Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3)

by Sara Schoen

  Alec stopped next to me, and paused for a moment before he grabbed me by my hair. I felt his fingers dig into my hair before he yanked me to my feet. He lifted me with ease, even though I struggled against his hold while I tried to find my footing to relieve the pain as he pulled a few strands of hair out of my head. Alec held me up for a few moments, letting me suffer, until he placed me onto the ground.

  "Now tell me, Jessi," Alec started, his voice low and dark. "If you had followed my rules, you wouldn't have been down here after I pulled you out right?"

  I nodded, unsure of where this was going. I wanted to look around the room, I wanted to see if any of the girls were still here or if they had all left. I couldn’t believe that they had found a way out, and that by dumb luck Alec came down here to check on them before we left, but I didn't want to look away from him. I was worried that would make him angrier.

  "Then why is there a note written to you in the dirt?" he asked as he pointed a few feet away from us. I took that as his acceptance to look away from him, so I followed his finger until I found the note he was talking about.

  In messy handwriting, the dirt had been moved to say:

  "We tried to warn you Jessi. Forgive us."

  The fear began to strangle my heart deep within my chest. Worry planted a seed in the pit of my stomach as I looked over the words again and again. They had asked for forgiveness, but I wasn't sure why they asked for it since they had warned me multiple times that I would be left here alone, I just hadn’t realized that’s what they meant until it was too late. I glanced around to see that the girls were missing, all of them except two that must have been too weak to go with the others. The two left behind were still alive, but judging from Alec's anger, they wouldn't be for long.

  "Because they left, and they knew you'd blame me for it," I suggested weakly. I glanced over at him, his eyes a shade darker as the anger took over him. "They had met me when I first arrived. They had warned me what waited for me in this house, with you, and told me that I should work to follow your rules so that I could better survive here, unlike them."

  He sighed heavily, and closed his eyes as if to calm himself before he spoke again. "Then let me ask you something else," he said as he grabbed onto my arm, and lead me into one of the cages.

  I followed behind him slowly, fearful of what he would do to me once I was fully inside the cage. Would I be trapped like the other girls had been, or would I be allowed to leave again? There was no way to be sure with Alec, especially now with his uneasy by the police activity, and the nerves experienced from the police closing in on a suspect. They had followed his trail so far, but would they continue to or would they find out they were being lead down the wrong path?

  "Why are there breadcrumbs, and water cups on the floor?" he questioned curiously.

  He didn't look at me, but I knew that he had already found his answer. If I didn't match what he said then he would know that I was lying. The words left me. I had no way of explaining this without getting caught in a lie. There was no way out, and if I continued to lie to him I knew that he would kill me. The girls had been trapped downstairs, and unable to make it upstairs. I was the only one that could have brought it to them, and Alec knew it. If I was lucky he would beat me, then when he had worked out his anger and would leave me once he was done. If I wasn't, then I would experience the same pain as Anna had with Steve.

  "I didn't think you'd have an answer for that, Jessi. It's good to see that you won't further this anymore then you had to."

  He paused for a moment, allowing the fear to settle deeper into the pit of my stomach. The girls had escaped somehow. They had warned me that I would be left alone with no one to help me, but I didn't think that it was going to be like this. I didn't think that they would escape, and leave me here to die when I had stayed behind to save them. If I had known that they had a way out, I would have ran when I had the chance. I wouldn't have stayed here, only to be watched as if I was Alec's prey, and touched as if I was a prize.

  I sighed heavily, and thought for a moment.

  Tegan had told me that she would show me she could get out, but she had been begging me to let her out. Maybe they had found a way out after I last visited, they hadn't been able to tell me because I hadn't been able to come back down. They escaped, and I was trapped here with no way out. I could only hope that one of them, any of them, would find the police and save me. I couldn't make it much longer, at least not alone with knowing what was about to happen when Alec said the most feared sentence of my life.

  "You broke the rules, Jessi, now you have to be punished."

  Chapter 23

  I felt Alec's hand latch onto my arm again before he turned me around to face him. There was a sad twinkle in his eyes, but the anger was still prevalent. I had broken his fantasy, made him realize that just like Steve he had failed, but that meant he knew how the rest would play out as well. He would be taken away, he would get locked up, and if he was lucky he could one day get out again, but it was very doubtful. Now he had to escape, it was the only choice he had left which meant he had to track down each of the girls, including myself, and kill them or he'd always be in danger of getting caught.

  "You were supposed to be perfect!" Alec cried as he shoved me roughly into Tegan's old cage.

  I crashed to the ground in a heap, hitting my head on the floor and crying out as I did so, causing dirt to fly up and into my mouth. I coughed as I tried to get up and defend myself, but Alec landed a kick before I could protect myself. This was going to be harder than the training I had gone through prior to this. I hadn't had much fighting in the field, but I had been trained to defend myself. I had no doubt about my abilities to fight and leave a mark, but I was going up against a man that had nothing to left lose. If I wasn't careful, this could end badly for me, because he was going to go to make sure I wouldn't cause more trouble while he was looking for the other girls.

