Sorry late-late-late, update. Life issues.
Thanks much for the follows/reviews! I really appreciate all of the support thus far, it's very exciting :)
ALL MISTAKES ARE MINE. DON'T OWN, DON'T SUE!
Snatch
Bags packed and stacked neatly by the door, all that remained was the furniture and plastic covering majority of the loft. In the middle of the room, the heiress was perched on the edge of a couch facing a laptop. All of the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on edge as her fists were clenched at her sides.
She was watching the story of her life play out on the news.
Reporters were standing outside her home in Paris as policemen canvassed the area searching for clues. Some of her neighbors were being interviewed, majority of them were complete strangers to her in everyday life, yet they all had something seemingly nice to say about her. Even a few of her old classmates and coworkers shared snippets of memories and best wishes.
It was as if she was watching her own eulogy.
When the interviews cut back to photos, behind her the redhead cleared her throat and paused the video. The heiress was faced with a still image of herself at a cocktail party. She was smiling as she embarrassedly waved at someone off camera. The heiress couldn't even remember what the party was for.
"You have to admit, the photo spread was classic. Even the choice in music wasn't that bad." Claudia said as she popped from around her shoulder. The heiress threw the redhead a glare, which the younger woman simply shrugged off.
Still frowning, Myka's eyes went back to the screen. Looking at the date and time, she realized she had only been missing for nearly two days. It wasn't a long amount of time, but tied down in the chair it felt like an entire week. She wondered exactly when did anyone notice her absence, and just what was everyone's first reaction. The fact that she really was featured news all over the globe did not surprise her. Her father had friends in high places, and could afford all and more that money could buy. Despite knowing this, it didn't make her feel anymore safe or comfortable than someone less fortunate.
As of now, her life was still in the hands of her captors.
"Now what?" Myka said as she shifted towards the captors. Neither of the other women seemed one bit perturbed by the news special.
"I mean, you guys didn't think you were going to kidnap me and I'll just go gently into the night did you? There's people out there looking for me, the whole goddamn world's looking for me!"
Nestled on the couch beside her, the redhead popped open another can of soda and flicked her eyes over to the darker accomplice who was leaning against the kitchen counter.
"That sounds kind of familiar, did she just quote someone?"
"Dylan Thomas, and yes, we considered all of the variables beforehand."
"So what happens now?" The heiress repeated, this time there was more than a hint of trepidation in her voice and it was for good reason.
As she had watched the video, the twosome cleaned the entire apartment. Using towels they wiped down each and every surface to remove fingerprints and went about dumping every bit of evidence into a device that Myka realized was a makeshift incinerator. It was peculiar not only in the fact that it was compact yet high powered, but even more strangely- it did not smoke. Had the heiress not been watching the duo out of the corner of her eye the entire time, she would not have noticed the box or their clever method of destroying evidence.
If they had that up their sleeves, the heiress could only wonder what was to come next.
Before answering her question, the darker woman cryptically smirked as she turned to retrieve a whistling kettle off of the fire. When she turned around, she was holding a steaming cup to her nose.
"Now we make you disappear."
Green eyes blinked as the heiress made sense of the sentence. They weren't going to kill her now were they? Her eyes nervously flickered over the two captors. Even though they had already said that they weren't planning anything drastic, she also understood that both women had no qualms with yo-yoing between extremes with their decisions and behavior.
One eye on the incinerator, the heiress voice slightly squeaked.
"Excuse me?"
The redhead shifted on her chair and pulled out a bag. Almost at once, Myka recognized it from a local drugstore. The captor turned the bag upside down and dumped its contents on the table. Make-up, scissors, hair extensions, and a case of colored contacts scattered across the table.
Claudia picked up the extensions and dangled it beside her face.
"You seem more like a blue than a green to me?" She said this in a dead serious tone. "I mean, we could do pink but that's too shocking, don't want to draw that much attention to you."
