Trapped Down Under

Mrs. Remington is living the dream. She's been invited to go on a book-signing tour in Australia, and she and her husband, Kris, are both excited to finally get the chance to take their long-overdue honeymoon. But on their first night there, what started as a fantasy quickly spins into the realm of nightmare. She awakes to find not her husband but a note in his place: If anyone else knows about this, your husband will die. Terrified and out of her depth, she follows the kidnapper's instructions to the letter. She's lost in a strange land where she knows no one, doesn't understand the culture, and is removed from everything she might know about dealing with the criminals who now hold her life and future hostage. To survive and secure her husband's return, she'll have to use all her strength and endurance to overcome obstacles that appear impossible. She needs to dig deeper than she's even known to rise above the fear that threatens to paralyze her. Tormented by too many questions, she's stripped of her confidence to solve any problem. All she knows is that an evil man stands between her and everything she wants. She's quickly pulled into a terrifying and thrilling journey, not just in the physical world but in the realms of the mind. She never imagined that her husband would become a statistic-or that she would be the one to save him.

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Trapped Down UnderBy Melissa HiltuneniUniverseCopyright © 2015 Melissa HiltunenAll rights reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4917-5693-5ContentsPreface, xi, Prologue, xiii, Love, 1, The Kidnapping, 5, Healing, 9, The Motel, 13, Trapped, 19, The Code, 29, Husband's Terror, 35, Hope, 43, Treacherous Path, 49, Entrapment, 59, Meet the Devil, 67, Alone with Him, 77, Can I Do It?, 87, CHAPTER 1LOVEMy life had finally turned around and became one I had dreamed of. My book was a best seller. I was married to my soul mate, and I had a number of book signings lined up. We would finally get to enjoy our vacation. I could never have expected how much adventure it would hold or how I would experience such great fear for my life—and for my husband's life.I finished my last signing. It had been a very emotional journey for me since my book was about getting out of abusive relationships. I met many beautiful individuals who were suffering. They were sharing their heartwarming stories about similar struggles. I was elated by how many had succeeded, moved on to wonderful lives, and achieved their own dreams. Their stories overwhelmed my senses and my mind. I felt my chest tighten, and my heart ached for each person.Kris had been with me during every signing. It saddened him to see me sharing pain, hurt, and misery, but there were also feelings of relief, hope, and safety that brought smiles of joy to his face. He loved my overwhelming compassion for others, my persistent drive, and my love for helping anyone in need. The negative experiences in my life formed me into the person I was that day, and that was why Kris stood beside me.I knew what it was like to feel trapped and alone. The Bible and my friends had taken away my fears and given me hope again. Kris and I had both been struggling with our health. His faith grew stronger, and he helped me get mine back. Our connection grew stronger, and we listened for God's guidance. Even through all the abuse, fear, and sickness, I knew my mission was to help others through my writing.I stayed at the book signing, and my husband went back to the hotel room. When I got back to the hotel, he was sitting on the balcony. His feet were up, and he was soaking in the sun, which had turned his skin to a dark tan. He was listening to the waves crashing against the shoreline and rocks and the seagulls calling away in the sky. A tray of cheese and sausage was on the table by his side. Kris inhaled the sweet aroma of the wine before tasting the fruit. I wondered if the gulls knew about the food and were expecting some.Kris didn't hear me enter the room. I gently placed my materials on the bed and sneaked over to the balcony. I paused as I looked lovingly at the man who had taken away all my anxiety and let me love again. I was no longer afraid of being loved. He showed me what real, true love was. Kris's love for me could make the birds sing on a rainy day, the moon light our path in the dark, and the flowers open up and bloom upon this touch. Just one thought of him, and my lips were beaming with a smile that would melt anyone's heart. My eyes were filled with love, and my face glowed.I slowly put my hands over his eyes and asked, "Whose time is it now?"He genuinely replied, "Ours."I leaned over Kris; my long, reddish-brown hair swept across Kris's bare, muscular-toned chest. He breathed in deeper as it softly swept across his skin.Kris brought his left arm up and