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“Uh uh. No. I am not getting anywhere close to between the two of you. That’s way over my pay grade, man.”

“You owe me.”

“A favor, yeah, but not that big a favor. I cross Vale, that crazy son of a bitch will have my head.”

I breathed out shakily.

“Fine. But you’ll let me know if you have any leads on Susan?” I needed to find the wife, and find her before tomorrow night. If I found the wife, then there would be options. Right now I had zero options. And if I was forced to kill Sara because of it—

I closed my eyes. The sun was so hot today. A perfect California afternoon. I couldn’t give up my life here for her. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to.

“Sure. The feds are all over this one already, Rien.”

“I know. Call me once you have the information.”

One day. That’s all I had, and then I would have to make a hard decision. I still didn’t know what I would decide, if it came to that.

So I just had to make sure it didn’t come to that.

Sara

I looked back over my shoulder at the oak door. Rien had left a while ago. I didn’t know when he would be back. Still, this was my chance!

I went into the operating room. Gary was lying still on the table. At first I thought he was dead, but then I saw his chest rise slowly.

Just asleep.

I tiptoed across to the waiting room door and tried it. To my surprise, it opened up easily. I stepped into the waiting room. The lights were off, all except for a single small spotlight on that glass bowl that stood in front of the entryway. The little plastic shapes inside looked even more like they were trying to crawl out.

Trying to escape.

Quickly, as quietly as I could, I walked to the door to the outside. This was where I’d originally come in. If I could get out the door, I would be free. Free! I put my hand on the door handle and tried to turn it.

Stuck. I tried again, wiggling the handle, but it wouldn’t even move. The door was bolted shut. The metal lock didn’t have a turnkey or anything that I could see. It was a blank steel plate on the door. I tugged harder at the door.

So close! I was a couple of inches away from the outside world. I had to get out! I had to!

I looked around frantically. In my mind, I imagined Rien coming in through the front of the house. I imagined him finding the library door open. I had to get out somehow, but how?

The chairs in the waiting room were leather, but there was a metal stool next to the coatrack. I picked it up and swung it at the door handle. It crashed, bouncing off of the handle. Nothing. I swung again, harder this time, but it only bounced back again. I took a deep breath and swung with all of my power, aiming at the end of the handle.

This time the metal stool hit the handle so hard that the reverberation made me lose my grip. The stool flew back and crashed into the stand for the sculpture. I watched as the stand swayed, then tipped over completely. The glass bowl fell and shattered on the ground, sending glass and plastic pieces across the floor.

I stared agape at the broken bowl. From the other room, I could hear Gary screaming through the gag. I tried the door handle, but it was as stuck as before. I couldn’t get out that way.

Shit.Shit, shit shit.

I brushed the glass pieces aside with my foot. What could I do? Where could I go?

There weren’t any windows around. I didn’t know what to do. In a daze, I picked up the stool and walked back into the operating room. Maybe I could break the huge glass window.

I swung the stool against the window. The stool bounced off so hard that my hand turned numb from the shock of the reverberation. I looked up. It didn’t make so much as a dent. I dropped the stool, my energy spent. I couldn’t get out of here. There was no way.

Gary was screaming at me from behind the gag. His one eye was completely white and glazed over, and that side of his face was one huge scab. His other eye stared wildly at me. I swallowed as I went over to him. I couldn’t let him go if we had no way to escape. But I didn’t know how to escape. Maybe he would have an idea.

Carefully, I pulled the cotton gag from his mouth. Blood and mucus spilled from the corner of his mouth. He coughed wildly, unable to talk.

Water. He needed water. I ran over to the sink and filled a plastic sample cup from the faucet. I put it to his lips and he drank, coughing.

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