Vortex

by Leserei

A dangerous or bad situation in which you become more and more involved and from which you cannot escape. Things just seem to happen to Stephanie Plum that always seem to be out of her control.

36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

As I woke, I knew Ranger was with me, probably because I was laid across his chest and my leg was wrapped over his hip. I decided that instead of thinking to myself I would think out loud. I would try and put into practice what Dax had told me to do. As I looked up toward Ranger, I saw him watching me so smiled and moved up slightly to kiss his chin.

"I love waking up with you"

"I love that as well"

"Were you just watching me sleep?"

"Yes. It makes me feel contented knowing that you're here with me and safe"

"I want to catch that killer because deep down I'm worried that someone wants to hurt me"

"So am I. I want to lock you up somewhere and find them myself. I can't do that though, because you'd hate it"

"Plus, we had an agreement and I didn't get a chance to tell you what I found out yesterday"

"Daniel spoke with Jack this morning and he's agreed to a private facility, so Daniel's got someone sorting that out"

"So are we meeting this morning?"

"Yes. In an hour. Babe the lawyer called to let us know that he's arranged that meeting with Morelli for this afternoon"

I looked down at my hands at that news. Shit, that was one thing that had definitely being pushed into the land of denial.

"Talk to me Babe"

I looked up realizing that this was what Dax and Hector had meant.

"Normally I'd spend time thinking what that meant and how I'd argue with myself about how I felt and how I should feel. I don't want to talk to Joe because he makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't trust him anymore which doesn't sit well with me"

"Why does he make you feel uncomfortable?"

"I don't know, maybe that whole missing day and that stupid marriage thing. He was always trying to manipulate me or make me change into someone he wanted me to be"

The thing was that looking back I could see how he'd done that. The way he would try and persuade me to do something or shout and criticize me. It was as if he needed to control me like some animal or possession and I wasn't the type of person to let him do that to me. I suppose there were times when he wore me down and I'd give in to him, but then that independent streak would rise to the surface and I'd find a way to argue with him in order to get some space. Maybe if I'd just told him exactly how I felt then, that back and forth relationship we'd had might have ended a lot sooner.

"I won't be allowed to go into the interview with you"

"I know, and maybe that's a good thing because seeing you with me would only get him annoyed"

"Tom's a good lawyer, let him lead the interview. Who do you want to go with you?"

"Les or Dax. I know I haven't known Dax for long, but he seems to understand me"

"Probably Dax then because I think Santos is still tied up trying to find that FTA, Hancock"

"I need to let him know what Lula told me yesterday"

That was starting to niggle at me, I mean why would Hancock make Chantal tell the police who he was? It made me curious to know how the police had arrested him so quickly when they only had a name that was false.

I felt Ranger begin to move and watched as he walked over to the bathroom. My eyes were rivetted on his back and the way his muscles moved as he walked, of course that led down to that amazing arse that he had. It made me remember the night before and before I knew it, I could feel myself heating up and licking my lips.

"No. We have to get ready and be downstairs"

I let out a sigh as I collapsed back onto the bed, averting my eyes from watching him. I needed to move, so once out of bed I grabbed a robe from the back of the door and went through to the kitchen. I was surprised to see a domed plate sat on the worktop and had just lifted the lid to see what was inside when Ranger stepped up beside me.

"I think Ella thought you needed something special after the day you had yesterday"

I'm sure I moaned when the smell of pancakes with blueberry sauce reached my nose. Ranger had moved to the table where there was his usual breakfast of barks and twigs and was pouring out coffee from a pot into two mugs.

After showering I'd dressed in a Rangeman uniform, thinking that made me feel more official with what we were about to discuss at our meeting. I was a little nervous of entering that conference room again but with Ranger right behind me shrugged it off to nervousness. Yeah, I was nervous that Daniel might not agree with some of the assumptions and links that I'd found. I was pleased to see that Les, Dax and Daniel were already there and had started to read through the files that I'd left here the day before.

As Ranger and I sat down all eyes turned to me, as though waiting for me to do something.

