I do not know how long I lay on the thick rug before the mirror. It was perhaps better than an hour, judging from the position of the sun coming through the curtains.
I rose to my hands and knees on the rug and looked at myself in the mirror. I screamed.
I was going mad!
I threw my hands to my head, and shook my head.
I locked my fingers in the band at my throat, trying to tear it from my neck. It had been placed on me while I was unconscious!
About my throat, snugly, there was a graceful, gleaming band of steel. Gathering my wits I simply reached behind my neck to release the catch, and remove it. My fingers fumbled. I could not find the release. I turned it slowly, carefully, because it fitted rather closely. I examined it in the mirror. There was no release, no catch. Only a small, heavy lock, and a place where a tiny key might fit. It had been locked on my throat! There was printing on the band, but I could not read it. It was not in a script I knew!
Once again the room seemed to go dark, and swirl, but I fought desperately to retain consciousness.
Someone had been in the room to place the band to my neck. He might still be here.
With my head down, hair falling to the rug, on my hands and knees, I shook my head. I tore at the pile on the rug. I would not lose consciousness. I must keep my wits.
I looked about the room.
My heart nearly stopped. It was empty.
I crawled to the telephone on the night table by the bed. I lifted it with great care, that not the slightest sound be made. There was no dial tone. The cord hung freely. Tears stung my eyes.
There was another phone in the living room, but it was on the other side of the door. I was afraid to open the door. I glanced toward the bathroom. That room, too, frightened me. I did not know what might be within it.
I had a small revolver. I had never fired it. I though of it only now. I leaped to my feet and darted to the large triple chest at the side of the room. I plunged my hand beneath scarves and slips in the drawer and felt the handle. I cried with joy. I looked at the weapon, disbelievingly. I could not even sob, or moan. I simply could not understand what had happened. Most of the weapon was a shapeless lump of metal. It was almost as if it were a piece of melted, steel chocolate. I dropped it back onto the silk. I stood up, numb, and looked at myself in the mirror. I was defenseless. But my terror was not a simple terror. I sensed that more had occurred to me than could be accounted for simply in the terms of the world I knew. I was afraid.
I ran to the floor-length curtains before the huge window of my bedroom and flung them open.
I looked out on the city.
It hung dark with the gases of pollution, made golden in the sunlight. I could see thousands of windows, some with the sun reflecting from them, in the unreal golden haze. I could see the great walls of brick, and steel and concrete and glass.
It was my world.
I stood there for a moment, the sun streaming in upon me through the thick, dirty glass.
It was my world!
But I stood behind the glass nude, on my throat a band of steel, which I could not remove. On my thigh there was a mark. 'No!' I cried to myself. 'No!'
I turned away from the window and, stealthily, made my way to the door to the living room, which was slightly ajar. I summoned all my courage, and opened the door slightly more. I almost fainted with relief. The room was empty. Everything was as I had left it.
I ran to the kitchen, which I could see from the living room, and threw open a drawer. I took out a butcher knife. I turned wildly, my back to the counter, holding the knife, but there was nothing.
With the knife in my hand I felt more secure. I returned to the living room, and the phone on the end table. I cursed as I saw that the cord had been severed. I examined the penthouse. The doors were locked. The house was empty, and the patio on the terrace.
My heart was beating wildly. But I was elated. I ran to the wardrobe to dress, to leave the house and summon the police.
Just as I reached the wardrobe there was a heavy, firm knocking on the door. I turned, grasping the knife.
The knocking was repeated, more insistently.
'Open the door,' commanded a voice. 'This is the police.'
I almost fainted with relief. I ran toward the door, still holding the knife. At the door I stopped, clutching the knife, terrified.
I had not called the police. In the penthouse it was not likely anyone had heard me scream. I had not tried to signal anyone when I had found the phones had been destroyed. I had only wanted to escape.
Whoever was on the other side of that door could not be the police. The knocking repeated again.
My head swam.
Then the knocking became even louder. 'Open the door!' I heard. 'Open the door. This is the police!'
