Exit plan, p.17
Exit Plan, page 17
This is raw sadism without control and void of any humanity.
The video cuts back to Jessa’s body lying limp across the bench and I’m preparing for the end when a bucket of water is poured over her head. She jolts in her binds and water spurts out of her mouth as she regains consciousness.
The belt that was used to strap her earlier has now been fastened around her throat, but she doesn’t notice it. Her body begins to tremble as the pain from the beating registers in her brain and she lets out an exasperated cry.
“It burns. Please. Oh god, I’m on fire.” And I know she’s talking about the additional hits with the switch from Maxwell.
“Shhh. That’s all over now, Jessa. I’ll have the doctor give you something for the pain. It hurts much worse than it looks.” His arrogance knows no bounds. He knows damn well the scars he’s inflicted on her. The blood that covers her welts has already begun to dry on the surface.
“Let me go, Maxwell. I’ll contact Zane. He’ll work something out.” Her voice is weak. She’s pleading with him now, but she still refuses to use her safe word.
“I’m not ready to let you go, Jessa. Now that you’re mine, I think I want to keep you a while longer.” He reaches his hand slowly between her legs and he waits for her response.
He’s challenging her to deny she’s his, but she doesn’t fall for it. Closing her eyes tight and dropping her head back down to the bench, she makes no move to confirm or deny his claim.
He’s not waiting for her approval anyway. In his mind, she belongs to him and he leans his body over hers while his hand moves closer to her center as she makes every effort to stay perfectly still.
“This should have been mine, Jessa. You made a mistake with Jack. You realize that now.” He keeps his eyes on her head, looking for any sign of denial and she doesn’t grant him any. “It’s no matter. It’s mine now. You belong to me. Just like it was always supposed to be.” Stepping back from her, he continues talking as he unzips his pants and Jessa hears his intentions as she begins to struggle in place and starts pleading no over and over again in a mutter to herself under his words. “But Jack already had you there and I want you to remember our—special moment. So, we’re going to do something new. You still with me, my little cry baby?” His voice sounds soft, endearing almost...he’s anything but.
“P-pleeeaase, you don’t have to do this.” I lean into the screen as her voice barely registers.
“No, Jessa. You didn’t have to do this. It’s your choices that brought us here. You had light all around you. You were a treasure and you gave it to him. I wanted your light.” Stepping forward he positions himself behind her, grabbing her hips and jerking her ass towards him. “Now, all I can think about is snuffing out your light and showing you my dark.” He snarls his words out as he lunges into her and she screams out a long painful cry.
I feel bile rising from my stomach as I witness her rape and he doesn’t relent. There is no redemption for him now, his fate is sealed with me as I watch each painful push and Jessa scrambles to breathe through her screams.
His growls become louder through the speaker as he reaches forward and grabs the leash end of the belt with one hand as he fists her hair with the other, wrenching her head back to give her full view of my fake happily ever after photo still plastered on the screen in front of her as he violates her and it’s too much.
My Jessa breaks.
“JACK!” She screams into the room loud and clear and both Logan and I jump in our places. “JACK, JACK… JAAAAACK!” Her voice is unhinged and she’s shrieking with every last fiber of her being.
That same scream. The night Logan questioned her comes barreling back at me and I feel all fight drain from my body. In this moment, I’d give my life to take away that level of pain.
Her cries are met with one final thrust as he growls out his release behind her. Jessa’s entire body is involuntarily shaking as he pulls his flaccid cock out of her and drops her head on the bench as if she’s trash.
My heart feels like a boulder in my chest and my mind races to try to remember where I was around the time of her capture. If only I could have helped her.
Realizing my thoughts wandered, I struggle to focus on the screen and I notice I missed a transition.
Jessa’s listless naked body is suspended by her wrists tied above her and out of view. Only the tips of her big toes touch the floor as her legs are restrained open. As she shifts her hips, my eyes are drawn to her center.
“What is that?” Logan whispers beside me as his attention is caught by the same thing.
It looks like something is inserted between her legs with two strings running out of it and down to the floor.
Her head is bobbing forward now as she tries to watch what is about to happen. Her face looks like she should be crying now but I’m not sure if she has any tears left.
A shadowy figure stands behind her along the dark wall and I can’t make them out as I hear the click of a button echo into the room followed by a low hum.
Electricity.
Jessa’s realization hits her at the same time it hits me.
Those aren’t strings.
They’re wires.
“Please, don’t.” She begs as her body jerks against its binds. Her voice sounds like she’s ready to negotiate anything, but Maxwell no longer cares for her permission.
“We all make choices, Jessa. You chose wrong. Your life is in my hands. Literally. I can take it away and I can give it back.” Maxwell is past his point of no return. He’s allowed his spurned ego to make his decisions and he’s no longer treating her as a human being.
The hum changes in pitch as Jessa’s body instantly seizes in place. He’s turned the current on and the shock is flowing through her body as she spasms in her binds, short grunts involuntarily leaving her.
