Chapter Two

When the cry vibrated through the walls again, he stood up with effort and felt a certain wetness under his jacket. He slowly raised up the left flab, and saw a red stain a few inches down his armpit, he cursed.

Reaching into his closet again, he searched, from memory, for one of his father’s regular gifts for him since when he clocked sixteen and retrieved his hand holding an embellished Colt 1849 revolver. He recalled there were about ten different makes of the very expensive revolvers stacked in the same corner with custom-made and equally emblemized pocket knives. He quickly checked if the gun was still loaded and nodded to himself when he saw it was.

Tucking it in the band of his denim trousers, he left his room, feeling the pain in his ribcage increase. The entire house seemed eerily quiet. He thought perhaps the area had wolves now. But then that cry sounded as if it came from inside the building not outside.

He recalled his father started acquiring animals of strange species right before he left. And now he wondered if there was a wolf trapped in the cell block about two decks underground the building. And most importantly if he was in a building with a dangerous animal on the loose. He sighed. ‘Sick bastards,’ he thought.

Proceeding down the foyer stairs again, he clenched his teeth to rein in his pain. The front door where he had come through about two hours before was opposite the stairs landing. Cole walked in the opposite direction, walking past the centre of the double staircases to the back door.

He pushed open the French door in the middle of the glass-panelled wall and walked outside to the back porch. Another flight of stairs descended to the underground decks at the left corner of the porch and he walked in the direction.

A security camera was at the top right corner of the framing wall. Cole noted the same embedded cameras were at almost every corner, and hallway in the building. He silently noted the angle and watched it scan the grounds and glanced at his custom-made digital watch in reflex, trying to note the timing.

An iron door barred the end of the staircase and he hurried towards it when the cry came again behind the closed door. He reached under his jacket to wrap his fingers around the tucked gun in the back of his waistband, readying himself for surprises.

His eyes settled on the security panel to the side of the door and saw that aside from the identification card scanner it also had a fingerprint groove on it. He, gingerly, held out his right thumb and pressed it to it. The panel flashed green and the door slid open. He let out a relieved sigh. He would hate to have to go get Aaron and force him to open the door.

The door slid open to a hallway that stretched from right to left with another staircase descending to another deck at each end. He held still, listening to signs of activities, waiting to hear the cry again so as to know in which direction to follow, then a muffled sob followed by quick panting came from the left, and his heartbeat picked up pace as he carefully headed in the direction.

Noting the sound was definitely human and he wondered if the human was held together with the animal. He quickened his steps, and the grip around his gun—still tucked at the back of his waistband— tightened, preparing himself for any kind of horror.

He noticed he was leaning more to his right now and walking somewhat mechanically, an attempt to reduce the strain on his wound. He was in no shape to be playing Dora the explorer, but it was hardly something he could ignore, especially now that he suspected a human was trapped there.

He hurried down the long flight of stairs and the thought of climbing all the stairs back to his room made him mentally groan.

A security panel was mounted on the left wall framing the door and a glass-panelled peep frame was about three feet down the top of the iron door. Cole peered in with a frown, blinking as he focused intently. His eyes settled on an enormous birdcage with massive chains holding it above ground and at the centre of the cage was a barely clad woman held upright in chains.

“What the fuck!” Cole exclaimed.

The woman’s face snapped up as if she could hear him. Even from where he stood he could see her hope-filled gaze. His heart tightened. She looked worse for wear. With the conviction that his thumbprint could open the security doors now, he pressed his thumb to the panel and the iron door opened. He walked in, in a slow gait, his chest heaving at the sight before him.

The woman was covered in bruises as if she had recently been tortured. Her lower lip was busted and blood trickled down the corner of her lips. An angry handprint was obvious on her right cheek and her ribcage was marred with stripes of a thick red print as if she had been beaten with a thick, sturdy object. His eyes left her to access the room and saw all sorts of instruments of torture on a side bench. His eyes settled on an electric baton and he cursed.

The woman watched him with a guarded gaze and when he moved to the table lined with the torturing instruments she growled at him. Cole instantly returned his gaze to her and a frown furrowed his eyebrows. She sounded almost feral.

"You can kill me. I will never talk," she said in a low, shaky tone, her voice sounding hoarse.

Cole raised a hand in a form of surrender.

"I'm not one of them—" he paused thinking that was a lie then amended, "---technically, I am, but I'm the ‘good guy’."

“Is that so?” the lady scoffed, narrowing her gaze at him. "This must be a new tactic to get me to let down my guard? The other guy promised to force himself on me," she snarled. Cole cursed dragging his hand over his face, wondering what the fuck he just walked into. The lady was acting strange, and making animalistic sounds and he wondered if she had been injected with drugs. At least now he was certain there was no animal here. He figured perhaps the howl was from the other cell blocks.

