24. Levi

Head throbbing, Levi groaned. What the hell happened?

He pressed a hand to his head and grimaced at the pain splitting through it.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and blinked. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness around him. His body was cold, and there was a dampness in the air around him. And what was that smell? Was it mold? Mildew? Whatever it was, he was pretty sure that it was not healthy to breathe in.

Groaning, he sat up and took in his surroundings.

The walls were made of stone and looked like they had been laid centuries ago. In the center of the room dangled a single lightbulb, giving him just enough light to see from one end of the tiny cell to the other.

His fingers dug into the small cot that he sat on. The mattress was soft but looked discolored like it had been used often over the years. To his right was a pillow with a deep blue pillowcase, and to his left sat a rolled-up blanket.

Where was he?

Then it hit him.

The wine!

Peabody had spiked his wine!

The last thing he remembered was taking a sip of his drink and then watching the world around him go dark. That sly look on Peabody's face before his vision blurred over and the drugs took him away.

Levi stood and began making his way around the room. Closing his eyes, he ran his fingers along the surface of the wall. The stone was cold to the touch and rough in some areas. He could feel the history in the room. The pain, the suffering. This was not a happy place.

Underground.

He had to be underground somewhere. That would explain the temperature change and coldness of the stones around him. When he got to the door, he gripped the cast iron bars located at the top and peered out of his cell. There were several doors. Many doors. All running up and down the corridor.

Were there other people in those cells as well?

"Hello? Est-ce que quelqu'un est là? Is anybody out there?" Levi called out, hoping not to receive a response.

"Shhh, he'll hear you," someone said a few doors to his right.

"Hello? Who's there? I'm Levi Harris. Who am I speaking to?"

"Will you shut the fuck up?" someone off to his left hissed.

The fear and urgency in the young man's voice sent an instant chill down Levi's back. Clearly, these people were terrified of whomever had taken them. Were they referring to Peabody? Or someone else?

"Oldridge. He should be back any minute, and if he hears any of us talking, he's going to get really mad," a female voice said to his right.

There were at least three others down here with him, both men and women. Fuck, he needed Chase.

He felt around in his back pocket for his phone but didn't feel anything. Shit, he must have dropped it when he was trying to send Chase a message about being drugged.

Surely, Chase must have tried to contact him by now. If he couldn't get a hold of him, Chase would have reached out to Matteo, no doubt. He hoped. God! He didn't even know what time it was. How long had he been knocked out? Was he close to Peabody's house or someplace far away?

Suddenly, panic began to set in. He had no idea where the fuck he was or how long he had been trapped here. Was Chase even aware that he was missing? Did Jared give Matteo his message? All of the unknowns suddenly became too much for Levi to bear.

"Hey, hey, hey," a male voice whispered from across the hall. "Just relax and try not to panic."

The man's voice was soft and reassuring. It had years of maturity hidden beneath the gentle words he spoke.

Levi tried to focus on the man's voice. He needed to calm down. Panic wouldn't do him any good.

"I know it all seems scary right now, but know that you're not alone. Just relax, remain calm, and everything is going to be okay."

"Wh… who are you?" Levi managed to ask.

After a short pause and silence all along the corridor, the voice responded.

"I'm Simone."

Somehow, he felt the panic begin to dissipate. He wasn't alone. There were others down here with him, and one of them was named Simone. It was strange how adding someone's name to their voice somehow made the voice become human. Become real. They were not just another random sound whispering through the night. They were a voice belonging to someone—a human who he could see and touch—well, maybe not see and touch at the moment, but at least he knew that someone was there, just beyond his reach.

"I… I'm Levi," he stuttered, staring into the dark cell across from him.

A dark figure approached and then appeared in between the cast iron bars.

"Nice to meet you. Now, I need you to remain calm and silent. Mr. Peabody doesn't like it when we make noise or talk to each other when he's not around. He feels… left out."

"What?" Levi asked, not totally understanding what Simone was saying.

"Three times a week, Mr. Peabody joins us all for dinner, during which time we are allowed to chat with each other. The rest of the time, we are to remain in our cells, silent, and that's it. Trust me, it's safer if you just obey his rules."

Levi rested his head against the cold bars against the door. How was he going to get out of here?

"How long have you been in here?" Levi finally got the nerve to ask.

The man remained silent.

"Six months for me," a woman's voice replied down the hall.

"I think a year for me," a man's voice whispered to his left.

"I… I'm not even sure anymore," someone else's voice responded from down the hall.

God, how could he have been so stupid? Why didn't he just listen to Chase and work the case together?

He missed Chase and the gang already.

A tear slowly slid down his cheek.

Please, Lord, let me get out of this alive. I love my family and want to see them again. Please, Lord,he prayed silently.

The room—if you could call it that—was cold and damp. The small bed he sat on earlier was shoved to one corner of the room with a small dresser standing next to it.

Levi walked over to the dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. There were three pairs of underwear, four pairs of socks, and a box of tissues. He pulled open the second drawer to find a pair of jogging pants, two pairs of jeans, and a selection of sweaters.

Judging by the change of clothing, it didn't appear that Peabody was planning on letting him go anytime soon. Fighting back another wave of tears, he closed the drawer and began inspecting his surroundings once again.

There was an old Tom Clancy novel sitting on his bed, along with a jug of water and an empty glass sitting on the dresser.

Other than that, the room was bare. How long would it take before he went mad with boredom?

He scanned the walls of his room. Huh, that's strange. There was no light switch in the cell.

It was at that moment that the lights in all the cells went off. Levi sat in utter darkness, save for a small red glow coming from some emergency lighting out in the hallway.

"Good night, little one," he heard Simone whisper from across the hall.

It appeared that even their sleep schedule was regulated.

Levi lay down on the bed and pulled the blanket over his shoulder. He curled his body up into a ball, then began to cry himself to sleep.

Of all the ways he imagined his life turning out, becoming a prisoner in some dark and dreary cave was not one of them.

He had escaped one nightmare only to end up in another.