Page 28 of Most Of All

My phone ringing snaps me out of my thoughts. Tony’s name flashes on screen so I answer. “We found him, sir, but he’s alone.”

“Do not approach him, keep him in sight till I get there. Drop me your location, I’m on my way.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dread washes over me as I hang up the phone, he either has her hidden away, or he has killed her. I’m praying he has her somewhere alive.

It takes me ten minutes to arrive at the location Tony gave. From across the street, I can see the motherfucker, but I don’t engage and it’s taking all the willpower I can muster to not go over there and rip his head off. “He was trying to get passports,” Tony says, waving an envelope. “But we managed to intervene before he got them.”

I take the envelope and scan its contents, two passports and two ID cards, with the names Mr. Michael Simons and Mrs. Andrea Simons on them. Seriously, this cunt is delusional. The audacity he shows is staggering! Was he planning on leaving with her?

After some deliberation, we settle on a strategy: Tony is going to approach him first, while I’m going to try to catch him off guard before he can get inside his car.

I position myself just out of sight and wait.

As soon as Tony is in position, I creep up and grab Jack from behind, pinning both his hands and twisting them to the point of pain. The fucker yelps out in discomfort, so, I twist some more, “Thought you could get away? There’s no escaping me, Jackie Boy,” I growl in his ear. My hatred for him is notable in my tone. “Now, where’s Raine?” He doesn’t answer, he just grins and I so desperately want to tear him to shreds, but I can’t, I need to find Raine, God knows where she is. “Where is she? You son of a bitch,” I yell, pulling his arms upwards.

“Wouldn't you like to know?” He answers laughing.

With a nod of my head, Tony begins punching Jack, getting in a good few decent swings. Not that it matters because this fucker is still laughing. “You’ll never find her,” he spits out. “And if you kill me, she dies.”

“Who said anything about killing?” I say as I start to drag him toward the van Tony was driving. “Oh, no, no, nobody said kill,” I whisper, as Tony and I chuck him into the back of the van. We don’t bother to restrain him, he can’t go anywhere. We just throw him in and secure the doors.

“You drive him back to the compound, I’ll follow behind,” I say to Tony.

“Sir,” he replies with a nod.

As I follow Tony to the compound, my thoughts race.

To pull this off, he wouldn’t have gone far, would he? The effort it took to kidnap her seemed too significant for him to simply abandon her somewhere, she has to be nearby, somewhere within reach. But where could he have hidden her?

When we arrive at the compound, I go over my thought process with Tony, and he agrees. We send some men out to gather information.

First, we are going to search for abandoned buildings, empty spaces, anything along those lines. I find myself shouting and swearing at everyone, my frustration is getting the better of me but we need to find her. God knows what condition she’s in, or what he has done to her. Come on, Little Wasp, where are you?

Whyisitsocold? Searching for warmth, I attempt to turn over, but my body feels heavy and unresponsive; my arms and legs are completely immobilized.

I slowly open my eyes and the darkness envelops me, a thick blanket of blackness that seems to suffocate my every thought. It takes my eyes what feels like an eternity to adjust. Confined firmly, my wrists are bound together with zip ties, and the same with my ankles, leaving me helpless. A suffocating fabric also surrounds my mouth, what is this? What is happening? Where am I?

Panic rises within me like a tidal wave, but I force myself to breathe slowly, is this how I’m going to die? Cold and alone?

Tears escape my eyes, as the overwhelming sensation of terror crashes over me. Fear constricts my throat, making it difficult to swallow, but I can’t give up. I’m stronger than this, but I’m failing to control my thoughts, and my mind keeps going over the conversation I had with my dad. The tears roll faster for my mom, she didn’t deserve it, not her, not my mom.

I shake myself to remove all the swirling thoughts in my mind, drawing strength from the memory of my mom. This can’t be how my story ends; I refuse to let it. I have to push through this for her sake.

As I struggle against the restraints, I realize, with a flicker of hope, that only my wrists are bound, and I manage to lift my arms. With determination, I reach up to try and loosen whatever is wrapped around my mouth. It takes a few attempts, but finally, I feel the fabric give way and the rush of air fills my lungs now. My mouth is parched and the lingering taste of cotton clings to my tongue. At least I can breathe a little easier.

I turn my attention to the zip ties. I attempt to search around for something sharp, but the darkness makes it impossible to see. There is no light shining in from anywhere. I can’t even make out a shadow.

With only my own stubbornness fueling me, I swing myself onto my back, why is it colder in this position? Feeling totally exhausted and overwhelmed, I want to give up. I don’t know if I can do this.

In an attempt to banish the unwanted feelings, I close my eyes, hoping to distract myself with good memories. When I dig deep, images of me as a child and my mom cleaning me up after I fell off my bike, flash into my head. I must have been about six or seven at the time.

Solely focusing on the words my mom said to me, ‘Never give up, in this world you can only rely on yourself, pick yourself up and keep trying.’ And she's right, I can’t give up; I have got to keep trying.

First, I attempt to bite through the zip tie, but soon discover that to be useless. I continue to burrow into the last of my resolve, and yank my wrists apart, and with utter amazement, it snaps. The ties cut deep into my skin and blood drips from the cuts, but despite that, I continue on and I use my hands to pull myself up into a sitting position. With my wrists free, I start working on freeing my ankles, but it's easier said than done, they don’t budge. I attempt several more times, but I’m running out of energy.

I try to keep encouraging myself, but with each attempt, I start losing faith. I don’t want to give up, but what other choice do I have? Every time I get the slight glimmer of hope, it gets diminished immediately.

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