【Josh】
This felt good. Finally not having to walk.
We passed some sort of rural town called McDermitt. London stopped to get gas, and I went to the payphone booth, her Dad’s number written on my hand. I looked into the dust-speckled shiny reflection, at the scar on my forehead, right over my eyebrow. I would probably have that forever. Just because I’d kidnapped London.
I glanced at her. She was meant to be paying for the gas, but she’d gone into the shop to buy some sweets. I smiled. Now I’d met her, I don’t think I can be away from her. I’m glad I kidnapped London. I glad I got shot. I’m glad I have this scar. Because if I didn’t go through all this crap, I wouldn’t get to be with her.
The thought passed through my mind, and I froze, shocked. Did I really believe that? Did I really like her?
My finger paused over the key pad, staring at the back of London’s head.
She suddenly turned, and gave me a smile through the shop window, her ruby red lips curling upwards, her eyes shining. She pouted, and pointed at the massive stack of sweets, asking for my permission. I sighed, but I smiled back at her and nodded. There was no way I could say no.
I turned away, still smiling. There was something about her that just made me feel…
Then I realized.
But at the same moment, the eyes of my family, of their tears, of their belief in me…If I didn’t give the Mafia the money…they would be gone.
I closed my eyes, and banged my head against the payphone. This was my choice. London, or my family.
It was a much harder choice than I’d thought.
If only I’d kidnapped some Beverly Hills Barbie. I would’ve been able to meet London some day. But not in the same conditions. Not this way.
“HELP!” London screamed.
My heart froze, and I looked up. The shop guy had London in a headlock, while his other hand furiously dialled 911.
I ran into the shop, pulling out my useless gun, and running into another fight. If only I hadn’t kidnap her. But fate is funny that way.
***
(London)
My eyes streamed. This shop-keeper had me in an unbreakable head-lock. After all my years of training, I knew there would be no way for me to get the hell out of it. Was it luck? Or did he really know what he was doing?
“Let go of me!” I hissed.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” the shop-keeper said, breathing onto my neck, stabbing the numbers into his phone. It seemed too long to be the cops. “This’ll just take a couple moments. The Mafia are very angry with Josh, and want their money back. If I can help that boy ransom you, I get a bonus. So just keep still. I’m calling your Dad right now.”
What?
“Wait…you’re with the Mafia?” I choked out, stupidly using the air I was meant to be breathing in, to talk instead. “How did you know I was going to come here?”
“We’ve got Josh tracked. Did he really think we’d let him go?”
So that was how they always knew where we were.
Josh burst into the shop, pointing a gun at the “shopkeeper”.
“Let go!”
The shopkeeper tensed his muscles, obviously preparing for a fight, and pressing my face into the counter painfully.
“Calm down, boy. I’m on your side. I’m with the Mafia.”
Josh faltered, and his gun lowered slightly.
“What?”
“It’s good that I’m on your side. You’re a complete amateur. You let your hostage run free.”
Josh’s fake gun went to his side, and the shopkeeper relaxed as well, taking off most of the pressure off my arms. Big mistake.
I twisted my hips around, banging them into his chest. I slammed his arms down, pinning him to the table. He tried to kick me, but I kneed his crotch, and he stopped fighting back.
The phone lay beside his hand. I could still here the beeps that meant it was connecting. Before I could hang up, it connected.
“Hello? Hello?”
I froze. My Dad’s voice.
“London? Is that you? Where are you? Are you okay?”
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat. My tongue was suddenly dry. It was my Dad. He was the only relative I had left in this world. How could I just run off and leave him like that?
“I’m here, D –”
Josh hung up the phone. I looked at him, more out surprise than anything.
“Why did you just do that?”
“You’re my hostage,” Josh said, calmly, looking at me in a cold, detached way. “I can’t just let you talk to your Dad.”
Suddenly the shrill sounds of police sirens rang through, breaking the tense air. Josh looked down at the “shopkeeper”, as if asking if he was the one who called the cops.
“I didn’t call them,” the guy gasped. I pressed on his neck, briefly cutting off his air supply, testing him. “I’m telling the truth! I’m on Josh’s side! I want him to get the money!”
I looked at Josh. He nodded.
“Why would the Mafia call the police? They don’t want to seem to be involved in this either.”
I released him, rubbing my temples. How did the police constantly know where we are?
“What are we meant to do?” Josh asked.
“Ditch the car. They know that we’ve stolen it, now. Hey, Mafia guy,” I said, looking up. The Mafia guy looked back.
“Yeah?”
“Do you have a ride?”
