Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 308(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
“You're a pretty girl. You could do a lot better than men like the Outlaw Sons. I don't understand it.”
He never will. They have a level of honor and integrity that in spite of his talk about loyalty, he'll never figure out. And they aren’t soulless madmen. And that's when I hear it. A faint rumble in the distance. Motorcycles?
“Giant cocks,” I answer to distract him. “Absolutely massive.”
Fabbri looks like he just swallowed a lemon. “You’re disgusting!”
I sigh. “And I have to go to the bathroom.”
“I should let you pee yourself in the chair,” he says with a sneer.
“Then you would have to deal with me smelling like pee.”
“Fine, fine.” He looks around for something sharp and finds the trauma shears in the first aid kit. “Sit still.”
Once I'm snipped free, he pulls his gun and points it at me.
“I'm not going to run away from the bathroom.”
“Doesn't mean I'm taking any chances. Come on. You can have the stall to yourself, but other than that I'm not letting you out of my sight until I have you bound again.”
I almost fall over when I try to get up, my legs jello after sitting for so long in the exact same position. “Wait a minute. Just waiting for the pins and needles.” I lean on the wall, trying to keep his attention away from sounds outside. “That's the problem with sitting still. My mom was the same way. Tingles almost right away. Sometimes I wonder if I just have bad circulation.” I smile awkwardly.
“You have no idea how little I care. Come on.”
This time I'm able to walk, so I do. I really could pee, so it's not all made up, but mostly.
The rumble cuts off, and to me the sudden quiet seems like the loudest most obvious sound, but Fabbri doesn't seem to register it. Maybe he just thinks it's outside traffic on the main road. Hopefully, he'll keep thinking that. I pull open the door to the bathroom, and it slams against the wall. “Oops, I forgot how easily it opened.” Make noise, just keep making noise.
“Can't say I had a problem.”
“I'm just too eager, you know. Just don't know my own strength. My mom always said I'd grow up strong, and I guess she's—”
“Shut. Up. Someone's here.” He points his gun away for just a moment, then back to me. “I shouldn't have listened to Heather either. This place was too obvious. Fuck. Come.” He waves with the gun forcing me in the opposite direction.
“But I really have to—”
He fires the gun into the ceiling.
I stop stalling, letting him herd me deeper into the warehouse to the main area where washers, dryers and ironing machines are. Forget your laundry room at home. These things are huge, industrial machines laid out on a factory floor, with conveyor belts and almost fully automated. Mom might have started small, but she built an impressive business. A business Walter never really appreciated as anything but a paycheck.
But everything is silent now, shut down at least since Walter died, I'm guessing. I wonder if Heather told the employees anything, or if they just realized nobody was opening up anymore. Fabbri pulls me with him into one of the darkest corners behind a steamer, and points his gun towards the entrance. We can't actually see it because of all the machinery, but if anyone comes around, he'll have the jump on them.
“Be completely fucking silent, or your brains are the first I blow out. Clear?”
“Clear,” I whisper.
And then we wait.
“You're not getting out of here alive, unless you give us the girl,” Savage yells, his words echoing off the cavernous laundry hall. “We know you're fucking in here. Give her to us safe and sound, and we'll give you a head start. Otherwise, we're gonna fucking bury your ass.”
“Not a sound,” Fabbri hisses quietly.
He's the one with the gun, so I stay silent.
“They were just here,” Poe's voice echoes. “This chair's still warm. Looks like she was zip-tied.”
“You're alone, Fabbri. We saw Heather. Wasn't enough with just the husband, huh? Your bad choices are piling up, and it's time to pay the piper. Do we have to come in there after you?” Honestly, I believe Savage's offer of letting Fabbri run about as much as I believe Fabbri's lie that he's going to let me go once he's safe. I'm sure that's what Fabbri thinks too.
Is there some way that I can let them know where we are?
The steamer has a release vent, though there shouldn't be any pressure in there right now… if it was shut down properly. But if Walter was murdered and the power just shut off because no one cared? I might have a chance. But can I get at one of the vents to try?
The sounds of Crank, Poe and Savage moving around the laundry hall comes every once in a while. It's hard to pick out where they are, and they're so random and all over that I wonder if they do it on purpose to disorient us. Tossing rocks or something. It’s getting to Fabbri, whose eyes dart back and forth at every little sound as he's trying to read their location.