Chapter Twenty-SixUtter silence fell over everything.
Ben sat still, not daring to breathe. After a moment, senses returning, he tried to move, but again the knots proved too tight. He rasped, in a small, frightened voice, “Nev, are you all right?” But nothing came back. A yawning sickness welled up inside him. What if he were dead?
Realising the enormity of what had happened, he took up a feverish struggle to free himself, twisting legs and wrists. The pain in his jaw forgotten, replaced by another where the bonds cut into his flesh, but he put it out of his mind. He had to get away, free himself. Nothing else mattered.
Ben worked on relentlessly at the twine, gritting his teeth, ignoring the discomfort of his raw wrists. All the while, as he struggled, he became conscious of a growing
