The Georgia Series Collection

Chapter 7

Police sirens sounded in the distance but I never saw the cars

The man beside me smacked the driver on the back of the head. “Idiot.”

I cowered in the corner of the seat at the sound of his voice.

The man next to me yelled at the driver. “I can"t believe you could be so stupid. We talked about the masks before we hit the bank. We weren"t going to remove them until we were out of the lane. Why"d you do that? Huh?”

“I"m sorry. The lane looked empty. I didn"t see her stooped down on the ground.”

“You messed up, jerk!”

“I know … I know.” A silence hung in the air. “Gary, how much d"ya think we got?”

The masked man started to pound the back of the seat.

I began to shake and curled myself into a tight ball.

“You stupid son-of-a-b***h. Damn you, anyway,”

he said, and pulled his mask off.

“Why"d you do that? Now she knows your face too.

Gary sneered. “Because you used my name, asshole. She saw your face and now, knows my name. How long d"ya think it"d take the cops to connect me to you and the bank job? We"ve done too much s**t together, cousin.”

“So what"re we going to do with her?”

“Keep her "till we know we"re safe,” Gary said.

“Then what?”

“Let me worry about that.”

I stared out the window, wringing my hands together. My ears echoed with the thumping of my heart as my brain seized with fear. At least the pain in my abdomen stopped and I could breathe again. This is a bad situation. Think, girl, think. Don"t dwell on what might happen.

This is a bad situation. Think, girl, think. Don"t dwell on what might happen.The driver turned up a dirt road and travelled along for a while through a forested area to an opening, until we reached a white Dodge cargo van.

“Out of the car.” The man called Gary grabbed me by the arm and shoved me through the side door of the van, onto the floor. “Stay put and shut up.” He drew the g*n out of his pocket and ran the barrel back and forth along my cheekbone. “Got it?” His blue eyes—glassy and lifeless–reminded me of a doll. I cringed, nodded my head and pressed up against the sidewall.

“Bobby, bring the bags.”

My body jerked and I sucked in my breath. Now, I knew both their names and faces. Things couldn"t get any worse.

They spent the next few minutes counting their money. “Wow … eighty thou …” Bobby let out a whistle.

Gary laughed. “I told you, didn"t I? Friday payday they always have more money in the upper vault. The biggest pay check we ever had.”

The two men zipped up the bags and placed them under a blanket behind me.

“Bobby … get in the passenger side, I"ll drive.”

The lack of windows and seats in the back made it difficult to see from my vantage point on the floor. The van retraced the route in and turned right, heading southeast on the Alaska Highway towards Watson Lake and beyond to British Columbia. I hadn"t heard or seen any police cars since leaving Whitehorse. Since they didn"t know we switched vehicles, I didn"t expect any help from them. Hopefully, the police would find my wallet in the lane and with the help of the group, who saw us, identify me.

I studied my two captors. A tall, thin man, Gary wore his hair short to his scalp in the back. His hair hung a bit longer on the top, bleached blond with dark roots. His eyebrows were dark and thick. A gold ring pierced his left ear, with a gold stud beside it. I looked up at the rear-view mirror and caught Gary glaring at me, confident and mean, and very much in control. My stomach rolled over as his eyes pierced mine.

Bobby, shorter and wiry, fidgeted in his seat, drumming his fingers on the armrests. He tossed his head, swinging his long, stringy hair from side to side. His constant, furtive glances at Gary displayed a nervous disposition, causing me to read him as someone who wasn"t too sure of himself or of any of this.

If things weren"t bad enough in my life, now this. I closed my eyes and tried to organize

my thoughts.

“Uh-oh! “ Bobby sat upright in his seat. “Flashing lights about two miles ahead. What"re we gonna do, man?”

“Stay cool for one thing. Get in the back. Now!”

“What?”

Gary yelled. “Hurry up, man. They don"t know what we look like or the vehicle we"re driving. But they"ll be on the lookout for two men. So get in the back with the b***h, outta sight.”

