Under His Protection
Chapter 21

JADE:

Her eyelids felt heavy, she tried to open them but they wouldn’t budge. Her throat burned with an acid taste and she couldn’t move her arms. Panic sunk in and she tried to remember what happened. The nurse had come into Zane’s room and told her Officer Brown needed to speak with her in private and he was waiting in the small waiting room, the one at the end of the hall next to the staircase. When she got there Joe wasn’t anywhere in sight so she walked out and was heading back when someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her into the stairway, placing something over her mouth. The smell made her nauseous, she struggled but then she was pulled into darkness.

Forcing her eyes open the room began to spin so she closed them till the spinning stopped. Again she tried moving her arms but looking up saw they were tied to a headboard and immediately started yanking at the rope. Looking down she saw she was still fully clothed, except for her shoes. Her eyes wandered around the room. The windows were boarded up and a small light was turned on in the corner. She saw a small fridge, a stove, a table, two wooden chairs and a door leading to what she figured was a bathroom. The room was small and run down, another small bed, more of a cot was in the far corner.

No one was there so she started screaming for help. “Help me, please somebody help me.” She kept screaming till her throat started to burn and no more words could come out. Cold and trapped she sat up as best she could and the tears came. “Zane, where are you?” she cried silently.

It was cold, she felt no heat in the small place and she shivered. There was no way for her to know how long she had been here as there was no clock, with the windows boarded up she had no idea if it was day or night. The sound of a key in the lock being turned had her body trembling with fear as she watched the door slowly open,. She wanted to scream but her fear had its grip on her and she froze up.

“Kenny.” She managed to squeak out when she saw him.

He gave her a big smile when he looked over and saw she was awake. “Hello, angel. I’m sorry about having to tie you up but I couldn’t risk you hurting yourself.” He walked over and sat on the bed next to her.

“Kenny, why are you doing this?”

“To keep you safe,” he said, placing his hand on her leg, moving slowly up.

“Don’t touch me,” she cried out and squeezed her legs tightly together. “Keep me safe from what?” she asked when he removed his hand.

“From the ones who are trying to hurt you.”

“But it’s you Kenny who’s doing all this. Just let me go and I promise I won’t tell anyone it was you who took me.”

“No, I can’t let you go. Someone is trying to kill you and it’s not me. They want to take you away from me. Don’t you see that we belong together? You’re mine and I’ll never let you go. I love you, I would never hurt you.”

“You’re crazy,” she yelled at him.

Kenny got up and went over to the door and started banging his head against it. “I’m not crazy, don’t say that.” He looked back at her. “I waited for you after you broke up with Trevor to become pure again for me. But you had to drop your pants for that cop and now it will be months before we can be together. I waited so long to touch you, to join our bodies as one.” He dashed back over to her and sat down, running his fingers along her face. “Your skin is so soft. I watched you and that pig together, it made me sick to see the way he touched and sucked on you. That should have been me.”

She moved her head to the side, the feel of his rough flesh sickened her. “Please let me go. You must know that what you’re doing is wrong. Where are we and how long are you planning on keeping me here?”

“There’s no need to concern yourself with where we are. I will keep you safe and once you’ve learned to trust and love me we’ll leave and go far away.” He went to the closet and took out a blanket, bringing it back placed it over her. “It’s cold in here, this will keep you warm.”

“I’ll need to use the washroom soon and I’m getting hungry.” Her mind scrambled to replace some excuse to get him to untie her. Maybe once he did she could replace something to knock him out with, then she could escape.

Kenny chewed on his bottom lip as he gave it some thought. “I will untie you but don’t try anything or else I will be angry, and you won’t like me when I’m angry.” Going over he released her from the rope. “Go, use the bathroom and when you come out I will have come up with a way for you to move around. Maybe I’ll lengthen the rope so that it reaches the bathroom, that way whenever you need to go you can do so.”

Rubbing her wrists where the ropes had left a mark she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. She needed to pee and as she sat down looked around for something to use as a weapon. There was nothing, a small sink, shower. A new toothbrush still in its wrapper sat on the counter along with toothpaste. The shower curtain was hung with hooks. She figured it was a long shot but maybe she could use one to cut away at the rope he was sure to put back on her. As quietly as she could she reached up and removed one of the hooks, making sure to take one that she hoped wouldn’t be noticed missing.

