Chapter
5
Later
that afternoon, Heidi, Brian, Kevin, Josh, and I were sitting around the
waiting room, staring at a talk show on TV, bored out of our minds. AJ and Howie were in with Nick. I was exhausted, but I knew I couldn’t
sleep. I yawned.
“Jules,
are you okay?” Josh asked me. “Do you
want to go back to the hotel and sleep for awhile?”
“I
can’t, remember, honey,” I said, reminding him of what I had explained earlier
that day about the phone calls.
“Oh
yeah,” he said.
“Hey,
Kevin, are you okay?” asked Heidi. I
looked over at Kevin, who sat hunched over in a chair, resting his head in his
hands. He had dark circles under his
eyes and looked exhausted as well.
“I’ve
just got a headache,” he muttered.
“Oh,”
Heidi said sympathetically. “Do you want
me to go buy a bottle of aspirin or something for you?” she asked.
“Naw,
I wouldn’t make you do that. I’ll be
fine,” Kevin assured her, but I could tell he was in pain. Heidi obviously could too.
“Oh
come on, Kev, it’s no big deal. I’m sure
they sell stuff like that in the gift shop.
There’s one on the main floor, near the cafeteria. I’ll just go down and buy a bottle. Actually, I could use some myself,” she said.
“Well,
ok. Thanks, Heidi,” Kevin said
gratefully, as Heidi stood up.
“Do
any of you guys want a drink or anything while I’m down there?” she asked.
“Well,
could you get a bottled water for me to take the pills with?” Kevin asked.
“Sure,”
she said, smiling at him.
“Here,”
Kevin said, digging into his wallet and handing her some money.
“Thanks,”
said Heidi. “I’ll be back in a few
minutes.”
“Ok,
thanks,” Kevin said again.
“No
problem,” Heidi said and disappeared down the hall.
***
Half
an hour later, one of our cell phones rang.
It wasn’t coming from my phone.
The guys and I all looked around, trying to figure out where the ringing
was coming from. Finally, I realized it
was coming from Heidi’s purse, which was tucked under one of the chairs. I hurried over to it and pulled out her cell
phone.
“Hello?”
I said.
“Heidi?”
came a male voice.
“No,
this is Julie, one of Heidi’s friends,” I replied.
“Oh
ok. Where’s Heidi at?” the man asked.
“Well,
it’s a long story, but she isn’t here right now. She should be back really soon though,” I
said, suddenly realizing that Heidi should have been back long before. It should have only taken a few minutes for
her to get the pills and water.
“Oh,
ok. Well, this is Sonny, her
boyfriend. Could you please have her
call me at the base when she gets back?” he asked.
“Oh,
sure thing, Sonny,” I replied.
“Ok,
thanks,” he said. “Bye.”
“Bye,”
I replied and clicked off the phone. I
had heard about Sonny before. He was
Heidi’s boyfriend, and he was in the Marines.
He was stationed on some base in Virginia, near where Heidi lived.
“Who
was that?” Brian asked.
“Heidi’s
boyfriend, Sonny,” I replied.
“Hey,
speaking of Heidi, where is she?” Brian asked.
“Shouldn’t she have been back by now?”
“That’s
what I was just thinking,” I said. “Do
you think maybe we should go look for her?”
“Yeah,
we probably should. Just to make sure
she’s okay,” Brian said.
“Ok,”
I replied. “Hey, Josh, will you stay
here and keep Kevin company?” I asked.
“Brian and I are going to go find Heidi and see what the heck is taking
her so long.”
“Sure,
babe,” Josh replied. “See you later.”
“Kay,
hun. Come on, Bri,” I said, and Brian
and I left the room. We took the
elevator downstairs to the first floor and headed to the gift shop. We wandered around the gift shop, but didn’t
see Heidi.
“Maybe
she went to the cafeteria or something,” Brian suggested.
“Ok,
let’s go look,” I replied. We walked
down the hall towards the cafeteria. We
passed by one short hall that had a side exit at the end of it. There were no rooms down that hall, just a
row of vending machines. But something
on the floor caught my eye. I hurried
over to see what it was. A
necklace. “Hey, Brian, come here!” I
called. He hurried over.
“What’s
that?” he asked, pointing to the necklace.
“This
is Heidi’s,” I said. The necklace was a
gold chain with a class ring on it. I
remembered seeing her wearing it all the time.
It was Sonny’s class ring, and it was obviously too big for her finger,
so she wore it on a necklace. I saw
that the clasp was broken on it.
