…I ran to him and pulled off the tape around his mouth.

"There's a knife in the kitchen." He nodded his head at his tied hands.

I hurried to get it, trampling over the cookies.

In the kitchen, I yanked on a drawer but it didn't budge. I pulled out the next one slower, but it was full of so many things I couldn't open it either. In the next one I found a knife. I ran back and sawed through the rope on his wrists.

I was working on the ones around his ankles when we heard a noise.

The gravel in the driveway.

He looked even more frightened.