Kidnapped 2: Jack's Revenge

Alyssa's POV

I got up and walked over to the door. I could feel my heart beat at the back of my throat. It was either Jack at the door with his whole army because he found out about our lie or Alex because he was in trouble. No one else knew about our plan.

I opened the door to a man with a black mask over his face. I recognized his figure as the one who always followed Jack around. Why would he be at our door?

"May I come in," He spoke. His eyes stared at me almost like he was begging to talk to me.

I looked back at Damien. I could tell by the look on his face that he was just as confused as I was. Whoever this man was, was clearly here without Jack's knowledge.

Damien nodded. "Let him in."

"Yes, Sir." I moved from the doorway and let the man pass.

"I must speak with you both right now. I only have so much time."

"What is it that you need?"

"Damien, I am a friend. An ally. You have to trust me."

Damien and I both exchanged looks. What on earth was he talking about?

"I don't understand."

"I've heard of you, Damien. My brother mentioned you quite often in his letters. He also spoke of a woman named Alyssa and two other men named Jack and Alex. Do you know where they are now? I know where Jack is…"

"I'm sorry, but who are you," I spoke up.

He turned around toward me then lifted his arms above his head. Slowly, he pulled the black mask off, revealing his face. I was caught off guard by how skinny he actually was. The skin on his cheeks hugged the bones so closely that he looked like he'd been starving. His blue eyes were sunken in with purple bags underneath. Short blond hair stuck straight up from the static in his hood. I couldn't put a finger on it, but something looked familiar about him.

"You must be Alyssa. Ill-tempered and straight to the point."

I narrowed my eyes, "Who would have the nerve to call me ill-tempered?"

"He was my little brother…He was kidnapped in this place once before. It was after the first arena they asked him to join. He kept sending me letters, but would never tell me where he was because it would put me in danger. I've spent my whole life trying to find him. Twenty years ago he stopped sending me letters and I assumed that he was sent to prison with Jack and his father, but he wasn't. Do you know where he is?"

"Who are you looking for," Damien questioned.

"I will answer both of your questions. I am Zeke and I am looking for my little brother Anthony."

My eyes widened and I looked at Damien. He was just as shocked as I was. I had no clue that Anthony was keeping in touch with his older brother. That would only make this harder to say.

I glanced down then gestured toward a chair. "You should probably sit down…"

He nodded, but continued to stand.

"Or not. Anthony was a great guy and-"

"Was," Zeke interrupted me. He shifted uncomfortably and stuffed his hands into his pocket. He knew that Anthony was dead. He just wanted to hear it from someone. That much was clear.

"There was a quarrel with a man named Alex and Jack and-"

"Yes, I've met Jack. I've also heard of Alex. Anthony spoke often of him."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. First he called me ill-tempered and now he has interrupted me twice. Even if he was Anthony's brother he was getting on my nerves. I had to be patient though. Zeke was about to hear some very bad news.

"They fought over a gun and it went off. The bullet hit Anthony and he bled out. I'm sorry, Zeke. Your brother is dead."

Zeke's face was hard, but he had teary eyes. After a couple minutes he nodded his head then pulled out a chair and sat down. He wiped his eyes then looked up at me.

"We have some business we have to talk about."

I raised an eyebrow. "Just who are you to Jack? I've seen you in every meeting."

He smiled, "I am his right hand man. I've come up with a—wait. Are there cameras in this room?"

I smacked my forehead. "Seriously? You basically just gave up everything and you are just NOW asking if there are cameras?"

He blushed and nodded. "Are there?"

Damien chuckled, "No. We made sure of that one as soon as we got here."

"Don't go into secret spy stuff. You'd be dead now," I shook my head in disappointment.

"Whatever. Anyways, if I am right about who this Trent guy is then you will be receiving a phone call any minute. Until then I have a plan to discuss." He paused and looked around the room like someone was watching him.

"Well?" I sat down on the table in front of him.

