The Red String of Fate

by Rebekah Fowles

  “I’m the only one,” Sylve said, tears beginning to stream down her face. “I swear!”

  Kayne scoffed. “You can’t pretend to lie right after you tell me there’s a detective here. What’s his name? How many are there?”

  Sylvie had lost her composure at this point. “There’s only one! I’m the only worker. I promise! Please...don’t hurt me...”

  “What’s his name?” Kayne yelled.

  “...Landon,” Sylvie said after another prod.

  “Landon who?”

  “Landon Clawson.”

  Vee watched in abject horror. It was as if she were on the set of an actual crime drama, only it was all real. However, just as she did when she sat down to scrutinize an episode or two, Vee wished Sylvie would have lied. The difference this time was that Sylvie’s fear was palpable, and if it was palpable to Vee, it was probably paralyzing to Sylvie. There was no way Sylvie could think straight enough to give a false name in her current state, no matter how much Vee wished it.

  “Who else?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Prove it.”

  Vee could see Sylvie’s mind scramble, thinking of ways she could reasonably show him. “O-our website! Let me pull up our website.”

  Kayne watched her closely as she put in the URL, threatening her if she made any “funny moves.” She pulled it up properly, and followed Kayne’s orders in navigating the site.

  After getting a good look at it he peered at her. “It doesn’t mention your name anywhere on here.”

  “I’m a minor,” Sylvie said.

  “That means there could be other minors working here. I need more proof.”

  Sylvie held in a sob as the gears were forced to grind again. “The p-payroll,” she said.

  “Show me.”

  Sylvie opened up the document containing the information, and Kayne was satisfied. “Put him on the phone,” he said.

  Sylvie fumbled around in her purse, but what she pulled out was not a phone. Unfortunately for her, Kayne recognized the little canister before she could point it at his face. With his free hand, he grabbed her wrist and slammed it to the desk with a loud thud.

  “Thought you could pull a stunt on me, huh, bitch? Try that one more time, and I swear to God I’ll slit your throat right here.”

  If Vee could cry, she would’ve, as she watched Sylvie shake while she brought out her phone. Kayne made her call Landon through her contacts as a cautionary measure. The phone rang once. Then twice. And Vee could hear Landon’s voice on the other end. “Sylvie? What’s up?”

  “Mr. Clawson...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry...”

  Vee watched as Kayne tossed aside the pepper spray so he could take the phone without additional threat. Soon after, he began making demands from Landon. Tears streamed down Sylvie’s face as he did so, but she didn’t dare to wipe them away. She just sat there in fear and sorrow.

  When Kayne finished, he tapped around the device, and Vee hovered over to see the location he was planning. It would take them around twenty minutes to get there from their current location, and was a tad closer to the city than the location he sent his lover earlier. Kayne wasted no time getting into his backpack and pulling out some rope. He used it to tie Sylvie’s hands together and growled at her to go with him to his car. She did so reluctantly, but obediently nonetheless. Vee felt similar to how she looked, since they were both stuck with a dangerous man they couldn’t reason with.

  At least there was some bit of silver lining. Landon would be arriving soon, and Vee could relay the information to Landon. They might actually be able to track him down before getting too far. Vee wished she knew what hotel they might be going to as extra insurance, but she had no such luck. For now, all she could do was figuratively hold her breath until contacting Landon.

  Kayne drove quickly and somewhat recklessly. A part of Vee hoped he would get pulled over, and things would be resolved in a matter of moments. Of course, there were no cops to be seen. Vee wondered if Landon would end up calling the police, despite the warnings not to. If he did, was there really any way for Kayne to even know? She supposed it depended on the actions the police took to impede him. Of course, Landon would’ve told the police that this was a hostage situation, and Vee knew they took those seriously. What scared her most was that Kayne was probably very serious in his threats. He had, after all, already killed Vee. Twice.

