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Shine hated waiting on the weather. At least they had good surveillance available and knew exactly where the man was. Once the flooding stopped, they would head out. Based on what the forecasters were predicting, they expected another twelve hours that would be dangerous, and then they would move. They could have the guy by tomorrow.

More than a week had passed since he'd left California. He missed Rowan. Though they'd only been together for a short time, he missed seeing her. He wanted her in his bed. Leaving when he had could mess with their flow, but he hoped Rowan wouldn't react badly to him being gone on a mission.

Sharp stepped into the room. “Shine, you get enough sleep?”

“Yeah, I’m good. What about you?”

Sharp shrugged. “I’m good.”

“Do you think we’ll go in tonight?”

“I do. You ready? ”

Shine nodded. “I am. I’ve been watching. He’s at the compound. Our sources on the ground say he’s there, too.”

"We need to grab him. We've been sitting here for too long. I don't like having to wait."

The door opened, and Griz and Squat came in. They were both eating something. Shine stood, knowing he needed to grab something to eat. Apple carried in a tray of food and was followed closely by Jay.

Apple set the tray down on the table. “I brought in some sandwiches. We’re on in a few hours. The storm is clearing faster than they thought.”

“Thanks, man,” Shine said.

“Oh yeah.” Griz moved to the table and grabbed a sandwich. “Thanks, Apple.”

They all grabbed something to eat, knowing this might be their last thing before the raid. They would carry MREs, but those weren’t as good as fresh food.

Shine spent the next few hours getting prepared for their incursion. If this went well, he would be home with Rowan in a few days. He couldn’t wait to see her again and hold her close, showing her how much he loved her.

Rowan's jaw still ached from the bastard punching her. She realized way too late that the man with the beard who'd been following her was Charles Kinsey, the air traffic controller she'd had given the bad assessment to. The man seemed unfit for work when she'd done the assessment with him. Now she realized she'd not been harsh enough in her determination of his mental state. He was beyond unfit.

She wasn't sure how many days had passed since she'd woken up with her leg shackled to the floor. Time seemed to pass in spurts and starts, like maybe he’d drugged some of her food. She had enough chain length to go to the bathroom and to get food and water, but she'd never been held captive like this, and the passage of time seemed unreal.

The sound of a vehicle pulling up in front of the cabin drifted in, and for a moment, she had hope. But she realized soon enough it was Charles's car. She wondered who owned this cabin. Would they come out here at some point? She hoped they did. She wanted to be rescued and soon.

The reality was no one knew where she was. Shine would have no clue where she’d disappeared to, and none of her friends knew about any of this. She was lost to her friends, and it would be too late by the time anyone discovered where she was.

She had the feeling that Charles hadn't thought this all the way through. Once he realized he couldn't release her, it would be too late. The only logical step he could take would be to kill her. He had mentioned more than once she had to sign off on the paperwork, and then he would let her go, but he hadn't provided any paperwork for her to sign. She had serious doubts that he would ever allow her to leave alive.

Maybe he didn't even realize what he would have to do. He could be totally ignorant of the options. Or perhaps his play the whole time was to keep her captive and never let her go. She had thought he was messed up, but she'd missed some important clues showing that he was even more deranged than she'd first thought.

“Ah, you’re awake,” Charles said as he entered the cabin.

She said nothing as she kept her gaze on him. She’d thought about playing a game, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear, but what would that gain her? He couldn’t ever let her go. He had to know she would tell people what he’d done.

“You know, it will be easier if you talk. It helps pass the time. We could discuss our favorite sports. I love watching baseball. I know some people say it’s boring, but if the players are good enough, it’s not boring at all. If they are good, they’re very calculating.”

She wanted to scream at him and tell him to shut up, but she held back. Yelling wouldn’t solve anything.

"I brought chicken and some ice cream. I know you'll love the ice cream. It's one of those treats we never get too old for."

