“No, but kids under 12 go free.”
“Is that your way of telling me that you want to have kids with me?”
“Maybe.” His lips curled into a cryptic smile.
I sat down beside him on a nearby bench, putting my shoes back on. As I did, all I could think about was Andre as a father. I pictured him out in the yard, pushing our daughter on a swing as she giggled and told him to make her go higher and higher.
“Come on, let’s go. I’m starving.” He took my hand, holding it a little too tight, almost as if something was wrong.
“Andre?”
“Yeah…?” His voice sounded distant as he kept looking around the airport.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He answered, way too quickly.
“I know you’re lying.”
He pulled me closer, glancing over his shoulder before he towed me over to the food court. “I don’t know why… but I just have this feeling that someone is watching us.”
I glanced around, but from what I could tell, everyone seemed to be minding their own business. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Call it a Seal’s intuition.”
“Who would be watching us? You got enemies I don’t know about?”
“Of course I do. I’m a rich and powerful man.”
“Well, it’s an airport. This place is jacked with security. I doubt anything will happen. You’re over-reacting.”
“Hope, I’m telling you…”
“Look, I need to go to the bathroom. Why don’t you go ahead and order us some food?”
Even as I tried to leave, he didn’t let go of my wrist.
“Andre, seriously, you’re being ridiculous.”
He stared at me for a moment before he sighed and let go. “You’re probably right.” Still, he watched me the whole way to the bathroom. Andre had always been a bit of a worrier, but he was never this bad. Something must have seriously spooked him. The thought caused goose bumps to form all over my skin. As I got into a stall, I kept my guard up, just in case.
Before I could finish, however, someone else entered the bathroom. Their footsteps were heavy like they were wearing combat boots or something. There was also the sound of wheels like someone was pushing a cart.
“Hello. Is anyone in here?” A gruff voice sounded. “I need to clean this bathroom.”
“One second, I’ll be out in a jiffy.”
I quickly zipped my pants, about to book it out of there when my stall door was kicked in, hitting me in the head. I fell back, nearly falling in the toilet before someone grabbed me, pinning both my wrists together with one hand. I was about to scream for help when my attacker shoved something in my mouth, gagging me. I tried pushing against it with my tongue, attempting to spit it out, but it was wedged in there.
“Don’t make a sound or it’ll be the last thing you ever do…” A deep, husky voice sounded in my ear. A rough hand subtly brushed against my cheek as the man pinned me to his body, his arm around my neck like he was ready to strangle me at a moment’s notice.
I stilled , afraid for my life.
Suddenly something sharp and painful stabbed into the side of my neck. My vision began to blur and my body turned to lead. I slumped forward, my hair falling over my eyes as the man dragged me out of the stall, propping me against the sink.
I did my best to focus on him, to try and remember everything about him, but it was already too late.
As he approached me holding a roll of duct tape, everything faded to black.
***
The next thing I knew, I was in a car. Whoever was driving was swerving back and forth on the highway. My eyes widened with fear as everything came crashing back to me.
Quickly, I tried to sit up, but I had been buckled in and with my hands tied behind my back, there was no way for me to free myself.
“Ah, you’re finally awake.” A man’s slurred voice broke through my panic.
I glanced over to see a large, intimidating individual. He reeked, his clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and his face was sunk. What worried me the most, however, was his bloodshot eyes. This man was clearly intoxicated.
My struggles intensified. There was no telling what this guy would do to me.
He grinned like my fear amused him. “Andre sure knows how to pick them.”
I froze at the mention of Andre’s name.
“That’s right. I know your little boyfriend quite well. You see… I was in the Navy with him. We spent seven years serving together. We were like brothers. I watched his back and he watched mine.” As the man spoke, he looked right at me, making me incredibly nervous.
Please watch the road. Please watch the road. I mentally screamed at him, fearing that I would die in a horrific car accident at any moment. But, maybe that was preferable to whatever he was planning.
He grinned, flashing a mouth of yellowed teeth.
Abruptly, he swerved to the left, narrowly missing an oncoming car. As a result, I fell sideways, getting stuck in a very uncomfortable position.
The man didn’t bother to help me so I slowly shimmied back into place, the seatbelt digging into my neck. If he were to slam on the breaks, it would probably crush my windpipe.
The mere thought made me tremble. Why hadn’t I listened to Andre when he said we were in trouble? Maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation right now…
Tears stung the corner of my eyes.
What if I never saw him again?
