Chapter XXIV
Sharon was just about to slip into that dreamy, carefree world of sleep when she
was sud- denly awakened by the sound of breaking glass. Joe had also heard the
glass and as quick as a flash he was sitting upright in the bed, his whole body
tensed and ready for ac- tion. Sharon struggled to sit up as well but Joe pushed
her back down, signaling her to be quiet by pressing his finger on his lips.
With the rag still in her mouth that was a command she found easy to obey. Joe
quietly slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the door. For several seconds he
stood quietly by the door, listening for any further noises. When nothing hap-
pened he quietly slipped out of the door and into the dark house. Sharon lay
staring at the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains. Her eyes were as
wide as saucers and her heart was beating in her throat. Without even thinking
about it her hands were quietly twisting inside their rope prisons. Never had
she felt so vulnerable. With her hands bound and her body anchored to the bed
she was at the complete mercy of fate and whatever surprises it had in store
for her.
For an eternity there was complete silence in the house. She craned her neck and
stared at the door in morbid fascination, not daring to move a muscle. Suddenly
two bright flashes came from the door as shots rang out. The enormous sound
reverberated through the house and she screamed hard into the gag in shock.
Without even thinking she rolled away from the sound and right off the bed,
hitting the floor with a stunning blow. Still woozy with fear and shock she lay
on her stomach next to the bed, her chest working furi- ously to draw much
needed oxygen into her lungs. The room started spinning and a part of her
realized that she was hyperventilating. She lay her forehead down on the carpet
and tried her best to regulate her breathing.
As she lay on the floor she tried to imagine what was going on. Her ears were
still ringing from the loud bark of the gunshots and were of no use to her. She
tried looking under the bed to the door but the bedspread was in her way and
she couldn't see a thing. Her nose twitched as she registered a familiar but
unpleasant odor and with a disgusted groan she realized she'd pissed herself.
Too afraid to move she lay still in the puddle of urine and tried to figure out
what to do next. Joe hadn't had a pistol with him when he's left and she had to
assume it was an intruder that had fired the shots. Who could it be? Could it be
Him? Her heart started to flutter as the thought raced through her mind. Surely
it had to be Him? He'd gone to a lot of trouble to make her his, didn't it made
sense for him to want to claim her back? Yes but what if it wasn't him? What if
it was just some common burglar? Some big, evil, burly man that would find her
bound and powerless.... Or could be one of Joe's 'associates'? Surely a man in
his business would have a lot of enemies? No! It had to be Him! It had to be!
How could it be Him? She didn't even know where she was - how would ...
Suddenly her ears picked up the noise of somebody quietly creeping into the
room. Instantly her body tensed and she grew cold with dread. She tried to be as
quiet as possible but she swore the whole world could hear her heart thumping
in her chest. Maybe he won't see me! The noise quietly moved to the other side
of the bed and stood still. She tried to hide herself behind the bed and
quietly drew her legs up to hide them away. She was lying on her side and her
elbow was painfully squeezed under the weight of her body. She lay staring up
at the rim of the bed, dreading the sight of a stranger's head popping over the
side at any moment. Her elbow was really aching as she wished she could roll
over to relieve the strain, but she dared not move with him so close to her.
After another eternity she heard him turn around and walk back to the door.
You're losing him! He's getting away! Her mind kept screaming but she couldn't
bring herself to re- spond. She felt like a deer caught in the glare of the
headlamps, too stunned and scared to move.
As the footsteps quietly left the room she rolled over onto her side to get her
weight off her elbow. She almost fainted in shock as the chain clinked loudly
with her movements. Nor- mally it would have been little more than a quiet
tinkling but in the quiet, charged atmos- phere of the night it sounded like the
bells of St. Peter's cathedral. She screamed into the gag as she heard the
footsteps rushing back and her survival instincts took over. Her mind wasn't
even thinking as she quickly burrowed in under the bed, the only hiding place
she could find on such short notice. By the time the intruder reached her side
of the bed she had crawled all the way into the narrow space and was completely
hidden from view. She couldn't see behind her but she could feel him standing
there. Suddenly she heard a mo- tion behind her and a strong hand gripped firmly
around her ankle. Again she screamed and she started kicking with her other
foot. Fighting like a wildcat she kicked and screamed as her body was slowly
dragged out from under the bed.
She was pulled out into the open and her legs dropped. Turning onto her back she
stared up at her assailant, her mind almost frozen with fear. It was definitely
a man but that was about all she could discover. From head to toe he was
dressed in black and his face was covered by a ski mask. From her perspective
on the ground he seemed to be a giant and his size made her even more afraid.
He held his arms up in a gesture of peace and gave her time to calm down. After
several minutes of staring at each other he slowly lowered his hands and
stepped closer to her. She panicked and her foot lashed out, hitting him
squarely on the groin. He groaned loudly and toppled over like a tall tree,
clutching his privates in pain. With difficulty she scrambled to her feet and
made a rush for the door, the panic and fear driving her instinct to flee. She
had made it almost all the way down the passage before the chain decided she'd
gone far enough and stopped her in her tracks. Her head and neck was forced to
make a sudden stop as the rest of her body continued its motion, her feet
literally running themselves out from under her body. She just had time to
register a blinding pain from her throat before her body fell backwards and her
head hit the floor with a loud crack. Her mind was trying to tell her that she
wasn't getting any oxy- gen through her crushed throat but a warm, dark cloud
overtook her senses and she slipped into oblivion.
Sharon slowly drifted up to the light. As she got closer she began to register
pain and her mind paused. She didn't want to go to the light - it meant pain
and fear and discomfort. For a long while she just hovered there, not conscious
but not asleep either. Something was urging her to wake up but her mind
resisted, it was warm and peaceful down here. The impulse was too great and
slowly she opened her eyes. "Ughgnn!" said her body to her mind. It felt as if
every part of her body was throbbing with pain, not the least of which the spot
at the back of her head. She closed her eyes again. "What happened?" Her mind
asked. "How should I know? That's your department" Replied her body. "Oh and by
the way - you need to find a toilet, now!" Suddenly her memory kicked in and
she sat up in bed, her eyes wide with fear. "That was a mistake!" said her body
as the blackness folded over her.
"Shall we try that again?" said her mind a while later. "No need to." Replied
the body "It's been taken care of." "But I thought we needed to find a toilet."
Said her mind. "As I said - it's been taken care of." Said her body. Her mind
wrinkled her nose and made a face.
A while later her body spoke again. "Hey - somebody's shaking our arm." "Tell
them to go away - we don't want any." Said her mind, giggling to herself. Body
didn't get it. "It might be important." It replied. "It would mean waking up
you know." Her body thought this over for a while - waking up didn't sound like
such a good idea. "Yeah - but we need to roll over anyway, our back's gone
numb." "Oh alright" said her mind with a resigned look on it's face.
Sharon's eyelids fluttered a few times as she slowly woke up. She was lying on
her back in a large canopy bed, the crisp clean linen tucked in under her body.
The bed was in a large room with plush carpeting and expensive furniture.
Bright morning sunlight was streaming through the windows. The whole room was
artfully decorated in soft pastel col- ors, everything from the lush carpet to
the expensive wallpaper was color coordinated to create a pleasant flowing
effect. The room smelled of new linen and old varnished wood. Sitting in a
chair next to her was a man, a friendly smile on his face. Her breath caught in
her throat as she recognized the stranger from the nightclub and she almost
fainted again. He reached out to a small table next to him and carefully
brought a bowl of soup to her side. "Hungry?" he asked, the smile still on his
face.
