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I wanted to move…I tried to move.But fear froze me, forcing me to meet my captor’s gaze. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Now why would we kill twenty million dollars?” he muttered, then jerked his head toward the waiting vehicle. “Get in.”
They’re not going to kill me…they’re not going to kill me.
That was all I needed to shatter that hold fear had on me, so I stepped down the old wooden stairs and crossed the dirt in front of the cabin to the brand new Explorer and started to climb inside.
The rich scent of leather hit me as I grabbed the handle. My knees trembled as I stepped up, buckling before I hit the seat. A hard shove from behind me, and I sprawled across the back seat before the door was closed behind me with aslam!
Doors opened and closed, and the deep growl of the engine filled the cabin. How many times had I sat in the back seat of a vehicle being chauffeured around in gowns and glamor. And never once did I think it would be any other way, never once did I think my life would take such a sudden turn.
Never once did I think I’d be fighting for my life.
Headlights cut through the weeping willows that surrounded the cabin. The murky water shone in the distance. Pitch black was all around us, not even a twinkle of lights pierced the gloom. I realized how isolated we were out here, how the cover of darkness was just one more barrier from anyone finding me.
We pulled away, turning in a tight circle. I hadn't seen the car when they brought me here, forced to walk after they'd beached the boat and covered it with a dark tarp, then large branches. I’d known then the kind of men who’d taken me, knew that these weren’t just someone willing to snatch and release for a few hundred thousand dollars.
No, these men were professionals.
Trained, skilled, and now, as we drove away in the brand new four-wheel drive, I realized they were connected and had money. I gripped the leather seat and shoved, scanning the road ahead. “Where are you taking me?”
They said nothing as they glanced along the empty road and gunned the engine. The force pushed me back against the seat. I shivered, my head aching and pulsing, burning from his hold on my hair. I gently probed the ache, massaging as I stared through the window, desperate to find a house…a set of headlights.Anything.
Even when the faint twinkle of lights cut through the trees, it was too late. We were flying down a dirt road, until they slowed at an intersection, turned right, then we were on the asphalt.
We drove for an hour. I watched the minutes on the dashboard clock tick by and tried to find some kind of marker in the night of where we were as my hands slipped to the door handle. I knew it was hopeless, but still I pulled quietly, testing the lock. But it held as my captors focused ahead, as though they knew I’d try to escape.
I stared straight ahead, watching minutes turn into an hour on the clock, until faint lights grew brighter in the distance. Red flashes drew my focus, and further along there were green. I scanned the road behind us, then fixed on that brightening glow as fear grew heavy in my belly. It was some kind of warehouse, one hidden behind a towering fence topped with razor wire.
A hangar.
A hangar with a plane. “No,” I whimpered, and turned to the door once more.
“It’s pointless,” my captor muttered as I yanked on the handle and punched the buttons.
Then I twisted, glanced at the rear door, and knew in my heart it was hopeless. “No,” I cried, shaking my head. “Please…no.”My head was in agony, my wrists stung from the plastic cuffs as they cut. Still, I clasped my hands together and lifted them. “I’ll send another recording.I’ll send another, and he’ll pay.”
The four-wheel drive just pulled up hard at the airport hangar and the gate started to open. I jerked my gaze toward the movement, catching the tail end of what looked like a small cargo carrier. My heart lurched, battering the inside of my chest as I twisted in my seat. My voice was shrill and piercing.“Please don’t put me in there. Please…I’ll do anything,”I sobbed, tears sliding down my cheeks.“I’ll be good. I promise you, I’ll be good. I’ll be good…I’ll be…”
Under the glare of the headlights, a door opened to the hangar and a man stepped out. The bright glare died in an instant, leaving me staring into darkness once more. “Please…” I begged. “Please don’t do this.”
My captors climbed out of the car. The one in the passenger’s seat stepped toward the rear door. I grabbed the arm rest and pulled with all I had as he yanked the handle and tried to open the door. But I fought, muscles straining until agony tore along my forearms. He just stared at me through the tinted windows and yanked once more, making me cry and hold on, until I couldn’t anymore.
Then it was over. The door yanked open and he snarled, “Don’t make me hurt you, Katerina.” He reached for me. It was instinct that drove me backwards. That innate fight for survival that made me kick off, driving my heel into the center of his chest.
He stumbled backwards and that was all I needed. I scurried forward, driving my body through the gap of the front seats until I was behind the wheel. Panic fueled me as I stabbed the start button of the car and was rewarded with the throaty growl of the engine.
YES!
With cuffed hands, I grasped the gears and yanked as the engine died.“No!”I screamed.
My captor growled behind me, the sound savage and terrifying. Desperately, I stabbed the button once more. But this time there was nothing, nothing but silence.
“It’s called a kill switch,” he snarled behind me.“You stupid little bitch.”
I screamed, slamming both hands down on the horn. The sound was instant anddeafening,blaring through the darkness like a scream.
“Fuckingcunt!”he roared, reaching across me as the driver’s door was yanked open…and my pitiless attacker grasped me by the throat and hauled me out of the car.
