She heard them confer in whispers. Then one of them untied her. “The two of us is goin’ in with you,” Chazz said, “so don’t try nothin’.”
They untied her hands, and she reached up to pull off the blindfold. One of them snatched it away. She blinked and rubbed her eyes.
They were standing in front of a derelict gas station next to a deserted two-lane road. The men marched her through an open doorway into a small room with a sink and two toilet stalls. There didn’t seem to be a bulb in the fixture, but moonlight drifted in through the open door and several high windows.
The door to the stall had a crude latch, which she hooked. But it was too flimsy to hold out against them. From the condition of the place — the stale, moldy smell, the layer of debris on the floor — she could tell the service station was long abandoned. This wasn’t the sort of place where a good Samaritan was likely to happen by and rescue her.
As she undid her jeans and perched on the icy toilet seat, she was acutely aware of the two men right outside the stall. Finally, she called out, “This would be a lot quicker if I could have a little privacy. Could you step out of the room for a minute?” When no one answered, she added, “There’s only one exit, you know. I can’t escape.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Chazz said, “We’ll be right outside. Don’t try to be clever or you’ll be sorry.” And she heard them make their way to the door.
Once again, she considered their behavior, which was rather strange, given the fact that they were kidnapping her. Obviously they were under orders to make sure she came to no harm. And, in their own clumsy way, they were making an effort.
For the moment, Nicole didn’t seem to be in any great danger. As she saw it, her best option would be to pretend to cooperate. At some point, these men would let down their guard. And that would be her chance.
When she was done, she went to the sink. There was no soap, but the tap released a flow of icy water. She rinsed her hands and dried them on her jeans.
Walking out to join the two men, she pretended a calm she didn’t feel. Chazz handed her a can of Coke. It was cool, but not chilled. She pulled off the tab and drank greedily. When she was done, he took the empty can from her and tossed it on the ground. Then they retied her wrists, replaced the blindfold, and began the trek back.
As she stumbled along, Nicole strained against the rope around her wrists. There was a bit of slack, she noticed, and it seemed to give slightly when pulled. Encouraged, she worked at the rope as they walked, repeatedly flexing her hands against it.
She had no idea they’d reached the car until she heard the trunk open. Before they had a chance to lift her in, she said. “I can’t breathe in there. You’ll open it up and find me dead. Is that what you want?”
“There’s air,” Chazz said. “’e told me there’s plenty.” But there was a hesitation in his voice, as if he weren’t sure.
“I’m telling you, I’ll suffocate,” she insisted.
The two men exchanged whispers, then led her a short distance where they stopped, and she heard the car door open. “All right,” Chazz said. “You can sit in the back. But we’re keeping you tied up. You try anything, you’re going in the boot, suffocate or not.”
“Sure. Anything you say. Could you get the blanket from the trunk?”
Instead of answering, Chazz told Kevin, “Hold onto ’er.” Someone grabbed her arm; boots crunched off, presumably around the car. The trunk opened, then shut.
They pushed her into the backseat and spread the blanket over her. Then one of them slid in next to her, closing the door while the other got in the front. “Can I have my purse?” she said. “Where’s my purse?”
Neither man answered. The motor started up, and the car began to move. Reminded of her purse, she thought of the lovely new things she’d purchased that afternoon and realized, with a pang of regret, that all of it was gone, even the new leather suitcase. The loss of her purse troubled her the most, for it contained her driver’s license, passport, credit cards, cell phone— everything that could identify her should the worst happen.
Then something else occurred to her. She kept a card with emergency numbers in her wallet. She’d even remembered to update it with Brad’s office number in London. Whoever found it might contact him. If he heard that her purse, wallet and passport had been found, abandoned in a hotel room, he’d call the police, and they’d start looking for her.
Even as she was thinking this, she knew how unlikely it was. These men might be dumb, but not dumb enough to abandon her purse in an empty hotel room where it was sure to raise questions. They had no doubt taken her things and, if they hadn’t already gotten rid of them, would soon do so, probably by selling them.
