Eleven Hours Read Online Free PDF Page A

you.
    How long had it been? How was it possible that in the minutes since he had approached her, Didi had not seen anyone in the parking lot? Where was everybody?
    She nearly yelped with joy and hope when she saw two women in the next row getting out of a car.
    Didi didn’t know if any sound would come out when she opened her mouth, but the terror that had made her weaker a minute ago when she saw no way out made her stronger now when she saw a chance for escape.
    â€œHelp! Help me!” she screamed, moving away from the man. He was fast. He dug his fingers into her arm.
    Didi flung her free arm and hit him across the face. “Help!” she screamed. “He’s—”
    The women turned and looked at them.
    And then he let go of her arm for a split second, just long enough to grab her around the neck, pull her to him, and kiss her hard on the mouth.
    He pressed his lips to hers, blowing air into her throat and sticking his tongue into her mouth. All the while he never stopped walking. She tried to pull away from his face, but he was too strong. He held her painfully tight around the neck. If he were her lover, she could have said, stop, you’re hurting me.
    But he wasn’t her lover.
    She saw the women smile to each other, nod, and keep on walking.
    He removed himself from her mouth, and when he did, she screamed once more. He pulled her to him again and pressed his lips on hers, but this time he bit her lip and clamped it between his teeth. “Stop it,” he said to her through his teeth. “Keep walking.”
    Whimpering into his mouth, she ran in little steps alongside him.
    Then he pulled away from her, and Didi whirled around to look for the two women. It was no use, because they were already inside the mall. The man stopped walking when they reached a beat-up beige station wagon. Clasping his right hand over her mouth, he dropped her bags and fumbled for the keys in his pocket. He opened the passenger door and sat her down in his car.
    Didi screamed, for she had nothing to lose. Whatever his intentions were, Didi was certain they did not involve his giving her a lift to the Laredo Grill. Her day went gray, and she began to scream again, but no one could hear her.
    He got in and started the car. “You know,” he said, “you should really stop that.”
    *   *   *
    They were racing through the NorthPark parking lot. The old car stank. Didi wondered for a moment if the stench came from her. Had she lost control of her bowels?
    But no. It was an old, bad odor. The car smelled of sour, rotted food. She looked over at him.
    He held the wheel tightly with both hands.
    She wanted to say something to him. But what? What? To save herself, she would have said anything.
    â€œWhat’s your name?” she asked in her friendliest voice. Is that the best I can come up with? she thought. What’s your name? What am I, a teenager at the school lockers?
    He didn’t answer her.
    Please show me the way, dear God, please show me the way out, for my kids, please hear my prayer.
    I guess it’s really happening, she thought, starting to rock back and forth, it’s happening. This man, he—I—I’ve been abducted. I’ve been snatched, stolen. He acts polite and tries to smile, but he’s kidnapped me. How’s Rich ever going to find me? And what could he want? Money? Of course, that must be it. He wants money. That’s what all kidnappers want. He doesn’t care about me. He saw me shopping at NorthPark and probably thought I was loaded.
    What would it do to tell him the truth? she thought. And what happens to me when he finds out the truth?
    Clasping her hands together, Didi tried to think of something comforting, but all that flashed through her was, Am I going to die? Right here, in this man’s car, this stinking car, die with a stranger? Is this how my life is going to end—
    My baby.
    Why was she thinking about