“What’s taking so long angel?” he called out.

“I’m almost done,” she replied and ran the water. Hiding the hook in the palm of her hand went back out. She saw him using more rope, a much longer one. She glanced over at the door and thought about taking a run for it. But there was a lock on it and the key was hanging on a chain around his belt.

“Come here and sit down on the bed. I have a surprise for you. I’ve made this longer, but only enough so that you can use the toilet and shower.” He saw her looking over at the door. “It will not reach that far.”

“Kenny please don’t tie me up,” she pleaded.

“Get over here,” he yelled.

On shaky legs, she went and sat while he tied her one wrist up and attached the rope to the headboard and smiled at her. “I’ll leave your one arm free so that you can eat and drink. Don’t think for one second that you’ll be able to get free.”

She stared at it, he was right, there was no way she could untie it. He used some weird way of tying knots that she never knew existed. “What am I to eat or wear?” She hoped if she acted like she was going along with him he would start to trust her and might slip up and make a mistake.

He went and sat down, rubbing his chin as he thought. “I will get you some clothes to wear and bring some food once the cops are not all over the place. I do have water and some crackers, would you like some?”

She moved her head up and down, her throat was dry and her stomach growled.

He went and took out a bottle of water from the rusty old fridge and grabbed the box of crackers and handed them to her. “Don’t eat too many, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to go out,” he said and went back to the table and turned on what she thought was a radio, it turned out to be a police scanner.

Taking a drink she listened as voices came through. They were talking about her and Kenny, information about where they were searching and there was a manhunt out looking for their whereabouts. “It’s no use, Kenny, they are going to replace us sooner or later.”

He laughed, sending cold chills throughout her.

“They’ll never replace us, they aren’t even close.” He stared at her, seeing how scared she was. “Don’t worry angel, we’re safe.” He was so pleased with himself and wanted to jump up and down. He had outsmarted the cops, they had and never would know their location. He found the perfect place where no one lived nearby and he was able to rig up enough power to give them electricity in order for them to survive. Once the cops gave up and stopped looking for them they would be able to flee the country. He was a master of disguises and eluded the police for years after he escaped from the hell hole he was placed in at the age of sixteen. Now, thirty-five years old he had finally found her, the woman who would be his wife and bear his children.

“Zane won’t give up till he replaces me,” she spat out.

Hearing the cop's name made him furious. “That pig, you should never have let him touch you the way he did. He soiled your body with his filthy animal lust. I was waiting to make you mine, I watched you for months. The way you showered and washed your hair, so beautiful.”

Jade wanted to cry, the thought of him watching her made her sick. “You shot Zane, it was you.”

“No. I did not shoot him but I am glad someone did. It’s a shame though they didn’t kill him, it would have saved me a lot of trouble. But it worked out anyway, with him in the hospital I was finally able to get close enough to you.” Standing up he went over to the cot and laid down. “You should get some sleep, it’s almost morning. Night Angel.”

She lay there waiting until she knew he was asleep, taking the hook from inside the pillowcase where she had hidden it. Unbending it she used it to pick at the rope, two hours later she had barely made a scratch. Tears fell as she placed the hook back inside the pillowcase. At this rate, it would take days to tear a single strand, it was hopeless. Laying down she pulled the blanket up to her chin and listened to Kenny snoring.

How she was able to sleep was beyond her but when she woke he was gone. Getting out of bed she tried going to the door but the rope that was around her wrist wouldn’t reach that far. She tried frantically to untie the rope attached to the bed and the one around her wrist. It was no use so she picked up the water bottle and drank what little there was left in it. The rope was not long enough to reach the fridge where she knew there was more. Using what little strength she had tried pushing the bed closer to the door. It wouldn’t budge, she got down on all fours to check and saw that the bed legs were bolted to the floor. She hung her head in defeat, he had thought of everything and she realized he had been planning this for some time now.

Her eyes widened in fear when the door opened and a man walked in, he had long blond hair, and a beard and was walking with a cane. If it weren’t for the thick dark glasses she would never have known it was Kenny, the glasses gave him away. She watched as he placed the small shopping bag on the table and removed his wig and fake beard.