by Susan Stoker
She’d known the second she woke up that she was in the presence of the man who’d killed Cayley and all the others at the clinic. She recognized his voice, and his nasty smell. That stench was stuck in her nose. She felt a little vindicated, because no matter what the DA thought, even if the woman was thinking about allowing her testimony, she’d known she’d be able to pick him out. But vindication at this point wouldn’t help her.
The man, Isaac—he’d actually introduced himself to her as if they were at a fancy party—had talked the entire time they’d been in the car. He’d talked in great detail about what he’d done with Shaun, he’d even bragged about his and his boss’s plan to bring her out to the middle of nowhere to torture and kill her.
Corrie had wanted to ask about Bethany and Emily, but kept her mouth shut. It seemed to piss him off that he couldn’t get her to talk to him, but no matter what vile thing he said, she refused to open her mouth.
They’d driven for what seemed like forever until he’d pulled off on a gravel road. Corrie could tell the difference in the texture of the road under the car’s tires. He really was bringing her to the middle of nowhere. She smelled pine trees all around, and dust. It was dry, wherever they were.
Corrie felt a panic attack coming on, but held on to her sanity by the skin of her teeth. She couldn’t lose it now. Her parents had trained her to use her senses when she got turned around. This was the same thing. She just had to concentrate.
Isaac had pulled her roughly from the car and hauled her forward, laughing as she tripped over objects in her path. She had no idea where they were or where they were going, but Corrie played up her helplessness as much as she could. She wanted Isaac and his boss to think she was completely unable to help herself in any way.
Isaac had thrown her into a room and slammed the door. Corrie heard the lock being engaged from the other side. She got up and carefully made her way to the door, arms out in front of her to try to keep from running into anything, feeling good about only hitting one chair. She leaned her ear against the wooden door and listened.
“What now, Dimitri?”
“Now we figure out what she knows and what the cops know.”
“Then what?”
Corrie heard a smacking sound and Isaac cried out.
“Calm the fuck down. You’ll get to stick your dick in her as soon as I know what I want to know.”
Corrie didn’t like the sound of any of that.
She heard the two men coming back down the hall. Corrie hurried back to the middle of the floor where she’d been thrown and held back a sob. Where are you, Quint? I need you.
* * *
Quint held on to the safety bar and gritted his teeth. Hayden drove like a bat out of hell. She didn’t even slow down going around corners. The SUV she’d commandeered from her department groaned and made all sorts of god-awful noises as she pushed it to its limit.
All Quint could think about was how scared Corrie probably was. She hadn’t even wanted to move into his house because she wasn’t sure where all his furniture was. How scared would she have to be now? In the middle of a fucking forest with two psychotic assholes doing who knows what to her? She didn’t even have her cane…he’d seen it folded in her purse when he’d gotten her cell phone out.
He ground his teeth together. He’d kill the motherfuckers if they’d touched so much as a hair on her head.
“We’re gonna get to her, Quint. Not only us, but I think most of Station 7 is on their way too. You know those firefighters would do anything for you.” Hayden said calmly from next to him. He looked over at her. She seemed to be calm, cool, and collected, even as she drove like she was competing in the Indianapolis 500.
“Yeah,” was all Quint could squeeze out between his clenched teeth. He was happy the EMTs were on their way too, Corrie might need them, but he hated the thought of her even having a papercut. This was torture. They’d get to her all right. It was what they’d find when they got there that worried him.
* * *
Corrie tried to ignore the adrenaline coursing through her body and pretended as if she was a helpless female. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t see anything! I didn’t hear anything but gunshots. I don’t know why the cops think I can tell one person from another. I’m bliiiiind.” She whined the word, trying to sound even more pathetic. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Dimitri bitched, pacing back and forth in front of the chair they’d plunked her in. “She doesn’t know shit. We’ve spent all this time and money for nothing.”
