The Chain

The narration shifts to Rachel’s perspective. She has breast cancer, which has been in remission, but her oncologist saw something concerning in recent blood samples and asked her to come in. This happens just when things were looking up for her: She got a new job as a philosophy lecturer at a college. Rachel is stuck in traffic on the way to the doctor’s office, when she receives a phone call from an anonymous number. The caller modulates their voice and says Rachel isn’t the first and won’t be the last, that “it’s not about the money—it’s about The Chain” (10), and that in a few minutes, she will receive another phone call with specific instructions that she must follow. The next phone call is also from an anonymous number but features a regular woman’s voice. The woman apologizes for kidnapping Kylie.

Rachel thinks the kidnapper is joking—until the woman sends a photo of Kylie. The woman explains that Rachel is now part of The Chain. Unless Rachel follows her instructions perfectly, Kylie will be killed, and so will the kidnapper’s son, who was also kidnapped. In order to get Kylie back unharmed, Rachel has to pay $25,000 in Bitcoin to an anonymous account and kidnap another person—thus adding to The Chain. She has to choose a hostage carefully, as it has to be someone whose loved ones will pay their own ransom and kidnap a replacement victim without involving police—otherwise, The Chain will break and hostages will start dying, namely Kylie.

Rachel protests that she does not have $25,000 in her bank account; the woman argues there must be drastic measures (such as high-interest loans or crime) she can take to get this money quickly, and the ransom is the easy part of the instructions. Rachel is physically and emotionally drained from chemotherapy and has never committed a crime. The woman argues that Rachel is smart and will think of a solution: Rachel went to Harvard, beat cancer, divorced Kylie’s father, and finally got the job she wanted. Furthermore, the woman reiterates that she will kill Kylie to save her own child. She provides further instructions on how to make calls on burner phones, download the dark web, buy Bitcoin, and pay The Chain’s anonymous account. She promises Rachel that once she completes her tasks, and Rachel’s new victim completes their tasks, Kylie will be released unharmed.

Rachel parks in a no-parking area and cancels her doctor’s appointment, despite her oncologist’s protests. A police officer approaches and can tell she’s upset; she blames her cancer. The officer sends Rachel on her way with no ticket.

The narration shifts to Kylie’s perspective. After the female kidnapper shoots the police officer, the kidnappers continue on their way; Kylie loses track of how many turns they’ve made. The male kidnapper is panicking over the officer’s murder. The kidnappers arrive at their destination, and the man leads Kylie to a basement, where she will be held; the woman hides the stolen car. The man handcuffs Kylie and chains her to a heavy stove. The basement is concrete and seemingly in a rural area based on the lack of noise. The kidnappers set up a camera to monitor Kylie. The woman takes Kylie’s shoes and checks her pockets, but her phone was already lost at the bus stop.

The kidnappers don’t seem like criminals: The man in particular is unnerved and seems concerned about Kylie’s well-being. They provide her with a mattress, sleeping bag, snacks, and books, among other amenities. The man talks nervously about the books, and Kylie suspects he’s an English teacher. He then leaves.

Rachel considers calling law enforcement, as The Chain leaders wouldn’t have warned her not to unless they were afraid of police. However, she ultimately decides against it because she believes the other woman will kill Kylie if she does. Instead, she calls her ex-husband and Kylie’s father, Marty; he doesn’t answer. His girlfriend, Tammy, says he’s out of town on a work retreat and will be back the following day.

The distorted voice behind The Chain calls Rachel and warns her against involving Marty because he is the type of person who would call the police. The voice says any help has to be vetted by them. They urge Rachel to pay the ransom and research potential hostages before hanging up. Rachel stops at her house to change clothes; she’s taken down all mirrors since her chemotherapy.

Rachel heads to a bank, arriving a few minutes before it opens. Outside, a strange man approaches her, confirms her name, and then punches her in the stomach as a “message” from The Chain. He also says she should look up the Williams family from New Hampshire before leaving. Rachel is still on the ground when a bank employee appears. She makes a joke about walking in heels, charming him, and then enters the bank.

