Love's Arithmetic

XXVII: Wakening

Brian and David couldn't help but laugh when they first discovered their boss chained to a bed. Their humor was short lived when they realized the implications of the situation.

Garrett was foaming at the mouth by the time they got him untied. "Caer drugged me, tied me up, and then left. I don't know if she took the police officer with her," He said frantically as he reached under the bed pulling out a briefcase, "Even if she took the officer with her, she's in trouble. Toby will have no qualms killing him and taking her."

"How long were you stuck to the bed?" Brian asked.

Garrett only spared him a glance as he lifted out a laptop. "I'm not sure. I do know that she left about two and a half hours ago." Looking up again he said, "What took you so long to get here?"

"We weren't in the area." David replied, "And Brian was with some hooker."

Brian flushed deep red, "That hooker is my girlfriend." He said defensively

"Girlfriend or not, she dresses like a hooker." David did not give him an inch of relief. Instead he tried to lighten the mood by smiling. When Garrett looked just as distraught as ever he decided not to try anymore.

On the laptop screen a program had been brought up with a rapidly moving blip across a highway heading north. "Is that Caer?" Brian asked, his face still red.

"Its my car. I'm assuming that she took it to draw less attention to herself." Garrett replied, his brow furrowing.

"Does this mean that Toby hasn't found her yet?" Brian wondered.

"I hope so."

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Caer was making good time. She had gone quite a ways in two and half hours. She wondered if Brian and David had found Garrett yet. If they hadn't yet it wouldn't be long before they did. She was also rather impressed that no one was following her. It had been a while since she'd lost the police officer and was glad to be on her way to Malone, New York were she was planning on hiding out for a while.

She had been tired of being smothered all the time by her family and more recently, by Garrett. And had been panning the trip for a couple of weeks before Garrett had even shown up. She only wanted to have some quiet times when people weren't worried about her safety, especially since she'd been kidnapped out of an apartment building with top a door man and top of the line security.  The people around her, while their intentions were good, she felt suffocated.

It was not long before Caer began to get hungry. So at the next exit, she pulled over and stopped at a little gas station. Filling up the tank she then went inside to pay and get a turkey sandwich and a Dr. Pepper. The cashier was a teenager who was more interested in his graphic novel than he was in her. She was glad, because her clothing was rather conspicuous to someone who looked close enough. She knew that if someone else were dressed as she was she would have wondered at their motives.

Glad to get out of the store and on her way, Caer pealed away from the gas station to try and find her way back on to the expressway.

It was only a couple of miles later, when she was close to reaching the on ramp that a strange noise started coming from her back right tire and the steering began to get more difficult each moment. Recognizing the signs of a flat tire she pulled off to the side of the road, glad she wasn't going 75 miles an hour with a flat tire and resigned herself to changing it.

She felt a prickle of unease as she stepped out of her car to inspect the tire and retrieve the jack, tire iron, and spare from her trunk. She shook it off, You're just paranoid. Garrett's got all sorts of scenarios running through your head. She told herself with false confidence. You haven't been followed since you lost the police officer in Manhattan, don't worry about it.

This was one of those moments that she was very glad that her father had taught her how to change a tire. Otherwise she would be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no one around to help her. She would have had to go back to the gas station and get someone to help her. That would have put a much larger dent then she could afford right now. It was imperative that she get to Malone as quickly as possible so she could relax for a while. Then she would be away from the threat of Toby.

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Garrett watched as the little blip on the screen stopped for a few minutes then started up again, only to stop once more not that much further down the road. He began to be worried, Why would she stop so suddenly again? He asked himself. One of the stops could be explained by a stop at a gas station, but two? Had she been pulled over? She would be the type to speed, especially if she was trying to get somewhere quickly. She was too innocent to know that it would be unwise to go any faster than the speed limit so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. He only hoped that a grumpy officer of the law would be the most sinister thing she encountered out there.

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Despite the grease on her hands, Caer felt an immense sense of accomplishment as she placed the flat tire in the trunk along with the tools. She carefully checked her hair in the side view mirror to make sure that it wasn't horribly out of place. When everything seemed fairly normal she moved to close up the map on the trunk covering the tire.

Just as she covered the hole the hair on the back of her neck stood up on end, but as she was turning around, hands grabbed her from behind and held her firmly against a wide chest. A hand over her mouth stifled her screams and one arm across her stomach, pinning her arms kept her struggles at bay.

She did not have to wait to hear the voice of the man holding her to know that it was Toby who had found her. Caer felt her heart sink into her stomach as she realized all of her careful preparations hadn't been enough. She had still been caught. Her struggles did not last long. Toby whispered in her ear as the hand over her mouth moved down to her throat, gripping it tightly at the base of her jaw. "I can't wait to see the light leave your eyes when you die." He whispered right before he squeezed her neck and sent her spiraling into blackness.

When she woke, Caer was immediately aware of being extremely uncomfortable. Her arms were pulled behind her back, wrists bound with rope, palms facing outward. Her elbows were drawn behind her as well, held there by more rope. Every attempted movement of her arms sent painful tingles like sharp needles jabbing her skin all the way to her shoulders. From the direct contact the rope was having with her skin, Caer assumed that Toby had removed her sweatshirt.

Her shoes were missing and her socks provided little protection from the ropes that were tied so tightly that the bones ground together in her ankles and knees. The seams from her jeans brought acute pain to her legs, her knees already sore. Something made of foam, a sponge?, filled her mouth and was held here by several wide bands of tape that wrapped around her head, pulling on her hair and forcing her head down to her neck. Further exploration of her face discovered that another wide band of tape covered her eyes, pulling on her eye brows and leaving her frightened.

It was in that moment that she was absolutely certain that she was going to die. No one was coming to find her, no one knew where she was, and she would suffer horribly before she died. There would be no relief for her this time.