Blind Love (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Escape

They ran over something, jostling Lauren out of her sleep. She cracked her eyes open. Pitch black. When she tried to feel the space around her, her arms didn’t move. Neither did her feet.

A woman’s deep voice crooned the lyrics of a country song from somewhere directly behind her. Curled in a ball, pain shot through her when the car hit another bump.

Outside, vehicles sped by and, on occasion, one honked its horn. From how fast they moved and the fact they seemed to keep a steady speed, she was pretty sure they were on the highway.

A cold shiver rocked her body as she realized why everything was dark. It wasn’t because her RP had gotten worse. No, it was because she was locked in the trunk of a car.

When she rolled over, fire radiated from her neck down the length of her spine. Pain filled her eyes with tears and the moan she let out was muffled behind the tape sealing her lips shut. The back of her head felt like someone slammed a baseball bat against it. Probably because someone had. What he hit her with she didn’t know, but from the way it throbbed, the kidnapper had been effective.

The kidnapper.

Goose bumps pebbled across her skin at the thought of him. Her heart and lungs slammed against her chest. There were no slow, hazy thoughts. No need for a flood of memories to remind her of what happened. She remembered it all.

Vividly.

Clawing at the stranger’s face. The way her nails sunk into his skin as he wrestled her to the ground. His fist slamming against her jaw.

She inhaled a deep breath and fought the overwhelming need to cry. There was no time for tears. Whoever he was, one thing was sure. The man was dangerous, wanted Evan, and clearly capable of murder. She had to get out before they reached wherever he planned on taking her. Any chance of escape hinged on him believing she hadn’t regained consciousness.

After scanning and rescanning the ceiling, she found what she was looking for. A tiny glowing speck of blurry neon yellow. The emergency release handle all cars came equipped with, just as Ben had taught her years ago.

She rolled to the side, tucked her bent knees close to her chest, and lowered her arms under her butt. Tears spilled from her eyes with each painful movement, but it didn’t stop her. Lauren pulled her bound arms around from behind her legs, positioning them in front of her.

Drenched in sweat, her lungs pumped so fast it was getting harder and harder to breathe through her nose. She brought her hands to her face and curled her fingernails under the edges of the tape sealing her mouth shut.

Tremors rocked her body in anticipation of the pain. Reminding herself not to scream, she ripped it off her lips. Lauren let out a silent wail and sobbed.

Once the pain ebbed, she started to chew at the plastic rope around her wrists. The adhesive burned into her already tender lips. The metallic taste of blood laced her tongue as the tough fabric cut into her skin and scraped against her gums. She spit out the material and continued biting.

“Happy Friday!” an enthusiastic DJ on the radio screamed. “It’s five o’clock. The work week’s done, so let’s play something fun to get the weekend started right.”

Numbers crunched in her head. Over two hours had passed since she let Jack out in the woods. Had Gabe’s mother figured out what happened? By now Ben must have gotten her message. Maybe they found Jack’s body. Maybe they knew she was in trouble.

Another spasm of terror ripped through her body. Locked in a car, how would they even know where to look? Her lungs turned to cement as she struggled for air. Knowing she’d pass out if she didn’t calm herself down, she forced herself to relax and slow down her breathing.

As a male voice sang about not having to do anything until Monday. Lauren attacked the synthetic material. She was on her own.

Three songs later, her clothes were drenched in sweat, mouth raw and bloody, and one of the twines gave way.

She sunk her teeth into another when the vehicle’s turn signal began to tick. Lauren’s chest tightened, as he exited the highway. The car slowed.

Her brain buzzed with potential scenarios while she worked. If he parked and checked on her right now, it would all be over. Soon another part of the rope ripped. After a couple of strong tugs, the binding fell, releasing her wrists.

Out of breath, she crunched her knees back up to her chest and worked on loosening the cords on her ankles.

By the time the car stopped completely, Lauren still hadn’t been able to free her legs. The door slammed shut. She slapped the tape hanging from her cheek back on her mouth, put her hands behind her back, and curled up in a ball.

