Part 41 (1/2)

”I'm free!” she screamed aloud. ”Oh, G.o.d, I'm free!” free!”

But how? Why? Her mind raced. Kelly had got free of him-and Kelly had a deep bite mark on her shoulder. Lazlo had got free of him-right after being knocked down by a car.

Rob had raised his head and shoulders above the sill. He glared at her with a mixture of fear and fury.

”Pain, Rob! Pain Pain! That's the key! Pain cuts the contact, breaks his control!”

As he levered himself over the sill and onto the floor, Rob looked at her with confused eyes, full of mistrust.

”It's me, Rob! Really me! I'm free of him!”

G.o.d, it was wonderful to speak her own words, have control of her own limbs. But for how long?

She, picked up a piece of gla.s.s in her good right hand and stared at the left's bleeding palm. There might be a way to hold Gabor off. She clenched her teeth and drove the point of the gla.s.s into her injured hand. She screamed with the burst of renewed pain.

”Kara!” Rob shouted. He was inside the window now, staring at her with horrified eyes. ”What the h.e.l.l-?”

”It'll keep him away!” she said, gasping through her teeth. ”G.o.d, it's got to!”

”Then it's true? Gabor is behind this whole thing?”

His eyes were wild, as if he still didn't believe any of this was really happening. But he'd mentioned Gabor. That meant he knew!

”Yes! Gabor-the monster!”

”Where is he?” he said.

Kara could hear Jill behind her, sobbing, scared half to death, calling her name.

”In the bas.e.m.e.nt,” Kara said. ”Behind the paneling. Get down there, Rob. Kill him!” Those words sounded so alien, but she knew it was the only way. ”Kill him before he comes back. Don't ever let him do this to me again! Please Please!”

She plunged the gla.s.s into her hand again.

Rob's gut churned as Kara screamed again with pain.

”Christ, Kara! You won't have a hand left!”

He glanced around the room. There had to be something he could do. And then he saw it. The velvet tie-back from the side drape he had hung onto when he was falling lay on the floor amid the shattered gla.s.s. He grabbed it and held it up.

”What are you going to do with that?”

”Tie you up.”

She frowned, then smiled with relief.

”Yes! Oh, thank you!” She looked down at the b.l.o.o.d.y gla.s.s dagger in her hand. ”I don't know how many more times I can do this!”

Rob wasn't sure he could stab himself even once. He was sure, however, that he was in the presence of the bravest woman-the bravest person person-he had ever known.

He helped her over to a ladderback chair that was set against the wall by the record shelves. Kara dropped into it and pushed her hands around the back of the chair.

”Good knots, Rob. I don't want to get free.”

As he looped the cord around her wrists and arms and through the rungs of the back, Jill began screaming.

”What are you doing to my mother? Stop it!”

”It's okay, Jill,” Kara said in a soothing voice. ”I asked him to do this.”

”But you're hurt hurt!”

”I know. But I did that to myself. Rob's not hurting me. He's doing this so I don't hurt myself any more.”

”But why why?”

”There's a bad man in the bas.e.m.e.nt who's making me hurt myself. Rob's only going to tie me up for a few minutes while he makes the man stop, then he's going to let me go. Right, Rob?”

Rob kissed her on the forehead. He'd never loved her more than he did at this moment.

”Right.” He looked Jill right in the eye, hoping she'd see no threat in him. ”And then I'm coming back upstairs and letting her loose. And then we're all getting out of here. For good! But whatever happens, don't let your mother get loose till I get back!”

He could tell Jill wasn't buying the whole package, but at least her panic seemed to be under control.

”He's right, Jill. Don't let me get loose. Okay?”

Hesitantly, she nodded.

Rob pulled the cord as tightly as he dared around Kara's wrists. He didn't want to cut off circulation, but he didn't want her getting out, either. Not after what she'd done to him a moment ago.

Rob shuddered at the memory of that fall. If the drape in his right hand hadn't caught for that second, allowing his left hand to grab hold of the cornice- He stepped over to the record cabinet and pulled his revolver and holster from his leather jacket. He looked at Kara and nodded once, then ran for the stairs.

”There's a lever up among the pipes by the wall. Pull it down!”

”Got it!”

He took the steps down three at a time.

You keep thrusting but you can't get back into Kara. Twice you've tried and each time you were rebuffed by blasts of pain. But the third time is lucky. You are back in. There's sunlight, cold air from the broken window, pain in the left hand but not enough to break the bond. As you s.n.a.t.c.h the reins of control, you hear Kara cry out.

No! Not again!

”Yes! Again! And this time-”

You can't move her arms. A chair-you're in a chair. Tied Tied in a chair! You pull frantically on the cord that binds you. And the detective is nowhere in sight! in a chair! You pull frantically on the cord that binds you. And the detective is nowhere in sight!

”Where is he?”