Mia fell into a fitful sleep around two o'clock in the morning. She felt paralyzed by the need for decisions and her inability to make them. She suggested to her parents that they should take a mini-holiday, maybe go to Savannah or some other charming place. They only looked at her first with confusion, and then suspicion. Her dad was convinced that she had planned some sort of party or something and needed to get them out of house. Jessica, who also thought it best to get her parents and her brother out of the town for a while, had no better luck.
Mia awakened in a very nicely appointed room not her own. She looked around confused. Everything was rustic luxury, with floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto a pristine lake surrounded by pines. She looked down. She was still in her pajamas, but hanging on a rack beside her are a bunch of gorgeous sweaters and winter dresses. She was tempted to go over and inspect the clothing, but with a bit of difficulty, she pulled herself away. Now was not the time.
She tried the door. To her surprise, it opened easily. Outside, a woman stood guard. She looked straight out of central casting for an expensive bodyguard. Serious, inoffensively blank face, black suit with sensible shoes. Mia did not miss the gun upholstered at the woman's waist.
Mia stared at the woman. The woman bowed slightly and said in surprisingly pleasant voice, "Miss. My name is T. Please let me know if there is anything you need to make your stay more comfortable."
Mia didn't know how to react. She looked down the long hallway. One side of the hall wall consisted of gorgeous wood logs. The other side were made, once again, of floor-to-ceiling windows that looked into wild, lush, and completely isolated landscape of pine trees, with mountains in the distance.
"Where am I?" Mia asked.
"I cannot tell you that."
"Ok." Mia expected that. "What am I doing here?"
"Mr. Morrison felt that you and your close friends and family should enjoy a vacation here. I assure you that it has all the amenities you would want, and if there is anything you need, we can obtain it for you. Would you like a tour of the facilities?"
Mia curtly shook her head. "No. I would like to leave."
"Unfortunately, that's not possible."
"Ok. Fine. Where's my phone? I want to call Liam."
"Unfortunately, that is also not a possibility at the moment. Mr. Morrison feels that it is best that you do not communicate for a few days."
Mia felt like screaming. She didn't realize that Liam had the ability to do this. Instead, she said in her steadiest of voices, "My family is here?"
"Yes Miss. Along with Miss Kingston's family."
"Where are they?" The Kingstons are also here. Great.
"Some of them are in the living room already. Others are still asleep."
"You mean drugged."
T just looked at her.
"Take me to the living room please." Mia petulantly regretted her politeness as soon as the words left her mouth. She should not say please to her kidnapper.
With smooth efficiency, T took her down the long hallway. Mia spied a giant outdoor pool, with steam rising, giving it an almost mystical appearance. The hallway opened into a giant common area with a fireplace, hip-yet-classic sofas and chairs in muted orange and gray, and a wall full of books. An ancient tree sprouted from one side of the room, enclosed in a circumference of glass. It was awe-inspiring.
Her parents and Jessica stood with frightened tension at the connected kitchen counter by the side of the room. There were numerous other agents in generic black suits standing unobtrusively to the side, but Mia saw Xiao, Gary, and Jess looked nervously at them every few seconds. A man in a long black shift came by and handed her parents and Jess each a cup. He saw Mia appear and walked deferentially towards her.
He bowed when he was a few feet away and spoke deferentially, "Miss. My name is Joseph, and I am here to make your stay more comfortable. Would you like anything to drink? Coffee, tea, wine?"
Mia almost laughed at the absurdity of it all and requested the most ridiculous drink she could think of. "How about an appletini?"
Joseph bowed and walked out of the room as Mia hurried to join her parents and Jessica.
Her parents pulled her into a fierce hug as soon as she was within reach.
"Are you ok?" Her dad asked urgently in Mandarin. He always had a habit of slipping into Chinese in times of extreme emotions.
Mia nodded. She glanced at T, who had migrated to the side of the room to join her fellow thugs. Joseph came back in short order with what appeared to be an expertly-executed appletini. Xiao looked at the drink next to Mia and disapprovingly transferred it to her side. Mia signed. Good to know that her mom still observed the legal drinking age in this absurd situation.
Soon, Jessica's parents and younger brother Sam wandered disconcertedly into the room. After some desperate assurances that everyone was unhurt, they began piece together the information. Xiao, Gary, and Mr. and Mrs. Kingston were understandably unnerved and confused. They had all gone to sleep normally and woken up in a luxury estate guarded by polite but tightlipped jailers. Mia had a pretty good idea what happened, but she found herself unwilling to implicate Liam. Her parents loved Liam. Their opinion would surely diminish after learning that he had kidnapped them.
