And then Doug heard a tapping. It took him a moment to realize it was coming from down the hall. Someone was tapping on his door.

His blood congealed into icy lumps as he heard a familiar voice call his name.

“Doug? Doug, are you in there?”

Nadia! Oh, sweet Jesus, it was Nadia. And she had a key. If he didn’t answer she was certain to use it.

Got to warn her!

Hoping to catch his captors off guard, Doug suddenly began kicking and twisting, furiously tunneling all his strength into wrenching his face free of the hand sealing his mouth. Had to warn her away, to run, call 911…

Whoever was holding his feet lost his grip on Doug’s right ankle. Doug lashed out with his free foot but connected with his floor lamp instead. His foot was recaptured as the lamp hit the floor with a crash.

Triumph turned to horror as Doug realized the noise would bring Nadia in sooner. He screamed against the muffling fingers, but only a whimper escaped. And then he felt a pair of fingers squeeze his nose and seal his nostrils.

As Doug fought for air and struggled to hold onto consciousness, he heard Nadia calling from the far side of the door.

“Doug? Was that you?”

Too quickly her voice faded with his strength and awareness, and all became nothing…

12

“Doug, are you in there? Are you OK?”

Nadia had arrived at his door ready to give him a piece of her mind for staying incommunicado all day, but her pique was gone now.

Something’s wrong, she thought as she clawed through her shoulder bag for her key ring.

She found it, fumbled Doug’s key into the lock, and burst in.

But she stopped after one step. The place was completely dark.

“Doug?”

She found the light switch and flipped it but nothing happened. Leaving the door open so she’d have some light, Nadia walked down the short hallway to the front room. She found another wall switch and flipped that. Again, nothing.

Strange. The power was on in the hallway but seemed to be off in Doug’s apartment.

She sniffed. What was that musty odor… like wet fur?

Nadia jumped as a flash of lightning lit the room and thunder rattled the windows. Creepy in here. She stepped back toward the hallway and used the light there to help her find her little penlight flash. She pressed the clip and frowned at the weak glow from the bulb. The batteries were just about dead, but they’d have to do.

She turned back toward the darkened apartment and hesitated. The smart thing would be to leave. If Doug was here, he would have answered.

But then, why wasn’t he here? It was almost midnight.

She told herself he probably went out for a nightcap when his power failed, but she wouldn’t feel right until she’d checked the apartment. And besides, she’d heard that sound, like something or someone falling. What if he’d tripped in the dark and hurt himself?