Jack In The Box

Chapter 31

Riley

“Here are the rules of this game.” Ezra declared. “I’m going to let you run and hide. You can try and

escape from the hospital if you want. If you get down to the ground floor and tell anyone, games over

and Maddy’s throat will be cut.”

“No! Please!” I shrieked.

“If you manage to get out of the hospital, you win. If I find you, well, you loose. And you’ll do exactly as I

tell you to. I think that’s fair game.”

“We can get you the help you need, Ezra.” I said. “Please don’t hurt anyone.”

“Run as fast as you can, Riley,” Ezra said. “I’ll give you a two minute head-start.”

He was standing in the passageway in a relaxed manner. The chain that he was restrained with earlier

was dangling on the floor. Blood dripping down his arm. The lights above had almost gone out, leaving

only a dim light on that left a silver shadow on his face.

It was a scary image.

I climbed to my feet and took off in the opposite direction I ran all the way to the end of the floor. The

howls and cheers of the other patients rang as I jabbed the elevator buttons.

“Come on, come on!”

Deciding against taking the elevator, I pushed through the Emergency exit stairs.

I could hear Ezra calling out teasingly. “Three...two...one. Here I come!”

I heard the eerie sound of the chains dragging against the floor. Ezra surely didn’t know about the old

abandoned wing that only staff used. I ran to the farthest end of the floor, entered a room and shut the

door behind me.

I heard the sound of the chains dragging inside. Fear cut deep inside me like a sharp razor. I hadn’t

experienced fear in such a way before.

Jack had never engraved fear inside me the way Ezra was doing. With Jack I knew what to expect,

with Ezra I didn’t. I could die here and no one would find out until they saw me hanging somewhere like

a piece of meat in a meat farm.

I shuddered at the thought. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to fight until I drew my last breath. I pulled

out my phone from my pocket and pressed Aaron’s number. It rang for an eternity. I tried his phone a

few more times but he didn’t answer. Next I called Agent Flint, and the call went straight to voice mail.

“This is Agent Flint Knight. Leave a message after the beep...”

“Agent Flint! Please help me...it’s Ezra. I...I think he’s going to kill me and frame Jackson for it. You’ve

got to inform the authorities.” I said on the phone.

My hands were shaking as I called nine-one-one next but my phone ran out of battery. I could sit here

in the abandoned wing for an eternity and wait until someone realizes I was missing and not answering

my phone. The chances of Ezra finding me before the police or the hospital staff were higher. At this

time, I could just be sitting ducks.

I opened the door and walked out into the darkness, feeling wary and anxious about ever shadow and

sound. I walked into the main wing, heading straight to the administration office. There had to be at

least one person working there. Before I could open the door, I saw a tall figure walk by. Ezra was

prowling around on the same floor. I hid behind a wall and waited. When the sound of the chains

vanished, I opened the door of the office and went inside.

No one was there. The sound of footsteps were closing in. I hid under the table quickly and my

breathing intensified.

“It’s okay, Riley. I won’t hurt you.” I heard him say. “It’s a promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“You can come out now. I said I won’t hurt you. You have my word.”

I covered my mouth with my hand and watched from the surveillance footage on the screens mounted

on the wall as he prowled around the room far from my hidden space. He couldn’t see me.

“You wanna play hide and seek? That’s fine with me. You know, when I was little...I always managed to

find the other kids. Grown ups even.” He chuckled softly, the same masculine voice with a boyish

charm that I’d fallen in love with, but now the same voice ran a chill down my body. The only difference

was that this voice belonged to the man that I didn’t love.

Something crashed loudly. He’d damaged the emergency lights, pulling the room in pitch black

darkness. He was getting closer to where I was hiding.

As if he’d heard my mind he reached for a broom stick and smashed camera one, followed by camera

two and three. “That should solve the problem, I guess. Now, you wouldn’t be able to know even if I’m

right behind you.”

The screens went static and then turned black. From the corner of my eye, I watched his shoes walk

past me. I held my breath and a shiver ran down my body as I wondered what would happen if I were

caught. A few minutes later, I heard the door open and close. I waited for a few seconds, listening to

any other sound in the room but all I could hear were my heart beats. Cautiously, I crawled from

beneath the desk to check around and thankfully he was no-where in sight.

I let out a sigh of relief and climbed to my feet, taking a few steps towards the door. Once I was out of

the room, I’d make a run down the hallway and get help from the doctor or anyone for that matter.

I stepped out to find the lights switched off. I’d seen a number of slasher movies, and had always

laughed at the victims for being too gullible or stupid, never realizing that I could be in that situation

someday.

My life was no better than a horror movie.

The lights flickered as I tried to walk quietly but the sounds of my canvas shoes echoed through the

empty hallway. I heard soft footsteps behind me so I picked up pace and turned around the corner

when a pair of strong arms seized me. He whispered. “Gotcha! Play times over, Riley.”

