Chad sat on the sofa as instructed. A wayward spring dug into his ass. He eyed Cassie as she continued rummaging through a bag, distracted. If Chad was brave, he could go for the gun levelled at his crouch, not that it had been her initial aim. If he was so bold, he could knock her out with the hilt to the temple and run across to neighbours for help. Better yet, call the police. He'd seen it done many times in films. It was probably doable.

He eyed her, her bag, and then the gun in her small hand, too preoccupied with whatever she was looking for. This was his moment. He could go for it, he could. He tensed, ready to coil into action. However, as he lifted off the sofa, the spring squeaked.

"Shit!" He mouthed as Cassie's head snapped in his direction like a viper, the gun aimed back at his torso.

He shuffled on the seat as if he were trying to get comfortable. "There's a spring digging in," he managed.

Cassie smiled at his discomfort, lowering the gun back to his groin. "I always hated that couch. I told Ma to throw it out years ago. It doesn't go with this house."

Nothing goes with this decrepit house, not even you, you crazy loon. He plastered a nervous smile on his face.

"God, I've missed you!" she blurted, one hand back in the bag, searching.

He swallowed. Maybe he could distract her long enough for her mother to walk in on them. "This is your Ma's place? Nice. I haven't seen her in what, four years. How is she?"

"What pipe are you smoking?" She laughed, pulling a loaded syringe from the bag.

"Your Ma?" Chad continued, distracted by the giant needle. What the hell is that? His heart skittered like a nervous child.

"Ma? Oh, you're not gonna see her around anymore." She shoved the syringe towards his face with a nudge. Take it.

Chad gave her a pleading look, hoping for mercy. Instead, she shoved it in his hand and stepped back. With both hands on the gun, she kept a steady aim in the general vicinity of his heart.

"It'll immobilise you so you can't try something stupid, like run." She sat on the edge of the table, watching him. "Go ahead, take it. It won't kill you."

Ha! Famous last words. Chad rolled the object in his hand. Trying to spot any labels that could tell him what poison was in the tube. That's when the word 'immobilise' popped back in his mind.

"What do you mean immobilise?" He eyed her, keeping his voice calm and not laced with panic or accusation.

"I don't know. I'm not a chemist, am I?" She shrugged. "I heard them discussing how it paralysis someone temporarily. So I swiped it. Thought it might come in handy."

"Them who?" he asked in alarm. Cassie had many 'them' in her books and some of those people didn't even exist.

"I don't know!" her voice rose a pitch higher, irritated. "Doctors, I suppose, you know, the ones in scrubs. Now stop wasting time. I need to pee."

Doctors? Chad's mind raced. She'd stolen an unknown paralytic doctors' used during procedures? Procedures such as surgeries where at least half a dozen people with medical training and life support gear surround you in case things went wrong. Not a deranged woman with no medical knowledge.

Paralysis? Chad's head snapped back to science lessons in school and first year of university when he had dabbled with the thought of completing a Bachelor of Science. Paralysis only occurred when neurons couldn't signal muscles any longer because the pathways were damaged or blocked.

God only knew what was in the syringe, and there was no way he wanted it in his body. It was not the way he, nor tabloid inducing Zachary Eve, wanted to go, paralyzed and unable to breathe, on the floor of a random house in a random suburb, dying at the feet of a crazy woman he'd invited into his life seven years ago. What a young, stupid fool he'd been when fame came knocking.

"Heart is a muscle," he mumbled, terrified at the thought. If he took the thing, temporary or not, he'd die while she went to the bathroom, period.

"What are you mumbling?" she barked, getting impatient.

"Do you want me dead, Cassie? Is that what you want?" he asked with a look of terror plastered on his face.

Confused, she shook her head. "No, why would I want you dead? I told you, I want to talk and I don't want you running away, back to her, while I pee."

Chad took a breath. What he was going to say was crazy, but not as crazy as taking the drug, or as stupid as dying if he took that damn thing.

"If it's a paralytic," he began. "Yes, I won't be able to move a muscle, so can't run, but I won't be able to talk either, Cassie. And you want to talk, don't you?" He held the syringe up gingerly between his fingers. "I won't be able to breathe either, because that needs a muscle too. You know what that means, right?" He looked at her for an understanding.

"It means, while you go to the bathroom, Cassie, I will die here. My heart will stop working. Do you understand what you're asking me to do?"

Cassie shook her head. Confusion reigning. "How do I make you stay then?" She looked up at him, her blue eyes pleading.

"You could always tie me. Or shoot my legs." He swallowed hard, eyeing the gun. Regretting the moment the suggestion left his lips. He didn't want to get shot, but it beat the hell out of suffocating to death. "Either way, I won't be going anywhere, but not this, Cassie. I don't want to die like this." He placed the syringe on the arm of the sofa and turned to her.

Cassie considered his suggestions for a long moment, and all Chad could do was wait for her to decide which option sounded better: shoot him in the leg, or tie him?