Bobby lowered himself on the floor beside me and pulled me down from my sitting position. My nose crinkled from the smell of stale cigarettes and body odor. I turned my head away from him and covered my face with my hand. Gary slowed down his speed. Bobby jerked his head up. “Wh… what"s happening? Why are you slowing down?”

“Stop freaking, man! I"m following the speed limit. Don"t wanna attract attention.”

The sound of the siren grew louder. “Yes—home free,” Gary said. “They whistled right on by, lights flashing and all.”

Bobby rolled onto his back and howled like a dog, kicking his feet on the van floor. While my two kidnappers celebrated their getaway, I resumed my sitting position and fought the urge to cry.

Don"t let them see you crying. I wrapped my arms around my knees and put my head down, slowly rocking back and forth. Stay calm. If there ever was a time to practice the meditation techniques Marion taught me, the time had arrived. Marion … my best friend, all the way back to primary school. I pushed away the thoughts of how upset she would be at my disappearance.

Don"t let them see you crying.. Stay calmThe sky turned a dull grey as night approached. Gary made a sharp right and headed straight south. The only road in this direction travelled along the Cassiar Highway, an isolated stretch of road heading south through the undeveloped northwestern part of British Columbia, referred to as the “last frontier”. Towns were few and hundreds of kilometres apart. There were no amenities here like on the Alaska Highway. There was no other traffic on this remote highway.

My alarm level rose. Focus. No one will help you, except you.

Focus. No one will help you, except you.The darkness came and Gary pulled over, giving Bobby a shove. “Hey, wake up. I gotta take a leak.”

Gary opened the side door and gestured for me to get out. “I"m sure you need to take a break too.”

I stared at him with apprehension. The urge to relieve myself was strong, but the idea of stepping out into the dark with him terrified me.

“Come on,” he barked. “We don"t have all night!”

Get a grip girl. I climbed out and stretched my cramped legs while they stood next to the van and relieved themselves.

Get a grip girl.Did they expect me to squat down beside them?

Did they expect me to squat down beside them?Gary turned and stared at me. Reaching under the front seat, he grabbed two flashlights and shoved one into Bobby"s hands. “Here, take her over to those bushes while I check the fluids. And keep your eyes on her.”

Bobby led the way and pointed with the light. “You can go there.”

“Okay, turn the light away,” I said.

“No can do. Gary said to keep an eye on you.”

“I"m not going to run away. Where would I go in the pitch dark? You"re holding the light.”

“Fine. Make it quick.” He turned away.

I squatted. My eyes searched the area. The landscape rose sharply uphill on both sides of the road, no pathways. Running away wasn"t an option here. Say something to him; try to personalize your situation. “You know he"s going to kill me, Bobby.”

Say something to him; try to personalize your situation“No … no … he"ll let you go when we get out of this area.” He didn"t sound too sure. “And don"t use my name.”

“I"m pregnant.”

“You"re what? Bullshit!”

I stood and adjusted my clothes. “Five months. I"m done here.”

Bobby shone the light on me, and stepping closer to him, I placed my hand on his arm.

“Please, don"t let him kill my baby and me.”

He pulled his arm away and gestured for me to walk in front of him. That went well. My hopes of getting any help from him were dashed. We were back on the road and travelling further into the wilderness.

That went wellHours later, I opened my eyes and bright sunlight blinded me. A glance at my watch, told me it was six a.m. I must have dozed off. It was cold in the back of the van and I pulled my jacket tighter. Day 2 of my a*******n.

Day 2 of my abduction.Bobby was driving. My abductors talked in hushed tones, but I could make out the words. “How do you know she"s pregnant?”

“She told me last night,” Bobby said. “When I took her out in the bushes.”

“What else did she say?”

“She said she thought you"re going to kill her. She"s afraid for the baby. Are you? Are you going to kill her?”

“Jesus, man. She knows who we are. She can identify us. Do you wanna go to jail? I"m not going back.”

“s**t man, what if we get caught?” Bobby was visibly upset. He ran one hand through his hair over and over. His upper body rocked back and forth in the seat. “I mean, jail time for robbery isn"t the same as for murder.”

