His eyes narrowed sharply on her smile and she had an uneasy feeling she was overdoing her "comradely" performance. "No. He's still there, but he isn't in his room. I'll try again in a half hour or so." Julie was digesting that tidbit of useless information when he reached for her purse and took out her notebook. "Just a precaution," he said in a sardonic voice as he flipped open the notebook. "You understand, I'm sure?"

"I understand," Julie averred, caught between nervous hilarity and chagrin as she watched his jaw slacken when he read what she'd written.

"Well?" she said, widening her eyes with sham innocence. "What do you think?"

He closed the notebook and slid it back into her purse. "I think you're too gullible to be turned loose in the world if you actually believe all that."

"I'm very gullible," she eagerly assured him, turning on the ignition and pulling out onto the highway. If he thought her stupid and naive, that was great, terrific.

Chapter 20

For the next half hour, they drove in silence with only an occasional desultory comment about the bad weather and worsening driving conditions, but Julie was watching the side of the road for a billboard that would enable her to put her plan into action. Any billboard that advertised a fast food restaurant at an approaching exit would do. When she finally saw one, her heart doubled its beat. "I know you probably don't want to stop and go into a restaurant, but I'm starving," she said carefully, pleasantly. "That sign says there's a McDonald's up ahead. We could get some food at the drive-through window."

He glanced at the clock and started to shake his head, so she hastily added, "I have to eat something every couple of hours because I have…" she hesitated a split second, thinking frantically for the right medical term for a problem she didn't have "…hypoglycemia! I'm sorry, but if I don't eat something, I get very ill and faint and…"

"Fine, we'll stop there."

Julie almost shouted with nervous triumph when she pulled off on the exit ramp and the McDonald's golden arches came into view. The restaurant was between two open lots with a kiddy playground on the side of it. "We're stopping just in time," she added, "because I'm feeling so dizzy that I won't be able to drive much longer."

Ignoring his narrowed look, Julie flipped on the turn indicator and pulled into the McDonald's entrance. Despite the storm, there were several cars in the parking lot, though not nearly so many as Julie wished there were, and she could see a few families seated at the tables inside the restaurant. Following the directions on the sign, she drove around behind the restaurant to the drive-through window and stopped at the speaker. "What would you like?" she asked.

Before his imprisonment, Zack wouldn't have stopped at a fast-food restaurant like this if he had to go all day without eating. Now he discovered his mouth was watering at the thought of a simple hamburger and french fries. Freedom did that, he decided after telling Julie what he wanted to eat. Freedom made the air smell fresher and food sound better. It also made a man more tense and suspicious, because there was something about his captive's overbright smile that was making him extremely wary. She looked so fresh and ingenuous with those big blue eyes and soft smile, but she'd switched much too quickly from terrified captive to furious hostage to her current attitude of friendly ally.

Julie repeated their order into the microphone—two cheeseburgers, two french fries, two Cokes.

"That'll be $5.09," the voice said over the microphone. "Please drive around to the first window."

As she pulled up alongside the first window, she saw him dig into his pocket for money, but she shook her head adamantly, already reaching into her purse. "I'll buy," she said, managing to look straight into his eyes. "It's my treat. I insist."

After a moment's hesitation, he took his hand out of his pocket, but his dark brows drew together into a baffled frown. "That's very sporting of you."

"That's me. I'm a good sport. Everyone always says so," she babbled mindlessly, removing the folded ten-dollar bill with her handwritten note saying that she was being kidnapped folded inside of it. Unable to meet his unnerving gaze any longer, Julie hastily looked away and focused all her attention on the teenage girl in the drive-through window, who was regarding her with bored impatience. The girl's name tag said her name was Tiffany.

"That'll be $5.09," Tiffany said.

Julie held out the ten-dollar bill and stared hard at the girl, her face beseeching. Her life depended on this bored-looking teenager with a frizzy ponytail. As if in slow motion, Julie saw her unfold the ten-dollar bill… The small notepaper floated to the ground… Tiffany bent and picked it up, popping her gum… She straightened… She glanced at Julie… "This yours?" she asked, holding it up, peering into the car without reading what it said.

"I don't know," Julie said, trying to force the girl to read the words. "It might be. What does it say—" she began, then stifled a scream as Zachary Benedict's hand clamped on her arm and the barrel of the pistol dug into her side. "Never mind, Tiffany," he said smoothly, leaning around Julie and holding out his hand. "That's my note. It's part of a joke." The cashier glanced at the note, but it was impossible to tell if she'd actually read it in the instant before she held it in her outstretched hand toward the car. "Here you are, sir," she said, leaning forward past Julie and handing it to him. Julie ground her teeth as Zachary Benedict gave the girl a phoney, appreciative smile that made Tiffany blush with pleasure as she counted out the change due them from Julie's ten-dollar bill. "Here's your order," she said. Julie automatically reached for the white bags of food and Cokes, her frightened face silently pleading with the girl to call the police or the manager or someone! She passed the bags to Benedict without daring to meet his gaze, her hands trembling so violently she nearly dropped the Cokes. As she drove away from the window, she expected some sort of repercussions from him, but since her plan had failed miserably, Julie was not prepared for the eruption of raw rage she heard: "You stupid little bitch, are you trying to get yourself killed? Pull over in the parking lot, right there where she can see us, she's watching."

Julie obeyed automatically, her chest rising and falling in sharp, shallow little breaths. "Eat this," he commanded, shoving the cheeseburger in her face. "And smile with every bite, or so help me God…"