Read Online Nightmare Mountain by Peg Kehret - Free Book Online Page A

paying any attention to her. His eyes were focused on Soapsy, the spotted llama. Each time he got close to her, the llama moved away from him.
    Molly eased the truck door open, quickly reached inside, jerked the keys out of the ignition, and shut the door again, closing it softly just until it clicked and held.
    The man had his back to her, still moving toward Soapsy. Molly put the keys in her sweater pocket andimmediately wondered what would happen if the man found them there. When he tried to leave and the keys were gone, he’d suspect her first. What if he searched her pockets and found the keys? What would he do to her?
    She decided it would be wiser to hide the keys somewhere. That way, the man couldn’t prove that she took them; he might think he dropped them himself. If she and Glendon had an opportunity to escape, she would still know where the keys were.
    There was a flat rock, about the size of a dinner plate, just behind her. A scrubby bush grew beside it. Molly bent down, lifted the rock, and laid the keys underneath it. She’d know which rock to look under because of the bush.
    She resumed her position near the truck, trying to look nonchalant, as if she’d just been standing there all along.
    She wondered what the man intended to do with her and Glendon after they got the other llama on the truck. Surely he didn’t plan to take them with him while he sold the llamas. But he couldn’t very well leave them here, either, since they knew what he was doing and Glendon apparently knew who he was.
    He’d already heard her say she was going to call the sheriff. He wouldn’t want to let her do that, even if he had a big head start. He had to drive back toward town—the road didn’t go the other direction—and he surelywouldn’t want to meet the sheriff before he got to the highway.
    A new thought struck her. The man did have a gun, after all. And they were in an isolated area where no people ever came. What if he chose not to take her and Glendon along and not to leave them here, where they were free to call for help, either? What if he . . .
    No. It was too horrible to think about. A body hidden here on the mountainside might not be discovered for weeks. Months! Mom might never know what happened to her.
    Molly wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans.
    Glendon walked slowly toward the truck, talking softly to the spotted llama. “Good Soapsy,” he said. “Nice Soapsy girl.”
    The llama stayed a step or two in front of him. She seemed to be listening but she wasn’t willing to let him touch her.
    Molly stood firmly in the center of the path, ready to block Soapsy, if necessary. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man approaching, crouching low so that the truck would keep him out of Soapsy’s sight.
    When Glendon had the llama almost to the ramp of the truck, the man lunged at her and slipped a rope over her head. The startled llama cried out—and Molly recognized the sound as the same kind of alarm call she’d heard coming from the barn the night before.
    “You don’t have to scare her like that,” Glendon said. “She would have walked up the ramp by herself.”
    The man didn’t answer. He was busy tying the rope to the slatted sides of the truck.
    Molly tried to get Glendon’s attention. She wanted to whisper to him to get in the truck and she’d get the keys and they’d take off alone, but Glendon’s attention was firmly fixed on the man. Molly saw hatred in Glendon’s eyes again but this time it was not aimed at her; it was directed at the tall man.
    “I think we can get one more on this load,” the man said.
    “No, you can’t,” Glendon said.
    “I’m giving the orders here, not you.”
    “Those other two are new arrivals. They’re young and they’ve never been on a lead. It took us over an hour just to herd them up to this pasture. There’s no way we can catch them before it gets dark.”
    The man looked around, as if noticing for the first time how late in the day it