Page 4 of Atone in Darkness
2
“I’m leaving for the day. Press the button by the door if you need anything at all, and one of the guards will come. I’d rather be the one to dispense medications, so don’t hesitate to ask for me even if all you need is more ibuprofen.”
His pretty doctor knew he was well aware of how the button worked, but she waited patiently for him to answer. While it was tempting to ignore her, that wouldonly make him feel as if he was kicking a puppy. “I will.”
He waited until after she was gone and the lab lights dimmed to add “not” to his statement. The one time he’d done as she’d suggested had resulted in another “Let’s kick Chase’s ass” party courtesy of the guards on duty. Evidently they’d been watching a highly contested college basketball game, and he’d interrupted their fun.
Once hewas sure she was gone, he rolled up to sit on the side of his cot and tossed the now warm ice pack onto the bedside table. Not for the first time he was grateful for his weird DNA, which gifted him with the accelerated healing that all Paladins shared. The pain in his cracked ribs had fadedto a mere echo of what it had been when they’d dragged him back to his cell last night. Maybe he’d fallenasleep when he crawled up onto his cot, but it was more likely he’d simply passed out.
At least he hadn’t died this time. Lately he was growing less sure if that was actually something to celebrate. If he had died and managed to stay that way, all of this crap would finally be over with for good. It was getting harder and harder to fight his way back from the pain and his despair of ever findinga way out of this place. The only thing that kept him going was knowing his permanent death would destroy his sister, who had raised him single-handedly after their mother died. After Gwen had sacrificed so much for him, he wouldn’t fail her now.
He knew in his heart that she and his friends were hunting for him, but he had no idea what kind of clues, if any, his captors might have left behindfor them to follow. For one thing, the last known location they had for him was in southern Missouri, so that was most likely where they were concentrating their search.
Unfortunately, the few glimpses he’d had of the area surrounding this place looked nothing at all like the Ozarks. Damn, he hated the worry and grief his sister and brother-in-law had to be going through right now. There wasn’tmuch he could do about that until he figured out a way to escape from wherever the hell he was.
No matter how hard he’d tried to piece it all back together, the details of his last day of normal remained fractured in his mind. When he thought back to when he’d been taken, it was like watching his life play out through a curtain of mist thatblurred all the sharp edges of the world around him.Some things, a precious few, remain crystal clear in his head from the last day he could claim as his own. The shirt he’d worn. The phone call from his sister. The muffin and coffee he’d picked up on the way to the county airport. He’d been about to catch a chartered flight back to headquarters in St. Louis. A meeting of some sort. He couldn’t remember what it was about, not that it mattered anymore.
The real problem was that everything after that stubbornly remained a thick fog. There might have been a car accident on a twisting Ozark road; sometimes he could almost hear the screech of tires and feel the jolt of pain as his car went spinning out of control.
But then again, maybe none of that had actually happened.
All he knew for sure was that he’d never made it to the airport, and therewas nothing but a big, gaping hole of darkness in his memory until he woke up in this cell. No longer able to sit still, he lurched up off the cot, his head spinning in circles that were part dizziness and part frustration with never finding any solutions to this predicament.
He stuck his hand out to lean against the wall until his mind cleared. Once he could stand without wobbling, he took afew slow steps across the cell and then turned back again. When he returned to his starting point, he did a few leg stretches to assess his current condition. The skin where they’d stabbed his thigh pulled tight, but no new rush of warm blood poured out of the wound.
Chase tugged his shirt up and did a quick visual inspection of the various bruises and cuts he could see. Most were all but gone.That left his ribs. A slow twist from right to leftand back again hurt enough that he had to stop and breathe slowly until the pain faded away. Leaning forward and back didn’t cause him any problems. Progress was being made.
By morning, he should be pretty much back to normal. For now, he’d pace the small open area in the cell for a while to burn off some energy and a lot of his frustrationand then try to sleep.
As he walked, he thought about Marisol Riggs, MD. Did the woman realize that she was just as much a prisoner here as he was? She might not be subject to the same abuse, but she suffered, too. Chase wasn’t naïve enough to think he’d ever be allowed to walk out of this place alive. The fact that the guards made no effort to hide their identities from him had put that dreamto rest pretty damn quickly. The only real surprise was that the sadistic bastards had kept their hands off Marisol, at least so far.
He’d caught a few glimpses of the surrounding area as they dragged him back and forth from the gym where they heaped their abuse on him. No sign of civilization as far as he could see, which meant they were isolated from the outside world. While that made it easierfor the powers that be to keep a lid on what they were up to, it also meant the assholes who worked for them had no handy place to blow off steam.
Well, except when they dragged Chase to the big gym on the other side of the building for another round of fun and games. Eventually, though, someone would decide he’d outlived his usefulness. Once that happened, perhaps they’d bring in another poorSOB to take his place. If so, then Chase wouldn’t be the only one whose final resting place would be out in the middle of the forest that surrounded this facility.He hated knowing Marisol would likely be shoved into a shallow grave right next to his.
The thought of what they might do to her first made him want to punch the wall. He might have even given in to the temptation, except he couldn’trisk any more injuries right now. The chances of escaping were pretty minimal. But if the opportunity ever presented itself, he needed to be ready.
He’d walked enough. It was time to sleep. With luck, he’d dream of better times, maybe a night spent in the arms of a beautiful woman, no doubt one with long blond hair and intelligent dark eyes. He’d told himself repeatedly that he had no businesshaving such hot thoughts about his keeper. But considering how many nights Marisol haunted his dreams, his subconscious wasn’t listening. As long as she didn’t find out, no harm, no foul.
Another lesson he’d learned early on was to sleep in his clothes. There didn’t seem to be any set schedule for when his captors would show up at his door. Sweats and a T-shirt didn’t provide much in the wayof protection, but fighting in just his underwear put him at a definite disadvantage.
He’d even given up using the thin blanket on his cot. Sleeping cold was better than getting tangled up in his covers while trying to fight off his attackers. They’d quickly learned the hard way it went better for them if they gassed him first, but he’d rather be prepared.
Staring up at the ceiling, he deliberatelypictured his sister and her husband standing on the front porch of the rustic farmhouse where he’d grown up. Right now, he needed that reminder of better times and the world that still existed somewhere beyond these walls. After a bit, the last of histension drained away and sleep finally came.
•••
“WHY ARE YOUhere?”
It wasn’t the first time her patient had asked that question, but itwas the first time Marisol felt inclined to answer. Instead, she concentrated on sticking the needle into his vein and watched as his blood poured into the tube. When it was nearly full, she switched it out for the next one. Halfway through the third tube, she released the tourniquet. After setting the blood sample aside with the others, she removed the needle, put a clean cotton ball on the spot,and bent Chase’s arm up to hold pressure on the small wound to make sure the bleeding stopped quickly.
“I got the job in the usual way. I’d just finished my residency and was interviewing for various positions around the country. This one had the best benefit package, so I accepted the offer.”
As it turned out, the benefits had been a little too good, especially for someone right out of school.For sure, she should’ve asked a whole lot more questions about what the job would entail. She checked Chase’s arm for bruising before covering the cotton ball with a small bandage. As she inverted each of the tubes of blood several times, he continued to study her.
“Are you the only keeper in this place?”
She managed not to wince at his derogatory description of her job. “As far as I know. Whydo you ask?”
