The Abduction of Kelsey Read Online Free PDF Page B

can’t promise. Not yet. It’s not fair of me to expect obedience when I haven’t had time to train you.”
    Train her? What the hell?
    James slid out of the bed. Kelsey closed her eyes to avoid looking at him. She heard him coming around to her side of the bed. She felt the give in the mattress as he sat beside her, and she whipped her head in the other direction.
    She heard the drawer on the night table open and then close. “Kelsey. Look at me. Look at what I’m holding.” His previously solicitous tone had taken on a hard edge, and Kelsey didn’t dare to refuse him.
    She gasped when she saw he was holding a gun, its muzzle pointed in her direction. She tried to scream, but her voice had died in her throat, and she only emitted a small, strangled squeak.
    James kept the gun pointed at her. “I won’t harm you as long as you don’t give me cause. But you need to understand that I mean business. As long as you obey me and do what I say…” He let the incomplete sentence hang menacingly in the air.
    Kelsey’s heart was beating high in her throat. “Please,” she managed to gasp, her voice sounding small and far away. “You’re really scaring me. Please, James,” she implored, “this has to stop. Let me up. Let me go home. Please, just let me go!” Kelsey was shaking so hard her teeth began to chatter.
    “Hey, calm down. Stop it, Kelsey.” To her vast relief, James put the gun down on the night table and reached for her wrists. He tugged at the knots for a few moments, and finally her hands flopped down from the headboard. For a moment she felt nothing, and a surge of panic hurtled through her at the thought that her arms were paralyzed. But after a few seconds, she felt them tingling to life. Another few seconds and the tingling became painful as the blood rushed back to her cramping arm muscles. She brought them forward over her breasts.
    James, meanwhile, was busy loosening the ties around her ankles, and after a moment he lifted her into his arms. He carried her into the bathroom and set her down on the toilet. She stared mutely up at him.
    “Go on,” he said impatiently. “Use the toilet. Hurry up.”
    Kelsey realized her bladder was full, painfully full, in fact. She closed her eyes and concentrated on letting go in front of this madman. Finally her body relaxed enough to let her pee. When she was done, James pulled her up from the toilet and pointed to the bathtub.
    “Climb in. Go on. Move.”
    Though she would rather have showered, Kelsey welcomed the chance to bathe. She felt soiled from her head to her toes. She stepped over the side of the tub and sat on the cold porcelain, wrapping her still-tingling arms protectively around her body.
    James reached to turn on the faucet, and warm water began to fill the tub. Bending over her, James lifted his hand and for a moment Kelsey was afraid he was going to strike her, but he only reached for a plastic bottle of liquid soap that sat on a narrow ledge set into the wall. He thrust the bottle toward her. “Clean yourself up.”
    Kelsey wasted no time, scrubbing herself vigorously to wash away the man’s sperm and sweat from her body, though she couldn’t wipe away the fresh memories of what he’d done to her. Rage bloomed inside her, and she tried to hold onto it. It felt better to be angry than terrified. She would have to bide her time to get herself away from this lunatic. She would have to get hold of that gun. She had no idea how to use a gun, but how hard could it be? She’d aim the damn thing at him and pull the trigger.
    Could she actually kill a person, when her own life was at stake? Maybe she’d just shoot him in the shoulder or the leg or something. Then she’d call 9-1-1, if she could find a phone. Once she shot the bastard, she would find his car keys and get the fuck out of there as fast as she could.
    She glanced at James as the tub filled. He was standing at the toilet, urinating without a trace of self-consciousness. When he