Free Abduction by Michael Kerr Page B

been lost.  The big man had so far been her salvation, and so she wanted desperately to believe every word he said.
    “Can we phone someone?” Debbie said as Logan scanned the road ahead, unable as yet to spot Jade in the SUV.  “My mom is dead at her house.”
    “Your mom is beyond any more suffering,” Logan said.  “If we involve the authorities it will put Kelly at risk.  But it’s your call.”
    Debbie hung her head and sobbed almost silently.
    Logan said nothing.  He was concentrating on driving, hoping to see the SUV up ahead, and he didn’t know what to say.  There were no words that would change a damn thing.  Debbie was in a bad place, and he knew that she would be attempting unsuccessfully to comprehend what had happened that evening.  Whatever it took, he would find a way to get Kelly back.  That was the only thing that would count.  In the main, and especially when dealing with scumbags, actions spoke far louder than words.
    Debbie reached out in the semi-darkness of the cab and gripped Logan’s shoulder.  He took his eyes off the road for a moment and looked at her.  Saw the slight hardening of her expression as she said, “I trust you, Logan.  Do it your way.”
    He wanted to tell her that there were no guarantees, and that he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain of how things would turn out, and that shit happens every second of every day to a great many people, but looking in his rearview mirror he saw the headlights of a vehicle weaving in and out of the light flow of traffic, gaining on him fast. There was no time to tell Debbie anything.  He knew that it would be the Brit at the wheel.  It was time to use evasive tactics.  He was not a professional driver, and the old pickup was no match for the larger car that was now only three vehicles back and closing.
    Larry grinned.  “The woman is with him,” he said to Vince.  “I’ll ram him, and when he goes off the side of the road I’ll stop and we’ll do a Bonnie and Clyde and turn the pickup into a fucking colander.”
    Vince drew his gun, and out of habit released the magazine to check that it was full before ramming it back into the butt with the heel of his hand.
    Logan checked that Debbie had buckled up, then stamped on the brake and almost turned the pickup over on its side as he skidded into the mouth of a narrow street, almost colliding with a parked car as he straightened up and accelerated along it, to take the first right, then a left, and switch the lights off before pulling into an alley, to drive until he reached a cross street.  He took another left turn and sped away from the area, to park in the side lot of a closed dental practice.
    They sat for five minutes without either of them saying a word.  Logan had nothing to say, and Debbie didn’t know what to say.  She had always been a law-abiding person, basically getting on with her own life and making do the best that she could.  Her personality was moderate, devoid of extreme views on almost every subject.  But that had now changed.  The evening’s events had radically altered her outlook.  Real hatred had been a stranger to her.  She had disliked things, and even some people, and her reaction to her feelings had been to avoid that which she found offensive or confounded her.  Now, she was experiencing a complex amalgamation of fear, hate, anger, grief and helplessness.  Leaning forward, straining against the seat belt, she pounded her small fists against the padded console until her hands and wrists ached, before slumping back.
    Logan let her physically vent the temper and sense of vulnerability that was all but consuming her.  He had never had kids, but that didn’t mean he was ignorant to the powerful bond that parents and their offspring felt for each other.  He had been a youngster with a mom and dad, so knew all about emotional family ties.
    “I want to kill that fucking woman,” Debbie said.  “I have never felt such hatred for