"Wait, what?" Myka jerked her head away from the redhead. The younger woman dropped her hand. "Just what do you think you're about to do to me?"
"Ms. Bering, now that everyone knows what you look like, you will need to be made over." said the darker woman from the side of the room. The heiress gaped as she shifted her gaze between the two captors. Green eyes ablaze, the heiress picked up the extensions and shook them.
"This? I would never wear something like this! Are you insane?"
"Precisely." HG countered. "Your new look must be something that is preferably so unlike you, nobody would recognize you if you were to make a public appearance."
The darker woman sat down in the chair across from them with a fragrant cup of tea in hand. Before she had sat down, Myka couldn't help but note the little white pill she slipped between her lips before sipping from her drink. It looked to be a pain reliever.
That explains her tension earlier.
Across from Myka, the redhead clapped her hands as she enthusiastically gushed.
"Oh… this is going to be so much awesome!"
At the manic gleam in the redhead's eyes, Myka's brain took a turn into morbidity. If that girl thought she was coming anywhere near her with those things, she had another thing coming.
Making a little space between herself and the redhead, Myka turned her gaze onto the darker woman. If there was a chance for her to get her way, she was more than certain that the other woman would understand her reasoning- even if she could be a bit intense. The heiress locked eyes with her captor to farther ensure the sincerity of her next words.
"Look, I said I would help you. There's no need for anything too dramatic. Just tell me the plan and I'll happily put on a hat and a pair of shades and voila..." She flourished her fingers.
After a moment of silence, HG suddenly became absorbed into her cup of tea and Claudia attention went back to the scattered pickings. In that instance, Myka realized the powerlessness of her opinion in regards to their already seamless planning.
The redhead pressed a few strands forward for her to decide upon.
"So, blue or green?"
Staring down her nose, Myka stubbornly folded her arms. Though it was an image of absolute defiance, her next words betrayed her stance.
"Blue."
Palming the choice of disguise, Claudia glanced towards her accomplice for reassurance and then turned her gaze back onto the heiress. Without her saying a word, Myka knew what was coming next. The redhead picked up the packet of shears and ripped it open.
"Kitchen or bath?"
"I don't care, let's just get it over with."
The redhead quickly gathered the supplies and led way to the bathe. The heiress sat down on top of the toilet as the younger woman set up on the sink. Claudia turned on the water and rather reluctantly, Myka stuck her head under the faucet to wet her hair. When she came back up, the redhead draped a towel around her neck to keep her shoulders from getting wet. As the redhead patted her hair dry, from the other room rang the darker woman's voice.
"Careful darling, be sure to burn them afterwards."
"OK." Claudia called back.
From her seat on the toilet, Myka watched as the redhead picked up the comb. The heiress grimaced as the redhead drew her hair over her shoulders and began running the comb through the dampened strands. Though the redhead was gentle, actually more so than her usual hairdresser, Myka silently cursed her inside of her mind with each stroke.
Once the curls were tamed to something passing for straightened, the redhead softly spoke.
"So do you have a specific length you just won't do?"
"What would I tell you that for?" the heiress moodily grumbled, "That just means you'll hack it all off on purpose and leave me bald."
At this the raking feel of the comb stopped, and the redhead tilted Myka's face towards her own so that their eyes met. The younger woman's eyes weren't nearly as intense as her darker accomplice, but they still held a chilling presence. Myka couldn't phantom what someone her age could've endured to hold such an appeal.
"You know, I could play the "good guy" card a lot more often if you would just give me a chance."
There was a tinge of hurt in the younger girls voice that caught the heiress by surprise. Now that she thought of it, apart from the abuse she had received from the redhead during the actual kidnapping- the younger woman attended to her needs more often and more willingly than her darker accomplice. Though the darker woman was more charming, Myka had noted that she tended to detach herself from any serious interaction with her. Almost as if she was avoiding her sometimes. Feeling guilty and slightly ashamed, Myka's face colored and her jaw clenched in silence.
