She yelled again. “Jesse, I’m almost free. I only have one more zip tie to go!”
It seemed like an eternity, but in reality, it was closer to five minutes. I heard running, and then I saw her beautiful but bruised face. My heart ached with guilt. That wasn’t the first time Hanna had been injured because of her affiliation with me.
She ran to me and held the knife that Josh had foolishly left within reach. He just didn’t know that with time and a lot of effort, she was able to saw the zip ties back and forth across the twin bed’s decorative scrollwork until they snapped. She pulled the tape from my mouth and removed the gag.
I sputtered before talking. “Hurry, honey, and cut the tape off my wrists and legs. We have no idea when he’ll be back. We’ve got to get the hell out of here.”
Hanna was near panic. “We can’t call anyone. We don’t have phones!”
“I know, but we can take your vehicle. I didn’t hear the garage door open today, so I’m sure he knows there’s a BOLO out on the Explorer.”
Hanna’s hands shook as she cut through the tape securing my wrists. Once my hands were free, I took the knife and sliced through the tape at my ankles.
“Okay, let’s go!” I groaned when I rose from the chair. My entire body ached, but the sharp pain in my ribs reminded me that they were likely fractured.
We ran to the garage, then Hanna cried out. “Wait, we don’t have the keys!”
“Do you have a spare set?”
“Yes, somewhere, but we don’t have time to look for them. Let’s just go, Jesse. We can run to the neighbor’s house for help.”
I grabbed Hanna by the hand and flipped on the garage light then gave her a nod of confidence. “When the door opens, we need to run to a house where you’re absolutely sure someone is home.”
“Um, um… I have to think.” She pressed her temples.
“Hurry, Hanna.”
“Okay, the only neighbor who doesn’t work is Delilah Woods, and she lives three houses down as we go left out of the garage.”
“All right. Are you ready?”
She said she was.
Just as I was about to press the button that lifted the garage door, a voice sneered at us from behind.
“Going somewhere?”
We spun to see Josh standing in the laundry room with my service weapon pointed at our faces.
“Get on your knees now, or I’ll shoot you both in the head!” He racked the slide on the pistol and pressed it against my temple as he barked out orders. “Now!”
I glanced at Hanna as she dropped to her knees on the garage floor and sobbed in her hands.
“You, too, McCord. If you make me say it again, I’ll splatter your brains all over your girlfriend’s face.”
As I lowered myself, I knew I had one chance and one chance only, so I lunged at Josh. Falling backward with me on top of him, Josh fought for control of the gun. We rolled on the floor, swinging wildly at each other, then the gun went off, just missing Hanna.
I yelled for her to run, but with the garage door closed, she had nowhere to go. She scurried across the floor and disappeared from sight.
For every punch I landed, he landed two. In my weakened state, I was losing steam, then a flash of black next to the dryer caught my eye. It was the gun. I made a last-ditch effort to grab it, but so did he.