“Stop rocking and pay attention to the road. I hate the fact she"s pregnant, okay. But she doesn"t give two shits about us. She"d turn on us in a minute.”

“Yeah, but…”

“You know why she told you she"s pregnant? "Cause she knows you"re a pushover. She"s trying to get between us. Got it? Besides, if we get caught, it isn"t just robbery we face, but k********g, and weapons charges. Grow the hell up, man. We gotta do this, so shut up about it, okay?”

“When …” Bobby whispered, “when you gonna do it?”

A lump rose in my throat, and I swallowed hard to keep from vomiting.

“When we reach the cabin. We"ll hole up for a while, bury her out there someplace. No one"ll ever find her.” Gary turned and caught me looking at them. His eyes hardened. Raising his forefinger to his temple, he pretended to be pulling the trigger of a g*n.

My head jerked backward, and my chest constricted. Oh God, I can"t breath.

Oh God, I can"t breathEscape. That thought repeated over and over in my mind like the rhythm beat of a perpetual drum. But where could I go? Desperation took desperate measures. I would run at the first opportunity. This was a matter of life or death—my baby"s and mine.

Escape.But where could I go?Gary watched my every move. Mid-afternoon, we pulled into a gas station at the first town since turning onto this roadway. A place called Dease Lake, surrounded by hundreds of miles of wilderness in any given direction.

“Hey, b***h …” Gary said, “… lie down. Bobby, you fill up the tank and I"ll go get some snacks. Lady, if you so much as twitch, I"ll shoot the first person I see in this hole.” He patted the g*n in his jacket pocket. “Then, I"ll kill you!”

My heart pounded. There were people here that could help me, but they might as well be on the moon. I crawled up to the front of the van and raised my head behind the driver"s seat until I could see out the side mirror. Bobby had his back to the driver"s door, watching the gas gauge. I wiggled over between the seats and peeked out the driver"s window to the store beyond. A woman stood behind the counter. Gary was nowhere to be seen. A quick glance out of the front windshield told me there were no other cars or people about.

I inched my way across the passenger seat on my stomach and opened the door. Pulling my legs under the dash and in front of the seat, keeping my body down low, I swung my feet out the door and lowered myself to the ground into a crouch position, and closed the door quietly up to the door jam. Now what?

Now what?I knew if I went around the back of the van, Bobby would see me and if I went around the front, Gary might see me from the store. Instead, I sprinted straight ahead, body bent over, head down low, to the second row of pumps and hid behind them to reassess. One peak back to the van assured me that my abductors weren"t aware of my escape. Only one thing stood between me and the bushes beyond—the highway.

I had no choice but to make a run towards them. I charged across the dirt driveway that led into the gas station, aced the highway, and flattened myself in the ditch on the other side. A visual survey told me that there was a short ten-yard dash to freedom. The negative to that was that it represented a thirty-foot run across an open grassy area to infinity beyond. A quick peek back to the gas station made my heart jump. Gary and Bobby were standing in front of the van talking, Bobby had his back to me and Gary was half-turned. With the seconds ticking away before they discovered my disappearance, it was now or never.

Up like a shot, I made a dash across the open meadow. The bushes drew closer. No way would I look back. All my energy was thrust into that run. I was almost there, when my foot went into a hole, throwing me off balance. Down I went, sprawling face first onto the grass. There was no time to check for injury. This time as, pushing myself up, a glance over my shoulder sent shock waves through my body. Gary had seen me. I took off running. Pains shot through my right ankle, but that was the least of my worries.

The bushes were a welcome sight, swallowing me up as I jumped over the smaller ones and pushed my way through the hedge behind them. This wasn"t my day. The ground dipped sharply behind the row of bushes and I slid down a muddy embankment, landing thigh deep in a marshy wetland.

It took all my strength to crawl up the side of the wet bank and push myself into a standing position—only to find myself face to face with a g*n pointed right at the middle of my forehead.