Page 25 of Strangers in Love

I’d tried talking to them, telling them that I was an American teacher on my way home, but they’d ignored me. At first. Finally, one of them had snapped what I’d assumed meantshut upbecause he’d slapped the side of my head when I’d said that I didn’t speak much Persian.

The van hadn’t had any seats, and with my hands bound in front of me, I’d had nothing to protect me from being flung all over the place with every pothole and turn. Sometimes, I’d been thrown into a person who’d shove me back the other way. The only thing I’d been able to have the slightest bit of gratitude for was that the men who’d taken me hadn’t groped me when it would have been so easy for them to do just that.

Actually, I’d gotten the impression that the last thing these men had wanted was to touch me any more than absolutely necessary.

I’d hung onto that hope as each minute took me farther and farther away from safety.

Then again, it wasn’t as if I’d actually known anything about where we’d gone. For all I’d known – and all I still knew – we’d ended up a block away from Neutral Ground. Two blocks from the airport. Three streets over from where the men had taken me. We could have driven in circles for an entire day, and I wouldn’t have had a clue.

The airport.

Freedom.

Adrenaline raced through me, clearing away some of the fog, though not the confusion. Freedom had been waiting for me at the airport. When I hadn’t shown up, she had to have called the authorities. I might not have known exactly how long ago I’d been kidnapped, but I was positive that it’d at least been long enough for Freedom to have noticed. Since I’d been running late already, the kidnappers wouldn’t have had as much of a head start as they’d anticipated.

If, in fact, they’d anticipated anything.

No one had said anything that had indicated that I’d been targeted. After all, I’d been in a different car than I’d originally intended to take, leaving at a different time than I’d planned. If someone had intentionally come after me, they wouldn’t have been able to go by what my plans had been. They would’ve needed to follow me from Neutral Ground, which would have meant they’d have gotten into the same traffic jam as my cab had.

It had to have been random.

The road we’d taken led to the airport. Neutral Ground was known to bring in people from all over the world. All anyone would have needed to do was sit and wait until they’d seen someone who was clearly not native to Iran. Patience more than planning.

A little voice in the back of my head brought up the fact that the taxi driver hadn’t been harmed, as far as I’d been able to tell. Perhaps that had been how the kidnappers had ‘found’ me. All he’d have to do would be to listen for a pick-up at Neutral Ground and then find a reason to take his fare down the same street where the kidnappers had been waiting.

I didn’t want to believe that the driver had been in on it, but it was possible. Perhaps he’d needed money for his family or for medical reasons. He could have justified putting a stranger in harm’s way to save someone he cared about. Or he could have been threatened. I couldn’t say I wouldn’t be willing to do the same thing if Freedom or my parents had been in danger.

Once I was rescued, I’d ask the authorities if they thought he was involved and why. If he really needed help, I’d talk to my parents about perhaps seeing what they could do.

After all, it didn’t seem like my captors wanted to hurt me, which meant it was most likely about money. Granted, they hadn’t done much to prevent me from being battered and bruised by the time we’d finally stopped, but there was a difference between that and actively harming me. To me, that meant they probably planned on asking for a ransom and wanted me to be disheveled enough for my family to worry but not hurt enough that they’d be more likely to endorse some sort of action against the kidnappers instead of agreeing to ransom demands.

Fortunately, my parents could afford to pay pretty much any ransom and had all sorts of contacts that could either help work with the authorities or provide additional money should my captors prove to be greedy. Well, greedier. I couldn’t quite bring myself to make the same excuses for the masked men as I could for the taxi driver. In my opinion, if they were doing this for some noble-ish reason, they could’ve worked harder at making me more comfortable.

Freedom was never going to let me hear the end of this. I might be able to make it the entire flight home without a lecture, depending on how quickly everything happened, but it definitely wouldn’t be our original flight. That was one thing I did know for certain, though it wasn’t worth much. And it didn’t help my current predicament. I didn’t think pantomiming sleep would be out of line. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t need to pretend much. I was exhausted, even though I’d just woken up.

Or was it really waking up if I’d been knocked out and not asleep?

Because that’s what had happened, I realized. It only proved how scrambled my brain was that I’d just figured it out. I’d been knocked out. But how? I didn’t remember getting hit on the headthathard.

Wait.

I did remember something.

They’d finally given me a drink of water…and then I’d gotten tired. They’d spiked my water with something. Something that’d knocked me out and made my brain fuzzy.

I supposed it was a good thing that they’d kept me quiet that way rather than a blow to the head, but it didn’t mean I liked it. A part of me wished that they’d tried to hurt me so I could’ve fought back. I’d just drank the water without a second thought. Passed out. They’d moved me to who knew where. Did who knew what with me.

I didn’t feel like I’d been hurt, not more than I had during the drive. I still had all my clothes on, and nothing felt…weird. I pushed the thought aside. They just wanted money.

Except the clearer my head got, the more frightened I became. I could feel the restraints on my wrists rubbing my skin raw. The headscarf I’d been wearing had come down around my shoulders. I didn’t have anything over my mouth, but I had enough presence of mind not to yell. I had no idea where I was or who was there. Pissing someone off sounded like a bad idea.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I pulled my legs up against my chest, trying to make myself as small as possible. I heard voices but couldn’t understand what anyone was saying. They sounded like the same men who’d taken me, but I couldn’t say for sure. I was starting to think that they weren’t speaking Persian or Arabic, but rather one of the many dialects in the area. I just hoped they understood enough English for me to make it through this without too much difficulty.

I could do this.

The hood on my head was ripped off, taking some of my hair with it. I blinked, expecting a bright light, but it really wasn’t much better than it’d been with the hood. I could only make out the figure of someone above me, but not see any features. That was good, though. I knew enough to know that not seeing a kidnapper’s face was a good thing. They’d be less likely to worry about me being able to describe them.

I could do this.

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