Zo? came to. It had happened again. Her past was her present. She was trussed up in a confined space in the dark, her hands and feet both bound together, this time with her arms behind her. A blanket covered her.
She was in his hands—again. Surrendering to the Tally Man to save Jarocki had seemed like the right option at the time. Now it seemed like a dumb, impulsive one. She could only imagine what Jarocki would say to her if she ever saw him again. “Control your impulses, control your life.” She hadn’t and now the Tally Man controlled her. Flashes of Holli hanging from a hook in that workshop filled her mind, and closing her eyes couldn’t shut them out. She’d gotten away then, but not this time. She would end up like Holli and Laurie Hernandez and all the other women. A scream rose in her throat, looking for escape.
Keep it together, she thought. You aren’t the person you were then. Twice he’s tried to kill you, and twice he’s failed. You’re a two-time survivor of the Tally Man. You’ll survive this.
The scream sank back down inside her, but not the fear. Nothing was assured. She was a long way from safety. Yes, he’d failed on his previous attempts, but this could be the time he succeeded. If she wanted to survive, she had to keep her shit together. If she stayed strong, stayed determined, and believed in herself, she’d make it through. If she lost her grip on any one of those, she’d likely be killed.
Her breathing had been fast and shallow, but with effort, it was returning to normal. She helped it with long, slow mouthfuls. Each inhale sucked oxygen into her brain. It would make her sharper and mentally agile.
When she was calm, she told herself, “Time to see how bad it is.”
She flicked her head around until it was free of the blanket.
Two things were different from before. She was in the back of a moving vehicle, instead of a shed, and this time, she wasn’t drugged. The chloroform had knocked her out, but it hadn’t doped her up. She still had her wits. She still had a chance.
How long had she been out? Minutes? Hours? She pulled herself up as best as possible to peer through the windows. They were tinted, but it was obvious it was still night.
We can’t have gotten very far, she thought—and hoped.
She heard a snarl, and a pit bull peered over the backseat at her. She recoiled from the dog.
“It’s OK, Brando,” the Tally Man called in a soothing tone. “Hey, you awake back there?”
She felt like saying nothing in some hope of maintaining an advantage but saw none. “Yes.”
“OK then. Brando won’t hurt you if you behave.”
The dog leered at her.
Has anyone told the dog that?
“We’ve still got a ways to go, so try to settle in for the duration.”
Settle in? Zo? thought. He’d abducted her in order to kill her, and he was making it sound like they were on a cross-country jaunt. Maybe this was how he saw it—that there was nothing wrong with what he did. How do you fight that type of crazy?
The dog dropped down from sight.
She wasn’t about to sit back and enjoy the ride. She needed to use this time to plan her escape. She needed information.
“Is Dr. Jarocki OK, Brad?” She used his name, thinking that using his name would create some bond between them.
“Don’t call me that. That’s not my name.”
“You want me to call you the Tally Man?”
He snorted. “That’s a damn fool label the media invented. Morons. I have no dumb identity to hide behind. I am who I am and nothing else.”
“What do I call you? What’s your name?”
“Marshall Beck. Now, no talking please.”
“I need to know. Is he OK, Marshall?”
“Dr. Jarocki?”
“The man who was protecting me. You said you wouldn’t hurt him.”
“Him? Yes, he’s fine.”
She hoped he wasn’t lying. She’d have no way of knowing.
As if reading her thoughts, he said, “I said I wouldn’t hurt him, and I didn’t. I am a man of my word.”
The honorable killer, she thought. How pathetic.
“I don’t harm good people.”
The remark puzzled her. So, he harms only the bad? Did that mean she and Holli were bad? How had that been determined? This confirmed Greening’s belief that the Tally Man operated to some warped moral code, punishing those who didn’t meet his standards. There might be something in that she could use against him or to buy her more time.
“Does that mean you think I’m not good?”
“Zo?, this isn’t a topic for discussion.”
“You’re going to kill me, and I don’t know why.”
“That’s disappointing. I thought you had changed. I’ve seen how you live your life now, and how you traded your life for your friend. It looked promising, but if you don’t know why you’re here, maybe you haven’t changed after all,” he said with seemingly genuine regret. “Now, quiet please.”
Yes, quiet was good. She needed the time to formulate an attack and defense.