Prologue

Wayne blinked his eyes trying to focus in the darkness. His abductor had just taken off the blindfold that had been surrounding his face and blocking his vision. It really didn’t matter because all he could see in every direction was blackness. Seated on a hard wooden chair his hands were bound behind his back and his feet were tied tightly to the chair legs. After untying the blindfold, his abductor reached for the ropes, but to Wayne’s disappointment, he tightened them, making sure that he could barely move.

“Who are you, and what do you want from me?” he screamed into the darkness. His voice echoed, then faded into silence.

His captor had not spoken a word since he’d grabbed him from behind just as he was exiting his condo. Wayne was about to get into his car when he felt a gun poking into his back. Even though he was petrified, he didn’t panic. Instead, he calmly cooperated while praying that the assailant would take his wallet and leave, but the abductor didn’t want money or Wayne’s brand-new slate-blue Cadillac Escalade. He wanted Wayne, and he quickly blindfolded, bound, and gagged him, then threw him into the back of a utility van. They drove around for a while, and Wayne soon began to feel motion sickness. His stomach buckled, and he felt nauseated. Finally, the van stopped, the door opened, and Wayne felt himself being dragged forward with his arms pinned tightly behind his back. He heard a large garage door screech loudly, open, and then close behind him, so he assumed he was in some sort of warehouse building. Wayne was unsure how much time had elapsed since his abduction, but he guessed it had been several hours. His body was sore and fatigued, and he was beginning to get sleepy, so he imagined it was late in the evening. The rumblings in his stomach also let him know that it was way past dinnertime.

“I’m hungry. Aren’t you at least going to feed me?” he screamed.

“Later,” a gruff voice said.