NORTH NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Chapter 19 - by Peter Nolan Smith

NINETEEN

Che Chasta woke in bed. It took a few minutes to shake off the effects of the drugs before she tried to get off the mattress. She wasn't going anywhere. Her wrists and ankles were cuffed to the bedposts. A gagball was stuck in her mouth. She summoned the dregs of her strength to free herself. The struggle lasted ten seconds. Her situation was almost hopeless. The bedroom's curtains were tightly drawn. All incoming calls were handled by the answering service. A video camera recorded her every move. Louis expected her to give up, but she wasn't that girl anymore and Che yanked on the restraint attached to her right wrist, while at the same time working her jaws to pop the rubber gag. The ball plopped out of her mouth and she sucked down air grateful for this small break.

"Help." Her cry died within the bedroom. Only the camera was listening and Che let go with a long chain of curses aimed at Louie and all men. None of them did her any good and she rested for a few minutes before contorting her right hand to a small ball. a bound Chinese foot before jerk on the cuff. The muscles contorted her hand into a bound Chinese foot and popped free of the restraint. The effort had resurrected the force of Louie's injection and the darkness swarmed her vision. Finally her hand popped free, but she only had the strength left to reach for the phone. Calling 911 was out, so she punched out a number in the Valley, struggling to hold onto the receiver, as the ringing faded in her ear.

A voice answered and she begged, "Help me, you have to help me."

"Where are you?” the man asked.

Che mumbled her address.

"Please come, I need you. Please.” The

The phone slid from her fingers and her eyes floated back into her head farther and farther, until a blanket of unconsciousness buried her not in sleep and not in death, but very close to either one. The camera at the entrance to the room was only programmed to capture action kept on filming and there would be very little of that for the moment, for it was time to call 'cut'. If only someone could cover her with a blanket, everything would be fine.