The key to a successful kidnapping was to stay mobile. Time and time again, Daniel had seen how to remain static with a beautiful woman bound and gagged in your possession was to court disaster. Renting a warehouse or apartment to serve as a hideout inevitably left a paper trail the authorities could use to follow, while simply squatting in an abandoned building risked other criminals or the city’s homeless population stumbling upon something incriminating. No, it was far better to remain on the move. No one noticed another delivery truck or motorhome or panel van driving about, so long as you didn’t draw attention by breaking the rules of the road, and by the time any missing persons report was filed, you’d be long gone from the scene of the crime. Besides, this way he wasn’t confined to a single city, but could expand his hunting grounds to wherever he chose to roam. He certainly wouldn’t have captured his latest acquisition by remaining a homebody, and he twisted about in the driver’s seat to glance back at the gorgeous blonde writhing helplessly in the back of the van. “Trust me, beautiful, I have no intention of hurting you. Just lie there and relax. This’ll all be over before you know it.”

“Mmmmpppggghh!” his prisoner shouted, the substance of her words lost thanks to the leather bit gag clenched firmly between her teeth. Since her mobile phone remained locked, he couldn’t get her name from it, or any list of contacts who might notice she’d gone missing, but whoever she was, she was definitely a looker. She was perhaps thirty, no older, and he knew upon first seeing her walking on the side of the road that he had to have her. Golden blonde hair hung in waves down to the small of her back, while her face was that of an angel, delicate and astonishingly lovely. Her pain attire of a white button-up shirt, mid-length black skirt and dark garter stockings did an excellent job of framing her firm breasts and long legs, while above the gag, beautiful grey eyes narrowed dangerously, ripe with the promise of retribution should she escape. Not that such a thing was possible, not with the firm leather straps that lashed her arms behind her back at the wrists and elbows. More straps bound her ankles and thighs so she couldn’t run, while a final long belt secured her upper body beneath her heaving breasts, keeping her upper arms pinned to her sides. Each was further secured by a small padlock, and for all her impressive struggles, she’d achieved nothing but filling the van with the sound of creaking leather and helpless moans, a music more pleasing to Daniel than anything offered on the radio. “Mmmmpgggghh! MMMMPPPGGGGHHH!”

“Anyone going to miss you, sweetheart? A boyfriend, perhaps? A family member?” Daniel inquired casually, receiving nothing but another stern glare in answer. In truth, he wasn’t really thinking about that, instead considering what exactly to do with his lovely captive. Most of the women he abducted he wound up either holding for ransom or selling them off as slaves, whichever option seemed the most convenient at the time, but it seemed a waste just to lose her for a bit of coin. She was beautiful, so very beautiful, and he entertained the notion of keeping her for the long term, a beautiful pet to keep him company on the long drives and lonely nights…

Ahead, a car horn blared indignantly, and Daniel came his senses, swerving back into the correct lane just in time to avoid a head-on collision. That was stupid of you! he chided himself, his prisoner forgotten as he turned his attentions back to the road. There was no rush, he decided. Young women went missing all the time in this area, and he’d have a day or two to consider her options thoroughly before the police became an issue. And if worst came to worst, he could just dump her by the side of the road and move on, content to leave this region behind for good if she managed to identify him. Yet another advantage of being mobile.

So it was that Daniel kidnapped his last damsel. For in his haste to abduct her, he had no idea he was missing a rather important detail.

After all, Kendra Lee had been scrupulous in concealing her own evils from the world, and all the men and women who’d gone missing at her hands…