Clean Me Up ~ Thomas Headon
~W O L F F O R E S T~
"I think I know who can help you find Saint."
SPENCER KNOCKS on the large doors of MC and Will's house. Apparently the guards at the gate were expecting them, because Spencer didn't even have to say anything for them to let him through.
Rich people, needing a fucking gate and shit. He thinks.
A small, Japanese woman peeks out from behind the door. Judging from the similarities between her and MC, it's Mrs. Tanaka. When she sees who Spencer is holding, Mrs. Tanaka gasps and opens the door fully.
"Kindle! Oh my goodness, it's been so long my dear!" She exclaims.
Blaise waves apathetically. "'Sup Okasaan."
The small woman motions for the two teens to come inside. "Come, come! I made some okaki for the kids!"
Blaise hops down from Spencer's grip and scurries inside the house, quickly taking off her shoes by the door. "Yum, okaki!" She cheers.
Spencer bows respectfully to Mrs. Tanaka after he takes a step inside the house. "Hello, Mrs. Tanaka. You have a lovely home."
Mrs. Tanaka smiles brightly and nods towards him. "Thank you! You must be Spencer. Willow talks about you all the time."
"I do not!" Will grumbles from her spot in the living room.
Mrs. Tanaka winks over to Spencer. "She totally does." She mouths.
Spencer chuckles quietly as he shakes his head. He takes off his shoes and makes his way over to the massive living room. It's far more colorful than what he would've expected. Most people stick to neutrals in their living room-- especially rich people-- but the Tanakas clearly aren't into being like everyone else.
The room has an open floor plan, with the wall connecting to the kitchen being a bright red accent wall while every other wall is a bright white. The couches are bright yellow with the names "Tanaka", "Willow-Azalea", "Myraliz-Cedar", "Haruto", and "Fumiko-Lily" written in different graffiti styles all over them. Clearly those are the names of the family in the house hold. On the walls are several large scale photos of MC and Will's modeling work, some pictures of them working on different designs for jackets and shoes, and a bunch of pictures of the family on different trips. The largest photo, however, is the photo of a young Japanese man in a cluttered workshop room. He has glasses pushed back onto his head, several splotches of paint and charcoal on his hands and face, and is next to a sewing machine with an unfinished garment inside of it. There are several plush, sky blue rugs under the couches, a large, 70-plus-inch TV on the wall. In the middle of the couches-- that are in a semi-circle in order to see the TV-- is a deep mahogany coffee table that is currently covered with colorful bowls filled with okaki.
But Spencer doesn't take any of that in, seeing as there are several tall, built men and women in black stationed around the room, each of them looking at laptops, guns, and technology that Spencer can't even identify.
"Come on, Spencer, we've got some work to do," MC orders, waving the teenage boy over.
Spencer hurries over to the group and stands next to Will, who is looking down at a large map with MC and Blaise.
"What're we lookin' at here?" He questions.
Blaise points to the map. "This is the map of the town," she says with a piece of okaki in her mouth.
"My father's best men and women are looking for Saint right now. They're currently hacking into all of the streetlight cameras, parking lot cameras, and home security cameras within a hundred-mile radius," MC explains.
"So... what are we doing with the map?" Spencer wonders.
Will nudges her head towards her younger sister. "She wanted to feel like she was doing something so she got this out."
MC snaps her head towards her sister, a slight blush covering her cheeks. "I am not!" She holds up a bright red marker. "I was going to write up some plans on how we're going to infiltrate the enemy's base!"
"We can't infiltrate an enemy base when we don't know where the base is, dumbass." Will rolls her eyes at her sister's antics.
MC pouts. She just wanted to feel like she was part of the team. It just felt wrong sitting back and letting her father's team look for her friend.
Blaise looks around the room. "Has anyone found anything?"
Several mumbles are heard around the room, each of them saying a version of "no". Blaise huffs in frustration.
"Is there any way that we can make this go faster?" Blaise whispers to MC.
She shakes her head. "The police station is already looking for him too. They've sent out Amber Alerts and everything. All we can really do now is hope to get some more information."
