| Chapter Sixteen Nick woke slowly, his eyes adjusting to the dimness of the room. Where am I he wondered? He went to turn his head and swallowed down a groan of intense pain. It felt like the back of his head had exploded. He breathed slowly, forcing the urge to vomit down. Gagged as he was, he knew he'd choke on it. When the bile receded, he slowly moved his head scanning the room. To the left was the door, and in front of him, a few feet away was a desk, with a single low wattage lamp sitting on top. To the right, boxes were stacked to the ceiling. Where am I and how did I get here, he asked himself again. Nothing looked familiar and he couldn't remember anything past getting into the car at the hotel. "Hello Nicky-boy." Nick's head snapped around, in spite of the pain and his eyes went wide. Sitting behind the desk, in the shadows, was Harry Withers. He hadn't seen him the first time, due to the angle of the lamp. In the instance that Harry spoke, everything became clear to Nick. He remembered arriving at the venue, telling Heidi that he was going to the dressing room and hearing Harry's voice just before everything went black. Harry approached Nick and yanked the gag away from Nick's mouth in a rough motion. Nick shrank back from Harry. He could almost feel the evil radiating off of the man. "What do you want with me?" Nick asked, his voice coming out stronger than he thought it would. "I want you to pay for ruining my life. You stole my wife, you turned her against me and before this is all over, you're going to have to pay for that," Harry sneered as he leaned down to look Nick straight in the eyes. Harry wanted to see the fear, had waited for it, but Nick had let his face go carefully blank. He put on his public face and it infuriated Harry. Harry's hand shot out and with vicious force backhanded Nick across the face. He'd make him fear him, by God. The little twit had ruined everything for him and he would get his revenge. Before Nick could sit up straight, Harry let fly with another backhand and this time Nick couldn't hold in the groan of pain. Harry snorted in disgust as he repeatedly hit Nick, again and again and again. Nick's head fell forward and his chin rested on his chest, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. Harry backed away. No sense in finishing things to quickly he thought as he settled himself into the desk chair. He propped his feet on the desk and waited for Nick to regain consciousness. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Heidi crept down the hall, Kevin following quietly behind. Jake, the maintenance man, followed at an even slower pace. He was still complaining about not being allowed into locked rooms. They were locked for a reason and only upper management were allowed in. Heidi swung around, fed up with the man's whining and advanced on him. "Look here Jake, we have a hostage situation here. Either you shut up and help us out, or so help me God I'm gonna belt you one," she threatened as her fists clenched at the front of his workman’s overalls. Jake nodded, afraid to speak. Whoo-wee that was one pissed off lady! He sure didn't want to be belted by her, that was for sure, he thought as he clamped his lips together and followed them down the hall, stopping occasionally to unlock a door. "Heidi, there's only three more doors left. What are we going to do if Nick's not behind one of them?" Kevin questioned in a whisper. "He's here Kevin. I can feel it," she said as she moved down the hall and stopped before the next locked door. She placed her ear to it and listened for a long minute. At first there was nothing, but then came the muffled sound of male voices. She grabbed Kevin by the arm and motioned for him to listen. Kevin's eyes widened as he heard Nick's voice. With his arm still in her grasp, she walked several paces away and said, "Jake, hand me the key to that door." Jake looked from her to the keys and shook his head no. "I can't do that ma'am. I ain't allowed to let them out of my sight. I'll lose my job." His southern accent becoming more pronounced as the reality of the situation sank in. Heidi took a step closer to Jake and held her hand out. "Give them to me, now!" Jake remembered her earlier threat to belt him and he separated the key from the rest, handing the ring to her, the selected key pointed skyward. "Okay, here's what I need you to do," she began as she slipped the correct key from the ring. "I need you to go back to the end of the hallway and wait for Billy. Tell him we're in the third from the last room and to hurry." Jake nodded and swallowed hard. "Jake, I don't have to remind you what I'll do to you if you screw this up, do I?" she asked, her voice was deadly calm. Jake shook his head no frantically and backed away. When he was far enough away, Kevin asked, "What are you going to do? We should wait for Billy." "It may be to late if we wait. I'm going in there and I'm bringing Nick out. If Harry gets by me, club him with that," she said as she pointed to the fire extinguisher hanging on the wall. Kevin nodded, praying that everything turned out all right and nobody got hurt. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ At the mouth of the hallway, Billy and Carlos met Jake. He was stuttering and shaking like a leaf. Using precious seconds, they didn’t have, Billy calmed Jake down and finally got the story out of the man. He then turned to Carlos and said, "Stay here, and wait for the cops." Carlos nodded and positioned himself, with his back resting against the far wall, so he could watch both of the halls and the back entrance. SNC Index Chapter Seventeen Main Page |