Taken

Chapter Seventeen--JEREMIAH

whole body ached as I lay on the floor, two men standing above me.  I was confused and in a state of delirious exhaustion; all I wanted to do was go to sleep.  If I closed my eyes I got kicked again though, so I tried to keep them open.

          “Where is she?” the guy on the left shouted in his raspy voice.

          “I don’t know,” I replied, much quieter, my voice shaky.  I couldn’t remember who he was talking about, I could barely remember my own name.  My thoughts were scattered.  I needed to sleep…

          I groaned in pain as I took a hard kick to the stomach.  I curled up and gritted my teeth, tears coming up in my eyes.  “I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I managed to get out.

          “The little girl. Haven.”

          “Why?” I knew it was the wrong thing to ask as soon as it slipped out and the man on the right bent down and tugged me up by my hair into a kneeling position.

          “We ask the questions.  Got it?” He thrust me back down.  “Now we know you know who she is. And probably, where she is.”

          Haven… that name rang a bell.  But why? How did I know her?  I thought hard.  Denny came to mind, and as I thought harder, Haven did too.  I tried to keep it from registering on my face.

          “Why would you think that?”

          “You came back to this house for a reason, I assume.”

          “Shelter,” I replied confidently, as confidently as I could when I had two very large men staring down at me.  “Nothing else.”

          “Then how do you explain this?” The man on the left held up a T-shirt, one of Haven’s and dropped it by my feet.  “We found it in your bag.”

          “What?” I said, feigning surprise.  However, I didn’t know quite how it got there or how they knew it was hers.  My head was spinning.

          “Better start confessing and stop playing dumb with us or somebody won’t see daylight again,” growled the man on the right and I shivered in intimidation.

          “I’m not saying anything until you tell me why you want her.” My voice denied my emotions and I braced for the next blow, clamping my mouth shut and squeezing my hands in fists.  I didn’t say anything though, I didn’t let them have that satisfaction.

          “Fine,” said the man on the left.  “We’ll tell you.  Because the way you’re going, you probably won’t remember any of this anyways.”  I shuddered.  “Her grandma doesn’t feel the need to cooperate very well.  She needs some—oh, what would you call it? Motivation.”

          The evil grin that crept across his face was enough to make my spine tingle.  “A hostage?” I thought aloud in an inaudible whisper.  The men didn’t even pick up on it.

          “So now’s the time when you tell us.  Where’s the girl?”

          I shook my head and took at least three kicks before I couldn’t take it anymore.  “Oklahoma City!” I screamed.  “Oklahoma City!” I crumpled into stillness onto the floor.

          The man on the right smiled at the other.  “You better not be fooling us boy, or we will track you down.”