Okay, and here is Chapter 18! ENJOY!
CHAPTER 18 -DAY 12-
André's POV
No one had told me yesterday that Tori's room had also been ransacked and Beck and Sikowitz visited the police station and filed a report for the missing girl. I was a little bit peeved that I had not been kept up-to-date with the events, but happy that my friends were finally doing something to assist in her rescue. But we'd still need to publicize her kidnapping, so hopefully the broadcast would be able to help us out with that.
We waited downstairs in the lobby for Beck, Jade, and Cat to come down. Apparently, Li'l Red had decided to stay in her friend's room since she was afraid to sleep by herself, and the fact that her room was being checked out by officials. Seeing the shadowed look on Jade's face, I could tell she wasn't exactly thrilled with the new arrangement.
"Cat! Cat, are you okay?" Robbie asked the girl when she appeared. Cat ran up to him, jumping into his arms and hugging his neck. I backed up away from them, smiling slightly.
"Mr. Teddy died last night," she replied, pulling her head back to face him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear, lacing his fingers in hers.
"Let's go to the studio," Sikowitz said, ignoring the odd behavior of his students. I hoped he would say more about what had happened last night with him and Beck, but no such luck.
We boarded our taxis and headed towards the studio.
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Mr. Highes didn't seem to be extremely excited to see us again, a dramatic change from yesterday's hyper mood. Sikowitz had gone to talk to him about letting the public know about what happened to Tori, since I was an anchor for the day and had to go get ready.
Since she wasn't here, we decided to only have one field reporter. Beck freaked out slightly with the pressure of having to visit three different locations throughout the hour of the broadcast and interview numerous people, but Jade went to talk to him behind closed doors and after that he mysteriously calmed down.
I sat down on the main stage with five minutes until airing time. Cat bounced excitedly in her seat next to me. Her hair was a flaming halo of magenta, her eyes shining with perkiness, and she looked surprisingly pretty in the bright studio lights, and for a moment I could see exactly why Robbie liked her so much.
I smoothed my yellow tie against my collared shirt, hoping that I didn't sweat too much because I was wearing light colors and it would obviously show if I did.
Mr. Highes, rolling his head back and forth and shaking his shoulders like a boxer before a match, came into the room, going over to the head cameraman and talking to him for a few brief moments. The cameraman's head bobbed up and down, and he adjusted the camera to face Cat and me.
He snapped his fingers to get our attention and said, "We are on in five, four, three, two…"
I put on my best smile as Cat started the broadcast.
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It had been about twenty minutes into the broadcast, and I became jittery about when Tori was going to be announced. Cat was actually being exceptionally professional for once, her smile never faltering across her face. I wished I could stop faking mine.
Beck did very well with his one-man show as a field reporter. He had finished up his first location, and was now probably in the van heading off to the second place. Robbie was on better terms with Mr. Highes and giving an amusing but accurate report of the weather. Jade was in charge of sports, and even though she smiled throughout the entire time, I could still tell it was a forced one.
Finally, the little green letters we were reading the lines from stated that I would be talking about Tori Vega next. I cleared my throat and read the words loud and clear, trying not to show too much emotion.
"A sixteen-year old girl named Tori Vega who you might've seen as a host on this news station was kidnapped from Golden Dragon restaurant yesterday night. She was last seen on her way to the bathroom at approximately, uhm, 8:27 p.m. If anyone sees this girl, please report it to the LV: Daily Reports hot line or the local Vegas police station. Thank you for your cooperation with this."
Cat stared at me the entire time, and there was a pause when I stopped, as she was supposed to read the next line but didn't.
I swallowed as quietly as possible, blinking fast and not trying to make anything obvious. Cat grabbed my hand underneath the table, just as I looked away from all the cameras.
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Tori's POV
I started to wake up again, this time with my whole body aching horribly. I rolled onto my back, still unable to see anything but black, and I listened closely to the sounds and felt the myself jarring every once in a while. Wait…where was I again?
And then I remembered.
Two men named Mr. Right and Mr. Lowes were holding me hostage. They kidnapped me from the Chinese restaurant, taking me to The Royale and raiding Cat and my room. After that they threw me into their van, promising to take me somewhere that would keep me away from civilization so I wouldn't be able to report the events I'd just experienced. .
The air in the van was hot, and I could barely breathe around the tape as it was. However, the windows sounded to be wide open. I made a muffled sound to attract the men's attention.
"Oh, why hello, there darling. Or good morning is what I should be saying," I heard Mr. Right greeting. "I'm sure it's safe to take off your blindfold. Allow me, sweetie." I felt someone grab the sides of my face and the tape covering my eyes was ripped off.
