by Jaime Lewis
She shook her head as she read the text. Alex seemed just as excited as Mia was about getting together for the long holiday weekend. She laughed at the meme of a turkey holding a countdown clock showing the time remaining until Mia’s plane arrived in Norfolk.
She was so engrossed in texting Alex back that she hadn’t seen the man in the black ski mask approaching from behind. As she rounded the corner of the block her apartment building was on, the guy made his move. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off her feet. She screamed, but he quickly clamped his hand over her mouth to muffle her cries. She kicked her legs and fought with him as he pulled her into the dark alley between her building and the building next door. Frantically she looked around, searching for anyone to get their attention, but the only thing she saw was a van sitting idle about twenty yards away, and her eyes widened in fear. She flung her arms up and hit the guy in the head. His hold loosened, but he didn’t release her. When his hand fell from her mouth, she screamed for help. He lifted her again, and the van pulled up beside them, and the side door flung open.
“Get her in the fucking van.” Another voice shouted, and Mia turned to try and get a look at him, but the guy holding her moved his hand from her mouth to her throat and squeezed.
“Make another fucking sound or try to fight me, and I’ll break your pretty fucking neck.” He spoke close to her ear with a prominent New York accent, sending a jolt of fear through her and making her still. She was thrown into the van and landed on her side. The pain momentarily stunned her, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying to escape. As the big guy went to climb in behind her, she kicked him in the chest, and he fell backward into the alley. She scrambled on her hands and knees toward the door on the other side, but his partner was too quick and pounced on her, slamming her face down onto the metal floor.
“Get the fuck into the van!” He shouted to the other guy. Mia’s head spun from the blow. Before she could focus, a blunt object struck the back of her head, and she fell victim to the darkness.
◆◆◆
Mia’s muscles seized, and she shivered as another bucket of ice water was dumped on her. It was the third time in the last hour or so. She had a massive headache, and if her body shook any harder, she’d knock over the chair she was sitting in. She was blindfolded which caused her to be surrounded in darkness. The hoodie she had been wearing had been removed along with her shoes and socks, leaving her in a long-sleeved running shirt and black running pants. Her teeth continued to chatter, and she felt the goosebumps crawl along her skin. Wherever they had taken her wasn’t heated. She could feel cold air blowing in from an open door or window. The place had a musty, earthy smell that reminded her of a warehouse or basement. God knew there were plenty of warehouses in the city. That thought scared the daylight out of her. Who would find her in a warehouse? How would the police know which warehouse to search? She started to hyperventilate until a hand slapped her in the face. Her head rolled to the side. Everything felt as if it was happening in slow motion. Besides the pain in her head, she felt nauseous.
“Damn, are you sure this is the one the boss wanted?” A deep snarly voice said to the right of her. She envisioned the voice came from the big dude who had grabbed her initially. What had he meant by was she the one the boss wanted? Had someone been watching her? Had she been targeted? Another gust of wind blew in, and she caught a whiff of someone’s god awful cologne. It wasn’t one she was familiar with, but it was strong and pungent. Her stomach started to churn. She gagged and felt the bile rise.
“Shit! She’s going to puke.” Another guy said.
“Well, you’re the dumb fuck who hit her in the fucking head instead of just using the damn needle.” It was a different voice from the other two, and she started to wonder how many guys were surrounding her.
“I did give her the drugs.”
“Yeah, after you had already knocked her out, genius.”
She swallowed the acidy bile, and she took a deep breath. No wonder she felt the way she did. Not only had the asshole hit her in the head, he had injected her with some sort of drug.
The fear of everything hit her. She had to be brave. If she wanted a chance at escaping, she needed to be smart.
“I don’t know what you want with me.” She said in a low, shaky voice.
She felt a hand slide up her inner thigh and her body tensed up. Why is this happening to me?
“She’s got some muscles on her.” The guy said, and she tried closing her legs but couldn’t due to the ties shackling her ankles to the chair.
“Please stop.” She whispered.
“What was that, honey? You want more?” He laughed, and she shook her head.
“Hey, hands off the merchandise. You know the rules.”
“Oh, come on, man.” He cupped her breast, and she reacted by jerking her head and ended up smashing the guy in the nose.
“Fuck!”
The others laughed at him.
“Dude, I think she broke your nose.”
“Yeah, real fucking funny.”
She wasn’t prepared for the blow she took to the stomach, knocking the air out of her. Then a backhand landed across her face, and her cheek exploded with pain. Her chair wobbled slightly, then suddenly she was airborne. She and the wooden chair slammed into the floor, causing the wooden chair to splinter on impact. Her body felt numb, and she wondered if she had broken any bones. She was in too much pain to even try to move, so she just laid still. The blindfold she was wearing had slid down a smudge giving her a little visibility of where she was.
Three guys were huddled on the other side of the room. Two of them looked to be tending to the guy’s nose she had broken. She lifted her head and saw an open window just above where she laid. No wonder the place was freezing.
