Rescuing Madison (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty Three

Jackson's POV

The screen was black for a few seconds, with just a few muffled sounds. Then all of a sudden, I saw Madison. She was laying on the ground, hands & feet bound with rope. Her clothes were dirty & ripped, & I saw some blood on her shirt & face. She looked exhausted. Then I heard his voice.

"Oh, Madison. I wish you would have just cooperated so I wouldn't have had to hurt you." I want to hurt him. "Can you tell your boyfriend just how hard you tried to fight? I'm sure he'd love to know that you didn't come easily. Maybe that'll make him feel better. Come on, sweetheart."

The video got closer to Madison's face. She had tears streaming down her face, & she shook her head. I was fighting back my own tears.

"If you don't want to tell him that, then go on & tell him how much you love him. I'm sure he'd love to hear that from you one last time." She shook her head again. "Tell him or I'll hurt you again. You'd rather talk than get hurt, right?" She nodded this time. "Go on, sweetheart. Tell him."

She looked up at the camera, & whispered "I love you, Jackson." I could feel tears falling down my face now. I love you too, baby.

"Good girl. See, that wasn't hard. Now, I want you to tell him one last thing. Make it something romantic. If you tell him where we are, I'll make sure you never see him again."

The video zoomed in on her face again. She looked like she was thinking of the right thing to say. Come on, baby. Give me something to work with.

"We don't have forever, sweetheart." There was a flash of something silver, & I knew he must have had a knife out.

She looked straight at the camera, & said "I'll see you in the stars."

"That didn't sound too romantic, but I'll let it slide. Say goodbye, sweetheart." She shook her head, sobbing again. "SAY GOODBYE!" he screamed.

I watched, helpless, as he kicked her in the stomach, & she curled up in a ball, bringing her knees up to her stomach. The video went black, & I knew there wasn't any more to watch. I had almost forgot that I was in a car with Kolt, when he spoke.

"Jackson?"

"What?"

"Did 'I'll see you in the stars' mean anything to you?"

I knew it did. My brain just had thousands of other things running through it right now. The stars? That part had to be the important part. I could vaguely remember us talking about something that had to do with stars. But what was it? Come on, Jackson. Think. The stars..

"Madison once mentioned this place that she had been to before where the ceiling had stars painted on it. Do you remember when we were little, we used to go to that store that sold all that astronomy stuff? We would go downstairs where they sold all the telescopes. & The ceiling had stars painted all over it, & we thought it was so cool. Then they shut it down when I was 14." I said.

"Yes! I remember it. I think it was called Star City or something like that. Every time mom & dad took us downtown we would..." He looked up at me, his eyes widening. "Jackson, are you saying that you think that creep took Madison there?"

"Yes. It's been an abandoned building for almost 10 years. & It's only a couple streets over from here."

"Then we need to get over there right now. I'm pretty sure he's not going to know we're coming. We need to-"

I cut him off. "There will be no we. It'll just be me. I need you to get the police while I get Madison."

"Dude, no. It'll be better to have us two against him."

"I know that. But, I don't want to risk you getting hurt also. I need to just focus on getting Madison out."

"I don't like this, Jackson."

"I know. I don't either. But, that's how it has to go."

He sighed. "Open the glove box. I have a gun in there."

"When did you get a gun?"

"Awhile ago. It doesn't matter. I want you to take it."

I grabbed the gun & made sure it was loaded. I looked back up at Kolt.

"I'm going to get out here, & walk there since it's not that far. You get the police. & Maybe you should call Dominic. He'd be freaking out if he knew what was going on right now."

"I will. Just.. Be careful, Jackson. I'm not going to lose a brother tonight. Mom would be pissed if I let anything happen to you." he chuckled.

"Well, since I don't want to endure the wrath of mom, I'll be careful."

I got out of the car, & watched Kolt drive away. I started jogging through the alley, towards Star City, or what was left of it, anyway. I couldn't help but feel proud of Madison for being able to tell me where she was, even though she was hurt. I would have spent forever going through each abandoned building around here.

I was glad that no one was around. I didn't have time to stop & explain why I was running through alleys with a gun. When I finally got to the building, I stopped. The windows were all boarded up, & the doors had boards across them also. There had to be some way he got in there with her. I silently walked around the building, being careful of the basement windows. I didn't need him to notice me out here & hurt Madison even more than he already had.

I noticed a faint light in one of the windows, so I crouched down so I could look inside. I felt my heart clench when I saw Madison. She was laying on the ground like she had been in the video, but now her shirt was off & I could see a bunch of blood on her stomach. I felt my anger flare up. I had to get her out of there. Now.