In the end, she told them the truth but left out the complicated details of Olympus. She told them that Liam had gotten it into his head that something bad was going to happen in Piston and took it upon himself to protect them.
Xiao stared at Mia after she finished in disbelief.
Mia flinched as Xiao started hitting her hands hard against marble counter.
"That bastard. That is insane. He's insane. He's a rich, insane person. What should we do?"
Mia shrugged. She had no idea, but she wanted to take stock of her surroundings.
Mia turned to T. "Can you give us a tour? If we are going to be stuck here...how long are we going to be stuck here?"
T didn't respond. Of course she didn't.
"Well, if we are going to be stuck here, might as well see what this place has to offer."
It had a lot to offer. Indoor and outdoor pool. Sauna. Spa rooms where they could get massages. Exercise facility, dance studio, and yoga room, along with instructors and trainers. A prayer room facing Mecca. They also had access to ATVs, skis, snowmobiles, all with the proper supervision, of course. And if they wanted to do anything that wasn't readily available, they could request it. Mia had a feeling that their requests would be competently and speedily satisfied. It was the most indulgent place Mia had ever experienced. If she hadn't been kidnapped, she would have been in absolute paradise.
No one seemed particularly won over by the amenities except Sam, who was thoroughly impressed by the videogame collection. Ten-year-olds. After a few hours of moping around, Mia feigned a headache and told T that she wanted to take a walk. She waved away Jess as her friend stood to follow, earning a suspicious glance from the ever-perceptive Jess.
Mia walked for a long time. Besides the compound, there were no other signs of civilization around. As far as she could tell, there was one road in and out. There was a garage. Mia guessed it housed the vehicles, as a gaggle of guards with vicious-looking guns patrolled the vicinity.
She returned at dinnertime. She didn't think she would be hungry, but Joseph had prepared a lavish meal. There was no way any sane person could say no to that food. Gary was disturbingly enthusiastic about the hand-pulled noodles, which he said was the best he had ever tasted. He made Joseph promise to teach him the next day.
Jessica insisted on coming to her room after dinner. She shut the door and turned on Mia.
"What are you planning?"
"Nothing. There's nowhere to go, and we are probably being monitored 24/7."
Jessica stared daggers at her. "You are way too jaunty not to be planning something. I know you."
Mia stripped to her underwear and put on a fine cotton pajama that smelled lightly of jasmine. She looked at Jessica and cocked her head. She wouldn't be able to do this alone, and if there was anyone she wanted in her corner, it would be Jess.
"Want to spend the night?" She asked Jess.
Jess nodded, her curls bouncing enthusiastically. "Let me just grab some stuff from my room."
They weren't sure whether they were being surveilled electronically. Just in case they took precautions and put on loud music as they laid in bed and whispered. Jessica feigned distress once in a while, and Mia pretended to comfort her. They hoped that it was good enough to fool anyone watching that they were just two scared girls, commiserating. By around 3 a.m. in the morning, they had a rough plan. It was all predicated on the theory that the guards here at the compound wouldn't really hurt them or their families. The whole point of this extreme action was to keep them safe, after all. Mia hope that they were right.
***
A week passed. Mia felt so impatient that she was physically itchy, but she forced herself to acquire an air of bored energy. Mia spent some of the days running the trails to survey the land. She made sure to run much slower than she usually did, so her two guards – T and someone else – would underestimate her physical abilities. She wasn't sure if Liam had told these people that she knew how to fight, but it was her general experience that even with ample warnings, people tended to underestimate girls. Other days, she took long hikes with Jessica. They made sure to be away for hours. It was tough for Jess, whose past exercise was playing the piano really quickly.
Jessica spent her time not in exercise purgatory gathering information from the staff. Not the guards. They were hopeless and almost nonverbal. But they were allowed some privacy when they were around the house, and Jess spent much of that time in the kitchen, "storing energy" in the form of macaroons. It turned out Joseph was the supervisor of a houseful of chefs, baristas, and cleaning staff, many of whom were quite curious about them. It turned out that they weren't the typical inhabitants of this sort of compound, who were drug lords, arms dealers, and other such savory characters.
Mia could see from her runs into the surrounding mountains lights in the not-too-distant vicinity. It was tough judging distances in the gloom of early winter nights, but the small town seemed to be around twenty miles away. They weren't going to find support there though. Jessica, who had an unobtrusive way of questioning people and making them feel listened to, was quite successful in her part of the mission. She learned that the law enforcement in the nearest town was very much in the pockets of this shadowy luxury resort. Also, every Friday, one of the house staff went into town to pick up supplies for the week. Depending on the guests' desires, the staff would also go into town to pick up various instructors, Michelin star chefs, Reiki healing gurus flown in from around the world. Apparently, there was an airport in reasonable proximity. Mia wondered how much Liam was paying for this service. He must be a millionaire. She now wished that she did not insist on paying for half of their dates.