***
【Josh】
London wrapped her arms around my waist, and I twisted the grip towards and applied throttle.
“You know how to ride a bike?” she asked (well, yelled over the noise. There were no helmets), sounding surprised.
“Hell, yeah,” I yelled back. “I’ve not always wanted to be a kidnapper, you know. I used to want to be a biker.”
“A biker?” she snorted. “I think you’d be a better actor. I mean, I’ve seen –” Her arms suddenly constricted.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just swallowed a bug!” she screamed.
I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. Even though the police siren was still in our ears, and the Mafia somehow knew where we were, I had to laugh.
“What?! It’s not funny!”
“I just found out there’s something you wouldn’t eat, after all.”
We rode, straight into the sunset.
***
The cops had lost us a long time ago, and I knew London was getting hungry, through apparently, judging by the bars sticking into my back, she’d shoplifted quite a few snacks.
We stopped in at some road-side B&B, and London gave them the last of her money. We’d tried to disguise ourselves again, but to be honest, the receptionist didn’t look bothered. They probably didn’t even have TV here. I’d stopped caring. I was just so tired.
There was only one room left – a dirty, small room, but for once, London didn’t complain. She just collapsed on the bed, tossing me a Snickers bar. I ripped open, biting into it.
“London,” I said, once I was less hungry. “What do you think I should do?”
She looked up at me, probably surprised.
“Huh?”
She had no idea what I was talking about.
“As in, what should I do? I can’t…kidnap you any longer. We can’t do this forever.”
London glared at me.
“Why not?” she challenged.
“We’ve already run out of money, London. And don’t you want to see your Dad again?”
“I want to see you more.”
My face felt all hot, even though this room had air conditioning. Damn it. Why did she have to say cute things like that?
“My family will die.”
She was quiet, for a minute. I looked up at her, trying to guess what she was thinking. When it came down to it, that was the choice, right? Her or my family. It was kind of scary, that in just a couple days, she mattered to me almost as much as my family did.
Almost as much.
I watched the conflict in her eyes, and watched her eventually settle for the inevitable conclusion.
“Alright,” she whispered softly. “I’ll let you do it. I’ll let you go.”
I smiled, even though I wanted to cry. But my Dad told me. A man can never cry.
I tilted her chin up, so I could see her blue eyes.
“I kind of like you, London. Maybe we could meet again, after this is all over.”
She smiled back, and I knew she wanted to cry as well.
“Maybe. We’ll see.”
***
(London)
“Josh?”
“Yep?”
“Did you know, the Mafia are tracking you?”
He jumped up.
“What?”
“That’s how they knew where we were.”
“But the only thing I have is…”
He pulled off his trainers, and ripped out the soles. From the left one, Josh pulled out a micro-chip, tiny but completely unnoticeable.
“I’m such an idiot!” he said, throwing the trainers across the room, so suddenly I was kind of surprised. They hit the wall with a dull thunk. “They gave me these trainers, saying it was meant to be some kind of gift. Damn it, I can’t believe I –”
Josh looked confused.
“But…why did they call the police and try to get us caught? Don’t they want the money as well…?”
He turned to me, a look of conviction on his face.
“Take your shirt off!”
“NO!” I yelled, flushing, trying to convince myself I wouldn’t secretly like it.
“Take it off!”
“Josh, I like you, but I’m not ready to –”
He sighed, and stuck a hand up my shirt.
“ARGH! Josh, get off! WHAT HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR –?!””
He came out, with my necklace in his hand. The one with the heart pendant, made out of pure platinum. Or so I thought.
Josh placed the necklace on the night-stand, and smashed it with a lamp, again and again.
“What are you doing? STOP! You’ll scratch it!”
The pendant broke, cleanly in two.
Inside was a tracking chip.
It was different from the one Josh had in his hand, it was bigger and chunkier, and painted black.
“Fuck,” I whispered. Dad…you…?
Dad, you really cared? Cared so much you stuck a tracking device on me?
My eyes filled with tears.
It was true, as a teenager, I should feel slightly intruded. But I don’t.
I suddenly wanted to see my Dad again.
“Josh, I think you should ransom me. As soon as possible.”
Who cared about “us”? We were still kids. We were still teenagers. But my Dad…he was my only family.
***
【Josh】
I picked up the phone, and my fingers trembled as I dialled the number on my hand. It’d scrubbed off a little, but the numbers where all clear and visible. The 9 twisted elegantly, kind of like –
No, now is not the time to admire her handwriting.
I pressed the numbers, and waited for the line to get through.
