Incognito (One Direction)

Chapter 9

When she arrived, it looked like there was nothing suspicious going on. Louis was laughing at something Eleanor said, as they exited one of the shops. Eliza saw Amanda trailing quite a distance away, so that she wasn’t within vision if a camera happened to come by.

Management did learn sometimes from their old mistakes. Sometimes.

Eliza had brought a brown wig with her that was in a form of a short bob. She put it on in an alley at the side of the building while she was waiting for Louis to leave. Makeup did change a person’s identity drastically as well, she had realized over the years. She kept the makeup in a toned down way so that she looked pale and washed up. It hid her more distinguishable features that made her stand out.

Sunglasses helped too.

Eliza flicked her eyes around everywhere, from the tops of the buildings, to the windows of the surrounding buildings, to the people just out and about, and to the fans that were clustered and looking at Louis and El’s direction.

There could be some person in that crowd that could easily hide when something was done. There were so many scenarios that could play out in this open space.

Eliza kept watching Louis. He whispered something to Eleanor and then headed back into the shop. Eleanor nodded, but she otherwise stayed outside. Amanda soon couldn’t keep much of a distance, so she was forced to stand on some other place on the pavement.

Three minutes went by and there was still no sign of Louis. This was probably something to worry about, since Amanda seemed to be looking at her watch and glancing at the shop. Eleanor was texting on her phone and looking back to where she last saw Louis. Their bodyguard Malcolm, seemed to find things strange as he was staring at the door of the shop, as he stood next to Eleanor.

She checked the tracker, but it said that Louis was still in the vicinity. The tracker didn’t show specifics, like buildings and stuff. It only showed if he was on the street. He was still in this street, but he still wasn’t coming out of the shop.

There was something amiss here.

It probably just started.

On instinct alone, Eliza headed straight into the shop. It was a pretty big place and there were several people around. That didn’t matter much, since Eliza remembered every detail of what Louis was wearing. She would spot him in less than five seconds.

He wasn’t here.

She made her way through to the side and towards the changing rooms. There was still no sign of Louis.

The back. She sighed. The back entrance was such a cliché that she would like to change for once.

She removed her glasses, and inconspicuously stole an ID from one of the staff. He didn’t seem to notice, as he was trying to reach up on one of the shelves. He would just think he dropped it somewhere.

There was a door that required the swipe of an ID and she went through. No one was in that hallway.

She could hear a sort of muffled sound though. She started walking rapidly and through her periphery, she saw legs being dragged out of the exit. It wouldn’t really take much to get out of the back exit.

Eliza ran after the legs that she saw. By the time she got out, she was back in another alley. She finally saw Louis’ face. He was red and a hand was over his mouth, keeping him from screaming out. He was struggling very meticulously and his captor was using all the strength to keep him from escaping.

The captor was in all black again, and the hood was over the face. Eliza couldn’t see much of it, and she couldn’t even tell by the build if the person was male or female.