caressed my cheek. I could not help but close my eyes and soak in all his warmth and compassion. My right hand moved down and felt the contour of his chest muscles as my left hand moved through his ash-blond hair.I opened my eyes, and Kris's deep-blue eyes looked like the ocean, full of peace and yearning for me. They glinted in a peevish and sexy way that made me want him even more.Our eyes locked onto each other. As usual, I lost myself in them with an ease that overcame me with nothing but pure bliss. Time stood still while I lost myself in Kris's gaze. I didn't want the moment to end, and the contentment made all troubles vanish.His fingers intertwined with my hair and approached the back of my head. Once there, his hand pulled me in closer, and my fingers tightened in his hair as well. Then our lips joined, and our tongues melted together.I felt such amazing love from him. He had brought me back from the dark and dreary tomb I had been in. I could never thank Kris enough for that. He persistently believed my inner beauty needed to be shared with others so they could see how simple love could help anyone willing to try it and see how it could make a person grow. With him, I'd finally found pure, real love that would see us through everything in life, including all the dangerous trials we would be put through. But for the time being, there was nothing but the celebration of our love—and the wonderful life we would be sharing together. We lost ourselves in each other once more.Upon awakening, my head throbbed with a screaming headache. I tried to sit up in bed, but my head was spinning. I used my weak arms as supports to help steady myself to an upright position. I was confused by how sick I felt.I'd enjoyed a wonderful night of passion on an overdue honeymoon. How can I be feeling this way? I felt for Kris next to me, but no one was there. I called out for him ... still nothing. My eyes were blurry, and I rubbed them. I looked toward the bathroom. I could barely see the door was open, and the shower curtain was too, but Kris wasn't there.I turned my head and noticed the balcony door was still closed. I kept turning over to my side. Trembling, I reached over for my glass of water. Before I touched the glass, I noticed a piece of paper falling to the floor.What is that? I don't remember any paper!I brought my feet out from under the covers and placed them gently on the ground to steady myself. Slowly bending over, I felt like I was on a Tilt-A-Whirl.I reached for the unknown nightmare that was about to begin.CHAPTER 2THE KIDNAPPINGOn a plain, white piece of notebook paper someone had scribbled a number of instructions. At the top, it says:If anyone else knows about this, your husband will die.Oh, dear Lord, what is happening? I don't understand what is going on. I don't know who could be doing this to us. Neither Kris nor I have done anything wrong. We don't even know anyone here.I wonder if the person wants money. If not, what could possibly be the reason for such an act? It frightens me to wonder how my enduringly loving husband could have been taken from my side. I don't understand how the person got into our room without waking us up.Is Kris playing some dumbass joke? Is he going to fool me later in the lobby? Is it some misguided attempt to scare me into loving him even more? Did Kris wake up unexpectedly and become incapacitated? What is going to happen to us?Without any answers, I focus on the note. I read the first instruction: Get dressed, grab all of your belongings, and check out of the hotel.My hands are trembling. My heart's racing like a stallion in the wild, filling me with sheer terror. I'm also feeling lost. This doesn't make sense. I'm so worried about who has my husband—and where he is. Confusion makes me want to go back to bed and wake up to a beautiful morning with Kris by my side, just as it was intended.Instead, I spring out of bed and jump into action, as the note says. I grab whatever clothing is closest to change into. Then I throw all our belongings in whatever bag I can, put my hair up in a ponytail, and rush to the door with every bag. But wait—I have to make sure I have everything. I drop the bags, turn around, and lose my balance as I trip over them. Luckily I keep my balance, and I quickly check each room.I almost forgot the toothbrushes. I shove them into a bag and swipe up the luggage. I hurry to the elevator while tripping and dropping bags along the way, and then I hurriedly try to pick them up.In the elevator, I keep pushing the main floor button in hopes that the door will close faster. The elevator ride takes forever; it's like an eternity. My anxiety is so high that the slow-paced music doesn't loosen one muscle in me. Damn, that's annoying! I keep adjusting my grip on each bag, and I'm swaying back and forth. Maybe I should have taken the stairs—but it's fourteen