He ended the call, not wanting to waste time explaining what he’d end up going back over in a few minutes, anyway. The planning would start the second he and his team were together, but right now…
Right now, I need a minute to think.
But the longer he drove, the harder it was to keep himself in check. But he had to. For Evie. Whether she knew it or not, the woman was his life. No, she was hiseverything.
And he wouldn’t stop until she was safe, and the son of a bitch who took her was dead.
Evie was awakenedto near consciousness by a strange sensation. One that was familiar yet somehow out of place.
It was as if she were floating on top of the water, yet her skin and clothes felt perfectly dry.
Wait, that’s not right. There’s no water next to Lo’s place.
She tried opening her eyes, but her lids felt weighted down. Why did they feel so heavy? Why dideverythingfeel so incredibly heavy?
Have I been sick?
The only time she ever woke up feeling this way was after she’d downed a full dose of that nasty cherry-flavored nighttime cold medicine she always kept in her closet. But she didn’t recall being sick.
In fact, the last thing Evie remembered was…
Crap. Whatisthe last thing I remember?
Eyes closed, she lay still, trying hard to pull up her most recent memory. As she did, Evie could hear what sounded like the water’s edge slapping against her bed.
Though it had to be a dream, she could almostfeelher body swaying back and forth to the soft waves’ gentle rhythm. The imagined scene gave way to an idea. A wonderful, glorious idea.
Beckett and I should go away together.
She smiled to herself at the oh-so-tempting thought. A whole weekend—or heck, maybe even an entireweekaway with nothing to worry about but sipping Mai Tais on the beach during the day and making mad, passionate love at night.
Actually, Mimosas sounded better than Mai Tais. She should totally switch it to?—
Mimosas.
Evie frowned as another memory filtered in. She was in Lo’s kitchen getting all the supplies to make mimosas. But not just for her.
I was making them for me and Lo. She got home early, and I told her all about what happened overseas. We were going to drink mimosas while I told her all about Beckett, but Lo…
No!
Lo was on the ground. She wasn’t moving. The man on the phone said help was on its way, but then…
Evie’s eyes flew open as memories of her attack came back with a terrifying vengeance. On reflex, she shot straight up from where she’d been lying, but something wrapped around her wrists brought her forward motion to a sudden and painful stop.
“Ah!” She winced as she turned her head to see what held her back. Her heart dropped into her stomach when she realized why she was unable to move.
She was lying on a bed with her arms stretched high above her head. Both wrists were being held in place by a pair of white plastic ties. The bindings had been secured to two shiny, stainless steel screw eyes that had been purposely inserted into the wooden wall serving as the bed’s pseudo headboard.
Ohmygod!
Real panic set in, sparking a primal, desperate need to escape. Tears fell freely from Evie’s eyes as she pulled and tugged and yanked with all her might in a failing effort to break free.
Trickles of bright red blood marred the stark white plastic as it cut into her delicate skin, but she continued to fight against the unforgiving restraints. She couldn’t go through this again. Not. Freaking.Again!
Yet, here she was, having been taken against her will a second time. And she had no idea by whom…or why.
What happened to her and the girls in Afghanistan was horrific. But despite the terror those men had instilled in her and her young students, their heinous acts were, in a strange sense of the word, understandable.