Page 54 of No Good Deed

When there wasn’t any reaction to the shudder, she tried to move. Her hands and feet were numb, probably from whatever he’d used to bind her. Flexing them, she couldn’t get enough feeling to tell what it was. Probably more duct tape.

Her hands were behind her, so she couldn’t pull off the gag. Could she bend backward enough to reach her feet? Maybe she could walk out on her own.

Which brought her back to wondering where she was.

Piper stretched her neck slowly, hoping no one was watching, and hoping to feign waking up if he was. The ceiling was intact but in dire need of a coat of paint.

She rotated and found another wall similar to the first. A window was on this wall, but was boarded up with slats. The gaps between the slats and one loose slat at the top allowed in the dim light.

More rotation showed she was alone in the room, and that there was only one door. She needed to get out of that door, and to do that, she needed to get out of her bindings.

Turning in the slow circle had her heart pounding. Between the exertion and the fear, breathing solely through her nose made her dizzy.

She stayed motionless while she tried to calm her body and her brain so she could find a way to free herself. In all the books she read, there was a handy tool left behind by the kidnapper that would help free her. Apparently, Ethan hadn’t read the same books because there was nothing in the room but her and the boards covering the window.

She could use the loose one as a weapon if she could get free. Which was a big if. She tried twisting and bending to get her hands closer to her feet. When that didn’t work, she wondered if she could maneuver her body into a ball, get her hands under her feet, and bring them forward.

If it hadn’t been such a dire situation, her attempts would have been laughable. Looked like she would be adding some flexibility training to her daily routines.

Forcing down the panic, she rotated to look around the room again, hoping she’d missed some tool or sharp edge.

Once again, only the loose board on the window looked helpful, but she couldn’t reach it from the floor. Was there a way to get to her feet? Would moving be easier if she hopped or rolled? With the numbness getting worse in her extremities, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stand, but it was worth a try. That way, she see if doorknob was open and if she could escape.

Deciding that was her best hope, Piper rolled near the wall and tried to figure out how to use it to stand up with her hands behind her back and bound.

Her first attempt didn’t get her anywhere. Neither did her second. Or fifth, when she had to take a break to get her breathing under control. Her vision was getting obscured by crazy flashing lights as dizziness threatened to render her unconscious again. Her lack of food this morning was helping the nausea but it weakened her. She had to push past it. If she could inch up the wall like a worm, she could escape.

She was about to try again when the sound of footsteps on the other side of the door had her freezing in place.

* * *

Troy had been trained to think past the emotions. In the Army, letting your feelings loose could lead to death for you and your companions.

In all the situations he’d found himself in while working for Uncle Sam, he’d never once been as terrified as he was now. Containing those feelings was getting increasingly difficult as the minutes ticked by.

Where the hell had Westerlake taken her?

The car hadn’t passed by any of the security cameras again, but that still left a lot of options. There weren’t many cameras in town, but there were lots of back roads heading in different directions.

At least they knew he hadn’t gone past Midnight Lake and Troy had called Stan to see if he’d spotted anyone passing his farm on the north road. Stan hadn’t seen or heard anyone, but had been working in his garage for a while.

To the south, Mrs. Gupta thought maybe she’d seen a silver car, but it could have been white. Or maybe it was a van. She was too rattled to remember clearly.

In other words, they had nothing, and Piper had been missing for over an hour.

Marcus had contacted deputies in nearby locations to be on the lookout for the car, and was on the phone with the police in her suburb of Chicago looking for more information on Westerlake. He’d spoken with at least two detectives so far and was waiting on a call back from someone in the vice department.

Troy returned to the street behind the saloon, and walked up and down again, looking for clues. Enough people used the area that tire tracks were useless. He walked to the next street in both directions but didn’t find anything dropped on the side of the road.

When he returned to the saloon, he heard Oreo barking. He hadn’t wanted the little guy to freeze, but it sounded like he was lonely. Troy moved through the back door into the kitchen area, but the barking was coming from the room out front. Oreo was probably searching for Piper exactly like the rest of them. Or he maybe had to go outside to do his business.

Troy found Oreo barking near the stairs, but the dog raced over to Troy when he walked into the room. Troy scooped him up. “You’re missing her too, aren’t you, Oreo? Don’t worry. We’ll find her. Come on, we’ll see if Joe’s next door with Moose.”

The huge mutt was a combination of Newfoundland and Sasquatch and was another Kimi rescue. He was also a gentle giant, and Troy was pretty sure he wouldn’t eat Oreo.

He found Lia working on a laptop in the back waiting room with Moose at her feet. The behemoth lifted his head, and sniffed the air with his eyes lasered in on Oreo.

When he woofed, Oreo flinched and nearly jumped out of Troy’s arms. Moose stood and it only took two steps to reach them. Oreo leaned over to check out the dog and Moose sniffed his face and then licked him with a tongue that was nearly as big as the bulldog.

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