In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)(17)
“He came to the hospital where I work last month. He said he’d twisted his ankle and strained his back helping someone move, but he never really looked like he was really in much pain and the x-ray showed his ankle was just fine. I was the nurse who attended him, and all he wanted to do was talk to me about why I chose to become a nurse, if I liked living in the area, and things like that. I’m so stupid. I had a feeling something wasn’t right, but I still talked to him for nearly a half hour.”
“That was probably Berger getting a feel for you and where you worked since they grabbed you from the hospital, right?”
She nodded, disgusted that she hadn’t followed her gut that night. “Yeah. They were waiting for me at my car in the parking garage. That man pretended to be hurt just to get close to me? My father was right. He always told me working at that hospital put me in danger, but I never listened to him. Now my stupidity has cost him a million dollars and might cost me my life.”
Nick frowned and stood up in front of her. “No, it won’t. Your father may have lost that money, but I’m not going to let them do anything to hurt you. Just remember what I told you. Don’t fight them. They’ve been told to not mess up your face too much, so you should be okay. Hopefully, I can get to be one of the guys who goes with you tonight when we move to the new place in Winchester.”
“Will you help me escape then?”
“That’s the plan. Okay, I have to go. Just remember. Don’t fight them.”
He turned to leave, but Persephone hated the idea of being left alone in that room again with the gag stuffed in her mouth. “Wait! Don’t go. I’m going out of my mind sitting here for hours alone.”
Turning to look at the door, he sighed. “I don’t want to risk them getting suspicious of what I’m doing in here.”
“Please, stay for just a little while. You want me to trust you, but I don’t know anything about you, Nick.”
She waited while he decided if he should give in to her pleas and then silently rejoiced when he stepped back to stand in front of her. Persephone still didn’t know how much to believe in him, but God, she desperately wanted to.
“There’s not much to know about me,” he said with a smile that instantly calmed her.
“You say you’re not a cop or FBI. Then why would my father hire you to rescue me?” she asked as she sized up the man in front of her.
Tall and strong, she believed he could take any one of the men outside that room. But could he save her from all of them?
Nick lowered his head and said quietly, “I used to be FBI. Since I left, I’ve done work like this, among other things. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands. I’ve been undercover more times than I can remember. Never lost anyone.”
As he finished speaking, he winced ever so slightly before smiling. Persephone immediately suspected he wasn’t telling her the whole truth, but exactly what part was a lie? Had he not been in the FBI, or had he lost someone on a case? Or even worse, was everything he’d ever said to her a lie and he was just another one of the men holding her hostage for some stupid cause who would kill her at some point?
“Promise?”
The word came out of her mouth before she knew it, and for a moment, she felt foolish. How much could any promises made in a situation like this mean? She wasn’t a child. She knew how this would very likely end, with or without this man’s help.
Nick crouched down in front of her. With a look of utter sincerity in his eyes, he answered her question. “Persephone, I promise I’m going to get you out of here.”
He reached down to pick up the gag and then gently pushed it back into her mouth, looking away as he did so he didn’t have to face her while he did it. She understood he had to so they continued to pretend that he was one of the militia and she was still a prisoner.
That didn’t mean she liked it, though.
But she wanted to believe with all her heart that Nick, this man who appeared out of nowhere and promised to help her, would be the person he pledged he would be and not just another one of those awful men outside that room who looked at her like everything about who she was filled them with hate.
He touched her tenderly on arm as he moved to leave. “I’ll be back in a little while. Don’t worry.”
A few hours later, two men came into the room where she sat, but Nick wasn’t one of them. They forced a burlap sack over her head, thrusting her into darkness, and grabbed her roughly. But she didn’t fight them, desperately praying to God that she’d hear Nick’s voice at any second telling her everything would be okay. Still gagged and her hands and feet still bound, she was carried out to some kind of vehicle and tossed into the back. Her head slammed off the hard metal floor, and moments later, she faded into blackness.
*
Persephone opened her eyes but closed them quickly to avoid the light all around her. Slowly, she lifted her eyelids and tried to focus on her surroundings. Where was she?
The room she now sat in had tan walls and curtains with brown and white geometrical patterns on them. The windows were blacked out like at the other place they’d held her, but this looked more like someone’s home and less like just somewhere to hide a hostage. A twin bed sat along the wall in front of her, and above it on the ceiling hung a poster of some sports team’s cheerleaders.
She looked down and saw they had tied her to a metal kitchen chair with a plastic red padded seat. Far more comfortable than the last one, it at least gave her some cushion on her behind.