Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 124: I’VE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A CONVICTED MURDERER!

Chapter 124: I’VE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A CONVICTED MURDERER!

The glass phone booth was beside the road and Mia pulled off onto the side. She was watching the outside rearview mirror in hopes of seeing a vehicle she could flag down but the cars were all speeding away in a flash. Neil’s voice made her snap her head around just as he pulled her car keys from the ignition.

"I’m hoping," he said in a sardonic voice, "you won’t think I doubt your word about believing I’m innocent and wanting to see me escape. I’m simply taking the car keys because I happen to be a very cautious man." He flashed her a harmless smile.

Mia amazed herself by managing to shake her head and say convincingly, "It’s alright, i don’t blame you."

With another brief smile, he got out of the car, but he kept his hand in his pocket where the gun was as a deliberate menacing reminder to her, and he left the passenger door open, undoubtedly so he could see what she was doing while he made his call.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to outrun him and a possible bullet, Mia had no hope of escaping right now, but she could start preparing for the future. As he stepped into the snow, she said with all the meekness she could muster, "Um, would you mind if I get a pen and paper out of my purse so that I can write down a few notes while you’re on the phone...you know, jot down feelings and things so that I can use them in my novel?"

Before he could refuse, which he looked about to do, she reached cautiously for her purse on the back seat while pointing out reasons he shouldn’t deny her request. "Writing always calms my nerves," she said, "and you can search my purse, if you like. You’ll see I don’t have another phone or set of keys."

To prove it she opened the chanel purse and handed it to him to take a look for himself. He gave her an impatient, preoccupied look that made her feel as if he didn’t believe her story about writing a novel for a moment and was simply going along with it to keep her docile.

"Alright," he said, handing the chanel purse back to her.

As he turned away, Mia pulled out a small note pad and her pen. Keeping an eye on his back, she watched him pick up the phone and dialed some numbers, then she quickly wrote down a few messages on two different slips of paper.

[I’VE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A CONVICTED MURDERER. HELP ME.]

From the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her and she waited until he turned away to talk to whoever he was calling, then she tore off the first two sheets, folded them in half and tucked them into the small pocket Inside her purse where she could easily reach them. She opened the notebook again and stared at it, her mind frantically searching for ways to pass the notes to people who could aid her. Struck with a plausible idea, she stole a glance at him to be sure he wasn’t looking, then she quickly took one of the notes from her purse and folded it into a dollar bill from her purse.

She had a plan, Mia thought in relief. She was going to execute it, and the knowledge that she was now taking some control of her future, banished much of her lingering fear and panic.

However, she suddenly had a strange feeling in her heart. The feeling came from an instinctive but unshakable conviction that one thing Neil Wayner had said was true; He did not want to harm her in anyway...

Therefore, he wasn’t going to shoot her in cold blood. In fact, if she tried to escape now, she was certain he would chase her, but he wouldn’t shoot her unless it looked as if she were going to flag down a passing car. Since there were no cars coming, Mia saw no point in opening her door and making a run for it right now, not when he could outrun her, and all she would gain was to put him permanently on his guard and make him never trust her again.

Better by far to appear to cooperate and lull him into relaxing as much as possible. Neil Wayner might be an ex-soldier with a high IQ, but she was determined to outsmart him in her own escape just like he had outsmarted the military prison. She knew it had been said that he was an intelligent man with many talents and skills, he’d taught himself things normal people would have to study for years to master__like defusing bombs and making weapons.

Escaping someone as dangerous as Neil Wayner wasn’t going to be easy, but If she concentrated on her plan now, she’d be able to outsmart him, she was absolutely positive! Well, almost positive. So long as she kept her head, she had an excellent chance of winning this contest of wits.

Seeing that he was looking at her again while speaking on the phone, she quickly took out her notebook. She began jotting down sweet comments about him in case he asked to see what she’d written. Finished, she reread her absurd commentary.

[Neil Wayner is fleeing from unjust imprisonment caused by a biased trail. He seems to be an intelligent, kind, warm hearted man, a victim of circumstances. I believe in him and I believe he committed no crime.]

The commentary was, she thought with an inner grimace, the worst piece of pure fiction ever written! So engrossed was she that she experienced only a momentary jolt of shock when she realized he had finished his call and was climbing into the car.

Quickly closing the notebook and shoving it into her purse, she asked politely, "Did you speak to whoever it is you’re trying to call?"

His eyes narrowed sharply on her smile and she had an uneasy feeling she was overdoing her comradely performance.

"None of your business."

