A/N: After this chapter, only six more chapters left. Aw, that makes me sad. This is like my baby. You know, if guys could have babies and all…
Disclaimer: I'm too tired to think of anything witty here…I don't own anything though.
Big Time Disaster
Taken
Carlos' POV
"What was Logan thinking? Where is he going?" Camille asked out loud.
I knew where Logan was going. I was probably the only one who knew where he was going. I couldn't tell anyone though without opening up a can of worms. If I told anyone where Logan was headed, they would ask me how I knew that. I would have to tell them about all the investigating my dad and I did. I would have to break my promise to Logan that this stays between us.
I was still reeling from what Logan had said to me about James and Camille almost kissing. I wasn't sure how I felt about either one of them right now. I usually wasn't one to point fingers, but if anything bad happens to Logan, I would blame James and Camille. I don't know how Logan found out about their almost kiss. I didn't even know about it until Logan told me. Now Logan was upset by it. Now Logan wasn't thinking clearly.
"I don't know. Come on, let's go find the others and tell them what happened," I said.
It was so hard for me to be civil to Camille. She had broken Logan's heart. Well, her and James both. It didn't even make sense to me. Why would they almost kiss? I thought Camille liked Logan. I thought James didn't like Camille. How could either of them do that to Logan? Hadn't he been through enough already?
We soon all met up in the lobby. Kendall, James, Jo, Mrs. Knight, and Katie were there. I noticed someone wasn't there though—Stephanie. I couldn't help but worry about her. What if something bad had happened to her? Where was she? Was she hurt? Was she scared? Could this day get any worse?
"Logan got into a taxi and left," Camille stated.
"What? Why would he do that? Where is he going?" Kendall replied.
I was so preoccupied by Stephanie that I hardly noticed that everyone was looking at me. They had asked me something, and were awaiting my answer. I couldn't answer them though when I didn't even catch the question.
"Carlos, do you have any idea where Logan could have gone?" Mrs. Knight asked me.
I hated lying in general, but I especially hated lying to Kendall's mom. I didn't have much of a choice though. There was no way I could tell them that Logan was going to the juvenile hall without explaining why. In order to explain why, I'd have to tell them about what my father and I had been up to. I wasn't about to do that.
"No," I lied. "Where's Stephanie?"
They all looked at one another, but no one seemed to know anything about Stephanie's whereabouts. I tried not to panic. I tried not to worry. However, I was quickly losing that battle. It killed me that I couldn't help Logan without raising suspicion. However, I could help Stephanie though. I just hoped this was all some sort of misunderstanding, and she wasn't in any sort of danger at all.
XXXXX
Logan's POV
The taxi cab pulled up to the juvenile detention center. I got out, and walked in through the front entrance. I saw a prison guard, and went up to him.
"Hi, could you take me to see the warden?" I asked.
I had one way or another regained my composure enough during the ride to juvenile hall. Hopefully, no one could tell that I was sad or upset. There was recognition in the prison guard's eyes as he looked at me.
"Yeah, of course. Follow me," the prison guard answered.
He led me through the juvenile hall. I remembered Sid telling me that the prison guards protected him here. I didn't know how much I could really trust this prison guard, if at all. For all I knew, he could be leading me into a trap—an ambush. As strange as it sounds, that didn't bother me one bit. My heart was racing. Adrenaline was flowing.
After I had been stabbed, the juvenile detention center released me into the custody of the hospital for obvious reasons. Mr. Sanders had been the one to press charges. He had been the one to get me arrested. He didn't do himself any favors when he fled town, and then wound up getting arrested himself. His actions and his restraining order were placed under heavy scrutiny.
Then there was the fact that this juvenile hall was the place where I had been stabbed. While I was on life support, my lawyer, Mr. Smith, had been a busy man. He had convinced the judge and jury that juvie was not a safe place for me to be. He then convinced the judge and jury that Mr. Sanders could not be taken seriously. He fled town. He was arrested. Both were signs of someone who was guilty. Both were signs of someone with something to hide. Mr. Smith reminded them that I had no priors; I was no criminal—I was no threat to society. Basically, he provided the judge and jury with reasonable doubt.
