She shakes her head. “Probably not.” With a growl, William slams the door. “Point for Kayla,” she mumbles. Just to make sure, she walks over and tries the door. It’s locked, of course.
Kayla frowns and goes into the living room. She turns the TV on, and it’s the news again. There are reports of murders, accidents, and other horrible things. Finally, her picture pops up.
The broadcaster says, “The teenage girl, Kayla Hendrickson, is still missing. Phones are ringing off the hook at the police command center. We will show you a picture of her again. She’s around 5-foot-6, 130 pounds, brown hair, and hazel eyes. She has a very prominent blue streak of hair on the right-hand side of her head. Kayla was last seen in a red halter dress. Her family has also come forward stating they believe she has been kidnapped. They said her kidnapper has referenced himself as William. He is approximately twenty-one years of age with blond hair and blue eyes. Please, if you have any information, come forward and call the number at the bottom of the screen.”
The anchorman shifts to the weather after that. Kayla’s heart sinks. She was hoping to see her parents again. Her eyes flicker to the bottom of the screen, and she sees the emblem of the Houston, Texas, news station. “Holy cow!” she exclaims. Remembering the cameras, she shuts her mouth and thinks to herself, I know where I am now, or at least my approximate location. This is huge. How do I tell Damien?
She ponders the most feasible answers until she finally has a plan. Her friend, Lily, lives in Fort Worth. Somehow she needs to mention her if William lets her make another message. Kayla just hopes it’s soon. Exhaling loudly, she sits back and tries to watch TV.
The next day, William does deny her food. The only person who comes in to see her is the security guard. He plugs in a bag of the Kiej concentrate and leaves the room. That is when Kayla truly realizes how bad of a situation she is in. Instantly, she bursts into tears. Whimpering, Kayla whispers, “I want my parents. I want to go home. Please.”
An hour or so later, a girl walks into the room. “I’m here to disconnect your IV.”
Kayla quickly scrambles up. “Who are you? Let me out of here, please. There’s a huge reward, millions, I bet it could even be more. Isn’t that worth it?”
The girl shakes her head timidly. “No, Master William is a good man.”
“Are you crazy?” Kayla yells. “He’s holding me hostage.”
“He has reasons for what he does,” the girl replies, stopping the IV. “Give it time, Miss. You’ll see how great he is.”
Pouting, Kayla snaps, “If you like him so much, you should marry him. You could have his babies.”
“If I were so lucky,” the girl murmurs, pulling the bag off the pole. “You will see the light soon, Miss.”
“There’ll be no light at the end of this tunnel,” Kayla retorts, crossing her arms.
“Mmmm,” the girl hums as she starts to walk to the door.
“How did you meet William?” Kayla asks curiously.
The girl turns around. “He rescued my sister and me off the streets. We would be dead without him.”
Kayla frowns. “Well, that’s a nice thing.”
There is a moment of hesitation and then the girl says, “Yes.”
“What’s your name?” Kayla asks.
“Trin,” the girl answers.
“Trin, I’m Kayla. Hopefully I get you from now on and not that big guy that usually comes in here.”
Trin quietly giggles. “That’s Patrick. He’s William’s sidekick, so to speak.”
“Well, you are much nicer,” Kayla replies.
“Is there anything I can get you?” Trin inquires.
“Food,” Kayla says.
Trin shakes her head. “That I cannot do until tomorrow.”
Kayla screams. “William is a douche bag.”
The girl’s eyes widen. “Miss…”
“Sorry,” Kayla mumbles, crossing her arms. “You can go.” Trin nods her head and leaves.
The rest of the night is uneventful. Kayla watches the news, and she’s on it again. Her eyes tear up when her family comes onto the TV. When Tracy, Jackson, and Damien appear, she scrambles to the TV and puts her hand on it. They talk about her and how important she is to them, which sends Kayla into hysterical tears.
She cries for the rest of night. Sleeping is nearly impossible, so she sits up in bed. Suddenly, a thought pops into her head. Closing her eyes, she quickly goes to Shima.