The trunk cracked open. Her lids shuttered, she counted between each controlled breath. Marijuana mixed with something minty hit her senses like it did the other day in the park. Taking steady breaths of air, she released them in the same rhythmic way she sucked them in, praying he couldn’t hear her heart pounding. After an eternity, he banged the top closed.

No time to relax, she listened for a chance to run while working on untying her ankles. The hard cover of the gas tank slammed open. A loud thump and the nozzle was positioned into the car. Liquid whooshed inside the empty chamber.

Directly overhead, metal scraped. The car dipped from a heavy weight. Lauren touched the roof of her prison. He was sitting on the car, right above her. She managed to get the bindings off while the man hummed to himself.

Lauren’s mind raced. There were no other sounds around them and, as long as he stayed on top of the trunk, there was no way out. When the nozzle clicked, the car shifted and bounced. After topping off the tank, he slammed the metal lid shut.

Her chest tightened.

Would he check on her again or get back in the car? One of his shoes squeaked when he walked and she listened as it drew closer.

When he patted the metal above her, she jumped. Sucking in a breath, she slammed her eyes shut and fisted her hands. If he poked his head in, maybe she could lunge for him? Catch him off guard? But instead of opening the trunk, he squeaked his way to the driver’s seat. A few seconds later the car merged onto the road.

Disappointment started to set in, and with it, fear. She shook it away. There was no time for any of those emotions.

On the side, directly behind her head, she heard vehicles. One even sounded like Gabe’s pickup truck. She ignored the thought and focused on the plan forming in her head.

The other side of the car, by her feet, there were no noises. Maybe a neighborhood or businesses? She didn’t know. But it meant people. Safety.

Didn’t it?

What if she pulled the emergency lever here?

Lauren stripped the tape off her mouth.

He would freak out and stop the car. Other drivers would see her. Even if they didn’t, the minute it slowed enough, she could run in the direction away from the traffic.

The holes in her plan screamed for attention: like getting hit by a moving car, not knowing where she was. What would be her alternative? Allowing him to take her wherever he planned and kill her?

The car slowed to a stop.

This was her only chance.

She pulled off the rope from her legs and reached for the faint neon yellow handle, but it didn’t come out as easily as she’d expected. He had taped it down.

Her heart thudded against her chest. The sounds of her labored breathing filled the small space. With unsteady hands, Lauren clawed at the material and finally peeled the cover away. A firm yank later, the back popped open.

The car began to move as she pushed the top open. Lauren climbed out of the vehicle and slammed knee first onto the road.

Tires squealed. A horn honked. She got up and ran in the direction away from traffic in time to hear a car door slam shut. Her ankle burned each time she put weight on it. Ignoring the pain coursing up her leg, she focused on escaping.

“What the fuck!” The angry voice of her kidnapper floated over the other sounds. He was not too far behind her. His shoes squeaked as he followed.

Scarier than him being so close behind was the fact she had been wrong. They weren’t in the city anymore. The blurred black and grays of paved roads and tall shapes of buildings were not in front of her as she had hoped. Instead, she was running toward the browns and greens of a forest much bigger and thicker than the one behind her house.

As her feet pounded against the tarred road, she weighed her options. Either go into the thick brush ahead, or turn around and face the gunman. In the trees with no path or people, she would get lost and never find her way out. But the chances were good someone must have seen her climb out of the car’s trunk and run. Hopefully they’d do the right thing and call the police. Regardless, she needed to get as far away from the man trailing close behind. So Lauren did the only thing she could; she headed straight for the trees.

When her legs left the paved road, she began to slide. Her stomach lurched into her throat as gravity pulled her, feet first, down a steep slope. Somewhere in the back, the popping sound of his gun’s silencer went off.

Her body slammed onto soft, muddy soil. Lauren got up, only to fall again because of the excruciating burn emanating not only from her ankle but now from her thigh. She clamped a hand on the now-bleeding wound and hobbled deep into the dark forest looming ahead.

