The Road To Deliverance

by James, Harper

  The guy was driving very fast, the car bouncing around, rocking from side to side. She’d been thrown against the armrest as he took a fast curve. That’s what had woken her up.

  How come he hadn’t seen her asleep in the back? Then again, the dark blanket covered her from head to foot. Nobody expects to find a person asleep in the back of a car.

  A thought suddenly crossed her mind, made her blood run cold. What if she’d set the alarm properly after all—and it hadn’t gone off yet?

  Right on cue it chirruped in her bag.

  The driver’s whole body jerked at the sound. His head spun around.

  ‘What the—’

  The blare of a horn grabbed his attention back to the road ahead. In his surprise he’d let the car wander into the path of the oncoming traffic. He wrenched the wheel hard right as a car flashed past, lights illuminating the inside of the car, the urgent sound of its horn fading into the distance behind them.

  ‘What the hell are you doing there?’ he shouted, his eyes on the road this time.

  ‘What am I doing?’ she shouted back. ‘This is my car.’

  ‘You nearly made me crash.’

  Her mouth opened and closed a couple times before anything came out.

  ‘I nearly made you crash? You shouldn’t be stealing my car.’

  ‘I’m not stealing it—’

  ‘You could’ve fooled me.’

  ‘—I’m borrowing it.’

  Great. Not only had her car been stolen with her in it, it’d been stolen by a lunatic who wanted to play word games.

  She didn’t bother replying, trying to argue.

  ‘Just stop and let me out, okay.’

  To her amazement, he came off the gas, looked for a place to pull over. Her elation was short-lived. Her own mind saw to that. Why would he let her go when the first thing she’d do is phone the police and give them the license plate number? Her mind ran through all the possible scenarios. None of them were good. She needed to be ready when he stopped.

  He saw a gravel run-off illuminated in the beams of the headlights, started to slow. She didn’t wait for the car to stop. As soon as she heard the crunch of gravel under the tires, she threw open the door, jumped out.

  They weren’t doing more than five miles per hour. But it wasn’t the movies either. She immediately stumbled and fell, skinned her palms and knees on the sharp grit. She pushed herself to her feet. Set off running back the way they’d come, desperately praying for another car to appear.

  Behind her, she heard the car skid to a halt, the sound of the driver’s door flying open, an angry shout.

  In the darkness the ground was a minefield of uneven dips and bumps, loose gravel and discarded trash. She wasn’t wearing what anybody would call high heels, but they were still way too high to run for your life in. And the tightness of her skirt around her hips and thighs wasn’t doing anything to help the length of her stride.

  No time to pull off her shoes. She grabbed the hem of her skirt, wrenched it up over her thighs.

  It was no use. Like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

  The man behind her was big, and he was fast too. Not hampered by skirt or heels. And he had something to aim for, not like her running blindly into the unknown of the pitch-black night.

  She felt his presence right behind her immediately. Heard his breath, strong and regular. Swore she felt the heat of it on her neck. Inside her the adrenalin slugged it out with the alcohol in her veins, released a hidden reserve of strength and speed. She put on a spurt, drew the crisp air deep into her burning lungs, hair streaming in the wind behind her.

  Suddenly it was if she ran full-on into a street sign. Her head jerked backwards as his flailing hand caught hold of her hair. Feet slipping out from under her on the loose dirt. He lost his grip in her hair. She stumbled forward, off-balance. Turned over her ankle, a gasp of pain hissing through her teeth. Another incoherent shout from right behind her ear. Louder. More insistent. A warning. Then a feeling of massive overwhelming force as if a house fell on top of her.

  She crashed into the undergrowth at the side of the shoulder, his full weight squashing her flat, driving her body into the dirt and branches, squeezing the breath out of her like she was a giant tube of toothpaste. The hard ground came up fast, hit her head with a sickening, brain-loosening jolt.

  A strangled groan died in her throat, then merciful blackness claimed her for its own.