floors!At the checkout desk, the young lady's black-framed glasses match her hair. It is neatly tied back in a bun. She's really upset to see that I will be leaving. This soft-spoken lady was at my signing the day before. She is stuttering, lost in speech. Her hands keep moving, unable to grasp anything. I can tell I caught her off guard."Oh! Mrs. Remington! Leaving so soon?" She mentions how we will still be billed for another week due to our reservation.I reply, "I don't care. Just bill me for anything. I have to leave now. Sorry, but I really have to get going."She keeps asking questions about any problems with the hotel, the service, the employees, etc.I attempt to keep my emotions under control. I say, "An emergency came up."She looks at me with concern. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there anything the hotel can do to help you?""I can't be late. I will miss the plane. Please hurry!"The lady suggests calling an attendant to help with my bags.As I'm scurrying away, I yell, "No, no, no! That's fine. Bye!"I rush outside as fast as I can without losing any bags this time. What luck! As soon as I'm past the entrance's canopy, the sun blinds me. I don't have any hands free to find my sunglasses. My heartbeat is loud, picking up speed, and pounding out of my chest. It hits me again. Is everything out of the room as the note says it should be? How will this cruel person know if it wasn't?I arrive at the dark-green rented SUV. I unlock the hatch, toss everything in the back, close it, and run around to the front. But I'm on the wrong side; I'm not in the United States anymore. I need to be driving on the right side of the vehicle. This mistake makes me want to put my head on the side of the SUV, beat it with my fists, and cry out with feelings of frustration. I'm afraid of making any mistake. If I do, harm to my dear, sweet husband flashes through my mind. I must remain calm.I get into the SUV, close the door, and swing my purse onto the passenger seat. I start it up. I grab the note from my pants pocket. One glance at it, and I know it can't be helped. I start crying. My eyes swell up with tears, making it hard to read. I wipe my eyes with my left arm.As I look up, an old man with gray hair on his balding head appears in front of the vehicle, and he's staring at me. I freeze in fear of him coming to my window. I cannot draw attention to myself. I do everything to force a smile at him. I put the SUV into gear with my left hand, and using a quick fling of my right fingers atop the steering wheel, I wave to this stranger. I am desperately doing everything I can to not drop the note, which is tightly grasped in my hand. I cannot lose these instructions.I can't imagine spending one day without Kris in my life. Whenever he gets sick, and I can see concern is in his eyes, I take Kris's face into my hands, bring my head close to his, and look him straight in the eyes. I remind him that I would never leave him.In the parking lot, the spot in front of me is empty. I step on the gas, brake quickly to check if anything's coming, and turn left toward the exit that will come up on my right. When I get to it, I stop to read the note again. The second instruction lists directions for me to follow. I'm so scared of making a mistake. I still don't understand what is going on; my head is filled with confusion. I just remind myself to read and follow the directions, but my heart aches for the man who saved my life.This is my first time in this country, and I fret about missing a road or turn. Everything is brand new. I won't even realize a wrong turn or if I miss a street. The instructions were very blunt with no descriptions. When I give instructions, I list buildings or businesses and how many streets it will be until that particular one must be noticed. This is like a puzzle. I love putting together puzzles, but with a puzzle, you can see the outcome by the picture on the cover.After playing this part of this crazy stranger's game, I come to the last turn, a right one, for the highway.You will be on this road for miles and hours.My heart sinks into my stomach. I can't imagine driving for that long without knowing what has happened to the man who has given me so much. Kris and our friends are the most positive things in my life. They kept me going forward—no matter how hard life's obstacles were and whether it was ill health or someone trying to hold me back. Kris got me through that. I will get him through anything as well. I need to prevent such wickedness and evil from this stranger's ill will toward him.I turn on the road that will be taking me much farther out of the city. Before I step on the gas, I take a deep breath. As I let the air slowly release from my lungs out through my mouth, I think. In my SUV, I play "Dust" by the Eli Young Band. I've used this song before to help with big changes