Page 66 of Keel

Stone was in the bathroom, from what she could tell, and Forest had stepped outside to smoke. She wiggled her hands, trying to get them free. It wasn’t working.

Stone came out of the bathroom, his eyes on her. “You should be thankful. We could have dropped you over the edge of the last bridge.”

She didn’t know what to say to Stone. The man had done so many despicable things, and now she was trapped in a cabin with him, with no escape.

Stone’s evil chuckle sent shivers through her. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

She tried to fight the revulsion inside, threatening to consume her. Stone saw her discomfort and threw back his head, laughter spilling out. He was enjoying himself too much.

“Don’t worry, darling, I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll never forget me. And trust me, you’ll love it.”

The man didn’t understand anything about women. He was bad at sex from what she remembered. At least it would be over soon since he didn’t have staying power.

The door opened, and Forest stepped in. She’d been worried about being alone with Stone, but she was even more worried that Forest would start hitting her again, making her pass out. If she were out cold, there was no way she could fight either of them off. She needed a miracle to get away from these jerks.

“Someone just drove past,” Forest said.

Stone snorted. “Dude, people drive.”

Forest shook his head. “I got a weird feeling about it.”

“It’s because you’re weird.”

“Shut up. You don’t know anything. Just come out and look with me.”

Stone slapped her ass, making her yelp. “Keep that in mind while you wait for me. I’m going to destroy your ass.”

“You’re both pathetic.” She wanted to spit at them, to curse and call them names.

Stone spun, grabbing her by the hair. “Shut up, you bitch. You’re the pathetic one, all tied up with no escape. Trust me, you need someone to teach you a lesson.”

“Come on, Stone.”

Stone spun to face Forest. “You need to teach her to shut her fucking mouth.”

“Listen, we can teach her a lesson later, right now, we need to get rid of whoever is out there.”

Frankie wanted to scream more, but they were out the door. Maybe whoever had driven past out there would help her. But she couldn’t depend on a rescue. She had to get free while they were outside. If she didn’t, it would be lights out for her.

The door closed behind them, and she tried pulling her legs down and breaking the thing binding her arms to her legs. The first try did nothing. The second try almost had her crying out in pain as the thing around her wrist cut into her skin.

Pain couldn’t stop her. She had to make progress. Then she would run from the cabin and fend for herself.

She pulled again, and again, trying to make some headway. On the sixth pull, the strap on her ankles broke as she spread her knees and pulled her legs up.

She froze, her muscles seizing up for a moment as pain shot up her legs. She glanced down, seeing blood around her ankles, but at least she was free, or kind of free.

Frankie stood on wobbly legs, fear running through her. She had to get out of here, so she headed to the back door, ready to take off. She opened the door, just as the front door opened.

She glanced over her shoulder, her gaze landing on Forest’s face. The shock in his expression was laughable. But she couldn’t enjoy laughing at him because she had to get away. No question, if he caught her, she would pay with her life for making him look like a fool.

Chapter 41

With his night vision goggles in place, Keel saw both men step outside. They had to get inside that cabin. On the drive up, Mick had found a bunch of photos of the cabin, so they knew there was a back door.

Keel moved quickly around to the side of the cabin and headed toward the back of the place, ready to break in and rescue Frankie. The two idiots just had to stay outside long enough for him to get inside.

Stanley was approaching the idiots, keeping them informed of their movements. It sounded like the jerks were arguing amongst themselves. One of them thought they’d heard someone out here, but the other one thought he was stupid.