Page 34 of Color Chameleon
Darcy kept his breathing slow.
A hand pushed at him, and he couldn’t help his soft groan but otherwise didn’t move or make any sound.
“Yeah.You hit him pretty good.”The guy sounded happy about that.Asshole.
“Okay.We’ll stop long enough to fill up.”
“I need to take a piss.Wouldn’t mind a bite to eat,” the guy in the passenger seat noted.
“Father Peter said no stops until we get him to Good Hope.”
Darcy’s blood went cold.Father Peter was his parents’ minister, and Good Hope had been the name of the conversion camp run by the church that they’d wanted to send him to.Holy fuck.His parents were behind this.Oh fuck.Oh fuck.Oh fuck.
“How’s he gonna know we did more than just fill up the truck?”
“We’ll know.You can do your business and grab some Slim Jims or something, but we aren’t staying longer than that.”
“Fine.”
They were quiet after that, so Darcy didn’t know how long it was he had to formulate a plan for what to do when they stopped, but he knew he had to come up with something.He was not going to that conversion camp.He’d rather die in the woods first.And he meant that literally.
He’d keep pretending to be asleep when they got there and when everyone was out of the truck, he’d make his escape.God, he hoped there were other people there; he really didn’t want to have to resort to scrambling through the woods.He had a hunch his kidnappers were better at that sort of thing than he was.
Charma’s cousin Nik sat on the couch, watching a basketball game or something while Charma paced the small apartment.It was late and he would have tried getting some sleep except he knew it would be futile.There’d been no news yet about Darcy or his kidnappers—from anybody—and he was going out of his mind.
If it was Darcy’s folks behind this kidnapping, Charma could only imagine what that would mean for Darcy, and he didn’t think it was anything good.He had to force his brain away from all the various tortures a conversion camp might entail, or what a strict religious man might to do his son in an effort to turn him straight.Or what he might do to ‘save his soul’ if making him straight didn’t work.Locking Darcy in the basement was the least of the evils Charma could think of.
His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, hope flaring at seeing “Mom” on the screen.He answered it right away.“Did you find him?”
“We’ve had a spotting on the I80—so definitely headed back to Idaho.Two vehicles are on their way there as we speak.We will find him, son.Any news from the police?”
“I haven’t heard back from them at all.The officer said they’d keep me updated, but I haven’t heard anything since he left.”
“I imagine they don’t have anything to update you on.They won’t do anything unless they find the truck within the confines of the city and we know the kidnappers are already long gone.”
“Yeah.”He tried not to let that deflate him even further.
“You hold it together.Have you had anything to eat?”
“No.I can’t eat.I just can’t.”
“You can and you will.I sent a ton of food home with you—either fix yourself something from that or I will text Nik and have him do it for you.”
Charma rolled his eyes, but he didn’t doubt she’d do it.He still didn’t even know what she’d sent home with them aside from the biscuits—Nik had put everything away for him when he’d gotten there.
“You need to keep your strength up for when Darcy gets home.He’s going to need you.”
She was probably right.And he wasn’t going to be any help to anyone if he wound up weak from hunger.
“Promise me you’ll eat.”
“I promise.But only if you promise me you’ll get him back.”
“We will.I promise.”There was a fierceness in her voice that didn’t leave any room for doubt.His people were going to find Darcy and bring him home.
By the time the truck rolled to a stop, the best Darcy had come up with by way of a plan was to wait until everyone got out of the truck, give them thirty seconds or so, and then check out the lay of the land.See if anyone else was filling up, see who was behind the cash register, and where he could hide.Then he’d sneak out via the door that was not on the same side as the gas tank and either go to another person, hide somewhere close or just run like hell into the woods and disappear.The last option was his least favorite, but trusting anyone who might be at the gas station to actually help him, especially in the face of his three very large kidnappers was problematic too.He took a deep breath to keep his brain from rabbiting on—he needed to stay sharp if he was actually going to get away.
To his relief, all three of the guys got out.He’d been a little worried the guy up front who hadn’t said he had to go to the bathroom would just sit and wait in the truck.They also hadn’t bothered to tie him up, so they really must have believed he was still out.He checked the window on the driver’s side first, peeking up cautiously.Then he moved to the other side.The gas tank was on the passenger side, so if he was going to go to the building, he was going to have to expose himself to the guy filling the tank.There was nobody else at the little station except for the guy at the counter and he was laughing at something one of the kidnappers was saying.Darcy didn’t think that trying to get help from him was going to be a good option.
