Merciless (Option Zero 1)

The door to the outside was the sweetest sight ever, and it was only a few feet away. The small window at the top indicated it was night. She told herself that was good. She would be harder to find in the dark. Freedom could be hers.

She took three steps toward the door and then stopped. The knife he’d used to cut her clothes off that first day lay on the counter. He had used it several times since then to terrorize her, and on several occasions he had cut her. She could turn the tables. She could grab the knife, and before he knew it, she could stab him through his cold, rotten heart. He would never hurt her or anyone again. His death would never make up for what he’d done, but it would be a good start.

Her hand shaking with both excitement and fear, she grabbed the knife and turned to the couch. She stood above him. How could someone so evil look so ordinary? He was only in his mid-twenties, with pale, thinning hair and a small scar on the bridge of his nose. He looked like someone you’d pass on the street and not consider the least bit dangerous. That couldn’t be further from the truth. If he opened his eyes, the illusion of normality, of sanity, would disappear, and the darkness in his soul would gleam bright.

The knife gripped in her hand, hatred and revulsion boiled through her veins. She raised the knife high. Getting the blade through his chest wall might take more strength than she had, but she remembered enough from her biology classes to know where to stab for maximum damage.

The knife arced down. It was a quarter inch from his thick neck when she stopped. Could she do this? Could she actually kill? Take a life, rotten though it was?

She wanted this monster to suffer. Wanted to see him behind bars, writhing in agony. For what he had done, he would be on death row, and one day full justice would come to him. Killing him now would be too easy for him.

Still hanging on to the knife, Lucy backed away. Doing an about-face, she headed to the door.

Run, run, run. That’s all she needed to concentrate on. She got to the door and heard a groan. He was waking up!

Giving up on stealth, she yanked the door open and ran.

About a hundred yards away, she ventured a look back. She saw no movement, no activity. Maybe he hadn’t heard her leave after all.

For the first time, she got a look at her torture house. Though dawn had yet to break, it was light enough to see the derelict old cabin. The porch was sagging, and broken shutters hung drunkenly from dirty windows. Tall weeds and sparse grass surrounded the structure. It reeked of evil and was the perfect residence for the devil who lived within its walls.

The creaking of the front door jerked her out of her trance. She’d just been standing here, staring at the house as if she wasn’t running from a demon. She kicked her brain back into gear and started running again.

Seconds later, an ungodly squeal of rage echoed through the woods. He’d discovered she had escaped! If he found her, she knew without a doubt he would kill her this time.

Telling her weak legs and malnourished body to move, she picked up her pace and ran like the devil himself was chasing her. Because he was.

For what felt like an hour, she ran as fast and as hard as she could. Her bare feet were bleeding and numb from the cold, her limbs felt like rubber, and her side ached as if it would rip open if she took one more step. She had no choice but to stop. Leaning against a tree, she bent forward. Ragged breath whistled out of her aching lungs like a sick locomotive. If a herd of stampeding horses had been following her, she wouldn’t have heard them.

As she fought to breathe, she raised her head to judge her surroundings. She was deep in the woods. It was now early morning, and the rising sun mesmerized her with its piercing light, its welcoming heat. It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever witnessed. How long had it been since she’d been outdoors? The fresh air was intoxicating, the sun a warming solace to her battered soul.

Something that felt like optimism soared through her. Yes, she could do this. She had escaped the bastard. He had no idea which direction she’d headed. There was no way he could find her now. All she had to do was get to a phone or find someone who could call for help.

Energy flowed through her body. She straightened, drew in another shaky breath. She had no idea where she was going or even if there was help ahead. All she knew was the sun was so beautiful and so bright, and it called to her unlike anything ever had before. Something told her if she followed the sun, it would take her exactly where she needed to go.

Lucy took a step and then another, her eyes never leaving the bright beacon of hope. How far she walked she would never know. What seemed like hours later, sounds of civilization caught her attention. Noise, like large machinery, drew her toward one area. One foot in front of the other became her only focus. When she saw a construction site and a group of men standing around looking at something in the ground, she opened her mouth to say something, and nothing emerged. She tried again. Still nothing.

Doing the only thing she knew to do, she continued to put one foot in front of the other and shuffled forward. She heard someone shout. A few more shouts joined in.

Lucy felt herself falling, and then strong arms caught her. She closed her eyes on a sobbing sigh. She was safe. She had escaped her nightmare. The monster could never hurt her again.

If only she had known how wrong she was.

Chapter Three

Twelve years later

Memphis,

Tennessee

It was a good night to catch a killer.

Flipping her long blond hair over her shoulder, Jules Stone took a practiced, casual glance around the stylish bar. The dark, shiny tables and high ceilings gave off the ambience of wealth and class. George’s Place was just one of a new crop of meeting places for the young and single in the city. Trendy food, medium-to high-priced liquor, and a good sound system made George’s Place one of the most popular.

The bar was filling up and soon would be too crowded to give her the view she needed. It made sense that Thursday night would bring in more people than earlier in the week. The weekend was coming, and people wanted to get their celebration on early. That didn’t bode well for her, though. Too many people meant she could get lost in the crowd. She didn’t want to get lost. She wanted to be noticed, to be seen.

Perhaps she should have dressed more provocatively. She’d opted for casual but feminine, but maybe she should have stepped it up a notch and gone for sexy and seductive. The lightweight turquoise sweater was snug and molded to her shape nicely but didn’t show even a hint of cleavage. Her jeans hugged her long legs but would probably have looked sexier paired with something besides running shoes. She had decided on them for two reasons. First, heels made her taller, and while five foot eight wasn’t all that tall, she wanted to appear as petite as possible. Second, she needed to be able to move fast. Wearing heels would slow her down and could get her killed.