When she gets there, she turns in circles. “Damien! Jackson! Anyone! Please help!” Nothing but silence responds. “Jackson! Please! Where are you?”
Instantly, William is standing next to her. “You’re a silly girl. Do you think that I don’t have people monitoring you?”
“Damien is strong enough to get through to me,” Kayla yells. “DAMIEN!”
William just laughs. “You think he’s powerful, but he’s not. He’s nothing compared to me, and you’re not strong enough to block me out yet. You may as well give up.”
Kayla crumbles to the ground and starts to cry. “I want to go home, please,” she whimpers.
“Your resolve is starting to slip. Poor Kayla. You will side with me sooner than you think.”
She sits on her knees and cries. Kayla eventually lets her energy go and she’s back in her body. Grabbing the blankets, she pulls them over her head and tries to go back to sleep.
The next day, she doesn’t even get out of bed. Trin comes in with food, but Kayla doesn’t touch it. William comes in towards the end of the day and demands that she eat something. Annoyed, Kayla gets up and does as he asks, but immediately goes back to bed afterwards.
This goes on for a week. Finally, William comes in and says, “You are taking a bath right now! Even if I have to make you do it myself. This is disgusting.”
“No,” Kayla mumbles, pulling the blanket over her head.
He yanks it away and grabs her wrist. “Come on.” William starts to pull her to the bathroom.
“Wait, wait!” Kayla exclaims. “I’ll do it. Just let me do it myself, you sick pervert.”
“Then get in there and take a shower. Put on a fresh pair of clothes. You’re eating with me tonight!”
Crossing her arms, Kayla mumbles, “I’ll get cleaned up.”
“Good,” William snaps. “I’ll be back in half an hour.” He turns and leaves the room. Kayla flips him off as he goes.
The shower feels good, but she cries most of the time. She drags herself out of the shower and dresses. When a soft knock sounds on the door a while later, Kayla is sitting on the bed. Without waiting for an invitation, someone opens the door. Trin comes in. “Master William wants you to come to the dining room.”
“Whatever,” Kayla exhales.
She follows Trin to the dining room. When they get there, Kayla sees two boxes sitting on the table. “All your stuff came,” William states. “We will take it to your room later.”
“Can I send a message to my parents? To let them know I’m okay.”
“Actually, since you have been so melancholy, I will show you the messages they sent back.”
Kayla darts over to him. “Messages? How did they get me messages?”
“They sent them to the email address I used to send your messages to them. We made sure they couldn’t track them back, and I retrieved them for you.”
“Can I see them? Please, I want to see them now?”
William points at her chair. “Sit down and eat first.” Kayla complies and starts scarfing down food. “Slow down, you’re going to make yourself sick.”
Glaring at him, Kayla slows her bites and takes her time. An eternity later, they finish eating. “Now? Can I see them now?”
He wipes his mouth. “Yes, come on.” Kayla is quick to follow him into his office. “Sit down,” he instructs. Kayla obeys. William bends over and clicks on a few things on his computer. “Which one do you want to see first?”
“My parents.”
Her mom and dad appear on the screen. Her mom i
s crying, but her dad says, “I hope this gets to you, sweetie. We got your videos. It seems as though you’re unharmed, but we don’t know what to believe. Our people are doing everything in their power to find you. Please, just stay strong. We will find you soon. Then you can come home. We all miss you so much. Just stay strong. Don’t let him break you. Do what you need to stay alive. We love you, my precious baby girl. We are thinking of you every second of every day. Remember that. We will see you soon, honey.”
Her mom looks up at the camera. “I love you, Kayla! I want you home, sweetie. Stay strong.” Her dad hugs her mom and then the video ends.
Kayla didn’t even realize she’d started crying. William hands her a box of tissues again. She yanks it from him. “Do you want to see Damien’s now?” Kayla nods.
