Dangers in the Dark

Even Good Men Have Secrets 21.4

Holly POV
Location: ???

"Oh, would you look at that. She's waking up now."

Groaning quietly, I rubbed my left temple when I felt a rough throbbing on it. It felt like I'd been hit by a bus, or more accurately a crowbar. When the taxi had stopped, I had refused to go down without a fight. Despite the fact I could no longer see and that my wrists were still bound together, I kicked my legs as roughly as I could; on at least two occasions I landed a few kicks into his gut and his leg. But all in all, it was pointless.

The more I fought, the rougher he tried to grab me, and, in the end, a cool metal struck me in the temple and I was no longer responsive.

"Holly," a voice said tauntingly as I tried to pry my eyes open. "How do you fancy talking to your daddy before you die?"

I stayed sprawled out on the floor for a few more moments, taking a glance around the building as I did. I don't know what I had been expecting but this place was exactly what I had been expecting when I thought of where this guy's hideout for his kills would've been. It was dark, dingy and— Holy crap, wait, that would mean Barbara could be here.

Sitting up quickly to try and find Barbara, I grimaced as the throbbing erupted in my head again, my nerves setting on edge when I heard a low chuckle.

My eyes fell on the man with the chuckle, and I immediately froze in my spot, all of my training with Selina flying out of my head faster than algebra. He was all suited up, something that I knew he wasn't when we had been in the taxi and a small smirk played on his face as he held onto my phone.

I looked to my phone to see that the message I had tried to send my dad had gone undelivered. With there being no service in the car, my dad hadn't seen my warning. He hadn't seen my message saying one simple thing: "Ogre."

"It's not nice to call people names, little girl."

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Third Person POV
The Ogre's Penthouse

It had taken them the best part of two hours, but the two detectives had eventually found the location of the Ogre's penthouse. They were armed and ready to put a bullet through this guy's head, but it came as no surprise that the penthouse was empty and void of life.

On his way, Jim had had a strange call from Holly but considering he heard nothing on her end of the phone he assumed it was an accidental call. Either way, he'd kept an eye out for any communication from her, Alfred or Bruce so wasn't too concerned. When Holly had failed to answer her phone when he called back, asking where she was, considering she was also late with meeting him, Jim called Bruce who had confirmed that Holly was on her way to him. Jones and Freeman had returned to the precinct and would be on the lookout for Holly for when she arrived.

"Jim!" Harvey called over to his partner. "The place is empty. But there's something you should see."

Following his partner's request, Jim made his way over to Harvey, slowing his pace when he saw dozens of silver weapons reflecting on an industrial light. In a secluded corner of the penthouse was the Ogre's killing room. To accompany the weapons, all of his past victim had the exact same photo taken and pinned for all to see. Hands tied above their heads, black blindfold wrapped around their eyes and a white gag restricting their mouths.

"You see anything that connects to Barbara?" Harvey asked, as they scrutinised the photos. "Maybe she was never here."

"No, she was here," Jim said confidently. "I can still smell her perfume."

"Hey, we're gonna find this guy, but you need to prepare yourself ..." Harvey trailed off for a moment as Jim turned to look at him "...that we might not be in time to save her."