  Chapter 15

  SARAH OPENED HER EYES slowly, closed them quickly. Her head was splitting. She wanted to be sick. Her hands and feet were numb, a dull ache throbbing in her arms and legs. She opened her eyes again. Raised her head a fraction, saw the rope she kept in the trunk wrapped securely around her wrists and ankles. By someone who knew what they were doing, by the look of it. Not so tight as to cut off the blood flow, tight enough to rule out any possibility of escape. It made her wonder what sort of a man knew how to tie restraints like that, what else he knew how to do. She let her head flop back down onto the seat, a resigned sigh on her lips.

  ‘So, you’re awake,’ the driver said without looking around. His voice was soft and reassuring. In any other situation she might have said there was a hint of concern in it.

  ‘No thanks to you.’

  He chuckled softly.

  ‘Sorry about that. You must have hit your head a little too hard when you landed on the ground.’

  She let out an astonished gasp.

  ‘When I landed on the ground,’ she repeated slowly, almost amused by his choice of words. ‘You know if you ever get bored of being a kidnapper and a car thief you should try being a politician. You’ve got a way with weasel words. I think what you mean is when you wrestled me to the ground and something the size and weight of a brick outhouse mashed my head into the dirt.’

  He chuckled again. She was amazed the sound didn’t make her want to punch him.

  ‘You’re not too bad with words yourself, Sarah.’

  That shut her up.

  ‘Although you would be, wouldn’t you? Being a hot-shot lawyer an’ all.’

  ‘How the—’

  She looked down at the seat beside her. Her wallet lay open, the sour-faced picture on her work ID card that she’d always hated staring back up at her.

  ‘I suppose you helped yourself to my money while you were going through my things.’

  He tut-tutted from the front seat, her barbed comments washing over him. The corner of his mouth was curled up in a small smile. She didn’t want to look in the mirror. He was watching her while he had his fun. No way she’d give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear in her eyes.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  He let out a weary sigh. Like he’d been asked to explain something simple to a slow-witted child for the tenth time.

  ‘All you need to know is that I’m not going to hurt you.’

  She snorted.

  ‘Really? If my hands weren’t tied, I’d feel my head and let you know how much I believe you.’

  He nodded to himself in the front seat.

  ‘I said I’m sorry about that. But I couldn’t let you get away.’

  ‘Why not?’

  He shouldn’t have bothered answering a stupid question like that.

  ‘I can’t have you calling the police the minute I let you go.’

  ‘So, take my phone.’

  ‘I already did. Wouldn’t make any difference. You think every trucker who sees you standing by the side of the road looking like you do with your thumb stuck out is just gonna say to himself keep going buddy, don’t even think of stopping. I reckon you’d be in some nice warm truck cab within five minutes and I’d have the cops on my tail within six.’

  ‘They’ll get you anyway. My husband will wonder where I am. He’ll call the police if I don’t come home, give them the license plate number.’

  ‘Yeah, I noticed the wedding ring. Lucky guy.’

  ‘Not so lucky if he never sees his wife again.’
/>   ‘I thought he was going to give the cops the license plate number.’

  She clamped her mouth shut. He was infuriating.

  ‘You watch too much TV. I promise I’m not going to hurt you. When this is all over you can have your car back again and go home. I just don’t have time to fight with you.’

  She glanced quickly at the rearview mirror, met his eyes looking back at her. They didn’t look like the eyes of a murderer or a maniac. But you never can tell.

  ‘I’d like you to lie down again now,’ he said.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Were you aware you start every sentence with why?’

  ‘Tell me why I have to lie down.’

  ‘Because I don’t want you waving at every car we pass with your hands tied together. Hey, look at me, I’m being abducted. Or maybe it never even crossed your mind to do that?’

  ‘And if I won’t?’

  He laughed softly again.

  ‘There’s always the trunk.’

