Chapter Nine
The searing pain of the lit end of a cigarette against his lower back sent blackness through Crash’s head. They wanted to know where Anya was but he couldn’t tell them. It made no sense losing both sisters to this and getting her off to Germany to be with CIRO would have been a waste. Another cigarette against his shoulder pulled him back from the edge of unconsciousness, and he held his breath and gritted his teeth.
How did he get himself into this? As a firefighter, the most danger he saw was a roof caving in on him, a plane crash, or getting caught on fire. Now, he was trapped in a hellhole with people using him as an ashtray?
When his attackers grew tired, they dragged his exhausted body back to his cage and unceremoniously tossed him in. Once the doors clanged shut, he tried pushing to his knees but only succeeded in falling back to the ground. He knew then what a punching bag must feel like—battered and bruise from fists raining blows against it repeatedly. As he laid there, Crash mentally went through an inventory of necessary body parts—spine, neck, head, fingers and toes. He needed to ensure everything was working as well as could be expected under the circumstances. Moving was becoming more of a chore but he had to remain lucid.
“Caleb?” Eden called. “Caleb, are you all right?”
The panic in her voice broke his heart so Crash gritted his teeth and dragged his body to the side so he could rest his shoulders to the cage.
“Yeah.” He managed. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
He smiled. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m thinking that sticking around here is not healthy. We have to get out of here.”
“We cannot. They have brought me in here for a while now—there has not been light so I do not know where we are. I am sorry I cannot be more help.”
“It’s fine, Eden.” Crash exhaled. “I will figure something out.”
More time passed and soon someone entered. They approached Eden’s cage. As quickly as the person had entered, they left again.
“Eden?”
“It is okay. They brought me food. Have you eaten? I ate right before you were brought in, so I can give you this.”
“You eat. You need your strength.”
“But Caleb—you have been here for a while and they have yet to feed you.”
“I don’t think they will,” Crash said. “They want me to be as uncomfortable as possible. They want to know where your sister is.”
“And you know?”
“I can’t tell them what they want to hear,” Crash said instead of answering. He wasn’t sure if they were really alone. After all, there were cameras all over the outside so why wouldn’t they have them inside as well. He can’t see the walls so to be on the safe side, he’d keep what he knew to himself. No matter what they did to him. As long as they believed he knew Anya’s whereabouts.
Crash eased to his knee and began dragging his fingers along the cage. When he found the latch, he jangled it but it didn’t budge. He gripped the cage and shook it, rattling it as hard as he could.
Nothing happened.
“They will hear you!” Eden warned.
Still, Crash moved his hand to where the latch was and repeated his actions. This time, there was a snap and the door opened. He climbed out and straightened his body to its full height or the first time in hours. Though he didn’t know what time it was, he figured he’d been there a while. “Eden, I’m going to try finding out where we are,” Crash said. “But I’ll be back.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.” Crash said, inching toward where light was floating into the room. He felt around to find the knob. When he managed that, Crash opened the door slowly, and poked his head out. Strange, the hall was empty. It seemed they were comfortable that their captives would never try escaping. Why was that? Holding his breath, he slipped from the room and pulled the door closed behind him.
He tiptoed the corridor toward the sound of a television. When he located the source, there was a couple of men, sitting around, watching television. Crash left them undisturbed and wandered through the house. He needed to get a good lay out of the place if he wished to free Eden and make a run for it. While he trusted Barbie, he didn’t want her running back into this mess to save him.
It was hard to really get around the interior of the place. From outside it seemed like a regular house. But inside was massively different. There were doors that led to nowhere, doors that led into other doors, doors that led to darkened rooms with no light switch anywhere close to them. No wonder security was so damn relaxed—they knew if anyone escaped confinement, it would be a maze getting out.
At one point he found a cellar. Though he wanted to explore it, to see if it led outside or anywhere even remotely safe, Crash made his way back to the darkened room.
At least he knew what direction escape wasn’t.
Crash crawled back into the cage and pulled the door in. Thankfully, he hadn’t done much damage and he was able to let the latch fall back in place. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the knowledge he’d just gathered. Exiting the house would be next to impossible.
“Caleb?”
“I’m here,” he said.
“We are never getting out, are we?”
“Be strong, Eden,” Crash said. “I know you’ve been here a while but give us a little more.”
“It is very hard to keep the faith in here.” Eden admitted. “They had me doing—well—things because they said they had a deal with my parents.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yuvgeny said I was born to do this.” Eden’s voice cracked. “Then one day—I do not know how long it has been—they brought me in here. They said my parents did not honour their deal.”
Crash became sick. The thoughts swirling through his mind could not be true. He began thinking of what deal Eden was referring to. Had her parents been involved with selling her into sexual slavery? And if so, how could anyone want to do that to a child? He wanted to figure it out but soon the door opened again, and Crash’s torture continued.
By the time, Crash was flung back into his cage, he was too weak to do much of anything. Eden called to him and Crash could only reply in a groan. Eden rattled her cage and Caleb moaned pushing to sit up. “Eden.” He panted. “I’m fine.”
Silence followed and Crash tried using that time to come up with a plan. The entrance is boarded up from behind the door so if they were going to get out, it would have to be through the back or a window in the front.
“Are you married, Caleb?”
He shifted in her direction. “No.”
“A girlfriend?”
“I think so.”
“You think?” Eden asked. “How do you not know?”
“How old are you, Eden?”
“I am ten.”
Crash smiled. “It’s a long story. I guess I would know the answer if I was around more.” He knew what Eden was doing. He figured the silence was driving her batty too. So he engaged in conversation with her, answered all the questions she threw at him.
“I think it would be nice to have someone love me,” Eden said. “Actually, I know it would be.”
“You have Anya.”
“Yes. But I do not know for how much longer.”
“You have to keep the faith, Eden.” Crash told her. “I’m going to do everything I can to get you home. But you’re going to have to trust me.”
She sighed in the darkness. Crash wished he knew how long he’d been in there. He wished he had a way of contacting Barbie or Tex.