GUESS WHO'S BACK? ME! This chapter was written a while ago, but this is the chapter I left off on. I sincerely apologize for going AWOL.
RESSLER
The embassy still has absolutely no leads even though I've already been in Baghdad for about three hours. That's ridiculous. My phone buzzes. It's a text message from a local phone number. It says, It's Keen. I'm relatively safe. Abbie and a bunch of other family members are in terrible danger though. I've got a set of inside eyes. It's the hotel Bagdad. The event is taking place in the basement. Bring back up. Hurry. You need to be undercover. The government is involved with this. Not on our side.
I text the number back.
Tell me when to move in.
She's safe! But just think an about all those kids. They are in danger. I run to the counter terrorism room and shout everything that I know. They have me and other soldiers in suits acting as business men going to a convention at the hotel. I hope we get them all back.
KEEN
We go into the basement where a huge ballroom room with no windows is filled with American troops handcuffed to chairs. The kids haven't arrived yet.
"When will the kids come in?" I ask Gali.
"They have a special system. It's easy enough to pick up on what's going on." He answers. The room is filled with high profile people. General Fox walks in. He takes the microphone.
"Hello friends, co workers..., Americans." He scowls when he says Americans."You have been brought here to get your children back. But first you have to tell us what we want to know. Or else these fine people over here will be bidding for them. " He explains. This is sick. Guards being in a teenage girl and a younger looking boy.
"Ashley! Greg!" A soldier towards the back shouts.
"Quiet!" His guard says.
"Now tell us. Where is the American special operations compound located?" He asks. That's top secret information. He's been put into such a bad situation.
"I don't know!" He shouts. Fox shakes his head in disapproval.
"Bids for the teenage girl start at ten thousand!" Another leader shouts.
"No, No, No!" The soldier shouts. The guard shuts him up. The bidding continues. The final bid is two hundred twenty thousand. A pair of men in posh suits made the winning bid. The girl is then forced to sit on the edge of the stage at gunpoint.
"Now, if you want to tell us where it is you can keep your son." He says cunningly.
"Military District 10! Please let me keep both of them!" He cries.
"Give the man his son!" Fox shouts. The boy runs to his dad and embraces him. The girl is in tears. The same process occurs three more times. Only one other kid has been allowed back to his parent. This cannot continue. "Bring out the next child." Fox shouts. I don't look over there.
"Abbie, No!" A man shouts. My attention shifts over to the door immediately. Unlike all the other kids, she keeps her held high and tears out of her eyes. She's being brave.
"Now fine sir, can you please tell me where the American blacksite that lies within this city is located?" He asks. Oh no. He is in a lose lose situation. By law, he cannot reveal the location of a blacksite, and he can't not say anything.
"That's not a fair question," he protests.
"That won't work. Start the bidding!" He shouts. "This can't be happening." It gets all the way to two hundred thousand.
"I'm going to text him that the plan is moving into action." Gali says as he types into his phone.
"Pretend to faint," he whispers. I prepare myself and fall straight back. "She's hurt and needs medical attention," Gali starts shouting. He picks me up and we run out the other door. I see a lot of the soldiers following us. Perfect. He keeps running until we're out on the street. He makes them chase us down three blocks. I think that was a good enough of a diversion. He sneaks us into the back room of a shop.
"That was awesome." He says. He's panting and laughing at the same time. His phone buzzes.
"Got place on lock down embassy police and FBI is here. Good job. We're safe. Go to embassy. Bring this Gali guy with you." He reads to me. Thank the Lord. We sneak out the back door and run about four blocks back to the embassy. We hang out at the embassy lobby for around an hour. I don't stress out, since I've been texting him ever since I got back here. I'm still wearing my outfit. I should really change. I'm too lazy right now. Ressler and Abbie will be here in five minutes.
"Thank you for everything Gali. I don't think this will be the last time we meet. Director Cooper would like to have a chat with you. I don't know what about, but I'm sure you're not in trouble. I've been in contact with him too." I explain. I think Cooper is going to offer Gali a position on the task force.
"Thanks Elizabeth." He says.
"Call me Liz," I say to him.
"Okay Liz," a familiar voice says from behind me. I turn around and bolt out of my chair. I run up to him and hug my partner who has saved my butt once again. "You really have to stop scaring us like that." He says.
"I know." I say.
"What do you say we go back to America?" He asks.
"What about Abbie?" I ask. He digs into his pocket and pulls out a sheet of paper.
"She's already on the way home with her dad. She wanted to say goodbye to you so badly, but they needed to get them our immediately." He answers.
"Let's go to America. Thank you for everything Gali." I say. I wave goodbye and we head towards the roof of the embassy. We get in a helicopter. It takes us to a private air strip. We board the medium sized jet. "I wish I didn't have to wear this outfit for any longer, or at all for that matter," I say once the plane is up in the air.
