Page 92 of Threat of Danger
Oh God.He’d said that over and over in that horrid little camper. Nausea rolled through Jess, but after a moment, anger washed it away. The red-hot fury that filled her left room for nothing else.
Jess wanted to scratch the bastard’s eyes out. Kaylee had better be all right.She’s probably OK for now.She hadn’t been gone long enough for the Loser to do anything truly evil.
“How many have you taken?”More than the six Derek suspected?Any information could and would be used against him once this was over. Jess wanted to get as much out of him as she could.
“Seven. I thought about stopping there. Seven is my favorite prime number. Hannah Wilson died well. She would have been a fitting capstone on a decade of adventure.” Even his pleased sigh sounded sick.
“Then I saw that video of yours online,” he said. “I think it’s better this way. Kaylee will be number eight. And then you, number nine. You were number one too. There’s a nice symmetry to it: the first and the last. Nine is a good number. A group of nine of anything is called anennead, did you know that? Three times three. Three is a prime number.”
The man sounded seriously loopy. Who was he? If she could see his face, would she know him?
She couldn’t look back to see if she’d recognize him by shape or movement. She had to pay attention to the path. Walking into bushes and branches naked was inadvisable. She wanted to have some skin left when this was all over.
“The Chinese think nine is a lucky number.” His muffled voice was no help whatsoever with identification. “The way they pronounce it, nine sounds like their word forlong lasting. The memories I’ve made with all of you girls will last me a long time. I like that.”
“Or you could stick with seven,” she recommended. “As you said, it’s your favorite prime.”
He chuckled behind the mask, as if appreciating her sense of humor. And Jess suddenly remembered that he’d been like that ten years ago too. He didn’t shout. Every threat had been softly spoken. He was almost ...fatherlyin his treatment of her in between assaults.The gentleman rapist/killer. Right.
“So where is the camper this time?”
“We’re going to Silver Cave.”
Of course they were. A cursed cave that was unstable and deadly dangerous. Jess shuddered at the idea of Kaylee locked up in there, alone. God, she must be scared out of her mind.
“If you let Kaylee go,” Jess told the man holding his gun on her, “I won’t fight you. I’ll let you do whatever you want to me. She hasn’t seen your face. She can’t tell anyone who you are.”
“Without her, I wouldn’t have myennead. I want that nine.”
“Without her, you have your seven. Your favorite prime number. I’m one person. I only count once.”
He followed her in silence. Jess hung on to the slim hope that he was thinking about letting Kaylee go. She marched forward on the ATV trail, as she’d been told, giving the man time to consider.
She paid attention to her surroundings. This time, she wasn’t lost in the woods. She knew exactly where she was and where they were going.
He thought he was forcing her to the cave.
She couldn’t think that.The situation is what you think of it. Reframe your thoughts and you reframe the situation.
The Loser wasn’t forcing her to the cave. Jess was getting the Loser to take her to the cave so she could save Kaylee, while allowing the Loser to think that he was in control.
About half a mile into the woods, he had an ATV waiting at a junction of the many paths the sap harvesters used.
“Stop.”
She did.
He pulled a plastic tie from his pocket. “Hands behind your back.”
She obeyed, standing still while he tied her wrists.
“On the ATV.”
He got on behind her.
As they flew down the trail, the crows followed them above. Jess had to hold on with her thighs since she couldn’t use her hands for support. Good thing she’d done plenty of horseback riding for various roles in the past. She had all the muscles she needed.
She wasn’t worried about falling off. Her biggest problem was the cold and the bone-deep shivers that racked her body. If she’d been cold before, now, with the wind hitting her much harder, she was freezing.
