“People will be expecting me,” April said in an effort to appeal to this man to get him to let her go.
“Let them look. They will never find us.”
A shiver almost dropped her to the ground. Few people who’d been kidnapped were ever recovered alive. Usually, it was only people taken by relatives who turned up at home. She didn’t want to be another statistic, she wanted to matter, and the one person she knew she mattered to was Mac. Without him, her life meant nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Mac waited for three minutes to call April. No answer. That bugged him, and he called back. Still no answer. He pulled his phone away from his head and looked at the display. He was calling April. He texted her to call him as soon as she picked up her phone.
Two minutes passed, then three more. Worry ate at Mac, and he dialed again. Still no answer. Something was wrong.
April wouldn’t not answer at the end of her shift. She hadn’t texted him that she was leaving or that she’d finished working. He had a very bad feeling about everything.
Mac turned off the oven and put the pizza back into the refrigerator. He would bake it later.
He dialed her again as he walked out of the house, stopping when someone picked up the phone.
“April?” he almost shouted as he heard someone fumble the phone on the other end of the line.
“Hey, Mac, it’s Zeke. I was walking past and heard the phone, then tried the door, and it opened. April’s phone was just sitting in the back, and no one is here. Grinders should be closed, but it isn’t. The door was left unlocked, Steph isn’t here, but April’s phone is.”
“Shit. April was closing for Steph. Are you sure she isn’t taking the trash out?” Mac knew Steph had a policy that no one took the trash out back unless another employee was there. There was no way April had stepped outside to drop the trash.
“I’ll look.”
Mac heard the squeak of the back door opening.
“April?” Zeke called out.
Mac strained to hear the sound of April’s voice. But no one answered Zeke.
Zeke called out again, and real panic filled Mac. He’d stopped midway down the walkway to his vehicle, but now he was on the move, vowing to head to Grinders and see if he could find anything indicating where April had gone.
“I can’t find her,” Zeke said. “I’m hanging up and calling the cops. Something is wrong.”
The line went dead, and Mac felt like the world had just caved away under his feet. He closed his eyes and blew out a breath, knowing he had to hold it together while he drove to the center of town.
His hands shook as he started the car. It was difficult to maintain the speed limit as he drove to Grinders. He wanted to race over, demanding the cops find April, but if he drove too fast or recklessly, he wouldn’t do anyone any good.
When he arrived downtown, he saw two police cars parked outside Grinders. His heart sank. It really was real. April was missing. Had someone come into Grinders and forced her to leave with them?
Few of the storefronts had cameras outside. Maybe someone would have recorded something, but he doubted it. This wasn’t a major metropolitan area. Crimes happened in Fallport, but not as frequently. The population was low enough that people didn’t feel the need to have everything recorded.
He wished they were living in the big city because, no question, there would be some security footage that had picked up who had April.
As he stepped from his car, fear ate at him. The police didn’t look like they knew what to do. April had feared a stalker, and now that person had come to get her. He had to find her, or nothing would ever be the same.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The sun had dipped low, and the sky was alive with streaks of orange and pink. April wished she were a bird and could fly away, but she was stuck with this jerk. He pulled the car over and forced her out. The urge to run hit, but before she could take a step away from him, he pulled her close and snapped a collar onto her throat. She reached up to pull it off, but then it was like a thousand fire ants were attacking her neck. There was no way to scream or cry out as pain ripped through her.
She dropped to her knees then rolled to the ground as pain skittered around her body, leaving her weak. It took a moment for her to even be able to breathe evenly. After another few seconds, her gaze landed on the man who had abducted her. There wasn’t anything off about his looks, his features, nothing. He didn’t look evil, just normal. He wasn’t remarkable in any way.
Why had he taken her? There was no memory of this man from her past, but then again, would she have remembered him?
He lifted one eyebrow. “Are you ready to do as I ask?”
Arguments popped into her mind. She wanted to tell him to screw himself, but fear overrode everything else. This man had the power to harm her and control her. She had no option but to go along with whatever he wanted.
Slowly, she stood, her gaze staying on him. For a second, she thought he would push the button again and make her fall to the ground, but he gave her a tight smile instead.
“Well then, let me secure this properly.”
He came at her with a small lock in his hand. She realized she could have taken the collar off, but now he was attaching the lock to the collar, making it impossible to remove.
“There, now that’s done. We’re going to walk for a while.”
“What about the car?” She flinched when he glanced back, and his lips curled into a sneer.
“It was stolen. We’ll go to the next town and find another car.”
Whoever this man was, the police wouldn’t discover any real answers by finding the car. She had no way of making sure the authorities found them, and this man wasn’t anyone she recognized. The police would have a hard time connecting him with her. Her chance of being rescued went down with every step they took.
“Come on, time to move,” he barked.
She could stand here and ignore his commands, but she imagined he would make her life unimaginably painful unless she followed his demands. Her best option was to leave with him and then look for a way to escape. Surely she could find some way to get free from him and find her way back to town.
He didn’t set a torturous pace, but she was still off balance from the zap he’d given her. She didn’t want to be behind him, following him anywhere.
The trail wasn’t even, and she dragged her feet at one point, kicking up dust. A part of her wanted to kick at the dirt and let loose with her anger and pain. They hadn’t gone far, but she was already tired and had to pee. She couldn’t imagine him stopping for her. If he hit the button for the zapper around her neck, she would probably piss her pants.
“I need to pee,” April said.
The man stopped walking and turned to face her. The shadows were almost too long with the setting sun for her to make out his features. Was he smiling or angry?
“Fine. We should take a break.” The guy pointed to some trees. “You can go behind there. Just be warned, there is a proximity setting on that thing around your neck. If you get too far, you’ll end up getting fried again.”
April flinched at that. She didn’t want to be hit again. If she ran, he would easily take her to her knees. Whatever easy escape she’d been planning was ruined by the collar around her neck.