Kidnapped for Real

Selene woke up with a splitting headache. She felt disorientated and her eyes were having trouble focusing. "Where am I?," she thought, as she began to move from her lying down position. Panic rose in her chest when she tried to sit up only to realize that her hands were tied behind her back. "Are these handcuffs? Oh my God." Then she found that her feet were also bound together somehow.

Suddenly arms were reaching for her and forcing her to sit up. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. "Don't people scream in these situations?," she thought as her mind started going a mile a minute, keeping up with the pounding of her heart. "Who are you? What am I doing here? What do you want?," she started saying quickly.

The man who had sat her up didn't even look at her. He just stood to the side of her and said, "This room is soundproof so do not scream as no one will hear you." Selene repeated her questions, but he did not answer her and just stared straight ahead. She saw that he had a gun on his side and decided not to ask any more questions.

Selene saw that she was sitting on a couch, up against a wall in a small room that had no windows. Oddly, there were some stairs at the corner of the room leading up to the ceiling. "Are we underground?," she thought. "We must be. Oh no." She looked up at the man, who was wearing all black, and thought, "Is that tactical gear? What is going on here? Have I actually been kidnapped? This can't be real." She decided to take a chance and quietly and in a respectful tone asked, "Sir, may I ask why I have been brought here? Please, I'm just a scientist. A professor. I don't make that much money. My parents aren't rich. They can't pay any ransom." As she expected, the man did not respond.

Then she thought about Ben. "Oh my God. Is this because of Ben?" She let out a breath and thought about how worried he must be. "Or does he even know?...How long have I even been here?" She sat on the couch, waiting, and worrying.

She didn't have to wait long because about ten minutes later she saw a door in one corner of the ceiling open, and a man coming down. He seemed to be dressed in a nice business suit. It was hard to see his face because the room was dimly lit. As he walked closer though, Selene gasped as she saw it was Victor Drakos.

"Mr. Drakos!," she exclaimed, "I don't understand. Why?"

Victor had a contemptuous smirk on his face as he looked at her. "All in good time, Dr. Serian," he responded. He went over to a small table nearby that had two chairs. He grabbed one of the chairs and brought it over so he could sit in front of her. He crossed his legs and looked at her for a few moments. Selene felt very uncomfortable and wanted to say something but was afraid. Finally, Victor said, "Dr. Serian…may I call you Selene? Oh, what am I asking? Of course, I should be able to call you Selene, given our…bond." He tilted his head to one side and gave her a fake smile.

"What are you talking about?," Selene asked with a confused look. "What am I doing here? Please, can you please let me go?"

Victor sat up straight and answered in a cold voice, "Now why would I let you go when I went through all this trouble to find you and bring you here? Do you know how long I've searched for you? No. I think we have a lot to catch up on, my dear Selene."

Selene wondered if Victor had gone crazy or maybe he had always been crazy. Did he think she was someone else? She felt like she was in some sort of TV drama. This couldn't be real life, could it? "I don't understand," was all she said.

"You will soon enough, don't worry," Victor replied. "You must be hungry. I will have someone bring you food. Please don't try anything foolish. There is a camera in that corner, so someone will always be watching. The bathroom is through that door." And with that, he got up from the chair, and went back up the stairs.

The man who had been next to her the whole time stayed until another man brought over a tray with a plate with some pasta, a side salad, bread with butter on the side, fruit, water, and juice. "Wow," thought Selene, "Why are they going through all the trouble to feed me so well? I feel like this is a weird kidnapping." The man put the tray on the small table, while the one by her side leaned down and took of her handcuffs. Then he untied the bindings of her legs. Selene took some time to rub her wrists and ankles. She also stretched once she stood up, ignoring the looks the two men gave her. "What? Like you wouldn't do the same if you were handcuffed and bound on a couch for God knows how long," she remarked as she walked over to the table.

Both men stood guard by the couch as she ate. Selene felt very uncomfortable, and each bite seem to go down with difficulty. Finally, she said, "Can you guys at least sit down? You're making me feel so anxious, I can barely eat?" The two guards did not move or say anything." She sighed heavily and said, "Fine."

When she was done eating, the man who had brought over the tray, came over, picked everything up, and then proceeded to exit the room the same way he came. "Efficient," Selene said out loud as she leaned back in her chair. "Now what?," she asked the man that was left as she got up. He cocked his head slightly to one side. Selene was confused at first but then realized he must be listening to someone in his earpiece. The man turned to her and said, "Mr. Drakos will visit you tomorrow." Then he went up the stairs and left her alone.

Selene shook her head in confusion. "What does that mean?," she thought. What time is it now? How was she supposed to know when tomorrow was? She noted that there was no bed here, just the couch, so…It was all very confusing. She went and sat on the couch, putting her elbows on her thighs so she could lay her head on her hands. Looking around the room, she saw that there was a low table that appeared to have some art supplies on it. Across from it, there appeared to be a computer monitor mounted on the wall…no, it was a TV. She saw the remote control on the low table. She went to the table and sat near it, picking up the remote and finding that it actually worked. The TV turned on and she saw that she had access to all sorts of channels. "How long does he intend on keeping me here?," she thought as panic once again started to seep into her chest.

"It's been two days!," Ben exclaimed as he slammed his hand on the desk in front of him. He was with Johnny, Max, and two others in an office that was located in a warehouse. The area used to be a busy manufacturing hub until layoffs had turned it into a wasteland.

