chapter 6
Opaque fabric pressed against Josh’s eyes. The clip on his nose forced his breaths through his mouth. Were there air holes? There must’ve been, otherwise he’d be gulping lungfuls of nothingness.
His throat whistled. His mouth parched. Maybe he was suffocating.
Were his captors standing right outside the box? He couldn’t hear a damned thing beyond the covers on his ears and the thump of his heart.
The unforgiving wood dug into his shoulders and hips. The thousand-pound chains pinned his hands and feet. The too-close walls caved in around him, firing the nerve endings along his skin in concentrated chaos. It was the kind of tactile assault he imagined could only be experienced within the deafening suffocation of a coffin.
Fear boiled in his stomach and hit his throat with searing acid. Great, he still had the sense of taste, which meant he could savor his puke as he choked on it. He squirmed, tilting his head to the side in case his stomach emptied.
This had to be a depraved prank. They wouldn’t leave him chained like this for long. The girl in the next room didn’t have visible wounds on her fragile frame. There weren’t any instruments of cruelty hanging on the walls. Hell, the gun wasn’t even loaded.
He should’ve grabbed the blonde and threatened to break her neck. Why hadn’t he kicked the gun from Van’s hand as soon as the man walked in? His chest tightened. He should’ve left Liv on the road to tow her own effing car.
His pulse elevated, and his body burned and itched. Mom and Dad would be looking for him.
How many calls had he missed? His heavy breaths congealed the air around him. She’d done something to his phone.
He bucked against the box, yanking and twisting at the restraints. His stupid freaking impulse to help a stranger had put his parents in danger. He’d left them unprotected and abandoned them with a farm they couldn’t manage alone.
He was idiot. His cheeks burned, and his body fevered with sweat and chills. He tried to punch his legs. The shackles held. So frigging stupid. He kicked again, and pain jolted through his ankles.
Could they hear him struggling? He bit down on his lip, swallowing hard. Had his hostility sent them out to hurt his parents?
A roar clawed from his throat, thundering in his head. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn’t he sent his own text to Mom? Why hadn’t he noticed these people watching him? He should’ve investigated the problem with her car himself. He could’ve prevented this.
His muscles clenched against another bout of trembling. Dad would retrace the route from the stadium to home. He’d find nothing. Likely not even the stalled Kia. She was too well-prepared, luring him with a story, sabotaging his phone while he sat beside her, and coercing him with Mom’s routine and her stolen .22. How long had they been watching?
Why him? Oh God, what had he done to earn their attention?
Helplessness ricocheted over his limbs, thrashing against the chains. Mom was probably pacing in the kitchen, wearing down the linoleum, overworking her already fragile heart.
A sob erupted in his chest, taking him by surprise as it escaped with his gasps. Please, dear God.
He closed his eyes, trapping wells of moisture. Please take care of Mom and Dad.
Prayer saturated his thoughts. He stammered through his favorite hymns, filling his heart with the inspirational, joyful words. He desperately needed the power of God to overcome this and to ensure he rose whole and confident and alive.
The walls of the box crept impossibly closer. He thrashed, uselessly. He widened his eyes beneath the mask, trying frantically to see, and met a shroud of black. So cramped, dark… His lungs panted. He needed to focus, to keep his head.
He tried to recall the meditation techniques he’d learned at his retreat. Sucking air through a dry throat, he pictured light filtering through the box’s wood planks, spreading a glow over him, chasing away the shadows. The walls around him expanded outward. The coffin doubled in size. Oxygen flowed in. His pulse slowed. He swiped his tongue over cracked lips. Bless the depth of his imagination.
Time stretched. Was it minutes? Or was it hours? They should’ve released him by now. What were they doing out there? Sharpening knives? Laughing about what a sucker he was? Or were they planning to move the box out back and bury it with him inside?
No, not death. She’d said he would be sold in ten weeks. He would have to be alive for that to happen. He latched onto the hope of survival, even as the implication of his body being auctioned for money brought its own horrors.
A violent shudder ripped through him. Purchased by what kind of person? For what purpose? He knew. He knew the answers and shoved them away, stretching his jaw to accommodate a panicked rush of breath. Heavenly Father, please help me.
