Kate turned to the window. She tried the handle again, using her body to block his view. She should have jumped from her bathroom window. Even falling from a moving car seemed preferable to staying inside with him, but the door wouldn't open. There had to be something she could do. What had she missed? How could she make sense of nonsense?

If he'd been following her, he'd know about the places she went. She last visited the zoo four or five weeks ago. The hippos made her laugh. It was the idea of them wearing tutus, how someone could think of that. But she hadn't been to the doctor for over a year. Maybe he knew the relatives in Florida. Maybe he was one. They might think her parents should have left them money.

But although Kate could rationalize most of it, she couldn't explain the spacecraft and the alien language. No one knew.

Her mind crumbled, racing through horror scenarios of rape, mutilation and death.

He was a psycho.

She was a statistic.

Kate fought hard to push back the second-hand fear. Why imagine horror when it sat next to her?

She switched her attention to the two ID cards wedged under her heel. No point dropping them along a desert highway. The SUV guzzled gas. He'd have to stop sometime.

Every time they passed a vehicle, Kate made desperate faces against the tinted glass. A couple of kids stuck out their tongues, adults looked the other way. They probably thought she was mad. Maybe she was.

Finally, unable to keep her eyes open, Kate slept again.

This time when she woke, Kate kept her eyes closed and her breathing even, but she couldn't imagine all this away and in the end, opened her eyes. She'd slept for an hour and a half. Still plenty of gas. Make conversation.

"How did you know I worked in the library?"

"I saw you. In your long blue skirt with your hair pinned in a swirl, little wisps hanging down. You sat on the carpet, reading the kids a story about Little Bear looking for his mommy."

The children loved that story.

"Little Bear looked behind the door, behind the couch and under the bed, but his mommy was nowhere to be seen," Jack said, as though he was reading the story to children.

"So he sat down on the floor and sighed," Kate added.

"All the kids did this enormous sigh." Jack laughed.

Kate was struck by a chilling certainty she'd never hear them do that again.

"And where was the uncaring Mommy bear?" he asked.

"In the garden, picking strawberries." Another life and it was gone.

"She shouldn't have left him alone. He was scared." Kate didn't miss the change in tone. "She was only in the garden."

"Too far to hear him calling. He thought she'd abandoned him." Was this still a story? "His mother hadn't left him," Kate said. "She was picking strawberries. It all ends happily ever after."

"Why lie to kids? Life's not like that."

"It can be. Children need things to turn out okay in the end." Not just children.

"You're good with kids. They like to sit on your knee and twirl your hair in their fingers."

He reached for her head and Kate jerked away.

"Do you have children?" she asked.

"A son."

That shocked her.

"How long have you been following me?"

"A while."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"You'll work it out."

"Tell me why you're doing this."

"It's a chance to start again, build a new life with me."

"Don't I get a say?"

"No." He snapped the word out and then laughed. It made Kate jump. "What you doing, sweetheart? Trying to figure out how to give me the slip?" Jack drove on, a steady pace. Kate wished he'd go fast and get pulled over by the police but he'd engaged cruise control. The road was so straight, the car could almost drive itself. Kate dragged her eyes from the highway, made herself keep talking.

"Why did you kidnap me?"

"Give me an honest answer now, darlin'. If I'd knocked on the door and asked you to come with me, you'd have said no."

"Not necessarily."

He snorted.

"Why use force? You could've tried charm." Would I have fallen for that?

"Well, thank you. You think I'm good-looking?" Minefield ahead. "Yes."

"Tell me."

"Very good-looking. Lovely blond hair." Though it didn't look natural. "You've got a...strong face, a good square jaw and...interesting eyes." Dead eyes I can't understand. "I can't see what a guy like you would want with someone like me."

"You're the one I want, Kate. The only one I ever wanted." Kate wanted to scream-torn between fear and hysteria. She'd dreamed for so long of being special to someone, only not to someone like him.

Her childhood hadn't been happy. She wasn't unpopular, though when everyone paired off at school, she was always left standing. Her father hardly came home enough to notice he had a daughter and her mother continually expressed her disappointment in Kate's lack of interest in things she found fascinating. Her mom had a cold heart, before and after Kate had been...raped.

Kate's heart pounded. Oh God, it was happening again. How could it be happening again? She held her breath and counted down from a hundred. She'd survived before. She could survive this.

When Jack kept yawning, Kate wondered if he'd fall asleep behind the wheel.

She decided to stay quiet and risk an accident but he fiddled with the air-conditioning and a cool breeze flooded the car.

"Your back ache, Kate?"

"No," she lied.

"Mine feels like I'm leaning on knives. We've covered over five-hundred miles.

Time for a break."

