Page 212 of Forced Vows

I start to slip off the guy's shoulder and triumph fills me, but it's short lived. With a shrug of his big shoulder, I'm right back where I was. Trying to breathe through a squished diaphragm.

There has to be a way to get away, but it's not going to be squirming around like an eel on a hook.

Common sense starts to overcome my adrenaline fueled need to fight.

I can't fight my way past these three miscreants, especially trussed up like stage rigging. Letting my body go limp, I pretend to faint, hoping they'll talk openly when they think I can't hear them.

The only thing they do is joke with each other about the weakness of the female sex. They won't be joking when I cut their nut sacks off.

Eww. Okay, that would be really gross and lots of blood.

But they're not going to get away with this. Even if they get me all the way to the compound I won't give up. And I know Miceli will not give up on getting me back.

Another heave of that hard shoulder and I start to fall, landing on a hard surface. Then the sound of a car trunk closing tells me where I am.

They threw me into the trunk of a freaking car. My shoulder bangs against something hard.

Ouch. I mean, seriously. Ouch.

Despite my discomfort, hope surges through me and I use my bound hands to shove the darkened diver's mask from my face. My vision doesn't get a lot better.

Because there's no interior light inside the car trunk.

But my captors can't see me either, and not one of them thought to search me for weapons.

My taser is in my backpack, still sitting on the dock I got nabbed from, but I keep my kubotan in my pocket.

Lucky for me, it is in the opposite pocket from where I had my phone and the guy who took that away hit on the correct pocket the first time.

Honestly, I never expected to use the kubotan anywhere but in training classes with Miceli. I like having it though. It feels like a little bit of Miceli to carry around with me.

Right now, I kind of wish I had a sentimental attitude toward a gun.

The kubotan will have to do.

I have to shift to my other side, but I managed to get my bound hands inside my front right pocket. The wet denim of my shorts makes it hard to pull the kubotan out, but eventually, I get it.

Unscrewing the end to expose the hidden knife is pretty easy, but cutting the zip tie holding my wrists together isn't.

The knife is sharp and the tiniest nick draws blood. Pretty soon, it's not just water from my clothes making me wet, but I get the zip tie off.

It's a lot easier to bend down and cut through the ties on my ankles. I put the knife back in the kubotan, because I don't want to accidentally cut myself more severely.

The kubotan will be as good of a weapon against my attackers as the knife. Maybe better. The knife is too small to do a lot of damage, no matter how sharp it is. But I've gotten really good at using the kubotan on pressure points.

I would love to shove it right into one of their eyeballs. Which is not a pressure point and also gross. Escape is a way better option than fighting right now. I might get some good hits in, but I'm not going to win against those three with a kubotan.

I feel around in the trunk and find the hard thing I fell on. It's a box. Opening it takes a second and then I feel through the contents. It's a first aid kit. The scissors feel sharp, so I tuck them into my pocket as a secondary weapon.

There's a gauze roll and that tape you use to hold the gauze on or to wrap a sprain.

I tuck it into my other pocket before a more thorough search of the trunk reveals some kind of spray can. Don't know what's in it, but it could be useful.

Finally, I search for the inside trunk release. Afraid it has been removed, I put it off for last. Disbelief pours through me when my fingers slide over a release latch. It's right there.

We're still on the island, but I don't know where. And it doesn't really matter.

I am better off out there than in here, wherever out there is.

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