Read Mirrors for Free Online Page B

quickly, Austin slid the zip tie along the bedrail until it was as close as possible to the work tray. A scalpel teetered dangerously on the edge. His fingers grazed the tray. On the third try, his fingertip snagged the edge. He inched it toward him slowly.
    Close enough for him to grab the scalpel’s cool handle.
    He couldn’t stop thinking that Alice might not be able to help him in her current state. If not…
    Austin carefully turned the scalpel in his hand until the blade rested against the zip tie that secured him to the bed. After a few tries the blade sliced through the plastic, freeing his right hand.
    He sat upright and made quick work of the other restraints as well as the wristband that read SCOTT CONNELLEY. He slid off the gurney and onto the tile floor, which felt ice cold against his bare feet.
    Scalpel gripped tightly in his hand, he circled around the autopsy table and hurried up to Alice’s gurney. The doors were still closed.
    She looked up at him with the same expressionless eyes he’d seen earlier. She either hadn’t heard all the commotion or wasn’t in a mental space to react. Drugs?
    He scanned her arms for needle marks. None that he could see. They could’ve given her oral medications. As far as he could tell, she had no bruises or cuts or any other signs of abuse, though he knew what he could see was barely half the story. The trauma she’d likely experienced in her life undoubtedly ran much deeper than her skin.
    He sawed through each of the straps that held her body down, snapping each one quickly. Only when he reached her hand restraints did he realize they were made of thick leather. Cutting through them would be difficult without injuring her. He’d have to find another way.
    He set the scalpel down and leaned over her bedrail. His trembling fingers worked at the buckle and strap that held the leather muzzle to her face. It came loose easily.
    He peeled it gently from her head and dropped it on the floor.
    The girl he’d found in the basement stared up at him, pretty, with blond hair and a serene face. Her rainwater eyes were bright, without the deadened look that sometimes accompanied drugs.
    But she made no attempt to speak.
    “Alice,” he whispered. “Remember me?”
    No response. Her eyes stared into his, unblinking.
    “I’m going to get us out of here, but I need your help. Okay?” He glanced at the door. They were okay for now.
    “Can you hear me?”
    She blinked once.
    “Yes? You can hear me? Please tell me you can hear me!”
    “Hello,” she said in a simple, sweet voice.
    Hope surged. “My name’s Austin, I saw you in the basement. Remember? With Fisher.”
    He could see by her stare that she either wasn’t tracking or didn’t see the urgency of their situation. She might not be catatonic, but she didn’t appear entirely lucid either. There was no telling what Fisher had done to her since the incident in the basement. Austin had to get through to her.
    He cradled her face in his hands. Her cheeks were cool against his palms and the moment his thumb grazed her lower lip it nudged into a gentle smile.
    “Listen to me, Alice. I overheard you in the basement. You said you already know the way out. ‘I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I know.’Been where? What did you see?”
    “It’s going to be okay,” she said.
    “ What’s going to be okay?”
    She held her faint smile.
    “What did you mean by I’ve been there ? Where?”
    “He knows,” she said.
    Austin removed his hands, relieved that she was talking, albeit in cryptic terms.
    He glanced at the door again.
    “Please, I need your help. You know something that Fisher doesn’t want you to know. He’s trying to keep you quiet. What you know may be able to save us.” He hesitated, then pushed more directly. “Tell me the way out of this place.”
    Nothing.
    “Do you know where we are?”
    “We’re here,” she said. “I’ve seen it.”
    “Seen what!?”
    No response. For all he knew, she was in