Amy Maxwell & the 7 Deadly Sins (The Amy Maxwell Series Book 2) (20 page)

I
could
try to escape, but I afraid that will most likely result in me being shot in the back. I may not be hog tied, but my hands are certainly tied in the figurative sense. Claudia has a gun. I don’t know how many bullets she has. I don’t know where we are. We could be parked at the edge of a cliff and I may fall tragically to my death. Or it may be a highway and I’ll run into oncoming traffic like a scared deer during hunting season. (Although, that’s probably unlikely because duh, who parks on the side of the highway to shoot and kill two people). And I’m thinking that Claudia is smarter than that.

But still…I’ve got to try something, right? I can’t just lie here like I’m half dead already and wait for Claudia to finish the job. If I can get the duct tape off of my ankles, maybe I can creep out of the car and surprise her from behind while she’s busy arguing with Beth. Hey, if I can barely see them, they probably can’t see me too well either, right? That’s Furball, our cat’s motto anyway. She closes her eyes when she doesn’t want the kids to pick her up, like that’s going to stop Evan from catching her in a death grip simply because he loves to hear her meow.
Evan is such a character
. That thought makes my heart crumble.

Evan…my poor little baby boy is going to grow up motherless if I don’t get out of here. I can’t let that happen, can I?

Full of determination (and some bravery that I have no idea where it came from), I pick at the duct tape around my legs frantically. I only need to get one leg out…just one leg.

Unfortunately, I thought about it just a shade too long, because just as I free my left ankle, I hear Claudia’s voice shrilly call out, “Kevin, I think she’s awake!”

Crap.
I quickly debate about eyes open versus eyes shut. Eyes shut might lead them to believe I am still unconscious, but eyes open will be to my advantage because I will be able to see what’s going on. I keep my eyes open.

“Amy?” Beth’s face comes into view. Upon closer inspection I see that she actually looks like hell. The perky rumpled look she had only a few moments ago is now completely disheveled. Maybe she looked this bad before and I really, really need to get my contact prescription adjusted. Her hair is matted and sticking up all over the place, like she just rolled in from the bar. She looks much older than her 38 years. Hell, she even looks older than our mother who is in her 60s. Her waterproof mascara has completely run down her face, her cheeks are bright red; probably from a combination of the slap and the biting cold wind that brushing past us.

The temperature has appeared to drop by fifteen degrees or more since we left my house all those hours ago. My hoodie is no longer sufficient. Beth is shivering.

Is it from the cold or from fear?
As far as I know, the closest my sister has come to a near death experience is a sale at Nordstrom. I’m pretty sure she has never been held at gunpoint before.

“Beth,” I reply in a sort of groggy, just woke up voice. I have no idea why I sound like that.
How long was I unconscious for anyway? 
“How the hell are you?”

“It’s you I’m worried about!” Beth wails with authority.
Geez, how does she sound bossy
all
the time?

“I’m okay,” I manage to assure her, pushing my hand down on the floor of the trunk to help my body up.

“Don’t get up!” Now she really sounds bossy. “You lost a lot of blood! Do you want to pass out again?” she asks in the same tone of voice I usually ask the kids if they’d like to spend the rest of the night in their room.

“Well as charming as this family reunion has been, I’m afraid we need to get on with the show.” Claudia is sauntering up behind Beth, waving that damn gun around in the air like a cowboy at a rodeo. Actually, I don’t think cowboys wave guns around at rodeos but…

“Are you un-taped?” Claudia suddenly shrieks as she steps up to the back of the trunk and peers down at me. She squints and then spins on her heel to face Kevin who is also coming up to the back of the trunk. He looks almost as horrible as Beth does, which isn’t saying too much because he didn’t look so great to begin with. But his face is drawn and there are bags under his eyes that didn’t exist before.

“Kevin! She’s out of her duct tape!” Claudia’s voice is actually causing me to cringe and I have a lot of experience with high pitched voices. I live with Lexie, remember?

