Chapter 6: Kidnapped

John awoke to darkness.

His head hurt, and his arms were tied behind him. His feet were bound, too, and wherever he was, it was shifting and jolting. Trunk of a car, obviously.

The last thing he remembered was going to the principal's office, as requested, and seeing the principal sitting, bound tightly in his own chair. He barely had time to register this fact, before an ether-soaked pad was shoved into his face…

Now, awakening in the trunk of the car, he reflected on how easy it had all been. He just hoped nobody had been hurt.

And Cameron….

When he turned up missing, he knew the Terminator would go into battle mode. Nothing could stop her from finding and freeing him, and, most probably, terminating those individuals responsible for his abduction. However, those who'd kidnapped him would no doubt be aware of this, and would be prepared for it. Cameron, wherever you are, stay safe. Please, please don't just charge these men. I don't like to think what they'd do to you.

The car jolted to a halt. The lid opened, and he winced as the sunlight poured in. Rough hands lifted him up; one untied his feet, while another shoved a taser into his back. "One wrong move, kid, and zap."

He looked around. It was in an unpopulated warehouse district; in the distance he could see some workers moving between the buildings, but in this area, there was nothing. Perhaps they rented this warehouse for just this purpose?

But what purpose could they have rented it for?

Had they targeted him for assassination, he'd be dead by now. Why would they need him alive?

His arms were still bound behind him, and they forced him to walk towards the warehouse's entrance. Oddly, they hadn't taped his mouth shut. He'd thought that was sorta standard procedure for kidnappings. "Mind telling me what all this is about?"

The big man behind him, the one holding the taser, grunted. "It's all about you, kid. Our employer wants to see you, like, real bad."

"I guess an email was out, huh?"

"Mine's not to question why. Now shuddup."

They moved into the warehouse.

…

"Gone? What do you mean?" Sarah had just received the call from Cameron. "I thought you, his fiancé, were supposed to be with him at all times?" The sting in her voice went completely unnoticed, of course.

"He was apparently summoned to the principal's office. I did not even know he had been. When I found out, I ran there and discovered the real principal tied up. Evidently, the kidnappers had managed to elude security and pose as school authorities long enough to perpetuate this act. I am tracing them now." Cameron's better-than-human vision identified the specific tire prints and infrared signature of the vehicle that had left just after John had been kidnapped. It could be the wrong vehicle, of course, but she didn't think so. There was a high correlation between this car leaving when it did and her John's disappearance. "I am currently on the east end of town, in the warehouse district, off 42nd street. I recommend you bring heavy arms. I only have the ones in this vehicle. Zero in on my GPS coordinates. But hurry."

The goons walked John into the large empty warehouse. There was no one else there, but John was unsurprised to see a time displacement gate. Several heavy cables ran from it to the main power lines out front. "I'd hate to have your electric bill."

"Keep up the mouth, kid. We don't care, as long as we get paid." He turned to his smaller companion. "How long you think we got?"

The smaller goon looked at his watch, nervously. "Probably only a few minutes. We better hurry." He made some hasty adjustments to the controls. "I don't fancy facin' down that killbot with just these." He hefted the Glock 17 he was carrying.

"Huh. That's why you should'a got a model 20. Ten millimeter rounds, man."

"If you think that'll stop one o' those things, yer dreamin'."

All at once the portal became active. The goons perked up. "Okay, kid. It's showtime." And they pushed him through.

Cameron arrived just in time to see them disappear into the gate. It immediately shut down. Frantically, she examined every square inch of it: it was a newer model, able to function as a stand-alone. She hurriedly checked the log.

It was set for twenty years into the future.

…

"…..but where could they have taken him?" Sarah would have been wringing her hands if she wasn't holding a shotgun in them. Derek looked at her, started to open his mouth…

…And Cameron beat him to it. With only a tremor of emotion showing in her voice—Sarah noted that this was the first time such an inflection seemed genuine—she said, "There is not much doubt as to where he has gone. The probability is 92% that he is to be delivered to SkyNET, with only an 8% probability that he will be brought to the human resistance."

"Then…then we've lost. SkyNET will kill him…"

"But why?" Derek asked, "Why bring him to SkyNET alive and kicking? What would be the point? Future John Connor I could see; he'd know certain things about the resistance. But our version has no clue as to what's going on upthen.

"And why not just terminate him right here? Isn't that what SkyNET's agents have been trying to do? This doesn't seem like the same MO."

"You are right. It is not." Cameron stood up from her examination of the gate. "I have a plan. But I will require some cooperation from you."

"And why should we-*"

"Derek." Cameron stood facing him directly, hands on her hips. "This chronic hostility between us is getting wearisome and accomplishes nothing. If you truly believe I am a danger to John's life, then you've no reason not to destroy me, here and now.

"But I can tell you one thing: if my theory is correct, John Connor cannot possibly be in worse danger than he now is.

"So either help me or don't. This continued hostile interaction is unnecessary and counterproductive."

To be continued….