Lennon.
Did I have a plan yet? No and we were already in the car on the way to the airport. Zayn and I were completely squashed in the middle seat with two hefty bodyguards on either side, in case we tried to jump out of a moving car. Honestly, I would have taken jumping out of a speeding car rather than actually being in the car any day.
Zayn fidgeted in his seat, it was more than obvious he did not approve of his attire. Jeans and denim jackets were out of the window. He was adorned in tanned coloured chinos, a sweatshirt and a pair of converse style shoes. He looked like an American college student. I on the other hand was dressed head to toe in pink. I looked like a cotton candy machine had just exploded all over me. I had just off white hair, a baby pink skater dress and pink ballet shoes. I looked like the definition of girly girl taken to the extreme. They had done an excellent job of making us look like completely different people. Zayn didn’t have any facial anymore and he was forced to wear a beanie, he looked so much younger than before. I just looked like a dress up doll.
Axel and Anita had also dressed the part. Axel was living up to his name though, he looked like an Axl Rose impersonator. If we were going for the dysfunctional family look, we were owning it. However, I was sure this whole fiasco with our appearances would bring more attention to us than if we looked like ourselves. We stuck out like sore thumbs.
Axel’s group of burly men were joining us too, but they were going to pretend we had no idea who they were. They were dressed as business men. I wasn’t sure what Axel was so scared of over in Sicily, but someone clearly has a vendetta against him. He wouldn’t go to all this trouble for nothing.
Zayn and I were convinced Axel and Anita didn’t even have a plan of action once we got there. Sicily isn’t exactly a small place and we didn’t know where Vince was either. I didn’t intend on sticking around with them for long. We hadn’t gotten much of an opportunity to formulate a plan, but we would improvise when the time arose…somehow.
I wasn’t even sure what Anita’s actual relationship with Axel was. One minute they appeared utterly smitten, other times they sounded like they wanted to cut each others throat. I couldn’t determine whether it was all an act or not. I had learnt Anita was Russian, her accent was a heavy giveaway but she was extremely skilled at hiding it when she was in her ‘mother’ mode. As soon as we were dragged from the damp building she had turned into Mary Poppins.
The car pulled up just off the drop off zone at the airport so no one could see the group of muscular men surrounding us - no doubt it would have turned a few heads. Anita wasted no time in snatching Zayn’s arm, creating a death grip in her grasp. Axel was reluctant to hold my arm, I wasn’t approving of it either. My heart was beating erratically and not in a good way when his hand touched my skin. It sent shivers down my spin and sweat drops down my face. Anita frowned when she saw and gave a look saying ‘you’ll ruin your make up’, and I wouldn’t want to do that of course.
Axel heaved a suitcase behind him, I had no idea what was in it but it was most likely to make us look less suspicious. Same reason we had return flight tickets, we looked like we were heading off on a nice family holiday, little did everyone know.
We walked through the entrance of the airport, smiles plastered on our unrecognisable faces. Axel approached the check in counter with us all in tow and happily handed over the passports and tickets. Zayn and I’s passports weren’t real, our real one were back with The South, who knows where the fraudulent ones came from. It was extremely bizarre watching Axel smile, talk politely and act like a regular citizen for once. I knew deep down the smiling was killing him and every time he said please and thank you, his hard front was chipped slightly.
The lady at the desk didn’t even take a second look at our passports, she scanned them under the reader and handed them back straight away without another word. I wanted to stand there shocked for a second but I was already being dragged through into the security check line. I wasn’t exactly hiding anything dangerous so I don’t know why I felt so nervous. This was all new though, I’d never been to an airport, let alone been on a plane.
I didn’t beep going through the scanner but Axel did. My heart did a little jump when the scanner beeped repeatedly. I tried to hide the smile on my face, thinking this was going to be the end of it all already. Axel would be caught carrying a weapon or something and taken away. Airport security wasn’t the same as the police force, of course they were in conjunction with each other but something told me you couldn’t wrap them around your finger like the fuzz. They were armed with semi automatic rifles and fierce looking guard dogs. My smile quickly disintegrated when Axel pulled a handful of loose change from his jean pocket, placed it in the tray and walked back through the scanner without a hiccup. They even used a metal detector on him and nothing came up.
We fled the security area as quickly as possible and embarked on the departure lounge. The mass amount of shops in one building was mind numbing, why does an airport need all these places? We didn’t get to look inside any of the shops however, Anita led us straight to the food court. She spoke to Axel in a hushed voice deciding where we should eat, somewhere out the way so they could discuss their plan of action.
Trying to capture someone’s attention was completely out of the question. I was silently asking for help but I think Anita caught on as she kept standing right in front of me with an evil scowl set on her face. So I turned to look at the queue of people in front of us. The lady’s back in front was interesting for about a second. I was about to try and look around again when I noticed something poking out of her back pocket on her jeans. The light had reflected of it and caught my attention and apparently Zayn’s too. He shifted his head towards it and I nodded back in response.
We waited until the queue started to shuffle forward again, Zayn stuck out his foot directly in my path causing me to stumble. I lurched forward and stopped myself falling to the floor by leaning against the lady in front. I never intended on being a criminal but as my hand snatched the phone from her back pocket the thought didn’t even cross my mind.
“I’m so sorry!” I replied trying to act as if I was flustered and embarrassed. Anita sent me a death glare as did Axel and I attempted to look threatened by their stares but my heart was too busy being pumped with adrenaline. The lady turned around and just brushed it off as if it was nothing thankfully. I nodded to Zayn before I spoke again.
