04

« I don’t know. How can you not have GPS ? »

« There’s a map in the glove box, » she snapped.

As he pulled out the map and looked at it she stared at the road ahead of her. She’d been gone more than half an hour, Kevin would be wondering where she was.

She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t think this man would actually use the gun on her, but she didn’t really feel like testing out that theory right now, just in case she was wrong. She glanced at her gas gauge and saw that Kevin hadn’t filled up the car. The needle was starting to dip uncomfortably low. She would have to stop for gas within the hour or they would be stranded on the highway.

She needed to somehow get away from him, get free and get home. As he fumbled with the map she slowly started to let her speed climb until she was five over the limit, then ten, then twenty over. She hovered between fifteen and twenty over the limit so as not to arouse his suspicions by going too fast or by changing the speed too drastically. Thankfully there were no other cars on the road for him to gauge their speed by. He’d have to lean over her to check the speedometer and she didn’t think he’d be doing that anytime soon.

« I can’t read this, » he said as he threw down the map.

« You can’t fold it back up either, » she commented as she noticed that the map was now lying in a crumpled heap at his feet.

« Can you read it ? » he asked, glaring at her.

« Normally yes. But right now I’m driving, » she said sweetly.

« I’ll hold the wheel and you read, » he said as he picked up the map and tried to smooth it out on the dashboard.

« Won’t help. » she said as she glanced sideways at him.

« What ? » he demanded as he looked up from his task. « Why not ? »

« That’s a county map. You need a much bigger map to find Midland, » she said as she checked her speed, twenty-one above the limit. It was the end of the month, where were all the cops trying to make their speeding ticket quotas when she needed them ?

« Why didn’t you tell me sooner ? » he demanded. « Why didn’t you say you didn’t have a helpful map ? »

She shrugged and pushed her speed just a little more, now she was twenty-five above the limit. They were going so fast that she was surprised he hadn’t picked up on her trick. « I didn’t know what map was in there. »

« You don’t know what map you have in your own car ? »

« It’s not my car. » she said as she pushed her speed just a little more. She was now close to thirty over the limit and they were flying down the highway. This guy was either really dense or really distracted.

« Whose car is it ? »

« My brother’s. »

Just then her cell phone started to ring in her purse. He reached down and grabbed her purse off the floor and pulled out her phone.

« Who’s’Kevin cell’ ? » he asked as he glanced at the call id screen.

« My brother, his cell phone. »

He swiped his finger over the ignore button before she could say a word. When the call had been dropped he turned it off and put the now dead phone back in her purse.

« What’re you doing ? » she asked as pulled out her wallet.

« Looking at your driver’s license, to get your name. »

« You could just ask me. You don’t have to go all overzealous security guard on my purse. »

« You could lie. »

« Why would I lie about my name ? It’s in my wallet and in my phone. It’s the only thing I answer too. »

« So what’s your name ? »

« Emily. » She glanced over at him and then down at her speed. Her gas gauge was getting lower, especially now that she was pushing the speed.

« Are you telling the truth ? »

« I am. » She nodded. « What’s yours ? »

« Tom, » he said after a pause.

« Are you telling the truth ? »

« Yes. » He gave her a look as she smirked at him.

« Just checking. » She smiled as she turned her eyes back onto the road and he put her purse down. She noticed that he zipped it up before he tossed it onto the floor. That was considerate of him at least.

She glanced down at her speed. She was almost twenty-five over the limit, all she needed was a cop.

There was a long, drawn out silence between the two of them where he stared out the window and she concentrated on driving.

Now that she’d had a few moments to think she was still completely confused by what was happening. People didn’t get hijacked, not in real life. That kind of thing only happened in the movies.

« Why ? » she asked suddenly. She couldn’t hold back any more. The silence was making her think and thinking was driving her crazy.

« Why what ? » he asked as he looked over at her again. Once again it was as though he’d forgotten she was sitting right next to him, driving him in her hijacked car.

« Why did you hijack and kidnap me ? Why are we driving to Midland ? Why me ? Why any of this ? »

« I can’t tell you, » he said finally. His voice was soft and he seemed sorry that he wasn’t answering her questions. He really wasn’t acting like a hardened criminal, and even as she was wondering what his story was she was cursing herself for caring.

« Can’t or won’t ? » she asked pointedly.

He just looked at her. « Won’t. »

« Just tell me something, please. » she said quietly, glancing at him as she continued to drive down the deserted highway. « One thing. Just tell me one thing, that’s all I ask. »

He looked at her for a long time. « We’re going to Midland because there’s someone there I need to see. I hijacked you because I needed a car and I kidnapped you because I needed a driver. » He paused and then shrugged. « I chose your car because of the license plate. »

« The plate ? » she looked at him.

« It has my lucky number in it. » he said with another shrug.

« And what’s that ? » she asked as she pictured Kevin’s place in her mind. She knew it as well as she knew her own plate number, but for some reason she couldn’t pick out a number that he would find luckier than the rest.

« Thirteen. »

« Thirteen is your lucky number ? » she blurted out as she looked over at him in surprise. « I thought I was the only one. »

There was no thirteen on her license plate.

« It’s always been my lucky number. I was born on Friday the thirteenth, » he said almost proudly.

« I was born on the thirteenth too, but it was a Wednesday the year I was born. »

« What month ? »

« February, » she said after a pause.

« You were born on February thirteenth ? » he asked incredulously.

« Yeah ? » She didn’t understand his reaction. « Why ? »

« So was I. »

« How old are you ? » she asked as she glanced at him. He was definitely older than her.

« Twenty-eight, you ? »

« Twenty-four. »

« That’s a crazy coincidence. » He chuckled.

« It really is, » she agreed as she glanced down at the speedometer. She was driving at the speed limit.

Cursing at herself mentally she pushed the speed up again. She could just not tell him that she needed to stop and get gas soon,but she didn’t really feel like being stranded on the highway with him just in case he decided to use that gun he was still holding on to. A glance at the clock told her that she’d been driving for just over an hour.