Chapter 5 #2
Kelli’s grip tightened on his hand, but Flash didn’t dare look away from the road in front of him. He did his best to see street signs, to find any landmark he could use later to find their way back. Because he knew without a doubt that they weren’t taking a shortcut. His gut churned .
Things got worse when the driver slowed down, then stopped for a man standing on the side of the road. The guy climbed into the front seat of the minivan and as soon as the door shut behind him, they were moving again.
The newcomer turned around and met Flash’s gaze. Then he looked at the driver, frowning. “What the fuck? Why’re there only two?”
“Everyone else was whining about going back. I couldn’t exactly tell them some had to stay behind.”
“Damn it!”
“Stop the bus,” Flash ordered. But the men ignored him.
“I knew you’d fuck it up.”
“This isn’t my fault!”
“The hell it’s not!”
As the two men argued, Flash once again interrupted to bark, “I said, pull over. Right now!”
The man who’d been picked up turned around, and this time he had a pistol in his hand. He pointed it right at Flash’s face and said, “We aren’t stopping. Shut the fuck up, unless you want a bullet in your head.”
Flash’s first instinct was to reach out and grab the gun, but if something happened to him, Kelli would be left alone with these two assholes. The better plan was to sit tight. These guys would fuck up sooner or later. And he’d be ready when they did.
“Give me your wallets,” the man ordered, waving the gun at them.
This was a robbery? Flash was confused, but he didn’t hesitate to say, “I don’t have any money on me.”
“Don’t care. Wallets. Now!” the man ordered again.
Moving slowly so as not to alarm the man, Flash reached for his back pocket. Kelli loosened her fingers around his right hand, but Flash refused to let go. He felt a crazy need to stay connected to her. Like if he let go of her, he’d lose her.
He felt more than saw her fumble one-handed with her bag as he handed his wallet to the asshole in the front seat. The man didn’t even look inside it, just threw it to the floor at his feet. He did the same with Kelli’s wallet.
His suspicions that this wasn’t a robbery were confirmed, Flash tensed even more, if that was possible. He could feel Kelli shaking next to him, but he didn’t take his eyes off the man with the gun.
And the passenger didn’t take the gun off him for a second either.
He was in his mid-forties, had dark skin and black hair, wore an old, tattered navy-blue T-shirt and shorts that went down to his knees…
but it was the blank look in his eyes that worried Flash.
He didn’t seem to have a soul. He’d seen men like this before.
Desperate men who would do whatever it took to accomplish their goal…
whether that was killing civilians, setting off bombs, or protecting their leader.
It seemed like they drove for an eternity, and Flash’s concern grew even greater when they left the city and the roads they took got rockier and more rustic. Soon they were driving through thick trees, the minivan bouncing up and down so hard, Flash hit his head on the roof a few times.
Though, he wasn’t exactly disappointed with where they were.
He had extensive training on jungle survival and evading tangos.
If he and Kelli could get away from the men, he had no doubt he could get them back to the resort.
They might miss their flights, and they’d have to deal with replacing their IDs and credit cards, but all that was better than being shot in the head and left for dead in the forest.
When the man behind the wheel finally stopped, silence filled the minivan for a moment.
“Out. And if you try anything, I’ll shoot her,” the second man said.
Fuck. That was the one thing that could get Flash to cooperate. He could deal with a bullet wound, but the thought of Kelli getting hurt because of something he did, or didn’t do, made him physically sick.
Moving slowly, Flash scooted toward the door, which opened for him. The driver had gotten out and come around to open it. The man with the gun—clearly the leader of their little duo—now aimed the weapon at Kelli’s head as they exited the minivan.
“That way,” the gunman said, gesturing behind him with a nod.
Flash followed the driver, his hand clutching Kelli’s as they walked into the jungle. He estimated they walked about half a mile before the driver stopped.
“Get in.”
Flash frowned in confusion. Get in? Get in what? Where?
“I said, get in!” the leader yelled. Flash turned in time to see his hand swinging but before he could act, the gunman hit Kelli on the back of the head with the butt of the pistol.
She let out a surprised and pained yelp, and Flash immediately yanked her hand, pulling her toward him. Far too late to keep her from getting hurt. She whimpered as she put her free hand up to the back of her head .
Flash could smell the iron in her blood before he even saw her pick up her hand to look at it. Her fingers were covered in red.
Turning, Flash growled at the man who’d hit her.
He simply smiled. “I said get in. I meant it. Now…Get the fuck in , unless you want me to shoot her this time.”
Flash looked where the man was pointing…and saw what seemed to be a manhole cover on the ground. He was even more confused. What the hell was a manhole cover doing in the middle of the jungle?
The driver crouched, grunting as he shifted the heavy cast-iron circle to the side, revealing a black hole underneath.
“What the fuck?” Flash muttered.
“It’s your new home,” the man with the gun said almost gleefully. “You and your friend are going to spend some quality time together down there. It won’t be long…assuming we get what we want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Money,” the man said without hesitation. “We’re gonna contact your families and tell them if they ever want to see you again, they’ll transfer money into an untraceable bank account.”
