Page 32 of Color Chameleon
The lady on the phone repeated the information and a couple of the other onlookers added descriptions of the guys who’d taken Darcy.
Three people stayed with him, two guys and the floppy-hat lady on the phone.One of the guys gathered up his food, packing the bags back up and setting them against the wall of their building.
“I can stay until the police get here and give a statement.I got a good look at the kidnappers.”The guy thrust out a hand.“Drake.”
Charma looked at the hand and then realized he was supposed to shake it.He felt like he was moving in molasses as he took Drake’s hand and shook it.“Charma.They kidnapped Darcy.”Oh, fuck, they’d kidnapped Darcy.Charma began to shake.
“I’m Lucy,” orange-hat lady said from what sounded like far away.“I think he’s going into shock.We should get him sitting and put his head between his knees—that’ll help.”
Charma let them maneuver him down onto the ground next to his bags of food and push his head down between his knees.The rush of blood brought everything back into sharp focus.
Darcy had been kidnapped.
Darcy managed to bite the hand over his mouth as he was being shoved into the back of a truck and he shouted as soon as he could grab a breath of air, struggling as hard as he could, but the guys were big and he was truly outmatched.That didn’t keep him from continuing to struggle, though.Not even the door slamming closed kept him from trying to get away.He pushed himself over to the other side of the truck and opened the door.Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back in.
“Get off of me!Help!Help!”he cried out, struggling to get away from the guy.He winged his elbow back and up, hearing a soft crack and the hands holding him let go for a moment.
“Fuck!”
He slammed his elbow back again, then aimed a punch at the guy behind the wheel.He could feel the truck swerve and so he punched out again.
“God damn it—get him under control!”growled the driver.
“Trying—the little fucker broke my nose!”
Darcy just kept punching out and screaming.He only saw the fist from the guy in the passenger seat just before it hit him in the face and then the world went black.
As soon as the police had taken his statement, Charma called his mom.
“Charma!To hear from you after seeing you—what a treat.”
Charma didn’t bother with pleasantries.“Darcy’s been kidnapped.”
“What?”He could almost hear her sitting up straighter.“What do you mean?”
“I mean we were almost home and someone—two huge guys in camo—grabbed him, shoved him into the back of a truck and took off.”
“Goddess!I’ll mobilize the family—tell me everything.”
Charma knew his family had a network of relatives and friends—other shifters—who would be ready at the drop of a hat when the call came.They took care of their own.And his mother had clearly decided that Darcy was one of their own.He would be all gooey happy about that later.Right now, they needed to find Darcy.
“The police were here, took my statement and the statement of the three witnesses who stayed.They’ve put out a bolo.”
His mom snorted.“You should have called me first.”
“A nice lady called the cops while I was trying to help Darcy get away from the bastards.They were big, though, Mom.Like huge.I felt like I was my chameleon, I made so little difference.”
“You did your best, now tell me what I need to know!”
“Right.Dark gray Ford 350, an older model with dents and scratches.And damaged from the right bumper from what the guy who saw the front of the truck said.They had Idaho plates, starting with 10B 4.That’s all we’ve got on the truck.Like I said, the guys were big, beefy, and they had camo on.Drake—the guy who saw them and stayed to give a statement—said they both had dark hair in military cuts, both white, and he couldn’t swear to it, but he thought the one guy maybe had a scar on his cheek.I’m sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”
“Don’t you apologize, you were too busy trying to help Darcy to notice more details.The truck make and model and license plate are a very good start.I’ve already sent that over the emergency chat so eyes are already on the lookout.”
Charma leaned against the wall of the building, feeling tears prickle at the back of his eyes.He blinked hard.He was not going to cry out here on the street.Bad enough he’d not been able to doanythingto help Darcy.
“Why would they take him, Mom?”
“I have no idea, son.He’s your boyfriend.Does someone think you boys have money?”
