The Kidnapping of Kenzie Thorn. Liz Johnson

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СКАЧАТЬ inside the prison complex. What would cause her to be so scared tonight?

      Deep breath in. Hold it. Let it out.

      She pulled in front of the gate and waited for the guard reading the magazine to wave her through. He barely looked up long enough to punch the button that made the gate squeak loudly, then grind slowly open.

      She waved back at him, but even in the glow of the light from the guard station, she felt shrouded in darkness. Out on the road on her way back into Evergreen, the darkness didn’t abate. In fact, it started to close in even tighter around her. Her hands shook as they clung to the wheel and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, as though someone was breathing right behind her. But she pushed on to make it the few miles into town, back to her condo.

      Finally she could stand her shaking hands and ragged breathing no longer. Kenzie swerved to the shoulder and slammed the car into Park.

      “God, I just…” Her voice trailed off, and she could not form words to pray. “I’m just being silly,” she chided herself aloud. “God, I know that You’re in control. I don’t know why I’m acting like a jitterbug tonight—”

      Suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth, cutting off her words and her breath.

      THREE

      Kenzie tried to scream, but the calloused hand covering her mouth effectively cut off all sound and stole almost all of her breath. She struggled to rip the fingers from her face, but another arm snaked around her middle, pinning her to the driver’s seat, her arms at her sides.

      She could not think, could not focus. She could only react, fighting with all her might against the corded arms wrapped around her.

      Futilely, she tried to bite the fingers at her mouth, but only managed to nibble on a knuckle. Tossing her head from side to side, she tried to free herself, but the arms were immovable.

      After what seemed an hour but was likely closer to five minutes, she was too tired to fight anymore. Sliding back against the seat, she tried another tactic. She would reason with the man sitting behind her. Craning her neck to look at him through the rearview mirror, she could barely make out the outline of rumpled hair and broad shoulders. But it was too dark for her to see any of his features.

      He sat quietly, just holding her to the seat, seemingly unsure of what he wanted to do next. Finally, he whispered in her ear, “Are you done struggling?”

      Her eyes flew open at his voice. She knew that voice. It was the same voice that made her stomach drop to her toes and sent shivers up and down her back.

      Gasping, she garbled something unintelligible into his hand. She had trusted him, and now he was going to—well, she wasn’t sure what he was going to do. But it wasn’t going to be good, that was for sure.

      “Shh. Calm down,” he whispered into her ear. His voice was deep and soothing, and his restraints were just tight enough to hold her in place. He didn’t hurt her as long as she sat still.

      She made another wild attempt to free herself, trying to grab for the door handle or honk the horn. His arm around her waist suddenly squeezed, stealing all of her breath and robbing her of all her strength. He must have felt the whoosh of air expel from her lungs through her nose, because he relaxed his grip over her mouth.

      Almost limp in his arms, Kenzie felt defeated. “What do you want?” she wheezed between his fingers.

      “I want you to turn the car around and start driving. I want you to take me farther from the prison and to freedom. I’ll tell you where to go.”

      Kenzie’s mind worked as fast as it could under the strained circumstances. She had to get back to the prison or to a lighted, busy area. Here he was free to do with her as he pleased. It probably meant death. Or worse.

      “You know who my grandfather is, don’t you? If you kidnap me, there’ll be no pardon. He’ll hunt you down and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. Please think about this.” She was very proud that she kept her voice from shaking with emotion and fear as she spoke.

      Suddenly the arm around her middle moved and was quickly replaced by the point of a knife in her side.

      “Just do what I say, Kenzie.” He had never called her by her first name before, and it sparked a fire back into her.

      “No. You don’t want to do this. This can only end poorly for you. Think about what you’re doing!”

      “No arguments. Just do it. Now.” His voice a growl, she knew he meant what he said.

      Obeying his command, she pulled her car back onto the two-lane road, heading away from Evergreen.

      A couple hundred yards away from the turnoff for the prison, she let her foot off the accelerator, hoping to swing the car down the short road to the front gate. Even if they crashed, it would be better than being alone with Myles outside the prison walls. Alone, where he could do whatever he wanted.

      “Don’t even think about slowing down,” he commanded. He stuck the knife farther into her side, and she winced.

      She yanked the wheel to the right, toward the prison road, but suddenly he was practically beside her, his long arm holding the steering wheel steady. In her frazzled state she was no match for his strength.

      The lights of the prison appeared and vanished in just a moment. Protected by trees lining the road, the prison was no longer visible, and Kenzie was alone on a long stretch of road, likely leading to her death.

      After all, her life was worth nothing to him now.

      

      He despised doing this. And he hated himself for having to be in this position.

      His missions usually didn’t end up like this, but it still had to be done. He wasn’t about to delude himself into thinking that he had a choice about kidnapping the governor’s granddaughter. He had to do this to protect her.

      And even worse, he was under strict instructions from his supervisor not to reveal his true identity under any circumstances. According to Nate, if Kenzie leaked his identity to anyone else, the entire operation would be blown. The only two people in the world who knew Myles’s purpose inside the prison were him and Nate. If word got out that he was investigating the trouble Kenzie was in—before all the culprits had revealed themselves—his investigation would crumble, and Nate would know exactly who spilled the beans.

      Now that he’d had to kidnap her, he had no choice but to get her to a safe house. There he’d tell her who he was and what he knew of the situation. Until then, he couldn’t be sure that Whitestall hadn’t bugged the car. After all, he’d supplied the car key, so he’d had access to it. And what if they were stopped somewhere? Even if the kidnapping failed, he could still use the situation to smoke out the people plotting Kenzie’s murder—as long as his cover remained intact. Telling her the truth right now was a risk Myles just couldn’t take.

      It was torture, scaring Kenzie like this. Over and over in his mind, he reminded himself that it would end soon. They just had to make one quick stop before the safe house so Myles could get in touch with Guard Whitestall. And the safest place Myles knew was a bit off the beaten path—well worth the seventy-five-mile trip out of the way.

      But with СКАЧАТЬ