CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Jake forced his eyes open. Damn, his head hurt! What the hell happened?

“Wake-ee, wake-ee!” Randall sneered.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Randall moved in close, so close Jake could smell the liquor on his breath. Randall tilted his head, grinned wide. “We’re going to have some fun. Payback for you and your girl invading my business.”

Jake darted his gaze around. Whoa. Moved too fast. His vision blurred. He closed his eyes. Focused. Then reopened them.

“Amanda?”

She was tied to a chair across from him. A gag prevented her from yelling, but those wide eyes contained their own silent scream.

“You let her go right now! Why are you doing this?”

Randall puttered away and began to organize a bunch of gas cans.

Gas cans? What did this guy intend to do?

Jake jutted his chin toward Amanda. “How come you didn’t gag me? Let her speak at least!”

“And listen to her high-pitched yelling? No thanks.”

“Let her go. I’ll stay.”

Randall turned, honest surprise flickering in his evil glance. “Ah, true love at its best.”

“What happened to you? I know Bello and Toale ruined your reputation, but why are you acting like a psychopath? You’re the father of roller coaster engineering, for heaven’s sake!”

“Doesn’t much matter what I did in the past, once those bastards got their jaws into me.” Randall shook his head. “You and your girl shouldn’t have stuck your noses into a case that got closed a decade ago. Such a nuisance. Mary’s freaked out, and I can’t let you submit your paper, or the cops might reopen the investigation.”

“It’s an academic paper,” Jake said. “In another state. You don’t have anything to worry about. Let us go. We’ll leave this place and leave you alone.”

“Maybe you don’t understand,” Randall said. “You are going to leave.”

“Great, let us go.”

“No, not leave Abandon. But trust me. You’ll be gone.”

What the hell did that mean? The man—this intelligent man who’d given so much to the engineering world—had lost his mind. Turned into a psycho. No way would Randall listen to reason. The best Jake could hope for was to find a way to get him and Amanda out of there.

Amanda coughed, and he noticed her glance pointing down her arms, then meeting his gaze once more. She wriggled her wrists, wanting him to take notice.

Message received. He could do his best to get out of these cuffs, especially since the ones on his hands were metal and not the zip kind. Good thing picking locks had been a hobby all these years. Jake moved his legs, trying to feel if his cell remained in his pocket. Nope. Randall must have taken it, but it couldn’t have gone far. They were inside a carousel tent.

Jake scanned the floor, the carousel base, for the phone. Aha! There it sat, on top of a gas can. If he could get his hands loose, he could stand and prod into Randall at just the right moment to knock him over. Reach for the cell and call the cops?

It might work. Jake just needed to keep his attempts to get out of the cuffs unnoticed. Then he could save himself and Amanda.

When Randall’s back was turned, Jake mouthed silently, “Keep him occupied.”

She nodded and proceeded to give the best performance of a coughing fit he’d ever heard.

As predicted, Randall focused on Amanda, giving Jake a few seconds to finagle the cuffs. Leverage and pressure worked best. That and having double-jointed wrists.

“Can’t you stop that awful racket?” Randall asked Amanda.

“She needs to breathe,” Jake said. “Maybe if you remove the gag, she’ll quiet down.”

Randall spun around and gave an angry glare. “And maybe she’ll scream to high heaven and bring the cops.”

“We’re in an abandoned amusement park, remember?” Jake asked. “No one will hear her, but I guarantee she’ll stay quiet. Just let her breathe. Please.”

He continued to manipulate the cuffs. Almost free.

Amanda yelped “Please?” through the sweaty-looking gag.

Randall shot Amanda a knowing glare. “You make a ruckus, I’ll kill you and make him watch. Got it?”

Eyes widened, Amanda nodded. Randall bent over slightly and removed the gag.

Jake took a quick breath. This was his chance. Slipping his hands out of the cuffs, he leapt up. Charging forward, the chair stuck to his ass, his legs still constrained. With his free hands and velocity of his body weight, Jake shoved Randall away from Amanda and onto the ground.