Five in the Morning
3/4 oz rum
3/4 oz gin
3/4 oz vodka
3/4 oz Tequila
3/4 oz triple sec
3 oz orange juice
1 oz sweet and sour mix
Place ice in glass and pour in the five liquors. Next pour in the orange juice and the sour mix. Finally shake and garnish with an orange slice.
Chapter 17
The alarm clock buzzed near James's head at four o'clock a.m. with the light of early morning not far away. Before nodding off, he had carefully formulated his movements for the next few hours. He planned precisely and left nothing to chance. Rising from his bed in the previous day's clothes, he made his way to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face.
Grabbing his crumpled jacket off the floor, he quietly crept out of his room and ghosted through Aro's house. The only stop he made before exiting toward the garage was in the kitchen. He silently slid across the tiled floor, opened the pantry cabinets and filled a bag with food – peanuts, crackers, anything that could be eaten easily without requiring utensils or heat.
One last stop remained. Alice was still locked in a room above the garage and he wanted a quick release before leaving the property. His sickened mind needed a fight and struggle to be completely satisfied and he hoped that the previously untouched Alice would give him what he desired. A fight. James was nothing more than a sadistic mother fucker at heart. Cruel and evil desires had consumed any bits of human decency within him long ago. He was diseased to his very core.
The door to Alice's confinement was locked from the outside. As James turned the lock and opened the door, the first thing he noticed was the waving curtain at the open window.
Scanning the room, he knew that Alice was nowhere to be found. She had escaped out the window and was likely hiding somewhere in the dense forest. He slammed the door shut and headed for the garage, ranting along the way. "That Fucking bitch! She's Aro's problem now. I'm outta here. Now for that $1,000,000 baby."
He searched for a cardboard box and hit pay dirt on a dusty shelf in the back. Needing it for the most difficult part of his plans, he brushed off the top and placed it in the back seat. He drove away from the estate, not even caring enough for those he was leaving behind to look into the rear view. He was concentrated on only one thing this early morning, his future awaited him at a lodge in Forks.
When he arrived at the lodge, he chose a parking space located toward the back of the building. It was situated closer to the servant's entrance. Grabbing the box, he headed to the lobby, steeled himself, and rehearsed his words to the desk clerk one last time.
James entered the lobby with the box firmly placed in front of him as he strode to the vacant front desk, rang the chime on the counter to announce his presence, and a young woman quickly walked through a door at the back wall, adjusted her uniform and tried to smile.
Damn, she looks tired as hell and probably doesn't give a fuck. Here goes.
"Good morning. Can I help you, sir?" The bleary eyed desk clerk covered her mouth as she tried to hide a yawn.
"Yes," James threw her a sweet smile and a sly wink. "I have an early breakfast delivery for that guy who's driving the Ferrari. He wanted it delivered to someone named Bella"
"I know the guy you're talking about. The valet attendant, told me about him before he left for the night. Imagine a Ferrari here in Forks." James watched as her eyes rolled in annoyance. "Aren't all the restaurants closed at this hour?"
"It's from Forks Coffee Shop. He stopped by last night and ordered a 5 am delivery. Paid double too. The waitress got so excited about the extra cash and the car he was driving that she forgot to get the room number. I'm hoping you'll help me."
James leaned in closer toward her and slowly licked his lips.
"Okay, it shouldn't be a problem." The desk clerk turned her attention to the computer screen. "I don't think I've ever seen you there before. Are you new in town?"
"I've visited here a couple of times and decided to stick around for a while. See how things go. You lived here long?" James continued in his charade, hoping that his acting and patience held out. His nerves were wearing thin.
"My entire god damned life and I can't wait to get the hell out of here. Hope you like it better than me."
"It's growing on me. Well, I'd better get this up to Moneybags. What was that room number again?" James paused and waited for her reply.
"I'll look up the room number via the valet records." The clerk typed away while peering at her computer screen.
