Chapter 14

Cara breatheda sigh of relief when the police car pulled into the station's parking lot. However, it didn't move around to the station's secured sally port, where prisoners were led inside. Instead, Ramos drove around the station to a parking lot that contained privately owned vehicles.

He stopped beside an F-150 Ford pickup, then he and the other officer stepped out.

She scooted across the bench seat in the back to try to see what they were doing in the truck. The back door had been opened. Gear was moved to the truck bed, and then they turned toward the police car.

Shit. They'd moved gear to make room for her. She slid to the far side of the bench seat, knowing she wasn't going to win this battle, but she certainly wasn't going to make this any easier for them.

The men took opposite sides of the car. The locks clicked, and both doors swung open. She moved to the center and kicked at Ramos when he reached inside, but the other man grabbed her shoulders, slid her out of the car, and dropped her on the ground.

She began wriggling in earnest, trying to escape. If only she could get to her feet, she might be able to run, but Ramos came around the squad car and grabbed one of her feet. She kicked again, aiming at his knee.

"Puta! Basta!"

The man at her head reached down to get his arm around her torso and pulled her upward.

Ramos swung his fist. She pulled back her head, but his fist slammed into her jaw. Pain exploded, and she opened her mouth to scream, but the man behind her cupped her jaw, closing her mouth, and the scream was cut off. Ramos grabbed her legs, and between them, they wrestled her into the backseat of the truck.

When she was halfway inside, she continued to kick, but they each grabbed a leg, and quickly, her ankles were bound with duct tape.

Subdued, she still wriggled hard, but they pushed together, getting her all the way inside, then slammed the door, trapping her.

Not ready to give up, she began kicking the small window. The door behind her opened, and hands clamped around her neck.

With her air cut off, her motions slowed. Then, black crept around the edges of her vision.

Ty and Gunnmade it to the police station. They rushed through the front door. A large man in a black uniform sat behind a counter. He looked up, but his expression was set in a dull mask, expressionless.

"Where is Ramos?" Ty bit out. "Dónde está Ramos?" he repeated in one of the only Spanish phrases he knew.

"No está aquí," the officer responded and then smirked.

Ty burst forward, but Gunn held him back.

"Let's go, Ty. He's not going to be of any help. Let's try the tracker again."

"Fuck you!" Ty said to the man at the desk, still fighting Gunn's grasp. He shook his friend's hold off his arm and aimed a deadly glare at the man.

"Come on!" Gunn said.

They left and returned to the truck.

"Where to?" Gunn asked. "Keep it together. Where next?"

Ty's hands shook with rage, but he opened his phone and checked the screen. "Heading north again. Dammit, they were here a few minutes ago. We fucking missed them."

"We'll find her. Stone is scrambling a team. They'll be in the air soon. Plus, Swede and Kyla are working on it. Swede's already hunting databases to see what properties Ramos owns. We'll find her."

"I knew I shouldn't have let her go alone."

"You couldn't have known he'd strike, not when three others accompanied her. They could have taken any one of them."

"He wanted her. I saw the way he looked at her. So much fucking hate."

"For all we know, he doesn't know that we found that chamber. He doesn't know he's done. This is just another money grab. He wants another hostage."

"What if he knows? He's got nothing to lose. What if he does to her what he did to those three bastards in the chamber?"

Gunn gripped his shoulder. "Ramos is all about the money. He's likely been selling artifacts, too. He likely kidnapped that kid, Duncan. Killing his hostages doesn't get him any pesos."

Ty rubbed a hand over his face. He was frustrated, ready to hit something, anything. Rage roared through his body, tightening every muscle. "If he hurts her…"

Gunn tightened his jaw. "If he hurts her, I won't hold you back."

Cara awokewhen the truck bumped over something that caused the vehicle to rattle. She was still in Ramos's truck. Still cuffed and bound. Her jaw hurt, and her tongue felt sore. She'd probably bitten it when he'd slugged her. Thankfully, she could ease her jaw from side to side, and her teeth weren't loose. Still, the right side of her face felt puffy and hot.

They were traveling on a gravel road, the stones pinging underneath the vehicle and the tires grinding. She eased up on a shoulder and pressed her feet against the door, pushing herself up high enough to see outside. Jungle was all around them. She had no idea where they were heading.

She glanced between the seats at her kidnapper. Ramos's jaw jutted. His heavy brows were lowered. The fucking toad looked angry. She hoped she'd left some bruises on his body, too.

He shot a glance over his shoulder. "We are almost there, se?ora. You will not give me any more trouble."

They left the gravel and moved onto smooth pavement. Abruptly, Ramos slammed on the brakes, which dumped her on the narrow floorboard. Before she could fight her way to a sitting position, the door behind her opened, and rough hands slipped under her arms and dragged her out.

Ramos stood her and pushed her against the truck. His body moved in, pressing into her. "Now," he said, his hot oniony breath in her ear, "you are going to be good. If you do what I say, all will be well. If you don't…" He slid his hand over her breast and gave it a hard squeeze, his intention clear.

Still, she didn't trust that good or not he wouldn't further assault her.

He eased away and slid his hand under the hem of her tee, moving it around her front, checking her jeans pocket. Then, he used that hand to pin her while he searched the other, finding her wallet. When his hands moved to her backside, he found her phone.

He cussed fiercely in her ear and slammed the phone against the truck beside her head. It left her sight, and then he pressed a hand against the small of her back, pinning her, and he bent to cut the tape keeping her feet together. When he straightened, he clamped a hand on her shoulder and pushed her in front of him. "Walk."

She moved forward, mostly to put more space between them. They were in front of a large garage of a metal-sided workshop. The windows were mostly boarded up.