Hands stretched out, she pushed through the brush and leaves, creeping farther into the dusky, dry lands. Something swooshed past her as she weaved through the thick trunks. The fact it was probably a bullet made her run harder.

The kidnapper’s loud panting and curses seemed to grow farther behind. He was obviously out of shape. Even injured, she was outrunning him for now.

With every movement, her right thigh screamed. Lauren leaned against a thick tree trunk, trying to catch her breath and ease the pulsing ache. When she touched the area, blood gushed from the wound. He had shot her and would again.

She scanned her blurred surroundings for the first time. Eerily quiet, the place grew darker by the minute.

As everything started to spin, she wondered how much longer she could run. Resting her head against the rough tree, a blanket of hopelessness enveloped her. Injured, tired and blind, how long could she keep this up before collapsing? For that matter, how could she hide from him if she couldn’t see where she was going? As much as she flailed and dragged her leg, he could hear every step she took. Was running really the best option for her?

In the distance, the snapping of twigs announced his approach. He was still a good couple of minutes away. She needed to make a decision now. Keep going or hide? Lauren grabbed hold of one of the oaks and began to climb. No more running.

She felt for branches thick enough to hold her weight and pulled herself up. Using her right leg as little as possible, Lauren moved higher toward the sky.

When the crunching leaves became louder, she moved as close to the trunk as possible and froze. Soon, the small blurred shape of the kidnapper appeared several yards below her.

He coughed and wheezed. “Where the fuck did she go?”

Everything went silent. She stopped herself from swallowing and held her breath. He was listening for her.

“I know you’re here somewhere. Why don’t you come out, sweetheart? I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Twigs and rocks crunched as he walked around the area.

“The leg of yours probably doesn’t feel too good. Sorry I had to shoot you. You were too damn fast for your own good. By the way, being blind and all, I thought you should know, it’s getting dark. Once the animals get a whiff of your blood, they’ll come out for dinner. Trust me, I’m a lot safer than the alternative.” He laughed at his own words.

Lauren hugged the trunk harder to ease the tremors rocking her body. When she did, her foot hit something loose. The object fell from its spot. The world seemed to stop. Acid climbed up her throat as she waited to hear it hit the earth.

A thump and the kidnapper’s laugh later, she knew it never reached the ground.

Chapter Thirty

The Woods

The kidnapper’s raspy laugh felt like sandpaper grating in Lauren’s ears.

“Now I’ve seen everything. A blind woman standing in a tree.” He snorted and howled his amusement.

Her forehead scraped against the rough bark as she worked to calm her unsteady body. She considered her options, but there were none.

“You are the most amazing disabled person I’ve ever met. Not that I’ve met all too many, mind you.” He laughed so hard he began to cough and wheeze.

Not willing to give up, she dug her nails into the hard surface of the wood, searching her mind for a way out. Her leg throbbed and was basically useless, but still there had to be an escape.

Once he caught his breath, the metal of his gun made a clicking sound. “So you want me to finish this while you’re still up there, or you want to come down first?” His voice was hoarse, much like a seasoned smoker.

Being on solid ground was the only chance she had left. Lauren sat on the branch and stretched her good leg out, feeling for a rung to lower herself on. “Let me come down first.”

“There’s one a couple inches in front of you,” he said, still chuckling.

As slow as humanly possible, she edged her way to the limb he mentioned.

Finally seated on it, she searched for another branch and stalled. “At least tell me why.”

He laughed. “I could, but does it make a difference?”

Lauren kept her voice soft and eyes lowered as she scanned the blurred area. “To me it does. I want to know why I’m being killed.”

“Ahhh. That makes sense. Okay. Three reasons actually. Here, move your left foot a couple inches to the back.”

She did as instructed and shifted to the next branch.

“First of all, there’s the piece of shit Gabriel Briggs you’ve been screwing. He left Autumn alone to raise his child. And when she died, he moved on to the next one. What kind of man does that? Asshole needs to suffer, and killing you will make sure he does. Secondly, I told Autumn right before she died I’d keep an eye on her boy. I’m a man of my word so I came to make good on my promise, until you and your dog started fucking it all up.”