"Babe, take us through what you've found out"

So that's what I did, starting with my meeting with Jinski in that bar. Once I'd started, I found it easy to talk through the papers in the file and the talks I'd had with the two mothers that had taken place. Of course, Daniel expressed concern at the photo that Les had come across and seemed fascinated when I turned to the information about Alice.

Never once did he question where my thinking had taken me or why I had been sure that Alice had been another victim. Of course, no one knew about my research from yesterday or me finding a link that went back to Jinski. As I finished explaining the link through a woman named Lyn Blanchard I was met with absolute silence. That made me feel very nervous and almost had me thinking that I was way off with the line of investigation I'd taken.

I felt Ranger take hold of my hand and squeeze it, though I had no idea what that meant. Was it a way of saying, well you tried but maybe you're way off or to say well done, I like where you've taken this? I looked at Daniel, waiting for him to finish skimming through the papers again, worried at what he would say. As he looked up, he looked at Ranger and then to me. Oh shit, was he thinking of a way to tell me that he thought it was a ridiculous idea?

"Steph. I'm lost for words. You've made the whole of the FBI look like amateurs"

I'm sure my eyebrows shot up at that because it was totally unexpected. He was again looking at Ranger and just sat there for a few moments before he continued. Did that mean that he would allow us to continue with this or was he going to say that the FBI would now pick up the investigation?

"I have every confidence that your team will resolve this Ranger, so am happy to contract out this investigation to you"

"Usual terms Daniel?"

"Of course. I'll email the contract to you as soon as I get back to the office"

"Daniel, can you minimize the number of people who know about this?"

My head had been going back and forth between Daniel and Ranger as they spoke but this last question from Ranger had me confused.

"Babe if someone from the FBI caught on that we were after a serial killer then they'd try to elbow in and take the credit"

"Why would they do that, surely catching this person is the most important?"

"Steph, something like this would make a career for someone"

I hadn't even thought about it like that. I suppose I was naive enough to think that the FBI would be pleased that we were doing the investigation and putting an end to women being murdered.

Daniel stood up from the table and nodded to Ranger as he left, though I did notice that he'd left the file on the table. I suppose that would ensure that no one got a chance to look through it who shouldn't. As I stood to leave Les came around the table and pulled me into a hug.

"I never doubted that you'd find some threads to pull Beautiful"

"Thanks"

"Did you get anything from Lula?"

"Yeah, but it was strange. According to what Chantal was saying it seems Hancock threatened her into saying he was her pimp"

"So he's not her pimp or someone trying to take over?"

"No. How did the police catch Hancock?"

"A description from Chantal and confirming footage from a surveillance camera down on Stark. It showed the plates of the van he dragged her into"

"And I suppose the plates went back to his name"

"I suppose because they had an APB on the van and pulled it over"

It was just too neat for me. I mean why would Hancock be stupid enough to make it so easy for the police to catch him. I shrugged that thought away because I had other pressing matters to attend to. Namely a meeting with Tom, the lawyer, to go through with him what I would need to say to Joe this afternoon.

I hated having to recount everything that had happened with Hayes. It had me remembering the shot that hit him and how he'd been laid on the sidewalk in a pool of blood. Once I'd finished Tom stopped writing things down on a pad and looked at me.

"Okay I have a good picture of everything that happened. Now we'll go through what parts are relevant to the police"

"Isn't everything relevant"

"No. I don't want you telling them the whole of the conversation that you overheard but we need them to understand that you fled because you were scared"

"I was"

"I know. Tell them the part of the conversation you overheard about using your gun to shoot Hayes, that way they should assume those men were trying to deflect guilt away from themselves and make out that you were responsible for the shooting"

"So don't say anything about them trying to find me, or that they were going to email Ranger?"

"Correct. Now as far as you going into hiding don't mention any names and say it was because you were scared that the police would be after you. That you ran from the scene because you panicked and didn't know what else to do"

"Do I say where I went or how I ended up back in Trenton?"

