I'm really sorry I haven't updated! But here is a longer chapter for anyone who's interested.

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"Put your hands up", he ordered. Lina turned her head back and carefully raised her hands in surrender. The cuffs were still dangling in her right hand. She was scared but more than that she was disappointed. How did he do it? How did he know she was there?

She heard him approach her. He swerved her around and almost violently pushed her against the wall. With one hand he grabbed my throat and held the gun to the side of her head. He was very close, staring her dead in the eyes. Lina could see he was really angry.

"Would you care to tell me exactly what you're doing out here?" he said through clenched teeth. He was squeezing her throat so hard she couldn't manage to form any words. She felt her lungs fight to get enough air. When she didn't answer he continued.

"That… was a BIG mistake, Lina", he said and squeezed even a little harder. Her lungs felt like they were gong to explode. Maybe he was going to kill her for trying to escape. That's what he had threatened to do earlier before getting into the hotel. He had let her understand that he had no problems in shooting her is she caused him trouble. Lina felt panic rising inside her.
Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore he let go of her throat and hit her hard across the face. Lina's head banged nastily onto the brick wall and for a moment she saw stars. Her knees gave in and she slid down against the wall. He watched as she lied on the ground coughing and greedily sucking the air in.

"You know, you did save me a trip back upstairs", he then said with a slightly lighter voice. "But it's your fault I didn't get to finish my breakfast. And I always get a little pissed if I don't get a proper breakfast."

Lina steadied her breath on the ground, not daring to look up to him.

"Well darling, I think we should get going." He suddenly gripped the back of her shirt and started to drag her to the car like a rag doll. She tried to get up on her feet but she only managed to help a little with her feet and hands so that she didn't drag on the ground. They got to the car but she didn't have the courage to fight him when he took the empty cuff and pulled it through the hand lean on the door and then took her left hand and cuffed it too. She was now attached to the door. He shoved her to the back seat of the car, picked up her bag that was lying on the ground near the car. He threw it to the back seat and closed the door. All Lina could do was watch in shock as he quickly ran to the other side of the car, jumped in and sped off.

As they left the village behind, Lina looked out of the window, not knowing where or how far the road ahead was taking her.

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She must've either fallen asleep or passed out because she startled awake to the car bouncing from a bump on the road. Immediately as she opened her eyes she could feel she was going to have a massive headache. Also her other cheek felt like it was burning. When she tried to touch it, she was reminded of the fact that she was tied to the door. She looked down at her hands and gasped when she saw they were covered in dried blood from small scratches and bruises all over them. That must have happened when he had dragged her into the car.

"Nice to see you're awake darling." Lina turned to look at the front seat and saw Sands smirking at her. She looked outside the car and saw they were driving on an empty road somewhere in the middle of nowhere. The sun was shining on full blast and he had rolled the front windows open. Despite that it was hot in the car.

"Where are we?" She asked trying to keep her voice calm.

"What does it look like? This is no man's country we're in, darling", he said looking around him.

Lina was really getting tired of him calling her darling when she was anything but that to him. But she thought it was better to just let it past.

There was a long silence and all that could be heard was the car tires rolling on the asphalt. Lina stared out the window in her thoughts. Her mouth was dry and she was desperate for some water. She didn't dare to ask for any, so she tried to think about something else. What did he want from her? Clearly he wasn't going to let her go even if she hadn't tried to escape. He could've just left her in the hotel room. He would have been long gone by the time she would have been found. She would have gone back home and he could have gone on about his business. Why hadn't he done that? What was the purpose of this peculiar "road trip"?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Sands push a CD in the player and push play. Hard rock started to play.

"You mind?"

Lina saw he was slightly moving his head in the rhythm of the music and tapping his fingers on the wheel. She was surprised he even asked. He must've taken her silence as an agreement and turned up the volume some. At least his music taste wasn't all bad. It was a familiar song to her and somehow hearing it in this strange situation gave her comfort.

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They drove on what seemed like hours, and it probably was. They didn't speak a word and Lina mostly just stared at the desert outside flashing before her eyes. He was driving fast. Lina dozed off every now and then and always woke up when the car hit the dents in the asphalt, but finally drifted into a deeper sleep.