  A surge of panic ripped through her, paralyzed her, as he said it. Her mouth was suddenly dry, throat closing, heartbeat racing. She desperately needed to pee. She closed her eyes, felt the roof closing in on her, a strangled no on her lips. He didn’t even notice, carried on regardless.

  ‘It’d be a tight squeeze but I wouldn’t mind helping to squash any bits in that won’t quite fit. I think I can see where the main problem areas would be from here.’

  SHE LAY BACK and stared at a stain on the roof lining that looked a lot like a map of Texas, curious as to how it got there. Outside it was getting light. She had no idea where they were. She looked at her watch, did the math. They’d been on the road five or six hours.

  What was going on? If he’d wanted to kill her or rape her, he’d had plenty of opportunity by now. And if you were planning on doing something like that, why wait until it got light? Night time was when the predators were at their most active.

  She must have dozed off again. She was suddenly aware they were slowing down.

  ‘Okay, we need to get gas,’ he said from the front. ‘I think you should pay seeing as it’s your car.’

  ‘What?’ she screeched, jerking herself upright.

  He twisted around and she got her first real look at him. All her impressions from catching glimpses in the semi-dark and fleeting eye contact in the rearview mirror were confirmed. There were plenty of women who fantasized about being kidnapped by a guy like him. She just wasn’t one of them.

  ‘Only joking.’

  ‘Ha ha.’

  ‘Don’t be such a sourpuss.’

  It wasn’t that, she felt stupid he got a rise out of her so easily. She gave him her sweetest smile, one that almost went as far as the eyes.

  ‘Right, I’m going to fill up. Then we’re both going to take a walk to the bathroom so you can do anything you need to do.’

  He made a big show of sniffing the air.

  ‘From the smell of booze coming off you, I’d say you were out drinking last night, trying to sleep it off in your car. That’s another reason your husband won’t notice you’re gone. Probably doesn’t expect to see you until morning.’

  He paused for confirmation. She didn’t say anything.

  ‘So, I guess you’re busting for a pee. If you promise to be a good girl, then you get to use the nice gas station bathroom. You know, the one with the dirty, cold, cracked toilet seat and all sorts of unspeakable things in the corner. Not to mention the spy hole the owner drilled in the wall.’

  ‘I can’t wait.’

  ‘Otherwise, you can stay right there and pee in your panties. Sit in the wet patch for the rest of the journey for all I care. It’s not my upholstery. What’s it going to be?’

  If she hadn’t been tied up, she’d have put her finger on her bottom lip while she thought about it. She cocked her head instead.

  ‘I pwomise.’

  He laughed out loud at that, a deep, throaty laugh. It made her think he didn’t get to laugh much.

  ‘Have you any idea how cute you look when you do that? I think I need you to say it again to make sure you mean it.’

  The heat rushed up her face so fast she couldn’t think of a thing to say.

  ‘But if you struggle or call out or try to get away, you’ll be unconscious and stuffed into that trunk so fast you . . .’

  He trailed off, unable to think of a suitable expression. His face told her how serious he was.

  ‘Okay, I get the picture.’

  She watched him climb out of the car and stretch, not quite sure how he’d changed mood so fast. Except it was obvious. Whatever he was up to was all that mattered to him at the moment. The joking and fooling around was simply an escape mechanism for the tension building inside him.

  She just hoped she wasn’t around when it all came out.

  ‘YOU BETTER NOT kick me.’

  He was back after paying for the gas. He’d pulled the back door open, knelt down in the open doorway. His body blocked her from view, should anyone happen to glance their way.

  ‘Give you some of your own back, you mean?’

  He gave a small, have-it-your-way shrug.

  ‘Okay, pee in your panties it is.’

  He went to stand up.

  ‘No! I won’t do anything.’

  He didn’t look convinced, relented nonetheless.

  ‘We’ll take your shoes off first. Just in case.’