"Why are you mixed up with these people? And why are you inside here in this cage?" Cole asked.

To say he was baffled was an understatement. The lady looked exotically beautiful and attractive. He was trying not to stare at her full breast, narrow waist, and wide hips. She was well endowed with a full seductive body and appeared tall. He guessed her height to be close to 5 feet 11 inches. "Are you a prostitute?" He asked, thinking she might likely be some sex worker who got wind of information or saw something she was not supposed to. He was used to those kinds of scenarios.

She looked momentarily befuddled at his line of questioning, and then she glared at him. Her beautiful dark grey eyes shoot daggers at him. He felt his body stir at the combination of that look and her naked body. He watched the glare wavered as she inhaled, and she swallowed gently, then a frown furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm not a prostitute! You know who I am. Stop acting like you don't!" she snapped.

Cole walked to a lever by the side of the door and pulled it down. The cage lowered, and he walked up the elevated platform it settled on. He unlocked the cage and saw her tensed up, he raised a hand up in form of surrender

"I promise you, I'm not going to hurt you. I have a feeling we are both in the same predicament here."

"Which is?"

"---Here against our will," he smiled sheepishly. The lady searched his gaze as if she was trying to gauge his sincerity and whatever her deduction was, he saw her visibly relaxed. He figured she had decided he was being sincere.

To further convince her he posed no threat to her, he opened the left flap of his jacket showing her his blood-stained vest. "I'm also wounded, and may either keel over or slip to a coma in the next minute, so, please refrain from finishing me off before that happens… please," he added, thinking the men wouldn't have tied her up this way if she was a timid defenceless female.

He waited for her to give him some kind of sign before proceeding. The girl gave a curt nod, and he approached her and stood right in front of her. She looked up into his face with her reaching up to his chest. Cole swallowed softly as they both studied each other. He thought her eyes were the most beautiful pair he had ever seen.

He raised his hand, gingerly, and used his thumb to stroke and clean the blood at the corner of her full lips. His nostrils flared at the jolt of desire that kindled in her eyes. His body reacted immediately, his chest heaved.

"Are they at least feeding you?" He rasped deep in his throat. Up close he noticed her deep grey eyes had golden flecks, making her eyes look exotic and almost hypnotizing. He swallowed softly.

"No. I wouldn’t eat their garbage anyway," she replied. He cursed.

"Why are you mixed up with these people?" he asked again. His voice was deep, soft, and husky.

"Mixed up? They kidnapped me!" She spat weakly and her lips trembled..

"I know what you mean," he muttered then shut his eyes when the pain in his side increased. He looked down when a drop of his blood splashed on the steel floor.

"You are bleeding."

"Yeah--- let's hope I can do something to help your situation before I pass out." He chuckled then grimaced. He realized his hand was still on her face and his fingers were gently brushing her skin. Her skin felt incredibly soft and silky under his touch making him feel all kinds of unusual emotions stirring to life inside him. His lips parted as he lowered his gaze to her lips, his intense attraction to the lady making him a tad befuddled.

Yes, she was beautiful but she would not be the first beautiful woman he had met, and he had met and had a lot of beautiful women in his unending assignments all over the globe. When he reverted his gaze to meet her eyes he saw her assessing him with a guarded gaze and he slowly stepped back

"Remove the chains and I will help you heal," the girl said. He smiled.

"What are you? A witch?" He jest, dismissing her attempt to trick him but didn't miss the frown that furrowed her eyebrows.

Cole saw another lever embedded in the cell iron floor and walked to it, feeling her gaze on him. He was about to pull it when a shout made him pause.

"Cole Miller, get out of that cell now!" Aaron yelled. Cole raised his face in the man’s direction to find guns trained on him for the second time that day.

"Cole Miller?" He heard the girl repeat under her breath, and he jerked his attention to her. She glared openly at him now and it was different from the one before. Her eyes had gone cold and merciless and the grey pair was now almost black. He wanted to say something to assure her his name didn't mean shit. But then she made to lunge at him with murderous intent in her steely gaze.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Aaron train a taser gun in her direction. Cole yelled for him to stop, and warned her at the same time to dodge the incoming threat, but saw it was rather late, and without thinking lunged forward to block her with his body. The taser hit him hard in the chest. He saw white flashes as he landed hard on the cell floor. The pain was excruciating. He coughed, spasmed, fought to stay conscious but lost, then the darkness took him.