Mia was digesting that curt of a useless reply when he reached for her purse and took out her notebook. "Just to be cautious," he said in a sardonic voice as he flipped open the notebook. "You understand, I’m sure?"

"Y-yeah, I understand," Mia replied, caught between nervous laughter and embarrassment as she watched his jaw slacken when he read what she had written on the notepad.

"So?" she asked, widening her eyes with sham innocence. "What do you think?"

Neil closed the notebook and slid it back into her purse and gave it back to her. "I think you’re too gullible."

"I’m very gullible," she eagerly assured him, turning on the ignition and pulling out onto the highway. If he thought her stupid and naive, that was great, terrific!

For the next hour, they drove in silence with only a few occasional complains about the bad weather and worsening driving conditions, but Mia was watching the side of the road for a billboard that would enable her to put her plan into action.

Any billboard that advertised a fast food restaurant at an approaching exit would do. When she finally saw one, her heart doubled its beat. "I know you probably don’t want us to stop and go into a restaurant, but I’m starving," she said carefully, and at that moment her stomach made a growling noise. "That sign says there’s a KFC up ahead. We could get some food at the drive-through window."

He glanced at her growling stomach and started to shake his head as making a stop at a restaurant would delay them, but she hastily added, "I have to eat something every couple of hours because I have..." she hesitated a split second, thinking quickly for the right medical term for a problem she didn’t have, "hypoglycemia! I’m sorry, but if I don’t eat something, I get very sick and I might faint and die of..."

"Fine, we’ll stop there." He cut her off.

Mia almost jumped with nervous triumph when she pulled off on the exit ramp and the KFC building came into view. "We’re stopping just in time," she said, "because I’m feeling very dizzy that I won’t be able to drive much longer."

Ignoring his narrowed look, Mia flipped on the turn indicator and drove into the KFC entrance. Despite the storm, there were several cars in the parking lot, though not nearly so many as Mia wished there were, and she could see a few families seated at the tables inside the restaurant.

Following the directions on the sign, she drove around behind the restaurant to the drive-through window and stopped at the speaker. "What would you like?" she turned and asked him.

Before his imprisonment, Neil wouldn’t have stopped at a fast-food restaurant like this if he had to go all day without eating. He didn’t care about food that much then, he could go a day without having anything but wine.

Now he discovered his mouth was watering at the thought of a simple fried chicken and hamburger. Freedom did that, he thought after telling Mia what he wanted to eat. Freedom made the air smell fresher and food sound better. It also made a man more tense and suspicious, because there was something about Mia’s overbright smile that was making him extremely wary.

She looked so fresh and ingenuous with those big brown eyes and soft smile, but she’d switched much too quickly from a terrified woman to furious hostage to her current attitude of friendly ally, that was making him doubt if she had some hidden motives.

Mia repeated their orders into the microphone.

"That’ll be $10.05," the voice said over the microphone. "Please drive around to the first window."

As she pulled up alongside the first window, she saw Neil dig into his pocket for money, but she shook her head quickly, already reaching into her purse.

"I’ll pay for it," she said, managing to look straight into his eyes. "It’s my treat. I insist."

After a moment of hesitation, he took his hand out of his pocket, but his dark brows drew together into a baffled frown. "That’s very generous of you."

"That’s me. I’m a very generous person. Everyone always says so," she babbled mindlessly, removing the folded dollar bill with her handwritten note saying that she was being kidnapped folded inside of it. Unable to meet his unnerving gaze any longer, Mia hastily looked away and focused all her attention on the teenage girl in the drive-through window, who was regarding them with bored impatience.

"That’ll be $10.05," said the girl.

Mia held out the money and stared hard at the girl, her face pleading. Her life depended on this bored-looking teenager with curly black hair. As if in slow motion, Mia watched the girl unfold the bill. But the small notepaper floated to the ground.

The girl frowned upon noticing the paper, she bent and picked it up, causally popping the gum in her mouth. She straightened up and glanced at Mia, "Is this yours, ma’am?" she asked, holding the paper up, peering into the car without reading what was written on the paper.

"I-i don’t think so," Mia said, trying to force the girl to read the words. "It might be, take a look at it_" she began, but stifled a scream as Neil’s hand suddenly clamped on her arm as he took out his gun and pressed it into her side.

"Never mind. " He said smoothly to the girl, leaning around Mia and holding out his hand to the girl. "That’s my note. I’m just pranking my wife over here."

The girl glanced at the note, but it was impossible to tell if she’d actually read it in the instant before she held it in her outstretched hand toward the car. "Here you are, sir," she said, leaning forward past Mia and handing it to Neil with a bright, girlish grin.