"Mmooowww…" I mumbled, tears escaping. I think he pulled off some eyelashes and possibly eyebrows with that one. Now my face was going to look uneven.
"Sorry." He didn't sound very apologetic though.
I blinked, trying to get used to the new lights. I was right—the windows were wide open, but the van seemed to have its heater on or something. I tried to stand up; my legs were cramping, but I had forgotten they were tied together with tape and I fell over weakly. Mr. Right laughed, still watching me from the front seat.
"Oh no, not yet, Jade. No need to get too antsy, okay? We're almost at your destination anyway."
I sighed. They were still calling me Jade, and my throat was dry and itchy. I wondered how long we had been driving. Probably a little while, since the last time I checked it was dark outside, but now sunlight streamed through the dusty windows.
"Mmf murrfffttyy," I whined.
"She's thirsty, Walter," Mr. Right said to his partner.
"I'm driving," the bigger man replied.
Mr. Right sighed and disappeared from my view, returning with a half-full plastic water bottle. He took the tape off my mouth roughly and unscrewed the top, simply pouring the remaining liquid all over my face. My hair became drenched and so was practically the rest of my head. Oh well, it was better than nothing.
He forgot to put more tape over my mouth and I asked, "Where are we going?"
"Are we far enough?" Mr. Right asked Mr. Lowes, pointedly ignoring me. Mr. Lowes nodded, and the van came to a sudden halt. Both men left the front and came through the back, opening the doors wide.
Oh my god…we're in a desert.
Mr. Lowes reached in and pulled me out, throwing me onto the soft sand. I struggled to sit up with my wrists and ankles bound, but it was too hard. Mr. Right came up to me slowly, and I looked at his evil face.
Without warning, he kicked me in the ribs and I yelped, falling backwards. He kicked me again and I reeled away from the black, boiling asphalt road. Sand got into my eyes and I was blinded.
"I think you'll do well here," he said, taping another piece over my face so I could no longer see.
Curse you! I thought, thrashing desperately.
"Maybe you'll find your way out, maybe not!" Mr. Right called.
Unable to see, I received one hard push and was sent rolling down some sort of sandy slope I had missed to look at earlier. The powdery substance filled my mouth, choking me. There was a roar in my ears as I continued to fall, wherever I was going.
Finally I stopped, face-first in the dirt. Every part of my body burned, and I coughed loudly. I twisted my wrists inside the tape, trying to free them. I started panting and panicking; it was really hot out here.
After a while and much struggle, I managed to get one of my wrists, now cut and bloody, I guess, free. I yanked the tape off of the other and removed my 'blindfold' slowly.
At first I wiped my eyes desperately, hoping that what I was seeing was not real. But then I gradually came to grasp that it was real.
I was stuck in a lonely, barren desert. I could see heat waves in the distance, and my head started to burn. I quickly undid the tape across my ankles, feeling the blood rush down to my feet. I was already starting to sweat like crazy.
And I realized I had no idea of which was the 'right' way to go. I obviously had been pushed down a sand hill, but now I didn't know which one, since they surrounded me. They were monstrous-sized, and when I had fallen, it didn't seem so long, but after checking over my bruises and cuts, maybe it was.
I approached one, digging in my hands and feet to boost myself up, but I fell back down almost immediately. I didn't have the proper knowledge or gear to climb this thing. But I didn't give up.
For a full twenty minutes, I walked to each close by sand hill and tried to climb it. One time I got up at least ten feet, but then I lost my grip and fell. And that was the highest point I reached in the allotted time.
I sweated like a pig, which has never happened to me before. I decided that there would have to be another way up and out. I looked around. I guess I'd just have to walk on forward until maybe the hills got shallower.
But which way was forward?
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying to listen to my instincts. They told me to head in the right direction. I put on my bravest face, not that anyone could see, and began my journey in the eastward way.
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Beck's POV
We had regrouped in the lobby of The Royale right after the broadcast. Mr. Vega had arrived around 7:30 apparently, but it was already 9:30 and he still wasn't here. Robbie had volunteered to take Cat to buy some candy, and André was sitting next to Sikowitz, his hands fiddling anxiously. I tried to read a newspaper but Jade had snuggled up into my lap and kept blocking my view.
"What's wrong with you today, Beck?" she whispered in my ear.
"I'm just, uh, kind of worried about André," I answered lamely.
"And then Tori, too, huh?" she replied, suddenly hostile.
"What's wrong with that?" I was tired of her behavior towards Tori. It started to get really out of hand, and extremely inappropriate now, seeing that Tori could be in serious danger or even worse; dead. "You know, Tori could be in grave dan—" I tried to explain to her.