Corrie shook her head, trying to clear the ringing from her ears. Her face hurt from where Isaac had clocked her earlier at the house, and again from where both Dimitri and Isaac had taken turns slapping and hitting her to try to figure out what she knew. The idiots hadn’t even bothered to tie her to the chair, thinking she was a pitiful, helpless, blind female—thank God.
“Can I have her now then?”
Corrie heard Dimitri’s fist hitting Isaac’s face again. “You are such a fucking horn-dog. We have damage control to do first, asshole. Leave her alone. You’ll get your fuck later, then you can get rid of her. And this time, you’ll do it right. Not like that fucker Shaun.”
Isaac laughed and Corrie flinched and cried out involuntarily as a foot made contact with her knee. Darn, that hurt. She leaned over and wailed excessively, trying to show both men she was out of it, emotionally and physically.
“Come on, we have shit to do,” Dimitri said, walking to the door to her room.
Corrie held her breath. Please don’t leave me alone with Isaac. Please don’t leave me alone with Isaac.
“I’ll be back, bitch. Hope you’re ready for me to shove my big cock up your asshole. I like to start there because it hurts the most. Then I’ll move on to your cunt and your face. I love watching as I shove my dick down a chick’s throat. Did you know the last woman I killed, I did it by strangling her with my dick? She looked up at me while my cock was down her throat, she couldn’t breathe and she died with my jizz coating her stomach. I can’t fucking wait.”
Isaac slammed the door behind him and Corrie heard him lock it.
Lord. Her hands trembled imaging every horrible thing he wanted to do to her. She held her hand over her mouth, trying not to throw up. She couldn’t lose it now. She took a couple of deep breaths. Thank God he’d left her alone and thank God they hadn’t tied her up. She had to get out of here. She couldn’t wait for Quint to find her; she didn’t think he was going to make it in time. Isaac was way too determined to rape and kill her. It was up to her to save herself.
She heard Isaac and Dimitri arguing in the next room, and it gave her even more incentive to try to escape while they were preoccupied.
Corrie got up, wincing as her knee almost gave out on her. Darn it. One of the men had kicked her harder than she’d thought. The tears that came to her eyes were real this time, not faked. Corrie refused to let them fall and hobbled around the room, hands out in front of her, trying not to run into anything and bring attention to herself.
Her shin hit a table, then a chair, then a bed, but she kept going. The small pains didn’t matter, it was better than being dead or brutally violated.
She felt along the wall, breathing a sigh of relief when she found what she was looking for. A window. It was about three feet by three feet, plenty big enough for her to squeeze through. It was around five feet off the floor, which would make it tricky to get up and out of, but she tried to open it.
It didn’t budge.
Panic set in and Corrie wasted a bit of time huffing and puffing and straining helplessly to push the window open. Finally she stopped to think and felt for a lock. There! She turned the knob at the top of the window and tried again, pushing slowly.
It moved. Oh my God, it freaking moved.
Corrie continued to push open the window slowly in case it made any noise. It didn’t. Thank goodness for owners who took care of their properties. Corrie
could hear Isaac and Dimitri still arguing in the other room, so she continued making her escape. Finally the window wouldn’t go up any more. Corrie felt with her hands. It wasn’t open all the way, but it’d have to do. Remembering the chair, she bent over and shuffled back to where she thought it was.
Bingo. Her fingers made contact with the back and she almost knocked it over. She panted through her terror, knowing if Isaac heard anything suspicious, he’d be back in the room in a heartbeat and she’d lose her chance to get out of there. She carefully picked up the chair, thankful it was a flimsy wooden piece of crap.
Carrying it carefully back to the window, Corrie put it down and climbed up. Hopefully she’d have enough of a head start before Isaac came back to rape her.
Pausing, Corrie took a few precious seconds to draw seventeen dots on the wall next to the window before she escaped her prison. She’d found and pocketed a pen when she was searching the room earlier, and while she knew she was taking a chance—a big chance that she’d take too long—she had to do it.
