“Where’s Ben?” she asked.

“Come with me.” He walked up to her and put his hand in the small of her back as if she were a girlfriend. She removed his hand but he only chuckled. He led her to the storage room.

She followed a short distance behind. “Where are we going?”

“Relax,” Frick said. “I want to show you something.”

“No.” She stopped at the door.

He turned around grabbed her arm and yanked her into the storage room, putting his face into hers.

“You’re under arrest. Now quit moving and give me your purse.”

“No.” She tried to get out.

He punched her in the stomach, doubling her over in extreme pain. He slipped the purse strap off her shoulder and touched his mouth to her ear.

“I’m very busy at the moment so I can’t attend to you right now.”

He took her hands and handcuffed them behind her back. Then he sat her on a box of glassware, and stuffed a small towel in her mouth, and used duct tape to keep it there.

It took Haley several minutes to recover from the punch. When she felt able, she rose, turned, and tried to open the door. Because there were radioactive isotopes in this storage room, the door had an extra bolt lock on the outside. Evidently Frick had locked it. She returned and sat on the box and considered screaming, even with the towel. It didn’t take her long to conclude that, yes, she should definitely scream. But the volume she generated was not impressive.

Then the lights went out.

 

 

Prologue   Chapter I   Chapter II   Chapter III
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