Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Are you listening to me?”
I was. I so was.
THIRTEEN
I was dying of thirst, so I got up, dressed, and went in search of a vending machine to get us both some water. I only found snack machines, though, so I came back, prepared to drink out of the faucet in the bathroom. Hand on the doorknob, I was about to go back inside.
“Wait.”
Whirling around, heart in my throat, I was surprised to see not a madman with a gun, but a very ordinary-looking guy with a ball cap pulled low over his eyes. He had a barn coat on over a hoodie, and what looked like painter pants and heavy work boots. There was nothing even vaguely threatening about him except that he was there.
“Sorry?” I asked, taking a step toward the door.
It was then he withdrew a gun. “No, you can’t go back in there. He said there’s a cop with you, yeah? I’ll go back to prison for this if I run into a cop.”
I stopped moving and waited.
“All I’m supposed to do here is make sure you don’t go back in.”
“What if I hadn’t come out?”
“Then I was supposed to knock until someone answered.”
“And if the cop had answered instead of me?”
“I was supposed to shoot him.”
My stomach clenched tight just thinking about Cord hurt.
“But really,” he said quickly, “I don’t wanna shoot anybody. I will, but I don’t want to.”
I nodded.
“I just gotta give you the phone in my pocket, tell you what number to dial, and then we go for a quick walk.”
I nodded.
“Come away from the door.”
I could have yelled. If I did, Cord would wake up, grab his gun, and fly out the door to save me. The stranger who didn’t want to fire his weapon would, in fact, shoot the man I was planning a future with. I wasn’t ready to roll the dice on my happily ever after, the one where I got to eat dinner every night with Cord Nolan.
“Tell me what you want me to do.”
“Just come with me.”
“Okay,” I agreed quickly.
We walked together through the open-air corridor between the doors and the parked cars until we reached the dumpster. It was there that he passed me a tiny flip-top phone. He recited a number, and I punched it in.
“Do you want me to put it on speaker?”
He shook his head. “No. I know where I’m supposed to take you after.”
I pressed the phone to my ear. It only rang once.
“Hello? Tracy?” It was a woman’s voice.
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“It’s Celia. Is Cord with you?”
I was surprised because she didn’t sound like herself at all. I was guessing the fear was doing something to her voice.
“No, not at the moment.”
“Good. You need to come to Auto Haus Garage right now.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but he says you have to, or he’s going to hurt me.”
And suddenly what was happening started sinking in. “Oh shit.”
She whimpered.
“Celia, where are you?”
“I’m here at the garage.”
“But not alone.”
“No.”
I was so cold, inside and out, scared for the first time, but not for myself. I was worried about Celia and her baby, and terrified for Cord. If anything happened to me, he would never forgive himself, and that made my heart hurt.
“Tracy?”
“Celia, are you okay?”
“So far,” she answered, the catch in her voice making it wobble.
“Good.” My throat was dry, and I couldn’t stop shaking.
“But he will, Tracy. He said he will hurt me if you don’t come now.”
“Who?”
“Please. Come now.”
“Celia, if I go wake up Cord, he—”
“No. Tracy… He… I have a baby.”
I knew she did. “Okay. I’m coming right now.”
“Just you, no Cord.”
“Understood.”
“The man with you, just do what he says.”
“I will.”
“He says nothing will happen to either of us if you follow directions,” she said slowly, her speech measured.
She knew as well as I did that the man’s words were a lie. We had reached the end of the cat-and-mouse game. “Okay,” I said, and took a breath. “So he’s right there talking to you?”
“Yes, and I’ve been told to hang up. I’ll see you soon.”
The line went dead, and I had a moment to imagine how terrified she must be. I turned to the man beside me and placed the phone in his outstretched hand. “So I guess I’m coming with you.”
“No trouble? You’re not gonna fight?”
I shook my head. “I promise.”
His quick nod told me he was almost as scared as I was. He put a hand around my bicep and shoved the one holding the gun into his coat pocket. “Good,” he said with a deep, relieved sigh.
It was very early in the morning, so there was no one at all on the road. Added to that was the temperature, right above freezing, so it was just me and my kidnapper walking side by side out of the motel’s parking lot.