NEED BETA
Characters belong to Ms. Evanovich as do some details an places. However the concept is mine.
I suck at ummaries so im just gonna dive in.
Pain. The first sensation I remember feeling was pain. Everywhere it seemed. There wasn't a part of my body that didn't feel as though it was on fire. My head screamed at me, my back, and my stomach seemed to be protesting the most. I tried to take a deep breath to help clear my head and cried out in pain. Definitely a few broken and bruised ribs. Ok, shallow breaths. I managed to get my breathing under control and pushed the pain aside. I began assessing my other senses. I could open my eyes, no blindfold, but it was dark. I could hear water or something dripping and it sounded hollow, wherever I was, it was large dark room, possibly a warehouse. I was obviously naked as a draft ghosted across my skin causing goosebumps, and lying in a puddle of…of something. I could smell the metallic scent of blood, probably my own. I reached up to touch my head and my hand came away sticky.
Ok, so im naked, bloodied, bruised and abandoned. Not the first time. I layed still continuing to try to get my bearings and make sure I was alone. The memories slowly drifted in. Oliver Chase. I was on a stakeout for a man who beat and raped his wife and then tried to burn the house down. A ten thousand dollar payday for me. I took it because it was his first offense, he had solid ties to the community and had a dying mother he was helping to take care of. That and Ranger had up'd the amount of the lowest bond he would take from Vinnie. Over the last eighteen months I finally got my head screwed on straight. I got training from Rangeman, I carried a loaded gun at all times, even had my permit to carry concealed. I could flatten a guy three times my size and not break a sweat. So the higher bonds, the more violent skips had become my territory. I was perfectly capable of handling this fugitive, so how did I end up where I did?
***Three days ago***
Ten p.m. Thursday night found me sitting in Old blue, again, watching the house of Mrs. Elina Chase, mother of my latest skip, Oliver Chase. I had talked to his sister and I knew that his shift for taking care of his mother was supposed to start soon. The man was a momma's boy through and through, this was confirmed by anyone and everyone I had talked to, even the man's wife who lay in the hospital, still recovering from her injuries from his violent assault and rape a week before. The man was too attached to his mother to miss his shift with her. So I sat and waited. Before too long I saw someone who looked similar to my skip walking down the street towards me. I angled out of the buick and began to walk towards him, I never saw the man come out of the shadows, place a cloth over my mouth and stab me in the neck with a syringe.
There are only flashes of the next three days, random visions of a dimly lit room with just a creaky old bed with a threadbare flat mattress. Springs poking through, bound by the hands and feet to the top and bottom of the bed. I never saw the face of the man or men who had kidnapped me and were obviously tourturing me. I was routinely injected with some sort of sedative. Which caused even more of a haze and missing time.
***Present***
I laid there a while longer until I felt that I could move without passing out. I rolled over to my side and that's when I felt the pain between my legs. Ohh please no, I thought… but even as I prayed it wasn't true I had a flashback of a masked man looming over me,
***flashback**
"Hold still bitch, I want to have some fun!" A man wearing a ski mask used his full weight to hold me down while he reached between us and unzipped his pants. At this point I seemed to float away, I knew what was happening but I couldn't feel it, I had stopped struggling and laid there. God Ranger, I thought, I am so sorry. I am so sorry that I am letting this man do this to me. We had made love the night before, just hours before I was caught. It was a quickie, but we both needed that connection before heading to our separate jobs for the night. Ranger will never want me again after he finds out what this monster is doing to me. I cried as I waited for the man to finish and blacked out again when he slapped me in the face. "Whore's don't cry bitch!"
***Present**
I leaned over and vomited, stomach bile and what must be the water they gave me to at least keep me alive while they had their fun. I was ruined, I thought, Ranger will never want me again. I gathered myself together and managed to get to my hands and feet. I spotted a small beam of light on the other side of the room and crawled my way there slowly, skirting the mess I had made on the floor. Feeling my way with my hands. Ranger may hate me, but Grandma Mazur will be missing me. She wasn't in the best of health these days and I had already missed two of my visits with her this week if not more. I had no idea how long I had been out.
It seemed as though id had been crawling for hours when I finally reached the other side of the room. I stopped, held my breath and strained my ears to see if there was anyone on the other side. I heard nothing except cars in the distance. Wherever I was, it wasn't a main road. I moved so I could peek through the small crack and was greeted with an empty parking lot. I used the wall to support myself as I made my way to my feet, before opening the door wider to get a better look. There was a dumpster nearby but nothing else except what looked to be other empty buildings. I opend the door more and leaned out, not spotting anyone, I pushed the door wider and used the light to look around the inside of the building I had been in. I saw what might be a blanket in the corner and made my way to it. I grabbed it and hear something scurry off into the dark. I shivered and tried not to think about what creature I just stole a bed from. I went back to the door and examined the blanket. It had more holes than it had material left but it would do. I wrapped it around myself and made sure the major bits were covered. It wasn't cold so I wasn't worried about freezing. I left the building and began to walk across the lot to where I could see cars.