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Chapter 3
"You wanted to see me?" Zander was getting ready to head home since the shipment had been sorted.
"I got a call from the boss." Eddie pointed to a chair. He was in charge of the warehouse tonight. "Your ex-girlfriend was snatched after leaving The No Name. You wouldn't know anything about that would you? I seem to recall you not being happy she walked away from you."
"No. I haven't spoken to her since we broke up. Why would anyone take her?" Zander asked playing dumb. The minute Liz resurfaced his lie would be exposed. She was going to scream to the high heavens about his part in all this if she got the chance. He had come up with a plan to keep that from happening while he was driving back to the city. Logan was right. Zander did still have feelings for his ex and they were the reason that he had agreed to help. After ending his call with Logan, Zander had figured out how to make this situation work for him. Once his shift was over leaving the area was going to be happening. He was going to have to abandon his plans and Liz.
"I'm guessing because of her friendship with Morgan." Eddie was watching the younger man closely looking for signs he was lying. The problem was to be a part of this life you had to be skilled at not telling the truth.
"Lorenzo is making it clear that if anyone knows anything they need to come forward." Eddie said still watching Zander. So far no tells were happening. "If you hear anything report it."
"I will. I know Liz and I didn't part friends, but I don't wish her any harm." Zander said sticking to the truth.
"Morgan already sent one person to the ER, I imagine that if something doesn't happen soon that number is going to rise." Eddie didn't envy whoever was dumb enough to piss off Jason. The man could really put a hurt on you when motivated. "Or he'll just start putting people in the ground because too much hospital activity will alert the cops. I'm guessing he's going to want to talk to you at some point."
Zander got that he was suspect number one. Something he should have seen coming. Morgan already hated him, so he imagined that talk was going to be accompanied by some pain. So yeah it was time to go. He had had money stashed for a quick getaway. He also had a set of false papers. He could drive to Canada and then hop a flight to anywhere else in the world. Because once his part in this came out Lorenzo was just going to hand him over to Jason. "He knows where to find me. I can't help him though."
"I'm sure that is not something he is going to want to hear." Eddie told his colleague. "We are all set. You can go."
"I'm off tomorrow so I'll be back on Friday." Zander said lying.
"See you then." Eddie's mind was already on something else.
"What about Zander?" Jason said looking at his friends. "Do we have any indication that he and Logan know each other?"
"Wouldn't hurt to ask around." Francis was just happy to have another direction to look in.
"If he is involved it wasn't his idea to do this. He just doesn't have the balls." Johnny's dislike of Zander was well established. "He was a huge nuisance for Liz after they broke up." She had to talk the guys out of beating Zander up. Johnny had been ready to break some bones on her behalf.
"We should go talk to him." Jason said heading for the door.
"No. Cody can go. He can take Marco as back up." Sonny said stopping his partner. "You killing him isn't going to do anything but land you behind bars." The PCPD was always looking for a reason to arrest them. "We gotta be smart about any moves we make."
"Sonny's right." Francis could see that Jason didn't like that.
"Get changed." Johnny told his friend. "We'll go to the gym." If Jason didn't work off some of this energy he was going to kill the first person who didn't give him an answer he liked when he asked where Liz was. "Francis will man the controls."
"Francis needs to go home. His wife is sick." Jason said remembering why their friend wasn't at the card game tonight.
"She's fine." Francis promised everyone. Diane knew what was going on and had insisted he go help. She had joked that the fashion world needed its rising star back, trying to loosen the tension. "Dee knows I'll be back when we find Liz."
"I'll call Marco on the way to the garage." Cody didn't care that it was late. Zander would open the door and talk to them or they would kick it in.
"I want a report as soon as you get one." Jason stated before his friend could leave though that would be obvious. He also saw what his friends were doing. They were going to try to keep him in the Towers for as long as possible. Which wouldn't be very long, not with Elizabeth missing.
"You'll get it." Cody said before leaving to carry out his orders.
"The other ladies were unharmed?" Sonny was guessing that was the case.
"Yeah. Scared but not injured." Johnny said watching Jason pace again. He was thinking that once his friend decided it was time to go out and look for Liz himself, they weren't going to be able to stop him. Hopefully the body count wouldn't get too high.
