No Turning Back (The Traveler) Read Online Free PDF

strict attention to the traffic on the road while his partner began to dig through Gabrielle’s purse.
    “You only got forty fuckin’ dollars in here,” he pouted. “And you drive around in a nice car like this?”
    Before she could respond to him, the driver shook his head at the wheel and commented, “They use credit cards, asshole. Where have you been the last twenty years?”
    The gun-holding man looked at him and didn’t respond. He also found a new iPhone in her purse. “Hey, she got one of those new fuckin’ phones too.”
    “An Apple?” the lead man asked him. The marketing had been all over the national news.
    “Yeah, look at this. It’s nice” He showed it to him while Gabrielle remained calm. She could buy a new one.
    The driver said, “That phone’s worth five hundred dollars.” He looked over at Gabrielle from the wheel, and she refused to respond to him. She assumed that the driver was in authority. He looked older, taller and calmer.
    Okay, just deal with him,
she decided.
    She looked into the driver’s face and said calmly, “Look, you keep the car, keep the phone, keep the money. You’re welcomed to have it. And you can just drop me off wherever you like, and I’ll find a way to get back home.”
    It made the most sense to her. She could replace everything.
    The driver grinned and began to chuckle without looking at her. He nodded behind the wheel and said, “I like you’re demeanor, I really do.”
    His gun-wielding partner in the back was not as flattered.
    He said, “Well, what’chu gonna do after that, call the police on us and tell them your car’s been stolen, and your pocketbook, and your fancy cell phone? What’chu gonna do?”
    He paused and waited for Gabrielle to respond to him. Then he said, “Wait a minute. This car doesn’t have one of those sensor things in it that helps the police to track us down, does it?”
    When he asked her that, even the driver peeked at her for an answer.
    Gabrielle couldn’t remember if the car came with a security system. She hesitated and stammered, “I don’t, I don’t think so. I don’t know.”
    The gun-holder looked back to the driver. “Sounds like she’s lying to me,” he deemed. “Whadda you think?”
    The driver gave her another look. “This car got one of those stolen car detectors or what?”
    He didn’t look or sound as reasonable anymore.
    Gabrielle still didn’t know the answer.
Jesus Christ, I can’t remember!
she fussed to herself. “Look, I don’t know. What do you want me to tell you?” she pressed.
    Both men fell silent for a moment as they continued to drive toward Louisville.
    I wonder where they’re trying to go,
Gabrielle pondered. She also wondered if someone would recognize her car as they drove closer to the Louisville city limits.
    The gun-holder in the back finally broke their anxious silence.
    “You know what? You think you’re smarter than us, don’t you?” he asked. “You’re gonna sit up there all cool and calm and then get us arrested as soon as we drop you off somewhere. Well, what if we don’t drop you off at all?”
    Gabrielle took a breath and responded boldly. “I don’t think you want to add kidnapping, along with car theft and whatever else you’ve done. So if you just let me out like you promised, then that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about.”
    The gun-holder failed to respond to her, but the driver asked her, “Where do you live?”
    That took her by surprise.
Why does he want to know where I live?
    She promptly decided to lie to him. “I live in Frankfort.”
    “What street?”
    Gabrielle frowned and barked, “What? I’m not telling you that. For what?”
    The driver kept his cool. He said, “Find her license back there in her purse.”
    Gabrielle heard that and panicked.
Shit!
“Why do you need to know where I live?” she asked him. She was nervous enough to try and snatch her purse back, but she thought better of it.
    “I wanna see if you’re