Johnny said, "We're going to find her. This lead is good. Let's just focus on what we know now. Listen to Frank." He put one hand on Ben's shoulder. Ben shook his head and rubbed his mouth with one hand.

Frank said, "When the team was able to finally track the spoof text to this location yesterday," (he pointed to a spot on the map that was laid out on the desk in front of them), "we found out this used to be the storefront the Simmons brothers used to clean some of their transactions. Took some digging but it turns out, the location is still live, only for other purposes."

"Relays," Ben said.

"Exactly," Frank continued, "One call to Johnny's contacts at the FBI and we were able to connect back to one of Victor's men, a guy named Bosco."

Johnny put an arm around Ben's shoulder and said, "We're tracking him now."

"But we don't know that the person who sent the text is the one who kidnapped her," said Ben in a frustrated tone.

"That's true," Johnny replied, "But it's a solid lead."

Ben nodded. He sighed and said, "It would be so much easier if we could just track Drakos. The son of a bitch is so slippery it drives me crazy. Ok, what about the car that was spotted leaving the garage after Selene arrived?"

Max responded, "We're still narrowing down the list. As you know, the dashcam on Maria's car only caught a partial on the plate and this is a big city. But we're close. We should know end of day today. I promise, we're close." He knew the words were not reassuring to Ben, but he was trying his best to sound reassuring.

Ben just shook his head and said, "I still…." He was cut off by a buzzing noise on his phone. He looked at the text and saw it was from Dianna in the lab. It indicated that there was a problem at Darby's station. After the last time that Dianna had pointed out the problem that Selene had fixed, Selene had told her to contact her or Ben if it ever happened again, but again to not tell anyone so as not to bother or embarrass them. With Selene missing, Ben had told Dianna to just text him directly. Ben texted back, "Take care of it like yesterday and I will stop by later." Yesterday, a similar issue was found at Dianna's station and now Darby's. Selene had a notebook she'd put notes in when she was fixing the issues the first time so Ben had given it to Dianna to help her. They needed Selene. He needed Selene. Ben sighed. What he needed was to stay strong so they could find her.

"So what's our next step?," he asked.

Johnny spoke up with, "We still have our people scouring every inch of the city. Every warehouse, abandoned building, you name it."

Ben was thoughtful as he listened. When he didn't respond, everyone else became quiet too. After several moments, he said, "What if she's not being kept in some place like that?"

"What do you mean?," asked Johnny. "Do you mean not in places that are abandoned or places he would use for his underground businesses?"

Max started nodding and said, "I think I see where you're going with it. From what we know of the man, he is very much into his whole aristocratic background. He prides himself on his looks and the clothes he wears. Everything always in style and all that. So…he probably would not want to be in an abandoned building and the like."

"So you're saying he would keep her some place nicer? Like what? A fancy hotel?," Johnny asked. "That wouldn't work" he continued, answering his own question, "because he'd need to take her some place out of the way."

Ben continued Johnny's train of thought, "But still nice enough for him to feel comfortable. Why don't we check his properties? See if any of them have attics or basements, or maybe detached side houses. Sheds even."

"I'm ahead of you, Sir," said the woman who was with them in the room. The men all looked at her with confused looks. Sheila continued, "I texted Robin and asked her to email us a list of all of Victor's properties that we know of. I told her to highlight all the places that Bosco had visited so far. Now I'm texting her to look up each property and send an updated list of the ones that have exactly what you just asked for. So, she'll be sending us that soon, but I figure we can start with the ones that guy has been to first."

Ben looked at her with surprise on his face and then he smiled. "Hey Sheila, you're due for a promotion, right?," he asked, feeling hopeful for the first time since Selene was taken.

Selene woke up on the couch feeling groggy and sore. She moved the blanket off and slid her legs down. Stretching her arms up, she yawned, and then said, "Good morning people watching me sleep! I hope you weren't too bored." She rolled her eyes and put on the slippers that were by the couch.

She had been provided with sheets, a pillow, and blankets the first day of her "stay." They had also given her extra clothes, pajamas, and slippers. She asked them how long they planned to keep her there, but, of course, there had been no response. No one ever talked to her, and it was driving her insane. Victor had never come down as that one guard had indicated and by her counting, it had been two days since she got there.

It was true that Selene was scared, but she was also bored. Victor had provided her with art materials, and she wondered how he knew she liked to draw, but being kidnapped did not inspire creativity. So, all she had to do was watch TV. After breakfast, she was lying down on the couch, thinking about her parents and Ben, and what they were doing, when the ceiling door opened. She saw that it was not the usual black pants of the guards, but nice slacks, followed by matching suit jacket, which, of course, meant that it was Victor Drakos.

"My dear Selene, lovely to see you again," he said, with contempt dripping from every word.

She sat up on the couch and inched her way to the farthest end. He sat at the other end and crossed his legs. Putting one arm over his leg and the other over the armrest, he leaned back and said, "Are you enjoying your…accommodations?"

"What do you think?," Selene said sarcastically and looked away.

Victor gave a little laugh and said, "I thought you'd be used to these types of places…given your background and…upbringing."

"What do you know of my background?," she asked, squinting her eyes and giving him a suspicious look.

Victor leaned forward and whispered, "Oh, I know everything about you, my dear.little.sister."