It Was a Dark and Stormy Night. . .
By Dixxy
Chapter Two: Kidnapped!
(Rowen)
"If you care for your own safety and the safety of the girl, you won’t run, you won’t scream, you won’t fight back, and you’ll do every last thing we say," one of the gunman said. "Turn around and put your hands behind you backs. Now."
Seeing as these men both had guns, Kento and I wisely decided to do as they asked us to do without questions. I seriously considered reaching for my armor orbe, but, sad to say, the gunmen could probably shoot Kento or Robyn before I had time to armor up, which left me no choice but to sit tight as I waited for them to do what they were going to do. Kento was next to me, the two of us exchanging looks of worry. If it was just the two of us, these losers would have learned the meaning of "Arrow Shock Wave" and "Iron Rock Crusher". No. We couldn’t risk Robyn.
Both gunmen wore black jeans and sweaters, their faces covered by black ski masks. They were both decent sized men (each about Sage’s height and Kento’s build) and both seemed to know exactly what they were doing. Due to their closeness in size, it was hard to tell them apart. Hopefully once they took their masks off, however, we’d be able to figure it out.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the gunmen bring Robyn over to where Kento and I knelt. She was pushed to her knees and was also requested to place her hands behind her back. Robyn did so without an argument. Satisfied, one of them went behind us. I felt a the barrel of a gun up against my back. I stilled, biting my bottom lip. The man grabbed my hands and started to wrap a thick nylon cord around them. Perfect. Now I’m being tied up. What next?
I winced as the knot was tied a bit too tight, but arguing didn’t seem like a good idea. I turned my head and watched as they tied Kento up, my friend staring at the linoleum before him in utter defeat. I could feel his tenseness through the armor link, which made me worry about him. Every so often he winced, gritting his teeth to keep from protesting.
Still, Kento was all right. It was Robyn I was worried about. By now the second gunman was tying her up, though he seemed to be going just slightly more. . . gentle, I guess, on her. I don’t know if it was because of her size or because she was a girl, but she didn’t seem to have as much trouble with his binds as Kento and I did. She still looked frightened and I really went to give her a hug to make her feel better. I feel so powerless.
I heard another set of footsteps come inside. "Well, what are you two doing in here?" someone in a deep voice asked. I could see them from behind the counter, but I did see a large, looming shadow on the ceiling of the small building. I shook, nervous about the situation.
"Eh, we found some kids going through our loot," said one of the gunmen. "We’re just tying them up, that’s all." I heard Robyn cry out as her binds were finished. The gunman yelled at her, getting a scared whimper from our redheaded companion. I could feel some of Kento’s temper go off, but he was (by some miracle) able to keep it in check as to keep the three of us safe.
"Hmm. . . interesting. Load ‘em up in the van, I think the boss would like to have a chat with these meddling little brats," said the deep voice. One of the gunmen picked Kento up, and seemed to show him to the man with the deep voice. "I’ll have my chat with them AFTER we get back to our headquarters. And make sure you bring our loot, too."
"Yes, sir!" said the gunman holding Kento. He roughly started to "escort" Kento outside as the second of the two gunmen picked me up, hoisting me over his shoulder so I was looking behind him with my stomach on his shoulder blade. As we went outside, I got a better look at the man with the deep voice. Ironically enough, the man was Robyn’s height. He had long, oily hair tied back in a tight ponytail and a dark park of sunglasses. He gently took Robyn by the arm and walked her out. Robyn looked pretty disgusted with the whole situation.
The gunman who had been carrying me dropped me rather roughly in the back of the van. Kento was sitting with his back to the wall of the van, the other gunman tying his ankles together. My friend’s eyes were already covered by a dark colored piece of cloth, an obvious blind fold. I, too, was propped up against the wall of the van. My gunman took out a piece of black cloth and blindfolded me, as well.
Minutes passed. I could hear Robyn whimpering as she was (presumably) tied us as well, Kento asking what was going on and where we were going. The gunman and the short man kept telling us to keep quiet and not to try screaming for help. "Not unless you WANT a pair of cement shoes, that is," said short man. He then yelled at his accomplices to go back inside and get their loot.
