Page 72 of Two Favors Repaid

Chapter 25

Emma

The sun was setting. Emma felt her stomach rumble. She’d spent the entire day alone. Ford had come back maybe an hour after the woman’s visit. He’d arched an eyebrow to find Emma free of the ball gag but hadn’t said anything. He’d uncuffed her for a moment and dragged her outside the room.

There was a small hallway with two other doors, and beyond that Emma had gotten a glimpse of a small, cozy living space. It was exactly the kind of place Emma would love to live in, splashing a few colors around to complement the rustic feel, but it wasn’t the décor she was staring at. All she wanted was to see where the front door was, so when she got a chance to run—and she promised herself she would, somehow—she was ready to run in the right direction.

Ford had pushed her hard through one of the two doorways. It was a small bathroom—clean and well-appointed.

Emma shivered at the humiliating memory. He’d forced her to pee in front of him, had watched while she washed her hands afterward, dragged her back from the sink when she tried to drink more water.

“I told you how you’re going to be drinking tonight,” he whispered in her ear before dragging her back to her room and cuffing her to the pipe again. “Hope you’re looking forward to it as much as I am.”

And then he was gone. Without him, the room went back to being just four walls and a roof. There was nothing evil about this house. It was just him.

Thankfully, he hadn’t put the gag on her again.

Emma had spent the day exercising gently. It kept her from going mad. She pushed the mattress to the side and crouched down low then stood up on tiptoes, reaching for the sky. Anything to keep her muscles agile.

And while she was doing that, she plotted. She tried to think of what could happen next. Some of the scenarios running through her mind were almost too dreadful to consider, but she forced herself to do exactly that. The first thing she needed was to get Ford to uncuff her. And if the only time he was going to do that was when he was ready to rape her, then she needed to be ready for that.

She would do whatever she had to do to escape.

As the day went on, her energy, if not her resolve, began to waver. She heard voices on the other side of the door. Unintelligible conversations, sometimes a giggle here or there. But nobody came into the room.

Her stomach clenched. It’d been over a day since she’d had any food.

How long can a person survive without food?

Much longer than without water.

Chapter 26

Rob

Rob tripped on a small root sticking out of the ground. He righted himself quickly but heard Darryl sigh behind him. Rob knew what the big man was going to say before he spoke.

“We need to get back.”

Over the last hour, they’d listened in as all the different search teams announce their return. They’d all be back tomorrow morning, Rob knew, but tomorrow morning was a long time away. Emma might not have until tomorrow morning.

“No,” he said stonily. He wasn’t giving up on Emma. He’d stay here alone if he had to.

“Rob, please. We’ll be back the minute it gets light. We need light to search, and you need to sleep so—”

And then Rob saw it. At any other time of day, he might have missed it. But against the dusky sky, the small cloud of smoke was evident.

“What’s that,” he said.

“Rob,” Darryl said sighing loudly, “please stop clutching at—” His eyes grew round as he stared at the spot Rob pointed at.

Rob was already on his knees, a copy of the map spread out in front of him. The smoke was still far away but coming from a quadrant adjacent to theirs. One of the teams would probably have been assigned that area in tomorrow’s search.

“There’s nothing here,” he said, frustrated.

Darryl dialed the station’s number. “Alma, I know it’s getting late but Rob and I need a favor. We need you to take a look at quadrants 4-2 and 4-5. Are there any buildings there? Campsites? Clearings? Anything at all other than trees?”

“She’ll call us back,” he said, hanging up the phone.