And my head was spinning and a total blackout was surrounding me.

I couldn’t tell what day or time it was. For a moment, I didn’t even know what was going on until

everything started coming back to me in flashes. Me walking into Ezra’s room to give him food. Ezra

getting out of the restraints and chasing after me.

I took a lungful of breath and coughed.

“Easy there, you don’t want to hurt yourself.”

My head snapped towards the man of the voice. “Did you drug me?” My voice was barely audible to

me.

My hands were shacked to a chair. I tried to wiggle out of it but it started to bite my skin harder. “Why

are you doing this Ezra?!” I asked. “Do you understand that people are going to find me missing and

they are going to start looking for me. Once they track me down, they’ll get to you too! Let me go.”

He passed me a coy smile. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was genuine and one that wasn’t purely

evil. “Let’s not garner any delusions, Nurse Riley. No one’s coming for you.”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked.

He stared at me for a good few seconds. He’d changed out of the patients outfit into a plain white t-shirt

and jeans.

Where the hell did he get those clothes from?

He brought a chair closer and sat on it. “I just need some information.”

“You’re not getting any information from me!” I said.

“Where is my brother Jackson?” He asked.

“I don’t know.” I said, and that was the truth. The hell I knew where Jack went after he left my

apartment that day. “And even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“You were captive for nearly a week; you surely know where he buried the victims or in another case,

tossed the body parts in numerous locations. I want you to tell me where.”

“I told you. I don’t know! And Jack never killed anyone.” I said. “You did it and you’re just putting it on

Jack. I don’t understand why.”

“Let’s have a civilized conversation, Riley. If you tell me where my brother is, I won’t hurt you and if you

don’t tell me, well, that would be testing my patience.”

I sighed. “If you take off the restraints, I’ll tell you all about it.”

Ezra chuckled, the amusement glinting in his eyes. “Funny how our roles are reversed in a matter of a

few minutes, tell me, Riley. Are you trembling with fear?”

“Take off these and I’ll tell you about Jack.” I said.

He retrieved a key from his pocket and unlocked it and just as quickly backed away before my fist

before it could connect to his face. I didn’t know how he saw it coming. He was smart to dodge it. “Don’t

you go using old antiques on me. I’m too experienced for that shit.”

He didn’t even try to stop me when I ran to the office door and opened it. I rubbed my wrist where I’d

been restraint. Red welts were going to appear there. I’d made as far as the end of the floor when I saw

Agent Flint and Agent Scott walking towards me.

Thank goodness they had gotten my message and had come to my rescue.

“Agent Flint! Oh thank god!” I exclaimed.

Flint appeared worried. “What’s going on, Miss. Frazer?”

I pointed at the administration office. “Ezra. He escaped from his room and he threatened to kill me!”

The agents exchanged a look. “Let’s go check out the place.”

“No. You shouldn’t! Ezra is dangerous! He can kill you both.”

“Well, we know how dangerous he is if that person really is the twin and not Jackson.” Agent Flint

agreed. “We would still like to check the place. You can come with us, Miss. Frazer. I assure you,

you’re safe with us. We will protect you with our lives.”

I gave a nod and stayed beside the two agents as we walked to the administration room. When we

opened the door, Ezra was still there, holding a gun.

A freakin’ gun!

It was during that time that I knew shit was about to go down.

Agent Flint and Scott raised their weapons. “Freeze. Place the weapon down and put your hands

where I can see them. Do it now!”

Scott closed the door behind me. Ezra was stoic, his expressions not betraying any emotion. Maybe

Ezra realized it was game over. He placed the gun on the floor and slowly and deliberately raised his

hands up.

“Well, you were looking for trouble again, weren’t you, Wolfe?” Agent Flint said. “You just can’t sit your

ass tight without causing drama. Look you scared the living daylights out of a poor nurse.”

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The serious expression that Ezra was sporting burst into a chuckle. “You got me.” He said in a matter

of fact way. “Are you going to kill me, Agent Knight?”

Agent Flint and Ezra stared at each other in a battle of epic stare down.

“We should inform the police.” I whispered.

Agent Flint looked at me and then back at Ezra, the tension is the room was brewing. “Sit down, Nurse

Riley.” He said lowering his gun.

I shot Agent Flint an incredulous look. “We should call the police, Agent!”

And then it clicked. I looked from Ezra to the Agents. “You guys are together in this?”

Ezra picked up the gun and jammed in into the waistband of his denim, and the Agents made no

attempt at stopping it. He then walked towards me slowly in the same predatory way. I took a step back

and then two. “Let me introduce myself again, Nurse Riley.”

“FBI, Special Agent Ezra Wolfe.” He grinned. “I work deep undercover. Pleased to finally make real

introductions.”