That made her feel somewhat safe—for now. But the possibility of someone else arriving, someone who might be more dangerous, made her blood run cold. It indicated that, although this terrible waiting would come to an end, things wouldn’t get any better. Chances were they’d get exponentially worse.…

Drawing a deep breath, she pulled the mattress off her bed to provide a cushion as she sat on the floor and went back to work on her homemade weapon. She didn’t know how long she’d have to create it or when she might have to use it, so she needed to get it done as soon as possible.

“You’ve got this,” she coaxed, trying to keep going even after her arms and hands began to ache. She was so close to having it finished.

When she finally stopped, the end was razor sharp. She watched a large drop of blood ooze out when she pricked her thumb and found the sight gratifying. She’d equipped herself with some small defense. But she was still trying to work out other possibilities, ones that might not include violence, since her captor didn’t seem to have a thirst for it himself. He didn’t even want to look at her, hadn’t so much as bent down to peek through the slot.

A psychopath, at least one who’d taken her for sadistic pleasure, would’ve been eager to see the terror in her eyes, to enjoy her pain and discomfort and fear. This man had given her an extra bottle of water when she’d told him she needed it for the sake of the baby, and he’d washed the blood off her hands so they wouldn’t get infected. Those actions, small though they were, indicated he had some level of humanity.

Given all of that, why had he kidnapped her?

The most obvious answer was money.

Maybe she could buy him off by promising to pay more for her freedom than he’d get for holding her captive, talk him into letting her go before whoever he worked for arrived.

In order to have the chance, however, she’d need him to come to the door. And she wasn’t sure he was listening—or that he could hear her when she banged and called out for him.

She’d try to negotiate with him the next time he brought her some food, she decided. And if that didn’t work? She’d hide her shiv close to her body, pretend she was going into labor and, the second he opened the door to see if it was real, stab him and make a run for it.

Hilltop, AK—Tuesday, 11:00 p.m. AKDT

Amarok watched the video of the van guy with the scar very closely. The man was tall and muscle-bound—he had to spend a great deal of time pumping iron to maintain that kind of bulk—and he looked hardened, mean in a junkyard dog sort of way. He walked into the store, his legs slightly bowed from the thickness of his thighs, glanced around and spotted Kaylene, whom he seemed to like. But when he noticed Garrett watching him, he pulled his gaze away from her and walked down the aisles. He lifted this or that as if he was considering purchasing it, but Amarok got the impression he was just wasting time.