Jake hit the brakes and followed Taylor around another curve. Then he was forced to drop back about forty feet due to an oncoming pickup truck. Taylor swerved quickly around a red coupé, and a minivan forced Jake even farther back. Jake hit the steering wheel in frustration. He couldn’t lose her! Mackenzie wasn’t going to get hurt or killed on his watch. It just wasn’t going to happen. He hit the gas again and was just in time to see Taylor turn to the left on a cross street. Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic on this road, and they had reached the outskirts of town where there were acres of planted pines and little else but a handful of houses and mobile homes. Jake made the turn and his tires squealed, but he dared not slow down too much. Taylor had floored it on the open road and was pulling away from him. Suddenly, a light blue car exited one of the side streets and pulled in front of Jake, and he was forced to slam on his brakes. His tires squealed and spun as he veered around the car. He almost lost control of his vehicle as it fishtailed and swung him in the opposite direction, but he landed on the shoulder of the road.
By the time he had regained complete control of his car and was able to continue the pursuit, the green sedan had disappeared. Jake slowed and studied his surroundings. He saw no other cars on the road, and the only movement was a stray dog crossing the road a hundred feet or so away from him. Many of the streets that led off the main road were unpaved, with a dirt surface, however, and he started looking for plumes of dust or any other signs that would reveal his quarry. He called in an all-points bulletin for the vehicle and gave the dispatcher the tag number as he drove slowly down the road.
After about two miles, he got his first hint of the green sedan’s whereabouts. A dirt road leading to the left looked as if someone had recently driven over it, as the dust was just beginning to settle. He did a fast parking job, and pulling out a set of binoculars, scanned a small brick house and carport that were about seventy yards away from the road. There was no car in the carport, but off to the right of the house, he could just make out the shape of a Ford sedan and a hint of green that wasn’t quite camouflaged by the brush and trees. He also noticed more dust filling the air above the dirt driveway. Someone had driven over the driveway in the past few minutes, and it was definitely possible that the car parked in the woods was the green sedan he had been following. It wasn’t much, but it was the only lead he had at the moment. He glanced at the rusted mailbox, but there was no name—just some faded stickers proclaiming the address. He turned and drove about thirty feet or so out of view of the house and parked again but left his engine running. He pulled out a county map from his glove compartment. The rest of his team would be here soon and then they could start a sweep of the area. He reached for his radio com link button so he could update the rest of his team about his current location but was stopped by the sudden sound of someone tapping on his window. He looked behind him and found himself face-to-face with the barrel of a .357 revolver pointing straight at him.
His eyes followed the gun and were met by Taylor’s cold, hard stare.
“I wouldn’t touch that radio if I were you, Officer.”
Even with the driver’s-side window up, it wasn’t hard to hear the threat in Taylor’s voice. Jake raised his hands and watched as Taylor moved up even closer and opened the driver’s-side door of his vehicle. “Turn off the engine and then get out of that car, you hear me?”
Jake nodded, reached for the ignition and cut the engine. He kept his movements slow and easy as he got out of the car. He looked around for any signs of Mackenzie but didn’t see anything. Still, she had to be nearby since he had been chasing the sedan and Taylor only minutes before.
“Look, I just want the woman back.”
“Shut up,” Taylor growled. “Now turn around and put your hands on the hood.”
Jake complied and felt Taylor take his weapon from his holster. As Taylor bent to check him for other weapons, Jake suddenly turned and lunged at the man, grabbing for his wrist. The criminal had put Jake’s gun in his belt but still had his .357 in his hand. Jake tried to wrench it away from him, and they wrestled for supremacy. Suddenly the gun went flying, and Taylor caught Jake hard in the mouth, cutting his lip against his teeth. Jake answered with a fist to Taylor’s gut, and the man staggered back a step and went for the other gun. A swift kick from Jake sent that gun flying, as well. Jake advanced, but Taylor recovered quickly and dove at him, grabbing him against the waist and pushing him hard against the truck. The move knocked the breath out of Jake, but a knee to Taylor’s stomach made the man loosen his grip. A second hit made him release Jake and take a step back. The two men stood there, poised and ready to strike, each glaring at the other, waiting for the next attack. They circled each other, keeping a wary distance.
