“Feeling any more alert?”
“A little,” Alex said, trying to sound distant.
The doctor’s face took on a serious set. “Good, because it’s about time for you to start answering questions. Some people are going to be arriving soon for a visit, and they’re going to want to talk to you.”
“All right,” Alex said as if he didn’t care.
“These people think it’s time for answers. They aren’t going to be as indulgent as we’ve been in the past.”
Alex let his gaze wander to the floor. “All right.”
“You had better be prepared to give them those answers or things are going to became rather unpleasant. Especially for other people. You don’t want that, now, do you?”
“Please,” Alex mumbled, “don’t hurt my mother.”
Dr. Hoffmann stood, sliding his pen into his breast pocket. “That’s going to be up to you, Alex. If you don’t want people hurt, then the easiest thing to do is to simply answer their questions. Understand?”
Alex nodded.
“Good.” He started away, then turned back. He stood near the door frowning as he studied Alex’s face. Alex stared off without blinking, without moving.
“I’ll see you soon,” he said at last.
Alex nodded. The doctor tapped his palm against the doorframe for a moment as he watched Alex, and then he was gone.
Once alone, with the door closed, Alex paced. It felt good to pace, to move his muscles. He also hoped pacing would help to work more of the drugs out of his system.
Until he could figure out what to do he needed to avoid raising suspicions, so when it was time for lunch he shuffled down to the sunroom with the other patients. He ate about half of the beef-and-noodle casserole even though he was too excited at being able to think to be hungry. Afterward, he stayed in the sunroom for a couple of hours, sitting and staring and keeping up appearances as he kept an eye on the staff, the whole while trying to come up with a plan.
As he sat pretending to be in a stupor, he let anger course through him. It felt good to be able to feel angry at the people doing this, to embrace that rage and focus it.
He was worried about his mother, but he was far more worried about Jax. She was the one from another world, so she was the one in the greatest danger. She had said that she recognized people from her world, like Sedrick Vendis, and Yuri, the passenger in the plumbing truck that had almost run them down. It was likely that some of these people would recognize her. Icy dread washed through him at the thought of what they might do to her.
Alex returned to his room, where he paced some more as he ached with worry for Jax. He missed her. He missed being with her, talking to her, seeing her smile. He wanted her safe. He felt responsible because she wasn’t. He’d brought her to the hospital and right into a trap.
He returned to the sunroom when a woman from the cafeteria told him it was time for dinner, and after dinner waited in his room for the nurse to bring his evening medication. As before, he sat with only the reading light on and when she came in he repeated his trick of disposing of the medication.
Not more than an hour later, when he was thinking that maybe he should go to bed so that no one would be suspicious, Henry showed up.
“How you doing, Alex? Doc says that he told you about meeting some new people.”
Alex only nodded.
“Well, don’t just sit there staring, let’s go.”
Alex hadn’t been expecting it to be this soon. He hadn’t come up with a plan yet. He blinked slowly up at Henry. “What?”
Henry huffed in irritation and marched over to haul Alex up out of his chair. “Come on. People are waiting.”
Alex followed behind the orderly, shuffling along in imitation of the way he had walked when under the influence of the drugs. He had to force himself to go slow. Henry whistled to himself as he led Alex down the hall and through the nurses’ station.
It was late, long after visiting hours, so there were fewer people on duty. Several of them talked about charts and changes to medication orders, paying little attention to Henry and his charge. They were cooking something on a hot plate sitting on a small counter at the head of the aisles with the charts. It smelled good, like chicken soup.
Alex was puzzled as to where Henry was taking him. He did his best to make it a slow journey. Rather than go into any of the patient rooms, or to the sunroom, Henry surprised him by turning him in to the women’s bathroom.
Alex couldn’t imagine what was going on, but he had to play along, not ask questions, and act uninterested. His only safety was in everyone thinking he was drugged. The bathroom looked almost identical to the one on the men’s side, only reversed. They passed the row of sinks and empty stalls. The place was deserted. At the back of the room Henry pulled out his keys and unlocked the door leading to the showers.
Alex could see that inside the entrance area it looked just like the men’s side, with benches bolted to the wall. The entire entrance was done in white tiles. The grout was old and discolored. Pipes, covered in what looked like dozens of layers of white paint, filled one corner from floor to ceiling. The showers were around a corner and Alex couldn’t see them.
Henry shoved him through the doorway. Dr. Hoffmann was waiting in the entrance area. There were a couple of other men there as well, orderlies, and Alice, the nurse.
A man came out from around the corner. He was bigger than the doctor, about Alex’s size. He wore tan slacks and a beige shirt with a vertical blue stripe down the left side.
He had the eyes of a predator. He moved like one as well.
The hair on the back of Alex’s neck stiffened. He knew who the man was from the description Mr. Martin, the gallery owner, had given. It was the man who had bought six of Alex’s paintings and then defaced them. Jax had also told him about this man.
He was Sedrick Vendis, right-hand man to Radell Cain.
“This him?” Vendis asked.
Henry nodded. “Alexander Rahl.”
