The second the lights went out we began to scramble, pulling on articles of clothing and quickly preparing ourselves just like we'd planned.

Silently, we clung to each other as we heard footsteps rampaging through what we'd come to think of as our home. I tried to determine how many different pairs there actually were but it was too jumbled to really tell. There could have been two of them, or five, I had no idea.

As Chuck pulled me tighter in behind me, I felt the fear gripping my chest making it hard to breath and even harder to think clearly. But knowing I needed to keep my head, I swallowed the lump in my throat and did my best to quiet my rapid heartbeat.

" It's going to be okay." Chuck whispered to me in the darkness and I nodded in agreement against his shoulder.

I clutched him tighter when the doorknob started to rattle. As soon as our pursuers realized it was locked, I jumped at the loud crack of the door being broken in. The sound of the wood shattering was as loud as thunder and it echoed through the silence that surrounded us.

" Charles !" A loud, familiar voice rang out causing Chuck to become rigid under my hands.

" Get down." He spat over his shoulder. " He can't find you here."

His tone was so quiet I was the only one that could hear him but there was fear and insistence there was well. At the same moment he pushed against him, shrugging off my grasp and knocking me to the floor.

He turned to me and bent so he could whisper in my ear.

" This changes everything, Blair." He gasped quickly. " I wasn't expecting him to come down here. Stay hidden."

" Charles, I know you're in here. Covering my cameras was a big mistake." Jack called. " I warned you not to try anything stupid."

" Did you really think I was just going to sit down here quietly and wait for you to come get me again?" Chuck called to his uncle.

I heard a bit of shuffling and tried to stand up, but Chuck pushed me back down when he felt me move.

Beams of light played over the room as flashlights spanned the area, searching us out.

" Are we really going to play hide and seek now ? Aren't you a little old for these kind of games ?" Jack asked as the footsteps got closer.

" I'm not playing with you, Jack."

The voice got closer still causing my heart to stop beating all together.

In his hand, Chuck adjusted the heavy pan he was holding, preparing to strike the instant one of them came into view.

The moment the blacker than black shadow crouched down to get a better view of where we were huddled on the floor, Chuck gave a long loud shout, as he exploded upwards, throwing the mattress as he went and lashing out with the pan at the same instant.

We received the element of surprise we were hoping for and while the men struggled, two trying to recover from where the mattress had knocked them to the ground, one trying to dodge the pan and another spanning the room with the flashlight, trying to determine our position, I darted.

I really wasn't expecting to get very far, in fact, I figured someone was bound to grab me any moment. But no one did and I just kept running as fast as I could. I stumbled in the darkness over the door that now lay on it side by the door. Still, it didn't stop me for long. I righted myself and plunged onward, not taking even the slightest breath until I reached the hallway.

I glanced up and found, just as we expected the light above the door at the end of the hallway was in fact dark.

Sprinting so hard my chest hurt from the exertion, I made it to the door without anyone stopping me and again I was surprised. I was expecting at least one person to be guarding the unlocked door, but apparently they had underestimated us and not left a guard.

As I dragging the heavy metal door opened and dashed outside, I had to pause for a moment to let my eyes adjust the change as light suddenly blared, temporarily blinding me.

I blinked against the stinging in my eyes and looked around quickly.

I was standing at the bottom of a staircase, a long, brightly lit staircase leading upwards for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't imagine being able to make it the top before someone found me, but freedom was waiting up there and I was determined to try.

Working my way two steps at a time, I made it halfway up before I heard a commotion at the door behind me. I didn't dare to turn and look, but I distinctly heard several voices and a lot of grunting and swearing. What I didn't hear, and I was listening for as hard as I could, was Chuck's voice.

I tried to push the unpleasant thoughts that were bombarding me as far away as I could. I was determined not to let him down. We had a chance at freedom and now it was all up to me to seek it out.

I finally made it to the top just as I heard the voices gaining on me.

With a great breath of relief, I pushed the door I found there opened and dashed out into the upper part of the house. Having never seen the place before, at least not while I was conscious I needed a moment to get my bearings.

