Chapter 2
The attack came startlingly quick. So fast, Cecelia wasn’t even sure it was happening at first. She suddenly felt his large hands on her back and she was shoved down, hard.
Even then she was more confused than alarmed. She’d face-planted straight into the seat. There was no dog, no cage, nothing but an empty back seat. Her nose smashed flat and her breath was cut off as she tried to inhale leather.
Her mind started to catch up then. She needed to breathe, and her nose hurt. She cried out and reared backward, but he was damned fast, gripping her arms and wrenching them behind her. She felt hard thin plastic drawing her wrists tight together. A zip tie? And while she was still processing that, he wrapped one meaty arm around her knees and restrained her ankles.
What the hell? One second she was looking for a dog, and the next, she was hog-tied and he was shoving her legs into the backseat of his car.
Damn it, fight!
She screamed.
She screamed like her life depended on it. And she wrenched her body every which way, but it was too late. She was crunched with her knees at her nose as he shut the car door.
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.
