by Mandie Mills
Endgame
Mandie Mills
Published by Mandie Mills, 2016.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
ENDGAME
First edition. October 5, 2016.
Copyright © 2016 Mandie Mills.
Written by Mandie Mills.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Dedication
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Coming Soon/Now Available From Mandie Mills
Chapter One
“Perfect. Just fucking perfect.”
Elena Jacobs stared at her coffee machine and resisted the urge to scream.
It was her first of three days off after working eight in a row. She’d been looking forward to hibernating and pretending the world outside her house didn’t exist. That had been her plan, but fate seemed to be pissed at her and this was the only the latest thing to fuck up her day.
Her hot water had crapped out on her as she’d been taking a shower that morning. Luckily she’d already finished washing her hair and had been able to jump out and wrap herself up in several towels to try and get her core body temperature back up. It had taken awhile, but when she’d finally felt warm again she’d gone looking for the charge cord for her phone. After tearing her house apart and swearing repeatedly she’d realized it was at work and there was no way she was stepping foot in that stupid place until she had no choice. It had taken a long time to hunt down the USB charger she had as a spare, and after plugging her phone in she’d gone to make herself a coffee.
It was broken. No matter how many times she pressed the on/off button or unplugged and plugged it back in the damn thing wouldn’t turn on. She had a box of coffee pods but no alternative machine. She’d tossed her French Press a few months ago after it had cracked when she’d knocked it off the shelf and hadn’t bothered to replace it since she had her awesome single cup coffee maker.
She was about to hit the machine again, just to see if that might uncross some wires and jump start it, when her phone rang. Grumbling she headed into the hallway to see who was calling.
“Fuck you I’m not answering.”
It was work. She knew exactly why they were calling on her day off and she refused to answer. She’d already spent enough time dealing with the issue, now it was their turn. She deserved to have the next few days off in peace after the crap she’d been dealing with.
Elena hated her job. She was a department supervisor at a box store and had held the positon for a few years. Her area of responsibility was electronics and she’d just dealt with the largest case of shoplifting the store had ever seen.
Some asshole had stolen an entire section of Blu-Ray box sets. He’d taken one of the huge outdoor garbage cans from the household department and basically swept the contents of three shelves into it. Then he’d gone up to the front of the store as nonchalant as could be.
Her teenage employees had been so busy skiving off and not putting the stock she’d left out for them away that they’d missed the whole thing. The cashier at the front of the store had rung through the garbage can without following store policy and asking him to take the lid off so she could look inside. The man had paid and after taking his receipt he’d been on his merry way.
No one had stopped him or looked in the damn garbage can.
She’d been halfway through her first break when she’d heard the page ordering her to go to the main office. Completely oblivious to everything that had happened she’d put her book away and gone to see her boss. That’s when she’d learned of the theft.
No one had seen a thing. One of her employees had actually taken a break from gossiping and checking his phone to help a customer find something in the movie section and had seen the missing box sets and panicked.
It wasn’t until they’d watched the tapes that they’d seen the thief’s stupid yet effective way of getting the discs out of the store. He’d worn a hat, kept his head down and paid cash so there was no way to identify him. The camera in the lot was broken and the one just outside the main doors had lost him after he’d stepped off the curb. He’d disappeared, and so had their Blu-Rays.
More than ten thousand dollars worth of merchandise was gone and she was the one who had to deal with the mess. She hadn’t been on the floor when it had happened, but it was in her section and it was her employees who’d missed it so she was the one being blamed. She’d spent the day talking to corporate, the police, and every manager at the store. Then she’d had to fire her employees. She’d had to stay an extra hour after her shift was done, and she’d missed her lunch and breaks.
That had been yesterday.
She was tired and finished with the entire situation. She’d done everything she could and she was sick of being blamed and having to take the heat for it. Now that she actually had the chance to hide and take some time for herself her coffee machine was dead. She needed caffeine. She was tired and angry and could almost taste the coffee from the useless pod on the counter.
“Fuck it.”
She grabbed her hoodie off the back of her kitchen chair and slipped it on. She zipped it up to her chin so her worn and see-through T-shirt wasn’t visible then hiked up her yoga pants so they were sitting at her waist and not cutting into her hips. It took her a moment to hunt down her worn and comfy ballet flats and slip them on. Now she was ready to go.
As she passed the hall mirror she paused to check herself out. Her blue eyes were a little tired and she was pale, but she never wore makeup on her off days so the only thing that would cure that was sleep. After a moment she pulled her long, dark-brown hair out of the messy bun she’d tied it in after her shower and combed out the strands with her fingers. It was still damp near her scalp and wet where it had been held back, but it would dry faster if it was free.