I stopped talking because Jade was looking the other way. Through the doors walked Mr. Vega, accompanied by several other police officers. Instead of wearing those dark blue hats with that little brim they had on white helmets with black visors.
The entire lobby went quiet.
"Good people, please continue with your duties. I just need to speak to several young kids about something," Mr. Vega announced, gesturing to us. None of us moved, and he came over. "Will you guys follow me outside please? And might I just say it's good to see the most of you in person for once." He smiled a little bit.
"Where are we going?" Cat asked, and I noticed that she held Robbie's hand again next to a pack of gummy bears. I really wondered what was going on with them.
"We're going to look for my daughter, of course," Mr. Vega replied, his tiny smile turning into a huge grin. He led us towards several blue police cars, the lights still flashing on top. "Hop in," he said, gesturing towards the doors. We looked at one another, no one saying a word.
Finally Cat tugged at Robbie's arm and led him towards one of the vehicles.
Everyone followed soon after.
We quickly arrived at a police station, to my humble surprise. Piling out of the cars, we found Mr. Vega standing near a huge, blacked-out gate, his hands crossed in front of his chest.
"All right, guys, this part of the mission in finding my daughter is very important. As you probably know, I do have certain connections with the force, even here in Vegas. And I've convinced them to let me borrow some of these in our search," Mr. Vega said, going over to a control box and pressing a button that opened the gates.
Now that we could fully see what was behind them, my jaw dropped at the sight and I felt Jade grab my arm.
"We get to fly in helicopters?"
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Jade's POV
Mr. Vega split us up into two groups to take the copters: Cat, Robbie, Sikowitz, and two other close officers, while Beck, André, himself and me took another. This was my first time on one of these things, and I was actually kind of looking forward to riding one, but of course I didn't let it show.
We were all given these stupid-looking plastic earmuffs because the roars of helicopter blades were usually enough to become extremely annoying after a while, and at first I refused to wear it, until we lifted off and then the noise drove me insane within the first two minutes. I just made sure that no one took any pictures.
Mr. Vega actually had a license to fly the darn thing, and expertly rotated the joysticks and smashing buttons on the dashboard like a maniac, often muttering a jumbled string of words into his microphone connected to his helmet/earmuffs. The three of us were to keep a lookout in the back.
Eventually we began flying over an orange desert; sand pluming in dune shapes, cacti bravely putting up a fight as not to drown in the waves. I couldn't see anything more than that because we were too high up, but Mr. Vega lowered our altitude until we were literally touching the ground.
André paced the small cabin area restlessly, not even bothering to look out one of the many windows, even though it was obvious that he was the one most worried about Tori next to her family. Beck sat on a small seat, his forehead pressed against glass, breath fogging clouds on it. I wanted to be near him, but he looked deep in thought and I didn't want to bug him.
This went on for hours and hours. We saw nothing but a forsaken desert, and it was starting to get dark very quickly. I somehow ended up in Beck's lap, his hands tight around my waist even though he had fallen asleep. André was staring at the ground, his fingers locked together.
"Hey kids, we're going to be heading back soon. But we've made good progress," Mr. Vega called from the cockpit.
We have made absolutely no progress, I thought, squirming uncomfortably in Beck's lap. He snorted and relaxed, his steady breaths hot on the back of my head.
"So we're just going to give up, then?" André asked, looking up.
"Of course not. We just need to leave this desert because it's starting to get dark, and the last thing we want is to be stuck here, without fuel. We'll refuel back at the station, and maybe go around on foot. Don't worry, buddy, the other chopper is out there somewhere, still looking. Their fuel tank is bigger than ours, and they're searching closer to the city, where it's still bright."
The helicopter leaned sharply to one side as we turned. I got off of Beck and glared out the window. The darkness was descending quickly, wind picking up and sending waves of sand swirling into mini sandstorms.
And suddenly something below moved like it didn't quite match the current. The object got larger, but quickly disappeared under another wave. I was very interested, and asked Mr. Vega to slow down and get closer to ground level. André came over and started looking with me, I could tell he had picked up what I was looking at.
The object got big again, like an animal trying to stand up on its hind legs. But what animal that had at least two legs lived in a desert? Maybe it was just a cactus appearing and disappearing by each wave of sand that passed by.
But then two arms popped out of the sides of the figure, waving frantically back and forth. No cactus could do that, I'm pretty sure. I recognized the way the thing stumbled forward, being buried once again. André made no noise, so I was the one to speak first.
"Tori?"
Aww shoot! Did they really find Tori or are they just seeing things?
You've probably noticed that we are now on day twelve, and they've only get to stay fourteen in Vegas...so do the math and figure out about how many chapters are left! :)
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