wrapped around its head. Two steps below was a ball of dry, shredded newspaper, probably once home to a family of mice.
A few seconds later Jessica made it to the second last step. She ran her Maglite around the room. The ceiling was low, dense with cobwebs and spider webs. The smell of mold and urine was overpowering.
Down the stairs, hard right, under the steps.
Jessica heard the voice coming from beneath the staircase, although voice was not entirely accurate. What she heard did not sound human. It was a depleted sound that seemed to crawl along the damp floor.
Byrne put a hand on Jessica’s left shoulder, silently telling her that he would flank left when they got to the bottom of the stairs.
Jessica crouched down, swept her flashlight across the floor. Scattered food trash, dried chicken and rib bones, picked clean. In one corner were the remnants of a rusted bicycle, the chain, wheels and pedals gone. Another corner held a collection of old fluorescent tube lights.
Whole lotta blood.
Jessica reached the bottom step. She held up a hand, then pointed to the right. With a silent count of three, she stepped onto the cold cement floor, rolled to the right, leveled her weapon in an attack stance, finger along the trigger guard of her Glock.
A man was sitting under the steps. Or what was left of a man. He was seated in a wooden chair, hands behind his back, his head and chest awash with fresh blood. At his feet were a pair of rats that stood up to the beam of the flashlight, staring back with tiny, defiant black eyes.
The man was nude, his chest crisscrossed with barbed wire. Some of the barbs were rusted and cut deep welts into his flesh from his neck to his waist. Steam emanated from his wounds as the warm blood met the frigid February air.
But while the barbs cut into his chest and arms, it was the wire wrapped around the man’s neck that was doing the mortal damage. Jessica could see one razor sharp polished point, bright silver in color, digging into the skin near the carotid artery.
The man was still alive. The patrol officer should have checked his vitals, but Jessica could understand why the young woman did not want to.
Byrne moved to Jessica’s left, keeping his flashlight and weapon trained on the man. Jessica turned, scanned the rest of the room. There were no other doors, no niches or alcoves large enough to hold another person. The basement was clear.
Except for the all but destroyed human in front of them.
Jessica stepped away for a moment, took out her two-way, and in a low voice contacted dispatch, requesting an EMS unit. The man was still alive, but not for long.
Jessica kept her weapon angled low, moved to the right. She could now see that the man’s hands were bound with wire behind his back. The wire was connected to the loop around his neck. If the man’s head dropped forward, he would sever his jugular vein.
They had to keep him awake and alert.
‘Sir,’ Jessica began. ‘My name is Jessica Balzano. I’m with the Philadelphia Police Department. We’re going to get you out of here. Medical assistance is on the way.’
The man tried to speak. ‘He …’
‘He what?’ Jessica asked softly. ‘Who are you talking about?’ Perhaps the man was trying to tell them who did this to him. Jessica noticed that with each labored breath the man took the barbed wire tightened further around his chest and abdomen, rusted tines digging deeper into his flesh.
The man did not answer. Instead, he began to cry.
‘Sir,’ Jessica said, holstering her weapon, holding her hands out to the sides, showing no threat. ‘I want you to know that we have paramedics on the way. We have people coming who are going to get you free. People who will treat your wounds. You’re going to be fine.’
The man started to violently shake his head. Blood flicked across the room. Both Jessica and Byrne stepped back. When the man stopped moving Jessica could see that the one polished barb had now cut into his neck.
‘Stop!’ Jessica yelled. ‘Please do not move, sir!’
The man’s head slumped forward, his eyes closed. Jessica looked at her watch. She listened for the siren of the EMS unit. She heard nothing. This man was going to bleed out right in front of them and there was nothing they could do about it. Jessica wanted to keep him talking, to keep