She stole another glance at the guys who seemed oblivious to her presence. Maybe they thought she was knocked out. She weighed her options. Did she stay, or did she try to make it out of the window? Before she could decide, she heard footsteps approach, and she tensed, waiting for another round of punches, but it never came. Instead, a hand slid over her ass, and she tried to keep calm, but then his hands slipped between her legs, and she clamped her legs together, trapping the hand between her thighs. Her head was yanked back when the guy grabbed a handful of her hair. She swore a chunk had been ripped from her scalp.
“You know you broke my buddy’s nose.”
“Maybe next time he’ll know to treat a lady with respect.” Mia had no idea where her brazenness had come from, but it felt good to say that. She wanted to say a lot more but was interrupted.
“Bitch, respect is the last thing any lady deserves.”
He hit her face several times, and she tasted the blood as her lip split open.
“Please, stop!” She screamed as he kicked her hip. She tried to curl herself into a ball on the floor, praying for the torture to end. He didn’t stop as she took blows to her shoulder blades and other areas of her back. She bit her lip to prevent from crying out in pain. Tears leaked through the material covering her eyes as she lay there, helpless on the cold floor.
“Knock it off, asshole!” Someone shouted, and the man stopped, but not before giving her one last hard kick to the back of her thigh.
“Hey man, we were just following the boss’s orders.” The guy chuckled. “We may have gotten a little carried away, but we wanted to have a little fun. It would be a shame not to fuck the little beauty before we had to off her.”
Mia heard a grunt.
“Why did you punch me?”
“Just shut the fuck up. The boss is not going to be happy with what you’ve done. Go load up the truck.”
“What about the bitch? We can’t just leave her.”
The guy looked over where Mia laid motionless on the floor. “She ain’t going anywhere. Come on, we’ve got a shit ton of materials to load, and I don’t want to be here all night.”
She heard a few mumbles, then footsteps followed by a door slammi
ng.
She panted hard, and each breath was as painful as the previous one.
The material tied around her head had slid up a little more, and she saw there was no one around. She waited a little longer to listen for any sign that the men were still inside the building. She took another peek under the slit of her blindfold and confirmed the coast was clear, but there was no telling when they would return. If she had a chance to escape, now was her moment of opportunity. She couldn’t hesitate. It was now or never.
She slowly rolled and tried sitting up, which was a hard task with her hands still tied together. It was a small movement, but so painful. She ached all over. She channeled a phrase her brother used to say to her when she needed a good push. “If you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever is needed to succeed.”
Repeating those words to herself, she reached up with both hands and grabbed hold of the window sill above her, and pulled herself up. She didn’t waste time as she slid the remainder of the window up. She shivered as the cold air hit her wet clothing. She wasn’t sure which way would be easier on her body to get out. She didn’t have a lot of options, nor did she have much time to debate it, knowing she could have company any second.
She pushed past the pain and slid onto the window ledge, then swung her legs over the side. She tried to push the blindfold off her head, but it was tied too tight. She was lucky she had a little bit of vision. When she looked down, she hadn’t realized how high up she was. She estimated she was maybe ten to fifteen feet above the ground. She bit her lip, knowing the landing would hurt, and there was a high probability she could break something. The only thing she had going for her was the cluster of bushes below to help break the fall.
She didn’t give herself any time to think about it as she held her breath and shoved off the ledge. She overshot her intended landing zone, and as soon as her feet hit the loose gravel, she toppled over onto the ground and cried out in pain, immediately grabbing her ankle. In the distance, she could hear the sound of water and realized she was near the river.
She heard the engine of a car, and her heart hammered in her chest. She needed to find cover. Just as she got herself up onto her knees, a set of headlights rounded the corner and were headed straight toward her.
“No, no, no.” She whimpered as she tried to crawl across the gravel. The tiny chards of rocks dug into her skin.
The headlights grew brighter, then suddenly she was blinded by them when the person clicked on the high beams. She felt so weak and was in too much pain to continue, and she collapsed to the ground just as the vehicle skidded to a stop inches from her. The car door opened, followed by heavy footsteps that grew louder with each step. “Oh, dear god.” She whispered.
A hand touched her cheek, and she flinched.
“Fuck!” A guy with a heavy English accent stated.
He was right next to her head. She could feel the warm puffs of air as he spoke in her ear.
“I promise I won’t hurt you. I’m going to get you out of here.”
The rope around her wrists loosened, sending her blood flowing to her numb hands and fingers. She couldn’t see a damn thing because the material had slipped back down, covering her eyes.
“Please, help me.” She rasped out as the man gathered her in his arms and started walking. A burst of warm air hit her skin. He lowered and placed her on what she assumed was the backseat of the vehicle before covering her with a blanket.
She reached up to slide the blindfold off, but he stopped her.
“Sorry, love. You need to leave that on,” He told her, pulling her hands away from her face. She didn’t understand. He had helped her. Why couldn’t she see him? Her body went rigid. Unless he was part of the crew that had kidnapped her. Before she could fully panic, she felt the pinch to her neck, and within seconds she was fast asleep.
◆◆◆
Mia slowly awoke. She felt groggy, her mouth felt like it was full of cotton, and her head pounded, making it painful to open her eyes. Fighting through the discomfort, she pried her eyes open enough to focus on her surroundings. Even though the room was dark, it had a familiarity to it. The blanket covering her was soft like butter, reminding her of the Vera Bradley throw blankets she kept around her apartment.
