Chapter 1.
Mike took a pause for a moment outside the firm, with his bike lock in his hand. Somehow, he felt a bit uneasy. He looked around a bit but didn't see anything special. He put on his bike helmet and got on his bike to head home. He didn't notice that the black van, that had been parked on the other side of the street, started driving after him.
Mike busied himself during the bike ride with going through what he had in his fridge. He was hungry and had an idea about what to make by the time he got home. He got up in front of his building and jumped off the bike. He always brought it up to his apartment with him, since he didn't feel comfortable with leaving it on the street. It would be gone in a night. It was a bit tricky getting it inside though because he needed to carry it up a couple of steps and then hold it with one hand and open the door with the other. He fumbled for his keys in his messenger bag that was on his back. Not very practical, he should have taken it out earlier.
That was when he heard the sound of a car stopping suddenly right next to him. He looked up and saw that the doors to a black van was opening. Three men started to get out of it. Mike drew a deep breath as he realized that he recognized two of the men. It was the same men that confronted Harvey and him outside the court this afternoon, and now they were hurrying towards him. Shit! This was bad! They were not here just to talk; he could see that in their body language.
Everything happened really fast after that. He pushed his bike away from him, down the steps and pulled at his bag. He fumbled around in it and luckily found the keys. He got it in the lock and pushed himself inside just as they pushed his bike away and came up the stairs towards him. He was seconds too late at closing the door. He was trying to close it, but two of them pushed at it, preventing him. He chose to flee instead then. He only got a few steps up the stairs before someone grabbed a hold of his messenger bag and pulled. The strap of the bag was over his chest, so it pulled him with it, he attempted of getting it off him, but failed. Mike screamed as he fell backwards, hitting at least two of the steps on his way.
They were on him as soon as he was down. Hands grabbed a hold of him, gripping his jacket and holding his arms. He tried to squirm away, he tried to hit them, he kicked. It was three of them though and they manhandled him up to standing, someone ripped his bag off him and threw it on the floor. He screamed and did everything he could to resist, but they pulled him out the door and towards the van. They pulled him over his bike on their way out and he had time to hope that no one would take it. He screamed again when he saw a couple further down the street, and he saw that they looked towards them, but the next thing he knew he was violently pushed inside the van.
He was panicking. This wasn't happening! He ended up on his stomach, hitting his cheek on the floor but he immediately got up on all fours and turned towards the door to get out again.
"Hey!" Someone screamed from the driver seat. Two guys were making their way into the van behind Mike, blocking his way.
"Hey! Stop!" A scream again and Mike glanced over there. He froze in place, standing on his knees. The driver was pointing a gun at him.
He panted as he looked at the gun, glanced towards the guys in front of the exit. One of them closed the door as he looked at Mike and smiled. He was trapped!
"Sit down." The guy with the gun said, as he waited for the third guy who had taken him, got into the front seat next to him. The driver handed the gun to that guy, who pointed it back at Mike. Then the force of the car starting to move made Mike practically fall on the floor.
"What do you want?" He asked as he crawled back up to sitting.
"Shut up." Was all he was met with. Mike didn't accept that though.
"You know I can just forget about this! Just let me out, and I won't tell anyone."
"Didn't we tell you to shut up?" The driver said.
"Yes, shut up!" The guy with the gun shouted at him.
"Where are you taking me?" Mike ignored them.
The driver then said something in another language, and before Mike caught what was happening, one of the guys next to him suddenly leaned forward and punched him in the face. Mike flew into the wall and ended up laying in a heap, half leaning against the wall. He was so surprised from the sudden violence that he found it best to just be quiet for the moment. So far, they hadn't really hurt him, sure they had been rough with him but not hit him like that. His face throbbed and the gun was still pointed at him. He was really in deep trouble right now.
He had been kidnapped! They had taken him; he couldn't believe it. He was breathing hard and it felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. At least someone had seen him getting taken. His neighbors must have heard them as well. Maybe someone had called the police already. Where were they taking him? He hadn't really paid attention to that. He couldn't see out the front window from where he was sitting. The driver and the gunman were speaking to each other in the front while the two other man just sat there. Too close according to Mike.
He didn't know how long they drove. He had an idea about counting minutes or something to be able to determine where they took him, but he was a bit too worked up for that, his mind was spinning. Besides it seemed like it was traffic sometimes, and he didn't know if he would take that into the calculations or if he should stop counting when they stood still. So, he had no clue where they were when they stopped. Still in the New York area at least. That wasn't that bad, he would be able to get back when he escaped, because that was what he was going to do as soon as the opportunity rose.
He recognized two of these men, he would be able to identify them, and so would Harvey. It worried him a bit that none of them tried to disguise themselves. Wasn't that what kidnappers did so that their victims wouldn't recognize them? Unless they were going to kill him. He swallowed hard, suddenly feeling more scared than anything else. He couldn't understand why they had taken him. Harvey had said that he had seen them outside his condo. Would they take Harvey too? Would Harvey be waiting for him when they arrived?
