Love Never Goes Out of Style/CH 22
Hilda looked at Bobby suddenly, putting her hand up for him to stop talking to her, "Something's wrong. I've got to talk to Betty. Something doesn't feel right."
"Are you having that weird sister-thing again where you think you can read her mind telepathically or whatever?"
"Go ahead, make fun. You'll see. Something is definitely not good with my sister." She had already called Betty's cell phone, but it was going to voice mail. "See? I told you. There's something fishy going on. She's not picking up."
He rolled his eyes, "She's not picking up because she and Daniel are busy doing what we were SUPPOSED to be doing non-stop and haven't had time to do more than a few times since I flew all the way over here! I could a got more action stayin back in Queens watching HBO at this rate, babe! Your sister is fine; I'm telling you. Will you just relax?"
She called Daniel's number. "His is going to voicemail, too. What the hell is going on?"
"I'm telling you…they're you know, busy. Fooling around. That's all that's going on, I promise you!"
He sighed, grabbing her purse off the table and handing it to her as they headed out the door. "Come on, we might as well go now. I know I'm not getting any action until you see her with your own eyes. Talking to her earlier on the phone wasn't good enough I suppose."
She smiled and kissed him on the lips quickly, "You know me so well, baby. I love you. I promise, as soon as I see Betty and talk to her real quick, I'll be fine."
Bobby shook his head and smiled back at her, "That's okay. Just as long as it'll make you happy, baby."
She patted his cheek, "Aww…I'm so lucky to have you for a fiancé!"
"Yeah, you are. And don't you forget it!" He smacked her on the bottom as he grinned and led her downstairs to Betty's room.
As they came to the hallway, they noticed a food cart still out in the hall, and a waiter, getting up from the floor, rubbing his head.
They rushed to help the man, "What happened to you?"
He shook his head, "I'm not sure. I just opened this door to bring in an order and somebody hit me over the head with a tray. It knocked me out, I think."
Hilda's eyes widened, as they looked in Betty's room to see clothes, lamps and other items knocked all over the floor, as if a struggle had occurred. There was no sign of Betty or Daniel and they saw the remnants of Daniel's phone on the floor, as well, where he had thrown it against the wall earlier.
Hilda was shaking, she was so upset, "Oh my God! Matt's got her! And somehow he must have got Daniel, too! I wonder if he has a gun or something. Or if he just grabbed Betty and Daniel followed them. This is terrible! We've got to find them."
Bobby turned to the waiter, "You, your security here has cameras, right? We need to see them right now! Can you get us to the ones for this hallway? We have reason to believe her sister's been kidnapped by her crazy ex-boyfriend who's been stalking her."
"Yeah, I know the security guy. Come with me."
When he took them to the security booth, the man inside seemed hesitant to show them the video. "Shouldn't we report this to the police? I think I should have a warrant or something."
Bobby was impatient, and stood over the man, threateningly, "Look, this is her sister we're talking about here! If it was your sister would you want to go to the cops and wait till the guy got away with her? Let us see what happened and were this guy might have been headed, okay, mister?"
"Very well. What was the room number again?"
"You have footage inside the rooms? That's disgusting, you pervert!" Hilda looked rather panicked.
"No, I just want to be sure I have the right angle for outside her doorway." The man explained, patiently as he searched through the various angles.
"Oh. It's room two sixteen" Hilda looked at Bobby, somewhat relieved.
"Here we are. There is a man, holding a woman in a towel. That's highly suspect, I'd say. And look, a minute later, there is another fellow wearing nothing but a towel, looking around, and rather panicked who follows, clearly in search of the young woman. This must be your sister?"
Hilda nodded, tears in her eyes as she watched Betty, struggling to free herself from the man's clutches in vain.
Bobby narrowed his eyes, "I've never met the guy. Is that Matt who's got her?"
She shrugged, clearly upset, "I couldn't see his face. It's about Matt's build and coloring, I guess. But I don't know who else it would be! Oh my God, Bobby! What are we going to do?"
He turned to the security guard, "What other footage can you give us? How far can you follow them with this and can you tell how long ago it happened?"
