Taken and Misused.

“Has he called yet?” Stephen asked when he sat back down at the table. We had stopped to get something to eat to buy some time before Jake called Vaughn back about the documents.

Vaughn shook his head no; he was currently too busy eating his hamburger to answer vocally. I took a bite of my salad, shifting away from Vaughn slightly so the hand that he had been resting on my knee now hung by his side. Vaughn looked up from his plate to give me a confused look but I ignored it and gave a swift glance to Stephen to make sure he hadn’t noticed, Stephen just lifted his fork and knife and cut off a piece of his steak. Looking at the two of them was almost comical. Vaughn was eating his hamburger without a care in the world and Stephen took measured bites and waited until he was done chewing to drink or speak. How was it possible they were best friends long ago? I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and fixed my white wife-beater, I had my sweater tucked over the back of my chair because the inside of the bar was very warm.

“Give him a few more hours; if he’s not done in three I’ll go have a nice chat with some of his big time clients. That’ll scare his skinny ass into hurrying up,” Vaughn said with a mischievous grin on his lips.

“Why is he so nervous about you doing that?” I asked, shoving the last bits of my salad around my plate.

Vaughn shrugged and swallowed the large bite he had taken. “My reputation precedes me; last time I was here Jake screwed me over and almost got me arrested so I spilled the crooks in his little black book. Those crooks just happened to be his biggest clients, and they weren’t so happy about law enforcement sniffing around their business,” Vaughn said, the memory bringing a grin to his lips. “Rumor has it my little slip has got a few bounties on Jake’s head, too bad the little worm got back in their good graces,” Vaughn added, taking another bite of his hamburger.

“And you aren’t the least bit worried that Jake may try to kill you now that you’re here on his turf?” Stephen asked, his voice slightly skeptical.

“That little shit has no balls, he wouldn’t have the guts to try,” Vaughn said, waving the thought away with a short gesture. “Waitress!” he called out, holding his empty glass up. The waitress nodded and took his glass back to the bar for a refill.

“You’re sure about that?” I asked, my eyes following the waitress to the bar where I saw the bald guy from Jake’s house and a few of his friends come into the bar.

“Positive,” Vaughn said, finishing off his hamburger and flashing me a grin.

“I think you may be wrong my friend,” Stephen objected, his gaze following mine. Vaughn looked at our expressions and then looked over to where our eyes were locked.

“Shit,” he muttered, turning back towards us and ducking his head down slightly. “Seems as if we’re leaving without tipping our lovely waiter,” Vaughn muttered. He pulled on my arm so I was at the same level as him and Stephen ducked down as well.
“What are we-” I began but someone grabbed me and yanked me away from Vaughn so fast my words were lost in a short scream that was muffled by a large hand covering my mouth.

Vaughn whipped around to grab me but a fist shot out of nowhere and collided with the side of his face, sending him crashing into our table and knocking the whole thing over. We had been ambushed from all directions. The people around us jumped up and screamed in surprise, a few of them hurried out of the bar at the sight of the soon to be fight. Stephen shoved his hand into his coat where I knew there was a gun but a burly man pushed out of the crowd and sent a punch crashing into Stephen’s jaw. I yelled out for them but the man holding me just clamped his hand tighter over my mouth so hard I knew it would bruise.

“Get her to the van!” baldy ordered, speaking to the man holding me. I was suddenly lifted off the ground and swung over the man’s giant, without a pause he began to shove his way through the crowd.

“Let me go! Put me down right now!” I shouted, aiming my shrill words right into the man’s ear. A few men made a move to help me but the big gun in my captor’s hand seemed to keep any of the other bar-goers from stepping in.

“Put her down right now boy,” A man with a southern accent demanded. I looked up to find the owner of the voice and I saw a man toughened by hours of work every day, and he was holding a shotgun up to my captor’s head. “I won’t be having none of this going on in my bar,” he continued. I heard the man holding me chuckle before he turned around so I could no longer see my savior, “you’ll just have to deal with it.” A gunshot sounded but the man holding me didn’t crumple to the ground like I had hoped, and when he turned around and continued moving through the crowd that now stood back in fear I spotted the southern man’s body dead on the floor. A sob stuck in my throat, how could this have happened, this wasn’t fair, if there was a God how could he have let that man die when he had been trying to do good. Another sob wracked my small frame and I began banging my fists on my captor’s back, ‘let me down!” I shouted again, I had to go help that man, maybe he was still alive. I had to thank him. One person called out that the cops were coming and I was suddenly being pulled faster to the back exit. Before the back doors to the bar shut my eyes met Vaughn’s panicked ones as he held Baldy’s fist back, “Vaughn!” I shouted out, my voice thick with tears. I saw his lips form my name and then the back exit door was shut and I couldn’t see him anymore. Police sirens could be heard shooting down the street but they weren’t going to make it on time. A dark skinned man got out of the van and opened the back. The guy holding me took his hand off of my mouth and I screamed out for help the moment he did, the scream earned me a swift slap from the dark skinned man and I hung limp from the hard hit. Tears stung my eyes. My wrists were pulled behind my back and I heard the distinct sound of zip ties being pulled tight around them, a thick piece of black fabric was tied over my eyes and then I was shoved into the back of the van. The only thought going through my head was how much I didn’t want my life to end without seeing Vaughn again.