Suddenly, the man took in a deep breath, letting out a loud, overdone sigh. When I looked at him, he was holding an almost empty bottle of rum in his hand.
I was dead. So fucking dead.
“Really hits the spot, you know?” He chuckled. “Do you want a sip? Might help you take the edge off.” He pulled the gag out of my mouth.
My first instinct was to scream bloody murder, but I managed to keep a level head. Screaming wouldn’t get me anywhere. If anything, it would probably get me hurt. So I wet my lips, my mouth feeling dry after being stuffed with a rag for all this time.
He pressed the bottle against my lips, tipping it upwards until it spilled into my mouth.
I shook my head, trying to prevent myself from drinking it, but he applied so much pressure against my mouth that my only choices were drink or drown. Please, don’t be roofied…
“There, isn’t that better?” He asked, placing the bottle between his legs. “There’s nothing alcohol can’t fix, my friend.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I’m so glad you asked.” He looked at me, taking a strand of my hair between his fingers and twirling it. “But, before we do that, I think there’s someone who wants to see you.”
He grabbed his phone off the dashboard and dialed a number.
“Watch the road!” I screamed, closing my eyes tight as he sped right toward a crossing tracker trailer. I pictured us crashing into the side of it, the top of the car coming right off… along with our heads.
The tires squealed against the asphalt as he jerked the wheel, nearly colliding with another car. How I was alive right now was beyond me.
“Oops.” He laughed, the sort of laugh a villain pulls off when he had completely lost his mind.
Why hadn’t I listened to Andre?
“Anyway.” He kept dialing some number, sliding in and out of the lane he was supposed to be in.
A few cars honked at us. One man even stuck his head out the window and screamed: “You lunatic!”
Why were there no cops on this highway? Why had no one called the cops?
Ring! Ring!
The sound of a dialing tone caught my attention. The man had placed his phone in front of me. My face was on the screen. On the top, big white letters read “Calling Andre.”
A second later, Andre appeared, looking pixelated.
“Ho… pe…” His voice was cut off like we had a bad connection.
“Andre!”
“Aww, what a happy little reunion. Too bad that you’ll never se
e each other again. So, you better cherish this last call.”
“You bastard. What have you done to her? Where are you taking her?” Andre’s voice was full of venom.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” He grinned deviously before he reached over and pulled my hair, making me cry out.
“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!”
“What are you going to do about it?” His hand slithered down to my chest, groping me.
“Please… stop…” Tears streamed down my cheeks. This couldn’t be happening. “Please…”
“Begging isn’t going to help you, sweet cheeks. When I want something, I get it.”
Chapter 8 (Andre)
“Hope… just stay calm. I’m going to come get you.” I said, even though I had no idea where they were.
Seeing Hope in this predicament, because of me, made my heart ache in the most painful of ways. I had to save her. If I didn’t I would never forgive myself.
“Do you really think that you can save her? What says she even wants to be with you?” Derek’s voice was slurred and groggy. By the sounds of things, he had been drinking.
I needed to save Hope sooner rather than later.
There was no telling what might happen to her if he reached his destination. Just the thought of him laying his hands on her filled me with such rage.
“Derek.”
“Hmm?” He asked, his voice almost whimsical like this was all just a game to him.
“Why are you doing this?” I had to keep him on the line if I had any chance of saving her. Already, I was tearing through the airport, leaving all of our stuff behind as I raced back to the car. Hope hadn’t been gone for more than thirty minutes. He couldn’t be that far away. I could still catch up to him… if only I knew where he was.
I kept my eyes on the screen, praying I would catch sight of some sort of landmark, or a sign, that would tell me where they were.
“Why? You act like you don’t know.” His voice turned bitter. “When I was down and out, you abandoned me. You’re living like a king and I’m a goddamn pauper . Tell me how that’s fair.”
“I loaned you money and you spent it foolishly. I wasn’t going to let you buy drugs and ruin your life like that.”
“Ruin my life?” He scoffed. “The Navy ruined my life. All these nights seeing the faces of our dead comrades. Most of the time, I wake up, thinking I’m drowning. That choking feeling that just doesn’t go away no matter how much you breathe.”
“I know, Derek, I know.”
“ No, you don’t!” He snapped, suddenly jerking the wheel. The car shook and I watched Hope’s head bob so hard, I thought her neck would break.
“Derek, just please calm down.”
“Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when I’ve been living in the streets for over a year now, and you don’t even give a shit?”
“Look, I’ll get you some treatment. We will get this all sorted out. I promise.”