“Where’s the woman?” Jake asked as he wiped the blood from his chin.
“She must mean something to you.” Taylor laughed. “I’ll let you watch when I slit her throat.”
Jake shook his head. “If you hurt her, you’ll have the entire federal government in your front yard in no time.” He narrowed his eyes. “She’s going back with me. That’s the only way this is going to end. If you try to hurt her, I promise you’ll be the one bleedin’ out in the dirt.” He struck out at the bigger man and connected with Taylor’s jaw. Taylor staggered and again lunged for Jake, this time hitting him with such momentum that the two hit the ground hard with Taylor on top. Jake brought up his leg and kicked Taylor at the same time that he pushed at his opponent with all of his strength. The two men rolled, and a few seconds later, Jake was on top, pelting Taylor with his fists. When it was obvious that Taylor was done and no longer a threat, Jake stopped and pulled back, working his fingers to get the pain from the fighting out of his hands. He took a deep breath and glanced around his surroundings, anxious to find Mackenzie and make sure she was safe. He never heard the other man approaching from behind. The blow came so quickly that he scarcely had time to react before the pain radiated across his head and he felt himself drowning in a sea of blackness.
TEN
“So who is this woman anyway?”
Mackenzie heard a chair scrape across the floor in the adjoining room. Her hands were tied behind her with some sort of braided nylon rope, and they’d gagged her with a dirty black bandanna. But beyond that, she was still relatively unscathed. She stood up from where they had thrown her on the bed in a small, undecorated bedroom and moved closer to the door so she could hear more of their conversation and gather whatever she could about their plans. What was their end game? Were they going to kill her? Her heart beat frantically in her chest as she waited to hear some bit of news.
“How should I know? She’s got on a vest that says US MARSHAL. She must be another fed. The warehouse was swarming with cops.” The voice was low and menacing, and she recognized it as belonging to the man who had abducted her from the parking lot. So far, she had heard at least three other men talking, too, as well as a woman’s high-pitched tones.
“Man, the feds are crawlin’ all over the place. The timing couldn’t be worse.”
“Yeah. This really puts a kink in things. I hope the boss has a plan to take care of the situation before it gets any worse.” This man’s voice was a cross between a whimper and a grumble, and she dubbed him “Whiny” in her head. Even though she couldn’t see him, she could imagine the man’s words and tone only irritated her abductor. The man who had kidnapped her seemed like the kind who didn’t take kindly to criticism of any kind.
There was a pause and then laughter, raucous and deep. Another man snorted. “I’m sure he does. The boss always has a plan.”
“Yeah, but he seems worried lately—like things aren’t coming together like they should.”
“Well, why’d you grab up this woman?” Whiny said. “Seems like the last thing we needed was the cops breathing down on us. Now they’ll be out searching for sure.”
“She was my insurance policy for my esca
pe. Besides, the boss has a plan to use it for our advantage.”
“I think it was dumb to take her.”
She heard a slap and a loud thump as if someone had fallen out of their chair. “You’re the idiot! You never think beyond the moment.” There was another scrape. “Look, the boss needs some time to finish moving the merchandise without interference. If the cops are focused on finding this lady, they won’t have time to be chasing the boss. We’re the diversion now. Get it?”
Whiny grunted. “Okay, I get it, but I better get paid well for this extra risk I’m taking here. I’m gonna need lots of cash so I can disappear once this is over.”
“Don’t worry. There’s enough to go around, and you’ll get what’s coming to you. I promise.”
Mackenzie cringed at those last words and pulled against the ties on her hands, but the rope only seemed to tighten as she struggled. Her skin burned. You’ll get what’s coming to you. She doubted the whiny man noticed the phrasing, but to her, the words foreshadowed pain and even death, not a large payoff.
