Survival Games (18 page)

Frank tossed
Jessica’s unconscious body in her room at the same time Ty pulled the van up to
the gate at the border, handing their passports to the guard.

Ty smiled as the
border disappeared in the background. In less than six hours he’d be back,
showered, shaved and enacting his plan to get her out of the building. He
tempered his impatience pulling his foot back from the gas pedal and falling to
within ten miles of the speed limit. A ticket would be a really bad idea right
about now. They didn’t have the time to monkey around with a traffic violation
regardless of the worry gnawing on his bones.

Chris snored in
the seat next to him. It was the kind of snore that grated on nerves as it
wheezed in his nose and thundered out his mouth. Ty looked around for
something, anything to throw at him so he would shut up. He reached down,
grabbed a discarded cup, and tossed it over. It bounced off Chris’s head but he
didn’t stir, and continued snoring.

Ty reached down
and grabbed one of the fast food containers within reach, crumpled it up and
tossed it at him. It bounced off his head. Chris continued to snore.

Ty grinned; it was
all he could do not to laugh as he leaned over quietly. “Chris,” he yelled as
loud as he could.

Chris jumped a
mile out of the seat and banged his head against the window.

Ty burst out
laughing.

“That wasn’t
funny,” Chris sulked.

Still chuckling,
Ty said, “Yeah, it was.”

Chris looked away,
trying to hide his laugh.

Ty swatted his
head. “You should have seen your face.”

Chris glanced at
his brother, laughing with him. “You really are a son of a bitch.”

“Don’t talk about
our mother like that,” Ty scolded and they both laughed harder.

“Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s nice to have
my brother back.”

Ty looked over at
Chris.

“Don’t give me
that look. It has been way too long since you’ve let loose. We used to laugh,
when we were kids, we used to laugh a lot.”

Silence filled the
cab as he considered Chris’s words.

“I don’t know what
that girl did, but I’ve got to thank her. She gave me my brother back.” Chris
watched the trees pass by. “I’ll do whatever you need me to,” he added glancing
back in Ty’s direction.

Ty nodded. He didn’t
say anything for a while.

“I don’t’ think
I’ve really laughed since before Anna died,” Ty said, looking over at Chris. “It’s
been that long.”

Chris whistled. “Christ,
Ty, that’s what, twenty years ago?”

Ty nodded, it was
actually eighteen years, almost to the day. “Something like that.” He took a
deep breath and looked over at Chris. “I killed him.”

Chris hesitated. “Killed
who?”

“Frank’s Dad.”

Chris stared at
the road ahead of them, quiet. When he turned his gaze back he offered a shrug.
Ty knew neither of them had grieved over his death, but the lack of compassion
in Chris’s eyes signaled the same type of contempt he held for the old man.

“What happened?” Chris
finally asked.

“I got home from
school and the old man’s car was in the driveway. He was never there when I got
home, so I knew something wasn’t quite right. When I walked in, I saw Anna’s
books and school papers, they were scattered over the stairs like someone had
dragged her and they fell out of her bag on the way. I snuck up and peeked into
her room and there the bastard was, sitting next to her on the bed. There was
blood all over his hands and the knife was on the floor.” Ty stopped and looked
over at his little brother. “I just lost it; I picked up the knife and planted
it in his back. I think he saw me before he died; at least I like to think he
did. Then I wiped the knife handle with the blanket and walked out of the house
to meet you at the bus stop.”

“If Frank ever
finds out, he’ll kill you.”

“I know.”

They drove in
silence.

“What’s going to happen
to this one?” Chris pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Ty sighed. “I’ll
figure something out.”

Burning, ripping
pain gripped her back and she screamed herself awake. Her hands were clasped to
the front of the treadmill, on the wrong side, her bare back facing the room
and she glanced at the mirror in time to see the business end of the whip tear
her back again.

Her mind reeled,
accepting the punishment, feeling as though she deserved this for killing Mike.
She persevered in silence through each crack of the whip and the resulting pain
that flared as it dug into her skin. Twelve, fifteen, twenty times, she lost
count but the blood flowed from her back, hot and sticky down her legs and
splattering on the floor.