"Well, I've come up with a false life for Jack. He thinks I had a girl betray me and that's why I got in jail."

I narrowed my eyes, "How DID you get in jail?"

He smiled nervously, "That's beside the point. "

I rolled my eyes, "Continue."

"I can get you guys the information you need. I can get one of you in with Bailey's kids."

I widened my eyes. Now I was really interested. If he could get me in with the kids then we might be able to get through this before the tournament. That meant Alex wouldn't have to be a part of it.

"Keep talking."

"I just have one condition."

"What is it?" Damien stepped in and gave me a cautious look.

"It's nothing big." He gave a nervous expression when he noticed Damien's face. "My friend is going to get kidnapped. She is already aware of this and willing to do it, but I can't protect her. It goes with my fake story."

"Why would someone risk their life to avenge Anthony," I questioned.

"Because Anthony was the love of her life."

"Anthony had a girlfriend?" I looked up at Damien, who shrugged his shoulder and shook his head.

"Jesus. None of you really knew Anthony."

"He…" I paused. He was right. I never really know who Anthony was or what he did on his off time. He was never really on my mind when he should've been. It made my stomach drop. He had been such a great friend to me and I just shrugged him off my shoulder. "We will protect her."

Zeke let out a breath of relief. It was almost as though he thought we would turn down his offer. It wasn't like we had much of a choice. If we could get out of this quickly before any casualties…That's all that I could hope for.

My thoughts were interrupted when a phone started going off near Damien. He looked puzzled when he noticed that it was the phone in his pocket. I gave him a nod and he pulled it out. He showed me that the number calling was not in his phone. That made me even more nervous. Mostly because Zeke had said someone would call.

"That should be Trent. Unless you go by his real name. In that case it is Alex." He gave us both a wide smile that felt like a hit to the face.

Alex's POV

"Hello? Damien? Oh. Hi, Alyssa. Yes, I am fine. Bailey had a cellphone. Some guy gave it to her. It's not like she can identify who he was if he was wearing a black mask. Eye color? Jesus, Alyssa. Do you really think—Okay. I said okay!" I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at Bailey.

She gave me a questioning look. "What?"

"Do you remember this guy's eye color by any chance? Alyssa is going crazy."

"They were blue." She answered quickly.

I raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"I would bet my life on it."

I smirked, "Really not the place to bet lives."

She rolled her eyes and smiled, "Whatever. Tell her before you forget."

I put the phone back up to my ear. "She said blue. Hey, I didn't tell her! She just guessed. Well you see…A stitch broke and one thing led to another. We ended up on the floor and—"

"Alex! Do you really need to leave out the details that will clarify we didn't have sex?"

I laughed when I noticed that her cheeks were red. "Sorry, Babe. It's not like Alyssa hasn't had sex before."

"Alex!" Both of them shouted my name at the same time.

"Right, sorry. Uhm, anyways, she noticed the bullet wound on my arm. The one I got from the forest. She also mentioned something about my eyes, but I think she was just saying that to sound cliché."

I smiled when I saw her cheeks puff up in irritation. She looked so cute when she was irritated.

That's when I heard Alyssa say Anthony's name. My attention was instantly caught and I became serious.

"What about Anthony? His brother? Are you serious? I didn't know he had a brother. Wait, can you repeat that? Anthony had a girlfriend? Yes, I understand. Does this mean you can get inside? So do we just stay here till then? Okay…You have this number. Keep me updated." I hung up the phone the pushed it into my pocket.

"What did she say?" Bailey leaned against me and looked up.

"That guy who gave you the phone is Anthony's brother. He is looking for him. Well, he was looking for him. They told him what happened."

Her arm wrapped around mine and she laid her head on my shoulder. I still blamed myself for Anthony. Not a day went by that I didn't think about him and what our lives could be like now. Knowing that he had a girlfriend and younger brother only made me feel worse. I should've tried harder to keep him alive. Or not tackled Jack. Anything to prevent him from dying.

"I'm sorry, Alex."