The back door of the van opened and before he managed to do much of anything he was pulled backwards out of the van. It was too dark for him to see more than walls around him. It looked like they were in some kind of industrial area. Two guys held on to his arms and dragged him, still backwards inside one of the buildings. Mike was busy with trying to keep on his feet, so he forgot to scream for help, not that he thought anyone would have heard him here. The two other men were walking behind them. One of them had the gun still in his hand.
They walked down a corridor, a few stairs and then into a larger room. One man turned on the lights and Mike saw what looked like a garage. It was almost empty except for a table and a couple of chairs in one end of the he room. They threw him down into a chair that was close to the door, and welted to the ground apparently, because it didn't budge even though he was thrown in it rather violently. He protested to the treatment, but they ignored him. He made an attempt to get up again, but only got up to standing before he was pushed down again.
"Sit down!"
Mike yelled at them to let him go, he tried to struggle. They pulled his suit jacket off him. He did all he could, but strong hands pressed his arms down on the arm rests, someone tied a thick rope around them. Mike tried everything he had to get lose and to prevent it. He got in a pretty good kick at one of the men's legs and he yelled something in a foreign language. Mike tried to kick him again, but he moved out of the way. Then rope was wrapped around his torso and tightened almost painfully hard.
"No, stop it! Stop, it's too tight!" He screamed and tried to headbutt the person behind him. He missed but the rope over his chest was loosened a little bit.
Then they moved to his legs, which were swiftly tied to the legs of the chair, and he was stuck.
"Let me go! What the hell do you want with me? Let me go!"
The men backed away from him and was standing in a half circle around him. They spoke amongst each other. Mike couldn't understand them. He looked around a bit more in the room. He could see a door, next to a closed garage-door. Maybe he would be able to get out through that. There were no windows that he could see. There was also no one else there. Harvey wasn't there. Shit, this was bad.
"What are you talking about? Tell me what I'm doing here. Why did you take me?"
"Hey, can't you just be quiet?" One of the guys stepped a bit closer to him now, a big guy. "You do know that you are in a disadvantage right now, maybe you shouldn't be so annoying?" He spoke with an accent.
"Shut up! Just tell me what you want."
"I just did. I want you to be quiet." He turned his back against Mike after that. Mike glared at him, but then decided to just for now, do what he was told. Instead he started to work on getting loose. It took him about two seconds to realize that it wouldn't be possible. He wouldn't get anywhere unless someone removed the ropes. Shit.
Mike started to observe the men in front of him. He tried to distinguish features about them that might be helpful later, clothes could be changed, but not scars, birthmarks or tattoos. He didn't see anything like that though. He didn't even know what country they came from. Two of them had beards, one had long hair in a bun, and one had glasses. They were all well-built, and taller than him. Their ages seemed to span between 30 to about 55, but he couldn't be sure.
Suddenly they all turned to him and he leaned back a bit, at least his head, which was the only thing he could move enough. Now what? He swallowed hard and tried to prepare for whatever it was.
"You will answer a few questions now." The guy who had told him to be quiet said. He seemed to be the leader of the group, he had been the one who had waited in the car as well, while the others grabbed him.
Mike glared at him.
"So now you are quiet." The man smirked a bit.
"Tell me why I'm here." Mike spat out.
"Hear our questions and you might understand that."
"What's your questions?" He asked. Someone behind the leader said something angerly and Mike felt a sense of satisfaction from annoying them.
"You work for Harvey Specter."
"That's not a question." Mike said but felt his heart speed up a bit. Then one of the men stepped up to him and before Mike had time to react, he was slapped across the face, hard.
"What the hell?!" He asked and shook his head a little. The whole left side of his face was stinging, the man didn't hold back.
"As I said," The leader continued. "You work for Harvey Specter."
Mike waited this time.
"How long have you been with him?"
"Didn't you do your research?" Mike asked. Another guy stepped forward and he was slapped again. Mike swore and pressed his stinging right cheek against his shoulder. He then answered the question. What did it matter anyway if they knew how long he had worked with Harvey?
"How many cases does he take?"
"What kind of question is that? Do you mean in a month, a year, ten years? Be more specific."
Mike saw that the man clenched his jaw before he forced a smile.
"A year." He said.
"That varies." Mike said. He was slapped again.
"What was that for? I answered your question!"
"How much money does he make per case?"
"That varies too."
"How much money does he have?"
"Why are you asking me about that? Do you think he tells me that? The answer to that is no, he doesn't tell me things like that."
The men spoke amongst each other again.
"How much money does he have?" Again.
"I don't know." Mike said and was slapped. His whole face stung now. Damn it. It didn't help that he tried to lean away when he saw it coming, they just stepped closer.
