Chapter 9

"Jason...", Ana felt a rising panic in her gut. Taylor had been unconscious for the last few hours. His injuries were severe and he needed medical attention. He had tried unsuccessfully to stand up earlier. While his leg wasn't fully broken, he seemed unable to keep any weight on it. Ana was worried. With no watch and minimal light in the cabin, it was next to impossible to assess how much time had passed, since they had been taken. All they could do was count the number of times their captors instructed them to eat. They had had maybe six meals mostly of bread and water since they woke up. Taylor and Ana were both getting progressively weaker.

Ana got up and tried to shake Taylor awake. Nothing seemed to be working. She reached for the bottle of water and splashed some on his face. The cold water seemed to have some effect.

"Oh, thank god!", she breathed a sigh of relief when he finally opened his eyes.

"What...", his voice was getting weaker.

"You fainted, you've got to stay awake... I can't... I can't do this without you Jason... please..."

"Ana... If I ... If I don't make it, you gotta get out of here... These guys... I don't know why they're still keeping us alive..."

"Stop it! Stop... That's it... I can't take it anymore...", Ana let her fury take over and banged her fist on the wooden wall of the cabin. Pushing herself against the door, she screamed out, and kept screaming for someone.

"HEY! HEY ASSHOLES... OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR YOU PIECES OF SHIT... CAN YOU HEAR ME... ASSHOLES!"

A sudden jerk of the door pushed Ana to the ground and a stocky menacing man with a number of tattoos appeared. He advanced on Ana as if to hit her and then stopped suddenly, when a thin wiry man appeared behind him. Looks like Stringbean's the one in charge. Tattoohead's the muscle.

"My friend needs a doctor", she addressed the thin man. He seemed quite calm, and took in her statement with a smile.

"Of course, he does. Whether he gets one is up to us."

"Well, probably not... You see, I realized something as I sat there in the dark for last however many days it's been... You need me... I don't know why or how yet. But you do need me... Why keep me alive otherwise...", Ana was taking a big gamble on this.

"Ana... shut up... what are you doing...", Jason's weak voice sounded behind her. Ana ignored him and went on addressing the thin man.

"Well... here's the deal... you get my friend a doctor and I'll co-operate with you... whatever you want... you don't... and I'll just let myself die... shouldn't be too hard in here..."

No response.

The man seemed impervious to her proclamations. "What makes you think we won't kill you both anyway?", he said softly. Tattoohead moved towards her. He had a sadistic smile on his face.

Ana steadied herself, she couldn't let her panic get the better of her.

"If you wanted to, you would have already."

Stringbean seemed to assess her threat, there was nothing Ana had left to bargain with. But she could not let Taylor die. She would not.

"Astute", is all Stringbean said as he left the room. Tattoohead trailed behind him, locking the door again as he left.

It took about thirty minutes, but it seemed to have worked. A masked man, perhaps a doctor, entered the room and plastered Taylor's leg. He put a bandage around his ribs, gave him a hydration solution and painkillers to ease the pain. It was basic, but something was better than nothing.

"That was very stupid, Ana...", Taylor started, "but very brave... Thank you."

"Jason, you've saved me and my family from more things than I can count... there is no way I was going to let you die... Besides, Gail would kill me if I did", Ana joked.

"That's the only thing that's keeping me going too", he said softly, "Gail and Sophie."

"I know..."

"You were right by the way..."

"About what?"

"They do need you... But it's not for ransom...", Taylor turned to face her. He'd suspected this when they'd made no attempt to provide proof of life.

"Did you figure out why", she asked.

"Not fully... but I've been thinking... It's been somewhere between four to six days that we've been here... If they wanted Mr. Grey to think you were dead, then why not just kill us and give him proof... If not, then they don't want him to think you're dead... They must know that Christian would never stop looking for you, which means that they either need to provide him proof of life, and ask for a ransom, or..."

"Or what?"

"Or... they've gotten someone to take your place."

"Take my place? What do you mean?" Ana was confused. How could someone take her place? Christian loved her and only her. "No, Christian loves me, he's not going to just replace me. In what... four days you said? That's silly.. he would never do that!"

"No, Ana, you misunderstand. I'm talking about someone posing as you..."

"Don't be silly! Christian would see right through that!" Ana wanted to laugh at the thought of Christian coming across her lookalike. He would know the minute he saw her. There's no way he doesn't figure it out.

"Would he?... Think about it Ana... The only way we could've got to wherever we are, is if the jet was hijacked by the people behind this. Which means the jet never made it to Vienna... Which means Christian probably thought you were dead... at least for a while... It wouldn't be hard to insert someone impersonating you into his life at that point... he would want it so badly, he might just ignore the signs. It could explain why they need you alive."

"How?"

"If someone is impersonating you, there may still be information they need from you, to make sure Christian doesn't catch on. It could also be insurance... in case she does get made... it could be why they haven't hurt you either. They may want to use you as a bargaining chip if needed."

Ana felt the need to throw up. A stranger in my house... around my children... With Christian?

Taylor's logic seemed to make sense, but would Christian really fall for this? Surely he wouldn't, he was smarter than that. He would see through her, of course he would see through her. But would he? In his desperation? If he thought I was dead? Would he really? Oh Christian, no... don't fall for it... please, my love ... come and find me!