Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
“We need to be out there searching for her,” Jack said, moving around the tent.
“Could she have just wandered off and gotten lost?” Jameson asked.
Ian shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that.”
“I don’t know . . . she doesn’t always seem that aware of her surroundings,” Jameson said.
“Maggie wouldn’t have left her uncle,” Ian said. “She didn’t just wander off or leave. Someone took her.”
Jack nodded.
Beck sighed. “I agree. She’s very close with her uncle. I find it hard to believe that one moment she was going to retrieve something from the car, and the next she’s wandering off to the desert.”
“What?” Ian choked out.
Beck frowned. “What?”
“She went to get something from a vehicle?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, that’s what William said. Hux saw her walk off. Why?” Beck asked.
That could have been at the same time as they’d been talking.
“We were discussing our relationship,” Ian told Beck. “It’s possible she overheard.”
“Would that have caused her to leave?” Beck asked.
“She wouldn’t have taken off,” Jack said. “She might have stepped away for a moment, but she wouldn’t just leave.”
“All right, Jack and Ian, get out there and see if you can find anything,” Beck said. “But you need to check back in fifteen. Jameson, I’ll interview you first since we can pretty much rule you out. Then, you can leave.”
“Leave?” Jameson stared at Beck in shock. “I’m not leaving. I’m going to help find her.”
Beck frowned. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. You don’t have any training to help. We’ve got this covered.”
“I’m staying. I’m a doctor. If you find her and she needs medical attention, it’s better that I’m close by.”
“All right,” Beck said. “You can stay, but don’t get in our way.”
Ian waited until Beck left to turn to the other two. “We need to pull ourselves together. We concentrate on Maggie. Anything could be happening to her right now and we have no fucking idea where she is.”
And that, quite frankly, scared the shit out of him.
A whimper escaped her.
Darkness. Heat. Stifling.
She was so hot that she was beginning to think that her biggest worry wasn’t what her kidnappers were going to do to her . . . but that she was going to fry to death.
In the boot of a car.
Another whimper.
Small. Dark. Stuck.
She gasped for air.
She was so petrified that she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d peed herself. Not that she’d know because her body was still feeling kind of numb from whatever they’d injected her with.
Before they’d put her in the boot of a bloody car.
Can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.
For some reason, Jameson’s voice came to her.
Close your eyes. Now, breathe in. Out. One, two. In. One two.
Do what he says, baby girl, Jack added.
Or you’ll be in big trouble, Ian warned.
Her heart raced, but she tried to follow their orders.
Be brave, Little girl. We’re coming, Ian murmured.
I would never let anything happen to you, baby, Jack added.
But was that true? Or was that just a story she was making up in her head to make herself feel better?
Would they come for her? Or did they believe she’d been using them? That was almost scarier than the situation she now found herself in.
They were her safe place . . . had they been torn away from her?
Someone is coming for you. Just stay alive.
Suddenly, just as she thought she might pass out again, the car came to a stop and the boot opened.
A man loomed over her. He was huge with dark hair. His skin was pockmarked and he had a scar on his left cheek.
He was utterly terrifying.
“Still paralyzed? Good. I don’t need any fucking nonsense.”
Good to know.
He lifted her, but this time, she was held bridal style. She could hear things around her. People talking. But she couldn’t turn her head to see what was going on.
Where was she?
She was set down on top of several cushions on the ground. In a . . . tent? The walls were white and a large wooden pole with a chain and cuffs attached to it lay in front of her.
Cuffs that the man secured around her wrists.
Just bloody great.
A sob escaped.
“Don’t make too much fuss, girl, and you might get out of this.” The words and tone weren’t unkind. But she was terrified all the same. Because she really didn’t think she was getting out of this.
“Yes, yes, I have her. She’s at the camp with us.” That same woman walked in, talking into a phone. “Yes, sir. We have photos of her with them both. Yes, we have a reporter ready with a story about how they are using her . . . how they are influencing her. Much older than her. Yeah, they’re British, but they’ve lived here a while. Uh . . . right. Yes.”
She ended the call.
What was that all about? What photos? Who was she talking about?