I wait for the release to come as the electricity leaves her body. As the sound of the hum stops completely, her limp body falls hard in its binds. Her head falls completely forward and there is no resistance from my girl.
Silence fills the room as Logan and I watch the shadowed figure scurry out from the darkness in what looks like a lab coat and move to Jessa, checking for a pulse.
“Cut her loose, she’s going into cardiac arrest.” The anonymous voice shouts to Maxwell who has now moved off screen and just as I lean in to see what happens, the entire video cuts out.
As the realization hits that I could have lost her in that moment and I never even knew she was alive, I begin to feel lightheaded as the entire video plays back in my head.
Then suddenly I feel Logan’s hand on my arm as he pushes me out of range of the webcam and I’m momentarily confused.
The live feed to Maxwell fills the screen and everything is different. I see a monster. One I need to put down and I can no longer control my own fury when I feel my breath coming in deep gasps.
I’m unhinged.
I must have looked like a madman standing there.
Logan moved me aside so I could regain control of myself and judging by the way Maxwell is looking through his screen, he was hoping to catch my reaction.
Then everything hits me. We aren’t there with him. Her torture isn’t happening right now. It’s in the past and Jessa is here. I strain to look in the security feed for the common room and her expression seems indifferent, though she’s fixated on the television.
“Not so talkative now, are you?” Maxwell speaks into our screen and I know those words are for Jessa but she doesn’t respond.
Logan flashes me a glare, and I know that look. He’s telling me to get my shit together or leave and I won’t be excluded from this. I shift my focus to Jessa. Her strength and poise is astounding and I draw from her example as I calm my facial features, then step back into view.
“Now, where was I? Oh yes. You will have Jessa contact Zane and release her back to him. I require their assistance and they are kind of a package deal.” Maxwell continues on as though nothing just happened.
Logan huffs a laugh out in his seat. “And why would we do that? From where I sit, you have nothing to bargain with. Showing us a video from years ago doesn’t change that fact.” And everything goes silent.
Maxwell knows he has nothing we want and we have everything he wants.
As he opens his mouth to speak, an alarm goes off on his end and he reaches down to punch something in front of him, then abruptly continues. “This isn’t a negotiation. Release Jessa back to Zane. There will be consequences if you refuse.” Then shifting his glance to another spot on the screen he continues. “And Jessa, I can make that little reminder a repeat performance if you defy me. I’ll be in touch with further instructions.”
Reaching out to punch a key, Maxwell disconnects, and everything goes back to normal.
Instinct kicks in and I’m moving to the door before I register Logan’s hand on my arm, trying to stop me. “I need to find Jessa.” I point to the security feed on the wall as I see her turn and run out of the common room.
“Jack, give me a minute. Something’s wrong. Maxwell wouldn’t contact us unless he has a specific motive. He knows he has nothing to bargain with and his demands won’t be met. What just happened here? He didn’t just call us up to play that video. We need to figure this out first.”
My only thoughts are on her and before I realize it, my own question is pouring out of me. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t she use her safe word? Why didn’t she try?” My words are for myself, really. I’m in disbelief.
Looking over at Logan, his face tells me he’s realized something I haven’t.
Taking a deep sigh, his somber look sobers me for a moment. “Jack, I think she did use her safe word…” His voice trails off in the hopes that I’ll finish his thought and my brain scrambles to replay the video to catch up.
The horrible realization enters my head and my panic drains hopelessly out of me as her screams haunt my mind once again.
“Jack.” I say my own name and Logan nods once in confirmation. “Her safe word was Jack. She knew he wasn’t going to stop. He wanted her to call for me to show her I wasn’t there. To show her I wouldn’t save her.”
And I wasn’t there.
He took everything from her and I didn’t protect her.
“I’m so sorry, Jack. While this isn’t beyond what we are capable of, this isn’t something we would ever choose to do to someone.” Logan is right. We could never come close to what Maxwell has allowed himself to become.
“I just don’t get it. His whole purpose for the call was to show us the video. He wanted to show me what he did to Jessa. That was all he accomplished.” I’m incredulous now. He had an audience.
“Was it? What did he say at the end?” Logan speaks slowly as if processing his own thoughts.
“He told her not to defy him, then he told us he’d be in touch with further instructions.” I memorized every second of that video.
“Did he? Or was he telling her he’d be in touch with further instructions?” Logan’s words stop me still. How could he reach her with further instructions when he’d have to go through us? Then, like a slap in the face, everything connects and it all makes sense.
“The mole. Shit. I need to find Jessa.” I look to Logan expecting a fight, but he doesn’t offer any.
Stepping back from me, he glances at the security feeds on his wall. “By the looks of the cameras, she’s heading to the showers.”
23
Jessa
As Maxwell ends the call, my senses slowly come back to the room and I hear soft sobs from my left. Glancing out of the corner of my eye, Dana is hugged tightly against Grizz’s chest and she’s crying while he just stares at me, face drawn and pale.
Now I know.
But I still feel nothing, nothing but sadness. Sorrow for a girl who believed her childhood friend was inherently good.