"Personally, I don't think I could call myself a man anymore if I didn't say something about how good you look. It's good looking, but it's not really you. I have to admit." He says. Did he just tell me that I'm good looking? I do have to admit, I do look super sexy. It's not a look that I like wearing in public. "Thanks?" I respond. We travel in silence for a while.
RESSLER
We'll probably touch down on the DC air strip at 4:00 AM with the time difference, which means we have about an hour of flying left. Liz is trying to stay awake, since I didn't take my meds today and I'm not able to fall asleep. "Go to sleep. You can crash at my place. I'll call for a bag of clothes to be at my apartment. Sound good?" I ask.
"Perfect, thank you so much," she says. She immediately lies back and falls asleep. We touch down at 4:03. She looks peaceful. She hasn't slept in days, so I decide. not to wake her up. I pick her up and carry her to the government car. Her eyes open. "Why didn't you just wake me up?" She asks grogily.
"Liz it's not a big deal. You haven't slept in days. Let me take care of you just this once. You'll thank me later. Go back to sleep," I say. She doesn't protest any more. Her eyes close and she goes right back to sleep. We get to my apartment building and I pick her back up. I go up the elevator to my floor. There's a backpack at the door. I recognize it as Liz's backpack. I unlock my door and open it up. I lay on the couch and bring the backpack to the coffee table. I lay a T shirt and a pair of flannel pants out on the table. I don't feel comfortable with doing it myself ever since what happened, and even before then I wouldn't be either. I close up the door and go into my room. I take my pills and crash immediately.
KEEN
My eyes flutter open. I look around. I remember. I'm in Donald's apartment. It's 5:30 in the morning. There's a pair of flannel pajama pants and a T shirt on the coffee table that I assume are for me. I unzip my dress and put them on. This is so comfortable after wearing that dress for a very long time. I fall right back asleep. I sleep for a very long time. It's not until a little bit after noon when I finally get up. I go to the bathroom with the backpack and get dressed. I take a few minutes to process everything that happened in the past day.
We were bringing Abbie and her mother into protective custody. The abductors started attacking our car. Abbie, Donald ans I get out of the car and run into the woods. We bear footsteps. We get Abbie up a tree in hopes that they won't see her. They demand that we tell them where Abbie is. I offer myself up. They still want Abbie. They agree to take me too. Donald tries to stop me from going with them. They escort us to a car. We ride a private jet to Baghdad. They bring me into a penthouse suite. They make me dress in a sexy, over revealing outfit. I'm taken to a room.
I meet general Fox and his nephew Gali. They tell me that I'll be attending the auction as Gali's date. Gali and I whisper about the level of terrible that this whole thing is and he asks for a minute alone with me. We make up a plan and I text Donald saying that I'm okay and the details he needs to help. Wego down to the auction. We watch several kids get auctioned off and American secrets spilled. When Abbie is brought out, I fake faint and Gali runs us out and a bunch of guards follow us. Ressler and the American troops move in. We run for a long time and then call Donald. Everything is okay and we go back to the embassy. We wait a few hours and Donald returns safely. Cooper is probably going to offer Gali a position on the task force. We rode home on a helicopter and plane. I was so tired so Donald let me stay the night here.
Not the absolute worst trouble I've been in. I didn't get hurt and neither did Abbie, so I'd say that we did an okay job with this mission. The door opens and someone walks in. I look over. It's Donald. "Hey. You slept well," he says.
"Yeah. Thanks a million for letting me crash here last night." I say.
"No problem," he replies. He's got two coffees in his hands. "Coffee?" He asks as he holds out one of the coffees.
"You're a God," I say. He laughs. I take the coffee. He sits down on the couch next to me.
"So what did I miss once you got kidnapped?" He asks.
"Actually nothing all that bad. We rode on a really nice private jet to Baghdad. Then I waited in a penthouse suite. They gave me a bunch of stuff and told me to make myself look nice. They escorted me to a room where I met General F ox and his nephew, that's Gali. Turns out he's not a fan of what his uncle does. We tested you before we went to the auction. We watched a bunch of kids get auctioned off and American secrets were given away. When Abbie was being auctioned over her dad not giving up the location of a blacksite, we tested you and I pretended to faint. He ran out the door and a bunch of guards followed us. We led them on a wild goose chase around the city. We received your message and went back to the embassy. That's all." I explain
"That's all that happened?" He asks.
"Yeah. I was surprised. It was actually one of the better kidnappings I've been involved in." I say. He laughs.
"I'm glad that you and all the kids got out unharmed," he says.
"Me too, and by the way, thanks foe saving my ass yet again." I say.
"No need to thank me. It's my job to save your ass. Plus, A: It's fun sometimes and B: You save my ass far more than I ever have to save yours. I think we've just had an interesting week." He says.
"You can say that again," I say.
"How about we try not to get kidnapped next week alright?" He asks. He holds out his hand to initiate a pact. I take it.
"You've got a deal," I say. We shake hands. I have such an odd job.
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