Taken By Force (Taken Trilogy Book 2)

by Jessica Frances

  I place on a new sweater and look down at my legs. They look as bruised as the rest of me. I notice Charlie’s eyes soften as he takes in the sight. In fresh clothes, I rewash my face and hands again, still feeling like they aren’t clean enough, and then we leave to let Will do the same. No one comes in while we’re there.

  When Charlie sits in the driver’s seat, I sit in the passenger side next to him. He holds my hand as we wait for Will. We both keep our eyes on the road, hoping to see Rose and Dean arrive safely.

  Even given the stress of the situation, my eyes keep drifting shut. While I think I’ve only just closed them for a second, the time on the dashboard says it’s four in the morning. I’ve been out for over five hours. Will is lying passed out on the backseat and Charlie is tiredly keeping a lookout, his head leaning on the window, and I’m resting my right side on him.

  “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, sorry,” I whisper, trying to stretch out my free arm. My legs feel stiff and sore.

  “Don’t be. After the day we’ve had, we could all use some sleep.” Charlie still holds onto my hand and I feel him squeeze it softly.

  “Why don’t you try and get some sleep? I can keep watch for a while,” I offer, wishing I could get more sleep, though seeing how tired Charlie looks, willing to stay awake.

  “I was so worried about you before, Zoe. I can’t lose you.” Charlie turns his back on the door so his body faces me. His eyes gaze at me intensely, but I still see the exhaustion behind them.

  “You’re not going to,” I try to reassure him; however my heart grows heavier with my words. We are going to lose each other. My dream proves that. Chances are, I won’t make it out of breaking into The Core alive.

  “Good, because I think I’m in love with you, Zoe.” Charlie’s voice grows quieter as his eyes finally shut.

  My breath catches in my throat and tears run down my face. I don’t know what to say to that or how I feel, but I get out of it easy. Within seconds, Charlie is softly snoring and his hand goes limp in mine.

  I try to sort through the tide of emotions that hit me with his words. I know without a doubt that I love him, too. He’s become my best friend, someone I rely on and need.

  Warmth spreads through my body from hearing his words. I know I’ll cherish them forever. Maybe that dream I had of me being shot at The Core doesn’t have to happen, maybe there is a way I can survive it and be with Charlie?

  I force my eyes away from him and away from getting bogged down in thoughts of my impending demise. Instead, I look outside at the empty road. Rain is falling and the car feels cool. The longer we sit here, the colder it’ll get. I imagine Charlie recently had the engine going and the heater on just to keep us warm. Depending how long we stay here and how long Charlie stays asleep, I might have to do the same.

  I think back over Charlie’s words and smile to myself. I have a sudden urge to find Dana and tell her. The thought sobers me. This is something any normal person would be able to tell their best friend. I can’t do that anymore. Or at least, I can’t expect her to answer me.

  I lean back in my seat, letting my thumb rub small circles along Charlie’s hand. It feels rough and I notice a small bruise in the middle. I feel protective of him as I hold my other hand along his; wanting to rid Charlie of any pain he’s in. I want to eliminate any danger in his life. I wish I could be anywhere else with him than right here. I want that dream to be true, the one where I’m pregnant. I want to have that future with him.

  Headlights flash us as a car turns into the hotel car park. Charlie stirs next to me and we both freeze, watching the car’s movement. I hold my breath when the car finds a parking spot. Charlie puts his hand over the keys, ready to start the ignition if necessary.

  When I see Rose getting out, I let out a breath I’ve been holding onto and then quickly get out of the car, not caring how sore and stiff my legs feel. I run straight to Rose, hugging her tightly, surprising her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You took forever,” I complain.

  ***

  The discussion we all have is long and tiring. From our dramatic car crash to learning there are more people in the world like us to the hospital pit stop. Rose gasps and hugs us all several times by the end of it. She looks over Will’s wounds, which look like deep red scars now and I think she nearly suffocates him at one point, hugging him so tightly. There is the question of there being more people like us out there, which causes Rose to promise to kill Maggie for what she did to Will. The even bigger question is, are we all safe right now?

  There isn’t really any way to know, and as much as the cabin feels like a welcome haven we should all retreat back to, we decide to stay. We have come here for a reason and as long as we’re careful then we should be all right. There is also the added hope that Maggie won’t have told anyone where we were headed when she asked for help. After her head injury, she might have forgotten.

  Rose quickly decides that if I had a good feeling about Ocean, then we can safely assume our secret is safe with him. Everyone else isn’t so keen to agree with that, but unless we want to be on the run forever, The Core is an important target for us to destroy. Now is as good a time as any to begin that.

  It’s decided that the following day we will move and check out The Core to figure out a way around the security.

  We all eat a big meal that night, even though I have no appetite for it. None of us have eaten the day before, so Will and Charlie eat two meals each. The rest of us are more restrained. After an entire day of talking and the only sleep sitting up in a car, I’m in need of a hot shower and a bed. Joel and Dean volunteer to keep a lookout overnight, so Will and Rose share one room while Charlie and I share the other. After my shower and crawling into bed, I’m asleep before Charlie even finishes his shower.