I’ve now witnessed my own rape and torture and I still don’t remember. My scars still bear no emotional or mental reminder of pain. There is no recollection, no raw suffering to draw my experience from. And, most importantly, no memories.
I still don’t have the piece I need and I’m suddenly angry. I’m angry at myself because I can’t get my most important memory out of my own head. I can hack my way into any computer on this godforsaken rock yet I can’t access one little memory.
And worse. I took a chance that I would get closure and I failed and now everyone knows what happened to me. It’s worse than I could have ever imagined.
“Jessa?” Dana’s frail voice jolts me out of my thoughts and I bounce back at her touch.
Startled, she pulls her hand back and I look around at Hunter and Grizz staring, wide-eyed at me, waiting for my lead.
“I want to be alone,” I start and Hunter cuts me off.
“Orders. I can’t leave you.”
“Fine. I’m taking a shower—alone.” It breaks my heart to see Dana so distressed, but she has Grizz. I can’t be here for her right now.
The walls push in on me and, without waiting for approval, I turn to leave with Hunter following me out of the room. No doubt he’ll tell Jack where I’m headed but I hope I get a little time to myself before he finds me.
Tears push out of my eyes when I blink as I pick up my pace to the showers. I know where I’m going and I want distance from Hunter. If I can just get in the showers, he’ll give me the space I need to regroup.
Turning down the last hall, I’m about to reach out for the door when a firm grip on my shoulder pulls me back and slams me against the wall.
“Sorry. Orders. I have a message for you.” Hunter’s weight pins me still against the wall and my brain scrambles to process his words.
“What? From Jack?”
“No. Maxwell.”
I feel my throat close up as I struggle to suck in a breath.
I now have one question answered.
I know who the mole is.
Glancing up to the ceiling, he slides me a foot to my left like I’m a sack of potatoes then pins me back against the wall and I know I’m now completely out of the view of cameras.
“He’s got a job for you and Zane.”
“What job?”
“Maxwell wants you to hack the mainframe and download everything from Logan and Jack to Max’s team. All clients, bank accounts, snitches, and their internal security access to all the other systems they’re connected to.”
I feel my mouth drop open and I know Hunter knows what I’m thinking before I can object.
“I don’t have time, Jessa. You know if you tell them who I am, another will come for you and your boyfriend. Max wants you to take them out and send everything to him. Once that’s done, we can get out of here, permanently. You know what happens when you disobey him, Jessa.”
It registers that he’s threatening me in error. He thinks I remember every minute of my time. He thinks I’m afraid.
Seeing my suffering never made the mental connection and I’m at an advantage because I can still think clearly and focus on my plan.
Dropping my calm a few notches, I feign panic to bolster his confidence in his threat.
“Okay. Just give me some time. I need to figure some things out. I’ll get you a list of what I need to do it. Give me a day,” I whisper quietly as I hear a door open one hall over and it snaps Hunter out of his death stare.
Stepping back, I slump onto the weight of my feet and straighten my shirt as he reaches out an arm, corralling me towards the doors of the showers.
“Don’t try anything stupid, Jessa. You know what he’s capable of.”
I push into the shower and step behind the partition to remove my clothes. I have nothing with me. No shampoo, and no towel, but I don’t care.
I’m not a possession.
Everyone wants to own me.
They want to tell me what to do and use me up and I’ve had enough.
Intimidate the girl and she’ll fall in line. I don’t belong to them.
I was never Maxwell’s. The look on his smug face says he believes otherwise and it took everything I had not to tell him what I had planned for him in the end.
When I’m done with him, he’ll be the one on his knees begging for mercy and, if I’m still standing, I will grant him none.
Then there’s Hunter. I have to admit, I didn’t see him coming. Maxwell got as close as he could to Jack and Logan and they have no idea.
I strip off the last of my clothes and step under the water. I’m so tired of people taking pieces of me I don’t want to give. I’m not a commodity to be passed around.
As the water heats up against my skin, I stretch my face under the hot spray to center myself. Little voices creep in among the droplets hitting my face.
Everyone saw my pain, my torture.
I know Jack saw everything. Of course he did. Maxwell was ready to show that video. Acquiring my release was just a ruse. He wanted Jack to see how broken I am. How used up I’ve become. And now Maxwell wants me to be the one to destroy Jack. He thinks this is his final step to claiming what is his, but I won’t allow it.
Pulling my face back, I suck in a deep breath of air as a sob heaves out of me and I just can’t keep it together any longer. I feel my stomach knot as I begin to feel nauseous, then all at once, it hits me.
I hate to be cold.
Was this from my time spent outside, locked in that cage?
Turning the hot water up, I feel my cries push out of my body as my legs feel weak and I slowly lower myself to the floor. I’ve held everything in for so long. I run and I protect and we stay alive and I have nothing left in me to give.
Nothing except my tears and I let them come.
24
Jack
“Get out.” My voice comes out in a low growl as I step into the shower area and Hunter’s face falls as he pushes himself off the wall and straightens in place.
There is no kindness in my voice. He is standing between me and what’s mine and I won’t have it.
