Point Blank

ONE (#ue3c4d44c-48d5-537e-870e-6be524c45a04)

Hannah felt the gun pressed to her back the minute she returned the nozzle to the gas pump. She stiffened and glanced over her shoulder. A man, his face obscured by a black hoodie, nudged her with the gun again.

“Don’t make a sound, lady, or it will be your last.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach out with his left hand and open the driver’s door. “Get in and crawl over the console to the floor in front of the passenger seat,” he hissed.

Hannah’s body stiffened, but her legs went so weak that they threatened to collapse. She reached out and grabbed the top of the door to keep from falling. The thought kept running through her mind that this couldn’t really be happening to her. Robberies and car jackings were supposed to happen to other people—strangers she heard about on the news. But then the terrible realization hit her that this time she was the one people might hear about tomorrow.

As the reality of her situation soaked in, a new fear swept through her. She was a single mother, with no family other than her daughter. What would become of Faith if something happened to Hannah? She had to do everything she could to make it out of this encounter alive. The problem was she didn’t know whether her safest choice was to obey her attacker or scream for help.

Still gripping the door, she took a deep breath and spoke in a shaky voice. “P-please, take m-my car. Take m-my money. Just let me go.”

He laughed, and this time he pressed the gun even harder. “Get in now,” he ordered.

Hannah cast a terrified glance toward Bart’s Stop and Shop, the convenience store where she always bought gas for her car, and prayed that Bart was watching his security cameras.

“I said get in the car!” the man growled.

Before she could respond, the store’s door opened, and Bart stepped outside. “What’s going on out here?” he yelled.

The attacker answered with a shot that struck the pavement a few feet from where Bart stood. He turned and ran back into the store, and her assailant muttered something that she couldn’t understand before he gave her a hard shove. She fell into the car and then scrambled over the console as he had ordered until she was on her knees on the floorboard of the passenger side with her upper body on the seat. The car door slammed, and they roared from the parking lot.

As they sped down the street, Hannah started to push up. “Don’t move!” the man shouted. “I’ll tell you when you can get up.”

“Why are you doing this?” Hannah cried. “You can have my car, just let me out.”

He shook his head and chuckled. “Be quiet, and this will all be over before you know it.”

His words struck a warning bell in her mind. All be over? What did he mean? She shuddered at the thought that she might be living the last few minutes of her life.

A pain stabbed her heart, and a tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of Faith, her little girl who’d already lost a father. It wasn’t fair for her to grow up without her mother, too. Perhaps she could reason with her abductor.

“Mister, I don’t know who you are or why you’re doing this. I have a daughter who needs me. I’m the only one she has in this world. Please, if you have any compassion in your heart, let me go.”

Hannah waited for him to respond, but his only answer was a grunt as he accelerated the car.

She waited a few seconds for him to say something. When he didn’t, she raised her head just enough to look at him and tried again. “If you want money, I’ll give it to you. I don’t have much, but you can have it all if you’ll just let me out of the car.”

This time his answer was a swift slap to the face. “Shut your mouth!” he yelled. “I don’t care about your daughter or your money or anything else.”

She pressed her hand to the stinging spot on her face and stared up at him. “Then why are you doing this? I don’t know you, do I? You sound as if you have some kind of grudge against me.”

His sinister laugh made her skin prickle. “Grudge? I guess you could call it that. All you need to know is that it’s payback time.”

“Payback for what?”

“I’ll tell you in my own time. For now, stay down on the floorboard and keep your mouth shut.”

Hannah started to protest, but she changed her mind when one of his hands drifted from the steering wheel and clutched the gun that lay in his lap. If she provoked him further, he might decide to end her life right now. She had to bide her time and wait for an opportunity to escape. She didn’t know how or when or even if that would ever be, but she needed to watch and take advantage of the first opportunity she had to get away from this man.

She glanced at him once more before she leaned her head against the car seat and looked up through the moon roof. Vivid colors of the afternoon sunset reminded her that she was never alone. She closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer to God.

Give me strength, Lord, to face what is to come. If I should die tonight, I pray that You would please take care of Faith. I ask You to provide people who will love her and give her a good home.

The prayer broke her heart. She couldn’t stand to think about another woman tucking her child into bed at night, helping her with homework or doing any of the many tasks a mother performed. But she had just placed Faith’s future in God’s hands. All she could do now was wait and see what happened.