When I was released from the hospital, I was actually surprised that I didn't return to the juvenile detention center. No one had really liked Mr. Smith, but he came through for me when it really counted. He had left me a voicemail on my cell phone explaining to me what had happened and why I was a free man. At the time, I had been incredibly grateful to Mr. Smith. I just wished I could have thanked him in person.
The prison guard led me to the warden's quarters. The only problem was nobody was there. I was so disappointed. My adrenaline overpowered my fear so that I wasn't scared about what I wanted to do. It wouldn't last forever though. Once I calmed down, I probably wouldn't even want to go on this suicide mission.
If the warden wasn't here, then why would the prison guard lead me all the way into the heart of the juvenile hall? I just got a horrible thought. He was distracting me. Sid's dad was up to something, and he didn't want me involved in whatever he was doing. The prison guard was probably told to keep me here as long as possible. Then, it hit me; Sid's dad was at The Palm Woods.
Something caught my eye. On a table there was a blueprint of The Palm Woods. I was horrified when I saw that certain apartments were labeled. Jo's apartment was labeled. Stephanie's apartment was labeled. Our apartment was labeled. Sid's dad obviously hadn't been sitting around doing nothing. He's been doing his research.
I grabbed the sides of the table to keep me from keeling over. How would Sid's dad know what apartment Jo lives in? How would he know what apartment Stephanie lives in? How would he know what apartment I live in? Had he been to The Palm Woods? Was he there and just no one recognized him? What if there was a mole? What if he knew some resident of The Palm Woods and that person was providing Sid's dad with all this information? What else did Sid's dad know about us?
My adrenaline was starting to wear off, and I was starting to shake in fear. Now though I was scared for my friends. I was scared for Jo, Stephanie, Kendall, Carlos, Katie, Mrs. Knight, and even Camille and James. I chose the first option—try to force Sid's dad's hand. However, now, I had no choice but to go with the second option—wait for Sid's dad to make a move. Sid's dad was already making his move. I felt so guilty. I should have tried to force Sid's dad's hand sooner. I waited too long. Now there was no telling who would be targeted. There was no telling that Sid's dad would even stop with targeting just one person. I had to get back to The Palm Woods now.
XXXXX
Carlos' POV
I don't know why, but something told me to check Stephanie's apartment. When I saw that the front door to her apartment was ajar, I knew that something was wrong. My pulse had accelerated. My heart was beating so fast I thought it would beat right out of my chest. I cautiously made my way into Stephanie's apartment.
Even though it didn't look like anyone had been in her apartment, something still seemed off. Something wasn't quite right. There weren't any signs of breaking and entering other than the door being ajar. Nothing was overturned or seemed out of place. It was really quiet though. Someone had obviously been in Stephanie's apartment. There was no telling if they still were or not. There was no telling if Stephanie had been in her apartment when they were. I seriously hoped she wasn't. I couldn't bear the thought of something bad happening to Stephanie.
"Hello?" I called out.
I didn't get an answer. I just couldn't bring myself to be relieved by that though. For all I know, whoever broke into Stephanie's apartment was still here, waiting. He or she could have just chosen not to answer me. If Stephanie was in her apartment, the fact that she didn't answer me when I called out sent me into panic mode.
My hands were shaking really bad, and I couldn't get them to stop. I tiptoed my way through her apartment. I wasn't sure why though. If someone was waiting for me here, they already were alerted to my presence when I shouted, "Hello?"
The living room was clear. The kitchen was clear. The bathroom was clear. The master bedroom was clear. There was only one room I hadn't checked yet—Stephanie's room. I heard a noise come from her room. It sounded like something had hit the wall. I went to investigate.