Sedrick Vendis glided close, until he stood almost toe-to-toe with Alex. He studied Alex’s face before gazing into his eyes. Alex didn’t like how close the man was standing. It was a violation of physical space intended to challenge and intimidate. He forced himself to stay still and act numb.
Alex knew that, being this close, he could probably kill the man before anyone would be able to react. He gave serious consideration to doing so. The rage within wanted him to act.
But if he did, it wouldn’t help Jax. It was the wrong time and place. It would gain him nothing in the bigger picture. He had to use his head. At least now his mind was working.
He blinked slowly, keeping his eyes out of focus as he stared at nothing, trying to look completely passive.
“Tell me about the gateway,” Vendis said in a quiet tone of undiluted threat.
Alex shrugged, but didn’t answer.
Vendis smiled. It was as wicked a smile as Alex had ever seen.
“I’m not here to play games, as you will soon learn,” Vendis said, just as quietly, just as menacingly. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”
“All right,” Alex said in a slur.
He shuffled along behind Vendis, the rest of the people following behind Alex.
As he rounded the corner, the long row of showerheads sticking from the white tile wall came into view. Just like the men’s shower, there were no partitions. The showers were in one long, open room with a drain beneath each showerhead.
Alex went numb with dread.
About in the middle of the row, Jax, blindfolded, her hands bound together, was hanging by her wrists from one of the shower pipes projecting from the wall. She had to stretch in order for her tiptoes to reach the floor.
She was naked.
34.
STANDING NEXT TO JAX was a man Alex instantly recognized. He was the burly passenger from the Jolly Roger Plumbing truck that had almost run over Jax the first time Alex had seen her. He was still wearing the same dark,
dirty work clothes.
Jax’s clothes, the clothes she and Alex had bought together, lay where they had been carelessly tossed to the side as they’d stripped her.
The bearded man’s grin displayed crooked, yellow teeth. His dark eyes remained fixed on Alex, giving him a meaningful look while putting an arm around Jax’s waist in a familiar manner. She flinched slightly at his touch. In her drugged state she probably wouldn’t be able to understand it all, or to care a great deal.
“Glad you finally made it for the show,” the pirate said as he reached over with his other grimy hand and rubbed Jax’s bare belly. “We didn’t want to start in on this fine bitch until you was here.”
Alex could see Jax’s muscles tense at the man’s rough touch. She held her breath.
Alex put all his effort into keeping the rage off his face. It was a monumental task. More than anything, he wanted to kill everyone in the room and get Jax free. Most of all, though, he wanted to get his hands on the man who had his on Jax.
He knew, though, that if he did the wrong thing Jax was going to pay the price. He had stopped taking the drugs so that he would be able to think. That was what he had to do. As Ben had always said, it was his mind that was the real weapon.
“Now,” Vendis said, “I want you to tell me all about the gateway.”
Alex didn’t reply. He simply blinked dumbly, as if he wasn’t sure what they wanted him to say.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vendis said in mock apology, gesturing to the filthy man with his arm tightly around Jax’s waist. “I forgot to introduce you. This fellow here is Yuri. As it so happens, Yuri knows this young lady. In fact, she killed his brother. Isn’t that right, Yuri?”
The look on Yuri’s face darkened. “Sure is. But I’m about to settle the score.”
“As you can see,” Vendis said, “Yuri has a rather unsympathetic attitude toward the young lady’s predicament. That’s why I invited him to come along. Men with grudges tend to be much more focused on getting revenge.”
Alex judged that he and Jax would have little chance to get away as long as she was so heavily drugged. She wouldn’t be able to help him and she wouldn’t be able to run. Trying to carry her and fight off pursuers at the same time would never work. He needed her at least partially alert in order to change the odds enough that they would have any real chance.
“All right,” Alex said in a slur. “Can I go now?”
“I didn’t come here to have you play games,” Vendis snapped.
“Don’t act stupid with me. We’re finished with all this nonsense of gentle pretense to coax answers forth. I’ve put up with games and the promises of results for long enough!
“You are going to tell me what I want to know, or else Yuri here is going to start cutting on her. Nothing fatal, you understand, but definitely disfiguring and, more importantly, agonizing. If you don’t want to cooperate and tell me about the gateway, I can tell you from experience that she is going to quickly become a rather gruesome, bloody sight.”
Alex shrugged. “All right.”
Vendis glowered. “What do you mean, ‘All right’?”
“Go ahead. Cut her up.”
A curious smile came to Vendis’s face. “You want me to start cutting her up?”
“If you want to,” Alex said.
When the man’s frown returned, Alex went on, slurring his words slightly. “She’s drugged. She won’t feel it. I know. I’m drugged the same way and I don’t really feel much of anything or care. If you kill her, you will be doing us a favor.”
“A favor?” The man looked truly puzzled. “What favor?”
Alex shrugged. “She will die without really suffering. She won’t feel it much or care. It will all be over.”
Vendis stepped closer. His voice became louder. “You’re making no sense.”
“I only know part of what you want. She knows the other part. Without the half she knows about the gateway, my half is of no use. If you kill her you will be doing us both a favor because you will fail to get what you want from this world and I won’t even have to feel sad about her death because, with the drugs, I can’t feel sad.
