Apprehended (Amber Alert Series Book 3) (11 page)

Chapter 20

Alec had left earlier than usual this morning, so I took the time to gather more food and water for the girls. I hadn't been able to see them the last few days since Alec had stayed home for a few days after the news broadcast. They arrested the decoy he had set up to take the fall for him, but he still felt the need to be out of sight for a few days. I was hoping he wouldn’t have too much time off with sick days, but his excuses worked unfortunately and he was out of work for two days. He spent a majority of the time watching the news, and asking me about Callum.

He wanted to know the answer that Callum had skated around with the reporter, but he was mostly worried about his decoy. While the framed man knew nothing about what was going on or where we were, Alec wanted to make sure he took the fall. Alec had planned to use him, and planted evidence for the police to follow, but now Alec was worried about them finding some possible connection to him. He was worried about video cameras, if they searched the house too thoroughly, they would surely find evidence that the man was framed. Little did the police know, they were playing right into his plan, and there would be no way to find him before he moved us; if he moved us.

A shudder raced down my spine at the thought. Alec said that we may have to move, and I knew the chances of anyone finding us if we moved went down to almost nothing. He wasn't going to bother moving if none of the witnesses they had collected amounted to anything. There would be no need if there was no suspicion on him, but if the police started looking toward him, we would move. That meant I had to stall, I had to find some way to make him wait, all while hoping Callum could find us before Alec saw what I was doing.

I sighed heavily before heading toward the stairs to see the girls. I knew they would have a lot questions, but I just didn't have many answers for them. I was sure that they could sense the growing tension in the house. Even though they didn't stay upstairs with us, they could certainly hear when Alec came home, when the doors slammed, and he started to yell and complain about the police. The sound of him rummaging and destroying dishes in the house, stomping around, and screaming must terrify them. They would know something was going on, but not exactly what. 

I would just have to find a way to avoid saying that Alec was going to kill them if we needed to move. He didn’t know that I was keeping them alive, they would be dead by now if I wasn’t giving them water and food, but he wouldn't have risked taking all the girls with us anyway. He only wanted me, and because now he had me they had out lived their purpose, but if he took me then they would die before anyone could come to help them. The only way they were getting out of this house was in a body bag.

That’s why he sealed them in the basement when I agreed to come with him because if they left here alive, they could tell their story to the police. Alec wasn't going to leave a witnesses, especially one that could tell officers who they were, what happened to them, and identify him if he was ever caught. 

For a man like Alec, the best witness was a dead one.

"Jessi?" I heard a voice croak out as I opened the door and slowly made my way down the stairs. 

I had barely made it halfway down the stairs before they realized who was coming. They were most likely terrified when they heard the door open, but they had to wait until I turned on the lights to see who was coming. Down here they lived in fear that Alec would come back. He had left them down here to die, and if he found them alive, then we would all be dead. I knew what would happen if we didn’t make it out of here, so I was determined to have at least some of us make it out.

There would be pressure to change laws—that wouldn't help anyone—into effect. There would be curfews, dating laws, and other rules that were made to protect children all over again. Audrey and I had grown up with them, and to be honest, once they were gone I couldn't have been happier. While it's a difficult subject, my father would fight alongside Audrey saying that these laws were made the same way after a school shooting. They were made by fear.

The laws prevented law-abiding citizens from obtaining and carrying guns, but were the men that did the atrocities law abiding in the first place? No, but the laws made people feel safer, and they didn't want to lose that sense of security.

They didn't look at it from the point of view of the girls that were taken. The girls knew that nothing would have stopped the person that took them. Most times these individuals were determined to get the person they were after. Nothing would stop them, they were going to take them no matter what, and no law would have prevented it.

Now we were looking at another Anna Cowles occurrence. If Alec wasn't stopped, more laws could be made, and that would only stop law-abiding citizens from doing these awful deeds. While some individuals felt more protected by those laws, they were actually more vulnerable because the men that kidnap and kill the girls to get rid of the evidence aren't law-abiding. They don't care about the laws made to protect citizens, because to them laws were made to be broken.

No one would see it like that though. Not until it was too late anyway, at least not the ones that controlled whether the laws were put into effect or not. They would have to do something after the events becoming a nationwide topic. They would make the laws and even though some would see an issue, most would turn a blind eye, but those laws would only cause more trouble.

"Jessi, what's going on up there?" I heard Tegan ask pulling me out of my thoughts.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before I flipped the light switch and caused all the girls to moan at the sudden light.

They shielded their eyes, and turned away from the light as they tried to adjust their eyes. I glanced at them, skinny, pale, and sickly looking from undernourishment and the treatment they must have endured down here. I noticed that one of the girls was out cold, but still alive from the slow rise and fall of her chest. She wasn't going to make it much longer, and the others wouldn't be too far behind. Even with the food and water I provided, I knew that it was only a matter of time before they lost the will to survive. I had to give them something to fight for.