The questions kept coming. They asked about cases, which ones Harvey took, about the firms' billings and about how many people worked there, but most of the questions were about Harvey. Mike guessed by now that this whole thing was about Harvey. They wanted Harvey to pay ransom for him. In a way that was both entertaining and sick. He couldn't believe that he actually was here, getting questions about Harvey's finances from strange men that had kidnapped him. He had gotten kidnapped. He never knew it could be this dangerous to be a lawyer.
At first, he refused to answer the questions, or gave vague statements as a response, but they wouldn't stop slapping him! He was getting angry. His head was ringing. He wasn't going to let them get what they wanted.
"Just stop hitting me! That doesn't help. I actually don't know how much money Harvey has. I don't know! You hitting me, doesn't make me know it anymore."
"You work with him daily; he is your boss."
"It's not like he talks about money he has with me! People don't talk about that!"
He saw the men looking at each other and he yelled when one of them stepped forward. "No! Stop! Just stop hitting me! Damn it!"
They didn't listen and Mike wasn't that surprised. They started repeating the questions.
"How much does he make?"
"How much does he own?"
Mike was starting to feel dizzy by now, he had lost count on how many times he had been slapped, but all of the men had slapped him at least twice each. One of them, a guy with a beard, even seemed to enjoy it. He smiled every time he did it.
"Why do you have to use violence, huh? I'm bound to a fucking chair. Are you afraid that I would hurt you huh?" He screamed at them. The leader than stepped forward and without a word punched him in the stomach. Mike that had been prepared for a slap was caught by surprise and moaned in pain and tried to lean forward as much as he could. He had a hard time to catch his breath. The leader leaned forward so that he almost had his mouth next to Mike's ear.
"Answer the question."
"I've told you I don't know." Mike grunted. He was hit again at the same spot. After that he decided to start to answer the questions. Or he guessed. He didn't have a clue, but he just guessed and hoped that they thought that he was speaking the truth now. When he was hit in the stomach for the third time for not answering fast enough, he actually wished he would have known the right answers. He just wanted this over with now. He wanted them to leave, or at least stop hitting him.
He got his wish just a few minutes later.
"We are done here." The leader said to Mike, then he said something else to the man closest to him that went over to the table in the other end of the room.
"Untie me then." Mike said. The three men laughed, and the fourth came back with a roll of duct tape.
"Come on. No..." Mike mumbled. But the guy with the tape just ripped a piece off and stepped towards him. Someone else grabbed Mike's head from behind and pulled it back and held it in place. A strip of tape was then placed over his mouth. He yelled behind it. Someone slapped him on the back of his head, and he flew forward. By the time he managed to get himself upright again, they were by the door.
Mike yelled again, but then the lights were turned off and he was left alone. He yelled again in anger. He felt an intense hatred towards them. How could they do this to him, what made them think they had the right?
He was in pain. His stomach was aching bad, it hurt when he breathed. But he didn't think it was that bad, they hadn't wanted to hurt him badly it seemed. Bad enough, but at least he wasn't shot or anything. Were they just going to leave him here now? It was totally dark in the room; he couldn't see shit. He remembered that there hadn't been any windows, so there wouldn't be any source for light. He didn't like that. Not at all actually.
How long was he going to be here? What were they going to do to him? What if Harvey wouldn't pay ransom for him? They hadn't even said something about it, Mike just assumed that was the purpose of their questions, to figure out how much money they could demand from Harvey. Mike wasn't sure that Harvey would pay for him. Maybe Harvey would be so pissed at his kidnappers so that he would refuse to pay. What would they do then? Kill him?
It wasn't much he could do about anything right now. His stomach still throbbed and his face stung. He was tired and hungry as well. It wasn't a good idea to think about food, he got thirsty as well. He hadn't had any dinner.
It was awful to just sit there and wait for something to happen. He figured they wouldn't come back tonight so he opted to get some sleep. What else could he do? At the moment he didn't want to think too much about the situation.
It was hard to fall asleep tied to a chair. The only bearably position was to lean his head forward. He felt slightly better if he closed his eyes, then he couldn't see how dark it was in the room. He wished that they wouldn't have taped over his mouth. It wasn't comfortable and he was nervous about his breathing, it wasn't anything wrong with it. It just worried him.
He thought of Harvey and wondered if he knew that he was missing yet. Would he come looking? Would Harvey blame himself for this? Mike was pretty sure he would. Harvey still claimed that he was responsible for Mike. He wanted Harvey to come and help him now. He couldn't help but fantasize about Harvey coming in through that door and storm up to him and remove his bindings. Mike imagined him to be furious, just like he had been that time when Tess's husband had beaten him. Harvey had wanted to kick the guys ass. Harvey would help him now, he had to. He didn't want to think about any alternatives.
He managed to fall asleep after an hour or two but didn't stay asleep for long. It was so uncomfortable to sit like that and sleep. He slept off and on the rest of the night. More than once he woke up from nightmares, and it was just as terrifying to wake up to being totally tied up then. He had even screamed a bit, but nothing had happened. He was probably alone at in the building. No one could hear him.
-SUITS-