Welcome to Chapter 7... The Excitement Begins...
Jack had an immense headache. He wasn't entirely sure how Brody gave him such pain, but he could vaguely remember being hit with something hard in the place they were staying in at London. It had been dark when they had arrived yesterday, still being Spring, and they had immediately caught a taxi to some sort of hotel. These guys were working independantly, for sure, as they hadn't said anything about a boss or person of a higher rank. When they'd arrived, Jack had started asking questions - too many, in Brody's opinion - that had resulted in Jack's head being hit with a blunt object. All he wanted to know was about the hostage - were they going to hurt whoever it was, who was it, did Jack know them, etcetera.
In a way he was hoping he did know them. If he didn't, it would be a lot harder to know that an innocent person was being tortured on his behalf. Money-thirsty as he was, Jack wasn't hard hearted enough to stand back and watch someone suffer.
At the moment, he was blindfolded and tied to another chair. It's kind of like deja vu, he thought to himself. They were in a one-star hotel if that, and it wasn't much better than the council house they had started off in. Which, of course, Jack thought, meant there would be no security cameras or security of any kind at all. While they were in their room, Brody could do what he liked to Jack and nobody would care. While they were outside, Jack had to act as Brody's brother, while having a gun pressed to his back.
He heard a door swing open and was aware of two people walking into the room. One was the heavy footfall of Brody, of which he had grown so used to the last few days, and one was a lighter, more timid walk that Jack didn't recognise. They were followed by the shuffling sound of the woman from the cafe.
"Take off his blindfold," Brody ordered, and the woman shuffled behind Jack and began untying the knot. Once it was off, Jack blinked in the blue light from the fly attractor and took in his surroundings. The hotel room didn't look much better than the council house, either. The paint was peeling and against a wall there were four beds that looked like they might collapse at any moment. Brody stood before him, and to Jack's complete surprise, in front of a kid who looked no older than thirteen or fourteen. Jack stared at the kid, his bound hands and the look of utter terror on his face.
"Remember me telling you about a hostage?" grinned Brody, taking a seat on a dingy sofa opposite him. The kid sort of stood there looking very self-concious and wondering what to do.
"What the - ? I haven't got a clue who this is." Jack stammered, trying to see a glimmer of recognition in the boy's face, but saw nothing.
"No," sighed Brody, sitting back and putting his hands behind his head, "It was a shame, really. I called my assistant - Ian, you remember him? He's the guy who found out we were being followed. Well, I asked him to do a bit of family research for me. And, as it turned out, you have no family. So then, with a little help from Karen - " He indicated the woman from the cafe - "we discovered that you had a friend there, probably your closest. You know, that black girl. Well, we thought it would be harder for you if we got someone connected with her, so you wouldn't know them - " Jack was reminded of his earlier thoughts - "But, according to Ian, she has no family either, except for some Uncle who we decided was too hard to get. So Karen remembered the four friends that black girl was with the day we blew up the cafe."
Brody stopped to take a sip of water. He looked at the boy standing by the doorway and smiled sadistically, before continuing.
"But, according to Karen, these kids were pretty smart. Two of them ran back to rescue her "child", who was actually some kid we picked off the street and offered a bit of money, and they both knew exactly what they were doing. We don't want any risks. So we decided to get hold of someone close to one of her friends. And Karen remembered the English accent of one of her friends, and with some expertise - Ian tracked him down and discovered that person had a younger brother." Brody unnecessarily indicated the boy by the door. "So we came to London. Miles out. No-one will know we're here until they discover your dead body."
Jack had to stem the grin that threatened to tweak the corners of his mouth, remembering the note he'd left at the council house. He just prayed Amber found it. "But - I mean, how are you going to threaten me with this kid? I mean, even though he knows someone who knows someone who knows me, or something like that - how are you going to threaten me with him?" A spasm of fright crossed the boy's face. Jack knew he wouldn't let anyone suffer, no matter who they were, but he was just curious.