Finished, she put the pen inside the window sill, and stuck her head out of the little window and waited. She tilted her head, listening. She could hear the wind blowing, smell pine and decaying leaves, but nothing else. It was now or never.
Corrie pulled herself through the window head first. She lay on her stomach on the sill and put her hands out. She couldn’t touch the ground. Darn. She’d hoped that maybe she’d get lucky and there’d be some sort of hill or the ground would be built up next to the house. She had no idea how far it was to the grass below, but since she hadn’t gone up any stairs when Isaac was dragging her into the house, she hoped she didn’t have too far to fall.
She put her hands on the sill again and wiggled until she was precariously balanced on her hipbones. Corrie put her hands out again and wiggled one more time. Gravity did the rest of the work for her. She fell out of the window and landed hard on her hands. Her elbows gave out and she hit her head as her body crashed to the ground.
Corrie didn’t wait to take stock. She picked herself up and started walking quickly toward the smell of the trees. She kept her hands in front of her, used exaggerated steps to walk, and stayed hunched over, trying not to trip over anything in her way. She knew she probably looked ridiculous, but without her cane, it was really hard to walk in unfamiliar places. She knew she was moving way too slowly, but it wasn’t like she could just run off. She had to be smart and careful. She only had one chance. If they caught her, she was as good as dead.
No matter what, she had to keep going. No matter how many times she fell, no matter how many times she ran into things…the key to staying alive was putting one foot in front of the other. All she had to do was picture what Isaac wanted to do to her, and it gave her the motivation she needed to keep going.
She was scared to death, this was not fun, and she’d once had nightmares about this exact situation…being lost in the woods.
But Corrie kept going. Step by painfully slow step. Once she got away from the house, she’d figure out what to do next. Corrie knew she just had to stay away from Isaac. Quint would find her eventually. She just had to find the perfect hiding spot. She knew what she was looking for, but it was a crapshoot as to whether she could actually find it.
She stumbled on, hoping just once that luck was on her side.
* * *
“No matter what, you can’t lose your shit,” Hayden warned as they closed in on the cabin. They’d turned off onto a gravel road. Hayden slowed down only enough so they wouldn’t lose a wheel on the deep ruts in the road.
“I’m not going to lose my shit.”
“I’ve read the file on this Isaac guy. We both know what we might find.”
Quint ground his teeth together and didn’t respond.
“If she’s been raped, you have to keep it together,” Hayden said stubbornly. “She might not want to be touched. Sometimes even the slightest touch can drive a woman deep into her mind. Just let me see where her head’s at before you grab her. If needed, Penelope can help her rather than one of the other male firefighters.”
“Shut up.”
“Quint, I’m not saying this to hurt you, but you might have to treat her with care.”
Quint turned to Hayden. His voice was low and even and only cracked once. “I know exactly what I might find. I might find her scared out of her mind and so far into herself I can’t get in. I could find her beaten unconscious, or crucified to a fucking wall. I’m hoping she’s still alive. I can deal with anything but that. There’s no telling what those assholes could’ve done to her by now. She’s fragile and I’m hanging on by a thread here. So you telling me that asshole might have stuck his cock inside what’s mine is not helping. I know you mean well, and I appreciate it. I do. But I’d appreciate it more if you could get us the fuck there so I can find my woman and take care of her. Okay?”
“Okay. But Quint?”
He grunted in response.
“I think you’re underestimating her. I don’t know Corrie, but from what you’ve told me, I don’t think she’s all that fragile. She’s lived her entire life blind. This isn’t new for her. She’s been in scary situations before.”
“Not like this.”
“You’re absolutely right, not like this. But you’re talking about her as if she sits at home scared to leave the house every day. She has a career. From what you tell me, one she fought like hell to have. She had the presence of mind to hide from Sampson when he shot up her clinic. Remember what Penelope went through over in Turkey. Women are a lot tougher than we seem. Don’t sell Corrie short.”