Kevin runs his hand through his thinning hair. “Give it a rest Claudia. She was unconscious for a good five minutes. I’m sure she’s not about to run for the woods. The bears would find her in no time with all that blood leaking out of her.”

“That’s sharks, you idiot,” Claudia retorts. “Sharks smell blood! Not bears!”

“Whatever.” Kevin doesn’t appear to be in the mood to argue about this petty trivia. In fact, he looks like all he wants is a shower and a bed.

“No, not
whatever
. Don’t roll your eyes at me, Kevin. It’s your fault she’s out of the restraints.” Claudia steps closer to Kevin and pokes him in the chest with a manicured finger. His face droops, and for a second, he’s the epitome of an abused husband. I almost feel sorry for the guy. That is, if he had not been an absolute asshole to me earlier in the evening by smashing my face into the side of the trunk. I slip my tongue into the now gaping hole in my gum and I shudder. I think that was my favorite tooth.

“Claudia, stop,” Kevin remarks in a monotone defeated voice. I think I’ve heard Roger use a similar tone when I’ve bullied him into something he doesn’t want to do, like Christmas shopping or changing a light bulb or something completely unrealistic and outlandish like that.

“I will
not
. Geez, I bet a four year old could do a better job.”

“Claudia, I’m warning you. Just shut up.” Kevin’s eyes are flashing now.

“Or what?” Claudia scoffs with a toss of her hair. “You’re going to turn into the incredible hulk or something?” She adds a sarcastic laugh. “That’ll be the day…when
you
do something incredible!”

“I warned you, Claudia,” Kevin growls with a low rumble. The hair on my neck prickles and I’m pretty sure it isn’t because of the cold. Kevin’s voice frightens me.

Claudia turns back toward the trunk and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, ok tough guy.” She pokes Beth in the shoulder with the butt of the gun. “Get back in the trunk. We’ve got to find a new-”

Before Beth can inch forward, she is yanked backwards by Kevin at the same time he knocks Claudia on the ground.

Beth screams as Kevin lunges toward his wife on the ground.

“Stay out of the way, Beth!” Kevin orders. “You too, uh…Amy!” He seems to add me as an afterthought. Of course. That’s all I am in this whole scenario. A big inconvenient afterthought.

A struggle ensues; I can only assume that Kevin is attempting to wrestle the gun away from Claudia.

“Are you
crazy
?” Claudia screeches.

“I told you before, I must be,” Kevin grunts, trying to pin her hands behind her back. She is kicking at the air wildly and seems to be freakishly strong.

“You will not back out on me now! We are finishing this together!” Her voice is like that of a possessed lunatic. I can only imagine a tiny demon living in her throat, pulling on her vocal cords like a ventriloquist.

“We will not. This is a crazy plan and I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far into it with you. It stops now. Give me the gun,” Kevin pants as he is now rolling around on the ground with his wife. Beth is frozen in utter shock and I am pulling my body into a sitting position, so I can peer over the edge of the trunk to watch this melee unfold.

Big mistake. The second I peek over, a gunshot rings out, followed by an earsplitting scream from Beth. Followed by a howl of agony from one of the two people rumbling on the ground in front of me.

I instinctively rock back on my heels to get out of the way of stray bullets, and nearly clock my head on the hood of the trunk in the process.

“You bitch!” Kevin shrieks as he leaps to his feet clutching his right shoulder. Even in the dim light I can see a dark stain quickly spreading on the right side of his light colored shirt. “You bitch,” he repeats as if he is completely stunned that she would shoot him.
Gee, I only met her a few hours ago and I could have called that one, Kev.

Claudia snickers as she stumbles to her feet. “You will not back out now, buddy boy. You’re going down with the ship.”

“Put the gun down, Claudia, before someone else gets hurt,” Kevin tries to reason as he screws his eyes shut from the pain.

Now here you may be thinking,
Now is the time to call for help again, Amy! Pick up that phone and dial 911! Call Roger! Call River! Get the hell out of the trunk!

