Smoke and Mirrors

45

“Here’s what is going to happen,” the man who’d kidnapped Cynthia told her when she came around. She was tied up and blindfolded but no longer in the barn. The place smelled of disinfectant and she was sure she’d been dressed in new clothes. They felt cheap and stiff and smelled like they had never been washed.

“Please, my stomach hurts really bad. Like worse than cramps. It’s what happens if I don’t get my insulin. I feel like I’m starving.”

“But you aren’t going to starve,” he said.

“It feels like I am. Even if I eat, it won’t help.”

“How about candy?” the man asked her.

“Sugar would make it much worse. I feel so sick. Please let me have a shot.”

“Well, that’s interesting. You feel like you are starving, but when you eat you won’t feel any different for it, even though you’d be full?”

“Yes. It’s diabetes. If I don’t get a shot, soon, I’ll have other symptoms.”

“Like what?”

“I’ve never gone without insulin since I was diagnosed, so I’m not really sure what all can happen. When I realize I’m really thirsty, I check my blood sugar and give myself a shot. If it’s, like, under two hundred fifty I’m feeling tired or my stomach hurts. If it goes to, like, three hundred fifty, I could go into a coma and have to be on an IV. I could die. So I need to do a check with my testing monitor. Look, I have two loaded syringes in my purse. You do have my purse, don’t you? My kit’s in there.”

“It’s in the van,” he said.

“Could you go and get it?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I abducted you. This is not a hospital, and I’m not a physician. If you die from insulin shock, you die.”

“But I need it,” she told him. “I’m serious.”

“You can go a long time without a shot without dying.”

“I’m not sure how long that is,” she said, frightened.

“Well, I’ll tell you what I will do. I have a sandwich you can have that may be staler than you’re accustomed to. I will give you plenty of water, and I will let you pee. I will only get your purse when I don’t have anything else that I have to do. If you give me any trouble, or try to escape, my associate outside this room will cut your nipples off. If you try a second time, I will cut your throat. Do you understand me?”

She still didn’t know who this man was or how he fit in with Jack. Her father-even given the bastard he was-would not allow anything to happen to her. It had occurred to her that her father might be involved in this to get money out of her mother. The thought pained her, but she couldn’t dismiss it. But she didn’t believe he could allow this man to hurt her. But maybe Jacob wasn’t in charge. At this point, very little would surprise her.

She felt the shooting pains of hunger worsen, a bad sign. She couldn’t just die like this.

She just couldn’t.

So she nodded.

“I understand,” she told the man who’d kidnapped her. “If you have time later on.”

“That’s better. I’ll see what I can do.” The man gave her a big smile, and she suddenly felt very cold.