Bruised and Scarred.

Taken

For whatever reason it seems to me that the sun shines brighter here; maybe I’m just imagining things. It could just be the light in my eyes that is brighter now that I’m here with Niall. He really just brightens my day. If I’m ever feeling down or upset about something, even if I felt like cutting again I’d think of Niall and sometimes it would rid me of that ache to cut again. Sometimes. So maybe there have been a couple of small new scars, but they’re really small so it can’t hurt. It can’t hurt me or Niall.

“Hey, what’s got you thinking so hard?” interrupts that familiar Irish accented voice I know so well. I look up and shake my head mumbling, “Nothing”.

“It’s gotta be something babe. You never think that hard about something unless it’s bothering you. Is it the twins father? The twins? Your brother? Just tell me babe”

I shook my head once again as he sat at the foot of the bed that I was still lying in. “It-it’s nothing Ni” He gave me this rock solid expression that said he didn’t believe me, but didn’t want to press on enough that I was going to snap. Right then my phone buzzed on the night stand and I instinctively reached to grab it, but not before Niall reached out and said, “You need to relax, how about a trip to the gym, a massage, or even a bubble bath?” My phone buzzed again in his hands and he looked down and gulped. “You might want to read this” he shakily handed me my phone as I mentally prepared myself for what might be the worst possible news I could stumble upon. I scrolled through the messages and tweets on my lock screen until I came across one that caught my eye like it was meant to. Help.

~

“I don’t know where they could be. I don’t know why they even thought of leaving me, why would they think they could? They are thirteen, and unbelievably vulnerable in a city like this. Why would they do this to me? I just wanted to spend time with you not go on a wild goose chase after my sisters” I ranted while putting together a small bag with my wallet, keys, phone, phone charger, flashlight, lighter, hair ties, duct tape, scissors, a small wrench, and a pocket knife. “What in the world will you need a pocket knife for? Since when did you even get one?”

“When I started working for you I didn’t know what kind of danger you could be in or what kind of danger I could be in. And when you read a message saying Help you prepare for anything Ni”

He was pretty quiet after that and didn’t seem to question anything. I quickly looked through my recent text messages from the girls, both said something about walking down the street to a café to find breakfast. Well that explains the missing fifteen dollars from my wallet. After that it pretty much consisted of random letters and odd pictures of them near some trees. In the last one that Lola sent Lindsey was looking behind them and there’s a small part of something that is black in the picture. When we reached the parking lot I hopped in the driver’s seat and handed my phone to Niall telling him to ask the guys if they have seen them or heard from them at all. “Harry said they were on the way to the hotel we’re staying at. Must be some place between here and there” It made sense so I made sure to keep an eye out for a café and trees similar to the ones in the picture.

“There’s a café” Niall pointed out once we were about two miles down the road. The city faded into a park on either side of the road; which did us almost absolutely no good at all. I parked on the side of the road and looked through the messages again. Suddenly new messages were flying in. Some pictures and some messages, but none of them were of either of the twins, except for the last one of them tied up back to back, duct tape over their mouths and eyes shut. I scrolled to the top of the sudden burst of messages and slowly scrolled through each message until it came to a picture. The messages read:

12874I79F 86789Y580O9494U5 876E856V8936E8034R897785 7578W7687A7896N987897T8698 95678T987986O768 9078S709798E8798E8789 89667T768H8969E897M876 8976A8968G98679A097I8798N8689 7896C86674O5678M8587E8678 896B8768Y768 678856Y786O576U7576R8689S879E698L6897F6899 967O8768R7868 876P758O868O087R7687 678M768U657M76 868W67868I686L868L686 8968B97898E89066 869V986E7689R8768Y876 768U768P768S8987E7868T768 8978W87979I768T8798H8679 6867Y69876O868U8768

7868A897697N89798D78 98798I589F897 687678Y78568O7868U7687R7897 6768N86798O89698T79780 7860A870L860O585N696E7867 76876I78687 678C785687A7697N789678 68796T7687E7686L7689L7687

At first I didn’t see the message until I noticed an oddly shaped three and a fatter zero that looked like a letter. First thing I thought to do was call Paul. He’d know what to do an tell me how to get the twins back safely.

“Heyy Jessa, so good to hear from you again”

“I kind of need some very quick advice”

“This about Niall?”

“No, I need to know how to go unharmed by someone who’s a huge threat in order to save someone”

After some rustling in the background he spoke up, “What’s going on Jessa?”

I explained the whole code thing, missing sisters, and about how I have to go in all alone. He started off by simply saying, “There is no way you’re going in alone” I started to speak, but he cut me off, “I’m sending a team of close friends out to help you. Stay put, stay calm and don’t respond to his messages”  I did as told and threw my phone in the backseat to keep from responding as I waited. “I’m scared Niall”

“Me too, Jessa”

~

“Jessa. Is that you?” I looked through the window and found a team of men bunched up by the car. I got out and Niall did the same. “Jessa, I’m agent Barns” “Nice to meet you, but how am I supposed to go in and get out in one piece preferably?”

“We’re installing a button camera that will let us see where you’re going and who’s there, and we’re giving you these” he laid out his palm that held a pair of fake diamond earrings. “Earrings?” “That’s what you think, put them in” I did as told and instantly had some sort of ringing in my ear. “Ear pieces. We can not only see where you are, but we can talk you through it”

“Clever. I’m liking this. What about my bag? What if he checks it or has an army of squirrels or something?”

“Unlikely, but we can simply disguise it” He handed me an average sized book that seemed pretty real, but was actually a secret safe. Niall didn’t look too happy as he stood to the back of the group watching as I was being prepped to risk my life facing what I’ve been running away from all my life. “Crotch cam equipped” said one of the guys installing a camera wear my pants button is. I snorted and raised an eyebrow at agent Barns. He just continued explaining the game plan. Was I really ready for this?