Chapter Three
Hope pulled her knees closer to her chest, hugging her arms around her legs. She glared at the two people driving the van.
She’d learned their names were Jake and Vicki. Or the assholes, as she preferred to call them. Her mom would be pissed that
she used that language, but that’s what they were.
Her hair was greasy and gross. She didn’t know anymore if the body odor was her or the assholes. She was tired and didn’t
totally want to admit it, but she was scared. What were these people planning with her?
When she’d come to from the first round of drugs, Hope had clawed and kicked. But she was small for her age and Vicki overpowered
her. Then Vicki had covered Hope’s face with her hand when she tried to scream. Jake turned around and clocked her in the
head with his fist.
Stunned, Hope stopped screaming for a moment. Vicki took that chance to stab her with a syringe full of something. Again.
And all Hope could remember was getting sleepy really fast. Then she’d woken up and found herself bound and gagged.
They’d stopped at some point and at least took out the cloth in her mouth, but told Hope, if she screamed, they’d shoot her.
Jake pulled out a gun and showed it to her.
Hope didn’t mention to him that she knew how to use it.
Her uncle had taught her. He had said it would be good for Hope to know how to shoot and handle a weapon.
At the time she’d only gone to the range with her uncle because she wanted to spend time with him. She kept telling herself
that her uncle would find her. That’s what he did for a living with the marshals. Her mom was probably freaking out.
Hope would give anything right now to be at home with her mom. Even though they’d fought a lot lately, she knew her mom was
doing the best she could as a single parent working full-time.
She didn’t know how long she’d been out or where they were. Hope strained to see out one of the windows without Jake and Vicki
seeing her. Not only had they threatened her with a gun, but Vicki had also shown her another syringe full of liquid. The
same stuff that knocked Hope out before. If there was any way to escape, Hope knew she couldn’t be drugged so she’d agreed
to cooperate.
But at some point, she’d get away. Her uncle had taught her that sometimes you had to find the right moment. He’d told her
stories about catching fugitives and how he and his partner would often do surveillance and just wait. He’d told her that
people make mistakes when they become comfortable.
Hope wanted Jake and Vicki to think she was scared, which she was, but not to the point of not trying to flee. If she could wait them out, they might get comfortable like her uncle talked about and stop watching her so closely. Then she could escape.
Hope managed to sit up a little taller and peer out the window. They were in the mountains, but she didn’t know which state.
These mountains seemed different from Montana, but it wasn’t like she was a nature expert.
“Get away from that window,” Vicki snapped at her.
“Sorry,” Hope said.
“You’ll be sorry if you don’t listen,” Vicki said, muttering some other things about stupid teenage girls under her breath
and then asking Jake, “How much farther is it?”
“I don’t know. Here. Figure it out.” Jake flung a green paper map toward Vicki. She took it and opened it up. Hope had heard
them discussing that they shouldn’t use their phones. They didn’t want to be tracked. But they were both idiots in Hope’s
opinion. Leaving their phones on meant they could still be located and neither of them seemed to know how to navigate without
GPS.
Hope leaned slightly forward and glanced at the map. Colorado. She’d never been to Colorado, but had always wanted to visit.
They’d never had the time with her mom’s job. Her mom had promised that at some point she’d take her. This wasn’t how Hope
had envisioned that vacation.
She knew she’d been out for a while—at least twenty-four hours.
She wasn’t exactly sure. But long enough to drive from Montana to Colorado.
How would her uncle find her this far away?
She had to give him a clue. He always talked about following clues.
When they stopped, she would wait for Jake and Vicki to fall asleep.
They seemed to enjoy cheap vodka. It didn’t matter what time of day it was.
Maybe she could somehow slip the contents of the syringe in their vodka.
But she could pretend to be asleep and when they were drunk and passed out, she could sneak away.
A phone rang.
Hope had noticed that they had a couple of different phones. Probably burners. Her uncle talked about that stuff too.
“Yeah?” Vicki said, answering it and then listening. Then, “We got her.”
Hope strained to hear more. Was the lady saying something about keeping the girl alive? That had to be her, but why? What
did they want with her?
“We’ll meet you there.” Vicki hung up and opened the map again.
Hope wondered if she even knew how to read it or use it. Of course, she was the one failing English class in summer school
right now. But not because she couldn’t read.
“Turn left up there,” Vicki told Jake. “We’re heading for this wilderness area near a campground in the Pino Grande National
Forest.”
Jake followed Vicki’s direction and Hope swayed in the back as he took the turn a bit fast. Vicki rolled down the window and Hope could swear she smelled smoke. Not like campfire, but stronger. It reminded her of a large fire that burned in Montana a few years ago.
With a fire came first responders. If Hope could wait and make sure Jake and Vicki were comfortable, maybe she could slip
out and find the firefighter camp. Maybe she could escape.