Jaxon - Room 402

I tap my fingers against the table in beat to 'Arrow Through the Heart' by the Eight Club, holding the cat with the other hand. I see Ava come through the main entrance, with a puzzled frown marring her beautiful features.

"Hey, what's wrong" I ask, passing her the cat.

"Can I talk to you outside?" The balcony area, just there?"

"Sure," I say getting up to walk with her.

"This lady came into the bathroom and she gave me this," she holds up the key card for him to inspect. "She gave me specific instructions to enter this room at 6 o'clock." "She seemed to be in trouble Jaxon." She says looking at me with hopeful eyes, "can we help her?"

"I guess so, but it might be dangerous, I'll go with you." I say.

"Thanks" Ava replies.

"So I'm going to take Cleo to my room, you want to help me get a pet carrier, some cat food, and kitty litter?"

"Sure, I'll be at the lobby entrance with the car."

We leave the Rose Ballroom together and I head straight for the parking lot. I get into the car and drive out to the main entrance and wait for Ava. Fifteen minutes later she shows up in a black t-shirt and white jean shorts, carrying a hand bag with her.

"Hey you changed." I tell her.

"Haha, could not go shopping in that dress."

We end up at the supermarket in the pet food aisle, looking for the right food for her new pet. She picks the salmon flavour and the kitty litter. Next, she picks out a blue pet carrier and after selecting a litter box we leave the store.

"Well that was quick," I comment as I reverse the car out of the parking lot once again.

"It's five forty-five" says Ava, giving me a worried look.

"We'll be there on time, no worries," I say as we near the hotel.

We leave the pet items we bought in her room and head up to the sixth floor for Room 402. I put my ear to the door of the room and hear nothing coming from inside. I slip the card through the sensor and push the door open. I step in first with Ava close behind me, the room looks empty except on the bed we find a fair young girl with raven black hair gagged and bound to the bed post struggling to get free. I take out my pocket knife and cut through the blindfold, the gag around her mouth, the rope binding her hands and legs. She sits up straight and gazes at us with a mixture of bewilderment, fear and caution.

So I introduce myself, "My name is Jaxon, we found you here and we want to help you, we need to move you quickly to another room before whoever did this to you comes back okay?"

She asks us slowly "how do I know if I can trust you?"

"We would not be taken the trouble to introduce ourselves and want to help you, we would just move you around. We can't help you if you don't cooperate with us," says Ava gently chipping in.

"Alright, I'm feeling dizzy", she says trying to stand up.

"It's alright we'll help you out," says Ava.

They guide her out of the room and to Ava's bedroom which is on the second floor.

"Here we are, you'll be staying with us till we know, what to do with you, ok?" "You can take your time to tell us everything you know, so we can best decide what to do next."

She nods her head and collapses onto Ava's bed, "I'm going to ask for a mattress and an extra pillow." "You sleep tight" but the young girl was already fast asleep. Ava studied her for a moment and looked at Jaxon, "she doesn't look much older than twenty, I'm guessing seventeen."

"Whatever her age may be, make sure she does not leave your sight."

"Alight," she replied.