“Where
do you think she could be?” Brian asked, looking around.
“I
don’t know,” I replied, confused and a little worried.
Suddenly,
I heard Brian’s terrified scream. I
whirled around to see two figures dressed in black holding a struggling
Brian. “Run!” Brian screamed, right
before they threw a bag over his head to muffle his cries.
I
turned and started to run but found myself face to face with two more men in
black. I screamed, but had no time to
react. They grabbed me, and suddenly,
everything went black.
***
When
I came to, I realized I was lying in the back of some kind of big truck. It was pitch black wherever I was, but I
could tell that we were moving because the truck bounced every time we hit a
bump.
When
my eyes adjusted to the light, I confirmed my observation. I was in the back of what looked like a small
semi. There were no windows, so I could
barely see, but as I squinted into the darkness, I could make out two still
forms lying a few feet away from me. I
pulled myself up, and immediately felt dizzy.
My head was throbbing. I waited
for the dizziness to pass and slowly crawled towards the people that I assumed
were Brian and Heidi. I came across
Brian first. He was sprawled out across
the floor, his eyes closed.
“Brian?”
I asked, gently nudging him. He didn’t
move. “Brian?” I asked again, my voice
rising with panic. I took him by the
shoulders and gently shook him. “Come
on, Brian, open your eyes,” I pleaded.
Suddenly,
Brian stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
He stared blankly up at me for a moment.
“Julie?” he said finally.
“Yeah,”
I replied, happy to see him awake. “Are
you okay, Brian?”
He
sat up slowly and rubbed the back of his head.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Are
you?”
“Yeah,”
I replied. “My head hurts too
though. They must have knocked us out.”
He
nodded. “Hey, is Heidi here too?” he
asked suddenly.
I
made my way over to where I had seen the other figure. As I got closer, I realized it was
Heidi. She was curled up in a little
ball, as if trying to protect herself.
“She’s over here, Brian,” I said, motioning to Heidi. He came over and sat beside her.
“Heidi?”
he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder and gently shaking her. Heidi moaned and rolled over onto her
back. Then she opened her eyes.
“Where
am I?” she asked, looking around wildly.
“I’m
not sure,” I said. “We’re in some kind
of semi, I think. We’ve been kidnapped.”
“I
know,” Heidi said, her eyes filling with tears.
“I was getting a bottle of water, and they jumped out from behind the
soda machines. They grabbed me and threw
a bag or something over my head, and then I guess they knocked me unconscious
or something.”
“We
were looking for you, and Julie found your necklace. Then all of a sudden, they popped out and
grabbed us too,” Brian said sadly.
“My
necklace?” Heidi asked. Her fingers
drifted up to her neck, where her necklace had once lay.
“Yeah,
the one with Sonny’s class ring,” I replied.
“It was on the floor near the vending machines. It must have been ripped off when they
grabbed you. I had it, but I must have
dropped it when they attacked me.”
Heidi
sighed. “Did either of you get to see
who they were?” she asked.
“Nope,”
I replied. “They were all wearing black and
had face masks on.”
“Yeah,”
Brian agreed.
“Where
do you think they’re taking us?” Heidi asked, her voice small and scared
sounding.
“I
have no clue,” Brian replied.
“Great. This is just great,” I muttered, tears
filling my eyes. Why had this all
happened to me? Here I was sitting with
my favorite Backstreet Boy and best online friend in the back of a semi after
being kidnapped by a bunch of psychos in black.
How ironic.
Brian
saw the tears shimmering in my eyes and gently wrapped his arm around me. Exhausted and depressed, I rested my head on
his shoulder as the tears slipped down my cheeks. Brian’s arm tightened around me as he pulled
me close to him. I felt safe and warm in
his arms.
“Shhh,
don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Brian soothed.
“God’s watching over us, and He’ll help us get through this.”
I
nodded and murmured a silent prayer in my head, hoping that He would hear it
and get us out of this mess.
***
Meanwhile,
Kevin and Howie were in Nick’s room, while Josh and AJ sat in the waiting room,
drinking Mountain Dews. Suddenly, one of
their cell phone’s rang.
“Not
mine,” AJ said.
“It’s
Heidi’s,” Josh replied. “Should I answer
it?”
“Sure,
why not,” AJ replied. “Where is Heidi
anyway?”
“I
have no clue,” Josh replied. “She went
down to get Kevin some aspirin awhile ago, and then Julie and Brian went to
look for her, and that was about a half hour ago.”
“I
wonder where they are,” AJ said, puzzled.
