Page 54 of So Savage

God, I hate that that’s how I phrased it.

Panic slid up her spine, gripping her heart like a vise and threatening to overturn her sanity.She’d been kidnapped.A freaking man had kidnapped her and was now taking her away in his truck.She wasn’t sure what he planned to do with her when they got wherever they were going, but none of the answers to that question were good.

She tried to sit up, only to find that, of course, her legs were bound too.He had been careful.

He glanced at her in the rearview mirror.His eyes widened.“Holy shit.You’re awake already?”

His voice sounded normal.For some reason, she found that hilarious.She had been kidnapped by a guy who looked like he bumped metalcore in his earbuds while lurking at the gym waiting to hit on girls in yoga pants and sounded like Joe McSchmoe who you’d meet anywhere.

She giggled, the sound muffled and distorted by the tape covering her mouth.Her head hurt.Whatever he’d given her had made her loopy.

“Hmm.You must have a tolerance for ketamine.I would have used the pheno, but that chemical’s potent.It can be dicey for dogs that weigh less than a hundred pounds.”

That explained why she was awake.She’d taken ketamine off and on for ADHD for years.She had built up a bit of a tolerance for it.Not enough to save her, though.

“We’ll just leave you awake,” her captor said.“I don’t usually get to talk to you guys before I kill you, but I guess it’s fair that one of you know why I’m doing this.Especially since you’ll be my last one in Duluth.”

Jennifer twisted her wrists and ankles to try to pull out of the bonds, but they held tight.She was well and truly stuck.She had no choice but to listen to Forever Frat Boy while he told her why it was okay for him to murder her.

“I lost my dog last year,” he explained.“Monkey.He was a golden German Shepherd, just like Bear.I loved that dog more than I loved myself.”

He paused a moment, his knuckles going white as his grip on the steering wheel strengthened.He took a deep breath and continued.“So anyway, Monkey and I were assigned with a few other K9s to sniff out stragglers from the ISIS retreat outside of Damascus.Our glorious leader, Captain Fucknuts McRetard, decided that the best way to do that was to put the K9s ahead of everyone else.I don’t know what movie he saw that made him think this was a good idea.We have drones for a reason.K9s shouldn’t be doing that kind of recon anymore.But McRetard didn’t care.Nope.Use the dogs.

“Well, we used the dogs.All four of them died.”

He fell silent again.His shoulders shook, and after a few seconds, Jennifer realized he was crying.“Monkey… He got… I saw him get shot.He was cut in half by machine guns.Literally cut in half.I saw it happen.”

He took a deep breath and got himself under control."We took the position.After, I… kind of lost it.I don't remember everything, but I guess I put Captain Fucknuts in the hospital.They did a hearing and decided that it was my fault that Monkey had died.Can you imagine that?My fault that my German Shepherd did exactly as he was ordered to by my commanding officer.They had a Marine NCO head up at the hearing, too.I guess he's a big boy in the K9 world.Was, anyway.I killed him.Sliced both of his carotids open."

An involuntary whimper escaped Jennifer’s throat.

“Oh, don’t worry,” the man said.“I’m not going to cut you.I’m going to hang you.”

Another whimper escaped, followed by a shiver.Jennifer hated to show her fear to him, but shewasafraid.She was terrified.This man was going to kill her in one of the worst ways imaginable.

“I know it’s brutal,” he said, “but I’m angry.It’s not fair.You got to come home with Bear because of the policies that I insisted they implement.They listened to me, but they also dishonorably discharged me.They stabbed me in the fucking back.I didn’t deserve that.”

I don’t deserve to die either, she thought.Why the hell are you punishingme?

“So, I’m going to tie a rope around your neck, throw it over a girder and pull up on it until your feet leave the ground.Then I’ll just leave you there until you stop kicking.”

While Jennifer tried to comprehend what she was hearing, the truck pulled to a stop.“Okay,” the man said.“We’re here.Hop on out.”He looked at her.“Nothing personal, kiddo.I just need to do this.”

Jennifer wanted to beg him, to plead with him and convince him that he didn’t need to do this.

But her lips were taped closed.She had no choice but to sit where she was and wait for him to do whatever he wanted.

The man sighed and pulled him out of the truck.“Okay.Come on.Let’s not make it any harder than it has to be.”

She stumbled after him, praying silently that someone would find her before it was too late.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Faith couldn’t sit still and wait anymore.The APB had been active for an hour, and they hadn’t found any sign of him.That meant that he was well outside of the city, probably on an unmarked dirt road somewhere far from civilization.That meant that Jennifer Martinez was most likely dead.She wasn’t going to twiddle her thumbs and wait for Marcus to tell her that they’d found her body in a ditch just like they’d found Delgado.

So, as soon as animal control arrived to pick up Bear, she told Marcus, “I’m going back to Kane’s house.I think there’s something there that might tell us where he’s taking her.”

“Do you really think so?”

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