Quint could feel his throat closing up. He didn’t answer, merely nodded. He hoped Hayden was right. He hoped like hell she was right.
The cab of the SUV was silent the rest of the way to the cabin.
* * *
Corrie’s hands hurt. She knew they were scraped up, and she’d hit her head, hard, on a low branch, but she kept going. Her knee was still throbbing from where she’d been kicked, but she kept hobbling on. She was probably covered in dirt and blood. From the injuries Isaac and Dimitri had given her before she’d gotten out of the cabin, to now, she knew she had to look like an escaped inmate from Laurel Ridge, the psychiatric hospital in San Antonio.
She stopped every now and then and cocked her head to listen, to see if Isaac or Dimitri had realized she was gone yet. So far it was quiet behind her. She had no idea how far she’d gotten, only that it wasn’t far enough. It’d probably never be far enough. She had to find what she was looking for soon, otherwise it’d be too late.
She started forward again and before she’d gone a dozen steps, she stopped abruptly. She heard yelling from back the way she’d come. Crap. They’d figured out she was gone.
Corrie walked faster, her heart beating hard. She had to hide. She needed to find the perfect place to hide…now.
Corrie bounced off what felt like the fiftieth tree since she’d left the cabin and hit the ground hard. She panted for a moment. Why in the world did she think she’d be able to pull this off? Fuck, she wasn’t comfortable negotiating herself in a strange room, nevertheless in the middle of a fucking forest.
She sobbed once. Great. Just great. Now she was swearing and crying. She got to her feet and put her hands out in front of her again. She just had to keep going. One step at a time. She wasn’t going to make it easy for those assholes. If they wanted her, they’d have to fight for her.
She stepped forward another dozen steps and ran into something. Darn it. Another freaking tree.
Wait… She felt this one.
Oh my God, it seemed perfect.
There was a limb close enough to the ground that she could grab it. That had been her plan from the second she’d decided to crawl out the window, and this was the first tree that it seemed might work. She grabbed the first branch, which was around shoulder height, and put her knee on the trunk to help her climb. She pulled herself up, trying not to grunt with the effort it took. Her
arms shook, but she didn’t give up. Finally she managed to haul herself up on top of that first limb. Corrie put one hand above her head, thanking God there was another branch there, and slowly pulled herself up. She only got to a crouch before she hit another limb. Bingo.
She felt around her and stepped up to the next branch. She continued climbing. Slowly but surely. She could feel the tree she was in swaying gently in the breeze, but she didn’t stop. She had no idea how high she’d climbed, but she knew she had to keep going. She had to get high enough that Isaac and Dimitri couldn’t see her. She prayed there were leaves on this tree to hide her; she thought there were because she could hear the rustling in the air that blew around her. Even if they saw her, they’d have to climb up to get her. Dying from falling out of this tree would be better than whatever Isaac had in store for her.
Finally, when the limbs seemed too skinny and frail to be able to hold her weight if she stepped on them, she halted her frantic upward climb. She hugged the trunk of the tree tightly and tried to calm her breathing. It wouldn’t be much of a hiding place if she gave herself away by panting too loud.
Corrie knew she was high. The sound of leaves rustling made her feel hopeful that she was sufficiently covered. The trunk she was gripping wasn’t that wide this high up, her arms fit all the way around it with room to spare. Even though it made no difference, she squeezed her eyes shut, praying she couldn’t be seen from the ground.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been clinging to the tree like a frightened monkey, but all of a sudden the silence around her was broken by Isaac and Dimitri’s voices as they made their way toward her. They were moving much quicker than she had.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Isaac taunted in a singsong voice that would surely give children nightmares rather than soothe them. “You might as well come out now. We know you came this way because we saw your fucking footprints leading right into the woods. If you give yourself up now, I promise to go easy on you.”
