Shain Chapter 19

It was less than a month until Christmas. Things were hectic, and I was in the unusual position of having a bunch of kids to buy for. The Infidels were prolific, having progeny. I knew I didn't have to buy them gifts. Their parents made it clear, but that wasn't who I was. I enjoyed doing it and seeing their smiling faces when they opened something I got them. Daredevil was all for it, and he even gave input on what we should get. He was less patient with the actual shopping part, so I handled most of that myself, which was fine. Thank goodness for online shopping, but one gift was one I had to see in person. After days of trying to track it down, I lucked out today, and a store in town had it, so I rushed over to check it out.

I was happy as I drove back to the compound. I had the elusive gift in the backseat. It was dark because I went after work. Even with the frustration of the shopping, it was better than my other aggravation. Work continued to be unbelievably busy. A thing I was typically fine with. What I hated was we were responding to more fires, which were being determined to be the result of an arsonist. No one had a clue to his or her identity or motivation. Unless we lucked out, they would remain anonymous and continue burning buildings down. The arsonist was escalating. The fires were happening more than once a week or so. The only good thing was they were targeting places that were empty of people. No one had lost their lives.

We had another one yesterday. We were spotting the causes easily, and since they used the same MO over and over, we recognized them. Shaking thoughts of those away, I focused on getting home. This was the start of my four days off. I was so looking forward to it. No dwelling on work and what I had no control over.

Daredevil and I were planning to take a couple of days and just go away to be alone. We wanted to spend uninterrupted time together. It wasn't intended as an offense toward the Infidels. I loved them. It was just nice to experience the "only two in the world" feeling. I had no idea where we were going. Daredevil insisted on handling the setup of our retreat and making it a surprise.

Coming around a blind turn, my headlights swept across a car sitting alongside the road. I slowed down when I saw the hood was up, and someone was frantically waving their arms in the air. As I got nearer, I noticed it was a young boy, a teenager. He looked scared. Poor thing, he probably just got his license, and now this. I remembered the first time I broke down. Despite knowing how to change a tire and do other minor troubleshooting on the car due to Moose's teachings, it was upsetting. I pulled over and parked behind him. Getting out, I walked up to him.

"Having car trouble I see. Any idea what's wrong? Did you call anyone?" I had my phone in my pocket in case he needed me to make a call. He shook his head.

"No, I didn't call. I'm sorry. I don't want to do it."

"Don't want to do what, call someone? Are you afraid you'll get in trouble?"

"I'm sorry. He made me. He pointed a gun at me and made me stop," he said almost in a whisper. As he did, a shiver of awareness of a presence behind me overcame me. I went swinging around to confront whoever was there, but I was too late. Something hit my head, blinding pain, and then I fell, and it was all going dark. As I lost consciousness, I called out for Daredevil.

???

Groaning, I struggled to open my eyes. My head was throbbing, and felt as if it was about to explode. I forced myself to open them anyway. As I blinked to clear my hazy vision, I saw my surroundings, and then I began to recall what happened. Someone had knocked me out, but why?

Scanning the dimly lit space, I noted it reminded me of a warehouse but one that had been converted into office space. storage, and a production area. I racked my brain, trying to recall if there were any buildings like it in Tenillo. I came up with nothing. I hadn't been here long enough to know every street and the different locations of things like this place. I did know it appeared to have not been used in a long time. There was dust or dirt on every surface. Drawers were hanging open, and papers were strewn on the floor as if the place had been ransacked. The air was stale-smelling with an underlying scent of fire. Lord, it was hanging on today. The hours it took after my last call to get rid of that smoke smell in my nose were ridiculous.

I went to sit up and found I wasn't able to. I shifted my arm to raise it, but it wouldn't move. That's when the tightness registered. I squinted and discovered why. My wrists were tied to a hard, bumpy surface. By the looks of it, it was a wire fence, like a chain link one only it was lying on the floor not upright. What the hell?

I tugged and tried my best to get loose, but I wasn't able to loosen them. "Fuck," I uttered aloud.

A faint scurrying sound came from my right. I whipped my head that way. I didn't see anything, but I knew what made those sounds. I shivered in disgust, not fear. Rats. Goddamn beady-eyed, disease-carrying rats. I swear to God, if one got on me, I'd kill whoever hit me and trussed me up like a turkey, leaving me to the rats. Thanksgiving was two weeks ago. Enough sacrificing turkeys.

The scurrying kept happening sporadically, but I didn't see any of the furry beasties. For now, they were staying away. Hopefully, they'd stay that way. I tried to think how to get myself out of this predicament. It was hard to concentrate due to the way my head was pounding, but I shoved the pain down to do it. The issues at hand were one, to get free, and two, to bring whoever was responsible for this to justice. No matter their excuse for kidnapping me, it wouldn't be acceptable to let them go with a smack on the wrist.

As I twisted to see if I might be able to loosen my wrists, I thought of who would do this. The obvious candidate was someone with a grudge against the Infidels. Maybe I was to be used as bait or to gain some kind of leverage over them. I wasn't aware of anyone they were currently having problems with, but I knew it being club business would likely make it unknown to me.

If it wasn't anything related to them, then the only other possibility was Laz. Had he been so angry and stupid enough to come all this way to get back at me for his troubles? Surely, he was smarter than that. He had to know when the Regulators and Infidels found out, and they would. They'd make him pay painfully and slowly. This would be grounds for more than just a severe beating. A small piece of me ached to know my one-time friend would become this. The rest of me fumed. If I got loose, he'd be lucky if there was anything left for the clubs to take care of.

My frustration grew as I kept working to get loose without success. The wire was poking uncomfortably into my backside. Why was I on it anyway? Time dragged by, and I lost track. It was still dark, so I knew approximately what time it might be. Daredevil had to be losing his mind with worry. I wondered how long it took them to find out I was missing. I knew they'd rally the troops and start a search. I just had no idea if there would be any clues as to where I was taken or by whom, which added to my resolve to free myself.

Due to my efforts and how long I'd been awake, I grew tired. I fought to stay awake, but my eyelids kept lowering, and it took more effort each time to open them. I was drifting when I heard the rattle of something. As I pried my eyes open, light pierced the darkness. A door was opened, and a tall, dark, backlit figure came walking in. As he got closer, I saw him better. I frowned. Why would Laz be dressed in his firefighter's gear, even his mask? I wasn't playing games with him.

"Give it a rest, Laz. Take that damn outfit off. I know it's you, and when Daredevil, Moose, and the others get here, they're gonna kill you. You're an idiot for doing this over something so silly," I told him with a sneer. He remained standing there saying nothing. I pushed again. My temper was rising each second he remained silent.

"What's the matter? Too much of a coward to face me without your mask? I want you to look me in the eye without shit between us and tell me what you hope doing this will accomplish other than getting you killed?"

Slowly, his arms raised, and the mask was removed. I stared, stunned and speechless, as he finally answered me. "I plan to accomplish my revenge, and you're the instrument of their destruction."

"Who are you?" I asked uneasily. The man before me was a stranger, although something did nag at the back of my mind.

"You'd call me a firebug, but I'm so much more than that, Shain. So much more."

Up until then, I was mostly pissed, but as I stared at him, fear began to fill me. I might be in more trouble than I thought. Who was he, and how could I get out of this alive? The suit was making sense as I studied him. I was with the arsonist who was terrorizing Tenillo. Why would he want to get revenge and destroy the fire department? They were the only ones who he was referring to. Was he a former disgruntled employee bent on revenge? If so, why go after me? Why not take one of the ones who knew him? Or was it simply because I was a woman? As the questions whirled in my head, I grew nauseous.