Despair gave way to anger and frustration. His prayers weakened in conviction, losing their appeal. He had put himself in this situation. God had nothing to do with it. Doubt trickled in. Doubt in His divine rescue. Doubt in himself.
Too many terrible things could happen to him and his parents. The air thinned, and his lungs struggled against images of Mom and Dad’s bodies gutted in their bed and painted in blood. He curled his hands into fists, picturing Liv slicing off his fingernails with a razor blade. Nausea coiled in his stomach. The glaring possibility was rape. Was he strong enough to prevent Van from taking him from behind?
His heart pounded. His virginity was his to give, dammit, not to be stolen and dehumanized. The thought girded him, even as he knew his restraints enabled them to do whatever they wanted.
He rolled his head back and forth over the wood. What had he learned during his spiral of mistakes? Beyond his stupidity in blind trust? He was in the Two Trails Crossing neighborhood in Temple. His captors went by Van and Liv. Calm, physically fit, and armed, they posed a difficult barrier to break through.
Besides the mention of a Mr. E, she seemed to be the one in control. Who was she? Clearly not the girl who cried a sob story on the street. Hindsight punched him hard in the gut.
But she couldn’t be a sociopath. Hadn’t he glimpsed the real girl in his truck in her moving song?
No one could fake the gravity he’d heard in her voice. What was driving her? Money was the obvious reason, but her aim seemed…more profound. Was she motivated by something deeper?
Something attached to her?
A deep-rooted sadness had flooded her eyes and creased her mouth when he asked her not to hurt his parents. Then it was complicated by that second kiss, the one she took while he was pinned in the coffin.
Maybe he was only seeing what he wanted to see? Scrambling for the only thread of optimism in his reach? Perhaps the kiss was a design to mess with his head, but it had conveyed a hesitancy the first kiss did not.
There was nothing hesitant about Van. His composure was fortified by piercing gray eyes, so sharp they didn’t blink. Which made the calculation in his chumminess obvious—and confusing. Even as Josh had recognized it for what it was, he couldn’t deny he felt a little less tense when Van traded his steely gaze for a full-faced grin.
And the girl, who must’ve been some kind of slave, had somehow earned a respite from restraints and supervision. A reward for good behavior?
Sweet Jesus, one week in this nightmare and he might be drooling applesauce. He writhed in the chains, his hips banging against the sides. How much longer before they let him out of the freaking box?
He tried again to calm himself, catching his breath, rolling his neck and shoulders through the burgeoning pangs of muscle cramps.
There was a way out of this. Somehow. He just needed to man up and figure it out. Field experience in instructional ministry had taught him how to associate with people, how to listen to them, and guide them through tough situations. He would concentrate his attention on observing what she was hiding and hearing what wasn’t being said. He would study her face and learn her expressions. Once he discovered the heart of her, he would offer advice, befriend her, discover her strengths and weaknesses, and predict her next moves.
What if she beat him? Raped him? What were his limits? How much could he endure before he despised her so much he lost himself in hate?
Adrenaline burned through his veins. If he could survive the next few hours or days, he could survive ten weeks. Maintaining composure was paramount.
A ringing sound sliced the silence. It was a consistent lonely tone, like the lingering bong of a brass bell. Was it some kind of tinnitus?
He rolled his head side-to-side, and the frequency seemed to ripple around his ears. It was definitely streaming through the headphones. The volume wasn’t elevated enough to hurt. Just one loud, relentless blare.
The sound continued. His fingers tingled, as did the skin around his lips. Panic and irritation robbed his ability to catch his breath. He yawned over and over, popping his ears.
No change in frequency. No relief. He buckled down, fought the tremors in his body and the furor of emotions pushing against the backs of his eyes.
“Make it stop!” The scream shredded his vocal chords. “Please, stop.” He counted to one thousand. He couldn’t calm his heart.
When would it end? He counted to five thousand.
All that existed was the certainty in one demanding tonality. He couldn’t focus.
Stop, stop, stop.
“Please…Please turn if off…Stop!”
His throat scraped, his shrieks unraveling his hold on his mind.