Nothing Ordinary, M J Marlow [ebook and pdf reader .TXT] 📗

Annie back to you!” He hung up and turned to look at the woman sitting up on his bed with the sheets over her body. “Annie managed to give McManus the slip long enough to call James’ wife. We have the number.” “You think he’s going to be waiting for us, husband?” Marcy asked him as she reached for her panties. They had gotten married over the weekend and she had never been happier. “He’s more likely to run for it now.” “No,” Jeffrey shook his head. “The call wasn’t long. He’ll think there was no chance of a trace.” He was practically dancing. “We have him, Marcy! He is going down.” “I’ll get the paperwork going for the jet,” Marcy smiled as she dressed quickly. “You find out just where in Idaho we’re going.” Half an hour later, they were on the airfield near Leavenworth and waiting for the jet to be fueled. Edward joined them there and he looked like a kid at Christmas, he was so excited. “There’s an air base a hundred miles from the sight, Jeffrey,” he told his nephew. “The Colonel there is pledging his entire command to your assistance. Agent Taylor has alerted the Boise FBI and they are meeting you at the base. You bring our Annie back to us safe and sound.” “Will do, sir,” Jeffrey nodded. “Captain?” he called over to Marcy. “Are we ready to go?” Marcy held up five fingers. “Five minutes. I’d better get into my flight gear then. Wish us success, Uncle?” “You’ve got it, nephew,” Edward nodded. “Don’t come back without her, Jeffrey,” he added. “Not in the game plan, sir,” Jeffrey nodded. He got on his flight gear and joined Marcy in the jet. They took off and he held on to his stomach as his wife hit full speed and then some as they headed northwest towards Idaho. 32 “Rise and shine, sweetheart.” Annie opened her eyes and found herself in the trunk of a car. McManus stood over her with the lid open. He ran his hand along her arm and the look in his eyes terrified her. What was happening now? She had thought the cabin was a forever until he killed her place. He held up a roll of duct tape. “Hold out your wrists, baby,” he ordered her. Annie shook her head and looked for something she could use to defend herself, but the trunk was empty. He grabbed her arm and yanked her up so he could slap her. “Wrists,” he repeated his order. Annie did as he told her and he taped them. “Feet,” he asked next. She brought them up and kicked him in the face. He fell back and she was out of the trunk and running. He caught her as she lost her footing on the loose rocks covering the hillside. “Nice try, Annie,” he laughed as he caught her. He taped her ankles and yanked her up so he could heft her over his shoulder. “You are always a surprise, Annie girl, but you really need to learn that you’re defeated.” He dumped her in the trunk and taped her mouth. “Sleep well, darling.” Annie shook her head as he used the ether on her again. It was no use. He had her drugged and closed the lid. He got into the car and drove away from the cabin. His friend on the base in Leavenworth had told him that they were coming for him and Annie. He had to be out of the area by noon or they would be found. He had cleared the house of anything that could tell their pursuers where they were headed. He did not stop driving until he hit the town out of the search zone and stopped to make a call. “Your warning was quite timely,” he told his contact. “We’re on our way.” He shook his head. “No, I’m not telling you where we’re going, only that it won’t be where they assume.” He slammed the phone receiver down and went into the store to buy a cooler and supplies for a long road trip. He would make them think they were going into Canada now. He would get a thrill out of watching their wheels spinning when they realized they’d been misdirected only after all that effort had been expended. He was not letting go of his prize now. “Time to eat, precious,” he smiled as he unlocked the trunk and pulled her out. He set her on a park bench and removed the tape from her mouth. Then he handed her a sandwich. “Eat.” She did as she was told and he smiled and stroked her hair. She moved away from him and he yanked her back. “You stay where I put you, girl.” Annie did not fight him. She ate what he gave her and drank the bottled water. She tried not to flinch when he stroked her hair like she was his pet. And most of all, she tried not to cry. They had left the cabin because her family was getting too close to finding her. The phone call had led them to her! So she just had to find a way to get to a phone without him catching her. He cupped her chin in his hand and made her look at him, laughing as he caught her expression. “I can hear those wheels spinning, Annie girl,” McManus said gently as he stroked her lips. “Get any thought of my letting you near a phone right out of that pretty head.” “Please let me go,” Annie begged him. “I want to go home to my son.” “Even though you know you’re signing his death warrant?” McManus asked her bluntly. “Oh come on now, Annie,” he shook his head at her. “You know you won’t do anything to cause harm to your child so quit this blubbering and accept defeat.” “You bastard!” Annie snapped