"Not where you went but maybe suggest that you got to know someone who told you that you weren't being looked for by the police"

"Okay, I can do that"

"I'll type out a statement that we'll hand to them and I'll expect them to use that as your statement. Don't worry, you'll have a copy in front of you. You could even just read it out"

I felt better having spoken to Tom, that I'd have someone with me who was there for me. As I went up to seven to change, I was thinking about what would be appropriate to wear. Going with Tom might just shock Joe because Tom was one of those men who exuded confidence and an attitude that said, don't fuck with me. To be honest he reminded me a lot of some of the Merry Men, yeah, he was built and good looking, but he was approachable and seemed to take what I'd said seriously. Okay he was a lawyer, Ranger's lawyer, but I liked him.

I'd gone with a look that I felt would be appropriate for a visit to the police station. I wasn't going to turn up looking like a Bounty Hunter because I wasn't that anymore. I didn't want to wear anything too revealing either because Joe would think I'd dressed for him. In the end I found some dark grey trousers that tapered in at the ankles, a plain white fitted T-shirt and a beautiful black jacket. The jacket had a mandarin collar with grey buttons from top to bottom that fitted like a dream.
In fact, as I fastened the buttons up, I decided that I wouldn't be undoing them while out.
My hair was pulled back into a messy bun on top of my head with wisps of curls around my face. I'd added a base foundation to my face to try to cover my now paler than pale skin and natural makeup to my eyes. Okay I'd added several coats of mascara but it didn't detract from the natural look I was going for, but it did give me the confidence that I was desperate for. I slipped on some flat black shoes and picked up a matching bag to transfer anything I might need into it.

As I walked into the lounge, I was surprised to see Tom, Dax and Ranger stood talking and could see Ranger watching me as he continued to listen to the conversation. When it was obvious that he wasn't listening to the other two men they turned to see what had his attention.

"Just the look you needed Steph"

"Thanks"

Though it didn't even compare to the way those three men were dressed. Each of them was wearing a black suit, with Tom's having a small pin stripe in it and Dax's was I suppose more of a charcoal color, but man they looked so handsome. Ranger came over to me and with hands on my shoulder kissed my forehead.

"You look amazing Babe. Sexy as hell but also saying keep away from me"

"I can't compare to the three of you. I thought you weren't coming?"

"I'm not exactly, I have a meeting with the chief to discuss some take downs coming up and protocols that need looking at again"

I wasn't sure what he meant by protocols but didn't ask, if it was important for me to know he'd tell me. I transferred some things to the bag, a phone and some paper tissues, a pen and small pad. Though to be honest there wasn't anything I really needed. Tom passed me some paper which I assumed was the statement he'd prepared for the meeting.

"You ready Steph?"

I looked over to where Dax was stood by the door and nodded my head before following him from the apartment. As we were going down in the elevator, I pulled a tissue from my bag and went to put it into a pocket when I realized there was something already in the pocket. I pulled out a pair of fine grey lace gloves and wondered why they were there. Maybe it was when I'd messed up my hands hitting the bag in the gym and Ella had put them there thinking I might choose to wear this jacket, though I couldn't remember seeing it before.

Looking at the gloves I chose to put them on and discovered that the finger ends were missing. That's when I looked down at the ring on my finger.

"Babe?"

"I don't want to take my ring off"

"Why would you?"
"Because it will be the first thing Joe sees and then he'll get all pissy with me and make this interview more difficult"

"Turn it around so the stones are inside and put the gloves on"

So that's what I did. Ranger used one of the black Rangeman SUVs to travel in and we used Tom's car to get to the station. It was a Porsche SUV, but it was a deep red color so wouldn't be seen as a Rangeman car. As I looked at how Dax was dressed, I wondered if that was the idea. I mean to anyone observing us arrive and how we were dressed there was nothing linking me to Ranger.

We parked at the front of the station and as Dax opened my door, I realized we were going in through the front entrance. Tom was ahead of us slightly and Dax was right next to me as we walked through the door. I watched as Tom announced who we were here to see and then we stood waiting.

