Morning Comes Sooner Than You’d Think
"OK." He took a deep breath. "I need to think this through." He glanced in both directions from the driver's seat of his sports car. "I'm in the middle of nowhere, that'll help for now." He gripped the steering wheel tightly and stared into the black emptiness of a rural highway at midnight. Living in a midwestern state with a lot of empty space was going to be his saving grace. He twisted the switch on the steering column to turn off the headlights; the world around him became and empty void. There were no streetlights, no lights from oncoming cars. The only light came from the cellphone he held in his hands.
"Two-fourteen." He noted the time and waited. Before a minute could pass, the phone started to ring with a generic beeping noise. He fumbled with it for a moment beore pressing the button to answer the incoming call. "Hello?"
"Hello." The voice was quiet and muffled. There was a pause, the caller wasn't one for conversation.
"I'm here, right where you told me to be. I followed the GPS to the exact location." His voice was desperate. "What do you want now?"
"Did you get her?" The muffled stranger asked his direct question. The man glanced back toward the rear seat of his vehicle. His face fell to a grimace before he returned to the conversation.
"Yeah, I got her." He shook his head. He had kidnapped this woman that he'd never met. He injected her with some questionable syringe and she fell unconscious. He wasn't sure if she was dead at this point, she hadn't made any sound since he had pulled her into the seat. "What did I inject her with? Did I kill this woman?"
"No." The voice wasn't reassuring, despite its short statement.
"She isn't moving and I can't tell if she's--"
"If you did exactly as I told you to, then she's still alive." The voice became impatient. There was another moment of silence. "I'm beginning to question whether you're taking me seriously."
"I am!" The man shifted to a demanding tone. "I am. Trust me, I am." He stared off into the darkness. "Look, let's just move on. I got her, I drove way out here; what's next? Do you want me to leave her on the side of the road? Wait until morning and get information from her? What?"
"Get out of the vehicle." The voice made a quick demand. The man hesitated; he didn't have a choice in the end. He shoved the door open and stepped onto the gravel. "Go to the trunk and open it." This took him by surprise; the only things he kept in his trunk were jumper cables and a poorly thrown together duck-out bag. He relented and walked to the rear of the car, opening the trunk. He was partially correct, his bag and cables were shoved off to the side. In their normal place was a neatly rolled and tied tarp. Next to it was a shovel, and a small kit of some sort. He grabbed the cloth bag and opened it; duct tape, rope, another small syringe kit and a cross. He had a feeling he knew where this was going to end up.
"Alright, I see what you've thrown in here..." He once again hesitated to continue this conversation. "What are you expecting?"
"You're going to bind her then wrap her in the tarp." The voice echoed the obvious. "The syringe contains the same thing that you injected her with earlier. It's up to you if you want, or need, to use it; consider it a gift of sorts. Once you've done that, you're going to dig a six foot deep hole and--"
"You don't have to finish that thought, I get it." He cut the voice off. "And the cross?"
"A marker." The voice responded sharply. "Sun rise is at approximately six-twenty-two. You have until then to finish this. If I haven't recieved a call from you by then, my system will auto-dial the police with your exact location, and everything that you are trying to hide is released to every outlet I've deemed necessary." The voice once again reminded him of their control over the situation. "I would also recommend you don't try to avoid actually doing what I'm telling you, I am watching you."
"I'm supposed to do this by sunrise?" He stepped back and glanced around the empty gravel road; the possibility of any one else coming down the road was zero. This location was chosen for obvious reasons.
"You've already wasted fifteen minutes." The voice reminded him of his constraints. "I'd hurry; the morning comes sooner than you'd think when you're burying someone alive..."