“The way she’s drugged, she won’t really feel it when you cut her, so go ahead. Cut her, let her bleed out and die. Then it will all be over and done with and you won’t get any of what you want.”
“You both will die, though. Die an agonizing death.”
Alex blinked slowly. He wavered a little on his feet for effect. “If we are to die a horrible death, what better way? This drugged up, neither of us will really feel it or care. That will be the end of it. Finished.”
Vendis turned to the doctor. “Do these potions you gave them do as he says?”
The doctor spread his hands. “The drugs are how we control them. It keeps them in a stupor.”
“And she won’t feel it if we cut her? He won’t care?”
“Well, not exactly. She’ll feel it.” The man cleared his throat. “But perhaps . . . not as much as you would like. It would be only a distant pain. She may cry out a little, but it’s as he says. She really won’t be that aware of the pain, or care. Being on the same drugs, he can’t feel any anger or sadness about it. The drugs’ actual purpose, after all, is to prevent patients from feeling either hostility or emotional distress.”
Vendis ground his teeth before turning away from the doctor. He stalked to Jax. Yuri backed away.
Vendis lifted the blindfold to peer into Jax’s eyes. They were half closed. She didn’t look like she was much aware of anything. Alex knew only too well how out of touch she was with what was going on.
The thought crossed his mind that if what he was doing didn’t work, then it probably was just as well that she was drugged. He ached for her and what she was going through. He wanted nothing more than to break the necks of these people, but he had to mask his anger if he was to have a chance to save her.
Vendis reached out then, and viciously twisted her left nipple. She should have cried out. She didn’t flinch or try to pull away. She only hunched her back a little in a dull response to the pain. No more than a whisper of a moan came from her lips. Her glassy eyes showed virtually no reaction.
Vendis pulled the blindfold back down. He turned to see Alex staring off, his eyes out of focus, not reacting. He let out an angry breath.
“You are being paid for results,” Vendis growled at the doctor. “This is hardly producing results.”
The doctor shrugged apologetically. “Well, I don’t think that this kind of approach can be expected to be compatible with—”
“If you stop these potions you’re giving her,” Vendis cut in, “how long until she will be fully awake?”
“Within twenty-four hours she would be largely back to herself,” Dr. Hoffmann said. “But I would respectfully advise that we not do that. Need I remind you how dangerous she is?”
“I don’t need reminders of anything from the likes of you.”
The doctor swallowed at the look in Vendis’s eyes. “Of course not. I only meant to point out . . .” When he saw that his attempt at an explanation was only darkening the glower on Vendis’s face, he changed his approach. “With your approval, I could cut the dose enough so that she will be aware, yet still be controllable. I think we can strike a balance that will work to our advantage.”
“Will she be awake enough to scream her lungs out when Yuri starts cutting her?”
“Absolutely. If we reduce the dose enough, absolutely.” The doctor fiddled with a button on his white coat. “I can adjust the dose to still take some of the fight out of her, but leave her awake and aware enough to feel the pain and scream when you cut her.”
The smile returned to Vendis’s face. “Good. How long?”
The doctor looked relieved to have been able to redeem himself. “She should be the way you want her by tomorrow night at this time.” He gestured to Alex. “What about him?”
Vendis turned to study Alex’s face a moment. “If he is left like this, are yo
u sure that he won’t care when she screams?”
The doctor scratched his temple, then answered reluctantly. “He’s not bluffing. With as much Thorazine as we’re giving him he can’t bluff. With as much as we’re giving him he doesn’t have the ability to care about anything. I believe he really would rather we kill them both right now while he’s drugged. He knows it would be an easy way to go compared to what’s in store for them. Maybe it would be best if I also cut back on his Thorazine. Maybe that would be a good idea.”
Vendis’s glare slid from Alex to the doctor. “Maybe it would.”
“The drugs will be worn off for your purposes by tomorrow night,” the doctor assured him. “We’ll wait for your return, then.”
“I have matters I must attend to.” Vendis’s gaze shifted to the others. “See to this. Any of you knows how to cause agony and make it last until you get what you want. I don’t need to waste my time standing around while a couple of troublesome people bleed and scream and cry for mercy. I only need the information once they give it up.”
Everyone except Alex bowed.
Vendis gestured to the doctor. “Show me out.”
After they had gone, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“Well,” Alice said, “I guess we’ll have to wait and do this tomorrow night.”
Henry gestured to her and the two orderlies. “You three get him back to his room.” He grinned as he glanced back at Jax hanging naked from the showerhead. “Yuri and I will take good care of her tonight.”
Alex’s knees went weak.
One of the orderlies seized Alex’s arm, turning him around. “Let’s go.”
Alex’s mind raced. He had to do something to buy Jax time. He dug in his heels and looked back over his shoulder.
“I know that tomorrow, once you reduce our drugs, you’ll be able to get us both to talk. I also know that after you get what you want you’ll kill me. When I’m dead I won’t be able to know or care about anything anymore.
“But if either of you touches her tonight, before I’m dead, then once I’m off the drugs I will care and I will have plenty of reason not to talk. If you touch her, I swear on my life you will be trying to explain to Vendis why you failed to get anything from me.”