We didn't have long to wait before I heard that awful nickname being called out. I chose to ignore it and waited with my back to where it had come from. I felt Tom take my elbow and turn me around as Joe approached.

"Cupcake. Good of you to be here so promptly"

I stared back at him as he swept his eyes from my shoes over my body to my face and then watched as he took a relaxed position in front of us. Tom stepped forward between me and Joe and held out his hand to Joe.

"Tom Paxton. I'm here to assist Miss plum"

Joe at least was amenable as he shook Tom's hand, but I could see that he was eyeing up Dax.

"If you'll follow me, I have a room all set up"

We followed Joe down the corridor, with me between Tom and Dax but as I followed Tom into a room where Joe was holding the door open, I wasn't surprised when he closed the door on Dax, stopping him from coming in.

"I haven't seen you for a while Cupcake"

As Joe made to move past me, I wasn't aware that Tom had stepped beside me, basically blocking Joe from coming anywhere near me.

"I'm sorry Detective, has the interview began?"

"I was just asking a polite question"

Joe leered at me as he moved to the other side of the desk and took a seat. Tom held out a seat for me and when I nodded at him, he sat down beside me.

"So Cupcake, are you going to tell me what the hell you've got involved with now?"

"Detective, Morelli isn't it? My client is called Stephanie, but seeing as this is a formal interview then you will refer to her as Miss Plum"

That didn't have the effect that Tom was going for. Instead of being duly chastised by what Tom had said I could see that Joe was more annoyed. Joe had a tape recorder on the table that he pointed to and then addressed Tom.

"I'll be recording this interview"

Tom didn't reply but just nodded his head and we watched as Joe pressed the record button. As soon he'd done that Tom went back at him with a reply, I'm sure because he knew the conversation was being recorded.

"I expect a copy of that tape to be sent to my office Detective"

"Fine, so how about we start then"

"I have Miss Plum's account of what happened to her with regards to the death of Mr Hayes. I'll ask her to read it out for you"

I removed the paper from my bag and started to read word for word what was written down. When Joe tried to interrupt Tom just shut him down, telling him to wait until I had finished talking. I could see that Joe was following what I was saying on his copy of the statement and as he kept making notes in the margin. He was going to find questions to ask me no doubt. When I had finished, I looked up and saw that Joe was watching me and Tom was watching Joe.

"Okay, Cup, sorry Miss Plum. How well did you know Hayes?"

A nod from Tom meant I had to answer so holding tightly to the paper with both hands I looked over to Joe to answer. His eyes told me he was going to bait me, I wasn't sure how, but I was prepared for it.

"I didn't know him. I'd only ever seen him twice before what happened. Once when I was getting a coffee from the breakroom at Rangeman and the second time when he passed me some files to do with work"

"So you knew him then?"

"No. I didn't know his name until he was allocated to drive me to my apartment"

"Allocated, why not drive yourself?"

"No car Joe, I have no idea where it is. I should probably report it as stolen while I'm here"

Joe looked down quickly when he heard me comment that my car might have been stolen. He looked like he was reading from his notes, so I waited patiently, well as patiently as I could. I was sure that Joe kept looking up at me, which was making me feel really nervous. Tom leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.

"He's trying to unnerve you by drawing this out"

I knew that but it didn't make it any easier, at last Joe looked up and went with another question.

"You said there were two shots?"

"Yes"

"Why didn't you shoot back?"

"It scared me, and I dropped my gun trying to get into somewhere safe"

"Why not call the police?"

"Detective, Miss Plum has already told you that she was fleeing for her life. She didn't want to draw attention to herself"

"So why not call later"

"Detective read the statement, the phone got damaged as she fled"

"Where did you go to?"

"Not relevant"

"Who helped you?"

"No one"

"Do you honestly think I believe that"

"Detective!"

"Did you call Manoso?"

"No"

"Detective this is not an interrogation. You have your statement"

Tom held my elbow indicating that I should stand up, as I stood and turned, Joe just couldn't let it go.

