“Can I use the toilet?”
Josh grinned. “Piss your pants.”
“Don’t be an ass. Let me use the bathroom, please.”
“No can do, Detective. You’ll sure as shit pull something. I can smell it already.” He laughed. “Damn, I’m pretty good at the play-on-words thing.”
“Fine. Then you better keep your distance because it’s going to get pretty pungent in here after a while.”
Josh stared at me as if he was thinking about how to make my request a possibility without giving me the opportunity to escape.
“Come on, man. Prove you can be a decent human being at least once in your life. All I want to do is take a leak. Are you that afraid of me?”
He snickered as he stood and came closer. “I’m not afraid of you at all.”
“Then prove it.”
Josh crossed the room and disappeared into the kitchen. I couldn’t see him, but I listened carefully and tried to recognize the sounds. A door opened and closed—he must have gone into the garage. Minutes later, he returned with a plastic bucket and placed it in front of my legs.
“What the hell is that?”
He wrinkled his forehead. “It’s your toilet. Take it or leave it. I’m going to cut the tape off one hand, and the rest, you can figure out yourself. Like I said before, your only other choice is to piss your pants.”
I nodded. “Fine, I guess it’ll have to do.”
“Don’t try anything funny.”
“Right, because one free hand is enough to take you down with.”
I watched as he went to the table and retrieved the knife. That would be my only chance to make a move, but my odds were nearly impossible at best. If I tipped the chair, those ropes would tighten around my neck, and I’d be choked. Even if I tried to headbutt him, the ropes would still squeeze the airflow out of me.
Do I let this one pass and try to gain his trust? He’s going to be on guard and ready to attack if I do something now. I’d be ruining a better chance for later.
He stood within inches of me, slid the knife under the tape, and jerked it upward. The tape gave way, and my hand was free.
“Now hurry up and do your business.”
I would bide my time. Hopefully, his guard would be down later if I showed him now that I wasn’t a threat.
The sudden ring of the doorbell seemed to cause Josh to panic. He spun, set the knife on the coffee table, and headed for the window, which gave me just enough time to lift the nooses from around my neck.
In his distraction, it seemed he’d forgotten what I was capable of doing with one free hand. If I stretched out far enough, there was a chance I could reach the knife. If I didn’t get it in time, I’d probably be killed. My fingers were within inches of it as I stretched, yet I had to watch his every move. He separated the blinds and craned his neck to look out onto the porch. I stretched farther, to the point of nearly tipping the chair, but I got it. Pulling the knife toward me, I was finally able to wrap my hand around the grip and quickly sliced the tape that bound my feet.
“There’s two men at the door, and one is holding a tablet.”
I tried to remain calm. “Probably religious zealots who want to convert you. You should let them in and listen to what they have to say. You might be a better person in the end.”
“Real funny. You make one sound that they can hear and I’ll slit your throat.”
“Yeah, I’m good.” All I had to do was get my other wrist free and I’d be able to hold my own, but I was running out of time.
“They’re leaving.”
Josh turned and froze. A dumbstruck expression covered his face when he saw me trying to slice the tape off my other arm. He lunged forward and was on me in three strides. He kicked me backward, which sent the chair and me crashing to the floor. I was still attached to the chair’s arm, but luckily, I maintained my grip on the knife, and swung it wildly at him.
Josh grabbed another dining room chair and bashed me with it, then he stepped on the hand grasping the knife. I kicked and connected with his knees a few times, but he had the upper hand. My position on the floor, taped to a chair, didn’t give me an edge at all. I was screwed and knew it, but I fought with everything I had until exhaustion got the better of me. When he cocked his fist, I stopped fighting and closed my eyes. I knew what was coming next, and it was going to hurt like hell.
When I woke, I was coughing violently and felt like I was drowning.
“What’s wrong, Detective? Don’t like water up your nose?” He stopped and waited for my reaction.
I continued coughing until my lungs cleared. I looked left and right and realized I was once again tied to the chair, but that time, it was lying on the floor, and the seat was perched higher than the rest of it, essentially making my head lower. He was drowning me in the same way that prisoners of war had been waterboarded in the past.
“Looks like you won’t be trying to escape again anytime soon. Hell, you can’t even get upright. You’re at my mercy, McCord, and I guarantee you won’t see much mercy coming from me. I’m going to work my magic on you until the very end. When it’s time for the little lady to come home, I’ll be long gone. And you? You’ll just be gone.”