Their second Friday at the compound, Jessica woke up early and went into the kitchen to speak with the gardener's helper, who had a huge crush on her. It was easy to confirm the schedule from him. He was quite a chatterbox. The truck would leave around 2 p.m. and be back usually around 6 p.m. So ideally, they would have four hours before they were missed.
All the guards wore earpieces, and they were constantly checking in with each other. Mia believed that there was range limit to the devices. On the walks, T was active periodically on her earpiece for the first forty minutes but stopped communicating after that period. It was pure speculation. Mia had no access to the Internet, and it wasn't like she could ask T. If not though, their plan would be DOA.
Mia and Jess told their guards that they were going hiking right after breakfast. Mia was a bit worried about Jess. They were going to have to move quickly to maximize their time. Jess had built some endurance, but the girl had the lung capacity of a kitten. Mia set a brisk pace. She was happy to see that there were only two guards for the two of them – T and another guy she had seen before. She had stopped asking for their names. It was always some letter or number. In the past, when she had gone out with Jess, they had up to four guards. That would have made their plan impossible. They appeared to have become more complacent though. There was a definite quality spectrum to the guards. Some, like T, seemed like the consummate professional. Others were young adults playing dress up.
An hour into their walk, Jess cried out loudly and fell on the trail, as planned. Mia crouched down immediately, feigning the worried friend. T and the other guy rushed over. As they leaned over to see what was happening, Mia snapped her head up hard, head-butting non-T in the head, knocking him out cold. T reacted admirably. Her tranquilizer gun was in her hands in a flash. Mia was faster though and kicked it out of her hands. The next five minutes were a mad scramble, but Mia managed to subdue T with an Ude Garami hold and handcuffs Jess had taken off non-T. Mia said a silent prayer, thanking whatever deities that existed that she went to those judo classes against Mr. Hong's direct orders. She was not going to let his anti-Japanese sentiment stop her from improving her skills, and it turned out that she was right.
They handcuffed T and non-T together back-to-back using two pairs of handcuffs and took their earpieces. They would be able to walk very, very slowly. Mia found herself refusing to meet T's eyes. They had barely exchanged twenty words in the week-and-a-half she had been in captivity, but she still felt a sense of guilt leaving T in such a vulnerable situation. She shook her head. Obviously, she was feeling Stockholm Syndrome. T did this to herself by electing to kidnap her. It wasn't like T was carrying those handcuffs for herself.
Jess and Mia then booked it back to the compound. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The guards outside were languid, almost sleepy. They walked along the road until they were sufficiently far from the house and hid behind the foliage. Jess appeared calm, but Mia knew her well enough to know that she was extremely agitated. Her right thumb has been picked to a bloody mess. Mia herself jumped at every unexpected noise. Around 2:30 p.m., they saw the truck in the distance. Mia stumbled out to the side of the road, leaning on Jess, as if she was hurt. The truck braked hard, coming to an abrupt stop beside them. Two kitchen aides that Mia recognized jumped out in alarm.
"Miss, are you ok? What happened?" Their voices were alarmed and nervous. It was obvious that they didn't know what was happening, or how they were supposed to act. No guards accompanied them.
It was easy dispatching them to the side of the road, bound together to a tree by a rope found in the back of the truck. Jess had gone through a weird knot-typing phase where she learned to tie a bunch of complicated knots, and she guaranteed that the kitchen aides were not going anywhere soon.
"Should we move them into the forest more, so people driving by don't see them?" Jess asked, looking at the two people skeptically.
That prompted immediate protests from the two people hogtied on the ground.
Mia shook her head. "No one is going to drive down this road. Well, at least I don't think so. We want people to eventually find them."
Jess still looked doubtful. "What if someone does, and our plan is ruined?"
"What if they die if we hide them in there?"
"Their friends would find them." Jess paused, uncertain. "Surely."
Mia shrugged. Everyone seemed nice enough, but she also wasn't sure whether kidnappers looked out for their affiliates, having never had any experience with that world.
Jess looked at the two people on the ground. They were scared beyond comprehension. They were just service workers, albeit for unusual clients. She nodded and told them in an admirably ominous voice that frightened even Mia a bit, "If you call attention to us in the next three hours, I will make sure you live to regret it."
The two nodded apprehensively, and Jess and Mia jumped into their truck.