I controlled myself. 'Just a moment,' I called, as calmly as I could. 'I'll open the door in a moment. I'm dressing.'
The knocking stopped. 'All right,' said a voice. 'Hurry.'
'Yes,' I called sweetly, sweating. 'Just a moment!'
I ran into the bedroom and looked wildly about. I seized some sheets from a linen closet, feverishly knotting them together. I ran to the terrace. I felt sick, looking over the ledge. But some fifteen feet below me was a small terrace, one of hundreds projecting from the sides of the building. It opened into the apartment below me. In the sun, the air stinging my eyes, particles of soot and ash falling on me, I knotted one end of the rope of sheets securely about a small iron railing that surmounted a waist-high wall around the patio and terrace. The other end fell well down to the small terrace below. Had I not been terrified I would never have had the courage to do what I intended. The knocking had now began again on the door. I could sense the impatience in the sound.
I ran back into the bedroom to seize something to wear but as I entered the room I heard a man's shoulder strike at the heavy door.
I had seen on the patio that I could not carry the knife down the rope of sheets with me, for I would have to use both hands. Perhaps I should have held it between my teeth but, in my panic, I did not think of it. I was in the bedroom when I heard the door begin to splinter in, away from the hinges and the lock. Wildly I thrust the knife beneath the pillow on my bed and ran back to the patio. Not looking down, terrified, I seized the rope of sheets and, scarcely breathing, sick to my stomach, hand over hand, began to lower myself. I had disappeared over the ledge when I heard the door splinter fully away and heard men enter the apartment. As soon as I reached the terrace below, only a few feet away, I would be safe. I could attract the attention of the individuals in the apartment below or, if necessary, with a chair, or implement, or whatever might be found, break through the glass of their apartment.
Above me from within the penthouse, I heard an angry cry.
I could hear noises from the street, far below. I did not dare look down. Then my feet touched the tiles of the terrace below.
I was safe!
Something soft, folded and white slipped over my head, before my eyes. It was shoved deeply into my mouth. Another folded piece of cloth passed over my head. It was knotted tightly behind the back of my neck.
I tried to cry out but could not do so.
'We have her,' I heard a voice say.
3 Silken Cords
I stirred uneasily, shaking my head. It was a bad dream. 'No, no,' I murmured, twisting, wanting to awaken. 'No, no.'
It seemed as though I could not move as I wished. I did not like it. I was displeased. Angry.
Then, suddenly, I was awake. I screamed, but there was no sound.
I tried to sit upright, but I nearly strangled, and fell back. I struggled wildly.
'She's awake,' said a voice.
Two men, masked, stood at the foot of the bed, facing me. I heard two others speaking in the living room.
The two men who had been at the foot of the bed turned and left the room, going to the living room to join the others.
I struggled fiercely.
My ankles had been bound together with light, silken cords. My wrists had also been bound together, but behind my back. a loop of the silken cord had been fastened about my neck, and by it I was bound to the head of the bed. I could see myself in the mirror. The strange mark, drawn in lipstick, was still on the mirror's surface.
I tried to scream again, but I could not. My eyes, I could see in the mirror, were wild over the gag.
I continued to struggle, but after some moments, hearing men returning to the room, stopped. Through the open door, I saw the backs of two men, in police uniforms. I could not see their faces. The two men with masks re-entered the room. They looked upon me.
I wanted to plead with them, but I could make no sound.
I drew up my legs and turned to my side, to cover myself as well as I might. One of the men touched me.
The other uttered a brief sound, abrupt. The other man turned away. The sound had been a word, doubtless of negation. I did not know the language. The men had not ransacked the penthouse. The paintings remained on the walls, the oriental rugs on the floors. Nothing was touched.
I saw the man who had turned away, who seemed to be a subordinate, remove what appeared to be a fountain pen from a leather holder in his pocket. He unscrewed it, and I was startled. It was a syringe.
I shook my head wildly, no!
He entered the needle on my right side, in the back between my waist and hip. It was painful. I felt no ill effects.