  The city disappeared behind trees quicker than Vee expected. Kayne parked his car somewhere in between the locations he sent earlier and barked at Sylvie to get out of the car. He made her walk through the woods a ways, then threatened her as he used some more rope to bind her to a tree and gag her mouth. She shivered in the night air, as Kayne didn’t allow her to grab her coat on the way out. Vee had noticed before, but Sylvie didn’t have the best of constitutions, so something like this was sure to affect her worse than most. Vee bit her lip as the anger rose, but to her surprise, Sylvie had calmed down quite a bit. She seemed to have moved away from the pure fear from earlier, instead calmly handling each moment to the next. Despite whatever surge of confidence she received, however, it didn’t change the fact that she appeared to get paler and paler as the minutes wore by.

  Kayne and Vee both kept an eye on his watch, taking note of the passing time. A few minutes before the 30 minutes neared their end, Kayne wandered off toward the road and crossed to the other side. Sylvie was barely in view as Kayne stood still behind a tree along the edge. Vee realized what he was doing.

  Just a few moments later, the headlights of an expensive sports car rounded a bend, slowing after just passing Sylvie’s position. Landon. The car stopped, and Landon hurried out, jogging down the road to where he would have likely seen a glimpse of Sylvie from the street. Vee couldn’t see his face clearly from her distance, but there was an urgency in his step.

  “Sylvie!” he said. “Hold on, I’m coming!”

  He seemed focused entirely on his young secretary shivering on the trunk. Kayne readied the knife in his hand, but stayed hidden across the road. Sylvie tried shaking her head, but Landon still only had eyes on her.

  “Landon!” Vee called, “Don’t go to Sylvie, Kayne is trying to get a jump on you!”

  Landon stopped in his tracks and flipped around. From where Kayne stood, Vee was only barely in the open before the boundary cut her off from the road. He had a surprised look on his face as they made eye contact, but it only took a moment before it hardened into resolve.

  “Thanks for abandoning my secretary, Gilbert, now I know she’s safe.”

  Kayne made no movements.

  “Why don’t you come out of your little hiding spot. You can’t get away, the police will be here in moments.”

  The invisible force keeping Vee off the road suddenly lurched, pulling her back into the trees. She stared at Landon for a moment before realizing what was happening. Kayne’s movements were surprisingly silent for such a still night, though the hum of Landon’s engine helped to block out some sounds.

  “He’s trying to get away,” Vee said.

  “Damn,” Landon said before breaking into a sprint.

  “Follow me,” Vee said. “But be careful, he has a knife!”

  “Lucky for us, then,” Landon said, running through branches, “I assumed he had a gun.”

  Vee was moving freely and quickly, so although the night did little to impede her vision, she didn’t realize in time to see that Kayne was nearly on top of them.

  “Landon!”

  Landon reacted in barely enough time to dodge what would’ve been a fatal blow, and managed to catch Kayne’s wrist following the swing. The two grunted and struggled, and despite Landon’s apparent upper hand, Kayne managed to flip his grip on the knife and leveraged their position to drive it into Landon’s leg.

  Landon cried out with pain, reflexively releasing Kayne’s arms. Kayne didn’t bother to retrieve the knife, deciding instead to high tail it down the road. Landon tried to follow for a few steps before staggering
to a stop and leaning against a tree.

  Caught up in worry and stress, Vee realized she only had moments before the boundary pulled her away from Landon. If the information she had was to make it to him, she had to jump now.

  Fueled with the incentive of passing on knowledge, Vee stretched out her arm.

  - 16 -

  Landon breathed in a hiss of air as he clutched his thigh, its pain accentuated by the sudden shivers of Vee haunting him. Vee watched with a concerned expression. It didn’t suit her. Despite that, he was happy to see her, even if she was a ghost.

  Where the hell is Jim? Landon thought through clenched teeth.

  He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. As much as he hated to let him go, he was in no position to chase after Kayne. He probably wouldn’t get far with the police on his tail, anyway. He needed to get to Sylvie, and then give proper attention to his leg.

