Page 27 of Chase Me

Should have known better.

Well, shit.

Who else could she call? Who else’s number did she actually know? Without her cell phone, she was missing part of her brain.

But she wasn't kidding anybody by pretending she didn't know at least one name and phone number by heart.

Yeah, she would call him. He was probably worried sick about her.

She dialed up the operator again and went through the same routine and found that her short call to her mother had used up a third of her minutes. She would need this call to Wes to be succinct. She rehearsed in her head what she would say before she dialed the number, and then waited for the ring. The phone rang, and rang again, and rang another three times. No, she couldn't get his voicemail. She hung up the phone, picked it right back up, and went through the whole routine again. The phone rang, and it rang, and it rang again.

“Hello?”

Ciara could barely hear him. The thump thump thumping of loud music, and so many voices, drowned his out. “Wes? Wes, can you hear me?”

“Ciara? Is that you, babe?”

“Yes.” She stuck one finger in her ear and pressed the handset tight against her face, trying to hear him even though the noise was on his end. “I am in Prague.”

“You're a frog?”

She'd rehearsed this, but it didn't do any good to tell him she was in Prague kidnapped and needed him to come get her, if he couldn't understand what she was saying. “No, I am… in… Prague.”

“If you're sick, doll, your mother will kill you.”

Dammit. “I'm not sick. I'm in the Czech Republic.”

“Yes, I'll check with her.”

Dammit dammit dammit.

“I've been kidnapped.” She shouted the words but doubted it would help at this point.

“A nap is probably a good idea.”

Ciara banged her hand against the metal awning. Then another voice came across the line. “Hey, can I buy you a drink?”

What kind of a place was Wes at?

“Hey doll, gotta run. See you on Thursday. I think you'll like this place.”

The phone went dead and Ciara stared at handset.

That had not gone like she expected it to, not even a little bit. She'd imagined Wes rushing to the airport and booking a ticket to Prague to come and get her, and they’d live happily ever after.

Boy, had she been wrong.

What the hell was she going to do now?

She supposed she could just hang out here in the area near the phone. It appeared to be some sort of a town square. Maybe in the morning people gathered here to, what, sell their wares?

In a few more hours it would be morning in America, she could try to call again then.

Ciara's stomach rumbled, and she wished she would have eaten some of those tea cakes Mrs. Bohacek had. She was pretty hungry. Her stomach growled again, this time a whole hell of a lot louder.

Ciara swallowed and put one hand on her belly. That sound had not been her insides wishing for French fries.

She turned slowly, feeling like the TDTL girl in the horror movies. Too Dumb To Live.

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