“Good,” he said, picking up one of the syringes. He slowly moved toward my arm and hovered the needle just above my skin. Then, without warning, he jabbed me with the needle, directly into the tendon.
I screamed out in pain. He quickly withdrew the syringe, leaving a tiny red hole in my skin.
“Let me try that again,” he said, tightening the tourniquet.
“Please don’t,” I cried through gritted teeth. I didn’t know how many tries it would take to get it right.
On his second attempt, he found the vein and dug the needle around as he administered the clear liquid. He depressed the plunger too quickly, sending a shock of pressure into my bloodstream.
I held still. Closing my eyes, I tried to note any changes in my body. I felt dizzy, but that could also be from the steady dripping of blood from my arm where Chris had botched the injection. My heart was racing, but the stress of being tied down to a chair could also be responsible for that symptom.
“I love you, Alice,” Chris said, holding my hand. “You are so beautiful and sweet. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. What do you think of me?”
This was a trick question. I could either tell him the truth or I could tell him what he wanted to hear. I had to make a choice.
I opened my eyes. “I think you’re a monster.”
A look of recognition appeared on his face, and he dug around in his pocket for a tiny vial. He filled a new syringe even fuller than the other two and pushed out the air. Tiny droplets leaked from the end of the needle. Either the dosage was too weak or I had received the control.
“I don’t have the patience for this,” he said. “Let’s try a stronger dose.”
I shut my eyes again. It looked like he was going to give me a double dose of his drug. All rationality had left Chris. He was operating on feelings alone. It wasn’t about testing the drug anymore. He just wanted me to give in to all of his desires.
I thought I heard the sounds of footsteps, but I told myself that my mind was playing tricks on me. Seconds later, I heard a voice call out my name.
“I’m in here,” I yelled before Chris clapped a strong hand over my mouth.
Suddenly, it was like the door exploded. Shawn came barreling in, his eyes filled with rage.
“The police are on their way,” Shawn panted. “Get the fuck away from my girlfriend.”
Shawn
When I got to the psychology building, I sprinted up the stairs. I remembered Alice saying that the research office was on one of the upper floors, so I tried every single one of the rooms. They were all empty. I sprinted to the next floor and tried those rooms. Same result.
Alice wasn’t here.
If Alice wasn’t somewhere in the psych building, then I couldn’t guess where she was. The alarm went off shortly after she arrived in the building, so if he took her somewhere, they must be near, right? I had checked every single room in the entire building, even the massive lecture halls. It was like she’d disappeared.
On my way out of the locker room, I called the police and told them to send help. I couldn’t explain what might or might not be happening, so I told them that my girlfriend might be in trouble. I doubted that they would hurry with such a vague call.
I was about to step outside the building when I heard a soft scream. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I had searched every part of the building. I stood near the staircase and heard soft voices.
It was coming from the basement.
Past the stairs, there were only a few rooms. There were a couple of unused classrooms and a few closets at the end of the hall. I repeated my process and checked each room. On my fourth try, I found a locked door.
Pressing my ear up to the door, I listened. I heard a man’s voice. He was saying something about drugs or dosages or something.
Then, it occurred to me what was happening. I had assured myself that Chris wouldn’t set Alice up like he had with that other girl. You would think that he would have learned from that. He was going to bring Alice to the point of death, just to make it look like she was grieving over their breakup. White hot rage surged through my body.
I took a few steps back and rushed the door, hitting it squarely with my shoulder. The cheap wood splintered and the lock burst open.
What happened next was all a blur to me. I remember saying something to Chris, and he laughed in my face. He knelt next to Alice with some sort of needle in his hand. She was tied to the chair and looked absolutely terrified.
“Get away from her,” I said again.
“You stand back,” Chris warned me. “If you lay even a single finger on me, this needle is going straight into her vein. Anyway, I don’t see why you’re here. She doesn’t love you.”
“And you think she loves you?” I asked.
“She does. And we’ll prove it to you, won’t we, Alice?”
She shook her head a miniscule amount, but Chris didn’t notice. He grabbed her by the chin and forced his mouth onto hers. She tried to squirm, but she was bound too tightly.
“Stop,” I yelled, lunging toward him. I couldn’t bear to see him kissing her.
“You step back,” Chris ordered, wiggling the needle between his fingers.
I couldn’t do anything but wait for the police to show up. I could beat the guy to a bloody pulp, but the second I touched him, Alice would be in trouble. I wanted to do nothing more than to protect her, but I was helpless.
“Wasn’t that nice?” Chris said to Alice. “Just like old times. Do you remember the night after the winter formal last year when we got that hotel room to ourselves? We did things in that bed that I haven’t even done since.”
“Come on,” I said exasperatedly. I knew what he was trying to do.
Chris ignored me. “I can’t wait to feel your small, perky tits again. You’re going to make me come so hard, won’t you?”
“I will never touch you again,” Alice cried.
