Page 15 of Halloween in Sleepy Hollow
Maybe he’s going to shoot us right now.
Maybe he’s decided to eliminate us so he can continue with his original plan to…
What?
What was he planning to do with the other four women?
There’s no good answer to that. Only ones that range from bad to worse.
One of the original four women—not Emily, but a blonde who I’m pretty sure I’ve seen in the library before—bursts into tears. But her sobs are muffled by the fabric gag tied around her mouth, so all I can hear are smothered gasps and loud sniffles.
I want to tell her to calm down. That crying will make it harder to breathe, especially with the gag. But I don’t want to risk raising our captor’s ire any more than we have already.
Not that we actuallydidanything aside from trying to help poor Emily. But Headless Horseman, as I’m referring to him for lack of a better name, was furious when he found us. As he marched us into the abandoned bank, he kept muttering things like, “Why are women always poking their noses where they don’t belong,”and,“Stupid women always ruining everything.”
Apparently, he didn’t fasten Emily’s zip ties tight enough, and that’s how she initially escaped. Headless Horseman explained that part while he wrenched fresh zip ties around her wrists, smiling grimly as she winced in pain.“It’s your own fault,”he told her condescendingly.“If you’d just stayed put like the others, your wrists wouldn’t have to hurt so much.”
By that point, Ari, Shea, and I were already restrained. He forced Shea to tie us up at gunpoint, watching her like a hawk to make sure she did it the right way. “Tighter,” he urged Shea as she tentatively fastened the first zip tie around Ari’s wrists. I could tell she was trying to give Ari a chance to escape, but Headless Horseman wasn’t having it.
Once Shea finished zip tying both Ari and myself—silently crying the entire time she did it—our captor took great pleasure in restraining her himself.“Think you’re so smart,”he told her in a mocking tone.“Talking back to me. How smart do you feel now?”
The three of us don’t have gags, like the others. But he’s made it abundantly clear if any of us try to call for help, he’ll shoot us immediately.
Honestly, I’m not sure if anyone could hear us, anyway. Not all the way in the back of the bank, with the thick walls surrounded us and the reinforced vault door shut.
As Headless Horseman starts pacing again, his footsteps echo hollowly throughout the room. Light from several battery operated lanterns bounces off the rows of safe deposit boxes and casts an eerie glow across our faces. As I glance around the room, noting the eight of us in here, I can’t help but wonder how long the air in here will last.
Normally, the vault would be ventilated. I know that from a documentary I watched with Ben about bank heists; how the vaults are designed to be fireproof, but for safety’s sake, there has to be a way for air to get in.
But that’s when the bank is open and running. Not when it’s been shut down for over a year. There’s a vent in the ceiling, yes, but is the ductwork still functional? Is there debris in it? Did the construction workers divert the flow while they were working in here?
My chest squeezes at the thought of a slow suffocation. Of my consciousness slowly slipping away, memories of Ben and Laila and Elias the last thing I see before everything fades to an infinite black.
No.
I refuse to consider it.
I’m not dying tonight.
I’m getting out of here. All of us are.
I glance at Ari, then Shea, exchanging a meaningful look with both of them.
We have to work together.
Draw this out until someone comes to rescue us.
They’re looking for us by now. I’m sure of it. There’s no way Ben wouldn’t be worried about me. Same with Cash and Oliver. Surely they’re out there, searching downtown Sleepy Hollow, looking for clues…
But what clues would there be?
Shea’s phone, for one. I didn’t miss how Headless Horseman left it behind in the alley, most likely forgetting about it in his rush to get us into the bank. Mine is still in the library, and Ari’s is now a mess of plastic and glass shards over by the vault door, smashed into hundreds of pieces by the heel of Headless Horseman’s boot.
If only I had my earrings on; the ones I got from Blade and Arrow back when I first started dating Ben. They have little GPS trackers in them, so Ben and the guys at Blade and Arrow could find me.
Except…
Another glance around the room makes me wonder.
