
She dolphin kicked her bound legs, trying to wrench her hands free, breathing fast and hard through her nostrils.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she grasped at her fractured memory.
What time was it? How long had she been out?
The constant and familiar hum of the power plant vibrated beneath her as she realized where she was and tried to pull the face of her captor from the recesses of her aching head.
Drag, stop. Drag, stop. The heavy sound of metal on concrete filled the room. Her captor stood behind her. She could hear him breathing. Her muffled mews seeped through the tape.
He came around her right side, the hat no longer on his head, his disfigured face shadowed by the darkness.
“I’m sorry, Marissa. I don’t mean to hurt you.” His words were filled with remorse. He crouched beside her, his face coming clearly into view. He held a black rope in his heavy palms and twisted it with his thick, callused fingers.
Kara leaned away from him, straining under the pinching tape. Her face contorted with fear. She tried to scream for help but her pleas were muffled beneath the tape. Sweat beaded her forehead.
“Why’d you have to fight me?” He pushed to his feet, pacing nervously before her.
Kara’s heart pounded. She had to get out of there.
She didn’t recognize the room. She could barely see it in the dark.
Damn it. There were so many dark corners of the plant, areas where no one ever went.
This maniac could kill her and she’d never be found.
The thought strangled her. Her eyes bugged as she fought against her restraints, squealed for freedom, kicked in the man’s direction.
He lumbered toward her. “Stop it,” he commanded in a stern, even voice.
She’d be damned if she’d be killed without a fight. She kicked harder, her eyes shooting daggers.
The man shook his head, pacing faster, wrapping the rope around his wrists. He moved behind Kara.
She yelped, whipping her head from side to side. No! Please God, no! Her mind raced for a way out. She was trapped.
He moved to her left, staring down at her with a strange look in his eyes, something between anger and worry.
Kara stared at the rope as he ran it over and under his fingers. She could barely breathe. She kicked her legs toward him, catching the end of his boot.
“I got no choice now, Marissa.” His voice remained calm.
Kara’s bladder felt like a balloon stretched too thin.
Her shoulders ached and her face hurt from the tape that pinched and pulled.
Her captor sat slumped against the wall, sleeping, she assumed, by the rise and fall of his back.
He’d made all sorts of noise in the room behind her and finally sat down, mumbling about the end.
That seemed liked hours ago. How long had it been?
She guessed they were in the basement of the old plant and told herself to remain calm, to figure out a plan.
How’d this guy get past the security checks? Was this Paul’s replacement? Had Jackson hired a psycho?
It had to be almost morning. Paige and Joe would be looking for her.
She tried to convince herself they would be.
Heaviness settled in her gut. She pictured them, laughing and kissing as they punched out and rolled their eyes at Kara’s bag and jacket, thinking she was doing her homework in one of the many quiet rooms. They wouldn’t look for her, not unless there was a clogged chute alarm or some emergency that required an evacuation, and she hadn’t heard the alarms the whole time she’d been down there.
Would she even hear the alarms? Oh God. A sinking feeling settled in her gut.
A pained whimper slipped through her lips.
She sucked in air through her nose. Her eyes shot toward her captor.
Why had she made a noise? Oh, no. No, no, no!
The man sat up.
She pulled away, the edges of the tape tearing thin slits into her wrists.
He turned his head in her direction. His straggly hair stuck to his mangled cheek.
The angry scars on the right side of his face were etched into her memory.
She breathed fast and hard, shaking her head from side to side, inching her butt along the cold concrete, as far away from him as she was able while tethered to the pole.
He ran his hand down his face, then rose to his feet. He wasn’t a tall man, but he was thick, formidable. He leaned down, reaching his hand toward her face.
Kara flinched, pulling away from him.
He ripped the tape from her mouth with one quick pull, tearing away pieces of her skin and leaving behind raw flesh, specked with blood.
She screamed. Her cheeks burned.
He slapped his large palm over her mouth, pushing her jaw closed. “Shut up. You keep making me hurt you. I don’t want to.” He reached for the roll of tape. “I gave you a chance, and now, you give me no choice but to shut you up again.”
Kara seized the opportunity, kicking her legs and screaming as loudly as she could. The concrete walls absorbed her piercing echoes. Her throat ached, swollen and sore.
He turned toward her. The roll of duct tape was inches from her face.
Kara swallowed her screams, hiccupping in gasps of air. “Please,” she begged, “I won’t scream. Please don’t,” she pleaded through her sobs.
He cast a cold gaze down at her, and ripped the tape between his teeth.
She whipped her head from side to side. “No, please!”
“Marissa, I have—”
“I’m not Marissa!” She turned away from him. “No! Please!”
He stretched the tape across her mouth.
Sobs emanated from deep within her chest. The tape clung to her torn, raw skin, piercing like needles through her cheeks.
He paced. “I have to think. I can’t think with you screaming. Damn it, Marissa. What did they do to you?” He crouched next to her.
Her body trembled.
“They must have brainwashed you. I know you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you.” He rubbed his hands together.
Kara’s eyes ran over the deep grooves and puffed, uneven valleys that made up the right side of his face. A thin red line of dried blood filled a fresh scratch.
He reached for her arm. “We’re family, Marissa. I’ll protect you.”
She closed her eyes, his heavy touch hot through her thin, cotton top. Too frightened to speak, her thoughts echoed in her head, I’m not her! I’m not Marissa!
“You’re scared, that’s all.” He put his hand on the pole above her and leaned his face close to her ear. The stench of sweat and coal surrounded him. “Scared,” he whispered, and he ran his finger along her hairline.
Oh God, help me please.