Authors: Anna L
Chapter 29
When Chang returned Richard was with him. Everyone kept quiet.
“Are you happy?” Chang asked Brent.
“Not as happy as I could be, but we will take it.” Brent replied. “Don’t be surprised if we come back before the end of the week.”
Chang just nodded his head and pushed Richard towards Brent.
Brent turned around and began walking. Sam and Richard followed. When the boys reached outside no one talked. Thomas ran to his dad and gave him a hug, but then the happiness was over and there was some explaining to do.
No one talked as the boys drove home either. It was silent.
The car finally arrived at the hotel and everyone got out. They all walked upstairs and into their room. Everyone’s minds were reeling. They had no idea what the next move was. They were scared and nervous.
“Let’s all go and sit down on the couch,” Brent told the group.
They all sat down on the couch and Brent stood, as usual. Then Brent began talking telling the whole group the story.
“Okay first of all. Richard, I am Brent Cloud. I work for the A33 or the American Spy Organization, same as you. I work in a different department in the organization. That is why I never see you. This is Sam Knight. He goes to school with Margaret and William. He knew Catherine very well.”
“How do you know my family?” Richard asked.
“Please let me finish.” Brent replied and then went on. This time he was informing the whole group. “A few months ago, my boss Evan Coore asked me to keep a close eye on Richard’s family. He said that since Richard had Nick Sayner’s dad fired that there could be some trouble later on down the road. The organization had had problems with the Sayner’s previously.” Brent paused.
Sam couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Sure enough, something happened. Nick’s dad asked Chang and Kang from the Chinese restaurant to kidnap Richard when he was on a business trip to Italy.”
“When this happened I was told to go and get Richard and bring him back no matter what. Right before I was about to leave, Evan stopped me. Chang had contacted Evan. Chang told Evan that the only way to get Richard back was to give Chang Catherine.”
“Nick’s dad was working with Chang and Nick told his dad that he wanted to get to know Catherine better. So I bet that Nick is in that building right now.”
“Are you crazy?” Sam stood up and began walking over to Brent. “She loved you Brent! She trusted you and now you are just pushing her to the side as if nothing happened?” Sam had Brent pinned up against the wall.
“Guys, stop fighting!” Thomas was up off the couch too and trying to separate the two. “We aren’t going to get Kate back if you two are fighting.”
“Can someone please explain more. I am still lost.” Richard said, still sitting on the couch.
“The rest of the story.” Brent pushed Sam off of him and began again telling the story to Richard as if Sam and Thomas weren’t there. Everyone else sat down. “Evan told me to meet with Catherine and talk to her about working with me. She accepted. We stayed together and then Sam came into the picture. His friends kidnapped Evan for the night and Sam was able to talk to Catherine. After that, Evan asked me to ask Sam to join us and he agreed. We needed one more person to go to Italy. Then we were at home talking and Sam and I decided to bring Thomas with us too. Catherine trusted him and she wanted him to come. The next day we all flew here.”
“So you basically tricked all of us into coming here,” Sam sounded bitter.
“Please! Be quiet,” Brent snapped and then finished his story. “We spent all day today looking for clues on where you would be.” Brent was talking to Richard. “When we stopped in at the Chinese restaurant we knew you were close by and the Chinese men told us to come back later. When I was talking to Catherine after that I told her the reason why she came and she got really mad at me.”
“Then about an hour ago we showed up at the restaurant, again. We negotiated and talked with the men and they took Catherine away from us and gave you to us instead. And that brings us to where we are now.”
Richard was shocked by the story.
“You’re trying to tell me that my daughter is where I have been for the past couple weeks?” Richard was appalled.
“Yes, sir,” Brent said. “I’m very sorry, sir.”
Richard had nothing else to say. He put his head between his hands. He was shaking his head, in disbelief.
“Well how are you going to get her back, Brent?” Thomas asked. He was so mad. “Because this is all your fault.”
Brent stood up and looked at everyone in the room. It was quiet and everyone was thinking. Brent left without saying another word, leaving the group in disbelief.
But about an hour later all the boys were crowded around a table sharing ideas. They had a plan forming and it would take a lot of work. But it would only work if all four of the boys worked together, and that would be the hardest part.
*
I was almost in tears by the time Kang brought me downstairs. We had walked through a lot of very small hallways and I was totally lost. The only thing that I knew, was that we were below ground. We had gone down one flight of stairs at least.
Kang finally stopped walking and unlocked a door on the right hand side of the hallway. He opened the door and pushed me through. Then shut the door and locked it.
It took me awhile to figure out what was going on. The lights were on and there was a couch and a T.V. And Nick Sayner was sitting on the couch. He was just sitting there. He was staring at me,
and didn’t act surprised to see me at all.