The sweater she’d put on was tight and showed off her more voluptuous parts. She didn’t wear that sweater outside her house very often, but she was beyond caring enough to actually change. It was cold out and she really should put on a coat, but she was only going to the drive-thru to get an extra-large coffee and then coming home so she could be a hermit with a caffeine fix. She’d be fine without one.
She tore her eyes from the mirror and shook her head, unplugging her phone before tossing it in her purse. She grabbed her keys and headed into her garage.
She was going to be ‘that person’.
Usually she mentally mocked people who went outside in their loungewear or pajamas. She wasn’t prissy or well-dressed by any standard, but the thought of stepping outside in actual pajama pants was baffling to her. She hadn’t worn this outfit to bed, but it was her go-to when she was home and wanted to relax so it was pretty much the same in her mind.
She had no idea why she cared so much about how she looked. The only person who would see her was going to be the person at the drive-thru window, and they’d only see her from the waist up. It wasn’t like her to dwell on her appearance when she wasn’t dressing up for something specific. Today was a really weird day and it had barely started.
Using the remote on the key ring she unlocked the door and jumped into her car. She hit the button for the door opener and waited as it whirred to life.
The garage was the reason she’d picked this house over the others she’d been looking at when she’d decided to buy a few years ago. She hated winter and everything that went along with it. Her biggest pet peeve was brushing snow off her car. Her second bigge
st was sitting in a freezing car as she waited for it to warm up enough to drive.
This house had everything she’d wanted, and now there was no more brushing or freezing after the snow fell.
When the door was up she backed out of the garage, waited to make sure the door closed, and headed toward the closest coffee shop autopilot as she zoned out. It wasn’t the safest way to drive but she took this route almost every day. She could have done it in her sleep.
She stopped at a red light about a two minutes from the shop and looked around as she waited for it to change. It was pretty outside. The leaves had just started to turn and the sun was out despite the chill in the air. There weren’t many people around and it was looking as though it would be a gorgeous day. Maybe she would venture out and go for a walk before dinner.
She was just watching the crosswalk for an indication of when the light would change when someone suddenly jumped into the passenger seat of her car.
Her first instinct had been overwhelming shock, but before she could do anything the door slammed shut and something cold and metallic was pressed against her temple.
“Drive,” a voice growled next to her.
She glanced over at the man who had jumped into her car but it was the sleek black gun he was holding that drew her focus. That’s what was being pressed against her temple. A gun.
“Drive!” he barked, and out of pure instinct she put her foot on the gas and drove.
She could barely process what was happening and she drove without seeing where she was going or paying attention to the traffic around her or to the laws of the road. All she could think about was that a man had jumped into her car and there was a gun pointed at her head.
“If you want the car I’ll pull over and get out. I haven’t seen you yet,” she said in a shaking voice as she drove, her eyes on the road. “You can have the car. You can have anything you want if you let me go.”
“I don’t just need a car. I also need a hostage.” He dropped the gun and held it in his lap. “And you have seen me.”
“I’m your hostage! You’re kidnapping me?” she burst out before she could stop herself. “Hijacking me wasn’t enough you have to add kidnapping to the list?” She fought the urge to turn and look at him. She still hadn’t seen his face or anything distinguishing about him. She might still be able to convince him to let her go if she could get him to realize that he didn’t need or want her. As long as she didn’t look at him then she had a chance.
“No questions. Keep driving.”
She did as he demanded and stayed on the road. It was as though she was wearing blinders and had tunnel vision underneath them. She couldn’t think or process what was happening and she was having a hard time focusing on the task at hand.
After a few long silent minutes, she was able to pull in a deep breath and the fog around her started to lift. The tunnel vision cleared, the blinders and melted away and she was able to think, and focus, on driving in her lane and not wrapping the car around a telephone pole.
A few more silent minutes passed and she felt almost normal. The situation was insane and absurd, but it was happening and she needed to keep her head. She wouldn’t be able to keep herself safe if she lost it. Staying safe had to be her number one priority.
Now that most of her wits and faculties had returned she noticed they were heading north. If they kept going in this direction they would head straight out of town. They were currently on a major arterial road but it wasn’t infinite and they’d have to turn off at some point. She wondered where they were going and if he wanted her to take them out of town. She was about to ask when she remembered his no questions rule and kept quiet. He hadn’t told her to change course yet and he was the man with the gun. At the moment it was his circus and she was just driving the clown car.
When he didn’t say anything for five more minutes her curiosity got the better of her and she glanced over at him. When he didn’t react to her looking at him she stopped being so covert.
She sneaked a few more glances at him as he stared out of the windshield. He almost seemed to be contemplating something. The gun was still on his lap but at least his finger wasn’t on the trigger at the moment.