The car ride to wherever it was I was being taken was very unpleasant, each turn sent me rolling into the side of the van and the bumps seemed to shake my whole body. When I tried screaming out for help I was just slapped again and a piece of tape was stuck over my mouth. By now I was sobbing, I wasn’t used to this amount of violence, I wasn’t used to worrying about dying, and I wasn’t used to the crushing feeling overcoming my heart with each thought of Vaughn. The man I loved.

“Please let me go,” I begged when the van stopped, no one made any move to get out of the van so I assumed it was a stoplight. I heard the man who was in the back with me shift in his seat, but he didn’t reply. “Please,” I begged, exhausted and suddenly very depressed.

“It’s business sweet heart, I can’t,” he finally replied.

“Why? This is so ignorant, we only wanted to documents and then we were going to leave,” I snapped, my sadness causing me to get angry.

“This isn’t about the documents honey.”

“Then why are you doing this?” I asked, my tone becoming exasperated.

“Because a business partner of my boss needs you,” he answered, surprising me with his honesty.

“Who is this business partner and why me?” I asked, struggling to sit up right.

I heard the man move in front of me and I tensed up thinking I had gone too far with the questions and now I was going to be hit again. But the man just sat me up straight and brushed my hair back from my face, “he needs you because you are the perfect collateral against Vaughn Hart.”

My breath hitched, “who needs me?” I asked, fearing I would hear the name Stephen and Vaughn always mentioned. The man we were running from.

“I can’t tell you that,” he said sadly.

“What is your name?” I asked calmly. This man’s kindness had really done wonders on my nerves. I was almost peaceful.

“It’s Allan.”

“Thank you Allan.”

“Why are you thanking me? I’m helping kidnap you,” he replied with a humorless chuckle.

“But I can tell you’re not a bad person, you should stop working for Jake.”

“They say you don’t need money to be happy, but I’ve got two kids and my wife is sick. Jake pays real good, enough to cover my wife’s hospital bills and keep food on our table. I can’t quit.” Before I could ask another question he spoke again, “they never told me your name, what is it?”
“It is Elisabeth,” I answered, understanding that he didn’t want to continue talking about himself.

“That’s a beautiful name,” he whispered softly, I could just barely hear him.

I wanted to ask him to take my blindfold off so I could see his face, even though he was helping these men kidnap me I felt sorry for him. He was just trying to make life better for his family.

“We’re here,” the driver said, stopping the car and getting out.

The back doors to the van opened and to rough hands grabbed my upper arms. My boots scuffed the ground as I tried to catch my footing when I was suddenly pulled to my feet and taken out of the van, the man holding me didn’t care about my stumbling. “Would you walk straight?” the gruff man holding me snapped.

“I’ll take her up there.” The voice belonged to Allan; gentle hands replaced the previous man’s rough ones.

“Thank you,” I breathed.

“I don’t deserve your gratitude,” he said sadly.

I couldn’t tell where we were going but I knew when we were inside because it was nice and warm unlike the outside weather. We went up a flight of stairs, down a hall, and through a door before we finally stopped and the blindfold was pulled off of my face.

There sitting in front of me was Jake with a grin plastered over his face, next to him was a man who reminded me vaguely of Stephen except this man had gray hair slicked back in a neat and modern style. “What’s going on?” I demanded, my tone surprising me. I had never been one to be considered brave.

Jake was about to say something but the gray haired man cut him off. “You are here to come with me, Jake was kind enough to alert me to you and your friend’s arrival,” the man said with a very noticeable Russian accent. The man’s eyes narrowed in confusion when he looked past me as if expecting someone else, he looked to Jake with a harsh look. “Your men were supposed to bring my son as well,” the Russian man growled, causing Jake to get nervous. The poor forger began shuddering and finally was able to get out a coherent sentence.

“Mike, I put you in control of grabbing Stephen, where is he?” Jake said, I felt like gagging on Jake’s lack of backbone. How could he just blame this on one of his employees? My frown felt like it froze in place when I went over Jake’s words and matched them up to the Russian’s.

I cut the Russian off before he could speak, “you’re Stephen’s father?” I said, my words slowly filling with fear. “You are Semyon?” I asked, my mind racing.

The Russian smiled cruelly at me and slipped his hand into his coat, when his hand reappeared he was holding a gun. “You are correct my dearest Elisabeth,” he said while aiming the gun towards me. My heart seemed to stop beating and my breath froze in my throat, he was going to kill me. I was going to die right here and right now, with my hands tied behind my back, my eyes red from crying, and dirt covering my arms and face. I was going to die with my last memory of Vaughn being his panicked eyes meeting mine for a fleeting second.

Stephen’s father positioned his finger on the gun’s trigger. I closed my eyes tightly, my whole body tensing in anticipation. “Please don’t kill me!” I shouted, tears stinging my eyes once more.

The gunshot rang out and I waited to feel something, but there was no pain. I opened my eyes in surprise and looked at my body then around me, to my right was the man Jake had blamed for not retrieving Stephen. He was sprawled on the floor with a bloody hole through his head. My breaths began to shorten and speed up; I was only four feet away from a dead body. His eyes were still wide open in shock even with a trickle of blood going down the side of his face.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I breathed, blackness consuming me. The last thing I remembered were that man’s lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling and Allan’s voice repeating my name in question as he held me from falling to the ground.