Sighing, Claudia released her hold allowing the heiress to face forward again. At the clinking sound of the scissors being removed from the sink, Myka squeezed her eyes tight as she waited for the worst to be over.
A ticklish feeling ran over her neck as strands of her hair fell with each snip. From the occasionally humming noises of the redhead, Myka could just imagine the determined look on her face as she snipped her hair shorter and shorter.
"There."
Hands pressed onto her shoulders and turned her towards the mirror over the sink. Slowly, the heiress opened her eyes to her reflection. Both heiress and captor gasped at the image.
"Whoa!" The redhead exclaimed. Her chin wrinkled in thought as she viewed Myka's reflection over her shoulder.
"You kind of got this French actress, what's her name? Marion something? Look kind of going on. It's actually not that bad."
On the other hand Myka was speechless for an entirely different reason. Never had her hair been this short in her life. Her hair was chin length in a bob. It was a slightly longer and curly version of the same haircut the redhead was sporting. Though she hated to admit, the style bought out the shape of her face in a way that was classically elegant. Minus the horrible blue extensions, she could already imagine herself in a little black dress sipping wine at a candlelit dinner.
"Here, put these in."
The redhead passed her a container with contact lens. After opening the packet, Myka realized they were dark brown. At the expression that formed on her face, the redhead coaxed her along.
"Did you know green eyes are considered genetically rare? Those peepers alone will cause suspicion."
After placing the contacts in, Myka blinked a few times to allow her eyes to get a feel for them. She dropped her hands from her eyes and turned to face the redhead. The younger woman nodded her head in approval then cracked the door open.
"HG!" Claudia called out to the other captor.
In that instance a sudden nervousness shot through the heiress' body. It was strange, but just the mere thought of displaying her new appearance to the darker woman was absolutely mortifying. The feeling reminded her of a time long gone when she would try to impress her friends or catch the attention of a crush. Back to when she was an awkward and uncertain teenager still finding her way.
When there was no response, the redhead stuck her head out the door for a few moments then popped back in. She gave Myka a strange quirk of the brow then jerked her head towards the door.
"Let's go show her."
Lips sealed tight and hands stuck to her sides, the heiress stiffly followed the redhead back to the living room. HG was hunched over a sheet of schematics with her hand cupped under her chin and her brows furrowed as she furiously scratched out some notes. On the computer before her, the screen was showing a series of numbers that very well could've been a screenshot from the movie The Matrix.
Sensing their appearance, the Brit raised her head to cast a glance.
What at first would've been a quick pause, turned into her giving Myka a full on double take. From the way her writing hand froze and the stunned expression grew in her eyes, the heiress wasn't sure it was a good or bad reaction. Either way, with those dark eyes fixated on her form, the heiress felt as if she were nude under a microscope.
A smile curled at the corner of her lips as she finally found her words, "Oh dear, it certainly looks like she's turned you into a mini Claudia."
There was humor in her voice that the heiress did not find funny at all.
At her accomplice's reaction, the redhead snickered. Though she was sure it was harmless, this rendered the heiress from feeling awkward to more than a little annoyed. If their goal was to make her feel uncomfortable, it was more than achieved with flying colors.
"If you would be so kind darling, we're to move onto the next part of the plan." HG gathered her notes into a neat pile and closed off the laptop.
Casting Myka a quick glance, Claudia joined her accomplice at the back wall of the room. Together they dropped to their knees and began to roll up the plastic covering the floor as if they were removing carpet. At the look on the heiress' face, the darker woman provided explanation.
"DNA. Everyone sheds. If things don't go according to plan, this gives us more time if, hypothetically speaking, detectives discover this as a point of interest."
Once the plastic was folded, it along with the makeover supplies was all shoved into the super powered incinerator. Upon finishing, the redhead placed her hands on her hips and looked over the room with a slight air of nostalgia.