They drove for a long time, perhaps an hour or more, while she feigned sleep and continued working on the rope. At last she managed to slide one hand part way out, although she couldn’t get her knuckles past the knot.
Without warning, the car screeched to a stop, and she was almost thrown to the floor. From Chazz’s swearing, she gathered that another car had appeared around a bend, and they’d nearly collided head on. She could make out the other car’s headlights through the blindfold.
There was a loud altercation of horns while Chazz shouted more curses. Finally, he backed up and appeared to be waiting for the other vehicle to pass. As the lights grew brighter, she figured the moment had come. She moved quickly, snatching off the blindfold with her partially freed hand and pushing her way past Kevin to press her face against the window on his side of the car. The glare of the other car’s headlights was blinding. She couldn’t wave her arms, but she screamed as loudly as she could.
“Bleeding Jesus!” Chazz shouted. The car bucked forward, and Kevin pulled at her shoulders while another pair of hands yanked her hair, wresting her away from the window. The pain brought tears to her eyes.
At that moment, the car gave a lurch, and began rolling downhill. The men both screamed and released their hold on her, causing her to tumble to the floor.
Next came a loud thump, as if they’d struck something, and the car seemed to push off in a new direction. Wherever they were headed seemed to put them in great peril, for both men began to shout things like, “Bugger me,” and “Sweet Jesus.” The brakes screamed again, this time even louder. The car came to a stop, but they were now tilted at a strange angle. After a moment of silence, someone groaned.
“You all right, Chazz?”
“I’m talkin’ aint I? Where’s that bloody bint?”
“I don’t know. I can’t ...”
Nicole felt someone poke her in the side.
“Yeah, here she is — on the floor.”
“She breathin?”
“Dunno.” Kevin poked her again, then ran his hand over her face. She attempted to bite it, and the hand withdrew. “Yeah, she’ll do,” he said. Then, after a moment: “Listen, Chazz — that other car. Did it stop?”
The car creaked with movement, and Chazz said, “I don’t see no lights.”
`“Kind of funny, in’t it?” Kevin said. “I mean, here we go off the side of the road. We could of got killed or something, and they don’t even bother to stop.”
“You idiot,” Chazz pronounced it idjit. “We don’t want ‘em to stop. That’s all we need, in’t it? Hold tight, and I’ll get a look at the damage.” The car gave a sickening lurch as he shifted his weight toward the passenger seat.
“What the bloody hell?” he yelled. “Me front wheel is gone off the edge of a cliff.” His voice dropped to a whisper, as if he thought the sound might send them into the abyss. “Don’t move,” he hissed, sliding over to the passenger’s side and opening the door. “I’ll climb out. Then I’ll hold it steady an you get out.”
“What about her?”
“Leave her. We’ll push the car back on the road. Then we won’t have to worry about her, will we?”
“What if it goes down and her with it?”
“If we all get out, it’s going down for su
re, in’t it?” Then he added, “All her fault anyhow. Sticking her bloody face to the glass, screaming, trying to make trouble.”
The car had barely stopped swaying from Chazz’s exit when Kevin opened the back door, and the rocking began again. This time the motion was even more violent, but it stopped when Kevin gently closed the door behind him. After a moment or so, Nicole could feel jerks and twitches from the front end of the car, accompanied by grunting and groaning from the men. They seemed to be trying to push the vehicle into a less precarious position. As far as she could tell, they weren’t making much progress.
Nicole, still lying on the floor, took stock of herself. In half disbelief, she realized that the rope around her wrists was loose. With a little effort, she pulled her hands free. Slowly, taking care not to rock the car, she opened the door on the side of the car where Chazz and Kevin had made their exit. It was too dark to see. She had the feeling that if she got out, she’d find herself plummeting to the bottom of a ravine. This possibility frightened her, but not nearly as much as the prospect of remaining at the mercy of Chazz and Kevin.