I was standing at the end of another long hallway. Two doors were situated halfway down and another stood at the opposite end. I didn't take long to decided which one I was going to try, mostly because the men behind me were getting closer with every passing second.

The first door I came to was on my right and I darted inside and closed the door behind me before I even bothered to give it a glance.

Once I did turn around, I was again relieved. It was a small bedroom. Only a single bed, a dresser and a table decorated the space. That, and the source of my relief, a phone. It was sitting beside the bed, resting on its cradle, beckoning me like a beacon of hope.

A raced to it and grabbed it, jabbing in 911as quickly as my well trained, texting fingers could push.

I listened to the ringing impatiently tapping my foot as I tried to listen for sounds of my pursuers at the door.

It seemed Chuck was keeping everyone occupied for the moment because I heard the footsteps thunder past my door and continue on down the hallway.

Finally a crisp, professional sounding voice answered. " 911, what is the nature of your emergency ?"

" I've been kidnapped." I whispered urgently into the receiver.

" Okay, Miss. Can you tell me where it is that you're being held ?" The woman asked.

" No, I have no idea where I am. I need the police. They have another hostage and they're hurting him."

" Can you tell me anything about your surroundings ? Anything at all ? Can you see outside a window?" She continued in an irritatingly calm voice.

" If there was a window anywhere I would have broken it and gotten away. We've been held in some kind of basement, like a shelter or something. It's underground. I'm not even sure about what city I'm in." I informed her, still keeping my voice as quiet as I could.

I knew any minute someone was going to come looking for me. I had to give the police enough time to trace the call. Thank you, CSI.

So in this line of thinking, I dropped the phone onto the top of the dresser and began to pull the bed away from the far wall. It's frame was on rollers so it rolled fairly easily. When it was far enough from the wall, I scrambled over it and began to push instead. I kept going until it was against the door. Then I sat down on it and grabbed the phone again.

" Okay, I've barricaded myself in a bedroom. That should give you enough time to trace the call. How much time do you need for that ?" I asked a little breathless from my effort.

" Just a few minutes. We are determining your location right now. Just stay on the line and help me as much as you can. Do you recognize any of the men that took you ?"

" Yes, one of them is Jack Bass. His nephew Charles is the other victim." I answered.

" Okay, where were you when you were taken ?"

" At a party." I told her, thinking it was the stupidest question she could have asked.

" Where was this party ? In what city ? Do you remember ?"

Of course I remembered. " It was in New York. We were in New York when we were taken."

We continued on with silly questions and obvious ( at least to me ) answers for a few more moments.

I told her the exact address of the party, my name, how to locate my mother and Lily

At last her voice grew cheerful. " Miss, we have your location and officers are being dispatched right away. I want you to stay on the line with me until they arrive."

I nodded as if she could see me. Then told her okay.

It was at that moment that the door banged. I jumped and gave a little yelp of surprise. " They found me." I told the woman on the phone.

" It's going to be okay." She assured me. " Help is on the way."

I hadn't even thought about it until that moment, but there was a window sitting right where the head of the bed had been. It was just there and I'd been staring at it the entire time I was talking to the police. It just hadn't occurred to me until right then that waiting around was really, really, stupid.

The banged against the door was getting louder and I dropped the phone quickly and fled to the window.

Without my added weight, the door began to budge open slightly as the men outside pushed against it.

I snatched at the lock above the window and jerked it upwards, pushing with all my might and when at first it refused to budge.

Then just as the bed began to move towards me a little, the window lifted and flung myself through it, hoping that I was indeed still on the ground floor. It was dark outside and I couldn't be sure until my rear end contacted the grass.

I scrambled to my feet and took off at a dead run.

I heard one of the men shout, " She's outside." from behind me, but I didn't look back. I just kept running.

My mind was racing nearly as quickly as my legs were pumping. I wondered what was happening to Chuck. I wondered if they were hurting him worse because I had escaped. I wondered where he was in the house.

Dashing behind a tree, I stopped for a moment and looked back at the structure I'd been held in for nearly two weeks.

