Chapter 3

"How's your head?"

"You've already asked that."

It had been no longer than an hour since the city noises had dissipated, and their talk of possible escape routes and ways to negotiate when they were faced with their captors had dwindled. With nothing else to do or nowhere to go, her mind kept replaying the cracking sound as the gun hit Grace's head.

"I know, but I don't need you passing out while we're trying to find a way out of this."

"I just have a headache, that's all. Nothing serious."

Before Stella got the chance to answer, she felt the car coming to a gentle stop. Despite it being dark, she looked around expectantly while trying to listen to what was happening outside. There were footsteps against loose gravel coming around from both sides of the car, and then the boot was opened, the light from the overcast sky blinding. When her eyes finally adjusted, she was already being pulled out. Her legs almost didn't hold her weight up, being crammed in a tight space for so long, and her left arm had gone numb from lying on it and it felt foreign. She quickly steadied herself and turned to Grace, who was being pulled out by the tall and muscular guy. "Careful," she warned.

A hand on her shoulder directed her towards a log cabin. It looked even more run down than the warehouse they had been in; the exterior looked as though it could fall apart at any given moment, and there were layers of unkempt brush that almost blocked the entrance. As Stella glanced behind her, she noticed the narrow driveway that led through tall trees and rounded off to the side. She hoped that Leon knew what had happened and had therefore followed them as far as he could, because finding this place would be next to impossible, especially when it blended in with the surrounding woods. There was also another car parked in the small clearing, but it looked just as old and decrepit as the cabin itself, and the roof and metal finishes of the once red vehicle were faded and rusty.

The man stopped Stella just before the door and stepped ahead of her to knock twice. Stella's heart rate sped up; knocking meant someone else was there, which also meant she and Grace would be outnumbered. The door opened and a dark haired guy who was smoking answered. All he did was hold the door open, and the man reached back to grab Stella's arm.

"Come on." He steered Stella through the door and down a short hallway, leading to an open room at the back. In one corner there was a small kitchenette with tacky brown and red countertops, and a round table to the side. Sitting at the table was another guy, wearing a black beanie and a white muscle tee. They were certainly outnumbered now. Stella was directed passed an old, ratty couch to the other side of the room, which was bare, bar the outdated box TV mounted to the wall, high in the corner. All the windows had closed, faded curtains, and the cabin smelt like a mixture of cigarette smoke and staleness.

"Turn around," the man said, nudging his head.

"Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

The man reached around Stella and grabbed her hands, spinning her around. Stella held her breath as she heard something metallic flick open, and then felt its cold metal against her skin between the zip ties. Her wrists felt relief when they broke free, and she tried to ignore the newfound throbbing as she carefully rubbed the area.

The man pushed down on her shoulder, "Sit." He then went over to Grace and cut her free, too, before guiding her to sit next to Stella. "Stay down and don't move."

When the man had crossed to the other side of the room to converse with the others, Grace asked Stella in a quiet voice, "Did you see the bathroom in the hallway had a window? I think we could squeeze through."

"We? Might wanna rethink that plan because they're not going to let us go to the bathroom together."

"One of us can get out and call for help."

"I'm sorry but did you not look around? We're in the middle of nowhere, Grace. God knows if there's a main road around let alone people or a phone."

"Ugh, can you just stop nitpicking everything I say? I just want to get out of this alive."

Stella paused, thinking. Once again, she remembered that she had no other choice but to work together with Grace. She let out a disgruntled huff. "Sorry. I'll try harder not to." She watched the men sitting at the table. They looked so relaxed and nonchalant. Why were they just sitting there and not doing anything? "What do you think they have planned for us?"

Grace shrugged, "I don't know. Holding us for ransom? Want revenge, maybe? Piss anyone off lately?"

"Besides you?" Stella quipped. She didn't miss the playful scoff from Grace. "Well, they've gotta do something soon. Leon's probably tracing his way here right now."

"I hope so."

—

It had been less than half an hour when there was movement in the cabin again. One of the new guys had left the room and come back with a camera, setting it up on a tripod. The man who Stella assumed to be the leader, the one with the close cropped and greying hair, dug through a backpack and handed something to the other new guy. Stella tried to remain calm as the tall and muscular guy strode over, creating a shadow over them.

"You," he motioned at Grace, "Get up."

Stella looked at Grace, waiting to see what she did before making her own move. Grace glanced at Stella before slowly standing up. Without the guy giving her further instructions, Grace could only stand there, but that was quickly rectified when, without warning, he took a swing at Grace, leaving her no time to react. She barely managed to stay on her feet.

"Hey!" Stella sprung up from the floor and lunged at the guy without thought, but he was swift to stop her in her path. Stella was hardly able to register what happened as things progressed when an elbow to the face sent her flying into the wall, knocking the wind out of her. Momentarily dazed, she vaguely heard someone shout something incoherent. Instinctively, she brought her hand up to her cheek to check for blood, but thankfully there was none. Although, it did feel at least four times painfully larger than normal. As she tried to steady her breathing, she looked up from the ground to see the man with a gun to Grace's head, and the tall and muscular guy pointing a gun down at herself.

"Don't try anything like that again or next time you might not be so lucky," the man said. After a moment, he lowered the gun, "Now stand against the wall. We're going to make a video."

Stella took Grace's outstretched hand to help her up, and when Stella looked at her to thank her, she saw the faint bruising starting to form around her eye and temple that would soon replace the angry red.

Things started to add up now, starting with the remote location they were brought to, and Grace being hit; it wasn't uncommon for hostages to be bloodied for the camera. They planned this well. They were being held for ransom.

With one of the new guys taking up position behind the camera, the other put on a black ski mask. The man was dictating them next to the camera, the gun visible as he crossed his arms. The guy with the mask stepped in front of the camera, and when the one behind the camera gave a nod, he started talking.

"As you can see, we have two of your officers hostage. In exchange for their lives, we want $500,000 within the next 24 hours. Put the money in a bag in locker number 6 at the gym on Fifth and Connor and we'll release the hostages. We are armed and clearly have no problem in harming them, so if you try anything or the money is not there, bad things will happen. Time isn't something you nor your officers here have much of right now..." He finished by repeating: "You have 24 hours."

As he spoke, he made sure to move to the side several times to show off Stella and Grace. The guy behind the camera took it off the tripod and went down the hall, followed by the guy who wore the mask.

The man strolled across to the pair with the tall and muscular guy in tow. Stella suspected the latter was just for show, with his muscles' muscles having muscles, since it looked like half the time he didn't know what he should be doing. "That was good. If your fellow officers do what we want, you won't have anything to worry about."

"What you're asking is pretty big. I'm not sure it can be done in time. Why don't you just let us go now before you send the video and the courts might be lenient," Grace suggested.

"Oh, blondie, it's too late for that. I know what we're getting into and nothing is going to change the plan. Everyone's going to cooperate and we're getting the money, and I'm sure you'll be on your way tomorrow. Just sit back down and be quiet, both of you."

Stella slid down the wall and rested her arms on her knees. Although she didn't know what was going to happen, she did know her team would do everything they possibly could to meet their kidnapper's demands to free them. All Stella—and Grace—could do was wait and hope for the best.

Billy1990ism - haha well thank you! :D