"Why are you wearing gloves?"
I didn't bother to even respond to that question and saw the start of a smile on Tom's face. I did though feel Joe grab hold of my arm and turn me around.

"What the hell?"

"Why are you being so cold to me, we have something Cupcake, don't throw it away"

"We had something Joe, a long time ago. Now, I don't want anything to do with you"

"Manoso passed you on to one of his men now, I told you he wasn't the type to want you around"

"You don't know anything Joe"

"I know there's a man out there waiting to have his turn"

I closed my eyes for a second to calm me down. I was not going to allow Joe to get me arguing with him. After a deep intake of breath, I opened my eyes to see him leering at me. I turned again to the door and pulled it open quickly allowing it to bang up against the wall. For some reason Tom allowed Joe to follow me out the room but he came to a standstill when he saw Ranger stood waiting for me. Ranger never took his eyes off Joe as he pulled me to his side.

"Everything finished Tom?"

"As far as I'm concerned it is"

Ranger kept his arm over my shoulder as we walked down the hallway and out through the front door. I wasn't too sure what had just happened, but I knew better than to say anything at the moment. I wasn't too sure where Dax had got to and was surprised when Ranger got into the passenger seat next to Tom. Both men were very quiet as we drove back toward Rangeman. Tom was a slow driver and it seemed that every light we came to was at red. As I looked behind me I could a black SUV two cars behind us so knew that we had a shadow.

At the next light Tom managed to drive through on green but then it must have changed to red because when I looked behind us again there was no black SUV in sight.

I wasn't too sure what happened next. I mean I was watching ahead of us as we drove down the street but suddenly out of nowhere a large truck was suddenly on top of us. The truck hit us on the passenger side, and I remembered hitting my head on the window, then feeling the car begin to turn over in a roll but after that everything seemed so vague as images rushed past me.

I think I could remember hearing an ambulance and someone pulling me from the car. I was so desperate to know where Ranger was and if he was hurt, and I'm sure I tried to get some answers from someone, anyone.

There was something niggling away in my head as I woke, and I didn't know what it was. My head was pounding but I didn't remember drinking. As I moved, I felt several places twinge with pain, that's when it all came back to me. The truck hitting us and then the car rolling. My mind was going in circles as I tried to remember what happened next and if I'd seen Ranger. Oh god, Ranger. I needed to see him, to make sure he was okay and that he wasn't badly injured.

That gave me enough incentive to open my eyes slowly, blinking quickly as I tried to focus on where I was. I thought maybe I'd be in the apartment on seven or at worst in a hospital room. As my vision cleared, I was staring around me, at the walls and ceiling trying desperately to work out where the hell I was. I was on a bed in a small room that only had a chair in the corner. I sat up, probably too quickly, fighting back the dizziness and the pain that came through me with the movement. There was a window, but it was boarded up and the only light in the room came from a single bulb hanging down from the middle of the ceiling.

My eyes filled with tears as I realized I had no idea where I was or who had brought me here. As my head fell to my chest, I took a large intake of breath at what I was wearing. I still had on my white T-shirt but it was covered in blood. As I raised my arms I saw a bandage wrapped around my left arm, just above my elbow. That shoulder hurt as well but I was sure that it was just bruised because I could still move it, okay if I worked through the pain.

I didn't want to look any further, at what was underneath the covers but knew I had to. I slowly pulled the thread bare cover down to my knees and let out a sigh of relief that I still had my trousers on. I couldn't work out though why I hurt so much so took a minute to evaluate where the pain was coming from. I knew I must have hit my head and using my right hand ran my fingers through my hair until I found a lump. I knew my arm and shoulder was hurting so started to run my hand over my ribs. I hurt on my right side and wasn't too sure what I'd done to myself, but I could breathe easily so maybe I'd just bruised it.

As I moved my legs to reach down an excruciating pain came from my left thigh. A look showed no damage to my trousers so maybe again it was just badly bruised. I had to believe that because I knew if I wanted to get out of here, I'd need to be able to walk if not run.

