Page 54 of Just Now

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Cami woke to bumping, jolting darkness.

Where was she? What had happened?

Terror flared inside her as she replayed the last thing she remembered. The scarred face of the killer. Steel hands that had clamped around her neck, the blood pounding in her head, her brain starved of oxygen and blackness flooding her.

Now she had a horrible headache, as if from a nasty hangover. Her throat was sore and hoarse, but she was alive and she was thinking clearly.

The problem was that she was trapped in the dark.

Her hands were tied behind her back. Her legs were bound. She was being taken somewhere, in the back of a car, or more likely a van, in total darkness.

Her brain couldn’t accept this. She felt the switches being thrown, one after the other, an inexorable cascade. Switches that would result in a state of blind terror.

Okay, Cami told herself. Okay, this is scary. Petrifying, in fact. But you need to think your way out of it, or you’re going to die, and you’re not going to be able to save anyone else. He’ll keep doing this! He’ll find another hunting ground and other victims, just like you.

She’d never been in this situation before, never had to battle for her own sanity while being taken on a hell ride.

Logical steps, Cami told herself. Just like what she went through when starting to write a program. Keep it logical. Let one step lead to the next.

Okay. First things first. Why was it so dark?

She wasn’t blindfolded. So the darkness must be because the trunk was totally sealed. There might be windows, but if so, they were painted over. And she couldn’t check that with her hands tied. That was why she was rattling around, sliding on the carpet as the van swung around the corners.

However, the advantage was that because the back was sealed, whoever was driving couldn’t see her. She was invisible to them. This man had dumped her inside, and now he was setting off to wherever he was going. When he got there, he’d take her out, but until then, he couldn’t see her.

The ties on her wrists and ankles were tight and painful. Would struggling help, or would it pull the knots tighter? Could she reach the knots with her fingers? She couldn’t, and they felt very tight already.

But as she was struggling, her shoulders burning, doing her best to try to fight her way out of these ties, the vehicle turned another corner and this time, Cami really did let out a muffled shriek of horror.

She’d just bumped up against a body.

Not a body. A living person, one who let out the same horrified whimper to feel Cami there.

Connections sparked in her mind.

“Vera?” she whispered. “Is that you?”

“How do you know who I am?” the woman replied, in a shaky, hysterical voice. “What happened? What the hell is going on? That guy—he was in my house, he came to the door when I opened it. It was like he was living there. And then he just attacked me.”

She was beside herself with terror and Cami knew that if they were going to get anywhere, she had to talk this woman down.

“Listen,” she hissed. “Panicking won’t help. Just breathe deeply and let’s figure out a way out of this as fast as we can.”

“How? My hands are tied behind my back!”

“So are mine.” But as she had the thought, Cami realized there might be a way. Her wrists were tied. But her fingers were free. If she could get her hands to Vera’s knots, she might be able to unpick them. And if Vera’s hands were free, then she could help Cami in turn.

“Stay still,” she said. “I’m going to try to undo your knots.”

It was easier said than done in the buffeting darkness, but Cami knew she had everything to lose. Gritting her teeth, she braced herself against the side of the van, managing to get some purchase with her trussed legs against the side. She wriggled and writhed, and then, she felt Vera’s hands against hers. Her fingers were cold. Cami gave her hand a squeeze. One more wriggle and she’d be higher, able to touch Vera’s wrist with her fingers.

“Okay. Here I am. Now let’s see if I can get this knot undone,” she said. It was pulled viciously tight, but she tugged determinedly at it, working it one way and then the other, doing her best to loosen it. Working blind, with her hands behind her back, was difficult, but not impossible. She wasn’t going to let it be.

There. She’d gotten a loop she could get her finger into. But at that moment, the van stopped with a jolt and she was spun away.

Cami swore softly as she collided with the side of the van, and the rope was ripped out of her fragile grasp. If this was the end of the journey then they were finished, they’d lost. There wouldn’t be time to get back and try again.

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