Where are you?
Jack cleared the lower floor before making his way to the steps that went to the next tier. Every step let out a creak, each one threatening to break under his weight. Keeping his back to the wall he slid up until his eyes were level with the second floor. The upstairs was much brighter as none of the windows had been covered and yet it was still dark. Keeping his gun in front of him, he took in the sight of multiple doors. He squinted. There, at the far back of the room was a figure seated in a chair with a burlap sack over the top half of their body. They wore jeans, but no shoes or socks. Expecting some kind of trap, he gazed back down the stairs, listening for movement before continuing on. As soon as he was up he didn’t waste any time crossing to the covered body. In the darkness he couldn’t tell if there was blood on the ground or if they were even alive. He used the tip of his boot to prod the leg. The second it touched, the person who was leaning forward shot upright and let out a muffled cry. Keeping a tight grip on his handgun, he reached forward with the other hand and grasped the bag. A quick tug and it lifted.
“Dana!?”
Her arms were tied behind the chair, her ankles secured to the legs, and she had a dirty rag in her mouth, and one covering her eyes. She let out a cry as he slipped his Glock into his waistband and removed the rags from her eyes and mouth. “Jack,” she said in a slurred way as if she’d been drugged. She began to cry. He clasped her face with both hands and brought his lips to her forehead.
“Hold on, I’ll get you out.”
She tried to speak but it only came out as an incoherent mess. He cut her free of the restraints and she sank forward into his arms, her face nuzzled in his neck. Jack ran a hand through her matted hair. “Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?”
He lifted her face to see if there were any cuts or bruises but it was hard to tell in the dim light. He helped her to her feet and that’s when he noticed how unsteady she was.
“Who did this?”
She muttered something but he couldn’t make out what. Her eyelids drooped, and her body was like a deadweight as he scooped her up, one arm around her back, the other beneath her knees. Moving quickly, Jack descended and exited the same way he entered. All the while he completely expected to come face to face with whoever was behind this, but no one confronted him. Something about it was too easy. All this trouble and they were just going to let him walk?
There was no time to question it.
In his arms she groaned, her cheek resting on his shoulder.
After all this time he couldn’t believe he’d found her. He was sure he’d find her dead with some sick note attached to her body. Why not? What was their goal? He hurried across the street and made his way to a black truck hidden in the shadows. Jack set her down and opened the passenger side door then slipped her in. She looked at him for a second, and he swore he saw the faintest smile before her head flopped back. He took a second to secure a seat belt around her before getting in and starting the engine.
As it growled to life he placed a hand on her leg and told her it was okay, she was safe now. He gave it some gas and swerved out onto Main Street and hung a left heading southwest on Pennsylvania Avenue. Jack glanced at the old tavern in his rearview mirror before flooring it.
Dark open fields and dense forest flew by in his peripheral vision as he gripped the steering wheel tight and let the reality of finding her sink in. A mix of emotions welled up, elation, sadness, rage. He’d hoped to find her behind a group of assholes just so he could send them to their maker but that wasn’t to be. After searching for weeks, collecting her had been easy. Far too easy. What game were they playing now?
Jack gave Dana’s leg a reassuring squeeze and she groaned a little. She rested her head on the window and managed to lift an eyelid. “It’s just me. It’s all right,” he said.
They were roughly six miles away when they approached a hidden intersection. He looked at Dana then back at the road. A flicker of light off to his right caught his attention. Seconds. That’s all it took. A bright light filled the inside of the truck. Jack swerved but it was too late.
The passenger side was struck with such force, the truck instantly flipped.
Brakes screeched, glass smashed and steel collided.
Spinning, turning, the world around shifted like a kaleidoscope, then blackness.
What came next occurred in a series of snapshots. His eyelids fluttered and blinding light stabbed his eyes. He squinted and felt something warm running down the side of his face. Pain. So much pain. His shoulders. His ribs. His neck. Excruciating pain. A few seconds of disorientation then the memory came back. Dana. Although it was painful, he managed to turn his head to the right There she was, slumped over covered in blood.
He tried to move but his legs were pinned or no longer working. “Dana!” he muttered in his hazy pain but his voice was lost in the continual blare of the horn.
He squinted, trying to make sense of his surroundings.
The sound of gravel crunching below
