Runner (Riders of Apollo #3)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Raphael Flores

This is ridiculous. Second time I've been kidnapped in a year and I'm starting to get a little pissed about it. I took down someone the size of Breaker the other day and yet here I am completely black and blue, hanging from the ceiling by chains. I don't know how long it's been since I got here but by the window I can only assume I've been here for at least three days.

Mika is gonna kill me.

I promised him I'd come back but there were unforeseeable issues that led me here. The lights for one; it was definitely a surprise but I can almost guarantee that we have a mole in the club. They shouldn't have been prepared for us to be there. The way they moved to surround me almost immediately is just another reason why this whole thing is sketchy. It's like they didn't give a shit about the rest of them who were shooting at them, just me and everything I was doing.

I took down six but there were twelve of them, completely concentrated on me and they were armoured, unrelenting. They were ready for us, that I'm sure of, which means my family are in as much danger as I am. "Hello, I'm back." Mr Bainbridge, the creepy guy who has been trying to recruit me for awhile, steps into the room.

I'd say we're on the bottom floor of a warehouse of some sort, concrete everywhere and the room so entirely empty that when anyone speaks it echoes. It makes me more unsettled than I was when Reign and I were taken last time. I'll admit, I was probably calmer because I had a psycho killer to protect me and because he was such a rowdy prisoner they basically left me alone.

I did try and stop him from antagonising them but he just likes conflict, thrives in it even and the fact he was away from his wife - the only person who has been able to keep him calm in his 28 years - meant he was teetering on the edge of mass homicide and extensive torture. But I don't have him now, I'm on my own but I'm hoping Mika would've seen it, tracked it and that my family will be here soon to get me out of this.

I don't think this guy wants me to fight for them anymore considering they've basically disabled me for the next month or so, it's likely that I'm gonna be subjected to torture, probably for information but I've been trained for this. If I can't withstand the torture, I'll start speaking in half truths so that if they try and follow it up they can kinda see what I'm talking about or completely bullshit them which sounds more fun right now.

"I don't give a shit." I spit some blood on the floor and try and take a deep breath but stopping as my bruised ribs scream at the action. I know I've ripped my stitches in my side, I can feel a slow trickle of blood drip down my leg and can see the blood gathering on the floor. I assume I have a cut on my head or eyebrow because blood is also dripping down my face, burning my eyes.

My hands are numb and probably blue with my shoulders aching because they're supporting my entire body weight and have been for hours, days even. My chest is tight so I wouldn't be surprised if the fractures I got a little bit ago have gotten worse and I've probably got more. 

They've definitely fucked me up.

"You're pretty mouthy for someone who is tied up and hanging, only living because I let you."

"Sure, you want me to act scared? You're just an idiot in a suit, when my brothers get here I'm going to kill you good and proper."

"Your brothers, as you call them, won't find you here. I've got someone inside and none of your friends have a clue where you are, I think we've got a while to smuggle you out of the state before they find you. Always one step ahead."

"What do you want?" I grunt, testing my wrists as they strain. This is gonna be a long recovery and I'm pissed about it.

"A companion, of course. My wife has become quite boring and I know you and that computer boy have a lot of fun." Okay, that was not what I was expecting and I think I'm going to throw up. He kidnapped me to be his personal toy, someone to fuck and beat up whenever he pleases.

He pulls out pictures of me and Mika in my room at the club. One of me pressed against the door, his tongue in my mouth and my hands on his ass. Another with him on all fours and me pressed against his back, kissing along his shoulder. They continue on and on and I recognise that some of them are from over a year ago, one of Mika's tattoos missing, the one he got when he was drunk last November.

"You've been stalking me." He never wanted me for a fucking fight, I couldn't even fight properly when he first found me. I knew how to use weapons but I mostly stuck with guns and this asshole has been following me for so long and nobody noticed.

More specially, I didn't notice.

I don't see any from my new house so I hope to God that he doesn't know where that is. I hope for a lot of things. For people to notice there's a mole, for a lockdown so that Mika and Oliver will be safe because I know stalkers like to kill people their prey love and I couldn't handle it.

"I wouldn't say stalking, admiring. You have quite the stamina." He drags his index finger down the ridge of my abs so I lash out, kicking him in the balls and as he ducks to accommodate for the pain, I knee him in the face.

"Don't... fucking... touch... me." I heave out, my lungs hurting from the exertion.

"It's that desk jockey, isn't it? Your little boyfriend that doesn't love you like I can, I would never keep you a secret."

"No, you're hanging me from the ceiling after kidnapping me, yeah, that's real love." I spit out, my glare hardening as he looks up to focus on me. His eyes going blurry with anger.

"You will come to see it my way, you and I are meant to be together." He storms out, limping slightly and I wiggle around to check my surroundings. I twist up to focus on the fixing that is holding me to the ceiling, it looks weak enough that I could get up there and yank it out.

I pull my hands in and swing my body so that my legs wrap around the chain, leaving me hanging upside down. I grit my teeth to hold in the screams of pain, forcing my body to take in large gulps of air despite the agitation in my ribs. This is gonna kill me before Mika does.

I start to lift myself up the chain, huffing with exertion, sweating heavily and trying not to scream out. It's dark outside so I hope there aren't many people here to hear me when I literally fall out of the air and hit the floor once I yank this hook out. It takes me half an hour to get to the top of the chain; if I wasn't bound and in pain it probably would've taken ten minutes max.

I press my feet to the ceiling and start pulling; my shoulders and wrist scream in anger as I put my entire body behind the pull. It comes out with a horrible squeal and I start plummeting to the ground. I only just manage to roll over so that I hit the floor on my front and can protect my head.

The breath is wiped out of me as I roll onto my back, I think I broke ribs and probably one of my wrists since they took most of the fall. At least it's not my legs so I can still get out of this motherfucking place before I become a doll for a rich guy to use whenever he feels like it.

We gotta move, Runner, can't just lay in the floor. Just get back to them.