Page 14 of Hacker Christmas

I climbed into my Acura MDX, which Neal had bought for me. He’d said it was the safest SUV on the road. When I turned to get a look at my kidnapper, I saw that his hair stood up from running his hands through it. Fredrick’s white shirt had dirt caked to the front, and sweat streamed down the side of his face.

I noticed the gun he had pointed at my head. He climbed into the passenger seat and continued to point it in my direction.

“I’m sorry for what Neal did. I will fix it. Please let me go.”

He didn’t answer right away but instead ran a forearm over his forehead to wipe the sweat away. It almost looked as though he was coming down from a high and needed a fix. “Your boyfriend destroyed my life. He sent videos that tanked my career and started an investigation. The feds froze my bank accounts, and the money I had offshore is missing too. I know you guys took it.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Neal wouldn’t have taken the money for himself. Jessica said he had given it to this crazy man’s ex. I needed to figure out how to escape alive.

He shook the gun in my direction. “Drive.”

I started the car and headed for the exit. “Which way?”

He gave me directions as we drove farther and farther away from the city. When he had me turn onto the part of I-75 also known as alligator alley, my stomach turned. The swamp was where people disposed of bodies. I needed to figure out a plan.

“ We can work this out. Neal and Aaron will look for me.” I wanted to get him to talk.

“Doesn’t matter, bitch. You will be dead soon.”

I clamped my hands on the steering wheel and watched as the swamp whizzed by us. The alligators were soaking up the Florida sun alongside the road.

“Why are you taking me out to the swamp, to kill me?”

“Your boyfriend owes me money.”

“But if you kill me, he won’t give you what you want. Let’s head to the city, and I can call Neal.”

His hands were shaking from the withdrawal. His stench filled the car and made it hard to breathe. I wanted to reach over to lower the window and gasp for air. If I didn’t get fresh air soon, I might pass out or vomit in the car.

I touched my stomach and made a vow I would fight to save the three of us.

His phone rang, and he answered it. I could only hear his side of the conversation.

“Yes, I will have your money.” He reached up and wiped off another layer of sweat. “I will have the money. Make sure you have my stuff. I will be there tonight.”

The angry man clicked off the phone. “Make a right in half a mile.”

“Please, let’s go to an ATM, and I can pull out money.”

“I want you to pay for what you did. You tricked me at the club. I want to watch the blood run down your skin as you beg for your life. Then I plan to send the recording to your men. It will be such sweet revenge if they have to watch you die.”

Fredrick was crazy, and I didn’t know how to rationalize with him. The road curved, and we passed a few side roads, which led to swamp houses. Those roads would take us farther into the alligator-infested area and far from help. I had to make my move soon, or he would kill me.

“Take the next turn, whore.”

I slowly increased my speed as we got closer to the turn. He had his eyes trained on me and not the road. I cranked the wheel and took the corner at seventy miles an hour. The car tilted onto its side and rolled. When we had entered the car, I had put my seat belt on, but Fredrick’s body flew from the car as it flipped. I gripped the steering wheel, trying to hold myself in place as the car continued to turn.

Glass shards hit my body, and I could hear the car crunch around me. My head swung and hit the side of the car, and I kept my eyes closed. The car rolled one more time and didn’t seem like it was about to stop. I reached up to keep myself from hitting the ceiling. The car flipped again, and debris came through the window and hit my arm with so much force that I felt the bone snap.

We came to a stop upside down in the water. I knew I had to run. Fredrick wasn’t the only thing I needed to worryabout. Alligators called the swamps home, and I didn’t want to be their afternoon snack.

I reached up and unlatched my seatbelt with my good arm, and I fell to the roof of the car. My arm throbbed with pain, but I needed to get out of the SUV, which was filling with water. The front windshield had shattered into pieces when the car took the first roll.

I slowly climbed out the window. The shards of glass on the ceiling dug into my hands as I pushed myself through. Sand squished between my fingers as I crawled out, and water was rushing by me. The water was two feet high, and my knees sank the moment I moved forward.

I searched for a road or some other path out of the water. It wasn’t only the alligators that worried me—the swampland was also full of water moccasins, not to mention the other dangerous animals that roamed the water. Alligator alley wasn’t just the place to drop dead bodies—it was also where everyone took their unwanted poisonous animals. I heard rustling to my left and saw my kidnapper crawling toward me. He pulled himself out the side of the car and limped a few more feet.

The need to escape was strong. I tried to run in the water, but with each step, my feet sank into the swamp floor. I had lost my shoes on impact.

---