She woke up to the car slowing down. The first thing she noticed was that it had gotten dark and it was raining hard. She could barely see the road even though the wipers were on full speed.
The car slowed down until it stopped on the roadside. Sands turned off the engine. All she could hear was the rain pounding on the roof of the car. He lit a cigarette and rolled down the window an inch. Somewhere not very far there was a flash of lightning and soon came the sound of thunder.

"Looks like we're not getting any further tonight", his voice broke through the silence in the car. Lina looked at him. With the cigarette between his teeth he started to go trough his brown bag placed on the passenger's seat. He pulled out a package, unwrapped it revealing a sandwich. He threw the half smoked cigarette out of the window and began eating. When she looked at him eating she remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since the day before. He noticed her hungry looks.

"You want some?"

When Lina nodded in response he held out the sandwich to her. Lina didn't move since her hands were tied. He brought it even closer.

"Go on, take a bite then", he said offering it to her.

Lina looked hesitantly at him and then at the sandwich. She didn't like the thought of eating out his hand, but her hunger won the inner battle and she leaned in to bite the sandwich. She took a big chunk. It was chicken and mayo, her favorite. She devoured it quickly enjoying the taste. Meanwhile he took another bite himself and then offered it to her again. This time she didn't hesitate and bit half of what was left. It was a big piece and she chewed on it for a long time.

"Wow, leave some for me too", he said sounding amused. Lina gave him a sharp look. He whipped up a bottle from somewhere and pulled off the cork with his teeth. He took a swig and then offered it to Lina. She was thirsty after the sandwich and sitting in the hot car all day. She brought her lips to the mouth of the bottle. He tilted it and the liquid flowed into her mouth. It was tequila. Usually she didn't like it so much but now she just tried to swallow it all. She took a long gulp. Some of it spilled around my mouth and after he pulled the bottle away she tried to lick her lips to clean them. He watched her, the turned away and took a long gulp from the bottle. Finally he put it away.
He rolled the window up again and started to make his way to the back seat. Lina stiffened. What was he doing? She was a little scared of him, especially after what happened that morning. Maybe it was stupid but her pride kept her from showing it to him. So she kept her head straight and followed what he was doing from the corner of her eye. He pulled a folded blanket from the back dashboard and started to kick off his boots. He took off his coat jacket too and lied down on the seat pulling the blanket on. The car's back seat was huge but he still bent his knees since she was taking up a part of the bench. Though not a big enough part in her opinion. She pressed as close to the door as possible.

"You're not much of a talker, are you?" he asked after a moments silence.

She staid quiet not even bothering to look at him. She wasn't interested in having a conversation with him. Time passed again before he spoke again.

"You haven't asked how I knew you were on that alley this morning."

This time she turned to look at him. He looked back at her with a smile on his lips. How he had found out she was getting away was something she had wondered during their little ride.

"Well how did you know?"

His smile widened. "I saw your little tiptoeing act across the lobby from the reflection. One of the benefits of sitting by the window." He was clearly pleased with himself.

Lina looked at him stupefied. Of course. It sounded so ridiculous that it must've been true. Why did an otherwise slightly dingy hotel have to wash their windows so well? She felt like banging her head on the window but it already hurt enough even without that.

She couldn't keep looking at his self-content smirk and she turned away. She pressed her head against the window screen having an unreal moment. How did she get here? And more importantly, how was she going to get out of there, preferably alive?

The nights in the desert were surprisingly cold and now that the engine wasn't running anymore, the coldness started to creep inside the car too. Lina was only wearing a short sleeved shirt and she could feel the skin on her arms rise into goose bumps. She shivered a bit and looked outside. She had never been afraid of the thunder; actually she'd kind of liked it. But now in this situation; somewhere in the desert in the middle of nowhere, cuffed up in a car with a man who seemed capable of doing just about anything, she was a little scared. A lightning struck again somewhere near and she jumped a little when the thunder boomed very loud. She closed her eyes.

"Afraid of the thunder, darling?" Sands asked.

"No", she answered snappily. And even if she was, she wasn't going to tell him. But what she couldn't hide was the fact that she was getting really cold. Although she tried to will it away, she was shivering all over.

"It's getting pretty cold out here", he said. "I only have one blanket but I could share it. I'm not completely without a heart, you know?"

She looked at him coldly. She wasn't so sure of that. The blanket looked invitingly warm but even the thought of getting close to him was out of the question. She considered it though for a long time.

