2: Labyrinth
Alex followed Adanna and the man down three different streets. Alex wondered what this man was doing. Why was he going through this strange route? He should have had a vehicle ready less than ten steps away. He was now walked beside Adanna, rather than beside her. Alex followed them, trying to be discreet, though, again, the man wasn't following the usual pattern. He didn't bother to look over his shoulder, as though he knew no one was following him. Alex considered Adanna actually knew the man. He remembered the gun, and discarded the thought immediately.
The man turned another street, and headed to the tube entrance. Alex followed them, pulling out money as he went. He was careful to stay close, but not too close. The three of them rode the train stiffly, for three different reasons. The man stood up smoothly, and Adanna was yanked to her feet. Alex too stood swiftly. He followed them as they exited the train. He followed them up back to the streets. They were in a quieter part of the city now, not in the central area. There were large buildings all around. Alex guessed they were storage, not offices. Though surprisingly, it was hard to tell.
He saw the man walk up to a building, and he went inside through a back door. Alex took a good look at the building. It was very dull. It was a simple grey, and it looked as though no maintenance worker had ever been employed there. Alex also considered the neighbourhood. No one would hear if he had to call for help. A certain smell lingered in the air, though Alex couldn't place it.
He walked up the same door, and very carefully, he opened it. It didn't creak, though it led to a very dark corridor. Alex pulled his keys out of his pocket. On the keychain, he had a small, bright flashlight. He looked out one more time before walking quietly into the building.
Adanna had never been more scared in her life. She shook in her designer heels as she was pulled along the dark hall. She did in fact know the man who was pulling her along the hall. He was Franz, an old assistant of Daddy's, though he had been fired a while ago. Adanna was glad about it at the time. He was a creep, and his hair looked like plastic.
She was terrified of everything around her. She wondered if she was going to die. The thought sent a chill through her body. What would happen to all of her things? How would all of her friends react? She couldn't die now. There was so much going on in her life, and she had so much left to do. She was too young to die!
It didn't occur to her to blame her father for any of this. She didn't know about the threatening phone calls her father had received at night, warning him that he was going to receive the consequences for his actions. He was the one who had neglected to ever give his only child a bodyguard.
"Get in," said Franz. He pushed her into a small room, with one small window on the back wall. She looked up to see the high ceilings. She whimpered. It felt as if she were at the bottom of a giant hole. Franz pushed her into a cold metal chair in the middle of the room. Adanna looked around. It was a dirty room, very dark, and she could still catch that scent she had noticed outside. Franz began to bind her hands to the chair using thick ropes. It was then the waterworks started.
"W-Why are y-you d-doing this?" she asked through her tears. The man chuckled at her. He reached over and held her face in his hand.
"Sweet little Adanna, you and your father both have a good lesson coming," said Franz. "You know how your father offended me."
"He d-didn't do anything w-wrong!" she cried, only to be slapped across her cheek.
"He didn't give me the respect I deserved!" he shouted. He took a deep breath. "You and your father think you're so important. You're wrong, you know. And know I'm going to see just how well the high and mighty stick together."
He looked down at her. He smiled.
Franz was a fairly intelligent man. He knew that kidnapping the daughter of his old boss would require good timing. He had watched their family for days, waiting for the chance. It came when Adanna and her father had a loud argument about her outrageous spending habits and how he had arranged for her to go to a summer camp. They were so petty, Franz noted.
He knew today to be the day. He had been careful about picking the trains as well. He had chosen an odd, twisting route, knowing that no one would follow him if he and the girl walked casually beside each other. It had worked all too well.
The building had been Franz's mistake, though, and Franz didn't know it. The building in question had been a factory some years ago, but, in an attempt to save some money, the company who owned the building decided to move their productions to another location. They had attempted to turn this building into a sort of office space, though it had failed miserably. In the end, it had been sold to the city. The building now contained many small rooms, all rundown and filthy.
The walls to each of the rooms were four meters high. Unknown to Franz, these walls had been another ten meters short of reaching the ceiling. Long crossbars hung from the ceiling. Some were intentionally made into platforms for walking. Others were as thin as a tightrope. Alex currently stood on one of these, trying to find Adanna's captors while making sure he didn't fall. He eventually found them below, and he watched as the blond man pulled out a cell phone.
"Miles? Hello there. This is Franz." The man called Franz spoke with a very haughty voice, as though he thought he was better than everyone around him. Alex doubted he was really that important. He wondered absently how many bottles of hair gel he had used on his hair today; it looked like plastic.
"Don't use that tone of voice with the man who has your daughter captive," and when Franz said that, his arrogance seemed to become tangible. He now had the power.
"Really? Well, why don't you talk to her?" and Franz held the phone by Adanna's ear. She whimpered and then croaked.
"Daddy?" She sobbed very loudly. Alex found himself wincing as she sobbed into the phone, begging daddy to save her. Franz seemed of the same opinion, and he took the phone away from Adanna after less than a minute.
"I have demands for you, but those can wait. I want you to squirm, to know what fear really feels like," Franz spat into the phone, his voice tinged with venom. "If you tell anyone she's here, you're going to be getting your daughter back in pieces."
