The Bounty

6. If These Walls Could Talk

[ 6.  If These Walls Could Talk ]

I woke up with a twang of nausea at the tip of my tongue.

My head lolled from one side to the other, feeling a bit out of my control, and the ground beneath my feet rumbled. I tried to open my eyes, but all I could see was an extensive blackness. I lifted my arm to rub at my eyes, but it stopped short. My wrists were bound together behind my back.

Then I started to panic. I regained my senses one by one, starting with touch as I realized I was, in fact, tied to a chair. The ground below me could only be vibrating like that because I was in a moving vehicle? I couldn't see because... because there was something tied around my head to block my vision.

"Hello?" I tried to call out, but my voice was shaky.

I could hear the radio playing soft rock. Air Supply, maybe? There weren't any other indications of what present company I was in, but I already knew who was driving this car.

I tried again. "Hayes, is that you?"

For a second, it felt like the air around me stilled. If I could see, I'd know if he even heard me. He had to have. The music wasn't that loud and it felt like my voice echoed around me as if I were the only thing in a three foot radius.

"What do you want from me?" I cried, tugging at the zip-ties around my wrists to no avail. "I don't have any money, if that's what you're after."

Finally, he spoke. "That's hard to believe."

I froze, not having expected him to actually respond. It made the situation all too real. My heart felt like it was about to burst in my chest. Without the ability to see, I wasn't able to make any plans to get out of this. Was I in his Camaro? No, I couldn't hear the purr of a V-6 engine. If anything, the vehicle I was in sounded one rev away from breaking down on the side of the road.

"Hayes, listen. We can work something out. Give me a number and I can put together a certain amount by next week—"

He laughed, sending goosebumps fluttering down my skin from my arms to legs. "I don't want your money." I bit down on my lip and stared into the black cloth covering my eyes.

"Then... what do you want?"

Hayes didn't respond. That was the end of the short conversation between us. And I got nothing from it. He had to know about the heisting if his remark about me not having any money meant anything.

How long was I even passed out for? I left Mr. Ciraulo's house around noon, I thought. Hayes was in my bedroom when I'd fallen through the window. He kneed me in the balls and then smothered my face with a rag. Holy shit, was I chloroformed? The past week felt like a bad movie.

"Keep your mouth shut or I'll break your arm."

I believed him.

The vehicle slowed to a stop and I braced myself, flexing my wrists against the zip-ties in a useless attempt to break them one last time. I could hear him opening the driver's door. It squealed when it was pushed. It didn't sound like he got out, though. Instead, the vehicle rocked from side to side with his movement.

I felt him before I even knew he was near me. Rough, leather gloved fingers grazed my exposed skin where my T-shirt rode up as he unbuckled the seatbelt across my chest.

Then he removed my blindfold. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the new lighting. Hayes was crouched in front of me, wide eyes staring at me. "You're going to walk inside with me. If you try to run, I'll find you again. Just make this easy for both of us, Vincent," he said, his voice earnest, but threatening. "Do you understand?"