With that memory, I sit up and reach for Jinx’s chain to wiggle it. “Jinx, wake up,” I whisper.

She startles, sits up, and whispers, “What?”

I gulp and shake as I form a plan and voice it to her. “I can’t stay here. I have a man to get back to. We have gotta get out of here.”

The sound of her sitting up echoes. “Tell me,” she whispers back with excitement.

“We’re in a basement. Start feeling around the ground and walls for something sharp and small enough for me to pick these locks.”

She gasps. “You know how to do that?”

No, but I remember Winter telling me if it is quiet enough, you can hear the mechanism click. “Yes,” I lie. I want her motivated.

I listen to the sounds upstairs as we search as far as our chains will allow. I have only noticed two sets of footsteps over the past day. If I am hearing correctly, I can take them both out or sneak me and Jinx out while they aren’t paying attention.

“How will we get out of the basement?”

I will myself not to get aggravated with her because she has been too frightened to pay attention to anything.

“They haven’t been locking the door. We’re chained up. They think we’re stuck down here.”

If you could hear smiles, I am sure I would be hearing one from her right now.

***

Hours fly by and we take turns holding up the chains so they don’t rattle and make noise. When I think all hope is lost, Jinx saves the day with an item angels had to bestow upon us.

“A wrench. Can you believe it,” she whispers with a hiss.

We have been stuck down here for days, raped, starved, and thirsty, and there was a damn wrench down here the entire time. I will not be upset, I repeat over and over in my head. She found it, and now I can get us the hell out of here.

“How will we use a wrench?”

This is where surfing the web with Tatiana for information on dungeons, chains, and other BDSM shit comes in handy for us.

“Stand up, but be quiet. Hold your chain up and walk to where the chain meets the wall,” I say quietly while I do the same. “Now, feel the metal bracket that is bolted to the wall. You feel the nuts?”

My fingers graze four nuts, one on each corner of the metal piece. They stick out enough for me to be able to work them. “Jinx, listen to me with care. I am going to concentrate on loosening my bolts, and you have got to listen to the footsteps upstairs. If you hear someone nearing the basement door, stop me, and we have to act as we have been, okay?”

The wrench slides across the floor, and I reach down and feel for it.

“You best believe I’ll be paying attention. Get us the hell out of here,” she says with glee.

I take quiet steps back to the wall and work to loosen the first bolt. These chains are new, and I believe whoever installed them left tools lying around on accident, and their stupidity might have saved me and Jinx. There is no rust or decay around the nuts so they ease out without a fight. I bend down and set the bracket and bolt on the floor and wrap the chain around one arm as if it is a hose I am winding up.

Once I reach Jinx, she hugs me and I squeeze her back.

“Now get me loose, please. I’m unnerved.”

I smile. “Keep listening, Jinxie.”

I believe in guardian angels after this experience. The bolts on Jinx’s plate come out even easier than my own did. After I help her roll her chain around her arm, I remove the cardboard covering the basement window. Light pours in, and when Jinx looks at me, tears stream down her face. I bring my free hand to my face. “That bad, huh?”

She brings her hand up to cover mine and says something that breaks my heart. “It’s just a face, Piper,” she whispers and moves her hand to my heart. “It’s what’s in here that matters.”

“Thank you.” It takes everything in me not to start sobbing. “When I open that basement door, Jinx, you take off running and find an exit. Don’t wait for me. If I don’t make it out, you keep going, and you get help, all right?”

She shakes her head in disbelief. “I am not fucking leaving you. Are you nuts!”

I put my hand over her mouth. “Shh… my poor language is rubbing off on you, Jinxie,” I try to joke. “Do you think I have a best friend who is a trained sniper and he hasn’t taught me how to defend myself? I will be fine. I promise.”

“I’ll run until my body won’t allow it.”

I take a deep breath. “Let’s do this. I’m ready to go home.”

Our footsteps are quiet as we near the stairs. This is where we have to be careful. The steps are creaky. We know this from the visits from the guy who raped and beat us. “When I open that door, I want them to think I am the only one loose. I am going to distract whoever is up there, and you find an exit and get the hell out.”

She sucks in air. “I promise.”

“This is it. Stay behind me and don’t drop your chain. I know it’s heavy, but our lives depend on it. Stay on the edge of the steps. Don’t step in the middle of them.”

I don’t wait for her to say anything else. It’s time to do this thing. When I reach the top and I am sure Jinx is right behind me, I take a deep breath and fling the door open.

Curses erupt and footsteps pound through the house.

“Run Jinxie,” I yell.

She runs past me down a hallway while a Hispanic man tries to wrap his hands around my throat. I kick his knee cap as hard as I can. I wish I knew Spanish because another one is screaming at me as he comes into the room. When the one drops to his knees, I turn and run into the one cursing in Spanish. I use the arm loaded down with the chain and swing with all my might towards his head. When the metal meets his face, blood flies out of his nose and mouth, and he falls to the floor, unconscious. I don’t wait. I turn to run away, but the first guy is getting back up, and I know if I don’t hurt him, he’ll be right back on my tail. I kick him in the balls to make sure he stays down. I stoop down behind him, wrap the chain around his neck, and tighten it with all my might. His fingers claw at the metal links, attempting to ease between it and his neck. When his smell hits my nostrils, I realize this is the same one that raped me and Jinx. I use that anger as my strength.