Flash couldn’t help it. He laughed.
Which pissed off their kidnapper.
“What’s so funny?” he demanded.
“This. My mom is barely scraping by. And I have no siblings.” He was lying, of course, but there was no way he was going to have Nova involved in this shit if he could help it.
“Neither do I,” Kelli said in a soft voice from next to him. Flash was proud of her for hanging in there, especially with that head injury, but he couldn’t risk looking away from the man with the gun. He needed an opening. Just one. And he could get him and Kelli out of this.
“Then I guess you’ll die down there,” the man said, not seeming concerned in the least. “There’ll be someone willing to pay to get you back. There always is. The company you work for, friends…someone.”
The man wasn’t wrong. As a Navy SEAL, he actually made a pretty good kidnapping victim. It infuriated Flash that that’s what he was. A victim. He wasn’t ashamed, but more pissed off.
Without warning, the man aimed at the ground and squeezed the trigger on the gun, shooting the ground near their feet, and Kelli’s little scream of fright ate at Flash’s soul.
“The next bullet goes into her leg. How long will it take for her to bleed out, I wonder? Get down that hole. Right fucking now.”
Turning, Flash stared at the hole in the ground. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him to make a move. To fight the asshole holding the gun. As he prepared himself to do just that, movement in front of him made him look up.
The driver was now holding a gun on them too.
Fuck! He might be able to stop the first gunman from shooting Kelli, but the driver would easily be able to get a round off before he could take him out.
Feeling naked without his KA-BAR knife, or any other kind of weapon, Flash did the only thing he could think of to keep them both alive at that moment—he turned to Kelli and said, “Come on, I’ll help you down first.”
Her eyes were huge in her face, and he was afraid he’d see some sort of blame in their depths.
But other than her obvious fear, she seemed calm.
And the trust she showed him when she put her now bloody hand in his made Flash mentally promise to do whatever it took to live up to that trust. He’d figure a way out of this. Somehow.
He led Kelli to the hole, and she sat down with her feet dangling over the edge. Looking down, Flash couldn’t tell how deep the hole was. Glancing at the gunman, he asked, “How far down is it?”
“Guess you’ll find out. Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”
Turning back to Kelli, his gut clenching, Flash said, “Turn around and brace yourself at the edge. I’ll take your hands and lower you down.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice only quivering a little.
They maneuvered, and Flash felt like throwing up.
He had no idea how far Kelli would drop when he released her.
The only thing that gave him the ability to let go of her hands when he’d lowered her as far as he could was the fact that there was no way these assholes could dig a hole in the jungle so deep, it would kill her when she fell.
He hoped.
“Ready?” he asked.
Kelli’s head was tilted back to stare up at him. “Do it,” she whispered.
It felt like a betrayal when he loosened his grip, and he heard her frightened inhalation as she fell.
“Kelli?” he called out, crouched on his hands and knees beside the hole, desperately looking down. He couldn’t see a damn thing.
“I’m okay!” she said a moment later. “It’s about ten feet or so from the top, I think.”
Flash sighed in relief. “Stand back. I’m coming down.” He sat on the edge and, before dropping into the hole, turned to the men still pointing their guns. “This isn’t the end of this. When I get out of here, I’m going to hunt you down and make you regret fucking with me.”
“Whatever, lover boy. If I was you, I’d enjoy the little time you have left with your girlfriend. Fuck her good and hard, because it could be the last time you get the chance if your people don’t come through with the money.”
“You have no idea who you’re messing with.”
“Fuck you!”
Flash moved a split second before another gunshot echoed in the woods around them. He hit the surface below hard, rolling as his knees buckled, taking the bulk of the landing off his joints.
As the kidnappers maneuvered the cast-iron cover, he took a quick look, trying to get the lay of the land. As soon as that manhole cover was in place, he knew it would be pitch black in there, and he needed to see what he was working with.
To Flash’s shock, he and Kelli were inside what looked like an old bus with all the seats taken out and the windows removed and replaced with planks of wood.
Someone had driven the thing out here, somehow placed it into what had to be a massive hole, then covered it with dirt.
He had no idea how they’d managed it, but the how didn’t matter at the moment.
There was a cardboard box in one corner of the otherwise empty space, and that was it. No seats, no blankets, nothing he could see to use as a weapon or a tool to dig themselves out.
Just before the light from above was cut off, the man they’d picked up from the side of the road looked down at them.
“The plan was to have more of you, so you better hope your people come through with our money and make this worth our while.”
“And you better hope you’ve covered your tracks. Because we will be getting out of here. And you have no idea who my people are. They’ll never give up. They’ll find you. And when they do, you’ll wish you’d never come up with this asinine plan.”
“Fuck you,” the man growled again.
Then the manhole cover slid across the hole, cutting off all light. It was so dark, Flash couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
This wasn’t good. Not good at all.