Her captor grinned that maniacal smile she’d quickly grown to hate. “Never you mind that for now.” He walked past her and rummaged in a large box next to the strange-looking espresso machine thing on the kitchen counter.
She stood from the table, carefully pushing her chair out and stepping away from her uneaten plate of food. She turned to see what he was doing as he pulled a big handgun out of the box and pointed it at her forehead in one smooth move. “Are you gonna be difficult?” he asked.
Francine looked cross-eyed at the gun barrel that was only six inches from her face and shook her head, quietly adding, “No,” to ensure he understood she didn’t want to die.
“Good answer.” Then he lowered the gun and shot her in the belly.
Francine felt the shot and looked down to see how big of a hole he’d made. Dang it, she’d said, “No,” out loud so he’d understand. But there wasn’t a bullet hole. A dart-like thing protruded from her shirt. A wave of dizziness rolled through her. She swayed to one side, caught herself and tried to straighten, but couldn’t seem to tell which way was up.
She pulled the barb out and said, “That was so mean.” She heard loud buzzing in her ears. The floor rushed up. She slammed her eyes shut, expecting to feel the pain of smacking the cabin’s hard, dirty wood floor. Instead, she only saw stars in a field of obsidian.
When she woke, her hands were tied at the wrists and he was trying to get her inside the trunk. When she refused, expecting another dart in the gut, he sprayed something that smelled like popcorn in her face.
She glared, wishing looks could smoke him to cinders in his boots as she crumpled onto the dirt road next to the car. Whatever he’d sprayed her with knocked her unconscious—again.
Awake once more—and very annoyed at being knocked unconscious every other minute—Francine did a mental review. Her aching body was in a dark space, bouncing around like whatever she rode in was rolling down a hill.
What in the world?
The vehicle’s brakes squealed as she slammed backward, grasping that she was in the trunk. How rude! Tranquilized—twice—tied up and stuffed in a trunk was the trifecta it took to put her in panic mode. She tried to break her restraints, to no avail. Something covered her mouth, but she could at least breath through her nose.
The vehicle stopped moving.
Struggling only made things worse, and the prospect of freedom seemed more distant than ever. She strained against the ties at her ankles, but felt no give. She took a deep breath, relaxed all her limbs and tried to calm herself. She took a deep breath and released it slowly. Then she did that again.
Francine heard the muffled sound of a car door opening and closing. When the trunk lid opened and light flooded in, she squinted, then glared at the man responsible for her predicament.
He ripped the tape from her mouth, sending burning pain across her face.
Francine gave him another silent withering gaze, unable to speak without shouting a stream of vulgar expletives. She was not going to stoop to that coarse level. No matter what he did.
“Don’t look at me like that. It couldn’t be helped.”
“Whatever,” she managed. “Get me out of here.”
He reached in, grabbed her arm and half wrestled, half lifted her out of the trunk. They were still in the woods, parked on a narrow dirt road. They could be anywhere.
Francine was barely on her unstable, bound feet when the sound of a loud explosion filled the air. Her captor grinned wider as he turned toward the sound.
“What was that?”
“Our freedom.”
“What?” Francine had a really bad feeling. “What does that mean?”
He turned back, his expression gleeful, eyes filled with maniacal delight. Nodding in the direction of the plume of smoke she could see rising into the sky, he said, “That was the cabin we were just in.”
“You blew it up? Why? Why would you do that?”
“Now they think we are dead, at least for now. Once I get my payoff, we can go anywhere.”
Francine’s bad feeling grew tenfold. “Who thinks we’re dead?”
“Anyone chasing us.”
“Like Raphael?” Francine’s eyes filled with tears. She couldn’t look away from the plume of smoke above the trees in the distance. Her captor slammed the car trunk closed.
“Are you going to cooperate?” he asked.