"Aww man, and it was just getting comfy." Claudia said.
From the sidelines, Myka watched as the redhead opened a box of contractor bags and fished a spray bottle from out of a cabinet. After spraying the nifty incinerator with a strange cooling substance, the redhead went about dismantling the device. Across from her, the darker woman loaded and locked her gun into a thick case which she stuck into a briefcase.
"Now that we've had a visitor, something tells me this may require a more offensive approach. Instead of waiting it out, we're moving forward."
Handing the case and unlocking the door, HG placed her hand onto the door knob and met the heiress' eyes sideways.
"Now for the ultimate test,"
The door flung open and HG stepped out into the hall. Mouth tight, the heiress followed her two captors into the darkened hall that gave way to an elevator. Pressing into the small cubicle space, she locked eyes with the darker woman. The glint in the other woman's eyes was more excited than nervous. As strange as it seemed, the image was reassuring to the heiress, whom herself, felt as if she was going to be sick.
As soon as the elevator's doors slid open, HG swiftly led the way across the lobby through the exit with Claudia and the heiress following her like ducks in a row.
The moment the heiress' face hit the air and her foot met pavement, she paused and her eyes fluttered shut. Just to feel the air on her face, hear the sound of the city, and have the sun shine down on her- it was absolutely euphoric. Though it was only two days and in her case, the captors somewhat humane, being held against her will was the most terrifying experience she ever encountered. She could only phantom the horrors that other less fortunate kidnap victims underwent at the hands of lesser perpetrators.
Mentally, the heiress raised her hands to the heavens and thanked Jesus, Messiah, The Buddha, Shiva and all those others in between for still being alive.
When Myka reopened her eyes it was to discover the twosome gazing at her curiously. Claudia looked as if she was on pins, possibly waiting for her to burst into a scream of terror. But HG…The darker woman was giving her such a heated heavy lidded gaze, Myka had to still herself as her own pulse rocketed and entire face went flush. Confused, Myka embarrassedly averted her eyes to take in the rest of the street.
They were definitely in London.
It was a side of town she wasn't quite familiar with but from the hustle and bustle it was like every bit of the parts she had once visited. Smirking as she passed Myka on the right, HG stuck her hands into her pants pockets and led the way down the walk. She was over three feet away before the wary accomplice and heiress followed suit through the masses.
Heart in her throat, nerves on edge, Myka herself felt criminal as she continuously averted her gaze from each passerby's. Just ahead of her, the two captors had begun walking with such confidence, and HG's case, a slight swagger, it was almost comedic considering they were the wanted suspects holding her captive- not the other way around.
As the darker woman hailed a cab, the heiress pressed close to young accomplice. The younger woman quizzically raised her brows.
"Where are we going?"
Claudia glanced uncertainly towards her accomplice then back to the heiress.
"Uh…you'll see when we get there."
A black cab screeched to a halt before their feet and a middle-aged man poked his head out towards them. Not sparing a moment, HG opened the passenger door and stood off to the side allowing her accomplice and the heiress to enter first.
After packing away the suitcase into the back of the car, HG slid into place beside the heiress and leaned forward to hand some notes to the driver. Barely glancing in their direction, the man palmed the notes and shoved them into a box in between the seat.
"Think you can get us to the airport in thirty? We've got a eight-thirty flight and don't want to be late."
Bells went off inside of the heiress' head. Just how in the world were they going to get her out of the country? From the front seat, the driver snorted.
"Are you joking lady? I can get you there in time less than that even."
"Excellent."
Satisfied, the darker woman leaned back on the seat and took to gazing out the window. Just on the opposite side of the car, the redhead was wearing a bored expression as she fidgeted with an inactivated prepaid phone. The driver turned up the radio and began to sing along with the Top 40's as he veered in between lanes and blared the horn.
In the midst of this seemingly normal scene, a missing woman worth billions questioned her sanity.