The only thing I had to tell them was the truth.

"The police have pulled in a suspect for the kidnappings," I stated as I handed the bread around. I watched as shock passed along their faces as they made sure each person got a slice of bread. There were a few moments of them glancing around hopefully at each other. Smiles spread across their faces, and for the first time since I met them there was hope in their eyes.

"Is it Alec? Are they going to find us?"

"No," I said, instantly watching the hope in their eyes vanish. I took a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to erupt. The girls looked heartbroken, and it was only going to get worse. "It wasn't Alec they took in. It's a decoy he set up for the police to follow. It could lead them to us, but it will take a little while longer."

There was a moment of silence as the girls took in that information. Two broke down in tears; crumbled to the ground and onto the mattresses that had been provided for them. The other one looked so stunned that she couldn't decide whether to cry or to bang her head against a wall. I couldn't blame them though, they had their chance of survival slip through their fingers and there was nothing they could do to have it come back. There was nothing I could do, but I should have seen where the conversation was going to go when Tegan spoke up again.

"The police won't find us," she stated, slowly lifting her head to look me in the eye. "They won't ever find you either. Alec will run, and none of us will make it!"

"That's not true, Callum will find us!"

"Who's Callum?" A girl asked, breaking through her bemused state.

"It doesn't matter," Tegan interrupted. "If he's so great, then why isn't he here now? We've been waiting. We've been through so much already. What more do we have to give for him to come here?"

"Time," I pushed. "He just needs time to figure out that he's on the wrong trail! He's smart, he will figure it out and he can save us all."

"We have no more time, and you know it," Tegan spat. "We are all as good as dead. Callum won't come. He will never find you. It doesn't matter how hard he tries, or whatever sources he finds. You are trapped, and we will all die unless we make an escape."

"We can't all escape Tegan, don't you see that?" I pleaded with her. "Otherwise Alec will find out, and hunt us down like he did with Casey!"

The girls gasped as soon as the words left my mouth, and cried out at the news. There were wails of pain, and sorrow, but all Tegan did was scream at me.

"I knew she was dead! You left us here to die!"

"You'd die if you went out there!" I cried. "Callum is the only way we are making it out of here! I can't take you out, or I would! I can't get all of you out! How can I make the choice of who to save and who to leave Tegan?"

"Let us go. We can make the choice, and I will show you that we can make it out! I don't need to wait for someone to come save me. I can do it myself despite Alec's threats."

"If you leave, then he finds out that I kept you alive, and he goes crazy," I screamed back. "He kills whoever is left in this house, then he goes to find you. No matter where you go, how far you get or who you tell, he will find you, and then you will wish you were dead!"

"I already do," Tegan replied so harshly that I was at a loss for words. "You think that there's anything that I have to live for here? You don't know what it's been like here. You've been too busy worrying about Callum," Tegan retorted, shoving the questions that the reporter had asked Callum back at me. "Well, here's a news flash for you! Since you've been here it's been easy, but you don't know the torture, the pain, and the suffering. I've seen girls murdered right in front of me. Yet you think that there's a reason I wouldn't risk my life to get out? I'm dead either way, might as well make a break for it."

"I'm not letting you out," I stated forcefully. "I'm not risking it. We can wait it out! They will come and we will all be safe!"

"Why keep us down here? He doesn't come down to see us, so what does keeping us down here do for you? So you can continue to live your easy life up there? So that you can just keep us trapped like—”

"It's not easy up there!" I cried. "It's nowhere near easy."

"You don't know what it was like before you got here. You have it easy. When we didn't meet his demands, we were punished. We are all down here because we tried and failed to be you! We failed!" she screamed loudly, letting her voice reverberate off the walls. "We weren't you, and we were punished for it, you have it easy, but now, oh now you're in for it. He won't wait much longer and with all the pressure, you'll see what I mean and even you will want to leave. The only problem is, you won't be able to get out like we can. You'll be stuck here, with no one to help you."

Chapter 21

The conversation I had with Tegan and the other girls played over and over again in my mind for the next few days. I couldn't stop thinking about all the things those girls had told me; from the horrific to the squeamish events they endured. They went through so much, and they were only here for a few months at a time, but I didn't think they had told me everything. They have had to watch their friends be murdered, to see new girls come and go, and to live through trying to meet his fantasy. It was impossible for them to meet his demands, and they suffered the consequences for it. I wouldn't be surprise if they didn't trust me enough to tell me everything, but they had said enough.

"You have to keep playing along, Jessi," Tegan growled as she stared me down. She refused to let our eye contact drop. She was making sure that I knew just how serious her words were. This was life or death for us all now, and if I wasn't careful, we would all die. "If he senses something is wrong, then it's over for us, and I mean all of us. He will move, and he may decide that it's too risky to take you. He can always start over, but we can't. Before you tell me that someone is coming, it doesn't matter if you really think Callum will come or not. You have to do whatever he says, no matter what it is." 