I glanced up at London. She wasn’t paying attention, but she was staring quietly as the opposite wall, tapping the floor in a random rhythm. As the call connected, I wondered what made her change her mind. I wondered why she suddenly let me go.
The call connected, and there was silence on the other side.
I launched into my talk quickly. I knew how this worked. The Mafia were clear enough on that. I talked as fast as I could, because every second they had me on the line was another second the computer had to track my call. We’d gone out, and attached the chips onto some car, and so that would give them a false lead.
“I am Jared,” I said, my voice as calm and tranquil as I could make it. I transformed my voice by covering my mouth with my hand. “I have your daughter.”
“Let me talk to her. I will tell her when and where.” London’s father. He sounded shaken, but confident. He would tell her when and where? He was such a control freak, just like London. Maybe that’s where she got it from.
“Sixty seconds only.”
I passed the phone to London, and she took it. I tried to read her face, but she gave nothing away.
“Hello, Dad. Yes, I know.”
There was a lot of “yes”s and “hmm”s, and some “okay”s, but there was nothing I could deduce from their conversation. I counted to sixty, under my breath.
“I love you too, D –”
“That’s enough, now. You better hope you left clear enough instructions, or she’ll be dead. The amount I would like is five million pounds. No more, no less.”
I hung up, and relaxed. I breathed out a long gush of air.
I turned to London.
“Tomorrow at Midnight,” London said, her voice emotionless. “You go to the first Warehouse on Strell End in Moosett, Nevada. I go to the second Warehouse.”
My gaze went to the back of her head. She still wasn’t moving, but staring at the wall. I tried to think of something to say, something that would make everything over. A couple moments passed.
I shifted around the cheap motel bed, and stared at her back, waiting for her to turn around. Her shoulders shook. She was crying. My chest ached a little. I’d hurt again. I gripped her arm in a way that was meant to be caring.
“London… Are you okay?”
She turned around, her cheeks stuffed with Cheesy Doritos.
“Whaa –?” she said, showing me her orange teeth.
I hit her on the head.
***
(London)
Today was the last night. My last night with Josh.
I called the bath tub first. It took about an hour to get the hot water on, but god, the water felt good. The hot water washed away all the sweat and grime, and even the crappy mini-sachet of hotel shampoo/conditioner/body gel stuff seemed like a gift from god. My scalp was clean again.
I tried to relax into water, but to be honest, my muscles were kind of tensed up. Before, when Josh had stuck his hand up my shirt me…okay, I know that it was to find the microchip, but I…felt…
I sunk deeper into the water, trying to wash away my stupid blush.
When the water was lukewarm and my fingers had shriveled up, I finally got out of the bath. I pulled a semi-clean towel off the rack, wiped myself down with it, and dumped my clothes into the bath, so I could try to get out some out the dirt. To tell you the truth, I don’t really do laundry at home, and it was a lot harder than I’d thought. I scrubbed at a mud mark on the butt, but it didn’t come off at all, but just kind of made the water muddy. I lost track of the time, scrubbing away at my jeans.
“London? Are you finished?”
“Coming!” I called vaguely, distracted. I pulled out my clothes, wringing them the way I’d seen on television. A shocking amount of brown water flowed back into the bath. I pulled out the plug, and turned around, dropping my towel.
Then I froze. There weren’t any dressing gowns.
Damn it!
“London?”
“I’m coming!”
Crap. What the hell was I meant to do? He was going to come in, he was going to come in…
My clothes were still wet. I pulled them on quickly, but then realized my jacket was in the bedroom. I glanced in the mirror. Shit. My t-shirt was incredibly see-through, so I could clearly see my blue-polka-dotted laced bra, and my jeans were about a billion shades darker, making me look like I’d wet myself.
I pulled the stupid jeans off again, hopping frantically as I pulled one of my trouser legs off. I lost my balance, and collapsed on the cold, wet floor. Damn it!
“London? Are you okay?” Josh yelled, twisting at the doorknob from the other side. Oh crap. I started to panic. Don’t come in, Josh. Don’t come in. Please, don’t come in. Before I could open my mouth to tell him I was fine, the crappy, stupid motel lock broke, and the door burst open. Josh came hurtling through.
***
Author's Note: Slightly bigger parts tonight :P
I can't believe this book is going to finish soon!! I'm so depressed :( I thought about extending it, but I won't...
I LOVE YOU ALL XXX
VOMMENT!!! (VOTE AND COMMENT. I'M NOT JUST BEING STUPID AND ACCIDENTLY SAYING THAT INSTEAD OF COMMENT!!! Oh crap, my caps locks was on. Ah well :P)