He was younger than she’d assumed, late twenties if she had to guess, and very handsome, but he also looked like a nice guy. He looked like an everyman, and despite the fact that he’d just kidnaped her and still held a gun in his hand, he just had this nice guy aura around him.
He was wearing jeans, a black shirt and a worn and comfortable looking black coat. He wore his dark-brown hair long and a little shaggy, but didn’t look messy or unkempt. She thought his eyes were blue, but she couldn’t be sure since he wasn’t looking at her. His shoulders were broad, his waist seemed trim and narrow and his legs were long and powerful looking. He was sitting so she couldn’t be sure of how tall he was, but she had a feeling he would be at least six feet and make her own five-foot-six frame seem small.
He didn’t look like some hardened criminal. He looked like a normal guy.
When she thought of a criminal she always thought of the stereotypical police sketch. She pictured an angry man with generic features, maybe wearing some sort of hat. This guy didn’t look like that at all. He looked like someone she’d see at a coffee shop, not a jailhouse reunion.
“Where am I driving too?” she asked, finally breaking the nearly deafening silence in the car. Keeping quiet was driving her crazy and the road they were on ended in less than ten blocks so he’d have to give her directions unless he wanted her to drive into the side of a building. She might as well get him to tell her now instead of waiting until the last second.
“Why?” he asked as he looked over at her.
Now that she could see his eyes she was startled to see they were the most incredibly bright shade of indigo blue. She’d never seen eyes that color before, and for a moment she got lost in them.
It wasn’t until he looked away and glanced out at the road that she was able to pull her gaze from his and concentrate on driving.
“We’re almost out of road. So unless you want to be scraped off the side of a building by emergency services you’ll have to tell me where we’re going.”
“Can you get onto the highway from here?” he asked as he looked around, almost as though he was trying to orientate himself.
“Which direction?”
“Northwest.”
“Um, yeah. Okay.”
They weren’t exactly close to the highway but she could get them there in about ten minutes. It was a very long and silent ten minutes, especially when they hit some unexpected traffic and had to wait out several lights.
Her mind was reeling. She was being kidnaped and forced to drive her car by a distracted man with a gun. She had no idea where they were going, how far it was or why they were going there. Even as she was driving his hijacking ass around she could see other people in their cars just going about their lives and business, completely oblivious to the fact that she’d been kidnapped.
There were dozens, if not hundreds of people around, but there was no one who could help her.
She couldn’t think about that right now. She could only drive and concentrate on not angering the man with the gun. That seemed like the most sensible idea, and the safest course of action.
Even with the traffic it took her less than twenty minutes to get them on the northern highway. As soon as she pulled onto the onramp the realization that she was driving farther and farther away from her home, now at a much faster speed than before, hit her.
That realization knocked her back to reality and she was able to think clearly again. She’d always been a logical and pragmatic person. She would need to rely on both of those traits to survive and get out of this situation unscathed.
“Where am I going?” she asked after another long stretch of silence.
He might have threatened her with the gun to get her to drive, but he hadn’t made a move to hurt her, or threaten her since. That told he
r he wasn’t interested in hurting her. He really did need her as a driver. It might be optimistic of her to think that way and she could be completely wrong, but it was what she was going with.
“What does that matter?”
“Unless you want to drive, or at least pay attention, then you’ll have to tell me where we’re going so I can get us there. I can’t follow the signs if you don’t tell me where I’m driving to. You’ll have to watch them and tell me exactly when or where to go.”
“Midland.”
“Midland! That’s at least three hundred miles away.” She forgot all about the gun in his lap and stared at him. Then she remembered she was driving and looked back at the road. It would probably be a good idea to look where she was going.
“That’s where I have to go.”
“I don’t know the way. I’ve never been there....what is there?”
As far as she knew Midland was a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. It was sparsely populated, and, if she remembered correctly, it wasn’t so much a town as it was a collection of poor farms and hunting cabins. She couldn’t for the life of her think of a single reason why anyone would need to go to Midland.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” he snapped as he looked around the car distractedly. “Do you have GPS?”
“Not here.”
“On your phone?” he asked as he looked at her.
“Sure, but good luck finding a signal out here.” She snorted.
“Where is it?”
“In my purse.” She nodded to the catchall between the seats and watched as he picked her purse up. He dug out her phone and pressed the home button.
“Open it.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he held the phone out to her. She’d set the fingerprint password on it so he couldn’t access it without her.
She swiped her finger over the home button. When the phone came to life he pulled it away from her and started holding it up, staring at the screen. He moved it closer to the window and squinted at it. She knew that move. She’d done it countless times herself. He was looking for a signal so he could connect to internet and look up where they were.