Right before she died?

The realization he killed Autumn sent a wave of tremors ripping through her. There was no doubt he slaughtered Jack. But if he was capable of murdering a woman, a mother he obviously knew well, he was more unstable than she realized. She gripped on to the bark and forced herself to breathe until the spasms subsided.

“Thirdly, you’re a slut. You use men and spit them out and don’t care about what it does to them.”

Lauren eased herself farther down. She processed his explanation while flailing her foot, pretending to search for another branch. Anger. Revenge. Were those his motives?

“Is that what Autumn did to you? Used you and spit you out?”

Large hands grabbed her by the waist, lifting her from the tree. She didn’t fight his touch as his fingers dug into her skin.

Her chest brushed against his when he lowered her to the ground. The mixture of coffee and marijuana assaulted her senses as the stubble of his face scraped against her cheek. She swallowed the fear and stopped breathing.

The wet heat of his breath hit her shoulder when he sighed. Lauren closed her eyes and fought the urge to push him away.

“I loved her,” he said against her cheek. “Did everything I could to make her see how good we were together. But it wasn’t enough.”

The man pushed her up against the tree before releasing his grip.

“She hurt you.” Lauren inched away from the trunk and prayed the terror in her voice wasn’t obvious. Maybe she could turn around and run in the other direction.

As if reading her mind, he crushed his body against hers, wrapping her arms behind the large trunk. In a quick tug and pull, a rope was tied around her wrists.

He patted her shoulder and stepped back. “There, much better. Now, in answer to your question, yes, she hurt me.”

Her heart thumped hard against her chest. Perspiration soaked her clothes. Lauren’s fingers clawed the plastic twine digging into her skin as her mind raced to keep the conversation going.

“Anymore questions?” He sat in front of her and sighed.

All her attention was focused on the one spot behind her. She scraped her nails into the rope as she continued their conversation. “Did you two know each other a long time?”

He started throwing rocks at the trees beside her. “You could say that. We’ve been neighbors for over five years. I’m a security guard at the bank she worked at, actually helped her get the job there.”

She tried to be still while her fingers pulled and twisted. “So you spent a lot of time together.”

“Not as much as I would have liked. It was always fucking on
her
time. When it was right for her.”

Lauren focused on the bitterness and pain in his voice.

“Did she know how much you loved her?”

He didn’t respond for a while. The sounds of the stones he threw slamming around her grew louder. She worried if she’d pushed too far. “I loved everything about her. She was beautiful, funny, smart. Perfect. But a better question to ask is: Did she fuckin’ care? And the answer is a big fat hell no. Told me if I kept bothering her, she’d call the cops. Said
I
needed to go get help.”

One of the twines on her wrist began to unravel. Lauren pinched into the weakened fiber and twisted. “That must have been hard for you to hear.”

“After everything I did for the woman, all she cared about was the piece of shit absentee husband of hers. Fucking led me on and then kicked me out. You can’t make love to a man and the next day say it wasn’t consensual. Just ain’t right.”

Her chest tightened. She worked to keep her tone even and words calculated. “Is that what she claimed? You raped her.”

He shot up from his spot on the ground and stormed over to her.

When he wrapped a hand around her throat and squeezed, every organ in her body froze.

“I. Am. Not. A. God. Damn. Rapist. You hear me?”

She nodded.

He released his grip and began to pace. “Bullshit. Said I scared the shit out of her son and hurt her. I loved the woman. I’d never hurt her.”

Lauren dug harder into the rope. “It must have been hard for you when she died.”

The man blew a breath. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was her fucking choice. I told her I’d take care of her and the boy. She said no.”

He stepped close and rested his head against hers. Lauren slammed her lids shut and stayed rigid. “You’re going to kill her son too?”