She heard footsteps coming in her direction, and she quickly moved back over to the bed. Her abductor opened the door and grinned. “Okay, princess. It’s time to take a little ride.” He grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her to her feet. He smelled of sweat and old socks, and her nose wrinkled involuntarily. Her fear amplified her senses, and she hoped her aversion didn’t show on her face. The last thing she wanted to do was irritate this man any further. He pulled her out the bedroom door and through the kitchen, but she barely had time to glance at the other people before she was outside, standing by the green sedan again. She noticed that the woman she had heard while in the room had reddish-brown hair and one of the men had a brown mustache, but that was about it. The man who’d abducted her opened the back door and pushed her inside. Then he shoved her again when she tried to sit up. “Stay down, do you hear me? Don’t make me tell you again. You won’t like the results. Got it?”
He laughed and encircled her ankle with one large hand, pulling it close to his hip. “You really think you can get away from me? Think again.” This time when she tried to pull away, he held fast to her leg and rubbed his fingers roughly over her skin. “You’re pretty. I bet men fawn over you all day long.”
The gag kept her from responding, but she shook her head, still pulling against his grip. He laughed again and finally pushed her foot away. He then slammed the car door, leaving her inside. She was no match for his strength, and they both knew it. She shrank back as far as she could against the vinyl bench seat, but there was really no place for her to go. A knot of terror and trepidation pulled and twisted in her stomach. Would she survive the day? What horrors awaited her?
She was left alone with her fears for a good twenty minutes. Then she heard the trunk open. Something heavy was thrown inside, and the entire car shook when the trunk door slammed shut. Suddenly, her abductor and another man jumped in the front seat and the engine roared to life. The car started moving with a groan, and Mackenzie pulled herself to a sitting position and saw a plume of dust swell up behind them as they drove away from the brick house.
“Did you hear that Beckett got arrested?” It was the whiny man again. She could hear the irritation in her abductor’s voice when he answered.
“Of course I heard. The boss keeps me informed of what’s going on.”
“Well, what if Beckett tells them about our plans? What then?”
“You worry too much. Just shut up and leave the thinkin’ to me. Everything is going down the way we planned.”
“You planned for Beckett to get arrested?”
Mackenzie saw her captor smack the other man. “Of course, not, you fool. But Beckett knows the score. He won’t talk to the police. None of our plans have changed. We got most of the merchandise out of the warehouse before the feds arrived, anyway, and they don’t even know about the other warehouse. We’ll be sitting pretty on the beach with a drink in our hand, living the good life in no time. The boss always makes sure he has a contingency plan. Now stop worrying and keep your mouth shut so I can drive.”
Her abductor’s voice was gruff and unfeeling, which caused the knot in Mackenzie’s stomach to grow and fester. The car went over another bump, and her awkward position made her head knock against the car door. Would they ever let her free?
They drove in silence for about an hour or so, and Mackenzie felt like they were driving pretty fast. Maybe they were on a highway? Then she felt the engine slow as they pulled off and made a series of turns before finally starting down a bumpy dirt road filled with potholes. Her position made it hard for her to keep her bearings, but she tried to take mental notes of anything she could about her captors and the trip in case she was ever able to escape. Another bump knocked her head into the door again, and she quit worrying about the rope around her hands and tried to focus on just keeping herself far enough away from the armrest to keep from getting hurt even further.
She bit into the gag they had forced into her mouth and swallowed hard as a nervous tingle went up her spine. Was the fact that she wasn’t blindfolded a problem? Did that mean her abductors didn’t care if she saw their faces because they were planning to kill her anyway? So far, she was relatively unscathed apart from a little rough manhandling, but she was terrified that her life would be snuffed out by the criminals surrounding her and she wouldn’t live to see another sunset.
Suddenly, the car stopped. She heard her abductor put the car in Park and turn off the engine. Her heartbeat sped up until it felt like it would pop right out of her chest. What would happen to her now?
