Princess (American Princess #1)(35)
Author: Courtney Cole

She wiped the frustrated wetness from her eyes and jumped up with renewed energy. The door took the brunt of her agitation as she leveled her best rendition of a round house kick at it. 

It felt so good that she did it again.  And again.  The only other time she had used kicks like this was with her personal trainer, but they felt much more effective now as the sole of her foot connected solidly with the door.

When her thigh got tired, she switched to her other leg and then to front kicks… beating the crap out of the door tirelessly as her rage consumed her and fueled her with adrenaline.

To her surprise, the hinge gave a little as though one of the screws had come out.  The door opened by a half inch.  It only increased her aggression and she kicked all the harder, giving it everything she had left- every possible ounce of strength.

With every kick, the metal hinge creaked and rattled, giving her hope and pushing her on. With her final kick, the door gave way with a groan.  It flew open and she heard the metal hinge drop to the ground.

She stared at it in shock for a second and then realized that Danny was staring at her with an expression of awe.  She was sure that she must look unbelievable- as small as she was, kicking down a locked door barefoot.

She guessed what she had always heard was true.  A person really could pick up a car if they were scared or desperate enough.  She had just kicked down a door.  That was pretty bad ass stuff.  She hoped that she lived to brag about it.

“Come on, Danny!”

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him with her as she rushed through the door.  She stopped at the room next to theirs and examined the padlock.  There was no way that she could kick it down from this side.

“Deidre?  This is Sydney.  I’m out here… I kicked down our door.   You can do the same thing!”

“I can’t, Sydney!  I’m not strong enough!”  Deidre started beating on the door with her fists, but the door didn’t budge.

“Deidre, use your feet.  Kick it!”

Sydney pushed Danny behind her as Diedre began kicking at the door.  The door thudded with each impact, but stayed intact.

“I don’t have any shoes.  I can’t kick hard enough!  I haven’t eaten in weeks.  Go without me and bring back help.  He could come back any minute- go!!”

“Deidre, I really don’t want to leave here without you.  With us gone, he could move you…”

Deidre interrupted her.  “Just go! There’s nothing else to do.  But please, please Sydney.  Please, bring back help! You don’t know the things he does to me…”

Her voice trailed off, but the desperation it contained broke Sydney’s heart and it was all she could do to turn away.

“I promise you, Deidre.  I’ll bring back help.”

Sydney didn’t waste even another minute as she tugged Danny along with her and she found the back door.  As they stepped out into the light, the warmth from the sun washed over them and she felt free with a magnitude that she had never felt before. Absolute liberation.

She looked around.  There was nothing around them but cloudless sky for what appeared to be miles. Fields, crops and an empty road.  They were definitely in the country.  They were standing on the gravel driveway a few feet away from a faded white propane tank.

So, they were far enough from town that the gas company didn’t pipe natural gas out here.  From the position of the sun, she guessed that it was late afternoon, so it was important to get moving.  She didn’t want to be stuck in the country at night.

She stopped for just a second to kneel on the sharp rocks beside Danny, her heart still thudding in her chest. 

“Danny, we’re going to have to walk a lot today.  But we’ve got to get as far from here as we can.  We’ve got to find some help for Deidre before he comes back.  Okay?”

He nodded and put his hand in hers, tugging her to get started. She let him pull her down the sharp gravel of the driveway and she only looked back once.  The tiny house seemed so sad, standing there alone, that she shuddered.

The fact that she was leaving Deidre in there, completely vulnerable, made her nauseous.  But there was no help for it.  She gripped Danny’s hand and continued walking briskly in a direction that she hoped would lead to help.

CHAPTER TEN

He couldn’t take it anymore.  Sydney had been gone for two weeks.  The walls of his house were closing in on him and he had to get out for awhile, just for a little while.  He didn’t want to leave for long, because if Syd were to come home, he wanted to be there.

Stephen paced the worn hardwood floors of his living room like a caged lion. His patience was frazzled to the point that it was no longer existent. Although the detectives had been kind to him, they still hadn’t found Sydney. And it had been two weeks. 

So much could happen in two weeks time. So many things that it terrified him just to think about them. His cell phone rang in his hands and he answered it on the first ring.

“Hello?” He answered hopefully.

“It’s Daniels.  We’ve got something interesting here.  Someone mailed a videotape taken of Sydney…”

“Is she alright?”  Stephen asked anxiously.

“She appeared to be.  But her message was interesting.  She wants the world to know that her father is g*y.  She looked strong and healthy and it almost appeared as if she was videotaping herself.   Do you think it is possible that Sydney ran away on her own accord so that she could get this tape out before her father could get to her?  Maybe she was trying to protect you, for instance.”

“No.”  Stephen’s answer was immediate.

“She wouldn’t do that.  She trusts me and she would’ve just told me.  She wouldn’t leave in the middle of the night and make it look like an abduction.  She wouldn’t do that to me.”  He felt confident of that fact.

“Maybe she thought you wouldn’t let her go any other way.  Maybe she was trying to keep you safe…”

Stephen protested again.  He knew she wouldn’t have done that.  She would want to keep him safe, yes… but she would know that his worry would be unbearable.

“It was just a thought,” Harrison added.  “I’m following up on the videotape to see if the post office it was mailed from has surveillance footage.  We’ll find out soon enough if it was Sydney herself or we’ll get a description of whoever is holding her.”