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don’t ever want to see you again. Don’t come looking for me because even if you found me, I would never come home.”
    “Sha—”
    Monster Man slapped down the metal hook and cut the call. I leaned against the wall, sick to my stomach.
    He hung up the receiver. “There now. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
    I stared at the asphalt. His scuffed brown shoes. My rolled-up jeans bottoms and bare feet. I wanted to die.
    “Let’s go.” He turned me around and pointed me toward the car.
    From somewhere deep within me reason whispered. I raised my eyes, took in the color of the SUV, the make. An old blue Ford Explorer. License plate 2ZRY394. I stared at the plate, willing myself to remember it. After I got back home safe—somehow—those letters and numbers could lead the police to this man. I wanted him to pay.
    He opened the Explorer’s back door. 2ZRY …What were the numbers? 9–4–6? No. 3–4–9. No.
    They were gone from my head.
    My whole body slumped. What did it matter? He was talking like I’d never go back home.
    “Get in back where you were.” He pushed my shoulders.
    My throat jerked in a swallow. “You didn’t ask my mom for a ransom.”
    He laughed that same derisive chuckle. “I told you I don’t want money, Shaley.”
    “Then what do you want?”
    He laid his hand on the back of my neck. I cringed from his touch. “I’m taking you to a cabin in Montana. I’ve done you a favor, taking you away from your sinful lifestyle, Shaley. I’m going to teach you spiritual truth. We’ll start a community of people waiting for Christ’s return.”
    Was this guy some crazed cult leader? I felt even sicker. People disappeared into cults and never came out. “What do I have to do with your ‘community’?”
    He closed his fingers around my neck. “I’ve chosen you to be my wife.”

12
    B rittany clutched both hands to her chest, eyes fastened on the recording device. Its tiny speakers had projected Shaley’s voice into the room just seconds ago. So real. So alive. Now—nothing.
    “Shaley!” Rayne cried into her cell phone. “ Shaley! ”
    Gary leaned toward Rayne, forehead creased and muscles looking stiff, as if he wanted to pull Shaley through the phone and into his arms. Kim, Morrey, Rich, Ross, and Stan huddled nearby, listening, waiting.
    Agent Scarrow stood a few feet away, legs apart and arms crossed. His head tilted, his eyes fixed upon the recorder.
    “Shaley!” Rayne’s voice broke.
    Please, God, please, Brittany begged. Let us hear her again.
    Mocking silence.
    Rayne lowered the phone. “She’s gone.”
    “She didn’t mean it!” Brittany’s eyes filled with tears. “You know somebody made her say those things!”
    Agent Scarrow whipped a small notepad and pen from his shirt pocket and reached for Rayne’s cell phone. He checked the ID of the phone call and wrote down the number. Unclipped his own cell and punched in a number for auto dial. “We just got a call.” He turned away. “From the number…”
    Weakness stole into Brittany’s legs, and the agent’s voice faded. Shaley was okay. She was.
    Agent Scarrow continued speaking rapidly into his cell, then waited.
    Rayne sank into the nearest wooden chair. She gripped her knees and stared at the floor. Brittany knelt beside her. “She didn’t mean it.”
    “I know. I know.”
    “Brittany’s right,” Kim said. “Somebody made her say that.”
    “I know.”
    “But why?” Gary paced, hands pressed against his temples and elbows thrust out. His voice was ragged. “They didn’t ask for money.”
    Brittany’s wild relief at hearing her best friend’s voice faded. What if whoever had taken Shaley didn’t want money? What if he had no intention of letting her go?
    Rayne sagged back against her chair. Gary fell into the seat beside her and pulled her close. Rayne clung to him and shook.
    “We can’t sit here any longer.” The words burst from Brittany. “We have to do something.”
    Rayne pulled away from