Taken (Second Sight) by Hazel Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

gripped the thick support chain of the metal cot with her left hand. Somewhere in the middle of the night she’d learned that holding onto the chain relieved the strain of the cuff around her wrist. His footsteps drew closer.
    All the resolve she’d built up when she was alone had vanished.  
    The cheery whistling grew louder.
    Stop it , Isabelle thought, shutting her eyes. Stop that sound!
    As though in answer to her, he did just that and Isabelle realized he was standing outside the cell door.
    “Good morning, Isabelle,” he said, grinning as he opened the squeaking door. Completely against her will, she flinched. “Ah, I see you’re ready to begin.”
    All night, in the darkness and the cold, she had thought of this moment and the thing that she would say to him–a million possibilities. But now– nothing .  
    The Chameleon dragged the metal chair over the concrete floor and sat in it as he had yesterday, with its back toward her. She’d moved as close to the wall as she could get.
    What had Mac said? Think, Isabelle, think!
    “I don’t believe I’ve ever told you,” the Chameleon began, “what a lovely voice you have.”
    She stared at him.
    Lovely voice?
    “When you scream,” he said, reaching down to his belt.
    She heard something unsnap.
    Oh god. He’s going to start again. Think!
    He held up a small, diamond, stud earring for her to see. It twinkled even in the milky light from the dirty windows in the corridor.
    “This belonged to–”
    “ Who? ” Isabelle yelled, louder than she’d intended. “Your mother?”
    The Chameleon frowned disapprovingly at her, as though she’d given the wrong answer in a quiz.
    “No,” he said, drawing it out, as though he were trying to be patient. “This is from–”
    “Because wasn’t it with your mother that this all began?” Isabelle said, her voice quaking.
    The Chameleon cocked his head at her, rotating it so far he looked like his face was spinning.
    “ What? ” he said.
    “All the sex,” she replied, seeing that the words were having an effect. “Isn’t that what this is all about?” He gripped the earring in his fist. “Because this is sex for you,” Isabelle continued. “Isn’t it? This is how you get off.” The Chameleon, his eyes never leaving her face, slowly stood. “You can’t have actual sex,” Isabelle said.  
    She heard the earring drop into the leather holder at his waist and the cover snap closed. But as he shoved the chair aside, knocking it over, she realized he held something new in his hand. It was a short, black metal stick but as he quickly swung it with a short, chopping motion, it expanded with a loud click.
    Uh oh.
    His mouth was twisted in a strange grimace that almost made it seem like he would laugh but he didn’t utter a word. Instead he swung the metal rod at her head. Her right elbow came up immediately to parry the blow. The rod glanced off it as the stinging blow jerked her wrist in the cuff.   But as she shut her eyes and hid her face behind her bent arm, a sudden blow to the stomach made her grunt. The air rushed from her lungs as pain flooded through her.  
    In quick succession, three more thwacking, biting, painful strikes across her midsection left her completely breathless. She tried to draw her legs up but the cuffs held her feet firm. And though her arm still covered her face, she’d lost all strength, barely able to keep it in place. The room spun wildly but she tried to twist her torso, turn away from him so that she could breathe. But as the rod landed yet again and the searing pain shot upward, the world quickly faded to black.

    • • • • •

    From the parking lot of the Federal Building, Mac glanced up to the seventeenth floor to where he knew Ben’s office would be. But as the phone rang and he waited for Sharon to pick up, he knew this was a call that Ben couldn’t hear.
    Sharon had been with him on the two previous cases, in charge of the command posts as he and Isabelle