  She watched as he pulled them off one after the other, as if he was pulling them off somebody else’s feet. She was so numb she couldn’t feel a thing. His strong fingers worked on the knots in the rope that had pulled themselves tight over the past hours. Finally, he got it all undone. Her feet sprang free.

  ‘Better?’

  ‘I’ll tell you when I can feel something.’

  If she thought he’d come back with some smartass remark, he surprised her. He took hold of her left foot, massaged it, working his thumbs into the arch, his fingers moving deftly over her skin.

  ‘I don’t want you falling flat on your face because you can’t walk,’ he said, as if he needed to explain himself.

  ‘You know, if you get bored being a kidnapper, a car thief or a politician you can always be a masseur.’

  ‘I thought you couldn’t feel anything.’

  ‘I can’t. I’ll let you know when I can.’

  ‘Don’t think I’m doing this for half an hour. Two minutes per foot. After that, if you fall over, you fall over.’

  She leaned back, enjoyed the sensation creeping back into her foot. To tell the truth, the other one was coming back to life of its own accord. She wasn’t going to tell him that.

  ‘Which one are you doing now?’

  ‘Funny.’

  He dropped her foot, jumped up.

  ‘Okay that’s it for today. Out you get.’

  ‘What about my hands?’

  ‘What? You walk on all fours?’

  She gave him a tight little smile. She wasn’t going to win that one.

  ‘Can I put my shoes back on?’

  ‘Absolutely. I’ll catch you faster if you try to run in them.’

  It infuriated her that, despite the brief interludes of kindness and the gentle humor of the past few minutes, he still had the situation firmly under control. He was only playing with her.

  ‘You want to do it for me?’

  He gave her a nice try smile. She leaned down and recovered her shoes, slipped her feet into them, squashing the backs flat rather than putting her feet in properly. For one it was easier to do with her hands tied. There was another reason too. Either way, she was taking too long about it.

  ‘Come on, out you get.’ All the humor and gentleness was gone from his voice again. He grabbed her wrists, pulled her out of the car. ‘We haven’t got all day. And I meant what I said about the trunk.’

  Chapter 16

  THEY WALKED TOGETHER to the bathroom like a pair of love-struck kids who can’t let go of each other for two seconds. He circled her shoulders with
his right arm, hugging her tightly, pulling her body into his. His left hand rested on top of both of hers, the size of it making it almost impossible for anybody to see they were tied. She felt the strength in his arm, his muscles hard under his shirt. It wouldn’t be easy to get away from him.

  A car pulled into the gas station as they did their crab-like walk, a dark blue Ford Fusion sedan. It didn’t stop at any of the pumps, carried on to the far side of the lot and parked. Nobody got out. She saw it first, didn’t pay it a lot of attention. If someone had gotten out it might have been different. Something must have shown in her face, some spark of hope. He looked to see what it was, then twisted, shielding her from view with his body. When they got to the bathroom, he pushed open the door for her. She stepped inside, started to close the door with her hip when he followed right in after her.

  A surge of panic almost overwhelmed her.

  ‘You can’t come in here.’

  His expression said try to stop me.

  ‘What? You think I’m going to let you lock yourself in here, then start screaming to high heaven? Do I look that stupid?’

  ‘Pervert.’

  He laughed, pushed all the way in behind her.

  The facilities were pretty much exactly as he’d described them, all the way down to the cracked toilet seat. The only thing missing was the owner’s spy hole. She couldn’t stop a laugh escaping—for once she’d welcome somebody watching her through a hole in the wall. It would be her best chance of escape so far.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘Doesn’t matter.’

  But he’d made his first mistake.

  Even though she hadn’t planned it that way, her laugh had distracted him. He’d forgotten to lock the door behind him. She needed to keep him distracted. She held out her wrists towards him.

  ‘Can you take these off now?’

  He shook his head slowly.

  ‘You just don’t give up do you? Don’t worry, if there’s any part of the proceedings you feel you can’t do for yourself, I’m right here to lend a hand.’