I groaned and didn’t move.
“Why aren’t you happy to see me?” Nick asked; jokingly.
“Why would I be happy to see you? The last time I saw you was in the woods after you kidnapped Evan.” I replied a little more sure of myself.
“I guess that makes sense. Why don’t you come and sit down next to me.”
“Why am I here?”
“Come sit next to me and I will explain everything.”
I slowly walked over to him and sat down next to him. He moved closer to me and put his arm around me. I tried to shrug it off, but he wouldn’t let go of me.
Nick sighed and then began his story. “I will start from the very beginning. Your dad and my dad worked together. One day, your dad told the company to fire my dad. My dad couldn’t get another job and we had to sell our house and move into an apartment. My family has a history. All my grandparents were murderers, and let’s just say it gets worse from there.” I grimaced, before Nick moved on. “Our family is also know for not getting caught. My dad decided that kidnapping your dad would be the best option. That way he could get whatever he wanted, by threatening to kill your dad.”
“My dad decided to call some old friends here in Italy and they drafted a plan. They decided that when your dad came into the Chinese restaurant that the managers would kidnap him. Your dad had to finish a business deal here, that was how we knew your dad would come in here.”
“Now, that is all I know. I don’t know how Brent got into the equation. My guess would be that the ASO had their eyes on my family and decided to have Brent trick you into coming here so that the ASO could get your dad back safely. I told my dad that I wanted you, so that’s basically why you are here.” Nick finished.
“Do you have any other questions?” Nick was smiling.
“I hate you.” That was all that I could get out.
“That is really unfortunate, because you are stuck with me for awhile, unless you miss behave. Then we might just kill you.”
I stayed silent and didn’t even look at Nick.
“Well, you must be tired. You can go ahead and sleep if you want. I promise I won’t hurt you if you listen to me. I will wake you up later.”
Nick moved away from me and then pulled me down so that my head was resting on his legs. His arm was on my back.
He was right, though. I was tired. I fell asleep almost instantly, but I did remember one thing. Brent’s ring. What was it? Rotate the ring counter- clockwise twice? Yeah, that was it. I rotated it twice and then fell asleep peacefully in Nick’s lap.
*
Brent’s phone started beeping. It was late in the night and they boys were almost done with the plan for helping Catherine.
Everyone went quiet when they heard Brent’s phone. When he looked at the screen he started smiling.
“What?” Sam asked.
“Cat, is okay.” Brent replied.
“How do you know?” Richard asked.
“The first time I met Cat I gave her a ring. If she rotates it twice counter- clockwise it sends a message to my phone telling me exactly where she is. She must have had some time alone, because I now have the exact location of her.”
Chapter 30
The week had gone by fast. I couldn’t believe that it was Friday when I woke up the next morning. The only thing I knew was that Nick was gone. He left a note though.
Catherine,
I have stepped out for awhile to get something for you to eat. Please don’t try to leave. I might have to kill you and all the doors are locked anyways. I will be back soon.
Love,
Nick
I couldn’t believe it. I was so mad at Nick. Hopefully Brent was sent my exact location and help would be on the way soon. I don’t know if I could take Nick any longer.
I few minutes later there was a knock at the door. I got up and was about to open the door when I remembered that it was locked. I stood there and stared at the door and then the door opened slowly. I was confused at first but then Nick’s face popped into view. He was smiling.
“I am glad that you are up! I found us some food.” Nick had so much energy.
I just glared at Nick, and shut the door.
“Why are you so angry. I let you sleep for ten hours.”
My emotions didn’t change. I kept glaring at Nick. He moved around me and set the food down on the table in the middle of the room. I followed him with my eyes, making me turn away from the door. He walked back to where I was. Now he was standing right in front of me. We were only inches away from each other. I could feel his breath on my face.
He suddenly wrapped his arms around me. One on the back of my head and the other on my lower back. I put my arms in between us and pushed as hard as I could. I was not going to kiss Nick. That is just disgusting.
“Please, don’t fight this.” Nick whispered. Then he pulled something from his pocket. It was a small knife. I suddenly felt like I was going to throw up again. My stomach was in the my throat. My arms stayed on his chest. Nick’s arm on my lower back tightened as his other hand came closer to my neck. I could feel the blade on my skin now. “You ready now?” Nick was serious. “Put your arms around me, now.” I did as I was told. My heart was racing. I put both my arms around his neck, but one of my hands stopped at his fist with the knife. I uncurled his fingers, making him drop the knife.
The knife hitting the floor sounded like a bowling ball. The room had been so quiet. I moved my arm so that both my hands were around his neck. Nick then leaned towards me. In the spilt second I brought my leg up and kneed him right in the stomach. He groaned and let go of me. I picked up the knife and held it in front of me.