It was a modest size house, surrounded by a wooded area. I was certain at least that we were no longer in New York City. I couldn't see another house anywhere nearby. But as I scanned the house, I could see that only three rooms had lights on. Chuck was in one of those rooms, I was pretty sure.

I had only a moment to decide if I should keep running, keep hidden and wait for the police or try to find Chuck and rescue him from whatever torture he was enduring.

The smartest thing to do would be to keep running. There was a good expanse of woods and it would take them forever to find me in all those trees. I could lose myself in the darkness and flee until I heard the police coming.

Or I could stay where I was. I was watching the men scanning the yard with their flashlights and I felt reasonably sure I could stay hidden for a little while at the very least. Again, maybe long enough for the police to get to us.

But as soon as the next thought occurred to me, I knew I had no choice. What would Chuck do if he were out here and I was in there ?

He'd tear the house down to the ground looking for me. He'd save me regardless if it put him back in danger or not. There was no question about that in my mind. I knew it.

So with one eye on the men and their flashlights, I crept out from behind the tree and dashed back to the house as quickly as I could.

My legs were hurting, I think from all the adrenaline coursing through my entire body, but I ignored the pain and continued on as stealthily as I could.

It was ludicrous. They were going to spot me any moment and then they would drag me to Jack. I wondered briefly how much time it took to do despicable things to someone. Would there be that much time before help arrived ? Surely our rescuers would be showing up any moment in their black and white stallions with lights flashing and blaring.

What would Jack do to Chuck when he heard the sirens ? Would he kill him ? Would he run away and try to save himself ?

A few not so wonderful scenarios played through my mind and I was instantly unsure that calling the police had been a good idea. Maybe we should have escaped on our own, taken our chances without the interference of the authorities.

But without the police finding us, actually being held by these men, would we have any proof of what happened ? It would be our word against Jack's. Teenagers against a respected business man with a lot of pull, I was sure.

I edged around the house until I came to the first lit up window. Peering inside, my view was partially blocked by blinds. But not entirely.

Cocky bastards, they hadn't even bothered to make sure the blinds were completely shut before they brought their captor's upstairs to torture them.

The room I was looking into was apparently a dining room. There was a long table in the center, surrounded by several chairs. It was empty and I couldn't see anything moving beyond it. So I continued to move on.

My back brushed quietly along the white siding that covered the outside of the house as I eased along at a snail's pace, making sure I wasn't noticed.

I finally came to another window that had lights on behind it and I stopped and peered inside. This was another bedroom. I couldn't see much of the room. There were curtains covering the blinds here, but they were gauzy and white and I could make out a few shapes from around the edges of the blinds. There was a bed sitting against the window and on it was a body. I wasn't sure who's body, I couldn't see enough detail. In fact all I could really see was a hand.

I tried to focus on the hand, squinting to get a good look at it and I felt my pulse leap into me throat.

I knew that hand. I'd watched that had so many times doing so many things. I'd lost myself in watching that hand on more than one occasion.

It was Chuck. I had no doubt about it. And I was suddenly frightened. He was completely still, not shifting or moving at all. His fingers didn't twitch even in the slightest. I waited, not breathing, just staring at his hand for several moments.

The men had moved towards the woods and weren't bothering to check around the house. I could hear their voices getting further and further away from me as the seconds ticked by.

I had no idea what to do now. Finding him had been my goal. Now that I had I wasn't sure where to go from here. Did I try to sneak back inside the house and help him ? I couldn't see anyone else in the room with him, I guessed they were all busy trying to locate me.

But where was Jack ?

Was he still inside ? I hadn't recognized him among the men that came after me. And it didn't seem like something he would do. Chasing after us was definitely something he would send his cronies to do while he sat back and waited for things to happen.

But still, I certainly didn't want to chance sneaking back inside and running into him. Jack was dangerous and irrational. I had always known that. I think maybe Chuck's father knew it, too. I think it was probably why he gave him some compulsory job as far away from him and his family as he could get him.

These were the thoughts playing through my head as I stared at Chuck's lifeless hand when suddenly out of nowhere, I was grabbed and pushed up against the house.