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"I can help, too," Tucker said "I’d like to put on soo find my clothes and be back in a minute"

Nicky waved him away, and Tucker started back down the e What had seee in the twilight looked somehow more sinister and a lot farther away in the dark Tucker looked around uneasily Without the larger than life presence of the wolves, the place seeh there were plenty of people still coe There was absolutely no threat to be seen anywhere, yet Tucker had a strange feeling of being observed He hurried to the door of the lodge and looked back behind him on the path, but it was completely deserted It was then that he heard a soft cry, not fro like it ca coure cru over hiuely familiar Trained as a detectiveto notice and remember people’s appearances, Tucker focused for a moment on the fact that the ular features Nothing was remarkable about him at all, except for the fact that he looked just as surprised to see the boy there as Tucker was Tucker rushed over to the young boy and began checking him for injuries "What happened?" he asked sharply

"I-I don’t know I heard a cry and found hilanced up at hi what looked like a s "Are you a doctor?"

Before he could answer, Tucker heard a shout behind hi over "Oh my God! What’s happened?"

"Cal ready to exa his bag "I’ serious"

Nicky, who had fallen down beside the boy, taking his head in his lap looked up at the tall lanced over at Tucker "This is Dr Jereao find Rory? This boy is his little brother, Ada in one hand "No, that won’t be necessary"

Nicky looked confused "But…Rory needs to knohat’s happened--Marco too"

"Oh they’ll know soon enough In the ht where you are, Tucker" Tucker took a step backward as the doctor pulled a snized the object in his hand right away That was the snize since he first ca smell Tate had used a Taser on the boy and was now about to use it on hiistered the fact al to so?" Nicky yelled and tried to ju away a troublesoht, Tucker" There wasn’t even a chance to run as he hit him with it Tucker had been hit by a Taser once before as part of his training on the police force in Florida, and it was an experience he’d vowed never to repeat The second the Taser hit him it felt like a four by four struck hi hi in a breath and his body tensed like one big cramp as he fell helplessly to the floor, unable to break his own fall His head bounced on the wooden floor, stunning him even more, and his whole body went into spasms as Tate followed up the Taser with a fist to his head, and the darkness crashed down heavily on top of him

Chapter Nine

Tucker woke up to darkness so co around frantically, he touched a wall behind hiainst it, and it helped to ground him He wasn’t tied, but he was naked, the ce, beating much faster than normal, whether from his predicament or some other cause he didn’t yet know His head felt thick and muzzy, and his chest hurt He knew from experience that the ache in his chest most likely came from the Taser, as did the pain and fuzziness in his head He felt for a knot on his head and found it quickly near the base of his skull It was sticky with blood, and he wondered how long he’d been knocked out

As his eyes gradually adjusted to the gloom, he saw that there actually was one sht or ten inches in height, up on the opposite wall Outside the , he could just make out the roots of soot shakily to his feet and began to walk the periure out how large a space he was in He ran into a set of stairs halfway around the space He crawled carefully to the top and found they led up to a steel door, fro around the edges Making his way back down, he continued around the space until he ca froh the space wasn’t large,and fifteen wide, he’d had to stop three times on his way around the room to rest, and his body ached all over like he had a bad case of flu He hadn’t run into anything--or anyone--on his circuit around the room, so he assumed it was mostly empty He slid back down the wall to rest for a few ht noas co at the bottoht briefly of trying to hide behind the steps to a, but he quickly discarded the idea He wasBetter to bide his tiainst Maybe a chance to escape would present itself