Free Willing Hostage by Marlys Millhiser

didn’t want to go back onto the street. She drawdled over a piece of pie. Eventually the place closed up around her.
    Leah was on the street. It was dark and cold. Not daring to peek into any of the recessed doorways, she raced for the Vega, fumbling at the door handle in panic. When it opened, the light in the roof came on and she made a quick check of the floor in the back. He was too big to hide there anyway.
    It seemed to take forever to find the keys in her purse, put the key in the ignition with a hand that shook. The sound of her rapid breathing filled the car before the engine drowned it out. Just as Leah leaned across to lock the door on the other side, it opened.…

Chapter Eleven
    He crawled in beside her, closed the door so that the light went out, grabbed her wrist as she moved to press the horn, turned off the engine, and took hold of her other wrist. It all happened too fast for Leah to think.
    They sat in the dark, in silence. She couldn’t even see him.
    â€œI’m supposed to give you a message,” Leah managed finally. She pressed her knees together to stop their shaking. But it made the shaking worse.
    He tightened his grip until she cried out.
    â€œWelker … I’m not Sheila, honest … but he took my car and my cat and gave me money.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œWelker. He said he was from the FBI and wanted me to come here to give you a message.”
    â€œLooked like you were trying to run away.”
    â€œI panicked. I didn’t expect to see you in a restaurant … in the open like that.”
    â€œI was hungry. What’s the message?”
    â€œYou’re hurting me. I can’t remember.”
    The hold on her wrists didn’t loosen. “The message.”
    â€œThere’s someone after you.”
    He laughed. The laugh held no mirth.
    â€œCompany people … goons? And he will meet your terms for the property.”
    â€œI don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    â€œNeither do I. That’s all he told me.”
    â€œHow did you know to come here?”
    â€œHe said you might come to Oak Creek. He didn’t say why. He said I was to give you the message, that you would know what it meant, and then I could leave.”
    Glade took both her wrists in one hand and passed cold metal across her fingers, then let go. “Drive.” The cold metal poked at her neck.
    â€œYou can have all the money. You can have the car. Take them and let me go. I’m not in this. I’m being used—”
    â€œDrive to the corner and turn left. Now.”
    No denying the steel at her throat or the steel in his voice. Leah started the engine, turned on the headlights, released the emergency brake in an automatic dream—and wondered at the incredible stupidity of honest people.
    The Vega left Oak Creek on the road by which she had come and he soon ordered her off onto a path by the river. A pile of wooden debris showed white in the headlights and he made her drive through a hole. She found herself in a tumble-down building with a dirt floor.
    Leah shivered as they left the car. The river roared back from its bed through the slits in the building. Every other board in the walls and ceiling was missing.
    â€œAre you going to kill me?”
    â€œI’m considering it.” He smelled unwashed. He threw her coat around her shoulders and forced her to sit on the cold dirt. “You’re not Sheila?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHow am I supposed to contact Welker?” He stood behind her.
    â€œHe didn’t say. I supposed you’d know.”
    â€œThen there must be somebody else coming. You were the bait.”
    She remembered seeing the blonde in her yellow Volks on the way to Oak Creek. “Maybe—” Leah closed her mouth.
    â€œMaybe what?”
    â€œNothing.” Helping him would not be helping herself.
    He yanked off the scarf and grabbed the bun on the back of her head. Bobby