Oh shit! Oh shitshitshit!
She kicked back as hard as she could, but the door was solid. She tried to scramble upright while her shoulders screamed, and she tried to wriggle her hands free.
It was useless. And then he was in the front seat, turning the ignition, and slamming the car into gear as he pulled out of the parking lot. Didn’t anyone hear her? She was lying sideways on the seat and screaming with every breath.
“Help! Help! Help!”
He didn’t even flinch. Damn it, why hadn’t she noticed he was right by the far exit? It was late at night. No one heard her bellowing except him.
Fine. She’d bring her feet around and kick the back of his seat. Anything to disrupt him. And maybe she could get her hands on the door handle.
“Help!” Her words were a constant scream. Damn it! She kicked hard against the back of his seat.
He grunted, but that was it. He just kept driving. No time to waste. They were traveling farther and farther from the hospital.
“Help! Help! Help!”
It was awkward as hell, but she twisted on the seat. Pushed with her knees and…there! She fingered the car door handle and pulled. And pulled again. And pulled.
Nothing.
And now she was out of breath, gasping as she pulled in air.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice was calm and filled with an apology that might have touched her if she weren’t being abducted.
She hauled on the door handle again. Hell. The child protection lock was on. No way was she getting out from the backseat. Fine, she’d just climb into the front. Or maybe she’d head-butt him hard enough to knock him unconscious. Something. Anything.
She fell backward as he accelerated onto the freeway.
“I’ve got information on the Detroit Flu.”
She saw the headlights of another car. She was flat on her back on the seat, but at the sight of the headlights, she put extra force into screaming. If she could just get her feet around, maybe she could break the passenger window.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, his voice cutting in whenever she had to draw breath. “I’ve got data. Information.”
“Help! Help!”
“You have to calm down.”
Her wrists were slick and painful. Blood? Sweat? She didn’t know and didn’t care. She drew back and shoved her feet outward as hard as she could against the window.
Like hitting a brick wall.
She did it again. Nothing.
“We’re trying to do the right thing,” he said. “You’re the CDC. You need this data.”
She kicked her feet again. WTF? Why wouldn’t the window break?
“I just want to give you the data. Then I’ll take you back to the hospital.”
She wasn’t screaming anymore. All her concentration was on slamming her feet into the window, which would not break. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t catch her breath. Why the hell wouldn’t the damn window break?
“What’s your email? I’ll email you the data.”
She didn’t want to listen to him. She didn’t want to hear his world-weary tone or his false promises that he wouldn’t hurt her. Except, of course she did. She wasn’t escaping. And head-butting him while they were on the freeway going sixty was a quick way to suicide. But most of all, he kept saying weird things. Stuff that she didn’t expect to come from an abductor. Who kidnapped a woman then asked to send data to her email?
She stared at him, her breath coming in short, gasping pants through her burning throat. She couldn’t possibly have heard him correctly. But when she stared at him, he was holding up his phone.