She gave a final push, slipping into the dark void and landing, seconds later, in a pile of soft dirt. If she’d set the car rocking, the two men didn’t seem to notice. She could still hear them grunting and straining against the weight of the car.
The moon had disappeared behind some clouds, but she could see a cluster of lights some distance ahead, the only brightness in a wall of thick darkness. She scrambled to her feet and headed toward the lights.
As the trees got thicker, she realized the velvety blackness ahead was a forest. Working her way through the trees, she lost sight of the lights. Beneath her feet, a thick layer of leaves and pine needles crunched despite all her efforts to tread lightly. The moon peeked in and out between the clouds, providing just enough light to keep her from bumping into trees.
Shouts rang out: “She’s pulled a runner.” and “Over there!”
Looking back, she could tell by the beam of their flashlight that they were heading toward her. The path began to slope downward, and she felt a surge of hope as she picked up speed. But soon it grew so steep that she found herself stumbling and then sliding downhill. In an attempt to slow herself, she grabbed branches of the trees and bushes in her path as she skidded unsteadily down the incline, noisily breaking the lower branches of the small fir trees in her path.
When she paused to glance back, the beam of the flashlight had vanished. Was it possible she’d managed to shake them?
As she turned back to resume her flight, the ground before her dropped away into blackness. She found herself tumbling down a rocky incline.
“Over there!” Chazz shouted, and she could hear them scrambling after her.
It wasn’t long before the ground leveled out, and her fall ended. But there was no time to get up and run. They were already upon her, dragging her to her feet. Chazz raised his flashlight as if he were about to strike her. She braced herself for the blow, but Kevin reached out and grabbed the raised arm.
“The guv said …” Kevin murmured.
“She’s a real hellion, this one,” Chazz growled, but he let his arm drop to his side.
“You got the stuff to keep her quiet?” Kevin said.
“Nah, I left it in the car. We’ll drag her up there, hit her with everything we’ve got, and chuck her in the boot.”
“You don’t want to give her too much,” Kevin said. “He said be careful.”
“He can’t have it both ways,” Chazz said. “He tells us bring her, don’t let her escape, and then says don’t hurt her. But she’s a right little bitch, in’t she. We don’t knock her out, she screams bloody murder at the first car ‘at goes by.”
This time they didn’t bother with rope or blindfold. Instead, they gripped her upper arms and dragged her roughly along. At the crest of the hill, the car was waiting. The moon was out from behind the clouds, allowing Nicole her first real look at the vehicle. It took her a second or two, to remember where she’d seen it before. It was the same ancient white Oldsmobile that had narrowly missed her on her way to the FedEx office in Glasgow. It was off the road, sitting at the edge of the cliff. But it was no longer at a tilt; all four wheels were firmly planted on the ground.
Chazz opened the car door, rifled around in the glove compartment and brought out a plastic box resembling a first-aid kit. He opened it and pulled something out. “Here,” he said to Kevin. “Put the chloroform on this rag and stick it over her face, while I give her another jab of the needle.”
“He said don’t give her both …”
“You know something, Kevin? It’ll go easier if you keep your bloody mouth shut.”
She struggled and held her breath against the sweet, sickening chemical smell. But she was already sinking when she felt the needle go into her arm. It seemed no more than a second or two before everything went black.
Twenty-Two
She heard a voice and opened her eyes. “Here, I can see you’re tryin’ to wake up.” The woman leaning over her smelled faintly of lemon and disinfectant. She rearranged the pillows and helped Nicole sit up. “You missed breakfast, but I’ve got some nice soup for you. There now, I’m putting the tray across your lap. Careful — it’s hot.”
Other than the fact that she was in bed, Nicole had no idea where she was. The room was bright and welcoming with sunlight streaming through the windows. Wooziness made it hard to think, to integrate the comfort of her surroundings with the terror she’d just lived through. Yet it hadn’t been a dream. Her body still ached from the violence of the ride. Her wrists were chafed and raw from the rope.