in life, such as my career and my divorce.After half an hour, I feel more anxious. It is getting colder as I travel through mountains. I do love the mountains. My heart grows heavy with nostalgia as I think about home. I never fathomed we would become one of the thirty-five thousand people who go missing every year in Australia—and I never imagined I would be the one to save the love of my life.CHAPTER 3HEALINGThe Upper Peninsula, usually called the UP, is where I finally found a place to call home. I moved five hours north into another state without knowing another soul. Friends who owned a place near where I was moving were in California for a temporary job. Moving—or should I say running—to new areas was not a new task for me. I was tired of running from one bad relationship to another. I was consistently working on making myself stronger and smarter. Something kept drawing me farther north. Somehow, I knew God wanted me to be living there.But then my health got worse, more deadly, and I started doubting my faith again. During my lowest time, and just after Kris had reached his own point and was on his way back up, Kris came to me. He helped me realize I just needed my faith and trust in God to get through anything life dealt me.* * *My eyes tear up again at the thought of Kris. I have to blink them away so I can focus on the journey ahead of me. I hope and pray I will find him soon.I look at the time and notice only a couple of hours have gone by. The instructions say I will be passing through a series of towns and traveling for approximately three hours.The road ahead looks straight, with slight bends to the right, like a willow curved to the side from a breeze. It is very desolate, empty, and boring. I can see much farther to the low-level brush scattered throughout the terrain. To the side, farther off, I see patches of grayer-looking trees. They are closer to the incline of the distant mountains, which contain only dots of trees scattered about them.I am able to relax more. I feel my head leaning back onto the headrest. The tension is melting out of my shoulders and into my lower back, sinking into the seat. I realize I have been twirling my hair the whole time—a trait or bad habit—to relieve stress and anxiety. My father once told me a story of how he had to cut my finger out of my hair after it was bound up too tightly.In the distance, I see a building of some sort. My heart pounds much deeper, like the drums to a rock song. I feel my back straighten. Is this the motel the note spoke of? I pass a sign for a restaurant and feel lonely. It has been miles with no other signs of life, only sparse gravel roads coming off the main road.When I look up ahead, it looks like more of the same. Nothing—no buildings, just scattered, dusty greenery and far-off mountains on either side. I see an "open" sign flashing in front of the building. There's a car and a truck parked in the back and another truck in front. The building has one gasoline service tank on the distant side. Two other cement blocks appear to be missing their tanks. I laugh lightly as I pass by. I wonder how much business it gets. Are the conversations like the ones back home where you enquire about how the people and their families are doing?I giggle again as I think about how different conversations about weather would be out here. At home, there's lots of winter and little summer. The Weather Channel is the most popular viewing. Your whole day depends on what the forecast has in store for you. I imagine the weather being dry and warm, with nothing else. I feel the dehydration in the sandy soil through my every breath. I try to salivate enough to prevent my throat from closing shut.When I see an old sign, I slow down to try to read it. The wind is causing the sign to blow back and forth. I'm surprised that the panel on the sign has not flown off. I see in speckled paint that it is for a quarry down the road. Huh? That might explain why the restaurant seems to be in the middle of nowhere.In my mind, I start to picture a town just before you reach the mine entrance. The only thing left is ruins of where families once lived. I can picture the children playing out in the driveways, the mothers occasionally checking on them through the kitchen windows, and then back to her daily work as a mother. They're all anxiously waiting for their fathers to come home soon, dirty and weary from working long, hard hours at the mines. Pictures in restaurants and stores from the copper mines in neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan towns back home come to mind. That area also flourished back in the day from all the minerals it held. (Continues...)Excerpted from Trapped Down Under by Melissa Hiltunen. Copyright © 2015 Melissa Hiltunen. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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