Soon enough, the doors of the van were slammed shut, the engine was started, and the vehicle started to move. We were all jolted from our positions and send sliding towards the back of the van. I slammed into someone, and another someone slammed into me. From the sound of pain from the person I’d slammed into, it was probably Kento. Robyn’s leg was lying across my chest, her head in my lap.
"Everybody all right?" I asked.
"I don’t think I have my full lung capacity but I’ll live," Kento said, trying to bring some humor into our very dark situation. "If it’s at all possible for either one of you to move it would be much appreciated. Especially the person who has their foot in my gut." From Kento’s comment, I almost laughed. We must’ve looked pretty ridiculous in our current situation.
"I’m all right, Kento. Sorry about the foot, though," said Robyn, who was trying to drag herself away from me so I could get off Kento. The bearer of Hardrock breathed a much needed sigh of relief once Robyn’s foot was removed from his stomach. I could hear her grunting as she tried to push herself away, panting with each push. Soon, she was completely off of me.
"That’s good enough, Robyn," I said. "I think I can get away from here." I felt something smooth beneath my sneaker and lunged myself off of Kento. I was now lying on the floor of the van, unable to see anything. Kento took in a deep breath, glad to be able to breathe again.
"Okay, now what do we do?" he asked.
"What CAN we do? We’re all tied up and blindfolded in the back of a van that’s being driven by a gang of thieves! There isn’t anything we CAN do except hope that they decide to let us go," I said. "And guess what? I don’t think that’s going to happen, so for now, we just have to relax and try to find out as much as we can."
"Easy to say, but can you put your money where your mouth is?" asked Kento. "I don’t exactly think we can RELAX while we’re being KIDNAPPED. Does that make any sense to you, Rowen? Hmm? Does it? ‘Oh yes, Kento, we’ve been kidnapped by a group of robbers- let’s all sit back and relax’. I don’t think so, bud. What we need to do is get rid of these stupid ropes, bust the door open, and jump out the back."
"Jump out the back!? The van is MOVING Kento!" I argued.
"And you have a better idea, or do you WANT to be sleeping with the fish?"
"If you don’t shut up then that’s exactly what’s going to happen to us!"
"It won’t happen if we can get ourselves out of here!"
"How do you propose we do that, Kento?"
"Both of your just shut up!" said Robyn. Kento and I quieted. "I don’t like saying this, but I agree with Rowen. Kento, there isn’t anything we CAN do right now and we need to wait and see what happens. These guys are in control of our situation and if we don’t do every little thing they say we could all get killed. We’re all tied up and blindfolded. The best we can do is hope that one of the others will find us somehow."
Kento gave in. "All right. But I don’t like just sitting her!"
"None of us do!" said Robyn. "We’re all really scared and until we find out exactly what’s goin on we’re going to remain scared. We can live through this. You two have seen worse, and God knows I’VE seen worse. A trio of thieves? Give me a break. Before we know it we’re all going to be at Mama Faun’s or Cye’s house eating a nice, home cooked meal with all our friends and family, thinking back to this situation."
"Whatever," said Kento. "I almost hope we move again, because some sort of a latch on the door is digging into my back and it hurts." I snorted at the comment. "I wasn’t trying to make a joke, Rowen. This stupid thing really hurts! And it’s right over the old puncture wound I got from the accident at the old house downtown! IT HURTS LIKE HELL!!!"
"Ow," I said.
"Sucks to be you," Robyn commented dryly.
"Why thank you for your kind words," Kento added. "If I could see where you two were, I would probably kick you." I couldn’t help it anymore. I started to laugh. Kento was chuckling. Even Robyn started to snicker. Our kidnappers must have thought we’d all gone nuts. Here we were, three kidnapping victims, and we were laughing in the back of the getaway vehicle.
We remained fairly silent after that. We were jostled around every once in a while, poor Robyn ending up on the bottom once. The ride lasted only an hour or so, but it was probably one of the most terrifying hours of my entire life. We had no idea where we were going, who had us, or if we’d ever se our family and friends ever again.