But there’s something in the way Claudia is standing that puts me on guard. I’m thinking she’s a “shoot now, ask questions later” kind of gal and any sudden moves might land me, or Beth, directly in the morgue. Or Kevin…not that I really care about him.

“Oh someone’s gonna get hurt alright, Kevin. But that someone isn’t me.” She waves the gun madly. Kevin can obviously see the wild in her eyes and thinks it’s wise to get out of the way. He stumbles backwards, but in his state of rapidly losing blood, he trips. Claudia fires the gun again at him, this time hitting his lower body.

Beth screams again. I duck further into the recesses of the trunk and cannot see very well, but I’ll be damned if I get shot in the middle of their little martial spat. Hell, I don’t even shoot my own husband when we’re fighting. (Not that I’ve ever considered arsenic or something less violent in any of my daydreams…no, really, I haven’t, I
swear
).

“Are you going to help finish what you started or do I have to aim a little higher?” Claudia asks maliciously as she indicates his um,
private
area. Kevin struggles to his knees. There is a telltale dark stain spreading rapidly down his left leg. He is gasping for air and is still clutching his right shoulder as his left leg buckles underneath him.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Claudia remarks triumphantly. “You want to help the princess back in the trunk or shall I?” Claudia shoots up in the air like a cowboy firing a warning. Beth screams yet again. I duck and cover my head.

“I’ll do it,” Kevin groans. Panting, he reaches his arm out to get Claudia to help him up, but she just crosses her arms over her chest and ignores him. He staggers to his feet, takes a step and then falls again.

“Oh my
God
,” Beth mutters. “You are the worst wife ever.”

Kevin offers Beth a weak smile as Claudia saunters toward the front of the car. He stumbles to his feet and I see him grasp Beth’s hand behind her back. I squint as I look closer. Is he freeing her hands?

Um, hello, Amy! You need to do something! This is your opportunity! Grab your cell phone, jump out of the trunk and run for help! Claudia can’t take all three of you down. Oh wait, she has a gun…she just might be able to take all three of us down.

I know the clock is ticking and I’m biting my lip to quickly make a decision. I scan my surroundings. There appears to be a gravel road to my right and a heavily wooded area to my left. The opposite if you are coming up the road. Claudia just might be distracted enough that I can knock the gun out of her hand.

That’s a bad idea, Amy. Remember the last time you handled a gun? Maybe you should just try to escape and run for help.

But it’s so dark and there are no street lights. I have no idea where I am going. I really wish I had some light…

As if I have summoned the gods of light, the entire area is suddenly bathed in blinding light, as if someone has flicked the switch in a football stadium or something.

“What the hell?” I hear Claudia stammer. I can’t actually see her now mind you because the light is literally blinding.

Maybe I’m dead? Maybe we’re all dead? Or we’re all dying? Don’t go toward the light, Amy! The kids need you!

I can just see the obituary now:
Amy Maxwell, age 36, once a stay at home mother who was on her way to earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, has been killed by the Seven Deadly Sins. While it was her own ENVY and GLUTTONY that caused her to seek out a more exciting life for herself, it was ultimately her sister’s LUST and PRIDE, her husband’s SLOTH and Claudia Fox’s WRATH and GREED that brought Mrs. Maxwell to her untimely death. She will be deeply missed by her four children, Allie, Lexie, Colton, and Evan, and her husband of sixteen years, Roger, especially when they realize that she hasn’t done laundry in a few days and nobody has clean underwear….

“Put your hands up where we can see them!” A loud booming voice breaks through the debilitating light. I blink repeatedly but all I can see is stars. Now I feel dizzy.

See them? Who can
see
right now?
I am wondering as I throw my hands up anyway. I don’t even know if they’re talking to Kevin or Claudia or Beth. Or me.

“Claudia Fox! Kevin Buehler! This is the police! Drop your weapons and let Mrs. Katz and Mrs. Maxwell go!”

Kevin Buehler? Buehler? Buelher?
I giggle thinking about one of my favorite movies, my brain obviously delirious from the ordeal.
Who the heck thinks about movies when you’ve been kidnapped and your kidnapper has a gun?