It was after midnight when she could move her arms without wincing in pain. Now that she was functional again it was time to get the hell out of this cabin. Problem number one was that she was locked in this room. The windows didn't open, she had checked. Nor could she break the glass with her shoe. So that was out as an escape, she figured as much but needed to check anyway.
Problem two, she didn't have a weapon. Logan had her in height, weight, and reach. Flat out overpowering him wasn't going to happen. He also had a gun. Which swung the balance of power in his favor. She needed him to enter the room without his weapon in his hand. Even if he did she needed some way to balance the scales.
She sat on the side of the bed for almost another hour before she came up with a plan. She was only going to have one shot at this because if it didn't work she would lose the element of surprise. That was the only advantage she had been given, everything else she would have to earn.
While she set up her trap, she worked on her nerves. The fact that she was scared was seen in how badly her hands were shaking. "You can do this Elizabeth." She said to herself. "He will not be expecting this." She whispered giving herself a mental boost. "He looks at you and sees a small woman, but you are going to shock him." She was going to use her anger, and her sheer will to get away from this cabin, to her advantage. They would become her weapons. Once she was out of the cabin she would worry about figuring out just where the hell she was. Logan's truck was fairly new, hopefully it had GPS. That would be really nice to see.
Satisfied she nodded and got to her feet. Her bare feet because she need her boots as weapons. The hefty chunky heel might be the thing that tipped the scales in her favor. "You can do this." She said in a fierce whisper just before setting her plan in motion.
The yelling woke Logan up. He sat up on the couch and looked over at the locked door. "What the hell?" He muttered getting up. He had kicked off his boots earlier and didn't bother to put them back on now. "What do you want?" He yelled back.
"Can I get a glass of water?" Liz said making her voice tremble. "I'm really thirsty."
"Can't you just drink from the faucet?" Logan yelled back. The bedroom had an attached bathroom.
"It doesn't work." Liz said trying to make it sound like she was on the verge of tears. "Please?" She said in as quiet a voice as she could manage.
"Wait a minute." Logan said going over to the refrigerator. There were bottles of water and he grabbed one. "Step back from the door." Arrogance made him not bother bring his gun with him. She sounded pathetic, and he figured she was probably too scared to even try anything.
"Okay." Liz said standing by the bed. She wanted him to see her following his order. Besides this put her near her boots. Her plan only had a chance of working because the door opened outward, like a bathroom door and not inwards like your typical bedroom door. It was a strange design element that she had noticed when she was pushed into the room earlier.
Logan unlocked the door and swung it open. The room was dark but that was fine. The entire cabin was dark, and the light from the refrigerator hadn't really messed with his night vision. He stepped forward and tripped over something stretched across the base of the door.
When he pitched forward Liz grabbed a boot and swung it as hard as she could sending him down to the floor. He wasn't unconscious, which she had counted on. This was where her belt came in handy. The brown leather either hadn't been noticed by Logan, or he didn't see it as a threat. Mistake on his part. She had removed it before he came in the room, and placed it on the bed. Now it was wrapped around his throat and she was squeezing with all her might.
Logan managed to get to his feet, even with her on his back, and tried to get his fingers under whatever was around his neck. He was having trouble taking in oxygen and his head was throbbing. He could feel warmth on the side of his face and was guessing it was blood. He tried to buck her off but her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist as she continued to cut off his air supply. As a last resort he slammed her into the wall with as much force as he could. He heard her grunt, but she didn't let go. Spots started forming before his eyes and then the room went black.
When he went down Liz, who was breathing hard and really sore, let go of the belt. The way he went boneless as he dropped couldn't be faked. He was out, still she quickly used the leather strip to bind his hands in case he didn't stay out for long. That was when she checked for a pulse, even with what he did she wasn't looking to kill him. Jason could handle that. Beneath her fingertips her capture's pulse was weak but getting stronger as his breathing returned to normal.
A quick rummage through his pockets revealed nothing. Looking over her shoulder she saw the keys still in the lock. She grabbed her boots and snatched her bra which was what was across the bottom of the door. She slammed the heavy wooden panel shut and locked it. That was when the shaking started. She had done it. She had really done it.
Taking a minute she put on her boots and her bra before starting to look around for a phone. He didn't have one in his pocket but she bet there was one around here someone. Everyone these days had a cell phone. The kitchen was a bust, but the living room was the jackpot. She grabbed the device from the coffee table, as well as the gun, and ran for the front door.