“Here we go, princess.”
She was dragged unceremoniously out of the back seat, and a new wave of fear swept over her. They seemed to be in a very isolated location, and the only thing she saw was a small shack that leaned slightly to the left in front of her. It was surrounded by pine trees and scrub brush. Cicadas chirped in the distance, and a swarm of mosquitoes seemed to buzz near her ears as soon as she left the vehicle. The heat was oppressive despite the cover the trees provided, and she felt sweat start to gather on her neck, although she wasn’t altogether sure if it was the hot July sun or the cold eyes of her abductor that made the moisture form on her skin. She couldn’t hear any other cars or noises that signaled civilization was nearby, and from the sounds of insects and birds, she imagined they were deep in the woods in a rural area either still in the Florida panhandle or on the southern edge of Georgia. She was alone. Correction. She was alone with two ruffians. Were they going to kill her? She stumbled as nausea turned her stomach, and her abductor grabbed her arm as the whiny man leered nearby.
“This way, darlin’.”
She flinched at his touch, and the man laughed and stroked her hair suggestively.
Mackenzie jerked away from his touch and ended up losing her balance and falling to the ground. Her hands were still tied behind her, and she groaned as pain radiated up her arms. She scooted away from her abductor and kicked a cloud of sand at him, but he only laughed at her attempts to keep him away. He bent and grabbed her ankle to stop her escape and then reached over and secured her arms with cold, unfeeling hands. His body odor overwhelmed her and his stale breath polluted her face. Her gag still kept her from speaking, but she wailed loudly as the fear made her frantic to escape. She struggled against his grip and felt sand and bits of rock and debris embed into her skin beneath her clothing.
Her abductor leaned closer to adjust his grip, and she brought up her knee hard, hitting him in the ribs. She instantly realized her actions were a mistake. A fire lit in his eyes, and he drew his hand back and slapped her hard, jarring her teeth and jaw. “Where do you think you’re goin’, huh? There’s no escaping me. Now, quit fighting.” She slowed her motions but couldn’t stop her arms from trembling from exertion. He turned his head and spoke to Whiny. “What are you doin’ just standing there? Help me get her up.”
Whiny
jumped to do the other man’s bidding, and the two unceremoniously pulled Mackenzie to her feet. The smaller man must have felt pity for her, and he leaned close to her ear.
“Easy there. Nobody’s going to hurt you anymore as long as you do what he says. We just need you out of the way for a few days.” His words calmed Mackenzie a bit, but the fear was still there in the pit of her stomach. Was he lying just to get her cooperation? Even if he was, there wasn’t much she could do to defend herself or escape. She also doubted he would really oppose the bigger man and come to her defense if he really wanted to hurt her.
She let them pull her toward the shack, her mind spinning. She’d have to wait and watch for a better opportunity to escape. Somehow, she was going to get out of here alive. She didn’t know how, but she was going to give it everything she had. She thought back to the words she had spoken to her father only hours before. I’m strong. I’m smart... Her entire life she had been self-assured and confident that she could do anything on her strength alone. Maybe it was time to rethink that strategy. Maybe she needed a bit of help despite her claims to the contrary.
Dear God, please help me. God would never leave her or forsake her. She had to remember that. She said another quick prayer for help and instantly felt a sense of peace start to soothe her frazzled nerves. She quietly acknowledged that she wouldn’t be able to escape this situation without His help. She needed God in her life now more than ever.
The building was musty and hot and smelled slightly of rot and decay. It appeared to be a one-room hunting shack of sorts, with a cot on one side, a couple of shelving units and a small dresser in one of the corners. On one side of the room there was a kitchen sink, a stove and a few wooden cabinets, and in the middle of the room sat a rustic table and chairs with a layer of dust and bug carcasses. There was one small window over the sink and another on one of the walls, both with faded red gingham curtains around the edges. A single door was on the back wall, and she imagined it led to a bathroom.
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