The drive from Santa Fe to Los Alamos was about fifty miles by way of the Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway along Highway 14. It started at Sandia Crest and went through the mining towns of Golden, Madrid, and Cerrillos. There were some breathtaking views along the way, with long stretches of nothing but desert hills covered with brush and cactus, and the mountains were always majestically looming in the far distance. For several miles there were no trees to be seen, at least not the kinds of trees Adam was accustomed to. Being from the East Coast, he had never seen such wide open spaces, and he still marveled at the unique beauty of the high desert landscape.
They were on a long stretch of road, with hardly any other cars coming or going, when Maddie started to doze off. Adam tuned to his favorite satellite station and sang quietly while Maddie drifted off to sleep.
A little while later, a flash in the rearview mirror caught Adam’s eye—what looked like a police car in the distance, approaching rapidly with lights flashing. Their car was the only other car on the road at the moment, and he looked at the speedometer to make sure he wasn’t speeding. He was only going about five miles over the speed limit, but slowed down just in case. In a place like New Mexico, with long stretches of highway and nothingness, the temptation to speed seemed inevitable. He figured that if people didn’t speed, it would take forever to get anywhere.
He didn’t alert Maddie to the police approaching because he was hoping they would just pass him by. There was no reason to wake her up. And besides, if they pulled him over, he figured she would know soon enough. The police car must have been going extremely fast because it caught up to them in no time. When it got close, Adam realized there was not just one, but two police cars—one right behind the other, both with their lights and sirens on. He wondered why they were in such a hurry. Had there been an accident somewhere?
When they got closer, he decided to pull over, even though he really didn’t think they were after him. He was just going to give them room to pass. There happened to be a dirt road right off the highway, and he needed to take a leak anyway, so he made a right and drove until he felt he was out of sight. He stopped the car and looked at Maddie. She stirred and said, “Are we there?”
“No, I just have to take a leak. I’ll only be a minute.”
She adjusted her pillow and tried to go back to sleep.
As quietly as he could, he opened his door and stepped to the back of the car to relieve himself. As he finished zipping his pants, he heard the sound of sirens getting closer. He looked up and was surprised to see the police cruisers had followed him. He could see the New Mexico State Police logo on the front of the lead car. Adam looked back at Maddie through the rear window. Apparently, she had heard the sirens too, because she was looking back at Adam, appearing dazed and confused. Adam returned to the driver’s seat.
“What’s going on?” said Maddie, rubbing her eyes.
“I was speeding a little, but they were way back there. I don’t know how they could have clocked me before I slowed down. And besides, I wasn’t going more than five miles over the speed limit.”
“That’s strange,” she said while she rummaged around in the glove compartment to find the registration of the rental car.
They sat in the car and waited for the police to get out of their cars and approach. Adam watched them in the rearview mirror. There were two officers in each car. Two of them got out of the car closest to Adam and approached the driver-side window. He noticed they were in full uniform with side arms. A man in plain clothes got out of the other car and was approaching on the passenger side, which was odd. He had never seen an officer approach on the passenger side like that. But he still didn’t think much of it. He just figured that maybe there wasn’t much going on that day and this was the only action the officers had to look forward to.
Maddie was still looking in the glove compartment for the information and hadn’t seen the officers approaching the car. When she finally glanced up and looked in the passenger side-view mirror, she froze and uttered a single word: “Paul.”
In that instant, Adam froze too as his blood ran cold. Maddie frantically tried to lock the door, but as she reached for the lock, the door flung open, and the man grabbed her and began pulling her out of the car.
Adam shouted, “Maddie!” and tried to get a hold of her to keep her from being yanked out of the car.
She was kicking and fighting, but Paul quickly pinned her arms and almost had her out of the car. Adam frantically grabbed for her feet, or anything that he could reach, to stop him, but he couldn’t get a good grip. He started to panic. If Paul got her into his car and took off, Adam may never see her again. They would disappear and she would be his hostage—or worse. Adam shuddered at the thought.
In the next instant, Paul put a cloth over her nose and mouth. She suddenly quit fighting him as she lost consciousness and her body went limp. Paul finished jerking her out of the car.
Adam was in full panic mode now. He started to jump out of the car and run after Paul, but the other two men were waiting for him on the driver side. Paul picked Maddie up,