♡

The security guard paused the image as a petite woman took off a wig, and despite it being grainy as hell, June recognised the woman. She grasped Tom's arm, panic welling in her chest.

"That's her. That's Cassie."

Tom glanced at an old mug shot of Cassie he had the department send to his phone, then at the woman on the computer screen. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." June tapped the guard's shoulder. "Can we see where they went?" The man nodded, and the video continued on fast-forward, till the two disappeared from view, heading towards the parking lot.

"He went with her?" June gasped. "Why would he go willingly? He's terrified of her."

"Unless he had no choice." Tom stared at the screen, thoughtful. "Can you rewind to where they start talking?" The image scrambled back to where Chad had approached the figure in the shadows.

"Why did he even approach her?" June mumbled beside Tom. "I was on my way. Ten minutes, and he would have been in the car with us."

Tom glanced at her from the corner of his eyes before he thought he saw something on the screen. "Pause." The image stopped as Cassie stepped out into the light, her right arm obscured by her body. "Zoom in on the hand."

The guard complied and though June couldn't tell what Tom was glaring at, his wide-eyed expression told her it was something she should fear.

"Can you get me a copy of this? And, do you have any CCTV looking out at the lot?" Tom asked with a new sense of urgency in his voice.

"Only partially," the guard replied. "The spots closer to the hospital might be on a camera, but the back end, if she parked there, I'm afraid I got nothing."

"Check for me. The make and model, or better yet, a license plate would be great."

"Sure."

"Is Chad in danger?"

Tom met her gaze. "How much do you know about this woman?"

June shrugged. "Bits and pieces Jo or Chad mentioned. Or whatever she told me herself that day, if any of it was even true."

"Did she mention anything that could tell you where she is staying? Living?"

June shook her head. The panic she'd felt earlier welled up in her throat again, threatening to clamp it shut. "What's going on? Please tell me. Why did he go with her?"

"She had a gun on him, June. That's why he went against his will. We need to find him soon." He glanced at the screen as the guard continued scanning through CCTV footage in the parking lot from various angles. "The woman is not in the best of health mentally. She's sick and needs help, which makes her unpredictable."

He spotted a nervous Chad being pushed towards a car in the far corner of a camera, and yelled, "Stop! There." He pointed at the screen. "Get me that car." The guard followed Tom's finger and nodded in compliance.

"It'll take me a few minutes."

Tom turned back to June, who still stared at the section on the image he had pointed to. He cleared his throat to get her attention. "We have to get back to the house and get my team there, now."

She nodded, watching Chad disappear on the other side of the old sedan, out of view.

"June? If you remember anything from that day that can help me locate her, it could save his life."

"His life?" she muttered, surprised at the word.

The guard handed Tom a memory stick with the requested clips, and Tom nodded in gratitude before turning to her. "Come on."

June followed him out of the security room and into the night, "You will find him, won't you?" She halted by the edge of the parking lot.

"Depends." He escorted her by the arm towards his car.

"On what?"

"How good she is at covering her tracks, and what she wants from him." Getting in the car, he continued. "Her files indicate she suffers grand delusions where she thinks Chad is her husband and now, with the cameras in play and you in the picture—"

He glanced at her once before turning the engine on. "You were the last person in direct contact with her as far as we know, right? You talked to her. Did anything about her stand out?"

June knew what Tom had wanted to say. Cassie probably still thought Chad was her husband, and with her in the picture, she most likely thought he is cheating.  

June wracked her brain for details of the day with Cassie, on the ride back to the house, and to Jo, who was waiting for them to return with her brother. Had Cassie ever mentioned where she was staying? She couldn't quite remember.

A tear crept from the corner of her eyes when Tom pulled along the kerb. Two patrol cars and a tech team had arrived in perfect timing.

The sight of several cops and surveillance technicians gearing up to locate Chad should have provided relief. Instead, it filled June with dread. What if they couldn't save him?

Jo slunk over to June's side once they were inside. "Where's Chad?"

June swallowed nervously, watching the men tap the phone lines and set up a trace. Somewhere else, she heard Tom ask how close they were to tracing the outgoing signal from the cameras. "Find the damn IP!"  He was barking.

June ignored the grumble of her starved belly. She hadn't eaten since the morning.

"June? Where is Chad?" Jo repeated, her voice growing impatient with worry.

"Cassie has him," did my lips even move? An unusual numbness had washed over June at those words. "She got him from the hospital minutes before we arrived."

"What do you mean, she got him?" Jo glanced over at the men in the room.

"She had a gun to him, Jo." June turned to the sister. "Tom said he had no choice." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry we couldn't get him home safe." The flood gates opened. The guilt poured out, her blubbering got messier. Maybe they shouldn't have left him alone. "I'm so sorry!"

Jo held her in her arms, worry-lines etching her forehead. "This can't be happening again," she muttered, catching Tom's worried gaze.  "Find him. Please." She mouthed to him.

"I'll try." Tom's lips moved too, but the look on his face may as well have said, but I can't promise.

(Image by Free-Photos on Pixabay)