"Thank you." Roden beckoned Manda over. Being rather staggered by the look of the old man, she maintained her distance. Slowly, she made her way from the brush at the side of the road, to stand close to Roden.

"Oh, by the way," the man started up again. "Where's that other fella you were with? The one with the fancy tie an' the nice jacket. He's the whole reason I drove in here this evenin'. That man borrowed my restroom key last night an' he never gave it back. I had ta go out behind the station earlier this mornin' ta relieve myself."

"Oh, him." Roden looked a little shame faced over Martin's discourteous deed, even though he knew it wasn't his fault. "Well, that man took my car and drove back into the city. I don't recall what he did with the key; however, I would be more than willing to replace the lock as a thank you for getting us back to civilization."

"Well, gee thanks; but it's no problem, really. Just thought I'd try an' get it back before I had ta go that far. Never mind, never mind. Come on an' get in."

Roden strode over to the passenger side and opened the door. Meanwhile, Max climbed into the back of the truck. When Roden expressed to Manda his intent to usher her inside, she gave Roden a death glare. Evidently, she had no intention of sitting in the truck's cab with the odd looking stranger. Instead, she climbed her way into the truck bed with Max. Her high heels and skirt gave her some trouble, but she managed it.

Roden sighed. So much for common courtesy. Then, smiling at the old man, he climbed into the cab himself. He had no issues with keeping this man company, though he could be sure to have his ear talked off. Roden's main attention during the ride, as well as his great concern, was directed at Max and Manda, and making sure they didn't kill each other in the back of the truck.

* * *

Eventually, they made it to the gas station. Roden noted, from his occasional backwards glances, that Manda was so busy struggling with being jostled around and holding on to the bungee handle on the side of the truck so that she wouldn't be tossed out, that she didn't even attempt to have any conversation with Max; and Max happily ignored her anyway, looking about in any direction but hers.

As they pulled up to the gas station Roden noticed his BMW parked at the pump. It couldn't be. Did they actually catch up to Martin and Ess? But they were hours ahead of them, and should have been long gone by that point.

The moment the truck stopped, he jumped out and ran to his car. It was empty. Max came up only seconds behind him, not having noticed the car until he climbed out of the bed. Roden opened the unlocked door and lowered his head inside to look at the ignition. The key was not in there. Damn.

The two men did a quick sweep of the area, while the old man got a chuckle watching Manda struggle to get over the side of the truck. After allowing her some time to see the futility of her own efforts, he offered her a hand. She was a little reluctant to accept at first, but finally relented, and let him help her down.

As the old man did have a knack for talking, and had already worked the story about Esther's kidnapping out of Roden during their ride to the gas station, he was able to confer with the three 'city dwellers' on the possible events leading to the abandoned car. Their final consensus determined that Martin must have dumped Roden's car for one of Angoli's.

Manda noted with frustration that the cell phones still didn't work at this point. The old man offered the use of his business phone, but first they needed to determine what their next step should be. Police? Tow truck? The former would be ineffective against Angoli, and the later would take hours to arrive from the city.

"Does anyone know how to hotwire a car?" Manda asked. She pointedly looked at Max.

"Well, too bad Martin's not here. I bet he knows how." Max gave her a snarling glare back.

As the two argued back and forth, something surprising caught Roden's eye. Through the dimming light of the sunset he could see that someone had manifested from the trees behind the gas station, and was walking diffidently towards them. Speak of the devil. It was Martin.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Max noticed that Roden's eyes were set beyond their circle, and followed his stare towards Martin's hesitant approach. Then, with the most animalistic growl that Roden had ever heard a human being produce, Max tilted full speed towards Martin. Before the man could react he was on the ground with Max's full force pinning him down. The artist's balled fists were flying, and Martin could do nothing to shield himself from his wrath.

As much as Roden would have liked to see Martin get just what he deserved, he felt that it would be more prudent to get information from him in regards to Ess's whereabouts. "Max. Wait. We need him." He tried to reason with him, while attempting to pull him off of the man whose lip started bleeding profusely from the punch Max had just issued to his face.

It took a little persuasion, but Max finally reeled in the desire to badly damage his adversary. Clearing away from him, the group moved back and allowed Martin to pick himself up off the ground. He did so with much trouble due to the injuries Max had just worked on him, and no one offered a steadying hand. Eventually, he made it back to his feet, wobbly with disorientation. Max and the others surrounded him, making it obvious that an attempt at escape would be futile. Even Manda looked ready to jump on him if he so much as appeared as though he might take a step towards the effort to get away.

They all stood around in menacing stillness, each one waiting for the other to break the impenetrable silence. Roden finally decided that he should take control of the situation if they expected to get anywhere. "Okay, Martin," he began. "Where the hell did you just come from? Do you have Ess out there somewhere?"

Martin managed a look that pivoted between guilt, disappointment and plain anger. It took him a moment to control his multiple emotions to a point in which he could actually speak. Ultimately, though, with the help of an impatient glare from Manda, he took a deep breath, and began to explain what had happened.

Ess couldn't believe, even after all she'd been through so far, that this could actually be happening to her. Stuff like this happened in movies and, sadly, even from time to time on the news; but those things were completely displaced from her world . . . until now.

Trying to make sense of her predicament, she replayed the last twenty-four hours in her mind again and again. The most recent events stood out vividly in her memory, and gave her absolutely the worst fear and burning in the pit of her stomach that she had ever felt in her entire life up to this point.

* * *

About two hours earlier . . .

The BMW reached the exit to the preserve and bumped its way back onto the paved highway. Martin didn't know his way around the area, and so they ended up taking the long scenic route out of the preserve. "Phew. That's better." Martin smiled towards Ess, expecting her agreement. She rolled her eyes instead. His cheery mannerisms were really getting on her nerves.

This pompous guy had fooled Manda, wooing her under false pretenses; attacked Max and made Ess tie him up; forced her into a car at gun point; and proceeded to drive her against her will towards some lunatic who sounded like he wanted to have his way with her. None of this did anything to endear the man to her, yet he acted as though they were two good friends on a leisurely road trip.