Chapter Twenty-Six -- One Step Behind
Fear turned his stomach into a block of ice, while the blood halted in its course through his veins. Hudson looked around, his head swimming in darkness, his eyes unable to see a thing.
"Hey man," someone called him, right by his side, and it took him moments to understand that Jackie was trying to get his attention. "The fuck you look so spooked?"
Hudson shook his head as if he were trying to get rid of some water that had gotten into his ears. It served to clear his mind a little. "I need to leave you here, in charge, for a bit."
"What?" Jackie blinked and licked his lips like someone that hadn't had a drop of water in a long time. "Where are you going? Fuck this shit, don't leave me alone, Vegas. These fuckers, they could put me up there." His usually playful eyes were shiny with unshed tears now.
He needed to be the strong one here. He needed to give Jackie all the reassurance the young man had to have from him, and he needed to rush to Otis's help. Gavin's laconic message had been enough. He couldn't sit idly by and pretend everything was fine.
Jackie continued to stare at him as Hudson grabbed him by the shoulders and squeezed. "I'll be right back."
"You're not bailing on me, are you?"
"I know you're scared," Hudson said, moving closer and staring into Jackie's eyes, hoping to lend the other some of the strength he no longer felt. "But there are police everywhere around this place. The whole thing is under close surveillance. Nothing will happen to you."
"But I want you here. You can protect us. Shit, I don't even have a gun. Do you have one to spare?"
"I'm not giving you a gun, Jackie," Hudson said sternly. Then he patted the guy's cheek. "Listen to me. You're strong. You can do this. And I thought you were a man capable of holding his own. Was I wrong?"
The jab at Jackie's ego worked. A nod followed, even if it lacked much in the way of self-assurance. "No. I can do this shit. But these assholes, these fuckers," Jackie said through his teeth, "they're all going to pay. Tell me they're not going to get out of here, walk free, after what they've done."
"You have my word. Hold the fort, partner," Hudson said and squeezed Jackie's shoulder one last time.
He called the captain on his way out. "It's on."
The captain didn't have to know everything, just the details pertaining to the case. And now, he was running to the car, getting inside, one hand still on the phone, calling Gavin.
***
"You know you're not supposed to be here. I'm not supposed to let you in here."
"Shut up," Hudson grunted as he took in the scene from the door hanging open.
"And how am I going to tell the captain this is related? Most of all, are you sure this is related?"
"Gavin, you're a major pain in the ass, did you know that?"
"So I've been told. Don't touch anything. And you can't go inside."
"I know. I've been to school."
"Sometimes I doubt it. Now, spill."
Hudson turned toward Gavin and endured the judgmental look from his friend. "The guy's my boyfriend."
"Fuck me sideways. And why exactly was he kidnapped? That's the most logical assumption 'cause there's no body and--"
Hudson put one hand up. "He's not dead. Listen now, because I need to get back. There's this room where these fuckers hold people." He got Gavin up to speed on the redbrick building and the significance of the room that served to hold people hostage, making sure that his colleague understood everything he needed to.
Gavin nodded as he typed quickly on his phone. "I heard through the grapevine you've already told the captain to gather the troops. This isn't something you told him about, right?"
Hudson set his jaw hard. "You don't have to rub it in, asshole. Tell me if you'd rather be doing something else."
"West, I'm an asshole, but I'm a loyal asshole. Trust me on this. We'll get your boyfriend back. And when all's done, I'm going to laugh at you, but not before your guy is safe. Clear enough for you?"
Hudson nodded. "I have to get back now. Keep me posted."
***
Otis didn't say a thing as a black hood was pulled over his head.
"I apologize terribly for this," the man with the metallic voice said, "but I can't risk you getting away from me. We will be great friends."
"Friends do not kidnap each other," Otis opened his mouth. Now that the ability to see had been taken away from him, he couldn't count on studying his surroundings for clues. There was always a chance that the whole thing was a terrible mistake, but even if things stood as they were, he had become -- as the TV shows he had watched taught him -- an inconvenient witness.
"I don't disagree." The stranger wrapped one hand around his. It was covered by a leather glove, Otis could tell. "Well, that only means that we're just on our way to becoming the best of friends."
"What is your name?"
"What a wonderful creature you are," the man commented. "We're going on a little drive and I will tell you what you need to know about me."