The man nodded, as he quickly changed the angles and feeds to reflect Betty and her assailant, followed closely by Daniel into the stairwell, then out to a waiting car and the cab that Daniel hailed to follow. He looked at the monitors closely, "This occurred only fifteen minutes ago.
The car is a private one, but I got the cab's license number, and type, so we can give these to the police and get them to trace the cab through his dispatcher to see where he's taken his fare. I have a friend in the police force that can do it for you, just let me make a call."
Hilda kissed the man on the cheek, "Thank you so much, sir! You have no idea what this means to me."
"I have a sister, too. And I would never want something like this to happen to her. So, the man following them is her current boyfriend, I take it?"
"Yes, that's Daniel Meade. We're pretty sure the one who took her is Matt Hartley. She used to date him but he went off to Africa and now he's here, stalking her."
"That wouldn't be any relation to Hartley Industries, would it?"
"Yeah, his father owns Hartley Industries, why?"
"Well, it's just…having access to that much money could make this guy a bit harder to track down, I would imagine, that's all."
"Well, Daniel's no slouch. His family's pretty wealthy, too. He's got connections. Maybe not as much as Matt's. You don't think Matt could just disappear?"
"I don't know. I mean, it depends on where he's taking her. The fact that he clearly had a waiting private car that wouldn't ask questions about a young woman with him in a towel is concerning."
While the man called his friend at the police, Bobby looked at Hilda, hugging her to try and calm her down. "Let's contact Victoria. She wants her son away from Betty as much as we do, right? So, let's use that to have her and her money help track down Matt, and get Betty away from him."
Hilda nodded, "As much as I hate that woman, you're right. She doesn't want Betty with her stupid crazy son, either. So we should have her use her money for a good purpose at least."
"I'll call her. I can be very persuasive."
She nodded, "Thanks, baby. I love you."
"I love you too, sweetie. Don't worry, we'll get her back. I promise you."
"I hope so."
The security guard looked somewhat sympathetically at the two. "I'm afraid I have bad news. The cab was told to follow the private car to the airport. The driver said the man inside was in a panic and asked where to hire a plane to follow the two in the car.
He could have taken her anywhere, I'm afraid. You have no means to reach this Daniel to see if he was able to see where there plane was headed?"
"No, his cell phone had been destroyed in the room and my sister dropped hers earlier and her kidnapper probably still has it."
Hilda's phone rang, "Hello?"
"Hilda, it's me, Daniel. Listen, I'm on a private plane I just hired. Matt got in our room somehow when I was in the shower and got Betty. I followed them to the airport. He got her on a small plane. Look, this is my new phone number. I just bought the pilot's phone for now. Can you do me a big favor and meet me at the airport? Go in Betty's room and grab my wallet and some clothes for both of us. Matt caught us getting out of the shower."
"So, wait, you managed to hire a cab and a private plane in your towel?"
"I had the cab driver and the pilot call my mom and verify who I was, and vouch for me. But I need my money and my clothes. Meet me here as soon as you can. Matt's pilot is leaving in twenty minutes, as soon as he gets clearance.
I'm trying to get the tower to stop them from taking off. I'd just storm the plane, but he's got a couple armed guards I can't get past. But I did get his flight plan. I know where he plans on taking her."
"Where?"
"Switzerland."
Hilda was screaming at the poor cab driver to hurry all the way to the airport. Bobby knew better than to try and calm her down. They had actually made it to the airport in less than thirty minutes which was a miracle.
As they jumped out once they got there, the cab driver sped off, grateful to be rid of the shrieking woman in his cab. They found the hangar with the plane Daniel had rented.
Daniel opened the door and Bobby stifled a grin as Hilda shook her head, "I still can't believe you managed to hail a cab and rent a plane with no frickin clothes on!"
"Hey. Thank God you made it. I managed to get a hold of an air traffic controller Alejandro here knows and got him to delay Matt's plane, just in case you got held up. Thanks! Here, take out some money please for him, while I get dressed.
He started putting his pants on under the towel and Hilda held up her hand to shield her eyes while she went through his wallet and found a large amount of cash. "Whoa! You coulda so got mugged!"
Daniel looked down, "Not likely in this outfit. Other than by some desperate woman looking for a good time, maybe. Oh, you mean the cash.
