Page 27 of Creed
“No,” I declared with more strength than I felt. “It’s not the same. The people who kidnapped me before were professionals. They knew what they were doing. These guys are amateurs at best. Probably just civilians with a little too much power.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yeah. Look at us.” I wiggled my legs to show off what I meant. “We’re only secured by our wrists. A professional would never allow us so much movement or let us stay so close together. Plus, that guy who was in here earlier, he didn’t know the first thing about intimidation. He didn’t even pull out a weapon to back up his threats.”
Kayden shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know, it felt pretty threatening when he was slamming me against the wall.”
I leaned some of my weight against him in a show of comfort. “Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have let you face that alone.”
“It’s fine. I was just worried about you. At first you were asleep, but even after you woke up you were completely out of it. Like you were comatose or something. When that guy came in to question us, I didn’t want him to notice the state you were in, so I tried to keep his attention on me.” Kayden flinched, and if his hands had been free, he probably would have rubbed at the back of his head. “I think my plan worked a little too well.”
“What did they want?”
I probably should have asked that earlier, but I’d been so distracted by everything else that the reason for our capture hadn’t seemed as important as the actual capture itself.
To my surprise, Kayden snorted like I’d just told a dumb joke.
“They want the same thing that Deputy who visited you wanted. Lisianthus Milford’s journal. They have it, but they can’t decipher it either. Just like the Deputy, they want you to crack the code for them.”
The van hit a bump, and the two of us jostled together. The chains around our wrists jingled with an almost merry sound, like Christmas bells.
“What makes them so sure I can figure it out?” I asked.
Kayden just shrugged, making his restraints chime again. “That Deputy was pretty certain that you could, so that seems to be a good enough reason for them to also assume that you can. Are they wrong?”
Sighing deeply, I twisted my wrists against the chains until I found the waistband of my pants. Damn, they’d taken my belt. I had a knife hidden in the buckle that might have been helpful. Even if our captors were just a bunch of puffed-up civilians, they were cautious. I had to give them that much.
“I might be able to. I’ve had some training in code breaking, but it’s not my specialty.”
“Don’t let them hear you say that, or they’ll have no reason to keep us around.” Kayden started laughing. The sound was more manic than joyful, making it clear that he didn’t find the situation humorous. He laughed simply because he didn’t know what else to do.
Still, being reminded of how helpless we were wasn’t pleasant. My expression grew grim, and I clenched my hands into tight fists.
Noticing my reaction, Kayden silenced his laughter. “Sorry, I shouldn’t joke like that.”
“No,” I shook my head. “It’s fine. Do whatever you need to in order to stay calm. I’m going to need you.”
“Need me?” Kayden snorted like he was about to laugh again but cut himself off. “I don’t think so. I can’t help you break a code, and I’ve never even been in a fight before. There’s nothing I can do to help. I’m just a liability here.”
“No, you’ve very important,” I insisted. I really wished I could reach out to him. Hold his hand, cup his face, anything to demonstrate how serious I was. “Giving them what they want doesn’t guarantee we’ll survive. Our best bet is to bide our time and plan our escape. I’m going to get us out of here, I promise, but I’ll need your help. If I start to panic again, I’ll need you to calm me down and keep me focused, just like you did a few minutes ago. Think you can do it?”
With a determined expression on his face, he nodded. “I’d do it even if we weren’t in danger. I hate seeing you panic like that.”
Shifting in place, I managed to angle my body in a way that allowed me to press a light kiss to the corner of his mouth.
“All right. I’m going to get us out of here. Trust me?”
He returned my kiss with one of his own.
“I trust you.”
Without a clockit was impossible to tell the exact time, but I guessed it was about another half hour before the van came to a stop. I tried to coach Kayden on what to expect, so neither of us were too surprised when our captors placed dark bags over our heads before leading us out of the van. They were being careful not to give us any clues about our location.
That meant there was something worth noticing. My hope was that we’d eventually be able to get a good look at our surroundings, because right now, I had no clue where we were. There was no telling how long we’d been unconscious, so we could very well have been taken to the other side of the country.
With our heads completely covered, neither Kayden nor I could walk very well. A strong hand gripped each of my arms, half leading me and half dragging me along. Based on the sounds around us that I could barely make out through the bag, it seemed like they brought us inside a building. Whispers followed us, not close enough for me to hear what they were saying, but enough to know that we were surrounded by many people.
Fighting our way out wouldn’t be possible. For now, we’d have to play along with what they wanted and wait for an opportunity.