"They're both in room 305. It's a two bedroom suite. Figures he'd have the nicest and largest room here. Just turn down the hall at the end of the lobby. Walk past the stairway door and the elevators are on the right."
"Thanks." James tipped his head and turned to walk away, maintaining his game face.
"Nice to meet you. Maybe I'll see you at the restaurant sometime."
James cringed at the thought of having to interact with her again. "Better get this up there."
His steps picked up speed as he left the lobby behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he quickly opened the stairway door and moved inside the stairwell. It was poorly lit and still, just as he hoped it would be. He ran down one flight of stairs and saw that there was an outside entrance that led to the parking area close to his car.
Laughing at his own dumb luck, he made it back up to the elevators and proceeded to the third floor. After locating room 305, he removed his favorite restraint, duct tape, from the box and sat it in front of the door. While stuffing the tape into his pocket, he felt the cold metal of the box cutter. He counted the rooms to the end of the hallway. James needed to know which balcony to climb onto once he was scaling the back of the hotel.
As he reached the hallway's end, he jiggled the knob of a door that was marked as vending. Besides housing the ice and soda machines, it also served as a breezeway to the outside with a small balcony.
Fuck, now I don't have to scale a wall. Just need to somehow get across three balconies.
James pulled the box cutter out of his pocket and used the end as a makeshift screwdriver, separating a panel from the soda vending machine. It was a solid and thick metal sheet about five feet tall and he decided to use it as a connector by stretching it from one balcony to another.
"Fucking genus," he muttered to himself.
Opening the glass door, he situated the panel between the first two balconies and snaked across the metal on trembling hands & knees, careful to never look down, as he climbed onto the wooden deck. He quietly crossed to room 303's balcony and continued across the last one.
After he slithered onto the balcony of Bella's room, he gingerly laid the metal sheet on the floor. He didn't want to take a chance that it might fall and wake up the dead with a loud bang. Walking to the glass patio door, he faced the part of his plan that could leave him empty handed and totally fucked.
A locked door.
He was fully prepared to pry the lock open or even remove the glass panel if there was no other way. However, he found the door budged as he pulled the handle.
Shit. Some stupid fuck must be looking out for me. No one's this damned lucky.
When Edward and Bella had left the balcony hours earlier, they'd forgotten to lock the door behind them. With their bodies on overdrive, a locked door had been the last thing on their minds. A dangerous combination for agents involved in a mission dealing in ugly crimes and evil criminals. The attraction between them had literally left the door open for danger to enter in and snatch Bella away.
After entering the room, he let his eyes adjust to the darkness and walked forward. Now standing in the living area between the two rooms, James had a choice to make. There were doors on both sides of the room. He wondered which one he should open first. He looked around for a few clues and saw a pair of women's shoes laying outside the door on his right.
Right, it is then.
Inching toward the door, he quickly sliced two long strips of duct tape from the roll with his box cutter and loosely adhered them to his jacket. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as adrenaline spiked through his veins. Even in the coolness of the night, sweat was trickling down his spine. He lived for this feeling. The need to overpower another person aroused the very devil in him.
Soundlessly, he turned the door's handle and slowly inched it open. He slipped in quickly and gently closed it behind him. There was just enough light to make out a slender, petite form on the bed. Waves of hair fanned out to one side across the pillow as Bella lay sleeping on her left side, facing away from her intruder.
He played out the next moves in his twisted mind. His actions needed to be lightening fast and on the mark. Inject her, silence her, and then subdue her.
Positioned at the foot of the bed, James skimmed over Bella's covered curves. She appeared angelic in the dim light as she slept, and her pale skin matched the soft white of the sheets wrapped around her lower body. He wondered how someone so beautiful could still be a virgin, especially at her age.
James had met women like her in the past. Conceited snobs who thought he was subhuman and trash. They were repulsed when he tried to approach them and cringed when he spoke or reached out for a simple caress.