Her breath hissed
in her chest, and she lost her balance. Then he was there, the whip wrapped
tightly around her throat, his hot foul breath in her ear.

“When I’m through
with you, you will be begging me to kill you,” he whispered in her ear as he
yanked the whip from around her. He undid the handcuffs from the treadmill,
leaving them on her wrists and she collapsed to her knees not even looking up
when the door clasped closed.

Ty flipped his
phone open as he pulled onto the dark access road. “Hey Frank, we’re just pulling
in right now. Is it clear?”

“Yes the cleaning
crew is already gone.”

He hung up,
turning the last corner to find the garage door slowly opening. Frank waved
them in.

Both Chris and Ty
got out of the truck and stretched.

Frank shot his
gaze from one to the other and shifted his weight impatiently. “Come on, come
on.” He looked over his shoulder at the open office door and back.

“Just hold your
horses, will you,” Ty snapped at Frank. “It’s been a long ride; he’ll keep for
another minute or two.”

Frank held his
tongue.

Ty and Chris
opened the truck, moved away the equipment they had strewn over the floor to
cross the border and opened the compartment where their guest was stored. He
was still unconscious, thanks to the IV in his arm, but he was a mess. They would
have to clean him up. Chris backed away in disgust.

Ty looked over at
him. “Come on, what’d you think would happen after a little over two days in a
cargo hold?” He pulled his prisoner out of the truck and started inside. “It’s
a shitty job, but someone’s got to do it.” Ty chuckled at his tasteless joke. “I’ll
get him, you get the truck,” he said over his shoulder to Chris.

“Fabulous,” Chris
said dismally.

“Hold up, Ty,”
Frank said. “I’ll go down with you.” He turned to Chris and handed him a piece
of paper. “Before you do that, can you run to the store and pick up this stuff
for me?”

Chris looked at
the paper. “Sure, can I take the BMW?”

Frank hesitated
like he always did.

“Come on, he
deserves a spin and this guy is getting heavy,” Ty said from the door.

“Okay,” Frank said
and flipped the keys to Chris, heading inside with Ty.

“Sweet!” Chris
slid in the driver’s seat and opened the garage door behind him. Ty saw a
glimpse of him grinning as he pulled out of the garage.

“You know, he
might just disappear with that BMW,” Ty joked as they entered the elevator.

“I know but it’s
got GPS tracking, so I can find him anywhere,” Frank said patting the remote in
his pocket.

Ty laughed. “And
sure as shit, you’d go collecting, wouldn’t you?”

Frank nodded. “Payback’s
a bitch.”

They walked into
the room that Frank had set up and Ty took their prisoner into the bathroom,
dumping him in the bathtub. He started the shower and poked his head around the
corner. “Frank, you mind getting the clothes out of the truck and a pair of
jeans for me? I need to get cleaned up too, might as well do it in here.”

“Sure thing,”
Frank said and headed out of the room.

“Frank, you back
yet?” Ty called after a few minutes in the hot shower.

“Yep,” Frank
replied and walked in the bathroom. Ty handed him the unconscious and clean
body of Tom Whitman, the star of
Metropolis
.

“Can you get him
dressed or do you need my help?” Ty asked.

“I’ve got it
covered,” Frank said and grabbed a towel to wipe him down.

Ty nodded,
stripped the wet clothes off his back and stepped back into the warm shower. He
couldn’t wait to see Jessica, but he also needed to feel clean. He hadn’t had a
shower since the morning before the explosion and he really needed it. He
leaned with his arms against the wall as the water and exhaustion rolled off
his body.

He closed his eyes
.
How am I going to get her out?
Ty thought and sighed, turning the water
off. He grabbed a towel and dried off; pulling the clean jeans Frank had left
on before rummaging through his wet clothes and transferring the key, a Swiss
army knife, his wallet and the loose change from his wet soiled clothes to the
clean dry jeans. He pulled his shirt on as he stepped into the room.

The jolt knocked
him to the ground and he stared at the Taser embedded in his chest in
confusion. His eyes shifting to Frank as shackles closed around his wrists and
ankles. Frank yanked the Taser shard from his skin and replaced it with a vicious
blow from his foot. Ty coughed trying to pull air into his now seized lungs.