He guided her to a doorway into the building, stopped to push her against the wall, and then used his elbow to keep her in place while he unlocked a padlock. Then he opened the door and pushed her inside.

It took several moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. There was machinery all around. She didn't know its purpose, but she could tell by the cobwebs and animal nests that it hadn't been used in a while.

They walked deeper into the building, and he turned her toward the right, toward a hallway with metal doors on either side. He gripped her shoulder hard to halt her, used a key to unlock one of the rooms, then quickly removed her cuffs and shoved her inside.

She fell to the floor and looked back just as he locked the door behind him.

At least she was alone and didn't have to suffer his presence anymore. But where was she? The room was furnished with a grubby cot, a bucket in the corner, which she guessed she was supposed to relieve herself in, and nothing else. Two bottles of water sat on the floor beside the cot. There was a window, but the glass was on the outside, and metal mesh was welded into the metal walls and completely covered the window. She stood and went to the window, glancing outside. Thick bushes and trees grew up against the back of the building.

She tried plucking up the corner of the metal mesh with her fingers, but it was sturdy and didn't budge. Moving to the door, she twisted the handle, hoping the bastard had forgotten to lock it or that the mechanism was weak, but no amount of jiggling would open it. She was well and truly trapped.

Cara drew a deep breath, crossed her arms, and hugged herself. Not that she was cold. For comfort. She sat on the dingy cot and leaned back against the wall. She wondered whether Paulo and the students had made it safely back to camp. Then she wondered what Ty's reaction would be once he heard the news.

She hated that he was likely berating herself for letting her accompany the men into town without either him or Gunn to protect her, but she hoped someone would point out that it could have been anyone who was taken, that she'd been the one to decide to go, that she'd left the comparative safety of Paulo and the boys to go by herself to prepay the university's bill.

This wasn't on him. It also wasn't her fault. Falling into self-recrimination would accomplish nothing. The only responsible party was Ramos.

"Hello?"

Cara's heart thudded. The voice was familiar. "Duncan, is that you?"

"Jesus Christ," Duncan called out, louder this time. "That you, Cara? Did he get you, too?"

Cara felt a measure of relief hearing his voice. She knew that his parents and the university's insurers were negotiating his release. Surely, Ramos would keep her alive to arrange a payment for her release as well.

"Duncan, are you okay? Has he hurt you?"

"I'm fine, I guess. Hungry, though. He only feeds me once a day and then lets me out to empty my bucket. You get a bucket, too?" His disgust was in his tone.

She chuckled softly. "Yes, I have a bucket, too. Makes me think fondly of the latrines."

Duncan gave a single bark of laughter. It was weak sounding, like he wasn't doing well, mentally.

"Have you spoken to anyone while you've been held?" she asked.

"No. He did a recording with me holding a newspaper. Proof of life, he called it."

"Has he told you anything about when you'll be released?"

"No. He doesn't talk to me. Do you know if my parents know I was kidnapped?"

"They know, Duncan. They're working with the university's insurance company to arrange a payment to get you released."

"Do you know how soon that will be?"

"No, sweetie. They're still working on it."

Silence stretched between them.

"Do you mind talking to me?" Duncan said, sounding very young. "It's been so long since I've had someone to talk to."

"Of course. What would you like to talk about?"

"Will you tell me about the dig? What they've found? Do the guys ever talk about me?"

A small smile stretched her mouth. Of course, he'd want to know about the team's progress. All of them were all about the science.

"Well, you were there when they pulled the mummy out, right?"

"Yeah, what a day that was. I was the third person inside the funerary chamber…"

Duncan rattled away about the experience and how much he couldn't wait to get back to school and write a paper about what they'd uncovered. He went further to say that despite his experience at this site, he wanted to specialize in Mesoamerican archeology, in particular the Incan culture. His family was planning a graduation trip to Machu Picchu the following summer.

"Do you think they'll let me stay at the site after I'm released?"

Cara sighed. "When I was abducted, we were in the process of tearing the site down early. Our sponsors and the professors didn't think it was safe to continue the dig."

"Oh. I bet Professor Beacham wasn't happy about that."

"Not at all," she said, chuckling.

"I'm really hungry," he said.

"When was the last time he fed you?"

"He comes in the evenings. It's usually tortillas and rice. If he's feeling generous, he adds a piece of fruit. I really miss Cookie's food."

Cara was glad she'd eaten all of her bagged food at lunchtime. Her stomach was already feeling a little hollow, but she couldn't imagine how starved he must feel.

"You don't think he won't come tonight, do you? Seeing as he just locked you up?"

"I don't know, Duncan. How soon did he do your proof of life video?"

"The next night, when he came to feed me."

Again, a long silence stretched.

"Cara?"

"Yes, Duncan."

"Do you think he'll let us go…when he gets the money?"

She wasn't so sure he would. He was going to have to lay low until he was paid because Paulo had seen him. And then, he might not want to risk sticking around to keep his end of the bargain. How much easier would it be to kill them? Or to simply leave them here to starve while he skipped the area?

But she couldn't frighten the younger man more than he already was. "I'm sure he'll let you go—and you'll be first since you've already been here so long."

"I really miss my parents."

"What's it like here at night?"

"Awful. Really dark. You're going to get eaten alive by mosquitoes, and you can hear the roaches skittering around the floor. I don't like it at night. Well, I don't like it during the day either, but at night…? It's kind of scary, and that old equipment, whatever it is, creaks."

"Well, you've got me now. If something scares you, you can talk to me."

"We can talk to each other. I'll be here for you, too."

Her eyes stung with tears, and one rolled down her cheek. How awful it must have been for him, all alone, left to wonder if the world had forgotten all about him.

If there was one good thing to come of today, she could lessen his fear and keep him company.

But she'd sure miss talking to Ty in the darkness.