Chapter Fifty

Angel gripped the steering wheel in fear as she calculated every move Eddie would make. What if she jerked the car off the road? No. She wanted to live. Still, a car accident had to be better than what he would do to her. She had no idea where they were going. Angel could only hope that Wes had picked up the phone and had caught her conversation with Eddie. She knew enough from watching television that it was possible for the police to trace her cell phone.

“Pull over right up here.” Eddie turned his hot breath on her. “Do it now.”

With as much ease as her trembling body allowed, she slowed the car and pulled to the side of the road. There hadn’t been another car for miles on this back road. The sun was hidden behind cloudy dark gray skies.

Eddie cocked the gun toward her chest. “Get out.” He swung the passenger door open.

Angel peeked down into the car-door pocket. Her eyes were glued to that phone, and she hoped it wouldn’t fail her now. Her hands felt ice cold as she struggled to grasp the door handle.

“Come on!” he growled.

She yanked the door handle and scrambled out of the car to face her abductor.

Eddie waved the gun and yelled, “Start walking.”

Sticks and leaves crunched as they walked into the mass of trees. From a distance, she saw lightning streak across the sky. It was the time of year for southern thunderstorms to roll through. A cool breeze whipped through the trees, but it brought Angel no comfort. Her heart raced, as if she had just run a marathon. She choked back a sob. Eddie was going to kill her. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

To think how much she had trusted him. It never would have crossed her mind that he would hurt her. More lightning split the sky, and it was followed by an intense rumble of thunder. The trees shook their limbs, as if taunting her for being so naive.

“Stop.”

She turned and noticed that Eddie had cocked his head like he had heard something. Was someone else out here?

He swung the gun an inch from her temple. “Get down.”

“What?”

“Get on your knees,” he snarled.

She fell on her knees, feeling the earth beneath her. Her heart lurched as the thunder roared like an angry lion above their heads. Big drops of rain began to crash down around them. Angel shut her eyes tight, not believing this was her fate. “Please, God, help me,” she prayed fervently.

When she opened her eyes, an answer lay near her, barely covered by leaves. She glanced up at him. Eddie’s eyes had grown wilder as he paced around her. He seemed to be having a conversation, but she couldn’t understand a word he was saying. The rain was falling harder now, soaking her clothes. She peered down at the ground again. Why not? What did she have to lose? She had to do something.

Angel scooped the smooth rock up from the muddy ground. Her dormant softball skills kicked in as she zoomed in on his hand. Not waiting another second, she swung the rock with all her might.

The rock smacked him square on the hand, and he dropped the gun. “No, you . . .”

She leaped forward like a track sprinter and headed into the trees. As Angel ran, the oddest memory of a Sunday school lesson entered her mind. The one about Lot’s wife. God told her not to look back, but she did and lost her life.

Eddie’s voice bellowed behind her.

“Don’t look back,” Angel told herself as she ran. “Don’t. Look. Back.”