"Hmm, what do you say?"

Her body won over her mind and she agreed with a small voice. He sat up and dug a key from his back pocket. He went for the cuffs and took them off. He looked at my damaged hands. The blood had dried ages ago but they still looked nasty. He pulled back to his own side of the seat and as she rubbed her wrists together she watched him take out a first-aid kit from somewhere under the front seat. He opened it and pulled out a cotton handkerchief and put some antiseptic on it. Then he turned to her with it.

"Give me your hands", he said. Lina hesitated again but then held them out. He took her left hand and started to clean it surprisingly gently. The cuts hurt though and she winced a bit. He moved to the other hand.

"They look bad but they'll heal quickly", he said. Lina wondered if he was reassuring her or himself, and why.

When he was done and her hands looked a lot better, he put the first-aid kit away. They sat opposite of each other, Lina kept her eyes on her hands. After a while he suddenly lifted his hand and touched her cheek in almost gentle way. She startled a little.

"Sorry to have bruised your pretty face earlier, but you really shouldn't have done that." Lina turned her head away a little to look at the steering wheel, the back of the front seats, out the window. Anything really but look at him. He pulled his hand away. "Try it again and I'll kill you." Now she turned to face him. His soft voice and the expression on his face clashed with his words but she had absolutely no doubt that he would. He would kill her.

"Come on then. Let's get some shut-eye", he said lying back down, acting like they had just been talking about the weather. She just sat there staring at him patting the space next to him. "Don't be shy darling, lots of room here" he grinned.

That's not what she thought he had meant by sharing the blanket. There was no way she was going to sleep right next to him. Her thoughts must've been visible in her face.

"Look, the way I see it you have two choices: you can either sit there and freeze, or you can be nice and comfy under the blanket."

Lina remained in her sitting position. "No thanks."

"Ok, suit yourself", he shrugged, got into a comfortable position and closed his eyes.

She listened to his breathing getting deep and steady. She was left staring out of the window into the pitch black night that was enlightened only by flashes of lightning every now and then. The sky was crying hard but she didn't contribute even a single tear to it. The only thing in the situation she could control was her own behavior. She wasn't going to break into tears, she had that much self-respect left that she wasn't going to cry in front of him.

She tried to find at least a half-decent position but it was so cold that she couldn't fall asleep. So instead she started to unwind the tangled thoughts in her head. She was free from the cuffs now but she quickly abandoned the thought of leaving the car. It was dark, it was raining and thundering. She wouldn't know what direction to go to and whether there was civilization anywhere near. Either Sands would catch her or she would get lost in the desert. The result of both alternatives would probably be the same: her premature death.

Why was he dragging her with him? That was the question picking her brain. She was completely useless to him. She couldn't think of any explanation for him not letting her go. At first there obviously was a reason why he needed her: to get some leverage in case the police would give chase to them.
Were the police looking for them? She had a bad feeling they weren't. Maybe they had checked out the house, found nothing out of the ordinary and just signed it off as a prank call.
Her thoughts returned to her kidnapper again. It would have been so easy for him to just leave her to the hotel. He didn't seem to have any interest in her, but for that she was only thankful. If he didn't like her, he wouldn't try anything.

Suddenly she hung onto that last thought.

If he didn't have any interest in her, he wouldn't try anything. That made sense. And if that's how it was, it should have been safe to sleep next to him.

Lina looked at his sleeping figure in the dark. It was like the blanket was calling to her; it looked so warm and soft. Now that she was at least considering the idea, the coldness around felt even worse.

Suddenly a lightning hit somewhere really near. She barely held back a scream. That was the last push. She took off her shoes and started to crawl next to him. He was lying closer to the edge of the seat so she chose the other side. Not wanting to wake him up she tried to pull the blanket up as carefully as she could to get under it.

"Had a change of heart?" his sleepy voice asked.

Lina halted for a moment but then quickly slid under the blanket. "Hmph…" she just mumbled an answer. She turned her back to him and remained as far away from his body as possible – even though he was wonderfully warm. He changed position and turned his back to her too.

"Goodnight, darling"

She mumbled something in response, not really even words. It felt so good to be under covers that she couldn't stop the smile forming on her lips. She warmed up quickly and fell into a dreamless sleep.

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R&R, please!