Page 110 of Now or Never

I looked down and realized a second chain was attached to the screw eye, and the chain went to Julie Werly. The chains werelong. Long enough to reach one of the doors, which I assumed was a bathroom. I tugged on the chain. It was too strong to break. Solidly cemented into the floor.

“Are you okay?” I asked Julie. I could see that she was alive. I could also see that she wasn’t okay.

She made soft whimpering sounds and I realized she was crying, trying not to make a lot of noise, trying to choke back the sobs.

“I’m sorry,” she said, wiping tears away. “He gets angry if he hears me crying, so I try not to cry, but I’m getting worn down. I miss my mom and my dad and my students. I’m afraid I’ll never see them again.” She sucked in another sob and bit into her lower lip.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said. “I’m not alone. I work with professionals who are good at finding people and rescuing them. I’m sure they’re tracking me. Pretty soon this nightmare will end and you’ll be back home with your parents.”

“Have you spoken to them?” she asked. “Are they all right?”

“They’re good,” I told her. “They haven’t given up hope that you’ll be found and that you’re okay.”

“I think I’m okay,” she said. “I’m surviving. I think he keeps me alive for my blood. He doesn’t talk to me or hit me. I don’t think I’ve been sexually violated. He brings me food. Sometimes the food is drugged, and I fall asleep, and when I wake up, I have a small Band-Aid over a needle puncture. I’m always tired and I know I’m getting weaker. I imagine he brought you in here to replace me. There was a woman here before me. Her name was Rosa. She was very sick, and one day I woke up and she was gone, and I’ve been alone ever since.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“No. This is where I woke up.” She put her hand to her neck. “I had bite marks on my neck.”

“Do you know how he got you here?”

“Not exactly. I was at home, watching television. Zoran came to the door with pizza, and I let him in. He was always a little odd, but he was always polite. I felt sorry for him. He didn’t seem to have any friends.”

“So, you ate the pizza and passed out?”

“Yes.”

I walked to the door that was open and looked in. Bathroom. My chain didn’t reach to the door that was closed.

“What’s in there?” I asked Julie.

“It’s a small all-purpose room. There’s a kitchenette of sorts, a couch, and a television. Sometimes when he brings food, I can look through the door and see the other room. I think lately he’s been living there. I hear the television.”

“What happens when he brings the food?”

“He tells me to get into the corner by the little fridge. If I move from the corner, he takes the food away and I don’t have anything to eat until the next day. If I stay in the corner, he sets the food tray on the table and leaves. He usually feeds me twice a day, I think. The light stays on all the time, and I haven’t got a watch or anything, so I don’t really know if it’s day or night.”

The door opened and Zoran walked in. “Now that you’re awake and have met your roommate, I suspect you know the process. You go to the corner by the fridge while I set your food on the table. If you move from the corner, I take the food away. I carry a Taser, so I have the ability to cause pain if needed. I also have a very nice SIG Sauer which I’ve recently acquired and have clipped to my belt.”

I went to the corner and crouched next to Julie. Zoran put the food on the table and stood still for a moment. Something was scratching in the other room. Zoran turned on his heel and wentto investigate the scratching. I heard the apartment door open, and Zoran swear. There were some pitter-patter sounds, and Mr. Big ran into the dungeon room and rushed over to me. He was excited. Jumping up and down. I swear he was smiling.

Zoran followed Mr. Big. “Do you know this dog?” he asked me.

“No,” I said, “but he seems to like me.”

Zoran took one of the fast-food burgers off the table and unwrapped it. He moved into the doorway and held the burger out for Big to see. “Come and get it,” Zoran said to Big.

Big ran to get the burger and I yelled out his name.

“Mr. Big!”

Big stopped and turned and looked at me. I pointed to Zoran and yelled, “Kill!”

Big jumped at Zoran and sank his spiky little teeth into Zoran’s leg. Zoran staggered back and batted Mr. Big away. Mr. Big attacked again, this time getting Zoran in the crotch. I ran to the table, grabbed the chair, and hit Zoran full force, in the back. He turned, and I smashed him in the face with the chair. Big unlatched himself from Zoran’s privates, and Zoran went down to his knees, stunned, blood pouring out of his nose. I grabbed the gun out of the holster and shot Zoran in the leg, and then, just to be safe, I shot him in the other leg. Zoran was on his back and screaming, and I was frozen, not sure what to do next. I had no phone. I was chained to the floor. I should have looked in his pocket for a key to my ankle bracelet, but I didn’t want to get that close to him. And then Ranger ran in, followed by Lula, Lou, and Bruno.

The burger was lying on the floor. “Don’t let Mr. Big eat the burger,” I said. “It might contain drugs.”

“Holy cow,” Lula said. “Holy moly. Holy hell.”

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