Otis kept silent from that moment on. His hands were tied in front and his bare feet sensed cold hallway floors and then what had to be the pavement outside that building. He was made to climb into a car. Making a run for it under the circumstances wouldn't end up well for him. That was something he knew and knew well, also from the movies he had watched. People who ran were shot in the back; usually they were side characters, and side characters didn't have to be spared.
In this story, he didn't know what sort of character he was. But he felt, in the chill running down his spine, that he had to be the kind that wasn't going to be spared.
He heard the car engine purring to life. It had to be a good quality vehicle by the smell of the upholstery and the smoothness of its movement.
The driver took his hand again. "My beautiful boy." Dry lips touched the back of Otis's hand as it was lifted into the air. "My name is Gideon Keres. And you are?"
"You kidnapped me. You must know who I am."
This was a chance to see if he had been kidnapped by accident. Gideon Keres must have wanted someone else.
"So clever. You are a wonder, do you realize?"
"No."
"And modest, too. All right, Otis Bendecker, consider me enthralled with you. And your beauty."
It wasn't an accident. His heart began beating faster. Otis fought his hardest not to let his kidnapper know he was afraid by controlling his breathing through the exercises he had learned from his therapist.
"You have no reason to be afraid of me."
What a ridiculous thing to say. Otis had heard all of it before.
"Why are you sitting there? Sit here, close to mommy. What? You are afraid? Because I shook you a little earlier?"
It had never been a little. She had never been directly violent, never slapped him or kicked him, save for that last time. But it had always hurt just the same. And the fear had always been the same.
"You are very silent. I know you aren't stupid. So, talk."
"I have no money. There is no one to pay any ransom money," Otis said, articulating every word with difficulty. The memories had come unbound now, and he couldn't stop them. They could send him on a downward spiral and he didn't know if he could stop it.
"I wouldn't trade you for all the money in the world," the metallic voice continued. It was hard to believe the words were pouring out of a human being and not a robot created to talk. "You are beautiful."
"I am scarred." Otis swallowed thickly. His thirst was accentuated the more he talked.
Gideon Keres let out a sound like a sinister laugh. "I am a whole scar. And that makes you so imperfectly perfect. I had no idea. I thought you were just the kind of beauty I'd take great pleasure in destroying."
It wasn't fair. Fate wasn't fair, Otis thought as he inhaled and exhaled slowly. He hadn't been kidnapped for ransom money, but for something else. The only way to find out what his kidnapper meant by it was to ask.
"Why did you kidnap me?"
"Because I need a friend. You took a good look at me. Do you believe I have many friends? Or none at all?"
"I don't know. I don't know you." Breathing through the dense fabric of the hood made everything more difficult, talking included.
"You will be my friend, Otis. My special friend. You are already special because you have that lovely scar, but I will slowly transform you into my better half. Have you read Frankenstein?"
"Frankenstein is the doctor's name, not the monster's, like many people believe by mistake," Otis recited what he remembered from his reading. "But I haven't read the book."
Another mechanical laugh followed. "I will read it to you. You appear the kind to have a deep appreciation of unusual beautiful things. Unlike Frankenstein's monster, I will ask no doctor to create a mate for me. I will do it myself. It's only just for me to find love just like anyone else. Don't you think?"
"What do you mean?" Otis asked, ignoring the direct question. He had no answer for it.
"I will turn your flawless skin into a scar. I will take away your sight to give you mine, your hearing so that you can only hear me, and at the end of it all, you will be perfect. My perfect mate."
Perfect was a word full of hate in how it sounded coming out of Gideon Keres. Otis didn't want to become the man's perfect mate.
He couldn't escape. Not now. Even if he managed to open the door on his side, jumping out of a moving vehicle would most likely lead to serious injuries and even death. And the driver would only have to stop the car and collect him from where he had jumped only to drag him away just as was happening right now.
Another option to check off his list. But he could wait.
The house was silent, so silent, and his working on the lock was deafening in that silence. He feared she was somewhere inside, waiting to jump at him and hunt him down, dragging him back into the punishment room, but the bottles -- he had inspected them the day before -- were all empty, so she had to be out on her errand to bring home more of the same.
He needed to be patient. If it didn't work on the first try, he would try a second time, and a third time, and a fourth time. He would be free if only he could be patient enough.