She swallowed the anger and bile, trying to respond evenly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll fix us a plate. You know, the days are getting shorter. I imagine we’ll need a fire in the fireplace before too long. I wonder if it snows here. I’ve always loved the snow. Unless I’m driving, then I hate it.”

She wondered what the hell he was thinking. She was captive, and yet he acted like they were friends. Whatever problems she’d seen while doing his evaluation hadn’t been everything. He’d done a good job hiding his true self.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“I need to change clothes.”

“I brought a change for you. Why didn’t you change when you showered?”

She narrowed her eyes, wondering if he really was an idiot in addition to being a total jerk. “I can’t get my pants off or new underwear on because of the chain.”

He glanced down at her ankle, his lips thinning. “Do you want green beans?”

It was like he couldn't address the elephant in the room. "No, thank you."

He continued talking about nothing important as he made up a plate for her and then placed it on the table. The chair he wanted her to sit in was next to the end of the table where he would sit. She didn’t want to be that close to him. She hadn’t done anything so far to show how much she disliked him.

Slowly, she moved, the chair scraping on the wood floor, leaving a few marks. She wasn’t doing it on purpose, but the chain was heavy, and it scraped when she tugged it across the surface.

The closer she got to the table, she had to drop the part of the chain she was holding up. The pressure on her ankle increased with each step. She winced as she took another step toward the table, and Charles frowned. What did he expect? She was dragging along deadweight with the chain, increasing the risk of wounds and sores developing. Already, she could tell the shackle on her ankle was opening the skin.

She sat, looking at the plate he'd fixed for her. A part of her wanted to toss the food to the floor, but she knew she needed to eat. If she didn't eat and found a way to escape, she wouldn't be able to keep going.

The chicken wasn't bad. Obviously, he'd picked it up from a store, though he tried to present it as his own. The mashed potatoes were good.

She ate slowly, chewing each bite, trying to keep her mouth full so she couldn’t talk. What could she say? She wasn’t doing anything during the day. Her life had winnowed down to the four walls and nothing else. She was trapped, desperate for escape, and at the mercy of a madman.

After she finished eating, Charles grabbed her plate and cleaned up. She wondered what he was trying to prove. He’d taken her hostage and had chained her to the floor of this cabin. She would have to chew off her foot to leave. She’d tried to find a way to get the chain off her ankle, but she was at a loss. There was nothing to help her at all in the cabin.

Sadness overcame her, and she hunched at the table, trying to keep the tears at bay. Rowan didn’t want to give this jerk the satisfaction of knowing how depressed she was.

“What’s wrong?”

His question made her irrationally angry. She wanted to scream and tell him to fuck off, but she wasn't sure how he would respond. He wasn't rational himself. The man had some serious issues, and his response could range from ignoring her to violence.

“Nothing.” She stood and pushed in the chair, moving carefully to reduce the damage from the shackle. She moved to the couch and sat, trying to keep her emotions level.

Charles came over, a glass in his hand. “Drink this.”

It looked like tea, but she wasn’t thirsty. “I’m fine.”

He lowered so his nose was even with hers, his eyes were wide and full of anger. “Drink it.”

She had no options, so she sipped at the tea, wishing Charles had choked on the chicken they’d eaten for dinner. She moved to set the drink down, but he forced the glass back into her hand.

“Drink it all.”

Worry filled her. What had he put in the drink? She took another sip, trying to determine if it tasted weird. She wasn’t sure if it had been poisoned or tampered with. When she finished the drink, he took the glass, his lips spreading into a wide smile.

“There we go. You need to learn to follow directions. It’s only reasonable that you do what I ask. This is one of the lessons you have to learn. I’m a good person who makes good decisions. If only you’d seen that earlier, then neither of us would be here.”

He turned, and Rowan thought about saying something, but her head started spinning. She closed her eyes, trying to stop the room from going around and around. Heat filled her, and she leaned her head back against the couch, thinking she would just rest for a moment, then get up and try to get him to listen.