Taken

Chris (Chapter 31)

It was dark. I was fighting hard but my opponent was fighting harder. I heard shouts from the other room. It was John calling for help.

"I'm coming!" I shouted. I had to beat this guy, but he was so strong and for some reason I was so weak. He knocked me on my back. I tried to stand but couldn't. My legs had turned to jelly, and I was forced to watch the grin on his face get closer and closer. I knew how this ended; I didn't need to relive it.

I grunted as I woke myself up from the dream. I was breathing heavily, and not getting enough air. I tried to slow don my breathing because it hurt so much, but I found that even small breathes hurt. I wished I could stop breathing all together. Then pain registered from just about everywhere else on my body.

My head was pounding. I went to move my hands to massage my temples only to experience so much pain I actually let out a cry. Something had dug itself extremely deep into my wrists, and I felt little rivers of blood start flowing from multiple places. I moved my fingers slightly to see if I could feel what it was; barbed wire.

Really? Because rope wouldn't have been bad enough, whoever did this just had to go the extra mile to make it even worse.

I was clearly in a bad situation. I was tied to a chair with barbed wire, and by this time I had realized that it was only dark because I was blind folded.

I wondered what had happened. I tried to replay everything, but it hurt too much, not just physically but mentally. I remembered felling really tired and falling asleep as soon as a laid down, something very unusual for me. I still felt a little off. And how had I let one man overtake me? I'd faced five men by myself, all who were armed with knives, and I was the one who made it out. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. I had let Dad and John down. Zoey probably could have taken the guy.

I let my last thought sink in. I had completely forgotten about Zoey up until that point. I felt like a total fail! Had they gotten her too because of me?

I tried moving again but winced after only about half an inch. Maybe it was time to evaluate myself; I knew I was in pain, but I didn't know how bad off I was. It still really hurt to breathe, and when I did it felt like there was something stabbing my right lung. I was almost positive my hands were no longer attached to my wrists due to the barbed wire digging in so deep. My head was foggy and pounding.

I was really screwed.

Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me. It wasn't very loud, but I could hear it in the quite room. Someone had just entered. I heard a chair being dragged and it sounded like it stopped right in front of me. My body tensed when I felt the person touch my head. Whoever it was was untying my blindfold.

'"I was wondering when the effects of the drug would wear off," a women's voice said. My eyes were still adjusting to the light in the room, so I couldn't make out her face. But I caught what she had said; we had been drugged. That's why I had been unable to fight off my attacker! It must have been put in our food from room service!

She walked around my chair. "You tried to escape your bonds," she stated and clicked her tongue. "That must be very comfortable."

I didn't respond. I still wasn't sure what I was dealing with because my eyes were talking a really long time to adjust for some reason. I blinked faster which probably made me look really stupid but hey, this was not a girl I was trying to impress.

"Not much of a talker?" she pressed. "Let's see if we can change that. Trust me; you'll want to open up to me. I'm much nicer than my friends."

Finally, I could see. The woman was blonde and she sat across from me, her legs crossed. As far as I could tell, she had come alone.

"Look, I really don't want to hurt you, or really even threaten you. I want to get this done as quickly as possible and get on with my day. All I want to know is where you father keeps his passwords for the C.I.A. And don't tell me you don't know or you've never seen them because I know you have. The director trusts you family as if you were his own, so I know he has no problem having you run errands and put stuff into the computer. Just tell me where it all is."

Like it would be that easy to get me to talk. I decided I would still try to play the dumb card.

"I really don't know what you're talking about," I said. "I was just in my hotel room and-"

I was cut off because she slapped me across the face, and a few of her nails decided to take my skin with her as a souvenir of the moment. It stung, but I wasn't going to let her see that.

"I said I was nicer than my friends, not that I was nice," the woman said coolly. "I'm not going to put up with that bullshit, I know who you are, and I know who your father and brother are. I knew you have the information we want so just make it easier on everyone and tell me what the passwords are or where I can find them!"

So apparently the dumb card wasn't going to work, but maybe the smartass card would for at least a little while.

"I didn't think Al Qaeda allowed women in general to join their group, let alone American women."

She laughed in response. "Clearly I came after the wrong brother. You still think this is Al Qaeda? We're anything but them. But just for the record, they do allow women in their "group" as you call them. I can't believe you're even classified as an agent, my gosh!"

Take the knife out of my heart, I almost said sarcastically. If she thought she was pushing buttons, she was wrong.

"So if you're not Al Qaeda, who are you?" Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. "Your part of that group Serpent, aren't you?"

Her eyes widened in mock surprise. "So you do know something!"

"Hey, I only know what you've confirmed."

Suddenly, I felt a gun being pressed against my head. I didn't even see her go to grab it, which scared me. She was like a crazy ninja.

"Enough with the games. Tell me where the passwords are!" she said cocking the gun.

Fuck.

"Listen, "I said calmly. "I don't know where any of that is; I'm not at that level. I don't have the authorization to see those codes."

"Don't tell me you've never seen them before."

"What do you think the C.I.A. is, a group of dumbasses handling our nations security? No, I've never seen them before because I already told you; I don't have that kind of authorization!"

She held the gun to my head for a few more seconds before pulling it away. "I knew this was going to be a waste of time," she scoffed. It was at that moment I noticed a very small, very well concealed earpiece she was using. How had I not seen that before?

She seemed to be listening to something. She looked back at me and grinned. That couldn't be good.

She started to walk out of the room. Wait a minute, was that it? That was all she had to threaten?

She turned back around as if remembering something. "Your father," she said, "has just woken up. We'll get the information out of him one way or another." She spun back around, still grinning, and left.

My heart sank. I knew my dad would never give up anything, no matter what they put him through. I felt horrible for not being able to do anything to help him or John. I felt my head start to pound again. This wasn't going to end well.

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Hope you liked it! Comment, vote, and share please!

So, since I've been working on this book for about three years and I've had so many different ideas, I keep forgetting which idea I've gone with, which, I know, is really lame. So if you guys notice any inconsistencies, please point them out! It would help me a lot!

Thanks!

~Emily~