"I thought you said your father's team was the best of the best! How come they haven't found anything yet?" Blaise snaps.
Will glares at her. "Watch your tone, Kin. We're all worried about Saint, no need to snap at us."
Blaise glares back at her but doesn't say anything. She just plops back onto the couch with a grunt.
~••~
SAINT GROANS as he blinks his eyes open. His head feels like he's just been hit by a double-decker bus. He looks around only to realize that he can't see anything. He tries to reach up to rub his eyes to see if they're actually open or not, but his arms don't budge. Judging from the harsh rubbing he feels on his wrist, the guys who took him bound his wrists with zip ties. About eight of them, at that.
They really didn't want me to get out, huh? He thinks and he tries to move his legs. Rope too? These guys are thorough.
The only thing that's telling Saint this isn't a dream is the damp smell wafting around the room. He moves his hands around and feels that he's sitting on a metal chair. He rubs his shoes against the ground, and judging by the sound they make, he can tell that it's concrete.
Maybe I'm in a garage?
He can't tell, there's no light coming from anywhere.
"Hello? Anyone there?" Saint tries to say, only to realize that his mouth is covered by duct tape.
Wow, they left no boxes unchecked, I'll give 'em that. He thinks.
After sitting in the dark for a couple of hours— or maybe a few seconds, he can't really tell with how dark it is— a door finally opens and light fills the room. Saint squints at the sudden change and blinks rapidly to clear his vision.
"Ah, I'm glad you're not dead," a slightly familiar voice says as they step into the room. Their voice echoes in the empty space.
Once Saint's eyes adjust to the lighting, he rolls his eyes at the sight of the man in front of him. His arm is in a sling and he still has some yellowing bruises on his face, but Saint knows that smug look anywhere.
Fucking Malik. He thinks, annoyed.
Malik chuckles at the Australian's actions. "What, are you not excited to see me?"
Saint raises an eyebrow, as if you say "ya think?"
Malik scoffs and turns away, clenching his jaw. "You really are a cocky son of a bitch, you know that?" He turns back to him. "Even when you're tied up you still find a way to disrespect me."
Saint sighs in exasperation. I have a feeling he's going to go into a villainous monologue.
"You'll learn soon enough that I'm not someone to mess with, Mr. Saint. In fact, my men and I already have plans for you and your whore of a girlfriend."
Saint raises an eyebrow in confusion. What is he talking about?
"Look, I know Blaise, and I know that she'll come here to try and save you by herself. She's probably trying to find you right now. And y'know, I taught her well, so she'll put up a good fight, but she won't win. And you know why? 'Cause I have you. She won't put your life in danger in any way. I'll call her, make some demands about how she has to come alone, maybe throw in a couple million dollars as ransom, and then she'll fall right into my trap.
"She'll come here, we'll get her, and then I finally get my revenge.
"That little shit lost me a deal with one of the richest traffickers on the continent, and he's so graciously given me a chance again. He'll be here Sunday— well his second-in-command will be here— and that's when Blaise will heroically burst in here. She'll see you, think she's saved you, and then bam, she becomes the slut I always knew she was and you, my little Australian friend, get to join her."
"You're a sick fuck," Saint tries to say, but incoherent mumbles are all that Malik can hear.
Malik shrugs, deciding not to figure out what the boy is trying to say.
"I can tell you're mad, but look at it this way: you still get to be with your girlfriend. You both just won't be able to talk all too much— seeing as your mouths will be too busy." Malik laughs, as if what he said was a funny joke.
He looks at the watch on his wrist— the watch that looks awfully familiar to Saint— and clicks his teeth. "Would you look at the time? Seems like I've got to deliver a certain someone a special little letter."
Saint furrows his brows. Is that my fucking watch? And what letter? Who even writes letters anymore?
Malik gives an apathetic salute to Saint. "See ya in a few, Saint my dear. By the way, someone will come in here and give you some food, only to place it a just out of reach. Hope you enjoy your stay!" And with that, the twisted man leaves the room, leaving Saint in darkness once more.
