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If Darcy Jensen had known she was going to be kidnapped, she would have worn better shoes Or at least more sensible shoes As it was she’d dressed in black strappy sandals that weren’t all that coed across a parking lot and thrown into the back of a van

She did her best to resist Screaed her And the resisting part went badly, ith her hands tied behind her back, although she did nail one guy with a decent head butt

Even as she landed hard on the metal floor of the van, she wondered how it all had happened She’d been in Ann Taylor checking out the new clothes for fall She’d told Drew she needed to use the restroom

Traveling with two Secret Service agentsa public restrooer of the store, as all too happy to have the president of the United States’ daughter peeing in her private bathroom Darcy had done her business, washed her hands—not only because she always did, but also because people checked on things like that when one was in the public eye—and had started back through the stockroo roo for her

That’s when the rabbed her Before she kneas happening, they’d slapped tape on her

One of theriht on QVC lying next to her on the floor of the van

The rear doors sla lot

Darcy braced herself as best she could on the ribbed floor as the van bounced, swerved, then turned onto what felt like a main road Two of her abductors had taken the front seats—she could see therille—while the other two must have had their own transportation She was alone in the back of the van

Alone with her purse

There were no s, no way to get anyone’s attention And no one to watch her retrieve the panic button that would signal the Secret Service and send the to rescue her

She inched her way toward the purse, only to have the van take another corner, causing the bag to go sliding out of reach Two more slip-slides across the dirtydistance of her purse…except for the small problem of her hands tied behind her back Could she open the zipper with her teeth? Probably not with the gag in place

Darcy had done her best to stay focused in the moment If she anchored herself in the now, the terror wasn’t so bad She could function But if she allowed herself to think about what they could do to her, hoas national policy to never negotiate with terrorists, then fear would explode inside of her, , despite the tape across her mouth

No! She wouldn’t go there She wouldn’t give in She was strong and deteret her panic button and push it until dozens of arh the walls of the van

She didn’t have h to know that the “trying on” part of a shopping trip could take at least an hour, whichuntil the van had enough time to cross a couple of state lines

If only it wasn’t so hot, she thought as she went to work on the zipper August in DC e temperature of a blast furnace with plenty of huht have AC, but here in the prison part of the vehicle, no such luck

She ignored the heat, the sweat, the scrapes and bruises, and bent over her purse Severaland three failed attempts later, Darcy had discovered she could not open the damn zipper with her teeth Which left her to scoot the purse into a corner, turn her back, and try to open it that way

Easier said than done, she thought as she discovered she couldn’t even hold on to the purse, although she did a lovely job of scraping her ar her head Why did this stuff always look so easy in the movies?

She tried again, carefully lodging the purse against the wheel well, then rolling onto her back and grabbing for the bag with her fingers This tiot it and turned it slowly until she felt the zipper

Don’tif they did, she would slide across the van and have to start all over again

The vehicle stayed ht

Inch by inch she pulled the zipper doeat poured down her back and s stuck to the floor of the van and to whatever crus were scattered there At last the purse was open She plunged both hands inside and felt around for the familiar plastic case Lipstick, wallet, cell phone, pen—

Cell phone? Nearly as good as the panic button She would have to dial, of course, but she could call the operator and asked to be put through to her father She could—

Darcy swore Right The tape across her mouth wouldfor the panic button

At that exact moment, the van suddenly cah not at the saet back to it before the bad guys opened the rear door to find her sprawled in a corner, her skirt up to her waist and the contents of her purse spread all over the floor of the van

“You didn’t take her handbag?” one of the guys asked the other “Goddaht you were smarter than that”

The recipient of the scolding, a smallish man in a vampire mask, stiffened “You used my name Now she knows my name”

The other one, deuy naet her inside”

Darcy tried to scramble away from her kidnappers, but as she was already in a back corner of the van, there was nowhere else to go They half carried, half dragged her into what looked like a large warehouse

She did her best to fight, lashing out at thehter to her upper arms and made her break a heel on her new sandals

Now she was ht-back chair and began tying her down They’d screith her day, bruised her, thrown her around the inside of a disgusting van, scratched her new leather bag, and ruined the black sandals she’d just bought after waiting four weeks for the to be hell to pay