"I'm going to lock you in a cage and watch you starve to death. It won't be me killing you. It'll be biology."

Charlene said nothing.

"You're not going to try to change my mind?" Ken asked.

"Would it work?"

"No. I'm just surprised. This is a refreshing change. Usually there's a lot of begging and pleading. They tell me about their kids. Offer sexual favors."

"I'd rather starve to death in a cage than touch your dick."

Charlene assumed he'd respond with something like a sadistic chuckle, but he looked genuinely angry. He was silent for a moment. "Bitch," he finally said.

She decided not to taunt him for his pathetic retort. Instead, she asked, "If I'm going to die anyway, why shouldn't I go for the gun?"

"Because you think you still have a chance of saving your friend and yourself. If you make me shoot you, that possibility goes away. You spend your last moments trying to plug the holes that are spurting blood."

Charlene couldn't deny that Ken's words were a good deterrent. He didn't seem like a criminal mastermind. He'd mess up.

A couple of minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store with boards over the windows. He drove behind the building, put the car into park, and pointed the gun at Charlene's face.

"I'm going to chloroform you now," he informed her. "Are you going to make this easy for me, or hard?"

"I'm probably going to make it hard," said Charlene.

And she did. But in the end, everything went black.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The deep scratch that went from Ken's wrist to his elbow hurt like hell, but at least Charlene hadn't gotten his face. Charlene's face had not been so lucky, though the nasty bruise was the least of her upcoming worries.

After the garage door of the rental house closed, Ken opened the passenger-side door. Charlene was unconscious and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon without smelling salts, but for some reason he felt uneasy leaving her alone, even if it was just long enough to go inside and tell Vivian that his plan had worked. Instead, he not so gently lifted Charlene out of the car and awkwardly carried her inside.

Vivian was seated on the living room couch. "Nice work," she said.

"Thanks."

"She's cute."

"I didn't touch her."

"I didn't say you touched her. I just said that she was cute. I wasn't accusing you of anything."

Vivian stood up as Ken set Charlene on the couch. "It worked great. No complications. I mean, she fought back when I knocked her out, but nothing happened that we need to worry about."

"That's good," said Vivian.

"What's wrong?" Ken asked.

"Nothing's wrong."

"You're acting weird."

"You just carried in an unconscious girl that you're going to murder. I'm not going to act completely normal."