North (A Robert Downey Jr Fanfic)

"Where are U Now?"

The thumping bass felt like it was rattling her brain around in her head, like he'd knocked it loose when he whipped her with his gun. There was music cranked so loud it was obvious she was in a club somewhere. It was difficult to take in her surroundings though, considering she'd been battered to the point of one of her eyes swelling shut. This time waking up, she found herself laying on a rickety bed in the same room as before. They'd freed her ankles but her wrists were still bound behind her back with plastic zip ties.

On shaky legs, she stood up from the bed and crossed the room to look out the window. Night had nearly settled in but the sky still held on to the faint purple glow of twilight, the sun saying goodbye. The street was lit up with neon lights and she knew she had to be downtown somewhere.

Her face was sticky with blood and tight from being swollen. Every blink radiated pain through her head. She wasn't sure of the extent of her injuries all she knew was that she could only see out of one eye and it was clouded with what she assumed was blood.

This is bad. This is really bad.

She waited for her eyes to clear, and then pressed her forehead to the window and craned her head around, trying to get a visual handle on her location. Bars and nightclubs lined the street on either side as far as she could see. She used to have girl's nights downtown with Stevie and she wondered if she was being held captive in a club she'd been to before.

"Is that the Mayan?" she whispered to herself "Pico Boulevard. Maybe Central? Shit...I don't know."
She couldn't remember. Her head was pounding and she literally couldn't see straight. She padded across the room to one of the three doors, locked. On to the next, that one was locked too. The third doorknob gave way and she found a small, disgusting bathroom with a large ceiling vent. She thought about all of the movies she'd seen where the victim escapes with a sudden burst of athletic ability to scale walls and climb out through a run of the mill air vent. She had hardly been able to open a door with her hands tied behind her back, that air vent wasn't going to be any help to her.

"Unless..." she started scanning the dark room and feeling around with her feet for something sharp to cut at her wrist restraints. It was barely lit and nearly impossible to see the floor. Her bare feet softly and carefully searched the perimeter of the room before some loud voices from behind one of the doors echoed through the room, getting louder and louder as they approached "shit," she hissed, scrambled to the bed, closed her eyes and laid the same way she had been when she woke up.

"Shit, man. Frankie must have really cracked her good. She's still passed out."
She heard them snap a cell phone picture, say something about showing the picture to Frank and that he was downstairs. A moment later, the door was closing and their voices were fading away. She was going to have one shot to escape. If she could, she'd have to run. And fast. She rolled off of the bed and began searching again for some way to free herself.

***

"Cory! It's him." Gwyneth said, wildly gesturing at her phone. He tapped a couple of keys on his laptop and nodded for her to answer.

"Hello?"
"Gwyneth. Thank you for answering my call."
"Well, you have my friend. Why wouldn't I answer?"
"Do you have the money?
"I do."
"I really hope, for the sake of your friend that you haven't contacted the police."
"No. I have not. Can I ask you a question?"
Nothing but silence on the other end of the line.
"Why Vanessa? Why are you doing this?"
"I already told you. We've got bad blood. She did me wrong and this is going to make it right. Now, to make the exchange, you are going to go to MacArthur park. The tunnel. Be there at three a.m. and wait for my call."
"How do I know she's alive--hello? Dammit! Cory!Did you figure out where the call is came from?"
"No. He hung up too fast."
"Dammit!"
"It's no matter. I'll call Robert. You go rest a bit. It's going to be a long night."