The Abduction of Regan Emmett

James felt like he was driving for hours. He was nervous, sweating, and didn’t have much to say on his journey to Thurmond. He knew this was it, it was a do or die situation. He wasn’t sure if he and his men were going to be able to pull this off, but he was willing to put everything on the line, including his life, to save a girl he cared for, whether he barely knew her or not. Giuseppe noticed his anxiousness, and tried calming him down the best way he could.
“Ok, turn on some music or something, get some heavy metal into your blood, that’ll motivate you.”
“Can’t, won’t.” Was all James could spit out at the moment. Giuseppe rolled his eyes, then continued looking out the window. They knew they were coming close to Thurmond, everything was turning into woods and trees. The trees were so high they covered the blue sky, the illusion being it was becoming night time when in reality it was 8 in the morning, and they were all jittery on coffee and adrenaline.
“Nothing like acres of woods to get us wonderin’.” Giuseppe sighed to himself.
“Yeah, like have we already passed her, is she somewhere in there, or are we doing this for nothing?” James put a hand on his forehead, resisting the urging headache.
“You are just full of negativity, my friend. We know she’s in there. We will get her, if you have some sort of faith left in you.”
“Faith isn’t what I’m leaning towards, I just want to be able to successfully do my job, we’ve had so many cases like this, not as bad, and even than I couldn’t save them all. What kind of policeman am I if I can’t save people?”
Giuseppe gazed on James, not looking away, he knew how serious this was to him, and made it seem like a joke, Giuseppe was like that, tried finding the brighter side of the darkest things, sometimes he needed to take James more seriously to get through to him.
“Pull over fast.” Giuseppe pointed to the side of the road, where James complied immediately. Giuseppe took a deep breath and put a hand on James’ shoulder.
“Look buddy, you are amazing at your job, you’re the chief, you’re the big guns, you’re the man of the hour. Well… Every god damn mother fuckin’ hour.” He grinned. James couldn’t help but chuckle. “I know you care for this girl, and you wanna make sure she’s safe. You’re right though, WE can’t save everyone, but we try, and that’s good enough. We care enough about complete strangers to go on out there and put their lives in our hands because that’s what the fuck we do, we help people, maybe we can’t save ‘em all, but we do what we can cos we’re carin’ people.” James nodded, he knew Giuseppe was right, they couldn’t save everyone, no officer in the world can go out and save everyone, but they can come close, some police officers can’t even save themselves because they’re too busy trying to save everyone else. He respected that.
“You will find that motivation, and I can see you’re willing to put it all on the line to save this damsel in distress. So strap on your big boy boots, keep your hand on that holster, think of how proud you’ll be when you throw that mother fucker, Ogre on death row, and save your woman.” Giuseppe roughly patted James’ shoulder before James could smile, finally seeing that brighter side Giuseppe always looked for.
“Alright.” James took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before turning the truck back and seeing a better perspective on things. He looked over at Giuseppe and patted a hand on his back, thanking him for the pep talk, which he definitely needed. He headed back out onto the road and made continued onto their big mission.
_._

They arrived at Thurmond just before 8:40 A.M. The dirt roads were a lot dirtier than before. It was a ghost town for sure, they could see just how empty it truly was. What was Regan thinking moving into a place like this? This was kidnap central. She never seemed scared, or nervous. James could tell now just how brave she was, being in Thurmond made his skin crawl like nothing else. But he had bigger things to worry about than how empty the place was.
Up ahead a half a mile lay the five houses he was familiar with. Some of them were so worn down they looked like they were getting ready to collapse. Two hours, including that of Regan’s, looked brand new, like someone recently renovated. James remembered a set of younger relatives of the original owners came in to make the houses less ghostly. He had just been to Thurmond a week prior, but things seemed more eerie than ever before, this time he knew Regan was missing, and knew this time he was there for a bigger purpose.
Giuseppe and James stepped out of the truck after parking near Regan’s vacant home. James stared at the home for a moment and placed his hands on his waste, thinking of what could have been if she was here, maybe things would have been better, maybe they would have gotten closer. Thoughts kept circling his mind, making it hard to focus, until Giuseppe walked over with an intense proposition.
“James, focus. Remember what I said.” Giuseppe started. “Now look, I had an idea, it’s kind of a big one so hear me out.” He continued, James gave him a side eye, as Giuseppe pulled out his phone, James knew exactly where he was going with this.
“You want me to call him.” Asked before Giuseppe could begin to speak.
“Scare him. Let him know we have an army of men. Hell, try staying on the phone with him while we scope the woods. But use my phone, he knows your number now.” Giuseppe held out his phone, James hesitated. He knew it was a good plan, but was also nervous, this plan could take a wrong turn and it would all be over. But it was better than nothing. He took Giuseppe’s phone and dialed the number before signaling his men to head for the woods.
Giuseppe took out his gun and began walking with James to the woods, Regan’s father running up to join them, holding a pocket knife he carried with him at all times. Him and Regan had the same exact one, James noticed.
“You sure you’re secure enough? A pocket knife seems.. I don’t know, not safe enough.”
“I can handle my own, Officer. My adrenaline is through the roof right now, only thing I care about is my daughter’s safety. Now let’s go get that son of a bitch.” Tom spoke loud and clear, giving James and Giuseppe this new found energy to get this mission started. As they began at the start of the woods, James hit the call button and held the phone to his ear. At first there was no answer, and James didn’t want to continue trying, after two tries he started giving the phone back to Giuseppe, until the phone rang. They stopped and looked at one another, while Tom looked at them, urging James to answer it.
“Hello?” He spoke clearly in his low voice.
“Ah, Officer James what a coincidence. I was just thinking about you.” Ogre’s voice was all too familiar to James. His anger started getting the best of him, but he didn’t say anything, he wanted to try keeping Ogre on the phone as long as possible, hoping he might be able to track where Regan’s phone was coming from.
“You know, our last phone call was so short, we barely got to ask how each other’s days were going.”
“Enough, Ogre. You know why I’m calling, so let’s get straight to it.”
“Oh but I don’t know why you’re calling, I thought maybe you just wanted to see how I was doing, honestly.”
“No, I’m calling to let you know.. WE’RE COMING.”
_._

