Page 27 of Kidnapped

“I was hoping to make the first part where he’s not sure whether he’s seen us or not last a bit longer. I like messing with their heads,” Cash mutters.

“We know,” I reply, although I admit, “I do too, though.”

“See, you’re just as fucked up as I am,” Cash grins.

I shrug, “I never said I wasn’t.”

“Alright, I’m going to go and get us some coffee since we’re going to be here watching for a while,” Riot suggests and then adds just before he gets out of the car, “How obvious are we being now.”

I consider the question for a moment before I say, “Not so obvious that we’re in the diner with him, but obvious enough that he knows that we’re watching him.”

Riot nods, “Got it. The usual then.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” I confirm with a grin.

Riot gets out of the truck, and Rafe goes with him. They don’t bother asking us what we want since we always get the same thing anyway.

Chapter Eighteen

Trick

When Riot and Rafe get back with the drinks, we all get out of the car and lean against it, all looking in the direction of the diner, although we do talk to each other, so that we don’t look too suspicious to the other people in the town.

Fortunately, the weather is quite good, so we don’t look completely out of place leaning against the truck and having a conversation. As far as any passerby is aware, we’re just a group of teenagers who have met up in town and are catching up.

“I wonder how long it’s going to take for him to notice us?” Rafe signs curiously.

“I’d say around now,” I reply. I keep my expression grim as Ryan's eyes widen in fear.

They flicker up and down the line of us quickly until they pause on Jensen, and his eyes flash with anger; I glance in Jensen's direction to see if the reaction is simply because of the fight at the Pit or if Jensen is doing something. I’m not surprised when I see Jensen blow the fucker a kiss before he casually sips his coffee and goes back to just staring at him, letting a bit more of his violence show on his face. Ryan’s anger fades just as quickly as it arose and gets replaced with fear again.

“I wonder what his plan is going to be?” Cash asks, “Come and confront us?”

“That would be fun,” Rafe signs, and then adds, “although I think it would be unlikely.”

“Agreed, I think he’s either going to make a break for it and try to escape us in his car,” Luc suggests.

Jensen interrupts him, “Which would be stupid, because if we were inclined to finish what we started all he’d be doing by driving off is isolating himself and making it easier for us.”

“Exactly,” Luc replies, shooting Jensen a look for interrupting him that only makes Jensen smirk. “So, if he has a brain cell or any kind of self-preservation, then he would stay put. He’s surrounded by people in the middle of town, and there are plenty of witnesses should he need them.”

I hum in agreement, that would be the smartest option but it depends on whether he’s going to take the time to think through his options or act in fear and do the first thing that comes to mind. For most people in this kind of situation, it’s run.

We watch for a while longer, and I’m mildly surprised that he stays still. He convinces his friends to stay several times when it's apparent that they want to leave, and I’d guess that he’s hoping we’re going to get bored of waiting and leave. The problem with that is we’re not waiting because we want to talk to him; quite the opposite, we’re happy to keep our distance and just let him know that we know where he is.

Finally, they get up, and he hesitates for only a moment longer before he rushes to catch up to them, realizing that he’ll be left alone and vulnerable if it doesn’t go with them. Instead of heading toward the cars, they start wandering down the street and looking in shops. Ryan looks over his shoulder as often as he can, checking where we are and if we’re going after him. His shoulders relax as he realizes that we haven't moved to follow. Surely he can't be stupid enough to think that's it?

I look at Jensen and Cash, “Follow them, but don’t be obvious about it. We don’t want his new friends picking up on it and calling the cops or some shit.”

“Got it,” Cash replies as he pushes off from where he's leaning against the car, and he and Jensen start to walk after Ryan casually.

Cash

We catch up to them pretty quickly. This town is tiny, possibly even smaller than ours. Ryan hasn’t realized that we’ve followed him yet and clearly thinks that because we didn’t follow him immediately, we were going to leave him alone. He’s probably trying to convince himself that it’s a coincidence that we’re up here.

They head into a convenience store, and Jensen and I follow. Ryan still hasn’t clocked us, and in all honesty, I’m starting to think the guy has no self-preservation—not as much as we thought, anyway. He’s not even checking to see if we’re around anymore, and he’s only gone into a couple of shops. I’m notbeing funny, but if I were in his situation and had been threatened with what we had threatened Ryan with, I wouldn’t have taken my eyes off us.

“Maybe he’s just decided to live in denial,” Jensen mutters.

---