The first thing Sandy was aware of was the sound of a running engine, and that the chair she was sitting on was vibrating lightly. With some effort, she opened her eyes.
She saw that she was in the front passenger seat of a car, securely held in place by the seat belt. Her hands were uncomfortably restrained behind her, tied at the wrist.
"You're awake," the driver said needlessly.
"You!" Sandy blurted in recognition. It was her captor from her adventure two weeks before. 'Nick', if she remembered his name correctly.
"Yes, we meet again," Nick said.
Sandy checked that she still had her sweatpants and shirt - what she had been wearing earlier at home. However, she was barefooted. She had been wearing a pair of sandals earlier. Guess her captor had not bothered to bring them along.
From the view outside the car, Sandy saw that they were in the suburbs, in an area she was not familiar with. There were hardly any other cars at that time of night.
"What do you want this time?" Sandy asked the man.
"You still haven't signed the declaration," Nick said.
"But I'm not involved," Sandy told him, "Didn't you figure that out?"
"Then you won't have any issues signing." Nick glanced at her. "Look, if you're not a beneficiary, there's no reason for you not to sign."
Sandy thought about it. True, signing that piece of paper should not affect her. But somehow, she felt like she was giving up something. It was like giving away a lottery ticket with a huge first prize. "No, I won't sign it." Better to be safe.
"Thought so," Nick said, "The trustees tried to throw me off by claiming you're not a beneficiary. Well, that didn't work."
They were out of the suburbs. Their car traveled along a road that went through the wooded area outside of civilization.
"So what now?" Sandy asked.
"You're really not signing?" Nick asked again.
"No," Sandy replied, more certain that time. There had to be something, some link between her and what's-his-name's wealth, or Nick would not be that persistent.
"Then I'll have to kill you," Nick decided nonchalantly, "It would have been a lot simpler if your friend had killed you for me. Unfortunate that the police were faster than I expected."
Okay, so Sandy was about to get killed. But she would still get the money, right? Wait, that was not the line of thought she should be having.
Sandy stared at the man. OH MY GOD, SANDY WAS ABOUT TO BE KILLED!
Yeah, that was more like it.
"Is there anyway I can pay you to let me go?" Sandy asked.
Sandy, pay!? That was new.
Nick put on a mocking smile. "And what will you give me? It's not like you have any money now."
"Well... I can give you anything I have." Whatever that she had would definitely be worth a lot less than whatever money she had coming.
Nick thought for a while. An amused smirk grew on his face. "That's an interesting idea. You give me everything you have and I let you go."
"Yeah." Was Sandy's crazy idea actually working?
"Then I'll dump you buck naked in the middle of nowhere..."
"Yeah." Then Sandy could get back home and get all her money!
"... where you'll freeze to death without me having to do anything."
Okay, that was something Sandy had not considered.
Nick shook his head. "Not a good idea," he decided, "It isn't very cold tonight. There's a good chance you'll survive. Now if it was as cold as last night, I may consider it."
Quick, quick! Sandy had to think of another idea. Quick, while she was still alive and could think. Could she think when she was dead? That was an interesting question. But then again she had not experienced death before so she was not sure. Maybe she could ask her friends on Monday.
Wait, that was not the time to be thinking about that!
Nick slowed the vehicle as a red car passed in the opposite direction. After that other car had gone some distance, he drove off the road, onto a path that led into the woods.
"Here we are," Nick announced as he parked the car beside the path, well out of sight of the road. He got out, when over to Sandy's side and pulled her out of the warmth of the car. He took her among the trees.
Oh god, oh god, oh god, Sandy was going to die! She was young and OUCH! Ooh, there was a sharp spiky thing on the ground! Man, she wished she had shoes. Hope there would not be blood.
(Sandy, a bleeding foot should be the least of your worries.)
"You're still not signing?" Nick asked yet again.
"No," was the reply.
Then there was the sound of another car engine. Nick pulled Sandy behind a tree.
"HELP!" Sandy screamed as loud as she could before Nick clapped a hand over her mouth and slammed her against the tree.
"Now you did it," Nick hissed, "Thanks to you, someone else may have to die." He pressed his weight against the teenager to pin her in place. Switching the hand that kept Sandy quiet, he reached into his jacket.
Sandy's eyes widened as the man pulled out a pistol. Restrained, all she could do was wait. She could not even look in the direction where she had heard the car pull to a stop.
There was a tense moment when all was silent. It gave Sandy the time to notice the cold. Clad in only a shirt and sweatpants, she could feel her hair stand.
Suddenly, Nick turned and fired into the darkness, the weapon discharging right in front of Sandy. The girl looked in the direction where he had fired and thought she saw a shadow move.
Nick fired twice more. Sandy did not see his target then.
Then Nick pulled her to her feet. "Come on, move," he urged.
They hurried through the woods. Sandy tried to keep up as best as she could but being barefoot left her hurting whenever she stepped on or kicked something hard.
Then she kicked something really hard, stumbled and fell.
Her captor jumped aside as something flew past to strike at a tree trunk beyond. With both hands on his weapon, the man aimed his pistol back in the direction where they had came from.
"You!?" Nick suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, hell no! I already searched her for tracers!"
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