"It's been two weeks, what do you suggest we do?" yelled a loud voice Natara recognized as one of her captors.
'Two weeks' she thought 'I've been gone for two weeks. Are they still looking for me?'. She knew Mal would, and maybe Amy. They wouldn't leave her for dead.
"I don't know! They said their not negotiating, they won't let Charlie go. We're just going to have to let him behind".
"Your own brother! He went to jail for you, and your just going to let him stay there. How could you live yourself knowing you left him behind?".
This was nothing new. The doors were thin, and if she wasn't tied up she could probably get out. She could hear everything they said though. It wasn't very useful, all she knew was ones name was Ben, one was Mark and someone named Charlie, who was in jail, was involved. Charlie was Ben's brother, Mark was Charlie's best friend. They were blackmailing someone to let Charlie go. That was all she knew. She made a mental list of these things so if- no, when Mal came, she could tell him. Ben, she could tell who it was by his voice, said something under his breath. She could hear a smack, and knew Mark must have hit him. "Your wrong! There's no way you'd be able to live with leaving Charlie behind". She heard a phone ring, but found long ago to not get her hopes up. They did something, she didn't know what, so Amy couldn't trace it. If she could she wouldn't be here. She knew she wasn't where she was originally taken. This place was different. It looked, smelled and sounded different. She knew it was old from the creeks she heard every so often. She knew it was near the ocean, unlike the other place, by the constant smell of the sea. The walls were wooden, like a cabin. "Hello?" she heard Mark answer. Murmurs echoed into the room she was in, and she could tell the phone was on speaker, though she couldn't hear it. The door to where she was hidden burst open, blinding her with light. She smelled the sour breath of one of them leaning close, a rough hand grabbing her face to make her look at his ski mask wearing face. "It's your lucky day" he said "Finally gave into our ransom. Your little friend agent Mallory is gonna drop our friend off, then we're out of here. We'll leave you here so he can pick you up later". He let go of her face, and she knew by the voice this was Mark. As he left, she took in what he had said. 'Your little friend agent Mallory is gonna drop our friend off'. She gulped. She knew this was Mal's way of communicating that Charlie was dead. Ben came in after Mark, handing the phone to Mark. "Your little boyfriend wants to know you're alive before we make the exchange" he said "Just watch what you say. I might not be ready to leave anyone behind, but he is". He shoved the phone roughly in her face. "I'm fine Mal. I just wish Brittany was here" she said. She hoped Mal would pick up what she was saying. Before she could say another word the phone was yanked away, and Mark walked out, closed the door behind him and said "We'll expect to pick him up in one hour. Leave him on the Golden Gate bridge. We'll call and tell your your little girlfriends location an hour after we pick up Charlie". There was a pause in which Natara guessed Mal had challenged if Mark was telling the truth, and Mark yelled back "You're just going to have to take my word for it! Do you have any other choice?". She heard him hang up, slam the phone down on the table in anger. "So how are we going to get little miss over there back without incriminating ourselves?" asked Mark from the other room.
"I can think of a way" she heard Ben say slyly. There was a scraping noise, then an odd sort of roaring sound.
"You can't be serious! We gave our word!" yelled Mark.
"We lied. Look, we don't have a choice here! Out finger prints are all over the place".
"Okay, but make it quick" said Mark. Natara could tell from his tone this was not okay at all. Whatever Mark was doing terrified him, and it wasn't exactly comforting to Natara either. Suddenly the door flew open again, and Ben walked in. She saw what he was holding. A roaring lit torch, and a canister of gasoline. She felt her heartbeat quicken, she was never going to get out of here. Mal couldn't come back for her, because she would be long gone before he came. Maybe he would find her in the ashes, but really their would be nothing left.