Without A Trace(Luke Hemmings FF)

Eighteen

My heart starts racing.

"What do you want?" I ask him.

"I want money. A lot of it." He tells me. I want to leave Luke out of this, so I walk out the front door and stand on the porch.

"Why would I give you money?" I ask him quietly so that Luke doesn't overhear.

"Because I have Alice." Tears stream down my face.

"I don't have any money," I tell him.

"You better come up with ten grand in 24 hours or the girl dies." He tells me.

"How do I know you really have Alice?" I ask. He could be making it up to get money. There's a short pause.

"Zoey!" A very frightened Alice cries on the other line. A knot forms in my throat and tears stream down my cheeks.

"Alice! Sweetie, are you okay?" I pant.

"No. He's going to kill me! Please help me!" She cries.

"Don't worry, Alice. I'm going to get you out of there!" I promise her.

"Now do you believe me?" The man says.

"Please don't hurt her!" I beg.

"I want ten grand." He reminds me.

"I will see what I can do. If I can't come up with the money can, will you accept hurting me instead and letting Alice go?" I ask him.

"I think that can be arranged. Try to have the money or I might just kill the both of you." He tells me. I gulp.

"Okay," I tell him.

"Meet me in the abandoned hospital at midnight." He instructs.

"But you said that I had 24 hours." I panic.

"I changed my mind. Funny thing about being the one with the gun and the girl: I can change anything I want to." He said and then the line clicks. He hung up. I take a second to gather myself before walking inside.

"Hey, Zo," Ashton smiles.

"Ashton, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" I ask. He nods and follows me outside. I close the door and lead him about twenty feet away from the house. I don't want Luke involved in this. He's already been shot because of me. No matter how much he says he doesn't agree, he and I both know that his life would be much simpler if he had just left me in that house in Tasmania. I clear my throat and cross my arms over my chest.

"I need a ride," I tell him.

"Okay, sure. Where do you need to go?" he asks.

"My house and then the bank," I tell him.

"Sure, let me go get my keys." He says and begins to walk off, but I stop him.

"Wait, Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you please not tell Luke where we're going or anything?" I ask him. He furrows his eyebrows at me.

"Why not?" He asks.

"Because I don't want him involved in what I'm about to do," I explain. Now he's really intrigued.

"What are you about to do?" he asks. I clear my throat and gulp.

"Before I tell you this, you have to promise me that you'll keep this to yourself," I say sternly.

"Okay, yeah, I promise."

"The person I was on the phone with just now is a friend of Mark's. He has Alice. He demands ten grand or he'll kill her." I tell him. He widens his eyes.