  It just meant I had to fight as long as I could to give them time to escape, even if I didn't make it out of here.

  I put my palms down on the ground to push off when a boot came crashing onto my back, forcing me back to the ground and immobilizing me. There was a sickening crack as he landed on a few vertebrae of my spine, but the pain diminished allowing me to know he hadn't broken anything. At least not yet anyway.

  There was an increase in pressure as Alec leaned down to talk to me. His foot was digging into my back as he spoke directly into my ear. He wanted to make sure I heard every word on how this was all my fault, what happened to me, and the girls, but especially what was going to happen to them now that I had let them escape.

  "You grew up with this, Jessi. You should have been perfect," Alec said with a sad sigh. "Steve should have taught you better. He knew what was needed to raise a girl to make her perfect. I thought he would have done that to you, but it appears that you were taken away from him before it could stick. You were supposed to be obedient, well-behaved, beautiful, and most important, submissive to my authority. That's how you should have been, but you aren't."

  He lifted his foot off me for a few seconds, but as I tried to move he swiftly kicked me in the side and rolled me over onto my back. I got up quickly with the momentum he had forced onto me and steadied myself for a fight. Alec chuckled at the sight of me standing ready to fight him, but he continued to talk as if he didn't see me as a threat. I'm sure he didn't, but he would have another thing coming because he thought I couldn't do anything.

  He stepped toward me, and attempted to touch me in a loving caress. I slapped his hand away, reeling my arm back to lash out. My fist flung forward and made contact with his jaw. My hand cracked at the force, and Alec let out a groan. His hand went to his jaw as a small line of blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. That last moment of caring Alec had for me, vanished, and wouldn't come back.

  He flung forward, grabbed me by my neck and shoved me up against the wall. I could feel my airway being closed off as he put pressure on my throat. His
breathing was heavy, the anger had taken him over, and I was forced to look him in the eye as he spoke.

  "I saved you from finding out too late what people could be like!" he cried as he threw a punch into the side of my face. He made contact just next to my right eye. My vision blurred slightly from the intensity of the blow and I let out a cry of pain, but he carried on as if I hadn't reacted. "I pulled you away from that woman!" He screamed as he landed another hit, cracking the back of my neck from the force and speed head turned. "She had no right to call herself a mother. She left you to save herself, and I was the one that saved you. This is how you repay me?"

  I groaned as I lifted my arm back to try to land a hit, but he grabbed it. He twisted my arm until I screamed and writhed in pain under his hold. He waited until he was sure that I had learned my lesson before releasing my arm and continuing his rant.

  "I'm the reason you even have this job!" he screamed as he threw punch after punch into the side of my face, this time landing on my cheek. I could taste the blood flowing into my mouth after the blow. I tried to swallow it, but the more he hit me, the harder it was. "I made you," he cried, landing another punch. "I'm the reason you even have this job, the only reason! But I don't get any credit from you. When you solve cases, I'm not thanked for it. When people are saved because of you, I don't see anything about me mentioned in the paper. My hard work, that I put in to make you who you are today, is never talked about! Where is my recognition? Where are the thanks I get for making you into this person? Tell me Jessi, tell me!"

  I didn't understand what he had meant at first when he started to talk about my mom, about how he saved me. I didn't realize until he started to rant about things in my past, and my childhood, that he was talking about himself, instead of Steve. It was as if he believed that he had done those things, that he was Steve Bennett, and that he is truly the reason I went into this job and had the success I did. He wanted credit because I never told anyone that I went in to the FBI because of Steve, and I refuse to tell anyone that he was the reason.

  I told everyone that asked me that I had joined to save girls that had been like Anna and me. The ones that had their lives ruined. That's the story I told everyone, but if you contorted it, it was easy to see that I had joined to stop men like Steve and Alec. I had joined so that I could stop them, and save the girls that were taken, and the families that were torn apart because of men like them. It was easy to see that as the answer for why I joined, it was the most obvious answer. That's why he was so fixated on it, and on me. He had made me, given me a reason to want to fight against men like Steve, and I had never told anyone.

  He wanted the credit that he feels I owe him and Steve.

  "Who do you think you are to ruin two perfect families?" he yelled as he landed another hit. I cried out as this one landed in my gut. I accidentally spit out the blood I had been retaining in my mouth when I cried out, and it splattered over Alec's face. "You took Anna away, and now you broke up this family. It's all your fault. Now, you'll wait and watch as I drag each of those girls back here and kill them in front of you."

  He pushed away from me finally, letting his weight off my throat, and allowing me to breathe in a full breath of air again. I fell to the ground, trying to collect my breath as he walked out of the cage. He was going to leave to search for the girls, but maybe I could get out like they had. I was relieved to be left alone for a little while to do it, but the relief didn't last long though. Instead of leaving and locking the door, he came back. His footsteps stopped in front of me, and I glanced up to see disgust on his face before he landed a kick into my stomach.

  He plowed his foot deep into my stomach and reeled back to land a few more while he berated me. I was rolling from his blows when his foot landed on my chest. He put pressure on my chest to make me immobile before he leaned down to talk to me again.

