The Phoenix

Ransom

The next thing Lucy knew, well, she had no idea where she was. The room was dark, cold, and the freezing stone floor beneath her leeched the warmth from her skin. Her muscles and joints ached as she felt around her body to make sure all of her was there. As far as she could tell, she was still in the white tank top and black athletic shorts she'd fallen asleep in.

She was still trying to adjust to her surroundings when the sound of a door latching and unlocking startled her.

The door opened and in the light from the hallway, she could make out the silhouette of a man entering. It shut and a few footsteps rang through the air before the man pulled a cord, turning on the single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Despite being incredibly dim, the light burned her eyes.

"Good, you're awake," the man stated.

"What did you do to me?" she groaned, rubbing the sore spot on her neck.

"I injected you with a paralytic sedative," he explained, placing the tray of food he'd been carrying in front of her. "Eat."

Lucy scoffed.

"If you think there's any way in hell I'm eating anything you give me, you're damn well out of your mind."

The man squatted down beside her, and the next thing she felt was the sharp pain of his fist connecting with her face. She felt the blood trickling from her nose and winced as she touched it to stop the bleeding.

"Eat."

"No,"

He grabbed her by the neck, slamming her head against the wall. Lucy gasped and spluttered for air as his grasp around her throat tightened.

"I'm not going to tell you again," he said through gritted teeth. "Eat."

Lucy gave in, quickly nodding her head. He finally let her go, releasing his grip on her neck. She coughed and wheezed, trying to regain her ability to breathe. She picked up the sandwich that was sitting on the tray and began to eat.

"Why am I here?" she asked. "I can promise you that nobody's going to give you any money for me."

The man asked.

"You're more valuable than you give yourself credit for," he smirked. "We know who you are, Lucy. You work at the White House."

She scoffed again and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, as an intern to the Press Secretary."

"Your sister also happens to be Special Advisor to the President, whose son you're currently dating. We don't want anything from you, Lucy, we want the president to do what we say."

"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists," she spat.

"We'll see about that,"

Emily had never felt more sick to her stomach in her entire life, and she'd contracted food poisoning three times. She struggled to keep her lunch down as she spoke to her aunt.

"What's wrong with Lucy?"

"She's gone. I can't find her. She left all of her things in the house, phone, wallet, shoes, clothes, everything!"

"Have you called the cops?"

"No, I called you. I figured maybe you'd know where she was."

"Okay, Amy, hang up the phone and call the police."

"Alright."

Aaron must have noticed her bottom lip quivering.

"What's going on?"

"Lucy's missing," she choked out, heading towards the Oval.

On their way down the hall, she felt his arm wrap around her waist. He must have seriously been concerned about her since he always tried not to show PDA at work. His arm around her was incredibly comforting, and she counted herself incredibly lucky to have him.

"Sorry, I'm late, something happened with my sister," Emily explained upon entry.

"Is she okay?" Seth asked.

"I don't know," she said. "No one can find her."

Seth's phone buzzed in his hand.

"Something's happening. Turn on CNN."

The president clicked the TV on and Emily had to put a hand over her mouth to hold back the sobs that were threatening to wrack her body. She also grabbed Aaron's arm to keep from doubling over. On the screen was her sister, bloody, bruised, sunken-faced, and shaking.

"I have a message for President Kirkman," Lucy began. The way she stuttered made it obvious that she was reading off some kind of script. "You will do as I say, or face the consequences. 5 million dollars in cash, deposited at South Dock Marina. You have 72 hours. If in that time, 5 million is not deposited, the result will be my untimely death."

Emily bit down on her tongue, hard, in order to choke back an agonized sob.

"It is my life on the line. My blood on your hands."

Then the video cut to black.

She didn't realize how hard she'd been holding onto Aaron until then. Her nails were certainly digging into his arm, yet he showed no sign of discomfort.

Mike suddenly entered the room.

"Sir, you're needed in Command Ops immediately,"

"I'll be right there," he said before turning to Seth. "I don't want you answering any questions about this until we have all the facts, understood?"

"Of course, sir."

"Good, and if anyone asks, you remind them that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists."

With that, Kirkman turned to walk out, followed by her and Aaron. His arm around her waist tightened as they walked, and Emily soon realized that the strength she drew from him was the only thing keeping her going at the moment.

"Take your seats," Tom commanded, walking into the room. "What do we know about that video?"
"We've identified the girl as 17-year-old White House intern, Lucy Rhodes," the CIA Director explained, Lucy's profile appearing on screen.

"I know who she is. Do we have a location?"

"Not yet, sir," one of the generals piped up.

"Well, get it done." the president demanded, his agitation growing more and more.

"You must understand, Mr. President, these things time."

"You have 12 hours."
"Sir?"

"General, what you must understand is that we have an innocent American girl whose life is on the line. She's 17, she's still a child. We have less than 72 hours to rescue her, and you can't even tell me who sent the damn video yet. You have 10 hours to find her, or your job will be the next thing on the line here. What are our options?"

"Only one, sir," FBI Director Foerstel spoke up. "A task force of FBI agents. We already have an Ops Center opened at HQ that are trying to track the video."

"Get me Agent Wells. In the meantime, I need someone to contact Scotland Yard, and set up a secure call with our British ambassador," he commanded before turning to Emily. "Em, I promise you, I will do everything in my power to get Lucy back, and see to it personally that the people who did this are brought to justice."

Emily swallowed hard and nodded.

"Okay."

A/N: Okay so I just binge watched this entire show called Unnatural History simply because my wife, Italia Ricci, was on it, and if that's not commitment I don't know what is. I'm currently sleep deprived, stressed, and praying for a miracle, but I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know in the comments what you thought, and what you want to see next! 

P.S. I'm thinking about watching Chasing Life, but I'm not sure if I'm emotionally capable of handling seeing my wife cry. 

-xoxo, Harley Quinn