Page 65 of The Fix

Cami pulled uselessly against the rope at her waist, tying her to the wooden chair in an upper office where she was being held.

Her hands and feet were still zip-tied, and the chair itself was tied to a large credenza.

And she was positioned several feet back, but directly in front of the tinted window that overlooked Hollis’s rally.

She’d strained against the heavy piece of furniture at first, but her muscles had still been weakened and were mostly useless, and all she’d succeeded in doing was giving herself rope burn. She’d regained some strength over the last hour or so but still was nowhere near top form.

The “morally gray employee” Seraphina had apparently bribed had carried her here, a mask on his face like the criminals who’d once terrorized her.

She’d attempted to talk to him, but he’d ignored her pleas.

They’d traveled up the back steps of what seemed like an empty, after-hours building and to this room across the street and facing a stage where Hollis spoke in front of a gathered crowd.

The jumbotrons on each side of the platform ensured she could see him clearly, even from this distance.

They desired Hollis’s impending power to be her final view, apparently.

They’d positioned her here, very literally a captive audience.

There had been a video of Hollis shaking hands and holding babies across Virginia, and a few other speakers, and a singer with a guitar who’d performed a country song, and then Hollis had taken the microphone.

She could practically see the media swooning. She could feel the energy of the crowd, even from this perch. They were deeply inspired. They couldn’t wait to vote for him.

And all Cami could do was scream.

But no one could hear her, not above the loudspeaker outside or the cheering throng.

A familiar figure parted the crowd, moving through, in the opposite direction of the stage. Oh my God. Is it ... Cami’s heart nearly beat out of her chest when she saw Rex in the midst of the rally-goers, facing the window where she was. Rex. Rex. Oh my God.

“Rex!” she screamed. Oh God. Oh God, he’s right there. He’s here. How is he here? Her heart felt like it might explode, her desperation skyrocketing at the sight of him. She could only see him enough to know that he was weaving his way through the people, his head moving in all directions.

You’re looking for me. You know I’m here.

But how would he find her? There were tall outdoor lights illuminating the stage where Hollis was speaking, and the crowd in front of it, but this building, and the room she was in, were dark, the windows tinted.

Even if Rex looked up, he wouldn’t be able to see her.

And Hollis’s rally was wrapping up. Behind the area where Rex was moving, Hollis’s face filled the gargantuan screens, his grin as bright as the spotlights surrounding him.

She might soon be killed by Seraphina or Hollis, or Mrs. Barclay or some hired “fixer” less than a hundred feet from Rex, and he’d never know.

No. No.

The mere idea made the vision of Mrs. Willoughby in her garden just outside the window streak through Cami’s mind.

And it gave her an idea.

Her head whipped to the right, where there was a cheap standing lamp situated against the wall. When she’d first noticed it in the mostly empty room, she’d dismissed it as a weapon or a way to cut the ties at her hands. But it might help her in another way.

But first she had to reach it. And she was still weakened from the muscle relaxant. Weak and clumsy. But not useless.

The credenza she was tied to was huge and solid and had to weigh three hundred pounds. Even if her muscles had been at their prime, she couldn’t have managed to pull the heavy piece of furniture toward the window or the door. Both of those were too far. The wall, however, was closer.

Hollis’s voice rose, muted through the glass, but also powerful as he geared up for his closing remarks.

Even in the midst of her hatred and disdain, she recognized how handsome he was, how charismatic he could be.

His mother stood slightly behind him now, her haughty chin raised as she surveilled the crowd.

The sight of Felicia Barclay, the one who’d ordered a hit on her child, gave her a burst of fortitude.

Cami set her eyes on Rex, who’d turned and was slowly moving in another direction.

And then she used all her strength to hurl her body toward the wall. The chair tipped, wobbled, and then Cami went crashing to the ground, the air knocked from her lungs as the rope at her waist bit harshly into her skin.

She lay there for only a moment, bracing against the pain and finally pulling in a ragged breath as she gripped the floor and pulled her body, the credenza scraping over the tile.

She’d moved it!

Just an inch, maybe even less. But if she’d done it once, she could do it again.

Hollis’s voice boomed, the crowd roared, and the vision of Rex moving farther away from her all prompted her forward.

She used strength she didn’t think she had, pulling her body over the floor, still bound and tied to the chair and dragging what she’d determined to be an immovable piece of furniture behind her.

I am coming home to you, Cyrus.

Rex, I’m here. I’m here.

Sweat dripped down the side of her face, and her hands became slippery.

Just another inch. Just ... Cami stretched both hands in front of her, the zip ties cutting into her skin.

The grunting sound that accompanied her effort turned into a shriek as she grasped the lamp cord with her fingertip.

She stilled then, panting, shaking as she pulled it toward her.

Hollis’s voice. Music. Applause. So much applause.

Her movements were still uncoordinated, and so when she attempted to pull the lamp closer to her again, her hand jumped, and the lamp swayed.

No, no, oh God no.

The lamp tipped and fell toward her, Cami letting out a high-pitched squeal as she turned toward where it was falling and barely caught it before the bulb hit the floor.

She allowed herself only a moment to get control of her shaking before her fingers found the switch, and she turned the lamp on. She squinted and groaned as the light hit her eyes, sudden and intense. But it worked. It worked. She’d been worried she’d turn it on, and the bulb would be dead.

She turned it off and then waited a second and then turned it back on. She couldn’t see out the window now from the floor where she lay. She couldn’t tell if Rex had seen her signal from below. She only had a view of Hollis’s enlarged face as he grinned and laughed and said words he didn’t mean.

She focused on her breath, and only that, as her fingers turned the switch one way and then the other.

I’m here. I’m here, Rex.

Only he would understand. Anyone else catching sight of the flickering light from above, through a tinted window, might think it was a reflection, or a response to Hollis’s speech perhaps. A way to applaud from afar.

A way to show their support.

On. Off. On. Off.

Slow and steady. Slow and steady.

She heard feet pounding down the hall, toward the room where she lay, and a sob burst from her mouth.

Rex. Rex.

He’d found her. He was here.