Chapter 10

Amanda paced up and down the room as she waited for the call from Steve. For 3 hours she had been a nervous wreck as the phone number was being traced. But, so far nothing had been found. The number seemed to be non -existent. Her temper was beginning to fray; she was lashing out at every person she came into contact with, just wanting someone to blame. Mark, too, was in a similar situation. He still blamed himself for CJ and Dion's disappearance, but no one would blame him. All he wanted was to be blamed because he thought it was his fault. Guilt was clouding his thoughts, all of their thoughts, each one felt partially to blame.

" I swear when we get hold of who done this I will not hold myself back. I will hurt every fibre in there body in the worst possible way." Jesse stared at the number in front of him, took a sip of the cold coffee he had been swirling for an hour, then looked at Mark. "There is something about this that's not that complex, it is literally staring me right in the face and I can't see it! I feel like such an idiot, normally things like this are so simple!" His face screwed up in anger as he ranted and raved at the others. Mark's crystal blue eyes focused on Jess, he could see how tormenting this was for him, how tormenting it was for all of them. Jesse looked at Mark's eyes and suddenly realized how old and helpless he seemed when all the life and sparkle had been wiped clean from his eyes. " Oh, Mark I didn't mean to shout at you, I just cant believe, oh, I'm sorry." For the first time in ages Amanda and Mark witnessed Jesse in such a state he was speechless. " I'm just so angry." Amanda moved over towards Jesse and opened mouth to begin to say something but nothing came out. Mark too had no idea what to say, he had no words of wisdom left inside him. All three of the closest friends sat together in silence, each wondering how to make the other feel better but none of them having the faintest idea how to start.

Craig sat in silence, nursing his hand, as he waited for Eliza to return with the first aid kit. He didn't anticipate having such a fight on his hands, both boys put up a fight, but they didn't last forever. Craig had finally lost his temper as Dion sank his teeth deep into his hand as a desperate attempt to get away from his evil clutches. He didn't succeed; all he gained was a couple a cracked ribs as he hit the floor. CJ was no better off; he was caught off guard as he scrambled to his brother's side. Craig took his chance and pounced on him, coiling the rope round him like a snake suffocating his pray. In a few deft moves he had both CJ and Dion tied up and shut in the dark basement once again. An evil grin spread across his face as he thought of the things he could do to those children to repay the disrespect they had shown him.

" You know you really should be more careful, letting two small boys get the better of you." Eliza stood above him, her dark brown hair pulled back into a loose ponytail, strands of it falling over her delicate face, covering her big hazel eyes. Her slender body leant against Craig's chair; Craig admired her curves before pulling her onto his lap;

" I hope you know that if you weren't so sexy I'd have gotten rid of you years ago." He ran his hand over her toned stomach, " There'd be no use for you if you weren't." Eliza glared at him before pulling herself of his lap and grabbing his hand, " Oh, so if you got attacked by another two kids you would be able to look after your own injuries?" She wiped the blood of his fingers and began to bandage his hand. " I might as well go then."

" Oh don't be like that, I was only joking, you should know that by now. Anyway, you wouldn't be able to leave, you love the excitement to much." Craig smiled at her, knowing full well he was right. Eliza never would go, as confident as she seemed she would never leave, she did love the thrill of breaking the law and living on the edge, but she was also scared. Scared of his temper, scared of what he would do to her if she ever went with another man. Eliza stared back and met his gaze; she looked deep into his green eyes and saw the jealousy and anger begin to flicker as he thought of her being with someone else.

" Yeah I 'spose you are right, I just love this life so much." She applied the last strip of micropore and packed the first aid kit away. "I'm going out for some fags, you want anything?"

" How 'bout a bottle of vodka. I could do with a drink after what those little brats done to me." He chucked a wad of money to her, and signaled to the hook by the door. " The car keys are there, and remember, I don't want any cheap vodka, that shit wont do me any good."

~Author's note ~ Hello again. This chapter is shorter than my original plan, I decided to leave the developments until the next chapter. It seemed better to do that than split them up and confuse me and you! ( So, the story will soon become a bit clearer, and the motive will be revealed in chapter 11. ~