  "Who do you think you are to ruin this for me, and then not give me credit?"

  There was a sickening crack as he pushed onto my chest. I cried out as the pain erupted through my torso. He stomped down my on chest, causing another crack to meet my ears. A tear escaped over my eyelashes as I tried to roll away from him. He stepped over me, waiting for an answer before he left.

  I took a deep breath, trying to ease the pain as adrenaline took over my body. I had to save myself to save these girls. They relied on me, and I was going to bring him down to finish off men like him and Steve.

  "I think I'm the girl that's going to bring you down," I said as I grabbed his ankle and pulled him to the ground.

  He crashed next to me, and gave me enough time to get back to my feet, but wasn't as affected as I had hoped. He popped up and started to throw wild punches. I was disorientated from the beating I had taken. I managed to land a few hits to his face and chest, but nothing seemed to slow him as he had done to me. He quickly grabbed me again and pushed me against the wall, his hands finding my throat again, and this time I knew it was over if I didn't fight.

  I lifted my knee in between his legs, until I landed a hit I knew would affect him. He let go of me, and I took that chance to escape. I pushed myself off the wall and took off running. If he wasn't going to leave me down here, I was going to leave him down here. I didn't have time to think of the other girls that were lying in the basement waiting for death to take them, there were four girls out there fighting to stay alive. I had to save them first, but I didn't even make it up the stairs to have a hope of seeing the outside world again.

  I raced up the basement stairs and made it to the door before Alec grabbed my waist and lifted me off the steps. There were a few moments before he turned and tossed me back down the stairs. I rolled down the stairs until I crashed onto the hard floor, and felt the pain reverberate through my body. I managed to roll over, but Alec got on top of me and held me down. His hands wrapped tightly around my wrists and forced me to lay still.

  "I'm going to find those girls that you so desperately tried to keep alive, and I'm going to drag them back here so I can force you to watch the life leave them. Then when every single one of them is dead, I'm going to finish you off. I can't have a troublemaker out and about. You'll be dead by morning," he spat.

  He forced himself off of me, and with a groan he pulled me off the floor. He dragged me, kicking and screaming, into one of the cages and tossed me in. I landed hard, and my head hit the concrete with a thud that it sent me reeling as he slammed the cage door shut, and snapped the lock onto the cage.

  "You'll regret defying me, Jessi, just you wait." His voice was dark as he walked away. There was no hint of sympathy in his tone, and no remorse for what he just did or was about to do. He walked away, and soon I was sent into darkness when he shut the lights off. He left me in the basement, alone, with no way out. All I could do was wait for him to come back and suffer through more of my punishment unless I could find out how the girls escaped. Then maybe I could find them, and get to Callum before Alec stumbled across us. I had to get out, one way or another. I wasn't going to give up until I was sure Alec had me trapped. I just had to find out how they escaped, and somehow find them before Alec did.

  Chapter 24

  Alec's footsteps had disappeared up the stairs after he locked me into my cage, and the lights vanished once he was gone, but the pain was still present. The pain seeped deeper into my body as the adrenaline of the fight started to wear off, but was soothed by the cold concrete, and the layering of dirt provided a small cushion on the sore areas. It was a strange mix of pain and relief as I laid on the ground and waited for some strength to return to me.

  I couldn't muster the energy to move after the beating I had just taken. The pain was almost unbearable; I wasn't able to move without a crippling pain taking over my body. I could feel blood seeping down my lips and slowly down the sides of my face as I opened my mouth to breath. I could feel the bruises that were forming on my sides and chest, and my breathing was crippled from what was most likely a broken rib.

  Alec's footsteps raced around ab
ove me. There were things falling and crashing to the ground, as if he was searching for something. He walked from one corner of the house to the next, frantically turning over furniture and dumping things onto the floor. He was looking for how the girls got out without him noticing. I could hear him screaming and yelling for the girls, he wanted to make sure they weren't still in the house.

  He must have crossed off the basement as a possible escape route, but I knew the girls better than he did. They wouldn't have risked going upstairs, they wouldn't have wanted to run into Alec by accident if he just happened to be outside the house, waiting for them. They wouldn't have wanted to waste time looking for a way out, they needed to know there was a way out once they got out of the cages. They had escaped through the basement, I just had to find out how.

  A few moments passed as I heard his frantic steps race around the house before I had managed enough strength to move; it was a slow process. The pain would erupt as I moved, and spread across my body until I would double over with pain. I fought it every step of the way, until I got myself moving and focused on getting out. I had to move past it if I wanted a chance to get out and save those girls, then find Callum to save the girls trapped here and find Alec before he could run.

  I got on my hands and knees, in an attempt to ease some of the pain, and started to search for how the girls had gotten out of the cages. My hands dusted away the thin layers of dirt, and searched for something in the concrete. A hole, a missing stone, anything that would have let the girls leave without unlocking their cages or making a lot of noise, but I couldn't find anything. Everything was in its place, and refusing to budge. I couldn't give up because they got out somehow, and I just had to find it.