Don't Piss Off the Redhead

Kidnappings! Kidnappings for all!

I stared at the gun and the note. Maybe it was a summons for Kalin, for when she got back. Maybe whoever had put it there had accidentally left the door ajar... Unlikely.

I stood, frozen in the doorway for a good five minutes, arguing myself in and out of different solutions as to why there were those two items in a room Kalin usually kept sealed off from the rest of the world.

Fighting my increasing sense of dread, I eventually went inside and shut the door. I approached the bed carefully, as though there was some sort of trap on the way to the bed, even though I had burst in and thrown myself onto the bed more times than I could count. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to run away.

The note I snatched up was on regular white printer paper, and on it was printed:

"We've got your girl.

You've got a gun.

Let's see if you can use it,

Let's see if you can find her.

We'll be waiting,

Right where you found her."

"Right where I found her?" I repeated. "I didn't find her, she found me!" I wanted to chuck the gun at something, but figured Kalin would get mad at me, before I remembered that she was why I had the gun in the first place. "And she's not my girl," I mumbled, as an aside. Stupid people.

They'd kidnapped Kalin. Whoever they were. She'd probably already escaped, I reasoned. She's pranking me, her and Rich. Or her and Niev. Or all three together. Kalin doesn't get kidnapped.

But what if... another part of me whispered. I sat on the edge of the bed and clutched my hair, the note crinkling in my hand.

****************

The chair was uncomfortable, the lights were far too bright, and the rope around my wrists was scratchy. All in all, not the worst kidnapping I'd had happen to me. Granted, this was more of an exercise than anything else, but still.

Brianna had been ever so thrilled to take responsibility for my kidnapping. Occasionally I wondered if that girl's brains were functioning properly. I knew she'd make the note as cryptic as possible, make it hard to find me. She didn't really want me to be found. No, she wanted Aiden all to herself, the little snake. I also knew she'd try to make my conditions as uncomfortable as possible. Hence the three centimeters of sewer water barely moving at my feet, and the coarsest rope I'd ever had the displeasure of feeling. I could, of course, be out of here in approximately five minutes, but that wasn't the point of the exercise.

The point was to see how good Aiden's skills were, and if they were applicable. I myself had had to find my mother. Rich had had to find his mentor, Fayth, and Niev had had to find me, because she wasn't particularly attached to her mentor. We don't speak of it.

I peered into the shadows past my circle of light as I heard the swishing sounds of someone walking through water, toward me. It was unlikely to be Aiden already, and lo and behold, it was indeed Brianna instead. She sashayed into the light with too much hip and too little dignity.

Once she was in my circle of heavens-bright light, she smirked and asked in that stupid voice how I was feeling. Honestly, I'd rather she start with the physical torture, because I might break this weak chair and stab her with it if she talked to me for too long.

I reminded myself that this was an exercise, and killing one's captors in this exercise would likely end in more trouble than Brianna was worth.

I repeated this forcefully in my head over the course of the exchanged niceties.

"So..." I drawled, "Do I get to know where I am, at least? Maybe a little hint, or perhaps what was on the note?"

She giggled behind her hand like a snob. "Silly Kalin, you're a hostage. Hostages don't get to know things. Don't you forget I'm getting evaluated as well." She said this much too cheerily. I had, in fact, forgotten she was also going to be evaluated on her techniques shown here. Learning to walk the line between game and boring, you-win-all situation.

One might ask, why train assassins to be the Joker? Occasionally, to lure one target in, we take another as bait. Cruel? Possibly. Fun? Only if you do it right. There were some at the agency who disliked that we were learning such things as this, but my mother wasn't one of them. I was bait right now, after all.

Withstanding torture was a part of this exercise. I guess Brianna had chosen the psychological route. Joke was on her, though, I was a pro at checking out of unpleasant situations. I thought deeply about the meanings of trivial things in the book I had last read while my captor droned on and on about after this surely she would get to go on a mission, a big one, a long term one. If I hadn't been checked out, I would've agreed with her taking part in an endlessly long term mission.

Eventually she tired of that topic, and started in on how Aiden was going to have to get to me, and I checked back in. I kept my stare blank, however. No point in letting her know I was listening. People said stupid things when they thought you weren't listening.

Such as how Aiden would first need to figure out how to find the place where he'd found me. (I wasn't quite sure where that was, but I stored the line for later, hoping perhaps her ramblings would lead to where we were.) She mentioned that Aiden needed to figure out how to get out of HQ, as no one would be there. (I wondered how she'd managed to get approval for that.) And eventually track me to a certain building at a certain cross-section, in a certain city.

It seemed she was done prattling off information for me to digest when she added, "Unfortunately, he'll be wrong, because we're right beneath his room," she smirked, ever so satisfied with how she'd hidden so close to where he started. The line about him finding me now made sense. He'd found me sitting on his bed, in his new room, in HQ, right after I'd punched him.

I didn't let anything show on my face, didn't move a muscle as Brianna came closer and put a hand on my shoulder, put her face right next to mine. She flipped her hair carelessly with her other hand, and whispered, "And he'll realize you weren't worth all he went through to find you." She grinned triumphantly. I stared into space, looking for all the world a vegetable.

Brianna sighed. "You aren't fun when you're unresponsive, Kalin," she turned away, her head drooping, and for a moment I thought she was simply going to walk away. Then she whirled and punched me across the face.

****************

Hailo, I am so very pleased school is taking a break for the summer months. I feel as though I've actually gotten some stuff done. I made an epic mug, I've started Game of Thrones, all in all, really satisfying.

Please, as per usual, like, comment, share your life story, anything. And, if you've the time and inclination, please read my other works!

Anyhitherwho!

~KK