It hadn’t taken her long to find a man willing to show her a good time, or so he said he would. She had just enough beer to water down any sort of conscience or inhibition she may have had on the situation. When the blond-haired man approached her, she gave him only a second look. He was average height and mildly attractive, so she let him buy her a drink she didn’t touch. She’d learned her lesson the first time.

It was nearly midnight when he suggested they go back to his place and she decided she would. It was simple and thoughtless because she didn’t know the man. She needed a release, a chance to forget her mistakes by making more. She let him lead her out of Peaks and followed him onto the sidewalk.

“Just a few blocks.” He slurred slightly and wavered as he walked.

She nodded, following him with little protest. Her judgement was clouded, inhibitions watered down. Was this how she managed to screw herself up? Was this how she managed to ruin everything?

The thought of easy sex with an attractive man put her in a position that would make her hate herself. Is this the way that would help her let go of her mistakes? She didn’t know, but she would keep doing this until she did.

She stumbled as another woman came out of nowhere and bumped into her heavily. “Oh, dear.” The other woman put a hand on her to steady her. Her voice was thick with a familiar accent. She struggled to place it with her alcohol-addled mind. She was beautiful and curvy, smiling as she helped right her on her feet. “I am so sorry. I was not paying a bit of attention to where I was going.”

Her date had stumbled ahead of her, and she gave the girl that ran into her a last fleeting look. “No harm done,” she murmured before she turned to go after her date. What was his name? Did he tell her? She couldn’t remember and wasn’t sure she cared.

She managed to walk a few feet away from the woman who bumped into her, stumbling slightly as she tried to catch up to her date. “Wait,” she called out, though she didn’t hear her voice carry.

A truck roared up, its engine growling angrily, and it knocked into the metal trash can that sat along the sidewalk. Startled and realizing she was more inebriated than she first thought, she stumbled and fell on her rump. What was going on? “Get up,” a male voice barked at her, and the barrel of a handgun took up her vision.

“What?” She tried to comprehend what was going on. She looked past the barrel to a set of angry blue eyes that were glaring at her. Was this real? Or had she fallen asleep and suddenly, she was dreaming?

He snarled and snatched up one of her arms, his fingers digging into tender flesh. “I said, get up.” He didn’t give her the opportunity to protest and began to shove her in the direction of the open truck door. “Get in!”

It was then that she realized what was going on. She turned to look down the sidewalk for her date or anyone who might help her. She saw the woman who had bumped into her, though she didn’t seem to be willing to offer any sort of assistance. The other woman stood by, watching, eyes narrowed and calculating. “Help me,” she demanded as the man with the gun started to shove her into his truck.

She didn’t get a response or a hand to help. The other woman just watched on. Now desperate, she swung around and tried to shove the man with the gun away. She was following someone out here. “Help me!” her voice went shrill, and she let out a scream as she felt the seat hit her rump.

“If you don’t want me hitting you,” the man in front of her growled, his teeth bared, “or shooting you, you will get in!”

Life or death, though she was sure this would end in her death if she followed his orders. What choice did she have? No one offered her help. She backed further into the cab of the truck, climbing along the bench seat as he followed. “Don’t kill me,” she pleaded as she watched him quickly get in and back the vehicle off the sidewalk. She couldn’t see what he did with the gun. She couldn’t see it but she knew he was still armed.

He seemed to be more preoccupied with what was going on behind them than what she was saying, “Calm down.” It was another barked order as he righted the truck and began speeding them down the road. He was speeding, trying to put as much distance between them and the place he snatched her. Maybe someone called the police?

“If you do not plan on killing me,” she demanded, trying to covertly check the door behind her to see if it was a means for escape. Unfortunately, it was locked already. “Why did you kidnap me?”

He shot her a look between keeping his eyes on the road and the rear-view mirror. “We’ll talk,” he promised as he turned a corner sharply. “But first, you need to calm down.” She got another glare from him. “And not do anything stupid.” Like he knew she was messing with the locking mechanism to the door.

She straightened as much as she could with the shift and pull of the vehicle, eyeing the man who stole her off the sidewalk. “What do you want? Money? Information? Are you a spy?” she demanded. She didn’t have anything and she couldn’t offer anything else up. God help her if this was another spy thinking they could milk her for information.

“I do not know anything,” she started, watching him. “I have not worked for the CIA for nearly a year. All the information that was pulled out of me before was all that I had. Surely, things have changed since you last questioned me.”

“Related,” he admitted, his mouth turned up, and she could have sworn he was grinning at her. “But, not the reason I had to snatch you.”

The passing street lights started to give her a better chance to get a look at him. It was enough to give her pause. The face, the structure of it looked the same. Put a helmet on him . . . and she remembered the angry blue eyes from before, vivid in color as he made his demands. Reality hit her in the stomach and she reeled for a moment. “I know you,” she breathed.

He caught on, or he already figured out what she was talking about, because he didn’t offer any sort of argument. If anything, he nodded, confirming it. He was the soldier from Kosovo. Was this a dream? This had to be a dream! “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe,” he admitted. “I’ll have to ditch the truck.” He had slowed to a respectable speed and had gotten them out of the downtown area. He gave her a look again, long enough to give her a once-over. “Can I ask that you trust me enough to not do anything stupid?”

She nodded, though her better sense told her she should still be panicking. But this was her soldier, her savior. Surely, she could trust him. “Am I in danger?”

“From a couple of different angles,” he admitted.

Were her problems never-ending?