Rachel and Marty are friendly with this bank’s manager, Colin. In Colin’s office, she claims her house’s roof needs to be replaced, so she requires a loan for $15,000. This isn’t the full ransom amount, but she knows she won’t get approved for a $25,000 loan. The bank owns the house and Rachel pays them mortgage, so she wants to add this loan to her mortgage loan. She plans to use her credit card for the extra $10,000. She shows Colin her new job contract as a philosophy lecturer at a college. Before this job, Rachel was an Uber driver and waitress, and supported Marty through law school; later, she required breast cancer treatment. Colin can’t approve of the loan.

The narration shifts to one of the leaders of The Chain. The unnamed woman works with a man named Olly. The woman suspects Rachel will be trouble; on the other hand, the woman who kidnapped Kylie, Heather Porter, has been obedient. However, the woman decides against interfering for now.

Rachel leaves the bank disheartened, but then decides to plea again. She reenters Colin’s office, stating she will accept any loan he can offer, even a high-interest one. Colin can see Rachel is desperate and gives her an emergency loan. She ignores his explanation of the loan, too focused on Kylie.

While Colin processes the paperwork, Rachel goes down the street to the library to research potential people to kidnap on Facebook. She sets some parameters for herself: She doesn’t want to kidnap anyone she knows or who might recognize her, someone close by but not too close. After the bank loan is transferred, she downloads a dark web browser, purchases Bitcoin, and pays the ransom to the anonymous account. Kylie’s kidnapper, Heather, texts Rachel another photo of Kylie, who is safe in a basement, along with confirmation that her payment was received. Rachel heads to New Hampshire because it’s easier to purchase guns there than in Massachusetts, and she doesn’t want anyone she knows to see her buying burner phones.

The local radio station discusses a police officer who was shot nearby, which is rare. Rachel turns off the radio. She goes to a gun store and is disappointed to learn that she needs to wait two days to buy a handgun. However, she can buy a rifle or shotgun, so she gets a used one. The employee can tell Rachel doesn’t know how to aim a gun or how much they’re supposed to cost, so he advises her not to shoot a target until they’re closer than 25 feet.

Rachel goes to a mall and buys 20 burner phones. Kylie’s teacher calls and asks why Kylie is absent; Rachel claims she’s sick and won’t be back for a few days.

Kylie tries to move the stove weighing her down, but it’s too heavy. The kidnappers don’t investigate the noise, suggesting they’re not watching her constantly. Kylie regrets not paying more attention to her friend Stuart’s obsession with escape artistry. She tries using the objects around her to pick her handcuffs, but none of them work.

Rachel’s neighbor returns Kylie’s phone, which he found at the bus stop. Rachel does more research on potential people to kidnap. She also thinks about where she can hide someone, as her own house is not soundproofed and is too close to other people.

There’s a neighborhood full of big, soundproofed houses near Rachel’s house. She walks across the beach to get there. Most of these houses are only occupied during the summer, and as it’s currently November, some of them are empty. Rachel wants to pick one house as a hostage-holding place. She looks for one that’s been winterproofed, suggesting its owners are gone for the season. She finds one, checks the mail, and learns it belongs to the Appenzellers, whom she knows go to Florida every winter.

There’s an old alarm sticker on one of the Appenzeller house’s windows, but Rachel’s uncertain if it’s still working. She calls the alarm company and pretends that her daughter has been asked to dog sit, but wonders if the house alarm will go off when she opens the door. The employee says this alarm company went out of business. Rachel breaks into the house.

The Appenzeller house has no working alarm. Rachel scouts the house and thinks the basement is a good place to hold a hostage. She returns home and ranks her top choices for who to kidnap. Marty calls Rachel back, but with The Chain’s warning in mind, she doesn’t tell him about Kylie’s kidnapping. He suggests Rachel ask his brother, Pete, for help with her “roof” problem. Rachel thinks Pete might be a good candidate to help with her real problem.