The ride eventually stopped, causing one final jolt into a wall. Our laughing fit had long since ended and we waited patiently for something to happen. I heard some doors open up and the sounds of people climbing into the back. One of the kidnappers picked me up and started to carry me out of the van.
From what I could tell, we were being brought inside of a building of some sort. I was put back in the over-the-shoulder position as we reached a flight of stairs, the kidnapper deciding to go down the flight of stairs. I remained still, too afraid to move. The last step was reach and "we" began to walk normally. A door was opened, then closed.
At long last, I was off the man’s shoulder and on the ground. He sat me up against the wall, then started to run his hands over me. "Hey!" I protested. "Kidnapping me is one thing. But molesting me? Keep your hands to yourself, you perverted homosexual pedophile!"
"Is it a crime to dust a person off?" my gunman snapped.
"Did I say homosexual pedophile? I mean smart, intelligent, HANDSOME kidnapper. Rich, too, I bet. Yup, I bet you’re just rolling in dough because you must be an absolutely success. You know, I bet you’re married and you have a lovely wife and beautiful children and-"
"Would you shut up?"
"Sure, I can do that."
Click.
I gulped. "Really, I will," I said in a quiet voice as I pushed myself farther into the wall. I heard the gunman put his weapon away and I let my tenseness fade. The door opened two more times when Kento and Robyn were brought in. The gunman and the short man with the deep voice talked in a hushed whisper, then someone went to take our blindfolds off.
I squinted, not used to light after being in darkness for well over an hour. Kento and Robyn were on either side of me, both also squinting and wincing at the brightness. Robyn’s hair was messed up from the bumpy ride to our new prisoner and Kento looked a little on the tender side himself. I wasn’t sure how I looked.
Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around and tried to get a feel for my surroundings. We were in a plain room with cement gray walls and a cement gray floor, chips and cracks lining the wall in an almost intricate pattern. A single light bulb hung from the ceiling, occasionally flickering from age and wear. Our kidnappers were standing in the middle of the room in a small circle, trying to discuss something.
I heard the clicking of heels in the distance, causing the two gunman and the short man to stand at attention. The door opened and in walked whom we presumed to be the boss. The boss was a tall Japanese woman in a black skirt suit and shiny black pumps. Her eyes, much like the short man’s eyes, were covered in dark sunglasses, her short chin length hair barely moving with each step she took. She stopped before us, slightly parting fire engine red lips to reveal pearly white teeth. She snapped her sunglasses off and turned her head to her three underlings.
"Montaro, you had better have a good explanation for this," said the woman, tapping her foot impatiently. "If I want to run a successful operation, the last thing I need is to look after a bunch of brats WHO AREN’T EVEN TIED UP CORRECTLY, YOU NUMBSKULLS!" The sudden outburst took us all by surprise, causing the three of us to jump.
The short man, now named Montaro, laughed nervously as he gently pressed his fingertips together, bending his knuckles. "They were at the diner we hid our loot at and found the money. We just couldn’t leave them there to tell the police. We figured you’d want to talk to them, first."
"I won’t talk with them until you tie them up correctly," she said. "Hands are to be tied in front of the torso and under the knees, rendering them helpless. Otherwise, they can hop away. They can use their feet to braces themselves against the wall and get into a standing position. Then they can move back to back to untie themselves and get away. DO IT RIGHT!"
The two unnamed men and Montaro immediately rushed to untie and retie the three of us, the two gunman keeping their guns out during the whole procedure. When they were satisfied with our new positions, they backed off and the woman nodded in approval. "Are you satisfied, Madame Taya?"
"Yes, yes, now leave me with the brats so I can have a, discussion, with them," said the woman. She snapped her fingers at the men, chasing them off so she could be alone with us. All three rushed out of the door, Montaro in the lead. Madame Taya squatted down before us, rubbing her palms together. She eyed each of us individually, sending chills up our spines. Robyn and Kento both seemed uneasy around the woman.
"Hello, children. My name is Madame Taya. Because you were foolish enough to stumble onto my plans, I’m afraid that I can’t let you go home, so you should get to know me, Montaro, and the other two numskulls, because I know that we’ll all be spending a lot of time together in the very near future."