Drake screamed as the bullet hit him in the thigh.
Perfect shot. Yes. Elmore did a fist pump and then shook his head. What is it with that stupid fist pump? Why people did it, he never understood.
He leaned a little farther in and saw Sarah at the edge of her bars, saying something to Drake as he lay on the floor, both hands covering his wounded leg.
He continued to scream as blood seeped out through his jeans.
“The next bullet goes into Sarah,” Elmore shouted loud enough to be heard over Drake. “Soon, the two people you came to rescue will be dead. That would make your rescue attempt a moot point wouldn’t it? Then I would have no use for my basement. This door will be shut and not reopened until next month, at which time you’ll have expired. Now, the basement is soundproof. There is no escape except through this door and your bullets won’t penetrate it.”
He waited a moment to see if Drake would quiet down, then he continued, “But you have a chance to do something good here. You can save Drake by reducing his blood loss. Here’s a belt.”
Elmore tossed the belt to the bottom of the stairs.
“If you decide to take the belt to Drake, I will open his cell door from here. You are to enter his cell and tie the tourniquet on yourself. Shut the cell door behind you. Do this and you save all three of you. Don’t do this and I will shoot Sarah and then lock this door and leave for a month. It’s your choice, Rod. Make it now.”
Elmore pulled back a little. He kept one of his guns aimed down the stairs and his left hand on the door knob, ready to shove it shut if Rod decided to run for the stairs.
“You’re down to seconds left here. It’s not a hard decision. Choose now.”
“If you unlock Drake’s cell,” Rod said. “I’ll be taking him out and up those stairs to seek medical treatment.”
Elmore clicked the button to unlock Drake’s cell. He turned and shouted down, “And you’ll both be shot before you reach the top. How far can you get with him bleeding like that? You think he could still run? You’re out of time. Decide.”
“Fuck you.”
Elmore counted three breaths. Drake still lay on his cell floor, by himself, bleeding out.
He brought his weapon up and aimed it at Sarah. He was out of options. Rod wanted to test him. He learned a lesson. His obsession had been too expensive. Sarah had cost him everything. There were dead men in his garage. An american cop challenged him from the basement. If it meant Sarah had to go, then Sarah had to go. He accepted that his whole operation could not be based on one girl.
He took an extra moment to be sure of his aim and fired in Sarah’s direction.
She immediately jumped back and yelped.
“Damn, I’m a good shot,” he said to himself while picking at the scab on his head.
“Okay, okay,” Rod yelled. “Stop shooting.”
Elmore could barely hear motherfucker mumbled too.
Rod stepped in front of the stairs and glared up at him. Elmore held his weapon steady. Rod picked up the belt and turned around to walk to Drake. Elmore waited until Rod entered Drake’s cell, and then he pushed the remote button to lock it.
“Now, discard all your weapons. Toss them away from the cell or I will come down there and execute all of you.”
Metallic sounds clanged as various pieces of weaponry were tossed through the bars of Drake’s cell. He got to his feet, took another deep breath and started down the stairs. Three guns and two knives lay on the floor by the far wall. Elmore looked at Rod’s back as he tightened the belt above the wound on Drake’s leg.
He turned to see how Sarah was doing. A small line of blood trickled down her left arm.
“I barely hit you. Damn, thought I’d done worse. Oh well, that works. We’re doing panty pics later so I’ll get you a cloth so you can bathe.”
“You know,” Sarah said. “Your parents should have called you Waldo.”
“Why’s that?” he asked, wondering if he should smile or not.
“Because when you go missing it will be hilarious.”
“You sure have a big mouth. We’ll use that mouth later for a big job. Watch yourself, Sarah. Act accordingly or pay heavy consequences. You and I will either get along, or you’ll hate the last year of your life stuck down here waiting for me.”
Rod stood at Drake’s cell door.
“Pull up your pant legs around the ankles,” Elmore ordered.
Rod bent and did as he was told. Nothing there but socks that rose just above the ankle and then flesh.
“Good. I will assume that’s all of your weapons,” Elmore said, pointing at the floor. “If that isn’t, I don’t have to tell you how bad things will get.”
Rod nodded. “That’s it.”
“All your friends are dead, but you probably already know that. Now, you are all my prisoners. Tomorrow, after I find out whether anyone else is coming or not, I will execute Drake first, unless, of course, he does me the favor and dies through the night.”
He turned on his heels, grabbed all of Rod’s weapons, strode up the stairs, and locked the basement door, the whole time laughing maniacally.
Chapter 29
Rod had done everything to comfort Drake that he could. Drake now lay back on the mattress with Rod’s jacket as a pillow. The belt had been loosened and then tied up again to allow circulation to Drake’s lower leg, even though the blood loss had slowed some. Rod explained that the leg wound wasn’t enough to kill him. But he would need medical attention within a few days to avoid infection and to get the bullet out.
They had talked for hours. It was difficult to know what time it was in the dark. Sarah felt it had to be evening based on how tired she had gotten.
Her wound was so small it wouldn’t need stitches. She knew how lucky she had been, and as the day turned to what they thought was evening, she told them she’d rest while they stayed awake and then she would take her turn, staying up through the night while they slept.
Before she nodded off, Rod had apologized profusely at his failure in getting them out. He’d asked if Vivian had been in contact, and Sarah told him the truth. Vivian had been strangely quiet lately, but it might have been on account that Sarah hadn’t had anything to write with.
When Sarah woke, she listened but couldn’t hear anything from the other cell.
They must’ve fallen asleep.
That made sense. Why sleep in shifts when they’d all wake fast enough if Elmore came down.
She lay in the dark trying her best to work on a plan of escape. She couldn’t believe what lay before her. How could she have gotten caught so easily again? And what about Drake? She’d finally found a man she could spend time with and now he’d been shot because of her.
After she saved his life at the ball game, she didn’t have to stay on the run with him.
What’s that all about?
Why did she? Was he rubbing off on her, or was she rubbing off on him?
She chastised herself. How could she be thinking about Drake at a time like that? She had to figure out a way to get them all out of the cages. She could ruminate all she wanted on relationships when she was safe outside Elmore’s prison.
The door upstairs opened slowly at that moment. Even though it was dark and her eyes wide, she saw nothing.
The single bulb dangling in front of her cell flicked on.
She closed her eyes and the plan hit her.
Perfect. It has to work.
She monitored Elmore’s movements by the noises he made. He moved with stealth so as to not wake anyone, which made it difficult for her to determine exactly where he was at any given time. For her plan to work, she had to be ready and that meant she had to know where he was.
A subtle scrape of his foot on the floor. A soft crinkle of his shirt. Then nothing.
She lay as still as she could, making sure he would be convinced she was still asleep.
He cleared his throat. He stood close, but not inside her cell yet. Her cell door hadn’t unlocked.