at him then. “How can you do this to me? I’ve never done anything to hurt you!” “It’s not you, Annie,” McManus replied. She looked at him in disbelief. “Your dear husband and I have always been rivals, don’t you see? He and I both wanted you and he got you. He and I competed for top spot in our unit, and he beat me every time. I got tired of being second, so I took something from him that I always felt should be mine and now he has lost.” “I’m the prize in some insane contest you think you’re in?” Annie protested. “This is too much!” She tried to sit up and he shoved her back down. “Let go of me, you bastard!” she snarled and shoved him off the bench before he knew she’d hit him. She got up and hopped away. He tackled her and she hit the ground on hands and knees. “I am never going to back down,” she promised him. “Let me go! I want to be with my husband, not some sick bastard who can’t admit when he’s been beaten by the better man!” He slapped her and she laughed at him, daring him to hurt her. “That’s what you can’t accept, isn’t it? That there is someone out there who is better than you are in every way that counts?” “Shut up, Annie!” McManus snarled and slapped her again. “Do you hear me?” He pulled her tongue out of her mouth. “I’ll rip your tongue out and make you eat it! Then I’ll break your neck so you can’t ever walk again.” He ran his finger along the back of her neck. “I know the right vertebrae to cut, girl. Is that what you want; to be a paraplegic?” “No,” Annie shook her head. “I just want to go home!” “You made your choice, Annie,” McManus reminded her. “Your freedom for their lives.” He turned her over and ran his hand along her jaw line slowly. “Why would you change your mind, knowing that I will kill your family if you go back to them?” His hand moved slowly down her body. “I haven’t been treating you very well, precious,” he said as he yanked her up and carried her to the car. He cut the tape from her wrists and taped them behind her back so she could ride in the car. He touched her cheek as he got behind the wheel. “That’s my girl,” he smiled when she did not move away. “You’re learning.” The hikers who had happened upon them when they had first arrived watched as the man drove away with a girl who was obviously his captive. They had filmed the entire conversation. One of them pulled out his cell phone while the other wrote down the license number and the description of the car. The call was relayed to the Boise FBI headquarters and the information sent to the Agent who was at the cabin that had been blown to pieces as they were arriving. “This man was hoping to catch a few of us in there,” he told the stunned Jeffrey and Marcy. They turned to him. “McManus was spotted about 80 miles north of here at a park. Some hikers got him on their camcorder threatening Mrs. Owens. A description of the car they are traveling in has been relayed to all points north of here. If he tries to get into Canada, he will be stopped.” “We need to get to him,” Jeffrey stated, “before he decides Annie is more of a liability to him than a game prize.” “Game prize, Captain?” the agent turned to him with a frown. “McManus and my older brother,” Jeffrey explained, “have been rivals since the man was transferred to Munich. They competed for everything, When James and Anneke started dating; McManus went out of his way to make her change her mind. When James married her, McManus tried to abduct her from the church. He said it was just a prank and he was let off with a warning. Then he started sending her little ‘gifts’ and notes.” “So he’s been obsessed with her because he sees her as a way of beating your brother,” the Agent nodded. “You’re right. His grip on sanity is quite fragile” He got a map out and showed them where McManus had been spotted. “He won’t be speeding and there is only one road up towards Canada at this point.” He hit a spot on the map. “We can set the roadblock here.” They all agreed and got into the helicopters, leaving the ground troops to make their way back to their cars and follow. Jeffrey felt Marcy’s hand on his and he caught her smile of encouragement. He hoped to God that they found Annie before McManus tired of her fight and did something she would not recover from. 33 “They all think we’re headed to Canada now,” McManus chortled as he took the side road and headed east. “I bet there’s a nice little roadblock on the road we just left, baby. How much you care to wager your husband or his brother will be there waiting for us?” Annie glared at him as he continued to taunt her. He’d gotten mad at her and put the duct tape back over her mouth. He ran his fingers along her cheek and smiled in satisfaction. He wasn’t ever going to let her go, she realized. Until they figured out who was giving him his advance information, her family was never going to find her again. “Don’t be sad, Annie,” McManus smiled at her. “We’re home free now. Once we get some hair dye and become new people again, we can go anywhere we want.” Annie could feel the tears falling and she brought her hands up to wipe the tears off her face. He removed the duct tape and she took the sandwich he held out to her and ate while her mind