* * *

Sheriff Ben Whitman let his gaze drift over the bumper-to-bumper traffic inching along the highway through the middle of the small mountain town where he’d grown up. Things certainly had changed here since he was a boy. A town that had once been a wide spot in the road on a route into the Smoky Mountain National Park had now become one of the top tourist attractions in the Smokies.

Throngs of tourists showed up year-round, and souvenir shops and amusement attractions now lined the thoroughfare through the town. On nights like this, the streets were packed. Tourists who were fortunate enough to have found a parking place were ambling from one shop to another while the slow-moving cars hovered like vultures waiting to pounce on the first parking space available. He had lost count of how many fender benders they’d answered calls for this week because two vehicles vied for the same open spot.

Ben glanced over at Deputy Luke Conrad, who was driving the police car, and sighed. “Looks like a big night for the merchants.”

Luke nodded. “Yeah. How about if I turn right up here at the next stoplight and get out of this traffic jam?”

“Sounds good,” Ben responded. “If we don’t, we may find ourselves boxed in somewhere if we get a call.”

Luke turned on the car’s blinking lights and maneuvered onto the side road that led to a street that ran parallel to the highway. Once they were out of the crowd, Luke smiled. “Where to now?”

Ben was about to answer when the radio crackled with a message from dispatch. “Abduction of a female identified as Hannah Riley at gunpoint from Bart’s Stop and Shop. Victim last seen being forced into her white SUV, headed toward Wears Valley. Suspect armed and dangerous.”

Luke jerked his head around and stared at Ben. “Does the Hannah Riley you know have a white SUV?”

Ben’s heart had begun to pound at the message. All he could do was nod. He’d just seen Hannah that morning when he stopped by her ranch to check on her and Faith. She’d looked happy and was practicing her archery skills in the backyard. How could this have happened to her of all people?

He pushed his fears for his friend away, knowing he had a job to do. There had been a woman taken against her will, and they had to try to stop the culprit. He only hoped they were in time to save her life.

He spoke into his shoulder mic. “Copy that. Unit 1 in pursuit toward Wears Valley. Request backup.”

“Ten-four, Unit 1. Backup on the way.”

Ben gritted his teeth and exhaled. “Light ’em up, Luke!”

He’d no sooner spoken the words than Luke turned on the blue lights, and they were racing toward the highway that led to Wears Valley. Questions poured through his mind as they sped down the highway.

Did the attacker intend to kill his victim, or did he just want her car? If he’d wanted the vehicle, why did he force the woman to go with him? The possible answers to those questions made his stomach roil.

They passed the road that turned off and circled back to the national park entrance. What if the abductor had taken that turn? For a moment Ben debated telling Luke to go back and turn onto that road, but he didn’t. Even at this time of late afternoon, there would still be tourists at the scenic stops along that route, and a speeding car would draw attention. If the suspect was smart, he would probably have made the decision to continue on the road on which they were traveling.

One thing bothered him, though. There were lots of turnoffs along this highway that led into the mountains with its many trails. They didn’t have the time or manpower to efficiently search every one. If the kidnapper took one of those, he and his victim would be lost to them. If he decided to dispose of his victim, her body might never be found in that wilderness. They had to get to her in time.

Ben leaned forward and stared out the windshield in hopes of catching a glimpse of the vehicle. After a few minutes, he was about to think he’d made the wrong choice to stay on this road when he spotted a car in the distance. It was barely a speck on the horizon, but it looked like it was white.

He held his breath as Luke accelerated and shortened the distance between the two cars. “That’s a white SUV!” Luke said as he pulled even closer.

Ben’s heart seemed to jump into his throat as they neared the car. All hopes that there might have been a mistake in identifying the victim—that it might be someone other than Hannah—died when he caught sight of the familiar license plate on the back of the car. Hannah hadn’t been content to settle for one of the regular state license plates and had bought one of the specialty plates the state offered. Hers was one issued to University of Tennessee supporters and personalized with the words VOLS FAN as a tribute to the football team she followed with a passion.

He had to face the fact that he’d been trying to deny ever since getting the call. Hannah was in jeopardy. But where was she? He could see the outline of a man’s head behind the steering wheel, but there was no sign of anyone with him. Were they too late? Had he already disposed of her?