  I wake up in his arms, dreading the surveillance day ahead of us. They may not know yet that we’re here, but I have a bad feeling after the end of the day they will definitely know where we are.

  ***

  The Core ends up being quite an ordinary building. It’s situated south of D.C. and is next door to a far more impressive military building complex. If anything, The Core just looks like a plain set of office buildings that match many other places scattered around the city and country. The only thing that makes you look twice at it is the tall wire fencing around the outside and the overkill on security around it. The influx of cars arriving also seems unusually high. All the cars are thoroughly searched and IDs scrutinized.

  I’m hiding in some bushes, waiting for Charlie, with my eyes glued to the building. The first hour had felt important and suspenseful; now it’s merely boring and mind numbing. I write down what I see; when guards come around my side of the building, how many different ones I see and the position of security cameras. The others are also scattered around the area hidden away. I’m not sure how many days we’ll be doing this, but with all the security this place has, I doubt we’ll be able to break into it.

  The bushes I’m hiding alone in creep me out. The thought of bugs and spiders scare me, but seeing squashed cigarette butts chills me further. Has someone else also been doing surveillance on this place? Have they hidden in this spot, too? What do they know about The Core?

  The night air is setting in and I feel anxious waiting for Charlie. He left me to check on the others. I worry something bad has happened. I have no idea the bad feeling I’m having is actually relating to me.

  A cough comes from behind me and as I turn, expecting to see Charlie, instead I’m blinded by a flash of light. Another flash of light goes off in my face and I close my eyes, trying to adjust to the light changes.

  I drop my notes onto the ground and squint through the bright spots flashing over my retinas. I eventually see a large, pudgy man holding onto a camera. His face appears suspicious, but there is an underlying mark of giddiness to him.

  I’m not being attacked or taken, so I find myself feeling even more nervous. Who is this man and what does he
want?

  “Who are you?” I move out of the bushes and stand tall, trying to put my feet in a good position to fight like Dean has tried to teach me.

  “My name is Allan Hort. I work for therealtruth.com. Who are you? Who sent you here?” His voice is low and sounds suspicious.

  “No one sent me…” I trail off, trying to think of something acceptable to say that won’t expose me and the others.

  “Lies, of course. I will uncover this place and the government corruption, even if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “You know about this building?” A glimmer of hope starts inside me that maybe this man might be able to save us.

  “Yes, and I’m curious to know what you know about it. I’ve not seen you around here. If you’re not with them, then who do you work for?”

  “I don’t work for anyone—”

  “Oh please, you are way out of your league,” he growls at me, his voice chillingly turning even deeper.

  “Why? What do you know?”

  He assesses me, most likely wondering how much to reveal to me. “I’ve been working on this story for months, and I’m not giving anything up to you.”

  “Why did you take my photo?”

  “It’s a free country.” He shrugs, his eyes never leaving mine. I see the curiosity growing behind his eyes.

  “What do you plan on doing with it?”

  “Perhaps I’ll post it on my website. See if I can’t find out who you are.”

  “No! Please don’t.” This is a disaster. I need to delete that photo. What if Mom or Drew sees it? What will they think? What if Stan sees it? Then he’ll know we’re here for sure.

  “If you can give me some information, I might be able to lose the photos.” Allan smirks.

  “I don’t have any information.”

  “More lies. You won’t out scoop me. I have tens of thousands of readers for my site. Whatever rag you write for won’t have the believers I do.”

  “Please, leave me alone. I’m on the run,” I admit.

  “On the run from whom?” Allan asks suspiciously.

  “From them.” I nod towards The Core. “If they know I’m here, then they’ll take me away.”

  “Why are they after you?” His eyes narrow on me, weighing up the truth of my words and if he’s being played.

  “I don’t know.” I shrug, knowing he won’t believe me if I tell the truth.

  “You look young, how did you get messed up in all this then?”

  “Please don’t print my picture,” I beg, ignoring his question.

  “This is bigger than you or me. I don’t have a choice. I’ve heard reports of experiments going on in there, about military personnel going missing without reason. I’ve been told of bodies that turn up at the morgue, only to disappear without a trace overnight, and conveniently without an autopsy able to be performed. Something is going on here and I plan to get to the bottom of it,” he declares, his words and their meaning scaring me.

  He steps closer to me and grabs my arm tightly, squeezing it hard so I can’t get away from his reach. “Tell me what you know. The families of the missing soldiers deserve the truth. America deserves the truth.”

  “Please, you’re hurting me.” I pull at my arm, but his grip won’t budge.

  “Who do you work for? Do you work for them? Were you sent here to find me?” he demands.

  “No. Please let me go.” I pull again and suddenly the lights on the street go out. Darkness surrounds us and I fear I know why.

  “Let her go!” Charlie yells. Out of nowhere I’m thrown to the ground with Allan. Charlie is on top of us. I move away and hear the scuffle Charlie and Allan go through.

  “Charlie, come on. We have to get out of here.” A blackout, especially right next to The Core, is going to bring up massive red flags. They’ll know we’re here. We have to run.

