JACK KILBORN ~ TRAPPED by J.A. Konrath, Jack Kilborn

opportunity. She worked fast, digging a finger into the corner of his mouth and touching the horrible gag stuck inside. It was a wood, roughly golf-ball sized, and Sara counted eight nails protruding out of it, each two inches long. Two skewered his right cheek, one his lower lip, and three his left cheek. The other two jutted from his mouth like tusks.
    She stretched his left cheek back, forcing the gag further to the right, making the wounds on that side bleed fresh.
    Martin’s eyes popped open and he lashed out, smacking Sara on the side of the head, sending her sprawling.
    Sara opened her eyes and stared up at the forest canopy, a small opening allowing a few stars to shine through. She’d once again lost the flashlight, but little bright motes swam through her vision like sparks. Her head was ringing.
    It was the first time Martin had ever hit her. Not his fault, of course. He’d been unconscious. But it was as good a blow as she’d ever sustained, especially since she hadn’t been on guard to block it.
    She sat up, squinting as the light hit her eyes.
    “ You okay?” Laneesha asked. “He clocked you pretty good.”
    “ Shine it on Martin, Laneesha, and kneel next to him.”
    When the beam rested on Martin’s face he was looking Sara’s way.
    “ orry,” he said around the gag.
    Sara blinked a few times. “We need to get that out of your mouth. I know your hands hurt, but I need you to keep them behind your back for me. I have to put the rope on again.”
    Martin’s red eyes went wide with panic.
    “ Not tight,” Sara assured him. “But I don’t want you lashing out and hurting me or Jack or Laneesha. Okay?”
    He hesitated, then nodded. Sara located the rope and again tied the slip knot, this time higher up on his arms, near the elbows. Then she ran her palm across Martin’s sweat-soaked hair.
    “ This is really going to hurt. But I need you to keep still. If you thrash, it could tear your cheeks off. Understand?”
    Martin squeezed his eyes shut. “urry…oo it.”
    “ I…I really don’t want to be here,” Laneesha said.
    “ I need to you hold the light for me.”
    “ This is awful. Just awful. What if the people that did this to him come back?”
    “ You’re jiggling the light. Hold it still.”
    “ If someone put one of those things in my mouth…shit…I can’t…”
    “ Goddamnit, Laneesha! Act like an adult and hold the goddamn light steady!”
    Sara never yelled, never swore, at the kids. And perhaps this shocked Laneesha so much that she shut up, keeping the light perfectly centered on Martin’s ruined mouth.
    Sara again stuck a finger into the hinge of his lips, peeling back the cheek, trying to free the left side while forcing the nails on the right in deeper.
    Martin’s head twitched and he screamed again. Sara felt the wood and nails vibrate from the sound, making her even more determined to free her husband from this horrible thing, pulling back as hard as she could, stretching the skin to an almost ridiculous length, then, with one quick motion, she tugged fast and firm.
    The nail gag came out so fast it jabbed Sara’s palm, and Martin twisted violently to the side, pressing his bleeding face into the leaves, his whole body wracking with sobs.
    “ Honey.” Sara crawled over to him and put a hand on his back. “We’ve got to get going. Laneesha’s right. Whoever did this to you was planning on coming back for you. You need to get up.”
    Martin continued to cry. Jack joined him. Sara took Jack back, and tried to comfort both of her men at the same time.
    “ Sara…” Laneesha was whispering.
    “ Laneesha, help me with Martin.”
    “ Sara…”
    “ I know. The sooner we get him up, the sooner we can get out of here. We’ll find the orange ribbon on the trees, follow it back to camp, then use the radio to—”
    “ SARA!”
    Laneesha’s scream trumped Martin’s in volume, and Sara turned and watched as something filthy and foul-smelling grabbed Laneesha around