Raging Love(40)

I had to give it to the little redneck creep; he must have used zip ties on my wrists. The more I fought to free myself, the more the plastic rubbed against my skin. I was apparently tied to some kind of pole in the basement and from the feel of it against my skin; I would say it was old and rusty.

If I wanted to get free, I would have to inflict major pain on my wrists, but I was desperate. I needed to get me and my baby out of this house. I knew Colt would come looking for me, but he didn’t know where to look. I was alone for right now, but determined to get out in one piece.

I started lifting my arms up and down against the coarse metal pole; the plastic pressing and ripping the skin on my wrist as I did it. The pain was agonizing when inflicting it on yourself, but it was necessary if I wanted to get out of this place. I could see a window straight in front of me. It had a sheet over it, but the light shined through enough to know it was an escape. Against one wall, I spotted a broom and a shovel. If I could manage my hands free, I could untie my feet and grab the shovel for protection.

The metal pole wasn’t making a dent in the plastic, so I decided on taking a different approach to the plastic restraints. I twisted and turned my wrists in opposite directions, hoping to break the clasping mechanism to the stupid ties. The basement was freezing, considering it was unfinished and I was sitting on a concrete floor, but beads of sweat were rolling down my aching head. Pain shot through my wrists and up my arms, as warm liquid oozed down from them. I had broken the skin and was bleeding from where the plastic was now digging into my skin.

My arms were exhausted and I wanted to give up, but knowing that Tucker could come down any second and see that I was fighting to get free, well it scared the bejesus out of me. I had to keep trying until I was free. I was glad that I hadn’t given up, because just seconds later I felt the resistance give and my hands freeing themselves, at the exact moment the basement door creaked open.



Chapter 13

Colt

I had been helping Conner work on installing a new manufacturer’s part to one of our combines all day. The day had gotten away from me and I found myself heading home as the sun was starting to set. It was weird not hearing from Savanna all day, considering she always called at least once. I remembered she said she was going into town to get some things we needed, so I figured maybe she and my mother, or even Lucy caught an afternoon movie or something.

Nothing could have prepared me for walking into the dark house, seeing that she had never returned home. Her purse wasn’t on the counter, suggesting she had gone to the ranch house. The refrigerator was still pretty empty and nothing was picked up from this morning.

I reached in my pocket to grab my cell phone and realized I had left it back inside of the combine. Worry rushed over me as I ran out of my house, Sam following, to get to my cell phone. After driving as fast as the golf cart could take me, I grabbed my phone out of the combine and noticed missed calls. There had been just one call from Savanna at nine in the morning, but nothing since. The other calls were from a blocked number. I dialed into my voicemail and started listening to the messages.

Colt….Colt Mitchell. We have your wife and if you know what’s good for you, you will get us fifty thousand dollars. If we don’t hear from you, she will die. I reckon you best be gettin’ to the bank. We will call you back later today with a place to make the exchange.

Somehow hearing the message was like being in the Twilight Zone. After the first moments of utter shock, I reached down and dialed my mother. I should have called the police first, but something made me call her. Maybe it was some inclination that she was always my mother and could protect me from anything painful. The thought left my mind when I snapped back into reality and realized she was on the other end of the phone waiting for me to respond. “Colt? Can you hear me dear?”

“Mom……I don’t…..something…..someone took Savanna, Mom. I need your help.” I was frantically pacing around the living room.

“What do you mean someone took her? Where is she?”

I sat down and ran my hand through my hair. “I don’t know. She wasn’t home when I got here. I had missed calls from some unknown number and a message demanding fifty thousand dollars or I would never see her again.” Just the thought of never seeing my beautiful Savanna, my wife, the mother to my unborn child, made me cringe with sickness.

“You need to call the police Son. I’m coming over there right now. Sit tight. I will grab John. He is over at your aunt Karen’s tonight for dinner.”

How convenient. The sheriff was already at the ranch.

I contemplated calling the police, but with Savanna being kidnapped, I couldn’t take the chance of having the authorities fucking up my chances of her getting home to me in one piece. I had seen too many things go bad in movies and television shows to know it didn’t always have a happy ending.