CHAPTER 29

CAL’S EARS WOULDN’T STOP RINGING. The high-pitched squeal worming its way into his head felt like it might not end. He squirmed on the ground, grabbing his head. Lying in the dirt, he looked around in search of anything familiar. Nothing.

Where am I? Where’s Kelly?

He staggered to his feet, fighting to do so in spite of the bindings on his hands and feet and the handkerchief in his mouth, tied snugly around his head. After a few moments, the ringing ceased. Then he spotted Kelly, who sat gagged and bound in the corner.

“Are you all right?” he mumbled through his gag.

She shrugged.

Cal wasn’t convinced she understood him, but she didn’t look like she was too beat up. Just a bruise on her face. Maybe it was from a punch. Maybe it was from the air bag. He couldn’t be sure—but he needed to be. If she needed medical attention, he’d take extra chances to escape so he could save her. Otherwise, he’d remain patient—and think.

He hopped over to Kelly and knelt down in front of her. Instinctively, she turned her head so he could begin untying her gag. Cal laughed to himself. If only this weren’t so serious. This wasn’t the first time they’d been tied up together, and given their penchant for danger, he doubted it would be their last. Moments later, he worked the knot loose.

He sat down and allowed her to untie his gag—while she talked.

“What’s going on, Cal? Where are we? I knew we should’ve gone straight to the hotel,” she said.

Cal remained quiet while Kelly continued to work on freeing his gag.

“We’re in a holding facility for The Gentleman’s Club,” came a voice from the corner.

Cal and Kelly both spun to look in the direction of the voice.

“Hi, I’m Hannah, your cellmate for the evening and soon-to-be ex-employee of Lee Creek Distilleries,” she said while she shuffled toward them. “Need a hand?”

Hannah worked with Kelly to loosen Cal’s gag. Then they worked methodically on untying one another’s rope bindings.

Kelly rubbed her wrists before slumping against the wall. “So, how do we get outta here?”

“Unless you’ve got a sick wife dying of cancer and an empathetic guard, you don’t,” Hannah deadpanned.

“Was Justin Palmer in here with you?” Cal asked.

“Yeah, but he somehow managed to escape,” Hannah said. “He promised to come back, but if I were him, I’d pack up my car and leave now, never to return. This place is a black hole.”

Kelly sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

“It’s the Millersville version of Hotel California. You can check in but you can never leave.”

“How do you know this?” Cal asked.

“I don’t for sure,” she said. “I’ve just heard it’s a playground for Miller County’s wealthy and privileged. People talk, but nobody really knows for sure.”

“How long have you been here?” Kelly asked.

“About a day. But I don’t think they have anything good in mind planned for me.” Hannah kicked at the dirt. “If what they want to do to me is as awful as what the girl before me experienced, I don’t want any part of what’s going down in there.”

Kelly sat quietly, putting the pieces together in her head. “This morning, we saw some girls at the crash site of a Lee Creek truck on the highway. Any idea what they were doing there?”

“If they weren’t passengers from another vehicle, they weren’t driving one of our trucks, I can tell you that much. Mr. Lee isn’t shy about expressing his opinion on women drivers and has stated many times how he’d never allow a woman to drive some of his most precious cargo around.” She paused. “Look, there’s always something strange going on at that place, but I don’t ask any questions. No need to. It’s the highest paying job in town for me and I can’t afford to go anywhere else. So, you just learn to look the other way.”

“Look the other way from what?” Kelly demanded.

“Odd things, weird things. Things that you wouldn’t get answers to even if you asked.”

“Like what?”

“Like women hitching rides in our delivery trucks. What’s that all about?”

Cal cleared his throat. “I think I might know.”

They both turned to look at him, just in time to hear a key jiggling into the lock and the door flinging open.

“Good evening, ladies,” a burly man said as he stomped into the shack. “I see you’ve freed yourselves. It won’t matter. This will all be over with shortly. So, who wants to go first?”

Both women put their heads down and froze.

“Very well then. I guess I’ll have to pick one for myself.” He circled the two women, pausing only to kick Cal several times in the ribs. Cal doubled over in pain and moaned.

“Remember, boss said to save Cal’s gal for later,” the guard flanking the man said.

“Very well then,” the man said, grabbing Hannah by her hair. “I guess it’ll be you then.” He turned and looked at Kelly and winked. “Don’t worry, doll, I’ll be back for you later.”

Hannah struggled to her feet as the man yanked her up by her hair. She winced from the pain.

“If you think this is bad, just you wait,” he said, busting out into a roaring laugh. “You’ll be begging to have just your hair pulled by the time this is all over.”

He marched her out the door and closed it shut. The lock clicked into place.

“Cal, what are we gonna do?” Kelly said.

“Just let me think. There’s gotta be a way out of this.”

“I saw three guards standing outside with guns. We’ve got nothin’.”

“Are they still there?” Cal whispered.

Kelly crept toward the door and peered underneath it into the darkness. The glow from the cabin provided just enough light for her to see what was directly outside.

“I can only see one guard right now, but he’s got a gun,” she said.

Cal took a deep breath. “What about the back? Let’s look over there.”

They both jammed their faces against the slats and strained to see into the darkness.

“You see anything?” Cal asked.

“No. You?”

“Looks good to me. Let’s dig.”

Cal and Kelly went to work, scooping up the dirt around the back wall of the shed and creating a hole to the outside.

“You think this will work?” Kelly asked.

“Got any better ideas?” Cal glanced at her. She never looked up.

After several minutes, the piercing screams from Hannah coupled with the guffaws of drunken men filled the forest air.

“Faster,” Kelly said.

They clawed furiously at the ground, raking out piles of dirt with each pull. Cal carefully broke off a slat from the wall to help him soften and scrape up the ground even more.

“It’s working,” Cal said. “Keep going.”

After about fifteen more minutes, Cal deemed their work complete. He looked at Kelly. “You ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

As he turned on his back and prepared to go headfirst beneath the wall, he felt a swift kick in the ribs.

“Going somewhere?” It was one of the burly men from before who’d chained him up. “You didn’t think we were just gonna let you walk out of here, now did you? Mr. Lee has big plans for your wife.” He broke into a belly laugh.

With his face planted firmly against the wall by the man’s giant hands, Cal grimaced as his face was raked down the rough slats.

Another man yanked Kelly out of the shed. “You’re coming with me.”

“No, wait,” Cal said. “Don’t do this.”

“Or what? You’re going to do something about it? You have no idea, do you?” The big man forced Cal back into the shed and chained him up again. “This is your last hour on this planet, son. You were warned, but you didn’t listen.”

Cal wrestled with the chains to no avail. The last thing he heard were Kelly’s screams for help before the guard picked up a board Cal had torn loose and whacked him in the head with it.