  As Landon limped back to the other side of the road, Vee hovered near. “Landon, I think I have some important information.”

  He shot her a glare. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to her, but now wasn’t the time. “Like, how you managed to get yourself killed again?” He said in return. “It can wait. We need to free Sylvie, first.”

  Vee looked down, but nodded her agreement.

  Now that he was closer, Landon had a clear glimpse of Sylvie’s face. She looked miserable. Between the emotional strain and the obvious cold, it looked as if she was only barely holding on to consciousness. To only add to matters, once her attention fell to the giant knife sticking out of Landon’s thigh, her eyes became dewey and wet. Landon began working through the knots, starting with the gag. She immediately began issuing apologies, but Landon didn’t respond.

  Once he was sufficiently through, Sylvie could maneuver out of her bonds. As always, she was more concerned for his well being before her own.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t have a first aid kit,” she said.

  Landon took a moment and leaned against the tree. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and the pain was becoming much more prominent.

  “There’s one in the trunk of the car. Before that, take this,” Landon said, taking off his suit coat and handing it to the shivering girl. She bashfully accepted it.

  “I’ll go get it,” she offered.

  Landon nodded and gave her the keys. He heaved a sigh and gently slid down the trunk onto his rear. Vee stuck around—not that she had a choice. She didn’t say anything and looked a little lost for thoughts. He took a deep breath, then spoke quietly.

  “Thanks,” he said, “for the warning. I was too single-minded. He probably would’ve done me in.”

  Vee shook her head. “It wasn’t good enough, though. I didn’t realize he had gotten closer after hearing your pursuit, and that just led you right to him. I should’ve scouted from further ahead of you.”

  “I disagree,” he said. “You were just doing what you thought would be most helpful, and it was. You were still able to tip me off in enough time for me to defend myself.”

  “But, your leg...” Vee’s voice trailed off.

  “It’ll be fine. Better than a knife through the heart.”

  Sylvie returned, out of breath, carrying a pack under her arm. She bent down to tend to Landon, but hesitated, seeing the blade still lodged into his leg. Seeing her reaction, Landon said, “I’ll take it out. Just give me a moment.”

  Sylvie just nodded and leaned back. Landon took a few deep breaths and held his leg, making an attempt to forget the two observers. He inhaled a final time, holding it as he gripped the handle and pulled. It came out cleanly and without too much pain, but he winced nonetheless. He began to roll up his pant leg as the material soaked up additional blood from the removal. While he rolled, Sylvie rummaged through the pack, grabbing an alcohol wipe, antibacterial salve, bandages, and gauze. Landon sat back and bit his lip as Sylvie disinfected the area and cleared what blood she could before patching it up.

  “This is only a temporary fix,” she said, “you’ll need to get stitches at the hospital.”

  There was sweat on Landon’s forehead, making the cold air even colder. “I know,” he said, “but we can worry about that in a moment. Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”

  Sylvie tried to fight back tears as she rearranged things back into the first aid kit. “I’m fine,” she said.

  Landon glanced sidelong towards Vee, prompting her to speak. “She wasn’t harmed, but I think she’s just pretending to be strong. She was left in the cold for longer than would be reasonable for a healthy person, though...I hope she doesn’t suffer any kind of repercussions due to that.”

  Landon gently nodded and looked back at Sylvie. “How long were you waiting?”

  “Not long,” she said.

  Vee said, “Ten, probably fifteen minutes.”

  Landon sighed. “Let’s get in the car and turn on the heat.”

  Sylvie nodded. As they walked, or limped in Landon’s case, the noise of cars rolling over asphalt sounded from down the road. There were no headlights. “Now they decide to show up,” Landon said. “Couldn’t have been just a few minutes sooner, huh?”

  Sylvie gave him an inquisitive look. “Is that Detective Bimmel? But...Mr. Gilbert told you not to call the police...”

  “Criminals will say things like that as scare tactics. The truth is that the police know how to handle situations like this and are much better equipped to do so. They wouldn’t have let you die so easily.”

