Page 125 of Hold On

“When you’re in a situation like this, you should always eat when you’re given food.”

“What books have you been reading?”

“That paragraph was just beforeHow to survive a shark attackand just afterHow to deal with a venomous snake bite.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“What? That I can joke? But Iamright. Eat when you can. I just need them not to come up again after we’ve been fed. They might check on us last thing but I need a gap long enough for me to get away and call the police.”

“How are you going to get free? They might cut us loose so we can eat but they’ll put the ties on again afterwards. And how are you going to get out of the window? Or haul yourself onto the roof?”

“I’m hoping the windows aren’t locked. I can cut the ties. I have something in my wallet.”

“That they didn’t find?” Dominic whispered.

“I’m hoping not. How’s your leg?”

“Hurts.”

“Are you sure it’s broken?”

“Yes.”

“Can I sign your cast?” Ren needed Dominic to believe he could do this.

“What do you want to write?”

“Break a leg—oh wait.”

At least Dominic smiled at that.

It was a nail-biting thirty minutes—if Ren had been able to get at his fingernails—before the door swung open. Irma came in, Tengiz at her side. She put the food on the floor between Ren and Dominic. Two slices of pizza in a delivery box and two bottles of water.

“You eat first.” Tengiz cut Dominic’s wrists free.

Ren gritted his teeth as he watched Dominic sit up. He could see the effort it was taking to do it without showing his pain. He ate all the pizza and drank some of the water.

“You need to piss?” Tengiz asked.

“No thank you.”

Tengiz laughed. “English are always polite. Some English.” He glared at Ren.

Tengiz refastened Dominic’s wrists and then Ren was freed. He ate but didn’t drink.

“Can I keep the water to take my tablet?” he asked.

“How are you going to get it out of your wallet?” Tengiz chuckled.

But both bottles were left and Ren mentally cheered. Not only that but he’d managed to keep his wrists in a position that meant the cable tie wasn’t so tight. Now he just needed everything else to go the way he wanted.

Chapter Eighteen

The pain in Dominic’s leg was bad and getting worse. It had been a struggle to sit up without betraying how much agony he was in. Even the slightest movement caused a sharp, stabbing pain from his toes to his groin. No way was he going anywhere but if Ren could get away, then there was a chance of surviving this. He had to believe that because the alternative was that once they found Ren had gone, Dominic would be killed before help arrived.

“What was that about tablets?” Dominic asked.

“Long term antibiotics and a blood thinner I have to take.”

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