Part Two – In Which There Is A Phone Call
Author's Note:
Sorry about the long update! ::cowers as random objects are thrown at her:: But I was a little busy and depressed about a few things. Yeah... Uh... So... Here's the disclaimer and the thanks to's. Enjoy.
Disclaimer:
I own nothing but my own characters! This: means I own them! But you'll only see it once! YaY! Here goes!
Thanks To:
RiddleStar – Thanks a bunch! ::does a happy dance:: I got someone hooked! YaY! ahem Sorry, I bet everyone forgot about me. Lol. I didn't know anyone READ Relic Hunter fics.
Rat – Glad you liked that. Lol. That's the best thing about the British – Their swearing. Enjoy!
Capt. Cow– Nigel IS a little clueless. Lol. Gotta love him though. ::huggles Nigel::
Feline-Feral – Glad you like it, too.
Lady Lestat – It WAS going to have Derek Lloyd in it, but I couldn't remember the name, so I had to make up my own guy. I think you'll like him well enough. Yeah, I know. You're story is great, I hope you update soon.
blurd-vision – Thanks!
Emma – Sorry, but I like the cliffhangers. (Not if they're by someone else, but you know what I mean. (lol) No need to beg, however, here is your update.
Kas7 – I had to end it like that. Here you go!
airefree051 – Here you are! Enjoy!
Tony - Thanks! That help out.
::warrior yell:: YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! YI! ONWARD!!!
Sydney walked into the office, bid hello to Claudia and deposited her bag on the desk.
"Claudia?" she started, seeing Nigel's empty desk, "Did he call in sick or something?"
The slight blonde looked up from the magazine she was looking at and shook her head, no.
"Not that I know of," she replied in her high pitched voice.
"Hmm," Sydney tried not to look too overly concerned, but she was. Nigel was not one to miss a day of work, but when he did, he always called.
"You don't think something happened to him, do you?" the secretary asked.
"I'm not sure," Sydney replied, "It's just a feeling."
"Yeah, well, most of the time, your 'feelings' are right."
'I hope he's alright,' thought Sydney.
The day seemed to go by agonizingly slow without Nigel there. Her students were hardly paying attention, which was expected.
"Ms. Hughs," a brunette sitting near the back of the room jerked her head and gave the teacher her attention
"Yes, Ms. Foxx?" she asked sweetly. (too sweetly... she was guilty of something.)
"I don't suppose you could answer the question I just asked?"
The girl gave her a blank look before saying the first thing that popped into her empty little head.
"Uh, purple?" she tried, earning snickers from nearly everyone else in the class. The girl blushed, "What was the question?"
Sydney sighed. It was most definitely easier having Nigel here. While the girls hung on his every word, the boys did the same for her. It was a nice system.
"I asked, 'What was th—"but she didn't get to finish.
The shrill annoying peal of the last bell rang out, releasing the 'prisoners'. There was a mad rush to to the door and everyone was suddenly gone.
Letting a huge sigh escape her, she trudged to her desk and slumped into her chair.
Again, her assistant crossed her mind.
'Nigel, where are you?' she wondered, unable to dismiss the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
The first thing he was aware of was the painful throbbing in his head. The second thing was the suffocatingly sweltering heat.
Without opening his eyes, Nigel tried to brush a sweat lock of hair out of his face, but his arms wouldn't respond.
"Bloody hell," he groaned, forcing his eyes open. "Where in god's name am I?"
He saw that he was indoors at least. Not like the time when he had been captured by the Amazons (New story in the making). And while that trip had been miserable, partly because his inability to talk to women, he had literally been a social outcast AND a prisoner. They had tied him to a totem pole or something for hours on end in the hot sun until he told them where Sydney was. He wouldn't, of course. So they left him baking in the sun. He had spent 2 days in the hospital recovering. He couldn't move for the pain. His skin peeled and cracked. It was awful, he still shuddered at the memory.
Where was he now, anyway? The room he was in looked like the hut he stayed in during his trip to Africa.
"Hello?" he called, surprised when his voice came out as weak croak.
It was then that he realized he was tied to a chair. He tried to stand, but his restraints more or less pulled him back down.
Panicking slightly, the young Brit struggled against the cord tightly binding his wrists behind him.
"You may as well save your strength, Nigel," a voice behind him growled, "You won't be going anywhere until Sydney comes."
Nigel took a deep breath before looking for the voice, but he really couldn't move his head too much, or look behind him because the chair he was tied to was a tall, straight-backed one.
"It's about damn time you woke up, kid," the voice said, then, more to himself, "Now I can call Sydney."
For a moment, the blonde's head raced. Not again!
He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and allowed his eyes to drift closed.
"Ancient Studies, Claudia speaking," Sydney could hear the secretary's high voice answer.
After a moment's pause, "Nigel! Where are you?"
Sydney's heart skipped a beat as she opened the door to the office.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" demanded Claudia.
Sydney motioned for her to hit the speakerphone button, which she did.