Tom began to stir
in the chair.

Frank leaned close
to Ty’s face. “Payback is a bitch,” he seethed and stormed out of the room.

Jessica crawled to
the bathroom sometime after he left. Her back felt like a thousand claws had
ripped into her flesh and it looked that way too. She turned the shower on low
and stepped into the water, turning the knob so cold water ran over her body. She
shivered under the water. The stream of red coming off her back turned to pink
and eventually cleared as the cuts clotted.

She dialed the
water to hot, turned facing the stream, and absently ran the soap over her
body. These normal daily functions were mechanical and calmed Jessica. Since
Mike died, she existed, that was it and showering was a necessity of existing.

Eric was calling
but she tuned him out, instead she dried her body and wrapped the towel
gingerly around her, limping back into the bedroom. She curled up in the chair
in the middle of the room.

She was still
there staring aimlessly into space when Frank walked in. The white dress
crumpled on the floor where it had landed when Ty took it off.

Frank pointed to
the dress. “Put that on.”

Jessica stared
right through him as if he wasn’t there, so he crossed the room, swept the
dress up and shoved it at Jessica in the chair.

She still didn’t
move, so he took the dress and slipped it over her head, threading each arm
through the garment. He grabbed the handcuffs still bound to her wrists and
clasped them together, yanking her up. He pulled the towel off her as the dress
slid down over her legs.

He dragged her
from the room and she stumbled behind him. The room he brought her into was
unfamiliar, but the two sets of eyes staring at her were. Frank threw her on
the mattress and she winced in pain bringing her back to reality from wherever
she had been hiding.

Jessica looked at
the man in the chair and her mouth dropped open.

Tom stared at her
and whispered, “Sweet Jesus.”

She shifted her
gaze to Ty, chained to the far wall, agony visible in his eyes as he looked at
what Frank had done to her.

“You are a dead
man,” Ty snarled and stood glancing back at Frank.

Frank flipped the
monitor on and smiled at Ty. The screen filled with a picture of Chris with the
radio on in the BMW and he was singing badly to the music as he pulled onto the
access road.

“Choose,” Frank
said to Ty, removing the remote from his pocket.

Ty looked at him
in disbelief.

“Who lives? Who
dies?” Frank asked pointing at Jessica as he slowly advanced.

Ty looked between
the screen and Jessica. “No.” He knew how this game ended.
At least Chris
was safe for the moment
, he thought.

Frank held up the
remote. “GPS tracking.” He shook his head and pushed the button.

Ty had a split
second to see the tracking screen in the car say Boom, and then the entire car
blew to pieces along with his little brother. He stepped back against the wall.
“You son of a bitch,” he whispered and glared at Frank. “You know,” Ty said.
His face hardened as rage filled him.

Jessica stood when
Ty refused to make a choice. She brought her finger to her lips to keep Tom
quiet and stepped behind Frank seconds before the car blew up on the screen. As
Ty spoke, she threw her arms over Frank’s head and yanked. The handcuffs
settled around his neck.

Frank threw an
elbow, ramming it into her broken ribs, smiling at her scream of pain as he
flipped her onto the floor, ducking through her arms and out of her reach. He
grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head on the concrete, knocking her out.

“NO!” Ty
thundered.

Frank ignored his stepbrother
and dragged Jessica back to the mattress, tossing her on it.

Tom watched in
stunned silence.

Ty struggled
against the chains holding him in place and then he stopped. The reflection in
the mirror caught his attention. A patch of red spread over the fabric of the
back of the dress, spinning out on the white silk like little crimson
snowflakes. Ty slowly fell to his knees, beyond the reflection, stood Eric.
Please,
God, Please help her.

Eric nodded and
leaned down over Jessica’s reflection.

Not her face
.
Ty lowered his gaze to the floor in front of him. Frank couldn’t know about
Eric.
He will kill her if he finds out
. Ty thought
, so you cannot fix
her completely, just the inside. Okay?

Eric nodded, and
looked nervously at Frank. He knelt down, putting his hands on Jessica’s head
and her side. He leaned over and kissed her shoulder.

Tom watched
speckles of light flow over Jessica’s body and his mouth slowly fell open.

