Manna From Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page B

dead. Then she saw his chest rise, and with a flood of relief she realized that he was merely unconscious. Sadie leaped nimbly between the seats andinto her lap as Denton got into the back. Absurdly comforted by the dog’s presence, Charlie nevertheless wasted no time in thrusting her into the footwell out of sight. These men would not, she felt sure, hesitate for so much as an instant over killing a dog.
    “Watch ’em. I’ll be right back. If he moves, hit him again. But don’t kill him. Not till after I get done talking to him.” Woz slammed the door. Charlie jumped reflexively, only to feel Denton’s gun nuzzle her cheek.
    “Remember, ol’ Woz didn’t say nothing about killing you.”
    Charlie sat very still. Through the windshield, she watched Woz open the door to the Blazer as Laura, illuminated now by the vehicle’s interior light, turned to look at him.
    Then, just like that, Laura’s head exploded. Blam. Blood coated the inside of the Blazer’s windshield before the door was closed again, shutting off the light.
    Charlie was still in shock when Woz jerked open the door and climbed into the backseat.
    “I ain’t cleaning up that bloody mess you just made,” Denton said as Woz shut the door again. “Why the hell didn’t you do it on the grass?”
    “’Cause we’re going to lose the car, dumbass,” Woz replied. “Just like we’re going to lose this one. Nobody’s going to have to clean up nothing.”
    Denton grunted. “Good. ’Cause I ain’t.”
    Jake made a slight sound. Terrified, Charlie cast him a sideways look. Would they blow off his head, too, when Woz was finished with him? And hers? Oh, God, and hers?

5

    S HE WAS GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE A CHANCE on making a break and running for it. It might be a long shot, but it was the only shot she had, Charlie knew.
    “You got the cuffs? Get ’em on him before he wakes up,” Woz said to Denton.
    Denton leaned an arm against the back of Charlie’s seat and stroked her cheek with the pistol again. She shivered at the touch of the cold metal, remembered Laura’s head exploding against the windshield, and almost vomited where she sat. Only the fear that it might cost her her life kept her from doing exactly that.
    “What about her?” The pistol still touched her cheek.
    “Cuff her, too.”
    “I just got the one pair. Besides, she’s got to drive.”
    “Yeah.” Woz seemed to ponder. “Cuff ’em together. That way neither one of ’em’s going anywhere.”
    Charlie’s eyes widened in horror as she realized that her last chance of escape was getting ready to fly right out the window.
    “Give me your hand, Blondie.”
    When Charlie didn’t comply fast enough—she was still mentally dithering over whether or not to attempt a run—Denton reached between the seats and grabbed her right arm, twisting it toward him painfully. A cold metal handcuff snapped closed around her wrist. Seconds later, the second cuff was fastened around Jake’s wrist. Charlie glanced at Jake’s big body, sprawled limply now in the seat with only the seat belt keeping him semiupright, with despair. There was no longer any hope of running for it. She’d just been shackled to a two-hundred-pound deadweight.
    Woz passed her the ignition keys, which he had presumably taken from Jake. They jangled as she took them, and Charlie realized that her hand was shaking.
    “Pull up on the road nice and easy, and head on into the forest,” Woz directed as Charlie started the Jeep.
    “And don’t fuck with us, Blondie, or you’re dead,” Denton added as, forgetting that the Jeep was still in park, she nervously stepped too hard on the gas, causing the engine to rev. He punctuated this remark with his gun, with which he prodded the back of her neck.
    Charlie shrank, shivering. She was breathing hard, and her left hand was clammy as it grasped the wheel. Her right, rendered useless by being tethered to Jake, felt sweaty, too, as it rested on the console between the seats. At