And he hung up.
Alex knew he had a quite bit of work ahead of him.
Franz had eight men with him in the building. Four of the men loomed in the corners of the room in which he held Adanna, and the other four walked along the halls, keeping an eye out for any intruders. They carried large guns, and the familiar expressions that said they weren't afraid to kill anyone. Alex had seen them before. The problem here was that the men didn't necessarily have fixed routes that they took along the halls. Alex was going to be having a hell of a time trying to find a way to get Adanna out.
Alex decided distraction might be a good way to get rid of the guards. He walked along the rafters, careful to keep an eye on both the guards, and the small path in front of him. He made it to the end of the rafters, but he hesitated at the ladder. This might be a good way to get rid of them. He shook the metal ladder, causing it to ring loudly throughout the building. It didn't take long for one of the men to hurry up and start climbing up the ladder. Alex hurried along the rafters, trying to reach the windows. He heard the man cry out as he noticed Alex, and Alex made sure to run very quickly now. He was careful to swerve as he ran along the long metal beams.
As Alex came up to the window, he pulled out a rock from his pocket. Alex had no idea what awaited him inside this building, so he'd picked up a few before he came in. As Alex turned, he threw the rock with as much force as he could muster, and, with amazing luck involved, Alex was sure, it hit the man in his hand, hard. Miraculously, the gun fell away from his hand and down into one of the dark rooms below.
The two sized each other up. Alex was having a bit of difficulty seeing this man in the semi darkness, though he could easily guess the man's thoughts. Bloody hell. It's just a kid? At least this'll be easy. This guard had no idea what he was up against.
Alex gestured for the man to come forward, and he did. The man was quick, Alex gave him that, but he was still fairly large and blunt in his movements. Alex had` no difficulty stepping back, and pushing the man's back. If he were anywhere else, it would have been a pointless move. But because they were so high up, Alex was able to push the man off the rafter and downwards into one of the large rooms. The man fell even faster than he moved, and he landed with an ear-crashing boom. It echoed loudly throughout the large building, and Alex cursed internally.
Within seconds, another of the guards ran into the room and saw his fellow guard lying there on the floor. The man moaned and moved slightly, and, by doing so, releasing a large weight from Alex's shoulders. He hadn't wanted to kill the man, and was sort of grateful he hadn't. The man's coworker hovered over him, then looked up. Alex took this time to bolt along the rafters. He heard the gunshots behind him, but managed to escape being hit. Another thing to worry about now was that the others in the building might have heard him. Alex jumped quickly between two rafters, but, with sudden realization, Alex saw that he had miscalculated the jump.
He just managed to grab onto the beam before he fell to his possible death below. He hung on for dear life, knowing that if the fall didn't kill him, the men would kill him if he just landed there. And Alex's life wasn't looking so long right now. His fingers were slowly slipping off the beam. He looked down and saw three guards below him, all running towards the sounds they had heard. Alex saw this as a mad, desperate choice of action, but he had to do it. Like a lot of things, he just didn't think about it. He let go of the beam just as the men passed through a hallway below him. The whole world seemed to blur around Alex as he fell, as it was too dark for anything to really spin. With a loud thump, Alex landed on the heads of two of the men, the third in between them. He landed at an odd angle, but, after standing and checking, he deemed that nothing had been broken.
Alex looked back at the fallen guards behind him. They were out cold. Alex almost laughed as he saw what he had just done. He had crushed them. He took the time to grab all three of the men's guns, throwing one in one of the empty rooms, but keeping two of them with him. He walked quickly and quietly in the direction of the room where Adanna was being held. Or, at least, in that general direction.
Alex was careful as he walked cautiously down the halls, turning slowly to make sure that there were no guards lying in wait to ambush him. He turned left. Then he turned right. He had no idea where he was going. It was like a cold, dark maze. He stood still for a moment and listened. Yes… he could hear sobs. Alex was careful to walk very quietly in the direction of Adanna's sobbing. He heard whispers, and then, suddenly, a door opened down the hall Alex was in. He retreated back behind the nearest corner, and carefully watched. One guard was walking ahead, and Franz dragged Adanna out into the hallway. The group of three retreated in the opposite direction from where Alex was hiding. The other two guards that followed slowly approached him, guns raised. Alex hid, hearing Adanna walk away, and cursed mentally.
Alex raised his guns. There was a part of his mind that was begging him to run, knowing the inevitable. Alex gripped the guns even tighter. He would just aim for their legs. That was it. He would not kill anyone. And then, the men turned the corner.
Alex was fast, both with his aim and his shot. Before either brute could raise his gun, both cried out in pain and fell, crippled. Alex acted quickly, running up to them and kicking them over the head. As soon as he was done, Alex heard fast, loud footsteps, and he swore out loud. Franz had heard him taking down the guards, and now, he was running. Alex darted down the hallway. He was utterly lost, but he wasn't about to let Adanna be harmed by these men. He sprinted down hallways, desperate to find the way Franz had taken. Eventually, he had to break to keep himself from running into the wall of the building.
