Annie the black gun suddenly seemed to grow heavy in Annie's hands and it slipped through her fingers as an unconscious Terry hit the ground from the blow of the hard metal. Her eyes met Emma's both filled with fear. She got down on her knees and quickly began ripping away the tape.
"Mommy…you're bleeding," Emma sobbed. Annie did not take her hands away from the stubborn tape. She ignored the blood on her pants.
It seemed to take house before Annie got the tape off Emma's legs.
"Just hold still, baby," Annie assured her daughter. "I'm almost done." She brought her teeth to the tape around Emma's right hand and made a slit at the top, allowing her to rip it off more easily. She did the same to the other.
When freed, Emma jumped into her mother's arms, both of them crying. Annie stood up with her daughter's little hand in hers and fled the room as Terry began to stir. Outside of the room, anyone could tell the place was clearly some kind of warehouse.
"There's the door!" Emma screeched. Annie ran over to it and they both pulled on the handle with great force, as the door was old and stubborn. They looked out to a vast amount of nothing. The road was barely paved, and the rest of it was yellow grass and dirt. Annie cursed under her breath.
Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Annie noticed her purse sitting on a shelf. She ran over to it, her daughter at her side, and rummaged through the pockets. Finally, she found what she was looking for.
Her cell phone.
Scott walked around the Chandler mansion just to get his legs moving and distract himself. Adam was just a ghost since Annie was kidnapped, or kidnapped Emma, or just left…whatever she did. Scott liked to think she was kidnapped, but that would mean she was in trouble. So he didn't know what to think. He found himself more mentally successful being indecisive. He passed the parlor and saw his Uncle Adam sitting by the phone.
"Uncle Adam," Scott said with a sigh. "It's been two days."
"He'll call," Adam said quickly. "That bastard who took my wife and my daughter wants money. He'll call."
"Jesse said its usually only a day before the kidnapper calls. Three days is the cutoff."
"He'll call," repeated Adam. His wrinkled hands were shaking a bit. "What else would he do with her?"
"There are some sick people out there…" Scott sighed, getting quite emotional himself. "People that just want to…take people. Take lives." Adam stood up angrily.
"My wife is not dead!" he boomed. "She's in trouble! She's in some dark room with her baby girl, scared, alone, and in trouble! In trouble! And I have to be there to help her! I have to!" He took a deep breath, his heart pounding, before sitting down.
Scott paused, overcome with emotion. He couldn't pull this act anymore. He couldn't pretend like Annie was just a friend, or even just family. He loved her. He loved her ever since she moved in. He couldn't stop no matter how hard he tried. So who was he to dictate what his uncle thought?
Suddenly, the phone rang.
Ryan picked up his phone. "Hello?" he said tentatively, wondering who would be calling at 6 in the morning.
"Ryan," he heard on the other line in an exhausted, fearful stammer. He recognized the voice immediately.
"Annie, where the hell did you take our daughter?! Why the hell are you trying to pull this stunt again?!" he yelled.
"It's no stunt, Ryan," Annie said, crying. "Me and Emma are here…I don't know where we are but…"
"If you're telling the truth," Ryan said, not believing his x-wife for a moment. "Who did it? Who took you and Emma?"
"It's Terry," Annie cried. "It's hard to explain…but he's alive and he…he…he's alive and he's got us here and we don't know where we are and Emma's scared, and I'm scared…" Her voice trailed off into sobs.
Ryan frowned. Usually he could tell when Annie was playing him – but now he wasn't so sure.
"Where's Emma?" he said quickly. There was a bit of a rustling on the other end before he heard his daughter's voice.
"Daddy, please get us out of here," Emma begged. Ryan's heart sank as he almost felt her tears. "He hurt mommy...he hurt mommy and…" Ryan heard Annie on the other end, breathing heavily. "Mommy's getting coughs," Emma said. "Please daddy, come get us!"
"I love you, Ems, and I promise I'll get you out of there, I'll see you really soon!" Ryan assured her. "Now put mommy back on the phone, please."
Ryan's face was frozen. All this time. All this time he had been accusing Annie over these past couple days, she was in serious trouble with in the hands of a sick pedophile. His daughter was somewhere with Terry McDermott.
"It's me," Annie breathed after a few coughs. He heard her curse to herself. "Do you believe me now?"
"Annie, just stay on the phone with me, okay?" Ryan said, grabbing his home phone. "I'm going to call Jesse and see if he can trace you guys. You're going to be fine, Emma's going to be fine." He found himself holding back tears as he dialed Jesse's number. "Do you have your inhaler, Annie?"
"Yes," she gasped. Her breathing was getting worse. "Emma, honey, could you look in mommy's bag for her enhaler, please?"
"Alright, Annie, I got a hold of Jesse," Ryan said quickly. He held the home phone up to his ear, keeping the cell on his other.. "Jesse, I'm on the phone with Annie. She and Emma don't know where they are. They really were kidnapped, trust me. What do I do to trace the call?"
"Oh my God," Jesse said, taken completely by surprise. He heard rummaging on his end. "Alright, Ryan, we're tracing your cell now…alright…its loading."
"Okay," Ryan said, relieved. "Annie, we've almost got you traced."
Silence.
"Annie? Annie?! Annie, Emma, one of you, answer me! Annie!"
Click.