  Sylvie’s lips thinned as she pressed them together and glanced away. She was probably trying to forget that her life was in actual danger, but the shock of it all would likely hit again sometime soon. On the other hand, Vee seemed to be surprisingly calm for having died not 40 minutes ago.

  Landon and Sylvie stepped onto the road, tailed by the invisible Vee just in time to see Detectives Bimmel and Hollowclap jump out of their vehicle and run to meet them.

  “Woah, there!” Jim said, “What happened here?”

  “Where did the culprit go?” Detective Hollowclap said.

  “Up the road,” Landon said, addressing the younger detective, “but he’s had a good 5 minute lead now.”

  Vee came into view just as Landon finished his statement. “Tell them to look for two men on a motorcycle,” she said, “I think Kayne planned to abandon his vehicle.”

  Landon relayed the information. Detective Hollowclap gave him a pointed look. “How do you know? Did you see the other person?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Landon replied. “Treat it like an anonymous tip.”

  Detective Hollowclap puffed up his chest. Whether he did it intentionally or subconsciously, Landon couldn’t be sure, but it was a definite show of skepticism. “We sure have had a lot of those lately.”

  “How convenient,” Landon said, “I bet you’ve solved a lot of crimes thanks to those.”

  Detective Hollowclap sneered, but jogged off to the side and pulled out a radio to notify the others who had come. As he did, Jim stepped forward. “How’s the other girl? Vee?”

  “She—” Landon began to speak, but he was cut off by the person in question.

  “Wait, Landon! Don’t tell him about what happened.”

  “—is fine.”

  “Good to hear. Why do you suppose Gilbert decided to go after you, then?”

  Landon’s jaw clenched for a moment before he replied. “I’m not sure. I’ll get to the bottom of it, though.”

  Jim’s eyes were drawn to Landon’s bloody leg as he spoke. “Not before you get that checked out, you won’t. Want me to call an ambulance?”

  “No need,” Landon said, “but I should probably go that way sooner than later. Good thing I don’t drive a manual.”

  “Take it easy, Landon.” Jim then looked toward Sylvie. “Are you alright, Sylvie? You look a little worse for wear.”

  “I’m alright,” she said, clutching Landon’s suit coat.

  “Do you want to tell us what happened now? Normally we’d wan
t to get as much information as we can right away, but this case has already messed with that protocol enough that I don’t see the problem in letting it wait for later.”

  Sylvie returned with a weak smile. “Thanks, Detective Bimmel. ...I think I’d like to go with Landon to the hospital.”

  Landon shook his head. “Not a chance,” he said. “You’re heading straight home. You need to warm up and get some rest. You shouldn’t go to school tomorrow either. Jim is going to report this straight to your parents.”

  Sylvie’s eyes expanded until Landon was sure they’d come out. “No!” She said, “Please, no! If you do that, they won’t let me work for you anymore...”

  Landon huffed through his nose. His expression hardened, but his heart wavered. “And that’s probably for the best. I can’t have you getting taken hostage, Sylvie, much less killed.”

  Sylvie deflated just as quickly as she perked up, leaving her even more weary than before. “But that’s...”

  Landon shook his head. “Detective, if you could escort her home.”

  “You sure you want that?” Jim asked.

  Landon hesitated. “Yeah,” he said.

  Jim gave Sylvie a sympathetic glance and sighed. “You heard ‘im,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

  Sylvie bit her lip, but she nodded and followed Detective Bimmel to his unmarked car. Landon sighed and waited a moment before heading to his own. He retrieved a plastic tarp from his trunk before heading to the driver’s seat where he set it over the seat. Following that, he sat down, shut and locked the door, then leaned back and let out a heavy sigh as Vee silently phased into the passenger’s side. She waited for a moment and fidgeted somewhat awkwardly before saying anything.

  “Why did you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “Let Sylvie go?”

  Landon waited for a moment, starting the engine and turning on the heat instead. “Two reasons,” he said, “first, it really is for the best.”