Well, I normally don't carry around that much, but I didn't know if I'd need a lot to bribe people before the first time we were trying to get your sister back, so I stopped at an ATM just in case. Alejandro gets five thousand. Make that seven, actually. This is a nice phone. Of all times for me to get dramatic and smash mine!"
"YOU did that to your own phone? We thought you got into a fight with Matt or something at the hotel and he smashed it so you couldn't call the police."
"No, he called and tried to mess with my head so I got pissed off like an idiot and threw it against the wall. Then a few hours later, he somehow got a key to get into our room and took Betty while I was still in the shower."
"Actually, he hit the room service waiter over the head and got in that way. We found the poor guy on the floor, not too far from your room. "
Daniel nodded, "Oh. That's what happened. She …called out for me, and I ran out as soon as I heard her, but it was too late. Matt had already taken her. I didn't know what to do. So, I followed them, but he had help getting her in his car and they had guns. The cab driver thought I was nuts running out in a towel like that, but when I told her what happened, that my girlfriend's crazy ex had just kidnapped her and I could make it worth her while if she didn't lose them…"
Hilda nodded, smiling, "Oh, I see. That's how you got a ride, huh? It was a lady cab driver. No wonder she pulled over. Are you sure what SHE meant and what you meant about you makin it worth her while were the same thing?"
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Yes, Hilda. I had her call my mom and she gave her a credit card number over the phone. Mom was a little curious as to why I was running around London in a towel, but when I told her about Betty she reserved this plane for me with Alejandro here."
"How did you find out Matt is planning to try and take her to Switzerland?"
"Alejandro's friend said that's the flight plan Matt's pilot registered. Listen, now that there are three of us…and Alejandro said he does have uh…weapons, are you game to try and overpower those guards, Bobby?"
Hilda looked at Bobby, unsure what she should suggest. He kissed her quickly, then stepped up, "Hell, yeah, I'm game. Nobody messes with chipmunk and gets away with it. Let's go get her out of there and away from that nutjob!"
The pilot looked at both men. "The guards are armed with small handguns. I'm not really supposed to have anything other than a flare gun on board, but I once got hijacked by some rather ruthless men who insisted on an unscheduled stop to pick up drugs, so ever since then, I started carrying these, just in case. This is my plane and nobody tells me where to fly it unless I'm getting paid!"
He handed Daniel and Bobby guns. They both looked at each other and down at the weapons, seeming a bit unsure of how to handle them.
Alejandro smiled, and took the guns back for a moment. "Here, it helps immensely to take the safety off. I thought you Americans were all into the right to bear arms! Hopefully, we won't have to actually use them, once they see it's three of us all armed against only two of them. I wouldn't want one of you shooting your own foot off."
"Hey…I've used a gun before. At a target shooting place. I mean, I can fight, but…" Bobby said, defensively.
Daniel nodded, "Yeah, me, too. I shot those clay things once or twice. I did pretty well. Oh, and I've done lots of video games where I shot a gun, uh, laser tag and uh...paintball guns."
"Wonderful. I have a couple of regular American sharpshooters on my team. Very well, then, gentlemen. First, we should perhaps try and sneak up on them and hit them from behind. If that's not successful, THEN, we'll surround them only if we have to, and convince them we're going to 'shoot first and ask questions later' if they don't let us board the plane to rescue your young lady."
"Let's go." Daniel suddenly looked down at the tee shirt Hilda had brought him and made a face.
"Uh, Hilda, this isn't mine. This is Betty's. I did have some shirts."
She shrugged, "I'm sorry. I was in a little bit of a hurry, you know!"
He shook his head and pulled it on. "It's…a little short in the sleeves, but Betty's got uh…big chest and she wears her nightshirts long and loose, so I guess it sort of fits.
Since when do I wear pink, though? I'm as secure in my masculinity as the next enlightened, metro-sexual New Yorker, but…pink? You really thought this was mine, Hilda?"
She made a face, "I don't know, Daniel. You wear purple a lot. I don't know fashion much more than Betty. I have my own style. But it's Queens, not your fruity tooty Madison Avenue stuff."
"Could you two debate your wardrobe some other time when Betty's not being kidnapped, please? Daniel, does it really matter? At least you're not still runnin around in your towel."