The truck was seriously huge but she would make due. She frowned when she didn't see a GPS unit. Her luck was bound to run out eventually. That was fine though, she could still leave. Putting the key in the ignition she almost cried when the engine roared to life. Next she checked the gas tank and saw it was full. Her luck had only dipped a bit, she was still doing okay. Now it was time to call Jason.
Once she got some bars. Apparently out here in bumblefrick there weren't any cell towers. She dropped the truck into gear and started to drive. At some point she would find a signal.
"Zander is gone." Cody waited until he was back at the Towers to deliver this message. He watched Jason's eyes go flat.
"That son of a bitch is involved in this. There is no other reason to run. We will find him." Jason was not going to stop until Zander paid for what he had done. "He couldn't have her so he had Logan snatch her." The rage was rising again. So was the fear. Jason was worried about Zander might do to Elizabeth.
"Let me call Lorenzo and see if he knows where Zander might tell Logan to take her." Sonny had been glad when Liz dropped that jackass. Not only because Jason was interested in the designer, but because she could do better.
Jason's phone rang before Sonny could even get his phone out of his pocket. "Morgan."
"Jason." Liz had to hit the brakes. She couldn't talk and drive at the same time.
He switched to speaker. "Where are you?"
"I don't know." Liz told herself to take a deep breath. Crying now would not help anything. Once Jason was here she would indulge that need. "I was tied up when we drove out. There are woods and a cabin. An old cabin. I'm in the truck of the guy who took me." She explained to him.
"Where is the guy who took you?" Johnny wanted to know.
"Tied up at the cabin. I was able to trick him and get away." She explained.
"That's my girl." Francis was so proud of her. "How far have you driven from the cabin?"
"About ten minutes. I needed to find a signal. There is no GPS unit for me to figure out where to go." She explained the problem. "With no street lights I could be driving for a while and possibly in the wrong direction."
"Stop driving." Cody already had his phone out. "Is there somewhere you can pull over?"
"Yeah. I'm on the side of the road now." Liz let them know. "Jason what should I do?" She had no problem asking for help, this situation was far beyond what she knew how to handle.
"Stay put." He knew why Cody had her stop. "We are going to have Stan ping the cell phone tower closest to you and come out. If you drive too far and get lost we might not be able to locate you." Jason didn't want her possibly running out of gas in the middle of nowhere.
"Are you going to hang up?" She really didn't want that. Checking the doors she made sure she was locked in. All that dark outside the windshield was scary.
"No. Not until I'm standing outside the truck." Jason promised her. "I'm proud of you for getting yourself free."
"I knew you would be looking for me, but I told myself that if I could I would try to escape." Liz said grabbing the keys and moving to the backseat. She squeezed between the front of the seat and the back of the front passenger seat. If someone drove by she didn't want them to see her just sitting there. Let them think the truck was empty. If they tried to get in she would hit the alarm on the key and show them her gun.
"I have a general location." Cody looked at his friends. "She's between two cell towers about thirty minutes from here. It looks like she is closest to the further tower. If we drive along that stretch we should see the truck." It was a good thing they told her to stop driving. She was heading towards the area the locals jokingly called the badlands. It was forty mile stretch of barren road. One of the last undeveloped areas up here.
"We are coming to get you now." Jason had Elizabeth off of speakerphone. The guys were heading to the garage. "How far are the two towers from each other?" He asked Cody.
"Stan said about twenty-five miles." Cody had asked that very question. "That would explain why she had to drive to find a signal. I'm guessing Logan doesn't have a smartphone. Otherwise she might have been able to get a signal at the cabin." That theory was backed up by the fact that Stan couldn't find a number for Logan. The hacker had guessed that he had a pay as you go phone which wasn't registered.
Jason sat in the back seat with Francis. Him driving wouldn't happen, he was shaking too hard. He should ask if she was hurt, but honestly Jason wasn't sure he could handle her answer. She had been the victim of a violent crime once already and he didn't want to think of her going through anything like that again.
"Are Em, Carly, and Nadine okay?" Liz was worried about her friends.
"They are fine. Em called me from the crash site. Your car is at the garage. The guys will work on it in the morning." Jason let her know. He had been there when she bought the vehicle. It was her first big purchase now that her fashions were selling. She bought it the same day her website launched.
"That was my first accident." She realized. "At least I don't have to deal with the insurance company."
