Free The Guardian by Bill Eidson

there with him made her stomach flutter even worse. She shoved deeper against the carpet, burrowing her shoulder under the front seat.
    “What’re you thinking about?” the woman said. “What kind of game?”
    Janine’s rage had seeped away by the time he’d returned to the car. She’d been ready for him to start hitting her. But when he hadn’t, when he hadn’t said anything, she’d found herself becoming even more frightened.
    All Janine wanted was to be home. Wanted nothing of what might happen in between.
    Just home.
    “I didn’t ask for a conversation,” the man said. “I told you, the little chick’s got big ears. Get her up here in the front with me and see if she’s got big eyes.”
    “Hon—”
    The woman’s breath drew in sharply. Her legs shifted away from Janine. “Don’t! Put it down, please. You’re scaring me.”
    “That’s the idea,” he said softly. “I don’t want any more advice tonight, hon. Just take off that blindfold, and get her up here. I want her to pick out her daddy’s car for me, see if she can help.”
    “That’s it?”
    “And what if it’s not? Now, move.”
    The woman got Janine by the elbow and pulled. Once they were outside, the woman peeled off the tape. It hurt the side of Janine’s face, but she didn’t make a sound.
    Janine looked at the sky. It was a bright starlit night. The moon was full, and even that hurt her eyes. She looked at the woman and felt startled, seeing the ski mask where her face should be. She’d gotten an image in her head of the woman, for no reason in particular, of a woman with black hair and very white skin. This woman was wearing dark clothes, but Janine could see she was a little smaller than she had imagined. She looked at the woman’s eyes now, and at the woods behind them.
    She knew she should run, do something to get away. But the thought of being alone among the dark trees with him chasing after her was more than she could bear.
    She looked over at him. He was wearing his mask, too, and that made her feel better. She didn’t want to see his face. He was big. Bigger than her dad, even. He leaned over, opened the door, and said, “Get in.”
    “Go ahead,” the woman whispered.
    The seat was wide and slippery. Janine sat as close to the door as she could. She could see a gun sticking out of his belt. He was wearing white gloves, the kind her father bought at the hardware store.
    The woman closed the front door and got into the back seat.
    “Fasten that seat belt,” the man said.
    She did. She could barely see over the dashboard, but if she strained she could see the hood of the car was wide and long. They were backed into a little rest area. The lights were off, and the road curved to the right in front of them.
    He grasped her by the back of her head and forced her to look left and then right. “From there to there. We’ll see the cars coming up; they’ll swing through the curve in front of us and then pass that streetlight and follow the curve around. You know what your daddy’s car looks like?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, I do, too, but I figure four eyes are better than two. So you’re going to help me point it out. Now, I told him to meet us a few miles down the road. But I want to make sure he’s alone. And when the car passes that streetlight, we’re gonna be able to look right in for a second and see who’s driving, and if there’s anybody else in the car. Now, if it’s your daddy alone, that’s fine. Then I’m going to get his attention, and we’ll pull over and make the swap. You’re gonna tell him that everything’s OK as long as he does what I say, you got that?”
    The woman said in her ear, “You do what he says, you hear?”
    “Yes.”
    “All right. Now, if you see his car, but if somebody else is driving it—like a cop—you say it. Or if you see your dad with somebody else in the car, front seat or back, you say that, too. Because then I’ll just let them go, call your dad tomorrow, and