Dusk Corners (A Logan and Scarlett Thriller Book 1) by Dan Padavona

Author:Dan Padavona [Padavona, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

20

Sara watched Jacob through the bedroom window. He stood in the yard beside the Jetta, with his hands on his hips. The Jetta had refused to start after she lost control of the wheel during the dust storm and drove into the ditch. Her kidnappers must have towed the car. Hadn’t anyone noticed? Even on the barren roads west of Dusk Corners, someone must have seen.

Another bulk slumbered next to the Jetta. A tarp covered the unknown object, though the size and shape marked it as another vehicle. The car those two Denver college students were driving before they disappeared? What became of them, and was she next on the chopping block?

Sara tugged the ropes. The bindings burned and bit into her wrists, carving angry red stripes across her flesh. She struggled toward the door until the ropes stopped her. Sara reversed course and fought to reach the window. As always, she stopped two steps short of the glass. She thrust a foot out, hoping to kick the window. No luck.

The chemical toilet stank of urine and feces. She didn’t want to peer inside. A bulbous fly crawled along the seat. Maybe she could stand on the toilet and reach the industrial hook screwed into the ceiling.

Sara lumbered to the toilet, pins-and-needles swarming inside her arms, her shoulder joints stretched and aching. Averting her eyes from the toilet’s contents, she placed one foot on the seat before her sneaker slipped. She tumbled backward. Had the ropes not caught her, she would have cracked her skull on the floor. And wouldn’t that have been a fitting ending? The girl who’d accomplished nothing in life, the daughter who’d disappointed her parents and allowed a spoiled, rich abuser to mistreat her for weeks before she fled, would fall and kill herself while trying to escape from two murderers. Had her life not hung from an unraveling tether, she might have laughed.

Sara closed her eyes and sobbed. While chasing after Logan, she’d been kidnapped by the men he was trying to find. The irony. She deserved to die.

Tugging the ropes, she pulled herself to her feet and climbed again. This time, she didn’t slip. Sara balanced one foot on the seat, then brought the other leg up. Now she stood on the chemical toilet, her legs trembling as the ropes slackened. She imagined one foot slipping and plunging into the toilet. She tried not to look, yet it was impossible to avoid the reddish-brown mess putrefying inside.

Sara reached for the hook, which dangled off the ceiling six inches beyond her fingertips. She swung her arms and whipped the ropes, intent on unraveling the binding from the hook. After the first attempt failed, she tried again.

One section of rope twisted off the hook. It might take hours, but she believed she’d escape if she kept working on it.

Her arms gave way to exhaustion. She stumbled down from the seat and knelt beneath the hook. While she caught her breath, a floorboard groaned outside the door.

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