Page 27 of The Player
I didn’t answer him, but he carried on, filling the darkness with his voice. A voice I found comforting, wrapping me up in its deep, velvety sound like a protective blanket.
“When I first met Adam”—he paused—“when I met all the guys and we started doing what we do…”
“Your vigilante shit,” I added, feeling like I should say something.
“Yeah. Adam told us his tips for survival in situations like this. You live by the sword, you die by the sword, and we were all aware that one day, something like this could happen to anyone of us. So, he prepared us.”
“How could you prepare for something like this?”
“I guess, in reality, you can’t. You don’t know what you’ll do when it actually happens. Theory is all well and good, but practise is something else.” He cleared his throat, his voice becoming grittier now as he spoke. “But that’s irrelevant right now.”
He moved closer to me, burying his face in the back of my hair, and then he moved his head away and began stroking my hair, soothing me.
“What did Adam tell you?” I asked, trying to ignore the way his fingers made my galloping heart change to a flutter every now and then as he teased my hair and tickled my scalp.
“Well, the first thing he said was to stay calm. Don’t panic. Keep your mouth shut and don’t piss off your captor.”
“You fucked that one up.” I gave a sad laugh, one I really didn’t feel.
“Yeah, I always knew I’d struggle with that one. Like I could keep my mouth shut.”
We lay together, my back to his front, both of us breathing deeply as he continued to stroke my hair.
“He said try to work out an escape route. If you don’t see one, be observant, listen, always keep a strong and positive survival attitude at the forefront of your mind. You might be held against your will, but you’re still alive, and if you’re alive, there’s always hope.”
“There’s always hope,” I reiterated. “Has Adam been in many hostage situations? Because it sounds to me like he was reading from the bullshit textbook of kidnappers anonymous.”
“You’d be surprised,” Will replied in a serious tone that I’d never heard him use before. “Adam has probably been through more than he’d ever admit. He doesn’t talk about himself much. But he likes to use what he knows to help others.”
Will moved his fingers to thread them through my hair and slowly massage my scalp. I couldn’t help but close my eyes at the feel of him.
“Anyway, what I’m trying to say,” he carried on. “Is that Adam said to talk. Even if you’re alone and its only in your head. Think about your family and friends. Talk to them. Tell them what you plan to do when you get out. If you lose yourself or get lost in your mind, you risk losing everything. Remember,” he whispered into my ear. “That escape mentality, your survival, it has to win above all else.”
I suppressed a moan as his fingers rubbed and stroked me into a meditative state. Something I’d never thought possible where I currently lay, on a shitty mattress in a concrete cave.
“Adam makes it sound so easy,” I said, my voice sounding distant, like I was floating on a cloud and the world was falling away.
“Far from it. He knows how hard it is. But at the moment, I think we’re doing okay.”
“We’ve been here for a few hours.”
“That’s what I mean. In a few days, we’ll need to remind ourselves what he said. But for now, we’re being fed, watered, and the Titmaster is keeping a mask on to hide his identity. The day that comes off is the day we di–”
I didn’t hear what he said after that. His magic fingers had hypnotised me, sending me to a place where there was no captor, no filth, and no concrete box to contain us. Only dreams of hope and a future that didn’t make my chest constrict in pain.
ChapterTwelve
BRYONY
All night I was in and out of sleep, nightmares creeping over me. I’d wake up in pools of sweat drenching my body, only for Will to hold me, stroke me, and soothe me back to unconsciousness. If you’d asked me a day ago who I’d prefer to be kidnapped with, he’d have been way down on that list, but right now, he was surprising me. Showing me a gentleness that I never knew he possessed.
When morning came, it wasn’t a hazy sunrise or the sounds of the world waking around us that pulled me from my dreams.
No.
It was the buzz of electricity followed by harsh lights overhead flooding the room with a brightness that made me squeeze my eyes shut for just a moment longer. I kept them shut, moving slowly on the mattress, but as I reached out, I realised the space next to me was cold.
My eyes sprang open as I sat up with a start.
