Entrapped

37 - Time is running out

Chloe feels helpless here where she is sitting restricted in Isaac's kitchen.

This is a cul de sac.

The murderers seem to be calling the shots. He said they were two brothers? Hunter was so sure that he is on the road to success, but now it looks just the opposite.

And now she must help to lead him into a trap!

She's not buying his crap about Tony and Hunter. There are too many things that hang in the air and don't make sense. However, she is not in a position to ask him about it or query it. She and Isaac are totally at the mercy of this coldblooded monster. He even admitted that they murdered Tony and Clea by doctoring their whiskey. She is sure this man and his brother are also responsible for Quinn's murder and the attack on Zoey and Lyle's lives. She is sure the man tries to deliberately bluff her by painting Tony and Hunter as criminals.

What devilish game is being played with their lives?

When the man talks behind her in his rough, hoarse voice she gets goose-bumps all over her body.

"You know what is going on now and it is time for action. You'd better do precisely as I say or else things will get rough for you two. Repeat after me loud and clear."

Chloe jerks and her heart jumps in her throat when he again yells out: "Hunter, the door is open! Come in!"

What does it matter anyway? Hunter isn't here! Desperately she yells out loudly and tries to sound so convincingly as possible to satisfy him.

"Hunter the door is open! I'm just busy now! Come in!"

"Great! I'm impressed, Chloe, it was very convincing!"

Chloe hears soft groaning. She peeps in Isaac's direction. Their yelling must have awoken him slightly. Suddenly she feels something over her mouth and then it sticks right around her head as the man harshly prohibits her from inhaling through her mouth with duct tape. Frightened she seeks breath through her nose and is thankful to inhale air through her nostrils. She tries to calm herself by breathing slowly through her nose.

Then she sees the black leather boots and denim trousers as the man walks from behind in between her and Isaac. She now realizes that he is coming to stand in front of her and frightened she looks down. She doesn't want to see his face! She desperately wants to scream that she doesn't want to see his face, but she can't. She simply must not see his face because a murderer won't leave living witnesses behind! Why does he spoil everything by appearing in front of her? Does this mean they have already decided to kill them? However, he allows her oxygen. What is his plan?

Standing right in front of her while she desperately looks down and keeps her eyes shut tightly, she feels a leather glove under her chin as the man forces her head so that she has to look up to him. She hears a sadistic little laugh while he pinches her chin painfully and lifts her head. The pig is enjoying her incapacity! Does this pest relish this? She has the urge to spit at him but is thankful that the tape prohibits her from being that impulsive.

She identifies a slight amused tone of voice. "Open your eyes!"

She tries to shake her head from side to side in resistance to his firm grip and shuts her eyes even closer.

"If you don't open your eyes instantly, I am going to hurt you so much that you eventually will obey me."

Chloe feels as if the last glimmer of hope of survival drains out of her and despondently she opens her eyes. A little glimmer of hope flashes back into her being. He wears a black balaclava and only his cruel, black eyes can be seen. She studies the devil.

A giant monster of a man! Not a long man. In her life, she will never stand a chance against this solid, bulging mass of muscles without a neck. His muscles even stretch his T-shirt so that it fits over him like a second skin. He looks hard as a rock. She has never seen such tree-trunk arms! Even his black denim trousers stretch over his muscled legs. She immediately recalls Batista of the MMA. She now sees black pieces of duct tape on some parts of his arms probably to hide tattoos. Another justification that this man doesn't want to be identified later on, and this not only lifts her spirits but also gives her a lead.

Chloe remembers that Hunter wanted to visit a jail yesterday and all these hidden tattoos probably mean this man is an old, hardened jailbird. Does this mean Hunter visited the jail in which this man was kept to find out more about him? Chloe looks at the man's knuckles. His leather gloves bulge around his raised knuckles that surely must be the remains of professional, stand-up combat but he is also built like a wrestler and is probably extremely dangerous near or on the ground like a well-groomed cage fighter. He has a roll of half-used duct tape in his left hand.

His rough voice comes again when he releases his firm grip on her chin and stands back slightly.

"Do you see now, Chloe, you have nothing to fear as long as you do precisely what I order you to do."

Chloe nods her head quickly up and down and is thankful for the little mercy this dangerous monster is granting her.

He turns around and walks over to Isaac and the tension knots in her gut so that she feels faint. She wants to scream but this damn tape deprives her both of the right to move and communication and she only hears her own helpless, mumbling sounds.

The man slaps Isaac viciously. His head jerks to one side. "Wake up! Wake up you twit. The day is becoming all the more shit!"

Isaac squirms and like lighting the next slap hits him so that his head jerks to the other side. He awakes fully and looks around confused and Chloe sees how he gets a fright when he sees her bound up and with the tape around her mouth. He frowns dismayed and strains in vain against the merciless grip of the tape that pins him to the chair.

Isaac looks up to the giant in front of him. "What is your plan with us? Let's leave her here and get my BMW and drive to the nearest ATM and you take all my money and the car. Just leave her, please!

The next moment the giant pulls the duct tape, stick it over Isaac's mouth and around his head and slaps him lightly on the cheek. "You are talking too much. Let me rather silence you before I slap you into oblivion like a bothersome cockroach."

He turns to Chloe. "See Chloe, I have no time for this Clever John and will enjoy it very much to torture him just for the fun of it. So, you are going to do exactly what I say, or else you will give me the excuse to enjoy myself immensely."

He grabs Isaac's little finger. "I wonder whether I shouldn't demonstrate to you how serious I am."

It looks as if he would break the little finger to the wrong side.

Chloe becomes ice cold and struggles desperately to free herself although she knows it is impossible and again she tries to scream but only a mumble passes the tape. She viciously shakes her head and waits for the moment he breaks the finger, but suddenly he drops Isaac's hand and walks past them and vanishes to the back of them while he laughs sadistically.

Everything suddenly is quiet and they peep at each other. They can do nothing or say nothing except to stare at each other until their necks become too stiff and they have to look in front of them.

Where is the skunk? Is he standing right behind them watching them or has he gone to rest in another room until it is time to trap Hunter? He will probably force her to phone Hunter later on this morning. If she tries to warn Hunter in any way, Isaac's life will be in danger.

Dammit! They are in a total impasse. Their sandglass is running out quickly and it feels as if the big clock against the kitchen wall underscores the fact as it ticks away the seconds in silence.