"Claudia, when I said I didn't know, I meant it," Nigel's voice was slightly distorted by the speaker, but the accent was unmistakable.
"Nige, you okay?" Sydney asked.
"Aside from a throbbing headache and being held hostage by a bloody maniac, I'm fine, "the phone must have been pulled away from him, because his voice grew fainter, "Yes, by 'maniac' I meant you! I don't see anyone else around?" He demanded, being abnormally bold.
"Sydney, do you want this little pest back?" a new voice demanded, and the Hawaiian immediately recognized it.
"Alex Cristo," she spat, venom dripping from her voice, "I should have known."
"Nice to talk to you too," he said with sarcasm.
"I swear, if you've done anything to Nigel, I'll –"
"Sydney, shut up," he interrupted, "Check your email and print out the pictures I sent. The first one is a map and the second one is of your friend. See you soon!"
And the line went dead.
"Syd, who was that?"
"That," she said, "was Alex Cristo. We used to be partners, but something went wrong on a hunt and he blamed me. It was a complete accident."
Sydney went over to her computer and signed online to print the pictures out.
The printer whirred as the pictures came. The first, indeed, was a map. It showed all the familiar landmarks, and the keys, along with the mile markers.
The second one, however, was harder to stomach...
It was Nigel, but he didn't look how Sydney thought he would. He clearly had his hands bound behind the chair he was sitting in. His hair hung, damp, in his face, covering his eyes. A thin trickle of blood had wound its way around his neck.
Nigel had put up a fight, which was obvious. But had even made it home last night? She looked in the corner of the picture, noting the date and time as some cameras automatically displayed. At least it was recent.
"Claudia, call in a sub for a couple of days."
The secretary nodded. Having worked there for a few years, she knew the drill: call in a sub teacher, call the airport, order tickets and then wait for Syd to pack and leave.
'I'm coming, Nigel,' she thought.
"Are you going to tell me where I bloody am now?" the Brit demanded, losing patience with his captor.
"You talk too much."
"I'm beginning to think I don't talk enough, with the way things are going!" retorted Nigel, "I at least have the right to know where I am!"
The Englishman knew he was being too daring for his own good, but he couldn't help it. He knew this stranger DID have the power to take away his life, but he was downright sick and tired of being held hostage all the time. First it was the Amazons, then it was the tribe in Ghandi, and after that, it was the people with the government!
How, in god's name, Sydney got him out of that situation was beyond his comprehension.
See, that was the thing, every time he was kidnapped, beaten, and used for bait, it was always to get Sydney's attention. Granted it generally worked, but it wasn't fair! It was always him. He didn't want it to ever be Sydney, but just once he wished it wasn't him.
"Nope, trust me, you talk to much," his captor said, thoughtfully.
"May I at least know the name of my captor and the reason for me being here?" he struggled to remain calm and keep his temper in check.
There was a sigh and then footsteps. The man stood in front of him, and Nigel as he craned his neck to meet the taller man's eyes.
"My name is Alex Cristo and you're here to lure Sydney to me."
"Well, I could have told you that," Nigel snapped, "But why do you need her?"
"To help me find something," came the aggravatingly simple reply.
"Well, you didn't have to drag me into it!" Nigel almost yelled in frustration. "You could have just asked her to come!"
"I'm not gonna just ask her to come. I'm gonna force her to come!" the taller man shot back, taking a step closer to his prisoner, "I will not make it easy on her. Especially after whet she accused me of!"
"Oh, if it's so bad, then what, in god's name, was it?" Nigel demanded, his temper flaring.
Alex whipped a knife out of his boot and pressed it moderately hard against his captive's throat, silencing him instantly.
"If I were you, I'd shut up and keep myself from being killed," the man growled. "And keep it that way."
Nigel opened his mouth for a smart comeback, thought better of it, and said nothing.
Alex just smirked.
On the plane, Sydney was pouring over the satellite photos and the map when someone touched her shoulder gently.
She looked up to see a young man with medium length black hair with bright blue highlights and yellow-tinted, slit pupil contacts. He wore a black tee shirt with a camouflage over it, black jeans and combat boots. Around his neck, he wore a spiked collar and a silver chain with a dragon charm on it that matched his earring.
"Can I help you?" asked Sydney.
The man shifted his weight on his other foot, seeming somewhat embarrassed.
"Yeah, um, for some odd reason, I was kicked out of my seat. Since you have a spare one next to you, I was wondering if I could sit by you," he explained timidly," I'm Lynnwood Mason, by the way."
"Sydney Foxx," the Hawaiian replied, shaking the man's hand and noticing the spiked bracelets, "And of course you can sit here."
Lynnwood sat down, but Sydney looked away, narrowly missing the funny glint in his yellow eyes.
Author's Note:
Wow, that was one helluva chapter... I mean, ten pages?? Wow. This took me nearly all day to type! Wow! My parent bugged me all day to get off the computer, too. So, ya'll better enjoy it, too! (lol. Just kidding.) Remember, read and review!!
See you next time!