She's just another one of those bitches that turned me down. It's payback time. He smiled wickedly as he imagined the fate that awaited the sleeping beauty in front of him.
Since Bella was sleeping in a sleeveless shirt, James had easy access to her upper arm. He pulled the Versed-filled injection pen from his jacket pocket. The sedative was a favorite within the trafficking community, subduing a person without rendering them unconscious. Docile, submissive, and most importantly quiet.
The tiny three-milligram dose would almost instantly dissolve her resistance and ability to process what was occurring to her. However the effect would start to wear off in about thirty minutes which gave James a short window of opportunity. He calculated that they would be well on their way out of Forks when Bella came back to her senses. He removed the cover to the injection pen and positioned the end in his fist, with the needle pointing down and his thumb over the pen's release. Like a snake coiled near its prey, he was ready to strike.
In one swift move, James' body engulfed Bella's small frame. Simultaneously, he placed his left hand on the back of her neck at the base of her skull and shoved her face into her pillow as his right hand plunged the needle into the muscle of her arm. He felt her waking from his onslaught as she tried to rid him off of her back, bucking and twisting underneath him. A muffled scream died out into her pillow as the sedative hit her nervous system. Smiling and pleased that her struggle only lasted a few short moments, James wrapped the duct tape around Bella's mouth as the drug took away her fight.
Leaning toward her ear, James whispered seductively. "Pretty, pretty Bella. You're gonna make me a rich man."
Surrendering to the sedative, Bella's mind was clouded and her thoughts were unfocused. Limp and lifeless, James pulled Bella's arms to her back by her wrists and secured them with the last piece of duct tape.
"Now it's time to get this show on the road." His words had no impact on Bella, her reasoning dissipated somewhere in her drug-soaked brain.
James needed more light before he left the room with her so he reached for the lamp on the night stand and turned the switch at its base. A soft light illuminated the room and Bella's eyes fluttered as if they preferred the darkness. James sat her up on the bed and pushed her chin up as he stood in front of her.
Blank, nothing. The look in her brown eyes was empty. Nothing seemed to be registering. No fear or alarm.
Locating a pair of running shoes near her suitcase, James slipped Bella's feet into them. He laced them up and tied them carefully. He couldn't afford to have her tripping over her shoestrings as her walking was going to be challenging enough. Next he searched for something to cover-up her arms and shoulders. In the corner he noticed a khaki colored jacket draped over a wooden chair, he laid it over her and secured it with the ties at the neck.
"Well that was easy enough. Now to the car." James grabbed Bella by the shoulders and yanked her from the bed, pulling her to stand on unstable feet.
Bella leaned into James' side as he did his best to direct her movements. The darkened obstacle course of the suite's sitting area present a challenge for James. Leaving the door open and Bella's lamp lit allowed him just enough light to spill through the living area and carefully escort Bella through the room. Just a few more feet left and he'd have her at the room's main door with the hallway just beyond it.
Bella's body rested entirely against James as they stood by the room's door. He wrapped an arm around her, and with his free hand, he cautiously moved and turned the locks that secured the door. Silently, he realized the ironic place he found himself in. He was the trespasser who was taking what he wanted from within and unlocking the door from the inside.
Dumb fucks. I'll be long gone before they'll know what hit them. Hell, they don't even know that I exist. James was confident that his plans were foolproof, believing that he was dealing with rich land developers interested in Aro's beach property instead of trained FBI agents.
Holding the door open with his foot, he pulled the hood on Bella's jacket over her hair to help disguise the strip of duct tape over her mouth. The hall was abandoned, however he eliminated the chance of being discovered.
As he left the room, he didn't even bother completely shutting the door. The pre-morning stillness greeted him in the hallway after he scanned for a random guest walking the halls.
Nothing. The coast was clear.