Josh
pulled Heidi’s ringing cell phone out of her purse. “Hello?” he asked.
“Hey,
Heidi, it’s Becky. Hey, are you feeling
okay? Your voice sounds weird. Oh well, anyway, I just had to call you and
see how everything’s going. How was the
concert?”
“Uh…Becky?”
Josh asked, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah?”
she asked.
“Um…
this isn’t Heidi,” Josh replied. AJ
started cracking up across the room.
Josh grinned and tried to suppress his laughter.
“Who
is this then?” Becky demanded.
“My
name’s Josh. I’m her friend Julie’s
boyfriend,” he replied. “Don’t even ask
why I’m answering her phone; it’s a long story.”
“Oh…
ok,” Becky said slowly. “Well, uh….
Josh, could you have her call me back, please?”
“Yeah,
sure. Bye,” Josh said.
“Bye,”
Becky replied and hung up the phone.
Josh clicked the phone off.
“That
was one of Heidi’s friends, I guess. She
thought I was Heidi,” Josh said, laughing.
AJ snickered. “Jeez, that’s the
second phone call she’s gotten. Where
the heck is she?” Josh asked.
“I
don’t know, man. And what happened to
Brian and Julie too. You said they went
to find Heidi, right?” AJ asked.
“Yeah,”
Josh said. “They should be back by now.”
“I
hope they didn’t get attacked by fans or something,” AJ said. “I mean, I love the fans, but they can be
dangerous at times.”
“I
bet,” Josh said. “Maybe we should go
look for them.”
“Yeah,
I guess we better,” AJ agreed. “Let’s
go.”
They
left the room and took the elevator downstairs, hoping to find out what had
happened to Heidi, Julie, and Brian.
***
Suddenly,
the truck came to an abrupt stop, tossing the three of us around in the
back. Soon, the door in the back
opened. Bright sunlight spilled in,
nearly blinding us. Three of the men,
still dressed in their black outfits and face masks, jumped into the back. I glared up at them, but I was trembling.
“Now,
you come with us without no trouble, and we won’t hit you,” one of the men
replied gruffly. He was big and fat,
compared to the other two.
They
approached us. The fat one grabbed
Heidi. Another man grabbed Brian. The third one grabbed me. He didn’t seem as tough as the other
two.
Heidi
and Brian walked out of the truck without much trouble. I knew they were too scared to make a
move. I was terrified myself. I let the man lead me out of the back of the
truck.
I
looked around and realized I had no idea where we were. The place where we were was surrounded by
trees. It looked like a marsh. The ground was muddy, and it was very hot and
humid. We had been driving a long time
while I was awake, and I had been asleep some of the time. We could be anywhere by now. I wasn’t even sure if it was the same
day. I looked up at the sun, which was
low in the sky. It must have been early
evening, probably on the same day we had been kidnapped. Still, we had been in that truck for
hours.
As
the man led me along, I knew I had to do something. Suddenly, I spun out of his grasp and kicked
him hard in the crotch. He let out a
high pitched scream and grabbed at himself, falling into the mud. Too scared to laugh, I ran as fast as I
could. But it was not fast enough. Suddenly, another man appeared from the truck
and grabbed me. He raised his hand over
my head and struck me hard. I barely
even felt the pain before my world went black.
***
“Do
you think whoever is behind Nick’s fall has anything to do with this?” Kevin
asked Officer Kessler fearfully. It was
now six that evening. Heidi, Julie, and
Brian had been gone since that morning.
When
Josh and AJ had gone to look for them, they had come across some sunglasses and
a necklace lying on the floor near some vending machines on the main
floor. Josh had remembered seeing Heidi
wearing the necklace, and AJ knew the sunglasses were Brian’s. He rarely went without them when going out in
public.
It
was then that they knew something horrible had happened. They had called the police, but Kessler and
James weren’t in, and it was too early to file a missing persons report. They had left a message for Kessler and
James, and Kessler had just finally arrived a half an hour before. The guys had just explained what had
happened.
Kessler
looked at them grimly. “I don’t know for
sure, but it could be,” he replied.
“Do
you have any suspects yet?” AJ asked.
Kessler
shook his head. “We’re trying, but there
aren’t many clues to go on. Did any of
you see anything out of the ordinary while you’ve been here?”
Josh,
AJ, Kevin, and Howie just looked at each other and shook their heads. They couldn’t believe this had happened. The worst part was, there was nothing they
could do to help their loved ones. All
they could do was wait and pray.
***
