"Do you know where you are? Where's Kelly?"
"He's brought us to the outskirts of Strahan. The street name was Mountain View Lane. It's a small dirt road. Third house on the right. He was waiting in her room, Dominic. He made me drive. I got away. But he's still got her. I can't hear him coming for me. I think he's taken her inside the house. I have to go back; I promised I'd keep her safe, Dominic. I have to go get her out."
"I know you promised, love. You're doing real well, ringing me like you did was brilliant. But you can't go back in there. It won't help her. He'll just get you too. We are already on the road coming to get you both. Please just stay hidden and wait for us to help you get her out. Can you do that for me, Adele?"
She knew he was right. Her mind was a mess, logical thought just wasn't on the cards.
"Please hurry, Dominic. I'll try to wait."
"How about you tell me what he looks like? Anything distinctive?" She pictured him in her mind and gave Dominic the best description she could.
"Umm, he's about my height, so five foot four. He's got real short hair, like he cuts it with clippers and it's ginger. His eyes, they're brown and you can see the evil in them." She couldn't stop the shudder that ran through her as she remembered his dead evil eyes.
"Bloody hell, that sounds like one of the blokes who got fired from the docks after the fire a few weeks back. What was his name..." Adele could hear voices in the background as Dominic was obviously in a car with the others "...Cole Jones. That's the bastard’s name, and he's got a place on the outskirts of Strahan. Damn, we should have put this together sooner. The timing all makes sense."
"Umph." Adele cursed as she instantly felt the pain radiate up her leg from her injured ankle as she landed on all fours and dropped her phone. She snatched up the phone as she looked down to see what she had tripped over as she spoke.
"Sorry, Dominic, I tripped...over a bloody wire!" She looked around in a panic expecting a gun shot or an arrow or something to come flying at her. Yes, she watched way too much TV.
"You tripped on a what? Are you okay? What happened?" Dominic was peppering questions at her through the phone.
"Yeah, a trip wire, but nothing happened. I'm fine, my ankle's not real pleased with me though." She reached down to rub her ankle before getting back on her feet and limping away.
"If nothing happened, the bastard must have it linked to sensors. Keep your eyes open, love, he'll probably be coming for you now he knows where you are. Put your phone back how you had it before and try to stay as quiet as you can. We're coming as fast as we can, but are still about twenty minutes away. We are coming for you, Adele, for you and Kelly. Just hang on. I love you, beautiful." The sincerity in his voice had her eyes blurring with tears. Oh, mon Deiu, she loved him too. She hoped like hell she would get through this so she could show him. It seemed so cruel she finally found happiness and was going to lose it before it really even began.
"Please hurry, Dominic, I can hear him coming. Oh shit. I love you too, so much."
Adele quickly sorted her phone out and put it back in her pocket. Just as she started moving forward again, she felt his hot heavy hand on her. As she spun with the force of him jerking her arm, she remembered what Kit had taught her. Kit had told her that paramedics could find themselves in the thick of things, and she should know a few moves so she could help herself if the need arose.
She sent up a quick thanks for Kit's foresight before she raised her fist so she could use the momentum of her spinning to crack him a beauty in the jaw. As soon as she made contact, her hand felt like it was on fire. Damn, that hurt! Kit failed to mention how much it stung to punch someone in the face. He released her to grab his jaw and curse. She didn't waste time; she took off, weaving between trees and making sure to watch the ground. She didn't want to trip again. She did her best to move silently, but her ankle and hip slowed her down and made moving difficult.
She must have run for a good ten minutes before he caught her again. This time he grabbed her ponytail and pulled her into his body hard and fast. She stomped her foot, aiming for his, but missed. Damn it. That always worked in the movies. She raised her elbow forward and swung it back into his ribs. He released the hand in her hair and lowered his arm to protect his now--hopefully--sore ribs. His other arm was around her waist. She started to turn to get out of his hold.
"Bloody hell, bitch, you'll pay for all that."
She'd just spun from beyond his arm's reach when she felt pain radiate through her skull as her head cracked backward. He'd backhanded her, and she hadn’t seen his hand before the pain kicked in knocking her to the ground. With her increasing count of hurting body parts, she had no chance of fighting him off. After a minute, he hauled her up and dragged her back to the house. Her head spinning from the blow, and her hand, ankle and hip throbbing, she couldn't do anything other than stumble along behind him.