Colby
Groaning, I try to blink my eyes open. Slowly they comply but my vision is more than a little blurry. Where the hell am I? I try to sit myself up, but the movement causes a blinding pain to erupt in the back of my head.
“Careful, he hit you really hard,” Sydney whispers in a small voice.
Rubbing at the back of my head, I’m not surprised to find my fingers red and tacky when I pull them away. “Motherfucker.”
A small chuckle emits from my captive friend. I can’t see more than a few paces in front of me, but I can dimly make out shapes and the picture my head is painting isn’t a good one. Syd and I aren’t the only ones in here. If I had to hazard a guess, I think we’ve stumbled upon the missing shipment of kidnapped girls.
“Colby, I can’t hear the others.”
I turn and can just see Sydney a little off to my left. “I can’t either. I’m not sure if it’s just a communications nightmare in here or whether the blow to the head did it.”
She shakes her head. “I wasn’t knocked out and mine has gone silent too.”
Great. That means the devices are useless. “Did you see who did this?”
“No,” she admits. “I think it was Gomez, but there was someone else in here too. Whoever it was, he must have been waiting by the door on the inside and whacked you the second you were through.”
“Shit,” I grumble, knowing that the game has changed yet again and as always, not in our favor.
“There’s something else too,” she whispers. “Look to your right.”
I do, trying to ignore the throbbing in the back of my skull and come face-to-face with the stark open eyes of Nadia lying just inches away from me. For one breathless second, I think she’s dead and all sorts of insane thoughts run through my head. I don’t fancy trying to get myself out of a murder charge and here I am, practically lying on top of the body.
She blinks, her eyes welling up and then I wish she was dead, for the wailing that floods the small space. Jesus, I change my mind, I would listen to the sex moans any day to avoid this crap.
Muted pleads for her to keep quiet come from all around us.
“Please, they’ll be so angry if they hear you…”
“Don’t, I beg you. I can’t take another beating…”
“Oh god no, shut her up, please…”
So many voices, and they all sound so young and so scared. I don’t know how I’m going to get them out of here, but I need to think.
“Sydney, I need you to tell me exactly what happened down here.”
She takes a deep breath and begins. “Colm had just bought me a drink at the bar when Nadia arrived. He said he would be back in a minute and to wait right there. We were by the entrance to the hallway at the time, so I took the initiative and popped my head around the door when no one was looking. The light from the hallway shone on one of the girls and I admit, I lost my head and tried to help her. Stupid I know,” she berates herself.
“I get it,” I assure her, beyond pissed that she hadn’t called it in but hey, I probably would have done the same thing in the heat of the moment.
“That oaf Gomez was in there,” she drops her voice lower. “He was holding down one of the girls Colby. He was between her legs… I couldn’t let that happen.”
“Fuck,” I hiss, my anger reaching an all-time high. The Mayor doesn’t want to be involved in this but one of his top security detail is enjoying the perks? Fucking dirty bastards, the lot of them.
“I took my gun and held it to the back of his head. He stood slowly, and I thought I was going to have enough time to get him away, call for backup… but there was someone behind me. No idea who. He held a gun to my temple and told me to drop it or he would start shooting the girls. They looked terrified and I was outnumbered, I had no choice.”
Nodding, I finally manage to get myself into an upright position but that’s as far as I’m going to get. My ankles and knees are bound together and attached to a length of chain that I suspect holds all of us together.
“He blindfolded me and tied me up with the others. Moments later you opened the door, but they were already on edge. I only knew it was you because for a second my earpiece worked, and I heard Bri telling you to be careful.”
I can’t think about Bri right now. She’s going to be pissed. Best friend and boyfriend, kidnapped in one swoop? Ah shit, she’s going to go crazy, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
“He also told me I was going to be sold off with the other girls, so you know, I have that to look forward to,” she jokes but I can hear the tension in her voice. Over my dead body will she be taken like that. There must be a way of getting out of here.
“So, we’re still at the party?” That will be easy enough for the guys to pinpoint at least.
“No, they moved us. I’m pretty sure we’re in the back of a van. There was definitely a breeze and the door slamming shut behind us sounded deep, metallic. Plus, we had to climb up. I’m sorry Colby, I don’t know much more than that. It wasn’t until we were moved and left alone that I managed to work the blindfold down.”
In other words, we’re fucked. We could be anywhere by now. “How far have we travelled do you think?”
“That’s the thing,” she replies earnestly. “We haven’t gone anywhere. I have no idea what they’re waiting for.”
Nadia’s sobbing gets louder. “Nadia, listen to me. That isn’t going to help.”
“He lied to me,” she chokes out and I try to feel sorry for her but really, what did she expect.
“Well love, that’s what the bad guys do.”
“He said he loved me.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I shrug and awkwardly pat her thigh.
“I was ready to give him everything, all he had to do was say the words. Why did he do this to me?”
“Look Nadia,” I begin, trying to hold onto my patience. “Colm is bad fucking news, it shouldn’t…”
“Colm? I’m not talking about Colm.” She wails, her body shaking against me.
My nose scrunches up and I turn to Sydney to check I’m not losing the plot. “It was Colm that put her down here… right?”
“I think so…”
“No,” Nadia sobbed. “Colm said Calvin was waiting for me down here, he brought me to the door and let me through, but he left.”
Confused isn’t the word. “What are you saying?”
“Calvin hit you, I saw him do it. He whispered something in my ear before he slapped me to the ground and left.”
An icy feeling was seeping into my veins as the full weight of the situation hit me. “What did he say Nadia.”
“He said, thanks for the fuck. We’re done with you now. You and the prick over there,” she sobbed. “You’re fucking dead.”
“Fuck,” Sydney muttered, her fingers working uselessly at her binds. “We need to get the hell out of here.”
Calvin had double crossed us, and I had no way of telling Bri. I just hope they’ll find us before it’s too late.