With no way to measure its passing, time did wonders in wearing me down for these goons, not to mention their boss. With each pass through the conversation, I always kept stumbling over what the one goon had said about restraints, and every time it just confused me even more. “We know what you’re capable of even without certain restraints in place.” Could he possibly know about my gift or was he just repeating words that Dempsey had given him?
After a moment’s contemplation I told myself that it didn’t matter, so I moved on to the next logical train of thought. I figured that he wasn’t referencing my confinement as a whole; his tone had been too… specific for that. Not to mention if it weren’t for the seriousness of the predicament this prison would be all too funny. His words had to have been focusing on a particular piece, but what was it? I was fairly sure the drugs, whatever they were, coursing through my veins had been what he was referencing. But he had said “certain restraints.” Restraints, plural, more than one. Aside from the cold what else could he have been referencing? If the drugs were fool proof, what was the reference to restraints? There had to be more to it, there just had to be.
The drugs alone couldn’t constrain me, otherwise, why make use of the freezer? If the drugs were as effective as I had made them out to be in my mind, why was I being partially frozen? If they were that good there wouldn’t be reason to keep me here, other than to make me uncomfortable that is. The drugs weren’t fool proof, they had their limits. Could I overcome the drug’s effects if I were warm enough? That would explain the freezer. Effective as the drug might be they needed help, otherwise this prison was simply overkill. It was like trying to swat a fly with a cannonball.
After working out what the guard had meant I analyzed how the information might help me. To be honest, I had no idea. But, as I told Bella, I loved to collect random pieces of information. While it might appear useless now, if they decided to move me I would be able to test my theory.
For now, the information scared me to death. One thing I deduced was that Dempsey preferred to own me, like he did with anyone of value that he could sink his talons into. But I would rather have a date with an undertaker than let Dempsey own me. Granted I would certainly live longer if I played along, and if I could not escape right now it might help me eventually find my way clear of the tyrant. Fortunately if I had to play along I wouldn’t have to work all that hard to play along, the threat of certain death is quite the motivator.
No, I was fairly certain that I needed to feign acceptance, for now. Rebellion would have to come later when I could ensure my escape. But there was a certain part of me that wanted to fight, and in that vein I attempted, once again, to find a heat source. After my useless search I was still unable to locate any kind of heat floating in the room. I gently rapped my head against the top of the chair and sighed as I finally acknowledged to myself what I had feared ever since I had woken up, I had no chance of getting out of this mess.
How could I be valuable to a criminal kingpin like Dempsey? Well of course I knew how, it wasn’t every day someone of my potential came along. But was I really valuable to Dempsey or was that just me wishing he had some reason to keep me alive? My guards might have said anything just to get me to shut up—I was obviously aggravating thug number one. Could they have been lying to me?
Should I believe what they had said in the conversation I had overheard? Yes. They didn’t know that I was conscious and had had no idea that I could hear them through the mostly closed door. Apparently, Dempsey already had someone like me on his payroll, and more than likely, she was very skilled. That being said, why did Dempsey see value in me? These were the questions that terrified me more than anything. A shiver ran down my spine, either from the cold or my absolute terror due to my capture. As evidenced by my prison, Dempsey knew how to hold someone with my gifts and he knew how to squeeze them for all they were worth.
As the two goons had all but admitted I was being drugged, I couldn’t help but wonder what might be lacing the IVs. Whatever it was, it had been well thought out and well crafted. I began to speculate if it was something designed specifically for people like me. That was a strange thought. People like me, how many were there? For someone like Dempsey I was certain that a drug like that would be worth just about any price. I somehow had to figure out what it was. But again, that was for the list of things to do after I got out of here.
At the moment, I had more pressing concerns, like not freezing to death, which was proving to be very difficult. It would appear that Dempsey had managed to think of just about everything. Right now, I could see only one slim chance for survival and I was hanging all of my hopes on that. I was actually more than a little afraid to even think about it. My fear was that Dempsey had already figured it out and put the kibosh on it, but there was still a chance. If—and I want to stress that condition—if I survived the night, it would be as Dempsey’s puppet. And it would only be for as long as I proved myself valuable. That was not a prospect I liked to dwell on all that much, though to be honest, I also found the idea of feeding the worms distasteful.
But deep down I knew that if I even hoped to escape this trap, I was going to have to sacrifice something big. Right now I was just hoping that the price wouldn’t be too high. As I sat alone in the dry coldness of the room, thinking about what I would be willing to sacrifice, I heard a loud crash. It sounded like something heavy had been rammed into the freezer door. “What’s going on over there?” I called out.
A curt retort from goon number one immediately followed my question. “Shut your mouth.” I apparently had really gotten under his skin, I wish I knew what I had done to him.