"We have higher priorities right now. What did I miss while I was in the hospital?"

I could feel her body tense against mine. "Alex, I think there are things you would rather not hear."

I pulled away and looked at her. "This is not one of those things. What did Jack do to you?"

"Alex…Please. I can't talk about this." Her voice was faltering and tears were forming in her eyes.

"Did he…" I couldn't force myself to say it. Every possible emotion was slamming into me like one giant wave. I could barely find the strength to even stand.

I moved toward the bed and sat down before I collapsed in front of her. "Did he…" I repeated again and this time looked at her.

"Not all the way, Alex…" Her hand found mine and she brought it to her lips.

"That's still too much for me, Bay. What did he make you do?" I felt bad for asking, but I needed to know.

"He didn't get past groping…Can we please talk about something else?"

I nodded then pulled her into my arms. "Alyssa is going to figure out where the kids are so that we can get the hell out of here."

"I am worried about them, Alex. I haven't seen them for a few days. Jack made sure that I never saw them. I don't even know if he is feeding them."

I kissed the top of her head. "I know, Hun. There isn't anything we can do right now except wait. Alyssa will keep us in the loop though. I can guarantee you that."

"I thought we were done with all of this." She buried her face into my chest.

"I thought we were too."

I didn't say it, but I knew. None of this would be over if Jack stayed alive. This time it was either going to be him or me. No cop was going to get in the way. In this place morals and ethics were shot to hell. If I wanted to get my family out safely I was going to have to play by Jack's game and that's what scared me. I didn't want to stoop down to the level that I once was.

"Do you think we will get out of here before the next arena?"

Bailey's voice brought me back into reality. I looked around the white room that we were trapped in. This was no different from the cage Bailey was once in. A person could lose their mind when they had been trapped somewhere for so long. If we didn't get out of here soon then we could be next.

"I sure hope so. I'm not as young and fit as I used to be," I said jokingly.

"Oh, I know. You used to be so hot. I mean you could just lift your shirt and put me in a trance."

"Hey now, I can still do that!"

I moved so that I could stand up. I stood to my feet then lifted my shirt up to my neck and looked down. I didn't want to admit it, but she was right. I had let myself get carried away. I barely had any defining lines that showed I even had abs.

"Don't look so disappointed," She started laughing.

"Oh, you think this is funny?"

"We all lose ourselves, Babe. It goes along with old age." She gave me a teasing smile.

"I'm 39! I am not that old!"

"Babe, you're in denial. It's really okay."

I pushed my shirt down then walked over to the workout station. I would show her. I would work out for the next couple weeks and get my body back. I would prove to her that I could still look good being this old.

"What are you doing?" She walked over to me and gave me a questioning look.

"I'm going to get my abs back."

She smirked, "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Working out of course. And you know…If I were you I would consider jogging around for a little bit or something. I'm not complaining or anything, but you've got a little bit of a muffin top going on."

Her jaw dropped. "What did you say?"

"Look, all I'm saying is that you may want to consider a healthy diet or something. You're getting close to my age and lord knows, it's only downhill from here."

"Alright, Alex. You're on." She jumped on the elliptical and started running.

I grabbed some weights and started working my muscles. If it was a competition she wanted, it was a competition she was going to get.

Five Minutes Later

Every inch of my body burned with each pant. I was now laying on the floor with my weights beside me. I hadn't worked out in so long that I was extremely out of shape. To make matters worse, Bailey wasn't doing so hot either.

"I think…We should…Start tomorrow…" She said between breaths as she collapsed beside me.

I laughed. "Hey, I have a gunshot wound. What's your excuse?"

"All of your whining brings me down. Maybe if you quit complaining I could hold my own." She smirked and looked at me.

For a brief moment everything felt normal. It was almost like we weren't even kidnapped. The way we were laughing and holding each other brought back a piece of me that I had been missing for the last few days. Without a doubt, Bailey was a part of me I couldn't live without. Little did I know that all of that was about to change.