As I tried to move my other foot, I felt something tighten around my ankle so removing the cover completely I found out what it was. There was a handcuff holding me to the metal bars at the bottom of the bed. I pulled the cover up around me and shuffled toward the bottom of the bed. With my knees bent I pulled myself against them and let the tears take over.

I never heard the door open or someone come inside the room, but I jumped when I felt someone stroking their hand down the back of my head. I wasn't too sure it was a good idea to look at who it was, didn't they say on the films you'd be okay if you couldn't identify the kidnapper? As The hand continued to stroke my hair, I couldn't help but jerk away from it and through my tears looked at who was sat on the side of the bed.

"You are a pretty one like he said"

I tried to move away from him but what with the pain in my leg and him grabbing my arm I didn't get very far.

"He said you could be feisty as well, but that's why I'm here. To take care of you"

As he let go of my arm, I shrunk away from him as fear crept through me. Was this man he was talking about the one that wanted me, the one who those people had been talking about? I looked at the man trying to get some sign for what was going to happen. Eventually he sat back allowing me to take a good look at him, trying to work out if I recognized his face or even his voice. He looked to be maybe 40 years old, certainly older than me, but with his face it was difficult to judge.
His hair was long and looked dirty with grey flashes showing around the side of his face. He hadn't shaved, though I wasn't sure if that was a fashion statement or because he hadn't got around to shaving. Life hadn't been good to him as he had a couple of scars on his cheek and eyebrow. They looked to be from fighting, in fact the one above his eye reminded me of the one Joe had. His eyes were set wide with a nose that looked as though it had been broken.

I was surprised when I saw scratch marks down the side of his neck that looked red and sore. I was beginning to wonder exactly who this man was because to me he looked like a brawler, not a man who was working for the people who'd been there when Hayes had died. I needed to find a way out of here so decided that I wanted to find out more about where I was.

"I need to use the bathroom"

He looked at me and seemed resigned that eventually I would ask that. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the cuff from around the bed.

"Don't you try anything stupid"

Like that could happen at the moment. I moved myself away from the bottom of the bed and carefully lowered my bare feet to the floor. I hadn't noticed before but now saw that the floor was old wooden boards. As I tried to stand and put my weight onto my feet a pain shot through my leg and I collapsed back down on the bed. At least the man took my arm and pulled me up, so I made sure that all my weight was on my right leg.

"I'm not sure what I've done to my leg"

"You must have banged it when the car rolled"

"My shoulder and arm?"

"When you were pulled out of the car there was glass on the road"

"Was it you that bandaged it?"

"Yeah, it's okay, you'll survive"

I very carefully moved my left leg forward, bringing my other leg forward quickly to reduce the pain that was shooting through my leg. I limped after the man toward the door and realized that it wasn't even locked.

Outside the room was a narrow corridor with what looked like stairs at the end. We turned in the opposite direction stopping in front of an open door. Inside was a bathroom, not exactly clean, but I knew I'd have to make use of it. I was thankful that I was allowed to close the door before I made my way over to the toilet. Once my trousers were pulled down, I looked to see why my leg hurt so much. The side of my leg was beginning to bruise badly but what worried me was that the impact had been directly over the scar from my previous injury, which meant it was directly over where Dax had placed that implant.

Sat on the toilet my heart sank as I admitted to myself that maybe the tracker was damaged. I also felt so defeated because I still had no idea how Ranger was. Looking around the small bathroom I wanted to find something that I could maybe use to pick the lock of the handcuffs. Once finished and with wet hands, because there was no towel that I could see, I opened the door to find the man stood leaning against the wall opposite.

"What happens next?"

"Nothing for you to worry that pretty head of yours over"

"What do I call you?"

"Call me Jerry"

"Jerry the other people in the car, were they okay?"

"Not sure. I was in a rush to get you out"

By now we were back in the room and Jerry lifted me up onto the bed before he relocked the cuffs around the metal of the bed.

"I have to go out and get some food"

"You're leaving me here on my own?"

