Had he just left the room?
She peeked through almost closed eyelids to see if he was there.
He wasn’t. She was alone in the room.
She opened her eyes fully and glanced down to see what she was wearing.
A white lace teddy and nothing else. She could see through it to her nipples. The lace didn’t cover her well.
No wonder I’m cold. How did I get into this thing and where are my clothes?
She glanced around but didn’t see them. There wasn’t much in the room. This chair she was tied to, a large bed, a bedside table with a lamp, a TV on a TV stand. Other than that, the room was spare. She noticed the room had no windows. The only way out was through that door.
Then the door opened. “You’re awake,” Mortimer said smiling.
The very sight of him turned her stomach.
* * *
My girl is in there.No way in hell I’m waiting.
Travis knew the guys weren’t far behind him. But he couldn’t wait for them. Stealthily he crept toward the front door, listening intently.
Ellen was inside. He could hear them arguing.
“I’ll never be yours,” Ellen shouted. One second later, she screamed.
Gritting his teeth, Travis resisted the overwhelming urge to kick in the front door, choosing instead to creep slowly up to one of the windows and peek inside.
The living room was empty. That meant they were probably upstairs.
Quickly Travis went back to the front door and quietly tried the knob, but it was locked. Travis turned away, now intent on finding the back door, if there was one.
He was careful coming around the corners, his old habits hard to break. There was very little lost in taking no chances, and potentially quite a lot to gain with being overly cautious. Nevertheless, Travis hurried as quickly as he dared, peeking around corners with his gun and night vision before flowing swiftly around and forward.
The back door was also locked. Cursing softly, Travis drew his knife and used the butt of it to break a window in the door as quietly as he could. Careful to avoid the broken shards, he reached through and unlocked the door.
Mortimer froze, hearing the glass break downstairs.
Ellen’s eyes widened and she drew breath to scream.
Mortimer clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting off the scream before it could start.
As she struggled against him, he drew a bandanna from his pocket, and gagged her, then drew a knife from his pocket, unfolding it as he turned to the door.
Mortimer had her seated in a wooden chair, her legs bound to the chair legs and her arms tied behind her. She wore a white lace nightie that left little to the imagination and she didn’t know who was coming into the room, but they would see her like this, and she couldn’t even call out. She could only sit and watch what terrible thing would happen next as she was living in her nightmare come to life.
Travis knew that he was now on borrowed time, like Ellen, if Mortimer had heard him break in. He replaced his knife in its sheath, but didn’t bother closing the door behind him, moving quickly but quietly over to the stairs. Travis kept his gun up as he took them one careful step at a time.
Mortimer watched through a crack in the door as a man came to the top of his stairs. The man was heavily armed, but all Mortimer had to do was wait until the man’s back was turned, investigating one of the other rooms.
Ellen could hear the steps of someone coming as she watched Mortimer’s back and wished she had something to hit him with if she could get free to do it. But she’d looked around the room and there was only a bed and a bedside table. She was seated on the only chair. Though if she could get free, maybe she could use it.
Mortimer shoved hard, ramming his shoulder against the door, and his body onto the armed man.
Travis! He came for me!
Hope and joy filled Ellen for a moment, and then Travis fell forward, Mortimer on top of him, but Travis was able to twist as he fell, and Mortimer’s knife missed its downward strike.
