Page 24 of Rescued By the SEAL

“I… I don’t know,” she finally whispers to me, breaking my heart that little bit more. “I don’t know about who he could be involved with. I don’t know anything. Everyone is dangerous, everyone could kill him. I just wish… I just wish…”

I know what she means, even if her sentence isn’t a fully realized one. I also just wish…

21

HEATHER

“Yes, this fucking diner is the bomb.” We’re at a goddamn diner. There was me thinking that I was about to be killed in the woods somewhere, and we’re here so these men can eat. I mean, obviously, I’m relieved because it isn’t like I want to die in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, this is very confusing. What the hell do they intend to do with me when they eat? How are they so confident that they have me and I won’t escape? “Let’s go and fill our bellies and let me flirt with that sexy little blonde waitressing a bit. She might even fuck me in the stockroom again. She has some nice titties. I’ll take a photo.”

“And what are we going to do with our little package in the back there? What will we do when we eat?”

“She’s stuck. She ain’t going nowhere. There’s no way out of this van, idiot. We can just give her some scraps after.”

With that, they slam the door closed on me so hard the whole van shakes and trembles, making my body hurt. I know now that I’m not going to have a better opportunity to escape than this, so I need to take advantage of it. I really hope the waitress thatguy was talking about does take him into the stockroom to do whatever to give me more time.

“I can’t see.” Holy shit, as soon as I realize that I can’t see what they’re doing, that puts me into a bit of a tailspin. If I can’t see the guys, then how will I know when I can escape to try and live? I also want to try and get out without hurting myself because I’m going to be doing a whole lot of running. This fucking van has been driving for ages, and fast too, so it’s going to take me forever to get home. But I sure as shit won’t worry about it. Walking forever is better than dying. “Oh, fucking hell, what do I do now?”

It isn’t going to be easy, but I need to get in the front seat. My heart pounds as I try to climb through the only small gap available to me. This isn’t a simple task, and trying to do it while also trying not to draw attention to me is killer. I couldn’t be more terrified if I tried. This is the worst part of it all. I bite down on my bottom lip so I don’t cry out in agony every time I hurt myself, but whimpers of pain escape me regardless. My fucking body is going through sheer pain. It’s been through hell and back over the last few days. There are parts of me that don’t know how I’m still going. I guess I have much more inner strength than I knew. I hope I can keep on moving with that. I hope that takes me to where I need to be.

What the fuck was that?I freeze, my whole body shuts down, and my heart stops beating as a loud screeching sound coming from the outside of the van grabs on to me. I don’t know what’s making that noise. It probably isn’t something that will affect me, but it stops me regardless. I need to identify it immediately to see if I can make my escape.

“Oh, my God.” As soon as I see what’s making the sound, I practically fall into the front seat of the van. I must be losingmy fucking mind. This can’t really be happening, can it? I can’tactuallybe looking at Landon’s car, can I? I had already decided internally that the van was going too fast and we’d been traveling for too long for him to be still behind, but here he is. “Landon.”

I rise up onto my knees and hammer hard on the windows, now needing to make as much noise as possible. I have to get Landon’s attention. I need him to see me. He might recognize this van, but I’m not taking any chances. No way.

“Landon, I’m here!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Landon, I’m here. Please, oh, my God, find me. Landon, please.”

If I lose this momentagain, that will be the thing that finishes me off. I won’t be able to see him whiz past me once more. My small scraps of hope won’t be able to handle it and I’ll crack. I might even give up… but thankfully, that doesn’t need to happen. He sees me. He looks right at the van and comes for me as fast as he can. Relief floods me as he runs. I couldn’t be happier. He’s coming, he’s going to save me. Everything is going to be okay at last. I’ve been so worried and now I can finally believe that I’ll live again. Landon is my hero. He will make everything so much better. I’m going to survive…

“Heather,” he yells as he starts tugging at the van door. “Oh, thank God, I thought I had lost you. I’ll get you out of here.”