She groaned softly
as Eric did his magic.

Ty changed his
focus to Frank, letting the fury fill his eyes again. “I swear to God that if
you touch her again, I will tear you to pieces.”

“Funny you should
say that, I’ve got some things for you to see.” He popped in the DVD and looked
from Ty to Tom. “Hey, pretty boy,” he said, and Tom’s head snapped toward him. His
eyes were wide. “They’re the reason you’re here,” Frank said pointing toward
Jessica and Ty.

Tom hadn’t said
anything to this point. “Where is ‘here’?” his voice hoarse and dry. He looked
back at Jessica and the weird light was gone. She was moving.

Ty glanced back in
the mirror. Eric was no longer there and Jessica was starting to stir. Her eyes
slowly opened and focused on him.
I hope Eric was strong enough,
Ty
thought, and her eyes went wide.

“All in good
time,” Frank said and pressed play. “First I think you need to understand WHY
you are here.”

The screen filled
with the scene in Jessica’s room and when her image snarled
It’s not like
you’re Smallville and I had reason to beg
, Tom exhaled, shaking his head as
he continued to watch the screen. He winced as she lashed out, kicking Ty in
the balls. “Damn,” he whispered when she knocked herself out and the screen
went black.

“You see, my boy
there fell for this bitch,” Frank began. “It was a good thing because I got
this little tidbit because of it.” Frank pressed play again and Ty’s confession
filled the screen.

Ty knelt on the
ground with his head low and Frank walked behind the chair toward him squatting
just out of reach.

“It’s too bad you
killed the wrong person,” Frank said and laughed as Ty’s eyes widened.

Ty lunged and one
of the chains holding his arm gave enough for his hand to graze Frank.

Frank shifted
back. “That’s right. She never wanted me. I found out about Dad’s little
nightly adventures and decided to have one of my own. Bitch was a wildcat. I cut
her up while I fucked her.” He paused and sadistically smiled as he looked over
at Jessica. “I plan on doing the same to her.” He looked back at Ty. “And you
are going to watch.”

Ty shook with rage
and something else, something foreign. He was afraid.

Tom listened and
traded a glance with her. Her eyes never left his. “I’m sorry,” she said. Tom
shook his head a little as if to say don’t be. His blue eyes clear and alert as
Frank stood.

“Now since you
left, we have had some fun.” He looked over at Jessica again. He walked over
and grabbed the cuffs, bringing her to the opposite corner and attaching the
cuffs to a hook in the wall over her head, high enough so she had to stand on
her tiptoes. “Figured now that you’re awake, you’d want to see this again as well.”

Jessica said
nothing, but a tear slipped from her eye as she looked from Tom to Ty and back.

“I don’t need to
see this,” Tom said.

Frank turned on
him. He walked up to the chair and threw a right hook connecting with Tom’s
cheek.

“I think you do,”
Frank answered.

The screen filled
with Jessica in the chair watching all the horrible images that Frank put
together for her. Ty saw the change in her, his heart sinking at the betrayal
in her eyes. He glanced at her momentarily forgetting how to breathe. She was a
goddess in that white dress, even with the bruises. Ty put his head in his
hands. First, his mother, then Anna, now Chris, he could not lose her too.

He looked back at
the monitor as Frank knocked her out with a punch and then screwed her unconscious
body.

A small sob
escaped Jessica, making all the men in the room look at her. Frank walked over
and ran his hand down her side. She moved away from his touch and he stepped
closer. Her breath hissed in and out in anger.

“Get away from
her!” Ty and Tom yelled at the same time, causing Frank to turn a little, just
enough to leave him vulnerable.

Jessica’s eyes
flashed and she lifted her knee. It connected with his crotch. His scream
sounded like a little girl’s, high and shrill, as he dropped. She wound her
hands around the cuff chains and used it as leverage, drop kicking him in the
face. He rolled away as her second foot connected with the side of his head.

Ty lunged toward
Frank and was stopped within inches of reaching him by the chains. His cry of
rage filled the room as he strained to get free. Every muscle in his chest and
arms quivered. He stepped back and lunged again. “I’m going to kill you, you
mother fucking son of a bitch!”