"You're right. This is fine. I just…don't think I look very intimidating in Betty's pink shirt, that's all. What did you bring her?"
Hilda showed him a silky yellow blouse. "This?"
"Okay, the pink's better, I guess. At least it's a tee shirt."
Alejandro handed Daniel a zipped hoodie. "Here. Try this instead."
Daniel took off the pink shirt and zipped up the hoodie. "Great! Thanks."
"Now that we have our wardrobe squared away, shall we?"
Bobby smirked, "You'll have to forgive him. He's the editor of a woman's fashion magazine back in New York. That stuff's important to him."
Daniel rolled his eyes as they got off the plane, "Shut up, Bobby! It is not! I just didn't want the guys to be so busy laughing at me that they couldn't see straight and missed while they were shooting at us, you know?"
They saw the two guards talking to one another, in a relaxed way. Bobby nodded to Daniel and Alejandro silently and they got behind the guards, staying out of sight.
Betty had tried reasoning with Matt and had managed to do a little physical damage as he had forced her into the car as well, and possibly would have gotten away, had Matt not had some hired help to get her in.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you, Matt. But you shouldn't have brought me here. You do realize this is kidnapping, right? It's against the law. I don't know where you think you're taking me, but it's against my will.
I don't want to go anywhere with you. This isn't you, Matt. Just let me go. Now, before this really gets out of hand. You could go to jail. Or worse! I don't care how much money you have, it isn't going to protect you from my family. Or…"
"Daniel? You really think he's going to 'save you from me', Betty? Look, I've tried to tell you a thousand times, I just needed to get you away from him. So I could explain to you that I had no idea my mom had called him and threatened you.
He is the one who attacked me and grabbed you from the restaurant before. How am I the kidnapper here? I tried to talk to you at your hotel. I tried to give you back your cell phone you dropped when he grabbed you away from me earlier.
Then you went all nuts on me, kicking me in the balls and punching me and all. I just wanted to talk somewhere where it's just you and me. But he's always there! He always gets in the way." Matt was pacing up and down the aisle as Betty nodded, trying to stay calm.
She glanced out the window of the plane and saw Daniel, trying to sneak up behind one of the armed guards. He was holding a gun rather awkwardly.
Betty caught her breath. This was insane! She was scared, worried Daniel or someone else could get hurt. She couldn't believe Matt was so out of control, so different than the man she used to know, used to trust. She tried again to just talk to him, to reason with him.
"Matt. Tell me what you wanted to say. Why did you need to talk to me alone? What did you have in mind? That we would just…get back together? I mean, you've been gone for a long time. I'm sorry, but I moved on."
"With HIM?"
"Well, yes, now. But not right away. I was really sad when you first left. You didn't tell me you expected to come back and pick up where we left off. This is sort of a surprise to find you…moving to London and trying to get me to stay here with you, uh…permanently."
"Didn't you tell me earlier that Daniel talked about you two staying here? Traveling through Europe then maybe setting up some roots in London? Why would you consider it with him and not with me?"
"I…I don't know what to say, Matt. You want the truth? I'm not trying to hurt you or anything. But, because I'm in love with him. He's important to me. I'm sorry, but I don't love you anymore. We went our separate ways and I had to get over you. So I did. You left me. What was I supposed to do?"
Matt sat down in front of her, "You were supposed to miss me, Betty! You were supposed to care when Ieft. I don't know, maybe even follow me there, see how much you inspired me to be a better man. You think Daniel is the only one you had an effect on?"
Betty was still extremely scared, but she was also getting angry by now. She stood up over Matt, "And THIS is the way you show me how much I inspired you, Matt, by kidnapping me? I am NOT going anywhere with you! This isn't some romantic date!
Haven't you noticed, you stole me away from another man? I'm in a towel here, and he was still in the shower. We're together now. I love him. I love Daniel! I'm sorry, but I do!
I don't care how much we talk privately or where you think you're going to whisk me off to that is going to magically make me forget that; it's not going to work."
Matt stood up and grabbed Betty to kiss her roughly. She pushed away and slapped him.
Daniel saw a glimpse of Betty through the plane. He whispered under his breath, "Hang on, baby. I'm coming."