Alex took it as a good sign, and ran along the exit to the door he had entered in. He was dashing along the side of the building when he heard a door open and close. He saw a bright flash of light up ahead, and he ran closer. Indeed, when Alex turned another corner, he found the same door he had entered in. He hurried down the hallway to the door, but he hesitated before opening it. Instead of bursting out, which might get him killed, he budged the door open and stuck his gun out. Immediately, Alex heard gunshots being fired at the door. Alex swallowed, knowing that he had no other choice. He fired with his gun. After two shots, he heard someone fall. Alex sighed. His gun had been closer to the lower half of the door, so again, Alex had hopefully hit the man in the leg.
He opened the door slowly to see one of the guards lying face down in a pool of blood. And Alex froze.
No.
No.
No.
He hadn't killed him. He hadn't killed him.
Alex heard a scream, and that was enough to get him to start moving again. He knew he had to find Adanna. By now, Franz was probably desperate enough to kill her. Alex looked around the empty street, straining his senses to find something. And after a minute he heard a shout coming from a little further down. Alex ran after the scream. He dashed down the street, careful not to think of the dead man back there. He focused instead on saving Adanna. He ran through an alleyway that weaved between two buildings.
He was getting worried, as the sky was getting surprisingly dark. It hadn't been that long since school had ended, had it? The dark, old, rundown buildings were looming above him, taunting him. Alex hurried down the alley, reaching the end to find himself less than ten meters away from the side of the river.
"DON'T EVEN MOVE!" Alex froze at the shout, still hardly believing his luck.
"Turn around slowly," Franz ordered him. Alex shifted to see Franz with a smaller gun pointed at Adanna's head. Alex squinted at the gun. It was fairly small – it fit quite neatly into Franz's hand.
"If you try to fight, I'll shoot her." And there was the threat. What was Alex to do when someone else had a gun to their head? Follow his orders? Alex nodded hesitantly. He studied the frantic look of Franz's face. He was terrified. Nervous. Even if Alex was a kid, Franz knew that this was no ordinary kid.
"Throw your guns in the river," was his next command. Alex slowly stepped over to the side of the river, and he tossed one over. Alex knew that this was an opportune moment to get help. If only there was a boat on this area of the river. Alex thought he saw movement just a little further upriver, and he decided to use his second gun to try and grab the attention of anyone further up the river. He heard the second gun splash, and began praying that it would work.
"W-who do you work for?" Franz asked nervously. Alex raised an eyebrow, noting that, if the man had begun to stutter, he was definitely terrified.
"I don't work for anyone. I'm a schoolboy. Just a-"
"DON'T TRY LYING TO ME!" Franz screamed at him, letting anger seep into his tone. Alex's eyes darted to Adanna, who sobbed at the loud voice shrieking in her ear.
Perhaps it was that scream that did it. Someone shouted behind Franz, and his concentration broke. He turned to see a man running up to them, pointing and shouting. Alex heard the word "gun" mentioned, and his heart started doing cartwheels. These men had seen the gun he threw in the water. Upon being interrupted, Franz realized too what these men had seen, and he aimed his gun at them instead of Adanna.
Alex took his chance. He jumped at Franz and grabbed the hand holding the gun. Franz grunted and tried to shake Alex off, but Alex held a firm grip. Between the two of them (and Alex's manipulation) Adanna was pushed out of the way, and she went sprawling onto the ground. Alex was glad that she was safe, at least for the moment. Alex was tugging hard on the gun, as was Franz, but Alex sensed that Franz was no fighter. Alex decided to go for a low blow. He lifted his knee fast and sharp, getting Franz right between his legs.
Franz gasped in pain, and his grip on the gun lessened. Alex yanked the gun out of his grasp, though Franz decided to grab Alex then instead of the gun. He was trying to pull Alex down to the ground. Alex attempted to point the gun at Franz, but he was too close. Instead, Alex stepped toward the river. Franz managed to grab the gun again, and they were fighting. All Alex had to do was angle his body…
He now faced the river, or he would have if Franz hadn't been tugging on the gun right in front of him. Alex pulled harder than ever, as though his life depended on getting the gun.
And then, he let go. Franz was taken off guard. He now had the gun, but he had been pulling hard too. The momentum of his own strength sent Franz stumbling backwards… right into the river. He fell backwards, without so much as a yell. There was an odd swishing noise, then a loud splash.
Alex turned to see Adanna sobbing, possibly tears of relief, and to see the same men running to him, with a policeman. Alex sighed, letting Franz's gun fall from his hand to the ground. He could just imagine Jack.
How'd the last day of school go?
Oh, the usual. Nothing out of the ordinary.
For him, anyways.
AN: Who shalt disagree? Neigh, I hear no one. Alex Rider hath a difficult and terrible lot in life, given no rest by Lady Fortune.
Art thee waiting for thy question? Here it be: Who takes enjoyment from the art of moving through Poseidon's great waters?
Ahem. Who here likes to swim?
I didn't feel the greatest about this chapter, but I don't like unsolved problems myself, so I posted it early. Now the challenge is chapter three...