"What the fuck is going on? Where are you taking me?"
"Hey! Stop this fucking car! You hear me?" I demanded, but noone paid me any attention.
Anger and fear burnt through me, and it only magnified when the car slowed for a moment, only for the door beside me open and a huge bulldozer of a man push himself inside, pushing me in the middle of the seat.
"What the.. what are you all doing, damnit!" But again, everyone ignored me.
My heartbeat was practically audible now as I pounded behind the driver's seat, punctuating every word with a punch, "Stop. The. Fucking. Car. Or I swear I'll—"
"Cut that shit out, bitch!" The driver snapped in annoyance, no longer looking like a young boy from few minutes ago. He threw a look at Mountain, who seemed to decipher the hidden meaning behind it.
He bent down and produced a thick rope from under his seat, before reaching over and catching both of my wrists in a bruising grip. He held my struggling hands together and tied a tight knot around it in front of me in a praying position, all the while ignoring my demands, questions and pleas to let me go.
Maybe it was a mistake. Some kind of confusion. Or maybe this whole thing was a joke. A prank for a TV show, maybe? But those possibilities started looking bleak too, as we drove on ahead.
When nothing else worked, my desperation took over and I starting struggling to get the driver to stop the car. Or to somehow get someone's attention for help.
Mountain man eyed me in irritation, but wordlessly pulled me back to the seat when I tried to reach over the front seat.
"Help! Someone help! Please!" I shouted, making Bulldozer wince.
"She's shouting so loud. It needs to be clean. What if someone hears her? Shouldn't you—why don't you gag her or something?" the driver said nervously.
"Gag? Are you insane?"
Gag? Fuck-to-the-no! My eyes widened and soundless sputtering erupted from my mouth.
"She's too fucking loud," the bulldozer agreed, "but can't gag the subject. That's a specific instruction. Ain't that right?"
"Hm," Mountain responded. "Why do I feel like I am missing something? I mean, where's the struggle we were warned about?" Mountain murmured pensively.
"Wasn't it a little too easy? I wonder if looks really are that deceptive," he spoke mainly to himself, eying me like he was measuring me and finding me inadequate.
"True that. A complete waste, if you ask me. There's no need for muscle here, and definitely not for the 3 of us. This is fucking light work," the Bulldozer grunted in agreement.
"Where do we wanna crash?" he asked the driver, Rhodes, to which he responded with a jerk of his head.
"There's a warehouse-like structure few miles ahead. Very quiet and deserted. No one would hear a thing. We wait till its dark though. Don't wanna risk being spotted."
Crash? Warehouse-like structure? My blood chilled, the cold seeping into my very bones as I came up with the worst kind of explanations behind all those words.
No. No, no, no! This cannot be happening to me. All men looked relaxed as they talked, but their bodies seemed too poised and alert to be so.
"Gotta say, I didn't expect to be done at the hotel so soon," they talked on but I could no longer paid attention to them.
My mind raced, and all the scenarios I had ever watched of kidnapping on TV ran through my mind.
The best way to handle this would be to be as cooperative as possible until I can find a way to get out of here, I strategised.
If they think I won't run off they might let their guard down, giving me perfect opportunity to escape. But my precarious plan flew right out of the window, just as something flew in from it.
Something red sailed in through the open driver's window, narrowly missing his face and landing on the passenger seat, followed closely by a heavy, shiny object that thunked loudly on the passenger window.
Forgetting the situation at hand for a moment, we all glanced ahead to see it was a tissue paper box and a round crystal figurine that looked like a paper weight that had landed on the passenger seat.
I glanced out of the window and my heart stuttered at the sight of Caleb nearly hanging out of the passenger side window of a white SUV, not 20 feet away from ours.
Until his face registered. It was a 180° opposite from his usually relaxed face. This was the face of a man consumed by rage. His every thought possessed.
His typical sly smirk was twisted in a snarl and instead of humor dancing in the depths of his eyes, they looked like cold pits of abyss, ready to swallow anyone whole.
For a moment, I was scared for whoever would fall within his grasp when he looked like that and a shiver crept through me that even these trolls hadn't managed to get out from me.
Hanging by the waist out of the car, he seemed like he was reaching out as if to climb out of his car and onto mine.
Even over the noise of the tyres squealing and the men cursing profusely next to me, I could distinctly pick out Caleb's deep voice, cursing the driver with threats of mutilation if he didn't stop.
The kidnappers covered me from both sides as if trying to shield me from the crazy man in the next car, but Rhodes, the driver, looked terrified.
"You kept your window down, Rhodes?" The bulldozer roared at the driver.
In return, Rhodes shouted, "I'm claustrophobic! Shit, I'm sorry!"
Heartened by the sight of a familiar face nearby, I started shouting for the help, struggling against my kidnappers.
"Stop struggling, you little bitch!" The bulldozer shouted in my face. I cringed away from him, terrified at the murderous expression on his face.
I can't fight them. What the hell am I even thinking! For a moment, my courage left me and doubts clouded my brain.
But then my eyes slid towards the window, falling on Caleb and something warm built up within my chest.
His expression, that was twisted with fury, seemed comforting... somehow, made me believe I will be okay.
All I have to do is, reach to him just a few feet away. Simple as that.
Boldly reaching over, I went to lower the window on bulldozer's side, but he caught hold of my bound arms in a painful grip and roughly pushed me with a growl.
I fell back on a wall of muscles, feeling tears fill up my eyes.
"You fucking hold her, man, or I'll knock her out myself, damn the orders," bulldozer barked at the Mountain.
Thick set of arms surrounded me from behind me as mountain held me in place. He caught hold of my bound arms in a bruising grip and lowered his face to whisper into my ear.
"Stay put, little girl. This guy is not someone to be messed with," his advise sounded almost fatherly.
Ignoring a tailing SUV and a half hanging man out of it, his creepily calm voice spoke, "Rhodes, out - maneuver that damned car, will ya?"
"Fucking hell! This wasn't part of the plan! There weren't supposed to be people tailing us like cops!" Bulldozer sounded frustrated, his eyes wildly glancing around before continuing. "In—and fucking out—this was supposed to be—"
"And all for what? This stupid, little bitch? I will NOT got to jail for this piece of ass, y'all hear me?" Rhodes growled back at us.
"Calm down, man. You are fucking trained for this, aren't you?" Mountain rumbled impatiently from behind me.
I noticed his arms loosening a bit around me, but I waited for the right moment.
"Give it to me," bulldozer demanded, eying Caleb from the closed window.
"We have to keep it clean, that was -"
" -the instruction, yes I know. Fuck instructions. I will not let anyone who can identify me walk away from this alive, got it? Now give it to me, I wanna shoot that hanging dog right in the face."
Shoot?
My breathe froze in terror, but I forced myself to breathe, and felt Mountain sigh in resignation behind me. No!
Gathering whatever courage I could, I waited until his arms left me to reach for something under the seat. I straightened, pressing my back against the backrest, waiting for the exact moment to act.
Bringing my knee up in full force, I knocked Mountain in the face, feeling the crunch of his nasal bone on my knee more than hear it, earning a loud curse from him.
Throwing myself at Bulldozer next, I focused on lowering window and warning Caleb, but at that moment bulldozer backhanded me with enough force to make the world spin.
"You stupid bitch!"
I blinked back the stars exploding in front of my lids, and swallowed a bile back, focusing on achieving my goal by hook or by crook.
Bulldozer went to pin my arms, but thankful for my fun-sized height for the first time in my life, I bent down, out of the circle of his arms and banged my hands on buttons at the door.
As the buzz of window going down sounded, bulldozer cursed in rage and all hell broke lose.