“It’s too late for promises now.”
I had reached my car, revving the engine and pulling out of the garage as fast as I could. I kept watching the screen, praying for a miracle.
“Derek, if you agree to cooperate with me now, we can pretend like none of this ever happened.”
“Ha! You expect me to believe a liar like you? If I had to guess you’ve already called the cops.”
I headed north, remembering that Andre used to live in a suburb outside the city. Maybe he was headed back to home turf. I could only hope. “No. I haven’t. But, if they do get involved, it won’t be good news for you and I don’t want to send you to jail.”
“Oh really? I would have thought that’s exactly what you wanted.”
“No. Derek, you’re like a brother to me.”
He was quiet, making me nervous. When negotiating with a terrorist, silence was always a bad thing.
“Derek… whatever you’re thinking right now. It’s not worth it.” I did my best to keep my voice calm and my eyes on the phone, all while pushing the speed limits of my car and avoiding collision .
For a split second, Hope’s face was blurred before she came back into focus, mouthing the word “Aberdeen.”
Good job, Hope.
In a break-neck decision, I turned my car around in the middle of the highway, nearly causing a pile up as I crossed the median to the other side. If they were passing Aberdeen, then I knew exactly where he was going.
“You know, I was always jealous of you, Derek, ” I said once I was on the right track. “You were the better soldier by every account. You could swim faster, hold your breath longer, and shoot way better than I ever could.”
“But, what did it count for? Nothing.” He spat.
“It did count for something. How many lives did you save out there? How many times did you run out into no man’s land just to drag back the body of a fallen comrade? I was never brave enough to do that, but you were.”
“But, who’s the one living on the streets? The government doesn’t care about veterans. They treat us like shit.”
“They do. They 100% do.” I agreed with him. “But, if you had just stayed away from the liquor, maybe things would have been different.”
“Don’t try to spin this and make it my fault. I had nothing to do with this. I was just trying to cope, man.”
“I know, but this isn’t how you do it. Just stop the car and we can work this out.”
“I’m not dumb, you’re just doing this so you can save your girlfriend. Well, if I can’t be happy then neither can you.”
Suddenly, he hung up the call.
My heart sunk.
I pressed the gas pedal as far as it would go. My car whipped past all the others on the highway. I had to save her.
I weaved through traffic. I even squeezed between two cars, losing one of my mirrors in the stunt. At this point, I didn’t care about what happened to me, just as long as I got to her in time.
To my relief, I spotted a trashy car swerving through the lanes in the distance. It had to be him. Of course, Derek would pick the stretch of highway that was never patrolled by officers. He might have taken the dark path toward alcoholism, but he wasn’t stupid. He was still a Navy Seal and a very dangerous one at that.
I tightened my grip on the wheel. If only this thing went faster.
My adrenaline was pumping through my veins as I neared closer and closer.
An influx of cars poured in from an exit, making the road congested and difficult to navigate. Derek’s car was dangerously weaving in and out of lanes.
With no other choice, I shifted into the emergency lane, and when that became congested as well, I went off road . The car tumbled and shook from the uneven terrain but I barely noticed, too focused on the red car I needed to hunt down.
Then, just when I was catching up to him, my worst nightmare played itself out in front of my eyes.
Derek must not have been paying attention because suddenly, he went crashing into a bunch of safety cones. They went flying in every direction, causing cars to stop. Tires screeched as people jacked on their brakes. Car horns kept beeping.
But, above all that, was the heart-wrenching sound of Hope’s scream as the car she was in went airborne.
My heart stopped as the car sailed over the bridge’s railings and nosedived into the water underneath.
Before I could even see the car disappear into the murky depths, I stopped my car and got out. Without thinking, I jumped off the side of the bridge, swan diving into the water.
I hit the surface hard . It felt like I had just been slammed in the face with a sledge hammer. My lungs burned in my winded state. I tried to dive deeper, but my ears popped and I knew I’d be in trouble if I pushed myself any further.
Taking the risk, I came up for air. When I did, the choppy water tossed me around like I was a piece of dirty laundry caught in a never-ending spin cycle.
I blinked away the salt water from my eyes, desperately searching for the vehicle. It was about fift
y meters away, already half sunk into the water.
With no time to waste, I sped toward the car, my body working like a well-oiled machine that propelled me through the water faster than ever before. Still, every time I looked up to check on the progress of the car, it felt like it was getting further and further away.
This was starting to feel like one horrible nightmare.
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