Nick looked up and began smiling. “You have learned well.” He paused. “Now, drop the knife and kiss me. Otherwise I will beat you up, and I will kill you. Please, I really don’t want to kill you.”
I slid the knife under the door so that Nick couldn’t get it. He smiled at me. “Fair enough.”
Then he took another step towards me, put his hands on my back and neck and pulled me towards him. My heart was beating so fast. I didn’t want to kiss Nick at all. I wanted Sam, the only boy that seemed to actually love me.
Nick didn’t care what I wanted, though. He began to kiss me and the only thing that I could do was kiss him back. As Nick kissed me he was pushing me towards the couch. I was trying to resist but he was much taller than me; not to mention how strong he was. Nick basically picked me up and moved me over there.
This whole time he never stopped kissing me. Occasionally his lips would move down to my neck and then move slowly up towards my lips again, but I could barely feel him. His lips were so soft on my skin and I was trying not to pay attention to what was going on.
I was still struggling when he stopped kissing me. We were sitting on the couch now and his hands were on my back and neck. We were both breathing hard, “Stop struggling! You aren’t going to get your way so stop trying!” Nick was so serious.
“Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want to kiss you?” I asked.
“Obviously you don’t, but you will learn to like it over time.” Nick was smiling as he came towards me again.
Nick lifted me up so that I was laying on top of him. He pulled me closer to him and started to move his hands. The one on my neck slowly crept down my back and to my upper thigh. Nick’s touch made me shiver, but I couldn’t let him know that. I took one of my hands and grabbed his hand. I tried to move it back up to my neck, but his hand didn’t budge.
The only thing he did was squeeze me closer to him. I could barely breath. Now, his other hand began to move. His left hand slowly began to slide down my side to my hip. His hand was creeping under my shirt.
In an effort to stop Nick from touching me, I moved, only to have him roll over. Now, I was on the bottom and he was pinning me down to the couch.
“Stop fighting,” He panted. Then his lips locked on mine and his hand moved farther up my shirt.
There was no way that I was going to let this happen. Neither Brent or Sam had done this to me.
I quickly brought my knee up again and hit Nick right where he didn’t want to be hit. He snapped up and rolled off the couch. I quickly got off the couch and ran towards the door. I knew that the door was locked, but it was just an instinct.
Nick was right behind me when I turned around to see how he was doing.
Nick’s hands grabbed my arms and pinned them up against the door. He came towards me one more time, but this time he didn’t kiss me. His face was so close to my face that I was scared to breath. “You have done a very bad thing, Catherine. I am done giving you chances. Tomorrow morning, I am going to take you out. By myself.”
Then he let me go and shoved me towards the couch. “You better sleep. Tomorrow will be very stressful.”
I sat down on the couch and he sat next to me. He pulled me down so that I was laying on his lap
again. He covered me with a blanket, but by that time, I was already dreaming about Sam.
When I woke up the next morning I was scared. I didn’t know where I was or who I was laying on. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was in the same room that I had kissed Nick in the night before. Nick was shaking me.
“You need to get up now!” Nick was telling me.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was trying to adjust to the lighting in the room.
“We are leaving this room in an hour. So if there is anything that you need to do, do it now.” Nick got up and left the room without saying another word.
I was left in a quiet room, to think about my own death.
I didn’t know what to think about. Whenever I tried to think about Sam, my mind would wander. I began thinking about Nick; mostly about his kiss from last night and how much Nick scared me.
Before he kissed me, I was scared that I might enjoy it. I didn’t want Nick, at all. I wanted Sam, that was it. But last night’s kiss was different. I didn’t enjoy it. So I must have wanted to kiss Sam after he broke into my room. I enjoyed his kisses, not Nick’s.
*
“Come on we need to hurry! They might have killed her by now!” Sam was going crazy. He couldn’t take this any longer. He wanted Kate, safe, in his arms. Right this minute.
Brent was basically speeding down the main road in Rome, Italy. The boys had been up all night getting ready for this afternoon. There was no time to waste. Brent had just dropped Richard off at a subway station, which had access to underground tunnels.
Sam and Thomas were being dropped off at the back door of the Chinese restaurant and Brent was going to go in the front of the restaurant; by himself.
Brent pulled into a parking spot about a block away from the back of the Chinese restaurant. The boys couldn’t risk being seen until the right moment.
“Now, be patient or else this plan isn’t going to work. Thomas make sure you keep Sam patient,” Brent instructed to the two boys.
Thomas nodded and set off running with Sam on his heels.
Brent was only a few blocks away from reaching his destination. He had to park farther away from the building. As soon as he parked the car he jumped out and began running to the front door. He would walk once he got closer to the building. He didn’t was the two Chinese men to wonder why he was breathing so hard.