But none of the doors are opening and I can see his expression crumbling. He’s not thinking straight, I can see it written all over his face. He’s panicked and that’s making it a struggle for him to get me out. Why didn’t he bring anyone else with him? Someone who could have made decisions without panic running through their body? I bang on the window hard to tell Landon to calm down, but he’s too in his head now. I don’t know if he can even hear me anymore.

“Landon, listen to me,” I try, but still, he doesn’t look at me. “Landon, please, don’t draw any attention to us.”

“Sit back!” he yells top note. “I’m going to have to smash the window. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“No, that’s not a good idea.” I scoot back anyway, because right now, Landon looks like he’s going to do whatever he wants. “Landon, stop. The guys are inside that diner and if they see you smashing the window, then it’ll go bad.”

But my words are pointless. It’s too late. I might not be able to see the men inside the building, but I can see Landon’s facial expression fall. I know that things are going wrong and those men are here. I know that shit’s about to hit the fan.

“No!” But not like this. “No, stop, don’t do this!” My screaming intensifies, as does my hammering on the glass that doesn’t seem to shatter no matter what I do. But I have to keep trying because Landon now has three men fighting him, attacking him, and I’m fucking stuck in here, absolutely useless and unable to get to him to help. “Don’t hurt Landon, just take me away.”

I would let them take me, I wouldn’t even fight, I would allow them to just do whatever they want if it made them leave Landon alone right now. I can’t stand seeing this. It’s killing me, crushing me, hurting every single part of me. The tears are now free flowing at the speed of light down my face as the helplessness destroys my windpipe. I can’t breathe. Even as Landon fights back hard, it isn’t easy for him to tackle three men who are all like feral animals on him, with absolutely no morals or respect for human life. I wanted Landon here, I needed him, but now I wish he hadn’t come. Especially at the moment I see blood running down his face. It looks like it’s coming from his nose which means it could be broken.

“Leave him alone,” I howl, my voice emanating from a place deep within my soul. “Don’t do this. Please, don’t.”

Now my empathy lies with my father less than my mother. Now I can feel how dreadful it must have been for him to lose the love of his life. He was hopeless, useless, just like I am right now. He wanted to help, to stop it from happening, but he didn’t stand a chance. She did what she thought was best, just like Landon is right now, and it got her killed.

“I’m sorry, please.” My bangs become less powerful, more pathetic as the fight moves out of view. Landon could be killed now, just like his father was by these men who don’t give two shits about the dignity of human life as long as the body is hidden away. “Please, someone… there must be someone in that diner. Please help us before… before this gets too much.”

As I sob, I try to accept that everyone inside the diner must be too scared to intervene. Since they have no direct connection to this, they don’t want to die for someone else. I don’t know what I would do in that situation, either. I would like to assume that I would dosomethinguseful, but until I’m ever put in that position, I can’t be sure. I can’t blame people and hate them for sitting back and allowing the man I adore be killed for me. I can just hate the people doing this…

What was that?Yet again, I’m struck with the intense sensation that everything is about to change all over again. At first, it’s a cold feeling like a raw egg being cracked over my head and traveling down my spine, but soon it becomes something… warmer, maybe. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet, but it feels like everything might be shifting to something better.

“Is that people?” My pulse doesn’t just restart at the sight of others surrounding the fight, it races at a million miles an hour.This has to be good news. These people can’t actually come out of the diner and continue to do nothing. No way. That wouldn’t be right. If they’re outside, then one of them is going to step forward and keep Landon alive. I need to cling to that faith.

Sirens. I don’t know if I see the blue flashing lights first or if I hear the noise, but finally, I really do think that I can relax. There is no way that these people can get away with their crimes if the cops are here. They’ll be locked up, hopefully for a very long time. I just need to make sure that someone gets me out of this goddamn van before I die in here. It already feels like the air is lacking and I don’t have enough oxygen to keep me going. All this worry is only making it worse.

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