Chapter 56

Miranda struggled to keep her breathing slow and even, so he wouldn't know she was awake again. Fighting through the fog of pain, she took stock. Her mouth was covered. Taped. Flexing her numb fingers, it seemed her wrists and ankles were bound with that as well. The son of a bitch had hog tied her with duct tape. He might even have used the big roll in her garage. Some kind of blindfold was tied around her eyes.

Another bump threw her body. They were moving. In a car? Then he was probably in the driver's seat. She shifted, feeling a roughness against her face. Carpet. Trunk or the back of an SUV? The road noise didn't sound as muffled as she imagined a trunk would. As they continued jolting down what she now recognized as a rutted gravel road, she strained, trying to hear past the ringing in her ears.