Her bedroom seemed to be empty, but I know I heard a noise come from here. Then, I heard a noise again. Once more, it sounded like something hit the wall. I noticed that it seemed to come from the closet. I walked over to the closet, and carefully opened the doors.
Stephanie was in there. She had a piece of duct tape placed over her mouth. Her hands were bound together in front of her with duct tape. Her ankles were bound together with duct tape. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Sid's dad had got to Stephanie. I frantically scanned her for any signs of injuries. Thankfully, I didn't seem to find any. Tears were streaming down her face and she was clearly shaken.
"It's okay, Stephanie. I'm here. I'm going to get you out of these restraints real soon, okay?" I said to her as I worked on freeing her wrists.
As I worked on freeing Stephanie, I couldn't help but wonder what game Sid's dad was playing. Why would he tie Stephanie up in the closet and leave her? Why didn't he hurt her? Or worse, why didn't he kill her? Why would he even go after her in the first place? Then I had an awful thought. What if Sid's dad somehow found out that Stephanie and I were going out? So what was this then? Was Sid's dad trying to get to me through Stephanie?
I saw Stephanie's eyes get wide in terror. I heard her muffled scream. The next thing I knew, a cloth was placed over my mouth. I smelled a sickly sweet scent. I tried desperately to pry my attacker's hand off my mouth, but my attacker was too strong. I squirmed, but the attacker used his other arm to hold me to him. Not only was he strong, but I could tell that he was much bigger than me too. I used my fingernails to dig into the flesh of my attacker's hand. It may not be a very manly move, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The cloth was still clamped over my mouth though, and I felt myself start to lose consciousness.
XXXXX
Kendall's POV
The rest of us decided to split up to go look for Carlos and Stephanie. We had split up into three groups. Jo and Camille made up one group. Katie and my mom made up a second group. James and I made up the third group.
"You and I need to talk," I said.
"Now's not the time, Kendall. Stephanie's missing. Nobody knows where Carlos ran off to," James replied.
James and I watched hockey together last night. We didn't really say anything to each other though. Both of us were too absorbed in the game even though we were sitting on the same couch. I knew he still blamed me for Logan getting stabbed. Even though Logan was okay now, he still blamed me. Then, of course, when I was lashing out at everyone, I punched him in the face.
"Why not now? We're alone. I just want to go back to being friends with you again," I commented.
"Kendall, look!" James exclaimed.
"What James? What? You're not going to forgive me? You're never going to forgive me? It's my fault Logan got hurt? Why doesn't that surprise me?"
James shook his head left to right, and then pointed his finger.
"No, look!" he replied.
I looked to see what he was pointing at. I saw some huge guy walking down the hallway with an arm wrapped around Carlos' waist. Carlos was unconscious. The stranger was probably close to seven feet tall. He probably weighed around three hundred pounds. He had a bald head and a black goatee. He had lots of tattoos. I clenched my hands into fists. I gritted my teeth together. My blood boiled.
"Let him go!" I yelled.
I stepped forward and took a protective stance with James behind me. I didn't care if he was mad at me. Something had happened to Carlos. I wasn't about to let something happen to James too. I was sick of bad things happening to my friends.
The stranger laughed obnoxiously. He reached into a pocket of his jacket, and pulled out a gun. I was horrified when he put the gun to Carlos' head.
"I don't think so. In fact, here's what's going to happen; the two of you are going to let me through, and you won't call the cops. If you don't let me through, and if I find out you called the cops on me, I'll blow your friend's brains out," the stranger warned.
I unclenched my fists and let out a frustrated sigh. I hated sitting back and doing nothing while this stranger kidnapped Carlos. I didn't have much of a choice though. If I didn't let the stranger pass, he would kill Carlos. I didn't want anything bad to happen to Carlos. What did this stranger have against Carlos? Why did bad stuff keep happening to my friends? First Logan, now Carlos too?
James and I reluctantly let the stranger pass with Carlos in tow.
"Good boys," the stranger said to us condescendingly.
To Be Continued…