Quickly, he towed Bella's sagging body across the carpeted floor to the stairway entrance only a few feet away. Pushing the door open, he moved a swaying and unsteady Bella inside the stairwell. Realizing that trying to walk her down the stairs would be a slow if not impossible process, he decided to throw her over his shoulder and haul her down the three flights. He didn't stop until he arrived at the lowest level and put her down near the exit door.
"Okay, back on your feet." James opened the door to the outside. After his exertion down the stairs, he welcomed the cool night air as it chilled his overheated skin. There was a clear path to his car and the pre-dawn darkness was still surrounding them. On the opposite end of the building, a delivery truck was unloading food for the day. The driver was busy with his duties and didn't look in their direction.
James placed his right arm around Bella's back and held her left arm with his other hand. He noticed that she was walking better and her steadier gait warned him that the sedative was losing its effectiveness.
Arriving at the back of his car, he found the keys in his pocket and unlocked the trunk, scanning the parking lot as he lifted the lid. Finding himself alone with Bella in the darkness, James lifted her into his arms, cradle style, and placed her in the empty trunk. Positioning Bella on her stomach with her duct taped hands gathered in back, he arranged her legs where they curved and bent at the knee. Bella was beginning to moan against the tape over her lips. An uneasy feeling hit him as he hurriedly pushed the truck lid down and listened for the click of the latch.
James rushed to the driver's side car door, curled behind the steering wheel and fired up the engine. Once the car was sailing down Highway 101 he exhaled a deep breath of relief.
Alone in darkness of the trunk, Bella's mind was still immersed in the Versed and her vision was distorted. Her eyes tried to focus on the rear taillight that appeared to be sparkling in a kaleidoscope fashion. To her, the light appeared to twinkle as the car bounced along the highway and it reminded her of a star set in a dark sky.
A star. Her murky thoughts drifted to one of her favorite songs. She could vaguely hear the childlike voice of the singer echoing in her ears and softly singing.
Just like a star across my sky
Just like an angel off the page
You have appeared to my life
Feel like I'll never be the same.
Bella tried to move her arms as the song faded from her mind, but no matter how hard she pressed her wrists against an invisible force, her arms wouldn't budge. She was trapped and bound. As fear sped through her body, her only thought was… Edward.
After fighting sleep, Edward finally drifted off around two. When the alarm sounded at six, he really wanted to hit the snooze button and throw the pillow over his head. But knowing that they had a busy and important day ahead of them, he swung his legs to the floor and looked over at Jazz's bed. Seeing his friend's long legs extended an extra foot off the mattress made him laugh. That bed is about a foot too short for him.
Last night's encounter with Bella had left Edward in a great frame of mind, even if his body protested and wanted him to sink back down into the bed again.
"Oh, Bella." He spoke softly unable to contain the silly smile spreading across his face. His mood was light and happy, almost giddy as he welcomed unfamiliar emotions all centered on her.
Humming to himself while he put on his t-shirt, Edward walked into the open area between the two bedrooms and saw that Bella's door was open with a light shining from within. He peeked into her room and noticed that her bedding looked disheveled with part of it lying oddly on the floor.
Walking toward the bed, Edward spotted a pen-like object nestled in the carpet. As he edged closer, he realized it was thicker than a pen and looked familiar. Crouching down to retrieve and examine it, his heart sunk.
"Fuck. There's a needle." Jumping up he began yelling."Bella… BELLA!"
Frantically, his eyes searched the room for something, anything that would assuage his worst fears. Her purse sat atop the dresser with her phone charging close by. The bathroom door was wide open, dark and vacant.
Holding the injection pen, he ran into the living room and stopped dead when he saw their hotel room door standing ajar. There was no sign of Bella. Nothing. His hands began to perspire and a sick feeling hit him.
"James."
A/N: We would liked to thank our Special Agents…..Betas Elizabethan and Aquariumjenn
Lyrics from the song "Like a Star."
Bailey Rae, Corinne. "Like a Star." Corinne Bailey Rae. Capital Records/EMI, 2006