Wed, Aug 6, 2008

"Damn! Someone's here," Mark said, as he crouched down.

Joe joined him in reducing his profile and said, "That was a toilet."

"It sure sounded like it, but it came from right here. That trailer is on the other side."

"It sounded to me like it came from this shed," Joe whispered as he pointed to the nearby shed.

Mark stood up and motioned for Joe to follow him. They circled the compound looking around as they went. When they came to the trailer, they peered at it from behind the cover of one of the sheds. After waiting, watching, and listening for several moments, they continued on. They soon arrived back at the spot they had heard the flush. Mark said, "I sure didn't see anyone. There's no one at the trailer."

"That shed is padlocked shut. From the outside."

"You think someone's locked inside?"

"I don't know, but toilets don't generally flush by themselves. Maybe it's the future occupant of that grave?"

"The girl," Mark said.

"I don't know, but we should probably find out. Whoever it is, we can't just leave them there."

"What if it's the owner of this place?"

"We'll make up a cover story. We'll tell him we're Geocaching," Joe said with a chuckle.

"Well mister, y’all ever heard of Geocaching?" Mark said mockingly, in his best redneck voice.

"What worries me most is if it's the guy who dug that grave."

"No crap. That would be bad."

"Anyway, let's try."

The men stepped up to the chain link fence surrounding the compound, grasping it with their fingers. They both began shouting, "Anyone in there? Hey, Anyone there? You okay?"

After a few moments of yelling they waited. Nothing. They tried yelling again for a few moments and listened.

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Her business with the toilet finished, Maddy returned to addressing her long-term predicament. Where was she and how was she going to get out? She began walking along the wall of the room, feeling along as she went. The door was made of the same material as the wall and appeared to be structurally sound and securely locked. She pounded it with her fists but it barely made a sound. Then she tried ramming it with her shoulder to no greater effect.

She could find no breaches in the walls other than the crack around the door. The pump went into the concrete floor. She couldn't reach the light to inspect where the wiring went. The room seemed to be tightly sealed.

She stood in place and glanced around, wondering if there might be something that would be useful as a tool. Something to pry open the door or even hack through it. About the only thing she could see that wasn't nailed down was the toilet tank cover. She leaned back against the bench in frustration.

Standing in silence, she began to consider what the future might hold. The feeling of the straps between her fingers sent a chill through her body. She had no doubt that if she didn't get out of here, these straps would be securing her limbs to the table during a horrible death. She had to find a way.

Just then Maddy heard something. Voices? She listened intently, and believed she heard voices, but the sounds were so muffled she couldn't be sure. She walked over to the door and put her ear against it. She plainly heard someone shouting, "Is anyone in there?"

"Yes, Yes, I'm in here!" she screamed with desperate hope.

The trapped young woman ran to grab the only tool she had at her disposal - the toilet tank cover. She picked it up, walked back to the door and began pounding. She pounded the cover on the door. Thud, thud, thud. She continued pounding over and over again until eventually the lid was breaking into pieces. She picked up the largest of the pieces and continued pounding until that shattered as well. She put her ear back to the door and was sure she made out the words, "... getting you out..."

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Thud, thud, thud the men heard from the direction of the shed.

"She IS in there, damn it!" Mark shouted.

Joe cuffed his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Stay put, we're getting you out. We're getting you out."

"Stay put? Where's she gonna go?" Mark asked.

"Whatever. Let's get the Jeep and get her outta there."

They jogged back to the Jeep, but when they got there, it was clear things were going to be more complicated than they appeared. Both tires on the passenger side of the jeep were flat. Completely flat.

"What the..." Mark said.

"Damn, we must've hit something coming in."

"Two tires?"

"Well, something happened. Now what?"

"You don't think we'll be able to pull that gate apart with two flat tires?" Mark asked.

"I'm not sure. It's not like I've done this kind of thing before."

"I see what you mean. What about the winch?"

"That should work. I should be able to turn into the right position."

Joe climbed into the Jeep and began maneuvering. While it responded awkwardly, he soon had the jeep in position, pointing right at the gate. He stepped to the front of the vehicle and began unraveling the cable. When there was enough to reach the gate, he stopped to consider how he would secure it.

Mark joined him and said, "Maybe if we use the tow strap?"

"Yeah, that'll work," Joe said with a nod.

After retrieving the strap from the back of the jeep, he secured it to the gate, tying it tight, and then connected it to the cable. Joe then connected the remote control to the winch, got back in the Jeep and restarted the engine. He shouted out the window to Mark, "At least this is better than climbing that barbed wire."

With the whir of winch, the cable became taught and began to pull at the gate. As it pulled tighter, the pitch of the whirring became higher and higher. Suddenly, the latch gave way and the gate popped open. Joe turned off the winch.

The men rushed inside the compound and found the shed from which they had heard the pounding. They stood back and considered their next step. "Will the winch work on the door?" Mark asked.

"I don't know if we can get the Jeep anywhere it'll reach. There's no direct shot at the door. What about the jack?"

"How do you mean?"

"Put it horizontally here," Joe said as he motioned, "and use it to pop open the padlock."

"You think that'll work?"

"It will if we can hook it to the lock somehow."

"How about this," Mark said, crouching down by the hinge. "We use the jack under the hinge to pull it off."

"What a minute." Joe walked back to the Jeep and returned with the jack. "Let's not make this more complicated than it is," he said. He raised the jack up like a spear and brought it down on the padlock. On the third stroke, the lock popped open.

"Just like downtown," Mark said with a whistle.

He removed the lock and worked the latch loose. When he opened the door, out rushed a pretty young woman who began to hug him.

"Oh my god; thank you, thank you," she said through tears. Then, stepping back and wiping away the tears she asked, "Where the hell am I?"

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Things had begun to get out of hand. He had really stuck his neck out grabbing his last target and was worried enough about that. It was all over the news and the info-babes were speculating that the girl's disappearance was related to the body that had turned up in Jennings. Of course, he KNEW that to be true. The good news was that they were looking for someone else. He wasn't sure if his little gift package, the bloody shoe, had done the job, but it was Serial Finder they were after, not him.

However, they were now at his workshop. They had even gone to the new hole. He had decided to dig it close to the compound for convenience. With the heightened interest of the authorities in missing prostitutes, he was also a little leery of transporting his target. But now he had this intrusion to deal with, as well as the target, and deal with them he would.

The worst part was they had managed to release the target from his work shed. Now, instead of a long and entertaining death, he'd have to put her down on the fly. It wouldn't be as stimulating, but it would still be fun. He had made sure they would be going nowhere.