Page 70 of Mountain Shadow

Gael was already on the phone with Hiro. “We’re sending you a picture. We need to find this car.” He hung up a few seconds later. “Hiro is on it. He’ll coordinate with Alex.”

Jens rushed outside to where he remembered seeing a map of the region on the wall. His pointer finger found their current location and moved north, in the direction the car had been heading in.

If this was the car—and it was a big if, though the timing was approximately right—there were still multiple directions they could have gone in.

Where are you, Sarah?

22

Sarah

Sarah placed her hand against the wooden door, as if the material could infuse her with the courage she was so sorely lacking.

When no sound came, she pulled on the door handle with her bound hands. It was locked.

Did you think it would be so easy?

She steeled herself against what she knew she must do—she could not let fear deter her.

“Hello?” she whispered at the door. “Are you there?”

She held her breath, not knowing what she feared more—to hear nothing, or to hear something.

“Please. Please talk to me,” she continued, hating the way her voice took on a begging tone, but knowing their very lives depended on her finding a way to communicate with the lunatic on the other side of the door. “I don’t know what I’ve done to you. But I want to know. Whatever I did, you must let me make it right. Please.”

Words and tears started flowing out of her then, cementing her decision. She felt in her bones that she was the only one who could save Kat and the babies. She sat down by the door and kept her monologue going, didn’t stop even as her already dry throat swelled with pain.

No matter what, I’m not giving up.

“Please. My friend is pregnant. She needs food and water. And she needs to get to a hospital. You said I ought to be nice to you. You’re right. I want to do that. Please tell me how. Please tell me what I can do.”

She spoke for hours. At times, she worried she was losing her mind. That it would go numb, the way her arms and legs had already gone numb long before.

Suddenly, the door opened. Her kidnapper’s large bulk filled the doorway. And though it was what she’d been waiting for, what she’d been begging for, an ungovernable fear ripped through her. Sarah scrambled back a couple steps, ended up on her knees in front of him. She thought she should face him standing, but then realized she needed to stay on her knees.

“Please.” It seemed like a good word to lead with. “What’s your name?” she asked.

“Why do you want to know?” His voice was soft again, his expression filled with curiosity.

“I don’t know what to call you.”

Other than monster. Psychopath. Lunatic.

“My name is Elliot.”

“Elliot, please,” she begged. His name burned on her tongue.

“Please what?” The voice held malice that was completely at odds with the bland expression on his face.

Though her stomach heaved, Sarah placed her bound hands in front of her as if in supplication.

“Please let my friend go.”

He cocked his face at her. It gave him the look of a large bird of prey.

“No.”

This time, Sarah didn’t let him rile her. If this was a test, she would pass.