How did the man really expect to get out of the preserve anyway, Roden wondered as he crouched by the driver's side door. On foot? A second later, he realized the answer. He had left the key in the BMW when he got out to check it for damage. Martin probably noticed that when he crawled out of the backseat.
Roden dared to peak over the Jetta, again. Sure enough, Martin was heading towards the BMW. His anger escalated. Not only was the crazy bastard making off with the girl, but he was also stealing Roden's pride and joy to do it.
Roden was about to make an ill-considered suicidal rush towards his car when he heard a shout in the opposite direction. It was Manda. "Hey." She was flailing her arms and running down the dirt road as fast as her high heals would let her. "Hey, hey, hey." It appeared that she thought her companions were leaving without her.
Roden made a resigned dash towards her to keep her out of harm's way. As he reached her, another shot was fired. It sliced through the branches far above them, clearly a warning shot. Manda screamed, and Roden wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to the ground. She let out an indignant huff, but went down without a struggle.
From a distance, Roden looked on as Martin forced Ess into the driver's side of the car and pushed her towards the passenger seat. The car roared to a start, and Martin put it into reverse to reposition it back on the road. He sped off entirely too quickly down the dirt path, and Roden could only watch in disbelief, willing the events of the last few minutes sink in.
* * *
A half an hour later Roden was still trying to understand what had happened. The complete turn of events puzzled and vexed him. Martin was a turncoat; or more accurately, he used them to get to Esther. But why? The reasons for the seriously obsessed Max to kidnap the young woman were obvious, but Roden just couldn't understand what would make Martin do the same. It was clear by Martin's actions that he wasn't intending to rescue her. He mentioned a reward, though. There wasn't a reward. No one even knew Esther was gone. Yet.
He pondered on this as he and Manda made their way in silence. Manda was evidently in her own state of contemplation and shock. They were headed down the dirt trail that she had traversed earlier. As it turned out, the cause of her initial excitement at seeing her companions had been because she had discovered a new lead.
While performing her search, she had kept to the road, but spotted a cabin in the distance. Smoke from the chimney indicated that it was occupied. Apparently, she conjectured for a while on rather she should keep going towards the cabin, or if she should get her companions. By the time she decided that it was better to have back up, she was late in returning to the Jetta.
After Martin sped off, Roden was forced to give her the play by play on what had just occurred. This, of course, set her off. She yelled and stomped her feet while throwing curses in the general direction that Martin had gone. Her bantering swung back and forth so frequently that Roden couldn't tell if she was more upset that Martin had now kidnapped her poor friend, or if her anger stemmed from the fact that he had used her to get to Ess. God help Martin if Manda ever got a hold of him again, Roden thought. He smiled at the idea. If that ever happened, he hoped he would get to see it.
Eventually, Manda spoke again; pointing out the cabin she had seen earlier. Sure enough, smoke indicated occupation. They turned off the road to make a straight path to the hut. Roden's empty stomach grumbled and turned in knots, as he knew he was nearing the possibility of finding out the rest of the story of Martin's dealings with Max. He prayed that the man had not used that gun on his friend.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ess grasped the door handle of the car with white knuckles as Martin bounded it ruthlessly over the rocky road. Occasionally she glanced over at the gun, still in his hand while he gripped the steering wheel. That gun was the only thing that kept her from jumping out of the car and attempting another run for it. This man had used that weapon too liberally towards others for her to think that he wouldn't use it on her, as well.
They rode in silence for a while before she summed up the courage to speak. She figured that, since it was her life that was in danger, she had better swallow her timidity and find out what on earth was going on.
So, she started with the best question she could think of: "Who the hell are you, anyway?"
He kept his eyes on the winding terrain, but smiled wickedly. "My name is Martin Voletti, but you can call me Marty. So, do you have some nickname or something?"
"For you? No." Ess was taken aback by his small talk. She just wanted answers. "And where do you plan to take me, Martin Voletti?"
"To Mr. Marcus Angoli. He has a keen interest in you." Then he spared her a devious glance. "I don't know what it is about you – no offense – but you seem to have turned several heads. You are one lucky young lady, though, because the man I'm taking you to is rich beyond your wildest dreams. If you're good to him, you can bet he'll treat you like a queen."
"No thank you. I'm not interested." Ess responded. "You can just drop me off here." Martin's explanation didn't make her feel any better about her situation, though it certainly solidified Max's reasons for kidnapping her. She felt bad for not having trusted him more.
Martin laughed. "Oh, witty, huh? Well, rather you are interested or not, I'm still taking you to Angoli. So, you better decide if you want to be treated like a queen or handled like a prisoner. That's the only choice you've got."
That disclosure made Ess feel queasy. She didn't like her choices, and she didn't understand why this was happening to her. She still held to the assertion that she wasn't anything extraordinary. Her whole life she'd been looked over. And now, she couldn't seem to get herself out of the damned limelight.
When she didn't speak again Martin decided to continue the conversation himself. "So, how about that Manda-broad. She's quite the feisty little bitch. How did you two ever become friends?"
"Manda?" Ess was startled. "How do you know Manda?"
"Part of the plan, my dear. Part of the plan." Martin smiled at his accomplishment. "I was only supposed to play a minor role in this shake down, but fate led me to be the star of the operation." His dramatics and over-the-top display of self-assurance caused an irritated eye roll from Ess.
He paused to grin in self-congratulations, so Ess prodded him to continue. "What do you mean?"
"My job was to distract Manda, keep her away from you for awhile. Let me tell you, that was an experience. That woman is a prima donna. She required a lot of attention. When the abduction was set to go down, I had made sure I had a date set up with her. Something went wrong though, as you know. Max got involved, and Roden was on the hunt to stop him. He thought Max had snapped.
"Anyways, Roden ran into Manda and me, and we went searching for you together. Lucky me. My chances for compensation opened wide up. So, I phoned in the situation the first chance I got, and, as if my luck couldn't get any better, I found you first.
"By the way, I want to thank you or Max or whoever it was, for leaving a trail right to the cabin. The white tissue idea was brilliant. Not obvious at first, and the wind knocked the pieces around a bit, but all in all, it got me to where I needed to go."