On the outskirts of El Paso, Jack turned off the highway, made a right at the bottom of the ramp and headed toward a Burger King. He parked on the empty lot next to it, nowhere near any vehicle. Kate guessed he intended to leave her in the car. Jack unfastened his seatbelt and took two long nylon cable ties from a side pocket. As he pulled her toward him, Kate flailed with her fists.

"Stop fighting. It's only for a little while. I need to stretch my legs and get us something to eat."

Jack pinned her across the front seats, her head resting against his thigh. He wrapped one of the ties around her hands, slid the ribbed end through the ratchet and pulled tight. Picking a roll of silver duct tape from the console, he ripped off a strip with his teeth and pressed it over her mouth. Jack shoved her forward, reaching to loop the other plastic strip around her ankles and through the one at her wrists so Kate was hog-tied, doubled over with her chest pressed into her knees, unable to move, hardly able to breathe. A blanket floated over her.

"Be good, sweetheart."

She heard the click of the lock as he walked away.

Kate struggled to pull air through her nose. She'd already been short of breath from the struggle, now she began to panic.

I won't die like this. I won't.

By the time Jack returned to the car, her breathing was ragged. He pulled off the blanket and cut the ties. Kate levered herself upright and desperately peeled the tape from her mouth, not caring if she ripped the skin from her lips.

She gasped. "Couldn't...breathe."

"If you couldn't breathe, you'd be dead." He lifted the bag of food to his lap.

Kate's head ached. She continued to gulp and bent to rub her ankles, wrapping the ID cards in her palm before she sat up again. "Please...window." Jack turned the key in the ignition and opened her window. Kate leaned out and took a deep breath. She coughed to disguise the sound of the cards dropping and after a moment or two, pulled her head back inside.

"I got you a coffee. Black, one sugar." Jack offered her the drink.

The moment she had her hands on the cup, she threw the coffee into his lap.

Kate reached through the window and wrenched at the door handle, almost falling out when the door opened. She heard Jack screeching as she bolted. Her mind dismissed the consequences of what she'd done, his reaction if the door hadn't opened, what he'd do if he caught her. Not going to catch me. She sprinted through the shrubbery into the restaurant parking lot, straight into the path of a car.

It wasn't going fast but Kate slid onto the hood and off again as the car braked.

The driver, an old guy, looked at her in alarm as she staggered to her feet and grabbed the handle of the passenger door. Nothing happened. She tried the rear.

"Open the door," she gasped. "Help me."

She glanced back and saw Jack coming. She heard the click of the door unlocking and threw herself in the back, but as she tried to shut herself in, Jack's fingers caught the edge of the door. Kate scrambled to get out the other side but he grabbed her.

"What's the hell's going on?" the old man asked.

"He's kidnapped me. Call the police."

"Shut up," Jack shouted.

He tried to drag her from the car and Kate clung to the seat.

"I'm Kate Evans. I live in San Antonio. He's Jack Thom-" Something sharp pressed into her ribs. The pain came after. Jack yanked her upright, and Kate watched a red spot bloom like an ink stain on her T-shirt.

"I warned you, Kate. I warned you what would happen." She pressed trembling lips together.

"What's your name?" Jack asked the driver.

"Charlie."

"Looks like you joined our game, Charlie. Kate's introduced us so we're all friends now, right? You see that Suburban in the next lot? Park next to it."

"How about you get out and walk," Charlie said.

"Tell Charlie why he should do as I say." Jack twisted the blade in her T-shirt and tears sprang into her eyes.

"He's got a knife."

"Fuck," Jack muttered, his gaze on a man approaching the car. "Tell this guy everything's fine or I'll kill her and then I'll kill you." The man bent his head and Charlie let down his window.

"Everything okay?"

The knife dug deeper into Kate's skin but Jack had her pressed tight to the seat so what he was doing couldn't be seen.

"They're arguing," Charlie said.

"I thought you just knocked her down."

Jack pulled Kate back and let the guy see the blood on her T-shirt. "He's going to drive us to the hospital. You're holding us up." The guy moved away again and, as Kate was on the verge of opening her mouth and screaming, Jack put the knife to the back of Charlie's neck.

"Drive."

The old man gave a heavy sigh, pulled out of the parking lot and parked next to the Suburban.

"Okay. I drove you over. Now get out."

"You know, Charlie, I'd like to see how you look behind the wheel of my car."

"Let him go," Kate pleaded. "I'll be good. Let him go."

"We're all going to get out of your car and into mine. Nice and steady."

"I don't think I want to do that," Charlie said. "I'll stay right here." Jack took the knife from Charlie's neck and pressed it into Kate's side, and she couldn't stop the cry escaping.

The old man grimaced. "All right. Don't hurt her." Jack dragged Kate out and she began to struggle. He twisted her sore wrist, bringing her to her knees. When Charlie moved toward her, Jack put the knife to her neck. The man glared but got behind the wheel. Jack threw Kate in the rear and slammed the door on her.

"Are you okay?" Charlie turned to her.