“I think once we get this drug into you, you’ll be singing a different tune. You won’t be able to get enough of me. Do you want to know why?”
I watched a sinister smile spread out over his face.
“You’ll do it because I’ll tell you to. You won’t be able to say no to me ever again.”
He leaned down to kiss her again, this time more aggressively. He rammed his tongue into her mouth, causing her to choke.
I was ready to put my hands around his neck and squeeze the life out of him. I would have, but the tip of the needle was nearly touching her skin now. It wouldn’t take much for it to go in.
Before Chris could fully pull away from Alice, she pulled her neck as far back as it could go and head butted Chris right over his left eye.
He stumbled back, a little dazed. Here was my chance. I tackled him like the coaches had always taught us to do. I lowered my head and hit him, hard.
We crashed into the floor. He was clearly not used to taking hits like this. I had completely knocked the air out of him. As he gasped, I pinned him to the ground.
Alice screamed. All the commotion had caused her chair to tip over, leaving her on the ground. I could tell she was really uncomfortable, but I couldn’t let go of Chris. He still had the syringe wedged in his hand, and I couldn’t risk him moving.
“I can’t untie you yet,” I said to Alice. “We have to wait.”
“It hurts,” she cried. “I just want to go home.”
Seeing her in pain broke my heart. I wanted her to be okay, and I wanted Chris to feel as much pain as possible.
“He injected me with something,” she said.
“You what?” I roared at Chris. She had a small trail of dried blood from her elbow to her wrist.
He was silent. His smug smile told me everything I needed to know.
“What was it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “It could be his new drug or a placebo. I don’t know which.”
I dug my elbow even deeper into his back. He groaned.
�
��I would love to bash your brains in,” I hissed.
“Don’t,” Alice said. “We don’t need any more trouble.”
“You’re right,” I said. “We’ll let the law handle this.”
I could tell that Alice was taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. I wanted to rip the ropes off her and pull her into my arms. I wanted her to feel safe, like I would never let anything bad happen to her ever again.
“We’ll get you out, Alice. The police should be here any second. I called them before I got here.”
“Okay.” She sniffled. “Thank you for coming to save me.”
“Of course. I would do anything for you.”
“I feel so bad that you had to come rescue me when you have places you need to be.”
“Huh?”
“The game?”
I had forgotten all about that. The second I got the warning from Alice, my mind couldn’t be further away from football. At this point, I didn’t really care if I was late for warm-ups. It could wait. Alice’s safety was much more important.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her.
“Okay. I’m in a little bit of pain, but I don’t think there are any drugs in me. I’m not feeling the effects of anything, at least.”
“When the cops get here, they can call for an ambulance. You need to get checked out.”
“I’m fine, really.”
Chris was silent. If I weren’t sitting on top of him, I probably would have forgotten he was there. He likely knew that if he made another smug comment, I would bash his face into the ground.
I heard footsteps above us. Finally.
“We’re down here,” I bellowed at the top of my lungs.
Two officers appeared, looking bewildered at the scene. “We need some backup,” one said into his walkie talkie.
“What’s going on?” the other officer asked.
“This creep tied up my girlfriend and tried to inject her with experimental drugs.”
The officer blinked, not exactly sure what to make of this bizarre story. “Is he armed?”
“No, but he has a full syringe of some kind of drug.”
The officers carefully took over, prying the needle from his tight grip. They put him in handcuffs and lifted him off the floor. He was already sporting a bruise where Alice had hit him with her head.
“Don’t move,” the officer said to us. “Well, you can untie her, but we need to question the both of you.”
They took Chris out to the squad car, leaving us alone.
I rushed over to Alice’s side the moment they had Chris in their custody. I untied the ropes as quickly as I could, and once she was free, she flung her arms around my shoulders. It felt so good to have her safe in my arms again.
She started sobbing immediately.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned. “You’re safe now.”
“I’m just so relieved this is all over,” she said. “I was so scared that I would never see you again.”
This made me choke up. I had the same fear in the back of my mind. If anything happened to Alice, I would be lost. We had only just started officially dating, but she meant so much to me already.
I kissed her on the forehead, then checked her over. She had scrapes and bruises from struggling with Chris and from the ropes that bound her arms and legs. Her arm was bloodied from where she was injected, but overall, I knew she would be okay.
The police came back with their notebooks. They had us go into separate classrooms to give our take.
“I can’t go with him?” Alice asked, not wanting to let go of my hand.
“It will only take a minute,” the officer said gently.
We reluctantly split apart and followed the officers to our separate rooms.
“Tell me what happened today, from the beginning,” the officer said.
I told him about how Chris was suspicious and how Alice went to the office to collect her work. He nodded as I told him of our plan for the morning and the alarm on Alice’s phone.
“Wait, you’re Shawn Rider?” the officer asked. “Shouldn’t you be at the stadium by now?”
“And let my girlfriend be attacked by a psycho? I think this is a little more important.”