"Just think," said Brody, "Your friend - what's she called, by the way?"
"Amber."
"Think how upset Amber would be with you if you hurt one of her friends." Brody said simply. He could make it no clearer, "This, by the way, is Ben. His big brother is commonly know as Hex."
They sat through most of the flight in an uncomfortable silence. Li was between Amber and Paulo while Alex and Hex were behind them. The sky was sunny and bright above the clouds, yet they all knew it was thundery down below. It related to their situation, Paulo thought: that this was like a quick break before they had to come down back to reality again. Amber's friend's cafe was blown up, then Amber's friend had been kidnapped and taken to London, then Hex's brother going missing...
Paulo glanced behind at Hex, who was sitting by the window staring out at the clouds. He was obviously deep in thought. Alex had his eyes closed. Amber and Li were talking in low voices - probably something girly, he thought. He was immesnly bored. Near the back of the plane, a small child was screaming its head off while a mother was making repeated ineffective attempts to quieten it down, and it was giving him a headache. He thought about talking to Amber and Li, but hastily changed his mind when he caught a snatch of their conversation. Instead, he turned around to speak to Hex.
"Hex?" Hex jumped, as if awoken from a trance, and looked expectantly at Paulo, "Are you OK?" Hex nodded, but still didn't say anything. Paulo took a deep breath, "Look, your brother will be fine. How old is he, by the way?"
"Thirteen. Fourteen in July." Hex replied, still not looking at Paulo.Paulo could see that Hex was making it clear he didn't want to be disturbed right now, so he turned back to the girls, who had thankfully moved onto a different topic of conversation.
At the airport, they caught a taxi to their hotel. It went past like a blur for Hex. He saw famous landmarks that he knew like home flash by the window, but it still felt like he was in an alien country. He didn't know how long the journey lasted. He was thinking about his brother, Ben, who was missing somewhere - God knew where - probably wondering when Hex would come and get him. They had always been close, and Hex had always been Ben's rock. He wasn't usually the type of guy who would admit anything like this, especially to Alpha Force, but he knew it would be hard on Ben when Hex wasn't there.
Or what if Ben had wandered off on purpose? What if he was feeling suicidal? Hex hurriedly pushed the thought out of his head. He couldn't bear to think that Ben was going through anything like that. He had nothing to feel suicidal about, anyway. Except the divorce and a few bullies the year above Ben, but Ben had never been too hurt by that. If he had, then he was a very good actor.
The others were talking about something which seemed insignificant, but he was finding it so hard to tune in that he couldn't tell what it was. He remembered Jack with a jolt, and wondered if their disappearances could be related. Maybe these people wanted something from Ben...? No, that idea's ridiculous, he told himself. What would a couple of American plumbers want anything to do with his little brother?
The taxi stopped outside a building with a glass foyier and he was aware of the others getting out of the cab. He quickly passed some money into the taxi driver's hand, muttering something about keeping the change, and followed the others towards the reception. Alex signed them in and got the keys for their rooms and led them up the stairs to where they were staying.
"What if," Li said, munching on a packet of crisps in the eating area downstairs, "We got completely mislead to the wrong place and Jack's actually in New Zealand or somewhere?" After the five of them had unpacked they had met by the bar to get some sandwiches and discuss their situation. Alex stopped chewing and looked up.
"We found that cloth, didn't we? On Jack's shirt?"
"But what if that was just a coincidence? Someone else had the same shirt, and they - "
"Li, do you want Jack to be here or not?" Amber said suddenly, glaring at the Anglo-Chinese girl. Li looked down at her food.
"Of course I do. I was just saying - "
"OK, OK. Don't worry. Sorry." sighed Amber. She was getting stressed again. Suddenly she didn't feel like eating and began to pick at her food. Not knowing where Jack was - or Hex's brother - was really getting on her mind and she couldn't focus much on anything else.