After what felt like an eternity, he stepped back and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Naw, he’s just a kid but I do have a promise to make good on. I’ve always wanted a son, someone to take hunting and fishing, and you’re keeping me from him.” Lauren shook her head and sobbed as terror crawled up her spine.

“Please, don’t,” she begged.

She turned away when the back of his hand trailed her cheek. “Not your call to make. As nice as this talk’s been and all, time’s up. I wish I could let you keep working on your rope. It would have made things a lot more fun.”

When the attacker started to walk away, she did the only thing she could. “He’s finally happy. Leave him alone. I’ll make a deal with you.”

A calloused finger scraped over her lip. She jolted her head away before she could stop herself.

He laughed. “What kind of deal?”

“Take me,” she whispered. “No arguments. No escape. I’ll come with you. My life for his.” She didn’t allow herself to think about what she was saying. It didn’t matter anyway. Evan’s safety was all she cared about.

His hand cupped her neck, forcing her to face him. He stepped closer until his hips smashed into hers. The hard stubble of his cheek burned against her skin. She shuddered when he nipped at her earlobe. “Sorry, sweetheart, but you’re not my type. Don’t worry though, I’ll be humane about it.”

Rough lips scraped across her forehead. “One bullet through your brain and you’ll be done. Promise.”

Although drenched with sweat, Lauren shook uncontrollably. Everything around her was spinning. She slammed her eyes shut and fought the queasiness rising from within.

“Can I have a moment first? It’s my last few minutes alive. I want to get my thoughts centered.”

“Sure,” he wiped the bead of perspiration off her lip. “Go ahead and pray, sweetheart. If you’re lucky, you might be meeting Him real soon.” The sarcasm and coldness of his voice inched the nausea higher. She swallowed it down.

He trailed his hand down the length of her arm and walked around to the back of her. Lauren’s muscles tightened when the tips of his fingers grazed her skin as he touched the part of the rope she had been ripping.

Calloused hands grabbed her wrists, slamming her spine against the tree. “You did some damage back here. More than I gave you credit for. Why fight the inevitable?”

She leaned the back of her head against the wooded surface as a tear escaped her eye.

Fighting the inevitable.

How much of her life had she spent doing just that? Rebelling against things beyond her control?

If she had only known…

So many people had come into her life and most of them, she’d pushed away. Images of the ones who refused to let her go, ran through her head and, silently, she said goodbye to each.

A gentle breeze caressed her cheek and with it came the faint smell of cedar and pine. She filled her lungs with the scent and smiled.

Gabe.

Her muscles eased at the memory of him.

It took this moment for her to accept the truth. She loved him. Everything about him. The tears flowed freely as she thought of all the time she wasted pushing him away. He had been good for her. Made her feel for the first time she was beautiful and capable. Gabe was an honest man with a good heart. He deserved to be with Evan just as much as the child deserved to be with Gabe. Lauren prayed he would keep the little boy safe.

A torrential flood of emotions flowed through her, making her body tremble. She worked on her breathing and focused. Scared and alone would not be how she would leave this world. She rolled her shoulders back and held her head up.

Somewhere on the other side, a big hairy dog was waiting for her. The thought of Jack eased her fears. With another deep breath, she pressed her spine against the trunk of the tree and nodded.

In the distance the faint wails of a police siren sounded. He walked around and stood in front of her. The metal of the gun slid. “Time’s up.”

Lauren didn’t want to waste her last seconds staring at the fuzzy image of the man who would take her life. Instead, she closed her eyes and remembered walking along the beach of Maui as a child.

A vivid blue sky was what she saw, and the ocean the most beautiful turquoise ever seen.

A shot exploded into the silence, breaking her concentration.

Funny, she was sure he had a silencer.

The thud of the bullet hitting skin and bone made her cringe but, mercifully, there was no pain.

She tried to stay focused on the beach.

Maybe that’s where Jack would find her.

Seconds later, another explosion invaded her thoughts and with it, yet another thud.

Her body chilled and legs buckled.

Lauren slid to the ground as her world turned black.