“I need the toilet.” I spoke and physically forced my way past Anita who had been guarding one side of me. I didn’t even give her a chance to reply as I darted towards the toilets. No surprise she was hot on my heels, not wanting to cause a scene though she walked in sync with me, her hand subtly gripping my wrist. The phone was in my other hand, I didn’t have any pockets so I tried to cover my palm over the whole thing and keep it out of sight.
“You think I’m stupid?” She sneered in my ear as we reached the bathroom door. She thought I was attempting to run, even escape through a bathroom window, but I wasn’t that basic.
“No.” I spat back and slammed the bathroom stall door shut in her face.
Since she was stood outside the door, I could see her feet underneath the wood I couldn’t make a phone call. I looked at the phone and sighed, it had a pass lock of course. I raised the device towards the light and tried to figure out the sequence by looking at the finger print marks. After several attempts and different variations I thought the screen was going to be disabled after a long pause, but it didn’t. It unlocked and I breathed a sigh of release.
I created a new message straight away;
‘It’s Lennon. They’re taking us to Sicily. Don’t text back, I stole this phone from someone at the airport...
“Are you done yet in there?” Anita whined through the door, anger flowing through her voice.
“You can’t rush these things.” I replied.
“What are you doing in there?”
“What do you think I’m doing in a toilet?” She didn’t respond but I did notice she had turned around and was leaning against the doorframe.
…Please send help, come get us. Our flight leaves in twenty minutes. I don’t know where we’re going when we get there.’
There were so many more things I wanted to say but I couldn’t fathom them into words, especially in the small window of time I had. I sent the message to Paul’s mobile, waited for the message to confirm it was sent and then deleted its existence. I felt bad for what I did next but I flushed the phone down the toilet. I could have stuffed it down my bra but it would have only been found at security in Italy. I took a deep breath before unlocking the door and walking over towards the sinks. Anita stepped inside the stall, inspecting it before walking back out satisfied.
She held my hand so tightly that if she squeezed any harder my bones would shatter. I was beginning to think she was trained by the Russian army or something similar. When we returned Zayn and Axel were sat at a table, a pile of food set out in front of them. I quickly sat down next to Zayn and slyly made eye contact with a subtle nod informing him I’d done it. We sat in silence, my stomach was full of nerves and anticipation as we ate. It was so good to eat actual food it was hard not to make moaning sounds as I ate an entire bowl of pasta. We’d only been fed bread and water at the place we were held, not even prison was that bad, it was barbaric.
We boarded the plane, sat down and took off all within the space of half an hour. I clung to the arms of the seat for dear life. Apparently I was afraid of flying. I panicked every time the plane jerked, turbulence wasn’t something I ever wanted to endure again. I was as pale as a ghost by the time the plane landed three hours later. Zayn slept the whole flight and I never hated anyone more.
Back on the ground the heat hit me as soon as we walked out of the plane door. The sun blared down on my face taking me by surprise. I stumbled down the stairs, Axel reformed his grip on my arm. Anita was baby-sitting Zayn again. We headed straight through customs and the security border before embarking on baggage claim. I was already eyeing the exits as soon as we stepped into the massive room filled with conveyor belts. I noticed Zayn looking around too until his eyes settled on the same exit I was looking at.
We stood next to each other, his hand subtly slid into mine as Anita and Axel guarded our sides. The suitcases started filing around in a circle. I squinted at the similar cases until I spotted the one Axel had earlier.
“There it is.” I spoke monotonously. Axel glared at me before snatching his arm away from Zayn and walking towards it. We didn’t waste a split second before we ran. I pinched Anita’s skin around her wrist where she was holding me. Taken by surprise her grip slipped and we ran.
Their footsteps were louder than the blood pumping through my veins, the adrenaline only pushed me to run further. People turned around and stared, airport staff began speaking on their walkie-talkies but we didn’t hesitate for a second. Zayn’s hand never left mine, we couldn’t afford to be split up in a foreign country.
We ran out of the airport, the heat smacking us right in the face. We were both sweating and out of breath but we continued to sprint down the pavement with no clue where to go. I turned to look over my shoulder, Axel was hot on our toes, but Anita was even closer. The only thoughts i could process were ‘fuck, shit, fuck’.
A hundred feet down the road a car began matching our speed and pulled up right next to the curb. I looked over at Zayn who looked just as sceptical as I did. The back door flung open of the black SUV and an unfamiliar man began beckoning us inside. My eyes bugged out of my skull, was he serious? But as I turned to look over my shoulder, Anita was almost in arms reach. Zayn was already half inside the car before my head was beginning to wrap around the situation. I jumped through the open door of the moving car. Anita grabbed my leg but I kicked and fought until she let go. The door slammed shut as soon as we were inside. I looked out the rear window, Anita was swearing and shouting at Axel, pouting at the car, her face bright red from anger.
I spun back around and took in what was happening. The car was very much similar to what I had grown accustom to for the past several months. Black, SUV and filled with unfriendly looking men. I felt the lump rise in my throat as I tried to swallow it down. I didn’t have a good feeling about this. They weren’t on Axel’s good side but it didn’t mean we were in a better place. I looked over to Zayn who appeared very uneasy, the look on his face informed me he knew something I didn’t.
“Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaky. My hands were shaking from nerves and my lip was trembling before I even heard the answer.
“Welcome to the Italian Mafia.”
--