Frank backed away
from Ty still holding his crotch in pain. He limped out of the room glaring at
Jessica. She glared back as the door slammed. On screen, Mike was raping her.

“Jess?” Ty asked
as she tried to figure a way to unhook herself.

* *
* *

She looked over at
him, willing herself not to cry.

Ty dropped to his
knees again. The pain in his eyes cut right to her heart and she was unable to
hold the tears back.

Jessica looked at
the hook holding her arms in the air with determination. She jumped a couple of
times and wasn’t able to release her hands from the hook. Laughter drifting out
of the speakers caught her attention and she glanced at the screen. She was
laughing with Mike. The tears came again.

“What was so
funny?” Ty asked watching the screen.

“He said I looked
like hell,” Jessica said and started to shake. Her eyes shifted to her
reflection in the mirror across the room. Her face was still the black and blue
shading, but it no longer hurt, neither did her ribs or her back.

Ty smiled a
little. “You still had my shirt on.”

Jessica nodded. She
flipped her hair to the side and tried to turn to see her back. It was for the
most part healed. All that was there were red welts, no more open wounds. She
looked at Ty. “How?” she asked.

“Eric,” Ty said
and shrugged. “He was scared because he couldn’t get to you. He said I had to
protect you. Bang up job I’m doing at that.”

She softened a
little.

“Will someone
please tell me where I am and what the hell is going on?” Tom said in
frustration.

“I’m not sure
where here is but I am sorry that you’re here, you shouldn’t be.” Jessica said.
She glanced back at Ty. “What the hell were you thinking?” she asked, letting
some of her anger and disappointment surface. She jumped again and this time
she almost got it. Her heart thundered in her chest.
Just a little higher!
She
jumped again and the chain came free. She leaned back against the wall with her
arms lowered in front of her. Her eyes were on the screen. They both followed
her gaze. Frank was grabbing her by the hair, pulling her into his lap. The air
whistled between their teeth and they both winced with what followed. Both sets
of eyes swiveled in her direction. A hint of a smile found her lips. “He isn’t
going to do anything for a while,” she said and walked over to Ty.

When Jessica
slipped her chained arms over his head, he wrapped his arms around her. Tears
made slow tracks down his cheeks. “He killed Chris,” Ty said. He laid his head
on her shoulders, shaking to contain the sobs he had locked in his chest. He
never made a noise, but he squeezed her tight and when he pulled away, her shoulder
was wet from the flow of his tears. He removed her arms from around his neck
and wiped his face with his hands. “I’m sorry I left you,” he whispered and
grazed her cheek with his lips.

Both of them
jumped as Tom cried out, rigid in the chair as the electrical current flowed
through him.

Frank stepped back
into the room. “I thought that would get your attention,” he said as he shut
the door behind him. Brass knuckles shined on both hands as he approached Ty.

* *
* *

Ty had seen that
look in Frank’s eyes many times before and grabbed Jessica, pushing her behind
him in a protective reflex.

Jessica buried her
face in the back of his shirt as the next chapter in her horrifying week rolled
across the screen.

Ty glanced up. His
eyes slowly widened and his jaw dropped.

Frank started to
laugh.

Ty could feel
Jessica shaking behind him. His eyes drifted to his stepbrother as the screams
from the monitor echoed off the concrete walls.

“Oh, Jesus, I
think I’m going to be sick,” Tom said.

“Suck it up,”
Frank replied as he passed by the chair.

“You touch her,
you die,” Ty growled.

“Who’s going to
stop me?” He swung, connecting with Ty’s jaw. Ty took a small step back. Jessica
moved against the wall and pulled him back another step, drawing Frank closer. The
next punch caught him full in the nose, sending him back another step.

Frank
miscalculated the length of the chains and Ty stopped the next punch. His hand
closed around Frank’s throat, cutting off his airway in a death grip.

The growl that
escaped Ty reminded Jessica more of a Rottweiler’s snarl than a human and she
shivered.

Ty didn’t react to
any of the punches Frank threw at his midsection, even with the sharp crunching
sound of his ribs breaking under the blows. He was hell bent on squeezing the
life out of Frank, regardless of the pain racking his body.