Page 12 of Sackett
“The difficulty is more than compensated by the camouflage darkness will give us.”
“Agreed,” Ghost said.“How long do we have until dark?”
“This time of year, full dark will hit somewhere between eight thirty and nine,” Colt put in.
“That gives us a little over two hours,” Malice said after checking his watch.“We need to fuel up.”
Several frowns were exchanged around the table.
“Food.We need food before we go in there.Not just because I haven’t eaten since breakfast, but if we do this right, we’ll hit the road right afterwards and it will be late.Too late to eat afterwards.”Malice rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“There’s nothing between here and the compound.Unless you want gas station food, we’ll have to go toward Fort Collins,” Colt said.
It was Sackett’s turn to shake his head.The only place he was going was to the compound to get Selena.
“I’ll go,” Malice said after a moment.“I can go get something and bring it back for everyone.What does everyone want?”
“There’s a restaurant about five minutes away or just a little farther is a grocery store.They’ll probably have a deli or a least sandwiches.”Colt gave him directions back to town.Maverick handed over the keys to their SUV.The bigger vehicle with its cargo space would be better for food and drinks for six than a motorcycle.Sackett didn’t care.All he cared about was working out the plan, as best they could, then getting Selena out of there and making sure she was safe.
12
Thethrobbinginherhead had eased slightly as Selena had tried to figure out how to free her hands and feet.It had taken her several minutes to calm down in order to remember that she’d seen a video online while doomscrolling videos on social media one night.It had shown what it had called a foolproof way to get your hands free if they were taped together in front of you.
It had taken her several minutes of trying to remember exactly how to do it and several tries after that, but she had managed to get her arms free.Once she'd freed her hands, it only took her a few seconds to free her feet.She wondered for a moment how difficult it would be to get away with no shoes.But pushed the thought away.She had to figure out how to get out of this room first.
When she was no longer bound, the first thing Selena did was check the door, she was wrong, it had been locked.Next Selena searched the room for anything she could use as a weapon or something that could be used as a tool to escape the room.
Her initial search found nothing she could use.There was the bunk she’d woken up on, a table against one wall that was so heavy she couldn’t move it no matter how hard she pulled, a porcelain commercial style toilet in one corner, the kind with no tank, only a lever to flush with, and a window above the table that was so tiny she would never be able to squeeze through it.Frustrated, she sat back down on the bed to consider what to do next.She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there when a click drew her attention and then the door opened.
A man stepped in.It only took her a minute to recognize him as the man she called Mr.Smarmy, at least in her own head.Upon spotting her sitting on the bed unbound he lifted a brow and watched her with an intrigued look.
“You're not what I expected, Ms.Leighty,” Mr.Smarmy said.
“I don't know what you expected.”Selena did her best to use the blank face she used in court.
“Not someone who would manage to get herself free and look for a way to get out of the room.”He looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time.“Did you really think we'd leave something here you could use against us?”He slowly walked back and forth from one end of the room to the other, pacing as though waiting for her, an answer from her.
“It was worth a try,” she said.“It would have been pretty stupid not to look and have something here that would have helped me.”
She watched him but wouldn't meet his gaze.It wasn't that she was afraid of him, but having him think she was afraid could only help her.What she was doing was watching his body language, trying to get a feel of how he felt about the situation.
“It's been several hours, and we have not yet heard from Mrs.Harrison.I'm wondering if they're just gonna give you up or if they're just gonna wait for us to chop you up and send you back to them in little bits.”He stopped and turned to face her, obviously watching to see if she had any reaction to his words.“What do you think, girl?Are they gonna give you up for their own safety?For their own comfort?”
She fought the urge to glare up at him.To yell at him that she was a woman, not a girl.She wanted to jump up and slap him.But forced herself to sit quietly.To pretend to be the terrified little girl he expected her to be.The longer he saw the scared little girl he wanted to see, the more likely she was to be able to find a way out of here.
“How can I guess how they will act.I don't know who you're talking about.You never told me why you took me.”
“Don't lie to me, little girl.You know we took you so that Donna will come back.”
Selena shook her head.“I don't know how long I've been here, but unless it's been a day, at least, she hasn't had time to get up here.The drive from where Donna is to here is fourteen hours with no stops.”She glanced up at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.
Mr.Smarmy narrowed his eyes at her, watching as if trying to figure out if she was lying to him.She kept an innocent look on her face.She wasn't lying and there was no reason for him to think she was.
“There's nowhere in Colorado that takes that long to get here.”
“I never said she was in Colorado.”
“Nice try, Miss Leighty.You are an attorney, that means you are licensed.If you are practice law in Colorado, you are from Colorado.”