She remembered the near collision on the narrow road and realized what must have happened. When she pressed her face against the window and screamed, the other motorist must have called the police. Somehow they’d managed to catch up with Chazz and Kevin in time to save her.
“Where am I?” Her voice came out hoarse and unfamiliar.
“You’re on the Isle of Benbarra. It’s a wee island on a loch along the coast of Scotland.” The woman’s voice had a soft Scottish burr.
“How did I get here? Is this some sort of hospital?”
“Now let’s not be tiring ourselves with questions. You’re safe here. Everything is being taken care of — everything you could ever want or imagine wantin’. All you have to worry about is taking some nourishment.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That’s all right. Let’s just start with a wee bit of water.”
Nicole picked up the water goblet and took a sip. A wave of nausea hit her. She put the glass down, lay back, and closed her eyes.
The woman went away and was immediately back with a cool, damp cloth, which she pressed against Nicole’s forehead.
At last the wooziness passed. Cautiously, she propped herself up and gazed around. If this was a hospital, she thought, it was in a completely different league than the one where she’d been treated after the explosion. Her room was large and handsomely furnished. The bed featured a canopy of white eyelet lined with gauzy pink fabric, and the dark wood furniture looked expensive.
The night table held a large vase of fresh flowers, a cheery arrangement of roses: zinnias, carnations, marigolds. The sight of them stirred an idea, a question that vanished before she could put it into words.
On the opposite wall, she noticed a vanity table with a flounced skirt made of the same white and pink as the canopy. Here were more flowers, baby pink roses mixed with lacy fern. This time the thought took shape: Were these flowers from someone in her family? Did they know about her ordeal? The thought made her eyes fill with tears. “My family…” she said. “Has someone called them?”
“I’m sure they have,” the woman said in a soothing voice. “But I wouldn’t know the particulars.” She gave Nicole’s hand a pat, as if comforting a child. “Don’t worry, dear. You’re safe here,” she went on. “Now, why don’t we just take a look at what I’ve brought you.”
&n
bsp; The woman lifted the dome from a steaming bowl, which held a thick broth floating with vegetables and chunks of meat. “Why don’t you try some of this nice lamb and barley soup?”
The smell brought back Nicole’s queasiness. “I don’t think I can eat.”
“Just a wee bit, and you’ll feel stronger.”
“Please,” Nicole said. “I can’t.”
“Very well, then.” The woman put the cover back on the bowl and returned it to the serving cart. “Try to take some water whenever you think of it. I’ll put the pitcher and glass right here on the table. Now, if you need to use the toilet, you’d better let me help you. You might be dizzy, and we don’t want you falling down.”
Nicole shook her head. “Not now.”
“Well, if you’re sure.” The woman looked at her doubtfully. “The important thing is to call me when you feel the need. Just give this a wee tug.” She gestured toward a braided pull hanging on the wall nearby. “I’m only a minute away.”
When the door clicked shut, Nicole pushed the covers back and swung her legs around to the side of the bed. As she got to her feet, she realized the woman was right. She was so dizzy she had to sit down again. When the feeling passed, she got up more slowly and went to the window.
Her room was on the third floor of a big old building. Another wing jutted out to the left, fortress-like in a homely combination of large gray stones and small red ones. Below, a garden the size of a small park was divided into neat geometric segments of lawn and flowerbeds. The grounds ended at an impenetrable wall of trees that appeared to mark the beginning of a woods.
In the mirror over the vanity, she was startled by her own reflection; she looked like a ghost from another century. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar nightgown. It was white batiste with vertical rows of lace and tucks and tiny buttons down the front. Her face was pale, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She gave a little cry when she saw the raw marks on her wrists. No wonder they hurt. On her upper left arm was an enormous bruise where Chazz had stuck her with the needle.
The Swap Page 23