Shit, I gotta get outta here. My baby is gonna put herself in danger to save me. He thinks, already trying to take off the zip ties from his wrist.
~••~
BLAISE RUNS her fingers through her hair for the fourth time today. She's currently at work, and she can't seem to focus. Not after she spent all day Friday worried about Saint. She couldn't even find time to go to the hospital to see Gangsta H., but she called him a few times to make sure that he was doing all right.
That man is built like a tank, it would take a lot more than a bookshelf to take him down. Although it did make him fall... forget it, the point still stands... unlike him. (A/N: sorry, I had to 💀)
"You alright, Blaise?" Echo wonders.
Blaise snaps out of her thoughts and nods her head. "I'm fine," she mumbles.
Echo looks around at the empty cafe. Business is pretty slow today, so her, Andy, and Blaise have barely had anything to do. She taps Blaise on the shoulder and tilts her head towards the women's bathrooms.
"Come on, talk to me," she says.
Blaise thinks for a moment before nodding. The two make their way to the bathroom after Echo tells Andy to call them if anything happens. Once they make sure that they're alone in the bathroom, Echo turns to Blaise with her arms crossed.
"Spill it, kid. What's up with you?" Echo wonders.
Blaise looks down at the short woman in front of her. Could she really trust Echo with this? The police already sent out an Amber Alert, so she guesses that Echo probably already saw it by now.
"My boyfriend..." Blaise gulps. "He was kidnapped."
Echo's eyes widen. "So Saint Donovan is your boyfriend?"
Blaise nods. "I'm guessing you saw the Alert?"
Echo nods. "Yeah, it woke me up yesterday." Echo whistles. "But I'm sorry Blaise, that's... that's awful. Is there anything I can do?"
"Are you good at finding people?" Blaise jokes.
Echo shrugs. "Kinda," she answers vaguely.
With her brain too filled with thoughts of her boyfriend and her librarian, Blaise doesn't have time to think about what that answer means.
"It happened at a party that we went to. My librarian had gotten attacked, so school was cancelled because of all the commotion. My friends and I were all upstairs, hanging out, and Saint was downstairs to get a drink. Then one of our classmates came up and said she saw him get put into a trunk by two guys."
"Lemme guess, they're the guys that came here and disrupted our shift a couple weeks ago."
Blaise's eyes widen. "Yeah... how'd you know?"
"I have a pretty good intuition. It's how I've survived this long on my own." Again, Echo's answers are confusing, but Blaise doesn't dwell on them.
"Well... anyway, my friends have some... connections, so I got them to look into it. Our classmate got a good look at the license plate, so she told the police what to look for, but nothing's come up. Literally no one is able to find him. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth." Tears start forming in Blaise's eyes.
"What if... what if we'll never find him, Echo? What if he's...?" Blaise can't even bring herself to finish the sentence.
Echo places her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Hey, look at me." Blaise looks at her with wide, glossy eyes. "Saint's a strong man, alright? I'm sure it would take a lot more than those two idiots to take him down."
"But you don't get it, Echo. Those two are my ex's henchmen. You weren't here that day when my ex came here, but he has a personal grudge against Saint and me. Malik is a cruel man, he'll kill anyone who looks at him the wrong way."
Echo let's go of Blaise and rubs her chin, thinking. Finally, she snaps her fingers as if she figured out a hard math problem.
"I've got it!" Echo exclaims. "Do you know where the last place that car was seen? The one the took Saint?"
Blaise nods. "Yeah. A traffic camera near the Wolf Forest."
The Wolf Forest was a legend around Pennsylvania. Many hunters that went in there were later seen torn up to pieces, and the only clue left to their murders were bloody wolf prints seen on the trees. Almost as if the wolves were signing their signature on a masterpiece. Since then, only people with a death wish were seen near Wolf Forest.
Echo smirks. "I think I know who can help you find Saint."
Blaise gasps. "Really? You're serious?"
Echo nods. "What time was the car near Wolf Forest?"
"Sometime early this morning, maybe around 5 AM? Why?"
Echo grabs Blaise's hand and leads her out of the bathroom. "We've gotta find Tyra."