“Oh really?” Ogre smirked. He didn’t believe it, but he was about to. He walked over to Regan’s room, and watched her closely, she tried not looking at him, and looked over at John who managed to fall asleep, on his side, chain wrapped around him tightly, it couldn’t have been comfortable. She placed her hand on his arm, caressing it, trying to wake him, she knew Ogre was on the phone with someone she knew, it was her phone he was using after all.
“Oh dear, Officer James you really don’t know me after all do you. You really think Regan will be alive if you manage to find me?”
“Yes she will, you don’t have the balls to kill her, If you did you would have by now.” James was speaking so loudly Regan could hear him. Ogre walked into Regan’s room, now standing inches from her.
“I got your girl right here Officer. Sitting right below me. Looking up at me like a lost puppy dog. Really sexy if you ask me, how she begs with her eyes.” Ogre winked at her. She spat at his shoes. But he payed no attention.
“Leave her alone. She is an innocent person who didn’t do anything to you. If you give her to me safely, I’ll consider going easy on you.” James lied, he would never.
“Nice try, Officer, but even I’m smart enough to know that’s not true. But I feel very confident that you will not find me.”
“What about the other one, your accomplice?”
“Oh you mean the lover boy, the one who got Regan to fall madly in love with him? I have him chained up to, they’re sitting next to each other, he’s fun to mess around with too, except he takes it better than Regan does.” Ogre laughed, sitting crisscross in front of John, who was just barely awake. He looked up at Ogre with blurred eyes, anger in his face. He tried moving but he was chained up worse than Regan, she was more free to move around than he was.
“Stop this.” He whispered to Ogre, but he didn’t pay attention.
“Wait, he and Regan are mutual with one another? How, he is as horrible as you are.” James had this confused expression, Giuseppe looked at him dumbfounded.
“Oh you’re missing out on so much, friend.”
“DO NOT CALL ME YOUR FRIEND, I WILL NEVER. YOU BETTER NOT LAY A HAND ON HER.” Giuseppe stopped James from getting too worked up, he knew that would end badly. It could ruin everything.
“Calm down.” Giuseppe spoke just loud enough for James to hear. They were getting deeper in the woods now, but Ogre continued chuckling.
“Listen to your friend there, James. He seems rather smart. You better calm down, don’t want the wood creatures coming for ya.”
“Put Regan on the phone.” James stopped. He wasn’t moving until he heard her voice. “Now.”
Ogre stayed silent for a moment, he stared at Regan for what felt like an eternity before speaking again. “Why would I do that?” He asked, emotionless.
“You afraid?” James asked, a genuine smile on his face, he could see he was getting to Ogre, slowly but surely.
“No, I don’t get scared, nothing frightens me. Not you, or your army of men dumb enough to enter the woods to find someone you won’t ever find.” Ogre handed Regan the phone and watched her closely. John inched closer to her to try and listen in.
“James?” She spoke softly.
James bent down on his knees and tried holding in his emotions, it felt so good to hear her voice.
“Regan, oh my God.” He sobbed.
“James what’s going on, are you okay, are you trying to find me?” She asked, looking at John, and refusing to look at Ogre, no matter the temptation.
“We’re in the woods now, we had set up this plan days ago, we won’t stop ‘til we find you, you’re gonna be okay I promise, he won’t kill you.” James got up and continued walking, he felt more at ease hearing her voice. But Regan’s tone grew fiercer. She got up on her knees and looked Ogre dead in his face.
“Great, but I’ll make it easier, me and… A friend is gonna escape this place very soon, don’t worry, we’ll meet in the middle, after we kill this fucking FUCK.” She spoke, middle finger inches from his face. Ogre’s face went from sarcastically amused to pissed off in a matter of moments. He could hear James’ laughter on the other end, and immediately spoke.
“She just made this ten times harder for you, James. Good luck, and let the fucking games begin.” Ogre hung up the phone, and smacked Regan in the face with it.

UMF

“Hey!” John tried grabbing Ogre with his free hand but Ogre already left the room.
“Stop! Don’t. I’m fine.” Regan picked herself up and placed a hand on John’s. They gazed at one another and then began grinning. “Where did this fearlessness come from?” John curiously asked, loving this new found confidence.
“You.” She kissed him gently and looked out the door to see if Ogre was in eye sight, he wasn’t. But she could hear him rustling through things, trying to find something. Soon he entered the room again, holding a spiked bat that John hadn’t seen in forever.
“Ogre!” John screamed, covering Regan from any harm he was about to cause her.
“Ogre pushed John out of the way with this strength she’d never seen before. He grabbed Regan by the neck and held the bat close to her face.
“If you try to kill me, bitch.. I promise this will go in his face first, you can watch him slowly die a painful death, and then you’ll be next.” He was so close she could taste his obvious fear; she was also getting to him. Ogre was breaking down. They were truly coming to rescue her now, he had something to worry about, whether he showed it or not.
He got up and left the room, shutting the door behind them, leaving them in pitch black darkness. John managed to find Regan, and lay his head on her lap. She rubbed his head and leaned back against the wall, things were finally getting real, this was officially a life or death mission, and they knew Ogre wasn’t going down without a fight. What were they going to do next?