Assuming they were both armed, and she was tied up and injured, her choices slim to none. Even so, Olivia refused to give up. She may go down, but by God, she’d go down fighting.
Their doors shut loudly, and their voices travelled around the sides of the SUV toward the back. Olivia quickly shut her eyes and pretended to be unconscious.
The back of the SUV darkened with the men’s shadows. She listened intently as they spoke. Thankfully, in English, this time.
“She’s still out.” She heard the other man say.
“Good,” Cetro responded.
There was a short pause, and then, the other man asked, “What do you want to do with her now?”
“Finish your cigarette, then bring her inside to me. I don’t want you smoking that thing in the barn. I’ll go make sure everything’s ready.”
“You’re the boss. Be there in a few.”
Okay. So, she was in the country, most likely an abandoned farm away from anyone else. Olivia didn’t think she’d been out for too long, so she couldn’t be all that far from her house. At least she hoped this was true.
Please let someone come by my house.
Jake was a stubborn man. Maybe he’d ignore her request to be left alone, and finally decide to show up anyway. There’d be no mistaking that something terrible had happened there.
He and his team would haul ass trying to find her. They did it before. Olivia had no doubt, they could do it again.
She heard the grinding of gravel beneath the man’s feet outside the back door. Time was running out. She had to come up with a plan.
The man hadn’t been smoking in the vehicle, which meant he’d only lit up after he was outside. This bought her a few minutes, but that was all. She needed to think.
Allowing her eyes to open in narrow slits, Olivia could just make out the man’s shadowy figure through the large back window. From what she could tell by his head and shoulders, she estimated that his waist probably fell at about the same height as the back latch.
That meant, the area right below his waist, would be at her eye level. This gave her an idea.
Mikey had talked to her a lot before he’d left for boot camp. During one of their more serious chats, her brother had turned almost deadly when he’d started talking about boys and how to stay safe while he and Jake were away.
She remembered squealing and begging Mikey to stop talking when he proceeded to tell her that a man’s testicles were like plums.
If you squeezed one hard enough, Junebug, it’ll pop.
Olivia had put her hands over her ears, but not before the visual image from their description had already sunk in.
Years later, an extremely drunk man came into the ER after getting a little too handsy with a girl at a bar. The woman had taken things into her own hands...literally...and Olivia realized her brother had been right.
The guy’s left testicle had popped, just like Mikey had said it would. The man had been in so much pain, he’d passed out right there in the bar’s parking lot.
Any second now, the man standing outside was going to open up the back hatch to get her out. Most likely, his crotch was going to be right on her level.
It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all that she had. Olivia said a prayer that it would work, and she waited.
After what seemed like an eternity, Olivia heard the grinding of gravel, as if the man was stomping out his cigarette butt. She then heard him grab the SUV’s back latch and pull.
Forcing herself to remain still, she kept her eyes closed, her breathing slow.
It was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do, especially when she felt the man’s hands on her, pulling her closer to the vehicle’s edge.
Knowing he was about to lift her up, Olivia opened her eyes to slits again, and saw the man’s zipper directly in front of her bound hands.
Thanks to her broken wrist, she’d have to use her left, non-dominant hand. Not the best option, but it would have to do.
As he started to lift her, Olivia said one final prayer, and grabbed hold of the man’s crotch. She twisted and squeezed.
He cried out, and tried to drop her back into the SUV, but Olivia held on. She squeezed harder. The combination of the added pressure from her fist, along with the pull from her body falling was exactly what she needed.
She felt the pop, immediately followed by the man’s strangled cry of pain. It was barely audible, as though he couldn’t catch his breath.
When Olivia finally let go, the man fell to the ground and started gagging. Not wasting any time, she clumsily sat up, swung her feet around, and hopped down.
Her entire body hurt, and every time she jostled her wrist, she wanted to throw up. Even so, she ignored it all and began running.
Olivia followed what appeared to be a long driveway that connected to a gravel road at the end. If she could just make it to the road, then she’d have the thick patch of trees that lined it on the opposite side to use as cover.
Sounds of the man vomiting behind her reached her ears. That’s what you get, asshole.
She kept running, hugging her broken wrist to her chest as she went. She’d already made it halfway between the car and the road. Just a little further, and she’d have a place to hide.
With a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw that the man was still down on the ground, and Cetro was nowhere in sight. I’m going to make it!
It became her mantra. Olivia told herself that, over and over, until her foot hit a larger rock at an awkward angle. Her ankle twisted and she went down onto her knees.
Unable to use her hands to break her fall, the jagged rocks dug into her flesh, ripping through her