When Damien comes onto the screen, he looks horrible. “Kayla, babe, I’m so sorry. This is entirely my fault. I told you that you were safe, and I let you slip through our fingers. I can’t even come close to telling you how sorry I am. I love you, babe, and nothing matters right now, except finding you. We plan to increase the reward. Someone, somewhere has to know something. As soon as we find you, I will kill William. I’ll do it personally, I promise. I only hope that you’re okay. We will find you soon, babe. I promise. Just stay strong. Please, just stay strong.” With that, Damien puts his head between his knees and the video cuts out. Kayla cries even more.
“All right, one more video,” William declares. “This is from Jackson. I’ve watched it a few times. You guys have the weirdest friendship. I don’t understand the point of bringing up cute stories about you two. Makes me nauseas.”
“Cute stories?”
“Something about being ticklish, I don’t know. He’s a moron, just like Damien. Here, watch the video.”
Jackson appears on the screen. He smiles. “Hey, I hope you’re okay. Damien and I are working together and doing everything we can to find you. Yes, we’re working together and getting along. We finally have something to agree on. I hope that makes you happy at least for a second. I only want to say that I care about you, sweetie. I just want you home. I’m taking care of Tracy. I understand about protecting her from herself. I have been staying with her, keeping her in check and out of trouble. I’m just holding onto our last memories. What you said to me in the bathroom…” He pauses and then continues, “And me finding out how ticklish you are on your thigh, right by that birthmark. I just can’t stop thinking about it. I miss you.”
Jackson’s clue is like a ton of bricks hitting Kayla all at once. She is screaming, “THE TRACKING DEVICE,” in her head. Trying to act coy, she continues to watch the video.
“What a stupid thing to bring up.” William snorts. “You’re being held captive and he’s talking about freckles.”
“It’s a joke between us,” Kayla retorts sharply. “We’re both ticklish there. He probably wanted to put a smile on my face, and by him saying that, he succeeded. He’s my friend.”
Jackson continues, “I hope to see you after you get this video. We are going to track it to get to you. Keep that in mind when you go to sleep tonight.”
“I will,” Kayla exhales.
“See you soon, babe,” Jackson declares with a little pep in his voice. He kisses his fingers and holds them out. “Since we were so rudely interrupted in your video.”
Kayla kisses her fingers and puts them on the computer screen. William groans. “Oh, that is ridiculous.”
When the video disappears, Kayla smiles. “I’m so happy to hear from them.”
“You were crying a few seconds ago and now you’re happy?” William retorts.
“Yeah, I’m loved and I know it. Can you say the same? I bet not.”
William stares down at her and narrows his eyes. “You will love me, you just wait.”
“No, you just wait and keep on waiting because it’ll never happen. Anyway, I want to go take a bath in that awesome bathtub.”
“You need your next dose of Kiej soon. Take a bath and we’ll put a new IV in. That’s fine.”
“Will you answer me an honest question?” Kayla inquires. William nods. “Are there cameras in the bathroom?”
With a disgusted look, William says, “No, I’d never let anyone see you naked. No, there are no cameras in there.”
“Good to know, that’d be awkward.”
“Unless you want me to watch,” William murmurs, stepping closer to her. “In that case, I’ll just come into the bathroom with you.”
“I would kick you between the legs if you did that.”
A smirk passes over William’s face. “One day you will beg me.”
“One day I’ll kill you.”
“Go, take a bath,” William says. She walks out of the room and he follows her. When she gets back to her room, William says, “Enjoy your bath.”
“I will, don’t you worry.”
William shuts the door. Kayla casually takes her clothes off, and strips down to her underwear. She needs to make it as believable as possible. Slowly, she makes her way into the bathroom and shuts the door. As soon it’s closed, she frantically turns on the water. As it runs, Kayla sits on the edge of the tub and starts looking around her leg. She has to bend over, but she finds the birthmark. Kayla presses down on it and counts. Sixty seconds seems to take forever, but she holds on for an additional minute. Finally, she let’s go. “Please be looking for it,” she whispers.