"No. The car will be good as new when you get it back." Jason had ordered all manner of upgrades as well. She was going to be safe in her Beetle from this point on.
"Thanks. How long has it been?" Liz didn't have on a watch and the interior of the car was too dark to see the time on the cellphone.
"About six minutes." Jason said looking at the dashboard clock. Time was crawling. "Once we leave the city Cody will be driving faster." Which meant she must be a good ways out because he would have factored that into the estimated arrival time he gave them earlier. "I'd like for you to stay at the penthouse tonight."
"I'd like that." Liz didn't hesitate to accept the offer. "I don't think I'll be able to rest at my apartment." It was going to take her a while to settle and she fully intended to let her friends help her through this. "The police didn't get involved did they?" She really didn't want her parents to know about this. They hadn't given her any flack over her friendship with Jason. Liz didn't want that to change. Her Gram had adored Jason, and had even tried to encourage her to try for more with him. "Zander was at the cabin."
"We figured he was involved." Jason let her know. "We've been working to find you."
"I know. I never doubted that." She needed him to know that. She had said that before but it bore repeating. Jason did not like to fail people and he would feel that was the case here. "Who was the man who took me?"
"Logan Hayes." Jason let her know. "We are looking into how he and Zander know each other. Zander is gone, but we will find him." Jason promised her. "He will not get away with this."
"I trust you to handle that." Liz was resisting the urge to ask how long it had been now. It felt like Jason wasn't ever going to get here. She had to blink because the tears were threatening again. "I know you will take care of both Zander and Logan."
"I want to take care of you too." Jason needed to make that clear. After their ride that was scheduled for tonight he had planned on asking her out on a date. An official date, and not them hanging out. He didn't want this kidnapping to threaten what they could have.
Liz couldn't fight off the tears anymore. "We can take care of each other. But right now I think I may need to lean on you a bit." The more support she accepted the faster she would put this behind her.
"That will not be a problem." Jason was going to have to resist the urge to never let her out of his sight again. "Start thinking of who you would like as a guard."
"Whoever you pick is fine." Liz wasn't going to fight him on that. "Are we still going on our bike ride?"
"We certainly are." Jason thought they could both use the mindlessness that being on the bike could give them. "It's been almost a week since our last time out, which is too long."
"How many days' worth of clothes should I pack?" Liz asked getting them back to her stay at the penthouse. "How long can I stay before you get sick of me?"
"You can pack everything." Jason let her know. He was totally serious. If she decided to never leave the penthouse he wasn't going to complain about it. "Stay as long as you like."
"Jason, I think you just asked me to move in with you." She said having her first laugh in what felt like forever.
"I meant it." He said being honest. The fact that the guys could hear this conversation didn't even matter. There was no need to hide what he was going to build with Elizabeth.
"Are you almost here?" She wanted to know. It felt like they had been talking for hours, and not in good way. Which was a first. She wanted to go home. More than anything she just wanted to be back in Port Charles.
"Hopefully we are only about ten minutes away." Jason let her know. With them so close he finally worked up the nerve to ask the question that needed to be answered. "Did he hurt you?" He saw Francis and Johnny look at him and Jason was guessing Cody was listening too.
"Not the way you mean." Liz knew what his big fear was. She also knew that if she had said yes that Jason would stand by her while she healed. "I will probably end up with some bruises from being tied up, and from where my back hit the wall. I'll explain that when you get here." Because it was an odd statement.
Jason shook his head no and the guys relaxed. "We can have the bruises looked at."
"Not necessary." Liz didn't want to be poked at. "I'm going to be sore for a few days and then it will be pass. Once the bruises fade in about a week all this will just be a bad memory."
"Nothing like this will happen again." Jason promised her. He would tell her that again when they were face to face.
"I believe you." Liz always felt safe with Jason, this situation didn't change that.
"Up ahead." Cody said getting Jason's attention. On the side of the road was a black truck. This had to be her.
"The cab is empty." Johnny said confused.
Liz could hear the conversation through Jason's phone. "I'm crouched down in the back." She said getting up and waving at the headlights.
"Smart." Francis said letting himself finally relax. It had been a long night.
"We are parking now." Jason said anxious to get out of the vehicle.
Liz was smiling wide as she watched him get out of the back of the SUV. True to his word he didn't hang up his phone until he was standing by the truck. He opened the door and she jumped into his open arms.
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