Hex stood up and stretched. "You won't mind if I just go visit my mum for a bit, do you? I can take a taxi. It's not far from here," he said, looking at his watch. Alex shook his head and swallowed down the food in his mouth.
"You go ahead," he said, reminded of how his mum must feel when he and his dad always ran off to their separate places, "do you want anyone to go with you?" Hex gave Alex a look that said, 'what does it look like?' but then shrugged.
"Not particularly," he said, "but someone can if they want."
"I'll go," said Amber, putting her plate down on the table and standing up, "See you guys later then." Hex coughed and nodded, and followed Amber towards the front foyer of the hotel.
Ben was terrified.
He'd been woken up at about three o'clock in the morning by a noise near the window, and as soon as he had sat up to see what it was, someone had grabbed him and put a gag round his mouth. He'd tried to call out to his mum, or anyone who could listen, but he could hardly breath with the gag pulled so tightly across his mouth, let alone shout. They'd injected him with something quickly, so he couldn't remember much after that. Somehow he'd been taken down to the ground - either out the window or down the stairs he didn;'t know - and bundled into a car. The only thing he could remember at that point was that he was sick with fear; he had no idea what was going on, and he still wasn't sure that it wasn't all a dream. Even though he'd tried pinching himself quite often, he couldn't get his head round the fact that he was being kidnapped -
He didn't know what happened after that. He must have passed out. The next thing he knew, he was being woken up by a huge man in his fifties, who lent over him and smelt of beer. That hadn't helped to comfort Ben much. He'd been lying on the floor of a fingy hotel room, with his gag still on and his hands bound behind his back. The man sat him up roughly and untied his gag, pulled him to his feet and led him to a door on the left. Here was another man, bound to a chair. It helped Ben to know that he wasn't on his own here, that there were other prisoners too. The big man started talking to the man on the chair. Ben couldn't remember what he said, he was too scared to listen. All he could remember was that they both had an American accent.
Then a thought struck him: what if it had something to do with his brother, Hex? Hex was always going places during the holidays, and he never said why. He said he'd met a bunch of friends at some trip he went to a while ago, and spent time with them, and at first Ben had believed him. But when Hex started coming home with more cuts, bruises, and even scars, Ben had started to suspect something. Maybe Hex could help...?
After a few minutes, the big man took Ben over to another chair and sat him down. Then he felt his hands being untied, and his hopes started to rise. Only to be dashed when the man started tying them up again - to the chair. Then the big man left. And that was where Ben was now.
He turned to face the other man tied to the other chair, eager to get some information. "Who are you?" he said. It seemed like the most obvious question.
"Jack." Replied the man. He was definately an American, thought Ben.
"Why are you here? Why am I here?"
"I'm here because they want money off me. You're here because they took you hostage to try and force me to give them my money."
"What? I don't even know you. I've never seen you in my life. I don't even live in the same country as you - "
"Shut up, will you? I've got a headache."
"I just want to know why I'm here."
"Because I know a friend of your brother's." Ben's eyes widened.
"Hex's?" He knew it must have something to do with Hex. He wondered if Hex knew he was missing yet. It was light outside, so he must have been gone for quite a while. His mum must have noticed he wasn't there first thing in the morning. And maybe she'd told Hex by now.
He sighed and sat back in his chair. He was so hungry. He hadn't eaten anything all day, but looking at the huge man, he didn't look like he was going to be given any food that soon. It was like a film, he thought. He'd seen so many films where people were kidnapped or taken hostage, but never once in his thirteen years had he imagined it would ever happen to him. And he felt a lot different to how he thought he would. Thoughts kept running around his head: What will they do to me? When will they find me? Will they ever find me at all? Until the sense of fear and confusion overwhelmed him, and he dropped back into a restless and nightmarish sleep.
Howzat! Sorry I didn;t know what Hex's brother is actually called - I jsut used the first name that came into my head! Again, reviews are always appreciated :D