"You aint going anywhere"

As he left, he passed me a bottle of water that I left laid on the bed. I watched as he left the room, but this time I heard the turn of a key in the door. An awful feeling came over me with the sound of the door locking, a feeling that maybe Jerry wasn't going to be coming back.

I picked up the water feeling suddenly thirsty and just sat looking at it. It was the same brand that I always bought and stocked my fridge with. That had me throwing the bottle across the room because there was no way I was going to drink it. I wasn't sure what scared me the most, that Jerry would come back or that he had left me in this house.

I couldn't work out who he was or who he was working with let alone what might happen next. Would someone else come and get me? I couldn't stay here and wait so looked again at where the cuffs were fastened to the bed. It was an old-fashioned metal bed with matching head and foot bars. I suppose that meant that the base might be old as well. I removed the clean sheet from the underneath to find a dirty and stained mattress that had probably already been in the house.
Somehow, I needed to move the mattress and see what the underneath was like. Seeing as I was sat on top of the mattress and cuffed to the base by my ankle that wasn't an easy thing to do. It seemed to take an age just to be able to see what was below me. When I saw loops of metal were what was holding up the mattress, I felt a renewed determination run through me.

I soon had part of the mattress off the bed, but it had cost me in sweat and pain. The cut on my arm was bleeding and my ribs and leg were throbbing. I needed a small piece of wire that was all and eventually by bending a piece back and forth I held some in my hand. The problem now was whether or not I could pick the lock.

Why oh why had I never learnt to do it, something that I knew would be useful. Because I was too stubborn to accept someone to teach me. Too entrenched on relying on luck and probably Ranger saving me. Ranger made picking a lock look so easy but now I knew that it wasn't. I fiddled and pushed, twisted and pulled until to my surprise the lock clicked open.

I was so happy to hear that sound that I was almost in tears. Having stopped working on the lock the silence around me hit me. It was so quiet, almost too quiet, making me wonder again where I was. I expected to hear the sound of cars or even people outside but the quiet gave an unnatural feel and the need to get out of here.

I had totally forgotten about the door being locked. It looked to be an old-fashioned lock that needed a key. I sank to the floor to look through the keyhole just in case there was someone outside. I couldn't work out what was blocking my view until I realized that Jerry had left the key in the lock on the outside of the door. Somehow, I needed to get that key.

I removed my T-shirt trying to ignore the blood now running down my arm and carefully laid it out flat by the door. Then I started to ease the T-shirt underneath the door. I suppose at one stage there might have been carpet covering the floor so now there a large gap that enabled the T-shirt to slide through. Once I felt it was far enough through, I used my piece of metal to try and ease the key out. It was easier than I thought it would be and as I heard the thump as it hit the floor, I just prayed it had landed on the T-shirt.

As I pulled the T-shirt slowly under the door, I was elated to see the key. With my T-shirt back on I was about to put the key in the lock when the light went out, plunging me into darkness. There was a faint light coming through the keyhole that allowed me to put the key in and turn it. I was so relieved as it turned and used the handle to pull myself onto my feet. I had to steady my nerves and not just bolt out of the room in case Jerry had come back or there was someone else here.

I stood to the wall and opened the door, looking down the hall. When I couldn't see or hear anything, I opened it fully and limped out. I used the wall to support me and made my way to where I thought there were stairs. It was slow going, one stair at a time before the front door was in front of me.

That door was unlocked and as I went through it bright sunshine blinded me. At first it was quiet, an eerie silence surrounding the house, then all I could here were the shouts of men that seemed to come from far away.

I stepped from the house, still dazed and in a lot of pain. I was walking through a front yard that was full of garbage and remnants of furniture, so was being ever so careful where I was stepping. As I stepped through where a gate should have been, I could now see men dressed in overhauls and hard hats jumping up and down, there were shouts reaching me but there were so many I couldn't make out what they were trying to tell me.

As "Get out of there" reached me I started to move faster toward them and that's when I heard a loud rumbling behind me.
My ears rang out and I felt myself being thrown forward, totally confused with what was happening.