“You’re right,” he said sheepishly. “I’ll make this quick. Describe the scene that you saw in the storage room.”
A chill ran down my spine. I didn’t want to relive that moment. I described the fear on Alice’s face and the horrific things that Chris said. I didn’t leave a single detail out.
“Is there anything else we need to know?”
I thought for a second before answering. “Alice is going to refuse, but I want her to go to the hospital to get checked out. Just try to convince her to go.”
He nodded. “I will certainly do that. Well, you’re free to go. We will get in contact with you if we have any more questions.”
“Thank you, officer,” I said, shaking his hand.
“Mr. Rider,” he said as I walked through the doorway.
“Yes?”
“Good luck today. If anyone deserves to have a good game today, I’d say it’s you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I went into the other room to find Alice and to make sure she was okay. She was giving a detailed account of her time with Chris. I could tell she was putting on a brave face, but she was still very uncomfortable.
“Are you all right here?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m fine. You need to get out of here. The game starts in less than an hour,” she said.
“I’m not leaving until I know you’re okay.”
“Honestly,” she said, cracking a small smile, “get out of here. I’ll find you after the game.”
I kissed her on the cheek. “See you soon.”
I jogged from the psych building to the stadium. I hoped that Jack had done a good job of covering for me. Besides, once Coach heard about what happened, I thought he would be a little more forgiving of my absence.
I hoped that Alice would still be up for hanging out with me after the game. We could probably skip the after party, though. For me, there would be nothing better than to curl up under the covers with her and watch a movie. We had already had enough excitement for the day.
Now that I knew Alice was safe, I needed to get into game mode. I vowed to myself that I would play for Alice today. If she had the strength to keep her head while being tortured, I could find the strength to push through the opponent’s defense for four quarters. I entered the locker room inspired and ready to make her proud.
Alice
After Shawn left the classroom, I felt alone again. I wanted to tell him to stay with me, but I couldn’t let him miss his game. It was too important to him. I tried to be as brave as possible. I could always see him later after the game.
I felt really awkward explaining everything I went through with Chris over the years. I knew every little bit of information I had about him would help their investigation, but it was humiliating to tell a total stranger about walking in on him boning another girl during a date.
“What happened when you entered the building?” the cop asked me. The cop assigned to Shawn joined us in the classroom.
“I walked up to the office to grab my study notes. I was getting ready to leave when a soaked rag was shoved into my face. It smelled weird, and then I got really sleepy. I woke up tied to a chair, with bruises on my arms and legs.”
“And then he injected you with some sort of drug? Why did he do that?” the cop questioned.
“It was for his study. He kept a lot of it hidden from me. I thought we were working on some sort of social psychology project. Apparently, it had to do with pharmacology.”
“What was the drug supposed to do?”
“I’m not entirely sure. He said that it promoted happiness in couples. I think it was meant to sedate me in order to make me more pliable.”
“Like a date rape drug.”
“Exactly. He said that after he injected it
into me, we would be back to how we were when we were dating.”
“While you were down here,” the officer said slowly, as if he were trying to find the right words, “he didn’t touch you inappropriately, did he?”
“He didn’t rape me, if that’s what you’re wondering,” I said frankly. “He did force me to kiss him on the lips. He stuck his tongue in my mouth.”
“I see,” he said, scrawling a few notes down.
My face burned. I hated talking about that kind of stuff.
“Can you describe the way in which Mr. Rider subdued the attacker?”
“He didn’t use excessive force, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said quickly. I didn’t want Chris to have anything against Shawn.
“That’s not it at all. We just need to have as much evidence as we can collect. We’re trying to protect the innocent here.”
“Oh,” I said, a little embarrassed about my outburst. “He just tackled him and held him to the ground so he couldn’t move. He showed a lot of restraint.”
“That’s good to hear,” the cop said. “We noticed that Chris had a pretty bad bump on his face. Do you know how that happened?”
I cringed. I didn’t want to get in any sort of trouble for hitting him. “That was from me,” I admitted. “I head butted him so Shawn could tackle him.”
The cop tried to hide his smile. “How’s your head?” he asked.
I hadn’t really thought of it. I touched the spot that hit him. It was pretty tender.
“Um, it hurts a little bit, I guess.”
The police officers looked at each other.
“I think that’s it for questioning, but we’re going to take you to the hospital to get checked out. You suffered a few nasty injuries, and we want to make sure you weren’t injected with anything other than saline solution.”
“I can’t,” I interjected. “I have to go to the game.”
They smiled. “It won’t take any time at all. You’ll still be able to catch part of it if we go now.”
I frowned, but I agreed. I left with the men who interviewed us while two new officers entered the crime scene to take pictures and collect evidence.
I was relieved that the questioning was over but disappointed that I couldn’t be there to cheer Shawn on. I wanted him to know that I supported him. I also wanted him to see me in the stands so he would stop worrying about me for once.
Lethal Seduction: A CIA Romantic Suspense (CIA Agents Book 1) Page 36