  I step in what I hope is the opposite direction of the fight and feel my foot come into contact with something on the ground. I feel around and find the bloggers camera and take it as Charlie grabs my hand and then we run. There is no moon or stars in the sky to guide us and the darkness feels so eerie that many people on the streets are crying out.

  We run for at least an hour before lights start working again. We hide in a vacant backyard for hours in silence before we notice the power slowly coming back on. We know we have to go back to the hotel room.

  Charlie keeps hold of my hand as we rush through the small crowds of people on the street. The darkness of the night keeps us mostly hidden, but every few yards we walk next to a brightly lit store or a street lamp, causing anxiety to build up as I expect to be ambushed.

  Twice Charlie ducks down an alleyway with me when he thinks a government car is coming. I’m not sure if they’re part of P.A.G.E., but I’m too scared to look out into the street to see. At least with Charlie causing a blackout the others will be alerted that there is a problem.

  Going back to the hotel is a risk, but our things are there and we hope maybe the others.

  I keep watch on our surroundings while Charlie goes inside our room. He said if he didn’t come back out within ten seconds to say it was all right, then I’m to run. My feet are permanently stuck to the ground right now, there is no way I can go anywhere. Luckily, Charlie comes back out of the room and nods his head to me. I stay, watching outside our room, feeling disheartened that no one has made it back here. Or at least if they have, they’re already long gone.

  Charlie comes back out carrying our bags.

  “They’ve been and gone. They left this.” Charlie passes me a note.

  I read it, seeing the shaky handwriting. Whoever wrote this had been either scared, in a rush or perhaps both.

  ‘Safe place, five days.’

  Safe place? The only safe place that means anything to all of us is obviously the cabin. We’re going back. I’m relieved that we’ll see something familiar that hasn’t been touched by P.A.G.E. We can be safe there.

  “We need a car,” Charlie mutters as we look around the mostly empty parking lot. The car Rose, Dean and Joel arrived in is gone. The one we had taken is back towards The Core, but whether Ocean has survived or not, they’ll have found him by now and realized we dropped him off at the hospital. The first thing they’ll do is search for our vehicle. A stolen car from the hospital parking lot is incredibly obvious.

  This hotel is mostly empty. There are five other cars parked from other guests. Neither of us have any clue how to steal a car, and I know these cars will all be locked securely. There is only one possibility to get out of this easy, and that is the one car parked in a spot that has ‘STAFF’ painted on the ground. It’s a beat up, faded blue dodge. We peek into the manager’s office. Given the late hour, the man working the desk is asleep in his chair, snoring loudly. Behind him are all the keys to the rooms, but the more interesting keys are sitting on the man’s desk.

  Charlie quietly sneaks in and I hold my breath as I watch him move in slow motion to grab hold of the keys. The strong odor of alcohol emitting from the office and the fact that it’s dead silent outside will hopefully mean that we can get away clean without this man realizing his car has been stolen for several hours. Enough time for us to get out of D.C.

  Charlie finally makes it outside and we both rush over to the man’s car. There are only four keys on this chain and he finds the right one straight away. We check to make sure it has gas and then we both throw our bags into the back. Starting the car, we drive out of the parking lot and make our way north through D.C. We can’t go directly to the cabin, though Charlie seems to know where he wants to drive to.

  We’re mostly silent. Charlie, no doubt, feeling guilt over the blackout, and I’m feeling guilty about stealing another car. I’ve lost count of how many people we’ve inconvenienced now. We don’t voice our fear, but I know my thoughts are on the others and if they managed to get out of D.C. okay.

  It’s hours into our drive that I let the exhaustion take over. With it comes a new dream.


  I’m again waking in a future dream. I’ve never had more than one going at the same time before. Usually I’ve had one and then it’s come true. However, the one in the office building hasn’t happened yet. So what is this one?

  I pay attention to my surroundings, wondering what warning this dream is giving me. I notice that I’m in a building corridor; one I don’t recognize, big surprise. It’s deserted, but I can hear noises coming from somewhere further up. I move closer to the voices and, glancing around the corner carefully, I see a bunch of people sitting around a large table, laughing. I want to move closer to them, but I can’t make my feet move.

  What’s going on? Why am I dreaming about this? Does this have to do with my earlier dream where I get shot? Maybe this is what happens in the lead up to me getting shot?

  Looking closer at the people, I notice they’re all wearing similar clothing, all grey. Is this a school?

  I don’t recognize any of the ones with their faces visible, but the man with his back to me is easily recognizable. It’s, without a doubt in my mind, Charlie.

  “So onto other topics. What’s up with this personality change? At first you’re trying to beat everyone up and now you want to be everyone’s friend?” one of the other men asks him.

  Charlie turns his head to stare at everyone in front of him. I try to glimpse a look at his side as he turns, but he’s too quick. I need to get closer.

  “I just realized there is nothing out there for me, you know? All I have is what is here now, and the sooner I accept that, the sooner I’ll be able to move on.”

  What is he talking about? Where is he?