She laid there for a moment, trying to get her bearing. As she stared up at the ceiling, she focused on a large dark spot that resembled a similar water spot she had on her ceiling when a pipe in the apartment above hers busted and water leaked through. She suddenly realized why this place felt familiar—it was her apartment. Had everything that happened been a dream?
She shot up off the couch and cringed, feeling the pain all over her body. She fell back into the plush leather and moaned. She reached over and flipped on the lamp that sat on the table next to the couch.
She had so many questions—questions she knew she didn’t have the answers to. The last thing she remembered was that a good Samaritan had found her, and being wrapped in warmth. How had she ended up back in her apartment?
The fear she had experienced before came roaring back. Could the person be in her apartment right now? Who were they, and how did they know where she lived? She had lost her cell phone when she was picked off the street, and she didn’t have any identification on her. Her body trembled in a combination of fear and adrenalin.
With no landline and no cell phone, she had no way of calling anyone. She looked at her watch and saw it was three o’clock in the morning. She hadn’t been too far from her building when she had been abducted. Not knowing the range of operation between her phone and smartwatch, she tried to send her brother a text through the watch. It just spun, indicating she was out of range. Then she spotted her laptop on the coffee table. She could send a message to him through his email and send a private message to Alex through Facebook.
She reached for the laptop and noticed there was a note taped to it. Handwritten was a warning for her to get out of town as fast as she could, that she was in danger.
Fighting through the pain, she stood up. Where was she supposed to go? Her flight wasn’t due to leave until ten o’clock. Could she go to the police? Another option was to leave for the airport and just wait until her flight left. At least she would be in the public eye. Police were always stationed at the airport; she could seek help there.
Her ankle was bruised and swollen. She could hardly put any pressure on it, but she managed to limp to her bedroom. She needed to change out of the wet clothes and get shoes. And she needed to do it as quickly as possible. After what she went through, she wasn’t taking the stranger’s warning lightly. She didn’t want to be in the apartment any longer than she had to be.
She tried to clean up her face the best she could, but she was a mess. Her eye, cheek, and lip were all swollen and bruised. She changed into a pair of sweats and a long-sleeved t-shirt. Her ankle was too swollen to wear regular shoes, so she opted for a pair of flip-flops. It would have to do for now. She pulled her suitcase into the living room. She also had a backpack that she used for work she would take with her and her purse.
She stepped wrong, and her ankle gave way, and she fell into the coffee table, causing some magazines and papers to fall off.
“Shit!” As she started to gather the items to place back onto the table, something shiny under the table caught her attention. She looked closer and realized it was a key. And not just any key; it was the key that Stitch had given her to his cabin. She grabbed it and threw it in her purse.
Suddenly, the heating system kicked on, and the popping sound made her jump. With every creak she heard, she became more terrified. Just as she went to stand, there was a knock on her door. She didn’t move a muscle and stared at the door. When the doorknob jiggled, her heart rate sped up. Were they coming back for her?
She panicked. She grabbed what she could carry, her backpack and purse, and as fast as she could move, she headed toward the window in her bedroom. She unlocked it, pushed it open, and was hit by a cold burst of air, but she didn�
��t let it slow her down. She crawled out onto the rickety metal fire escape, and slowly and carefully made her way down the eleven flights.
When she made it to the bottom, she started walking down the block and then flagged down the first cab she saw.
Once she was safe inside the vehicle, she told the driver to head to Newark Airport.
As the cab drove through the city’s quieter streets, Mia leaned her head back against the seat and tried to process what in the hell was going on. She thought back to everything, but she just couldn’t shake off a comment one of the guys made. The “boss” had sought her out.
A sickening feeling hit her gut. If she had been targeted, it was possible whoever was responsible for her abduction and beatdown could be tracking her. After all, someone close to the situation knew to warn her. Could they know her travel schedule and that she was going to visit her family? Tears hit her eyes. She couldn’t put her friends and family in danger. She could never forgive herself if someone were injured or worse because of her. Her head hurt even to think, but she was facing a dire situation.
Nobody would expect her to take a bus. She could pay cash and probably get away using an old fake ID she still had from college. She dug through her purse to see how much cash she had on her. She counted two-hundred-twenty-seven dollars. Bus fares weren’t that much. She could surely afford a one-way fare. As she folded the money and tucked it in her wallet, she noticed the silver key she had thrown into her purse. It had landed in one of the side pockets. But the way it was positioned and stood out is what had caught her eye. Any other time she threw something into her purse, it fell into the deep black hole at the bottom and would sit there until she cleaned her purse out. This particular key had landed in the smallest side pocket, standing straight up, so when you open the bag, you couldn’t help but see it. She began to wonder if it was a sign. Could this key be the lifeline she needed to help her escape and ward off any danger to her family?
Stitch’s cabin would be empty right now since he was spending Thanksgiving at Ace and Alex’s. It’d be the perfect place to seek shelter until she could contact her brother. She’d look for one of those pay-as-you-go phones at the bus terminal.
