Fractured || A Hostage Story

Chapter One

The seaside villa was perfect. Exactly what she needed for a vacation away from it all. After the last case she'd worked, her partner had suggested it to her. A nice little getaway to clear her head. At first she had resisted but as the days passed it became clear to her that what she needed to do was take a break. It was still early in her career and she was no longer a rookie. Though she was lucky enough to be partnered with her mentor and he knew her very well, there was still an extreme amount of burnout within her field. Working in sex crimes for the FBI was a nightmare for anyone, and there was a lot of turnover. By the second case she worked, she could see why. She didn't want to quit but she did need to regroup. Somehow, this landed her on a trip to Sweden at the recommendation of her partner who owned the villa. Something he used for vacations himself as he mentioned having family out there. Seeing as how he spoke five different languages fluently, she wasn't surprised.

    Her vacation was supposed to be for two weeks and the first few nights went amazingly well. She kept to herself as she didn't plan to party or really meet anyone out there. It was supposed to be time to chill out, take in the fresh air and scenery. In the late summer season, she never imagined she could see a place so beautiful. After getting over the jetlag she had taken to going for walks at night. There were other villas in the area and she saw people here and there but everyone mostly kept to themselves, which she was fine with. It was quiet and she didn't have to be overly friendly or exert much energy putting on a front for any sort of gatherings. It was also pretty nice to not be known by anyone in the area.

    On the third day she headed into town to pick up some supplies for the rest of her stay there. She intended to do her own cooking and take care of herself. Catch up on reading and study some papers and reports for work (even if she wasn't supposed to be doing that either). She decided to grab some breakfast at a quaint little local cafe before going to shop for everything else. It was a bad idea to shop for food on an empty stomach as she knew she'd end up spending way too much money and buying stuff she didn't need. The cafe was tiny and practically empty. There were two women having coffee and muffins in a booth in the corner and there was a woman behind the counter who took her order. She was told to take a seat and it would be brought over to her. She looked around and headed over to one of the couches in the back. It was when out of the corner of her eye she noticed the man.

    He was sitting in probably the darkest area of the cafe. Kind of just staring blankly at the wall in front of him. Right over her head in fact. At first she'd thought he was staring at her but on second glance she realized that he was just dead eyed. Zoned out. Looked kind of angry, but mostly she assumed he was high. She figured they hadn't kicked him out already because he was being quiet and he did have a cup of coffee and an empty plate sitting in front of him on the table. She tried to ignore the fact that this was off. It was giving her a bad gut feeling. She had to keep in mind that it was not her job to enforce anything in this country. Nor was she even legally qualified to do so. She did know that she was going to finish up her food as soon as she could because whoever this man was, she was certain there was a possibility he would snap. She got her phone out to check her email in an attempt to take her mind away from trying to profile this poor soul.

    Her food was brought over and set down in front of her on the coffee table by the couch where she was. She thanked the girl and reached for her muffin, her eyes straying back to the man in the corner. His eyes moved, he looked right at her. His hand slipped down to his thigh. As the server passed by him to get back behind the counter he shouted something she didn't understand, the woman screamed, he leapt up, grabbed her and put a gun to her throat, pulling her in close. The two other women in the cafe screamed. He yelled something at them in what was definitely Swedish, even if she couldn't understand it. Both of them got on the floor very fast after that. She could only deduce that's what they'd been told to do. Then he looked at her, because she hadn't moved at all. He said something to her in Swedish.