The water runs and she sits on the edge of the tub, not knowing what to do. The bathroom door suddenly flies open and William stands in the doorway. “WHERE IS IT?” he screams.
“Don’t you wish you knew,” Kayla retorts smugly.
He brings his hand back and strikes her across the face. Kayla falls to the ground, hitting her head on the tile. When she rolls over, she sees William pointing a gun at her. As soon as the dart hits her, unconscious welcomes her.
Chapter 23
Kayla is startled by another slap to the face. “Wake up!”
Kayla groggily opens her eyes. William is standing over her. “Ow, that hurt, you ass!”
“I don’t care. Where’s the tracking device?” he yells.
“Don’t have a clue,” Kayla replies, rolling over onto her knees. William kicks her square in the side, which forces her back over.
“Tell me now or I’ll kill Tracy!”
Kayla clutches her side and glares up at him. “Good luck with that. I’m not telling you where it is.”
William holds up a scalpel. “You either tell me where it is, or I start cutting you up.”
“Go ahead, I would rather bleed to death than stay here with you.” She looks around to see where they are and realizes they’re on a plane.
“I can make that happen.”
Turning to William, Kayla spits out, “I dare you.”
He reaches down and slaps her across the face again. Kayla screams out. William drops to his knees, towering over her. He brings the scalpel up to her neck. “Want me to call your bluff?” he hisses.
The point of the scalpel enters Kayla’s skin. She screams again.
“Tell me where it is,” he snarls.
“In my leg,” she breathes out. “It’s in my leg.”
William lets out a roar. “That tickling thing was a message!”
“You aren’t very bright,” Kayla growls in return.
“Hold her down,” William demands his security guard. The guy comes over and pins Kayla’s upper body down. William scoots down on her legs. Kayla tries to clench them close, but he pries them open. “Get off of me, you creep.”
“This is going to hurt a little,” William snickers. “Now, where is it?” He starts to trace the scalpel down her leg. “Ah, wait, I bet this is it. Let’s find out.” He cuts her skin. Kayla screams at the top of her lungs. “Oh yes, what do we have here? This would definitely be a tracking device.”
Kayla is in so much pain, she can’t even think straight. “Please, it hurts,” she whimpers.
“Oh,” William says.
“I forgot about this, silly me.” He holds up a syringe. He places it in Kayla’s skin around the cut and shoots a liquid inside. Instantly, the pain starts to subside. “Can’t have my wife in pain. Dress up her wound, while I destroy this.” William gets up and leaves.
Trin suddenly appears next to them with a tray of medical items. “You shouldn’t have done that,” Trin says. “This is going to hurt.”
“It hurts already, you idiot,” Kayla growls. She screams as Trin cleans her wound.
A few minutes later, William walks back in and looks at Patrick, his sidekick. “It has been properly destroyed.” Moving his gaze back to Kayla, he says, “We will be landing momentarily. Then we’re driving from there. They’ll never find you now. You’re a stupid, stupid girl. You will pay for this.”
“Like cutting me with no painkillers isn’t bad enough?” Kayla shouts. “You had to have known I would try something!”
“But not something so risky,” William retorts. “I’m surprised. I never would have guessed there was a tracking chip in you. You caught me by surprise, but that won’t happen again.”
“They will find you now,” Kayla spits out. “They will find you and kill you!”
William squats down next to her. “They won’t be able to get close enough to me to kill anyone.”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
“Then you’re taking a stupid bet,” William snidely remarks. He looks down at her leg. “You’re still bleeding.”
Kayla grimaces. “Maybe you should just let me die.”
“No, of course not, we’re going to be married. A dead woman can’t have my babies. Trin, apply pressure to that, you stupid girl.”
Trin nods and walks over by Kayla. She takes more gauze and holds it against the cut. “If you hold still, Miss, it’ll stop bleeding faster.”
“Screw you.”
“Watch how you talk to the help,” William chastises condescendingly.
“Do any of you realize how much money you will get if you turn him in? I can double what they’re offering,” Kayla exclaims.
Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) Page 51