I knew that if I wanted to survive then I would have to play along as I had been doing, but Tegan was right. With Alec on edge, and nervous about the growing interest in the case, things were going to get a lot harder. He was going to become angry with me, and he would become more forceful with demands, maybe even make a few that he hadn't given me before. I shuddered at the thought, but I knew that no matter what it was, I had to do it, because if I didn't then the consequences would be worse. I would join the girls down stairs in the basement, but not after him following through on what he did to the other girls.

The beatings, painful projectiles aimed at my head, screaming and yelling, the chase while they tried to escape, and the non-consensual advances in a last ditch effort to keep the fantasy alive. It was all to try and make him happy, because they knew that it was the only way to stay alive. Desperate people will do desperate things. It was scary to think about, because you never knew what would happen exactly, but it would be worse to experience it.

"What's he going to do to me?" I asked cautiously. "How bad is it going to get?"

"It's not going to be pretty," Tegan started, glancing at the other girls around her. "But you're strong, and you can make it. You just have to bide your time, and be patient like you've been telling us. It will stop eventually, and he will then try to keep the fantasy alive. You just have to pass for being okay, and make sure he doesn't suspect a thing."

"What do you mean?"

"He's going to do awful things to you Jessi, and I can only tell you a few," she stated before listing off what she and previous girls had gone through.

When Tegan mentioned the things Alec would do to me if I failed in his eyes to be what he wanted, all I could think about was Steve Bennett. A shiver raced up my spine, Steve Bennett was a nightmare that haunted me for years. I couldn't forget my mother giving me up to protect herself, while Anna then spent her time protecting me in that dreaded house. She had been my mother during that time, and remained as such to this day, but that also meant that when Steve abused her, it hurt me as well. 

I had heard Anna screaming, seen her tears and the blood, and I had seen what those experiences could do to people. It was heartbreaking, and terrifying to believe that someone was capable of doing that. Anna was lucky; she had made it out, saved me, and found her family again. Most importantly, she had also found Garrett. She didn't need him per say, she was strong and wouldn't have needed Garrett after escaping, but no one else would have been able to be around her if he hadn't been there for her. She was never seen as a normal person again, and if she hadn't had Garrett, I was afraid to think about where her life could have gone. I had seen cases where the girl took her own life, because she was unable to tolerate the life she had been thrown back into.

The people that are taken have a hard time transitioning back into their old life. They find it hard to trust people, they flinch away from touch, are overly cautious, mostly caused by their entrapment, and they don't have anyone that understands what they went through. I've heard some survivors complain that their friends and family will talk to them as if they are fragile and will fall apart at any moment. No one wanted to keep everything bottled up, but most didn't want to tell their families about what they had been through.

For some it's just too much, and it's a tragedy for everyone.

Audrey was tormented with the ideas during her stint with Steve. He would remind her what he was capable of, and while she wasn't the one he truly wanted, he was okay with keeping her when she bravely hid her mother so that Anna wouldn't have to live through the horror again. She sacrificed herself, drastically changing from her defiant, and selfish acts prior to her being taken. It was a change for the better, and once Steve was dead everyone got what they wanted.

He was dead, everyone could move on, and everything seemed to fall into place.

Damien, Steve's decoy and pawn to escape, was able to find his sister's remains after years of searching for them alone. His sister had been one of the girls that Steve had taken, but her body hadn't been found when Anna told police where to find the bodies of the other girls. Only her arm had been found, and Damien had become so desperate after his parents died that he sided with Steve just to find the location of his sister's body.

What he didn't expect was falling for Audrey.

He was supposed to keep her hidden, so that the police would be forced to call on Steve to help find Audrey, but he didn't. He had attempted to save her, to get her back home without him being caught, but Steve was already out. Steve quickly removed Damien from the picture, and reunited Audrey and her mother, but in the end, Anna was finally finished with Steve—he couldn't come back from the dead. Audrey embraced her family and took on the laws that failed to protect the kids and teens in the area, and won.

They were some of the lucky ones. They managed to find peace, and to somehow move past it. Most weren't able to have closure. Their kidnapper would be put in jail, perhaps to be paroled a few years later, but they would still be alive. They would have to risk the person that took them possibly coming back, to search for them, and take them again. Anna and Audrey no longer had to worry about Steve, just men that focused on his story. Other than that, they never had to worry about their experience again. I could only hope that this would have a happy ending as well, but the longer I was here, the more I felt that it wouldn't end peacefully. 

There was something about Alec that had me worried. There was something about him that just wasn't adding up, and that scared me. He hadn't reacted how I had predicted when the news report first came on. I thought that he would become angry, but that had come after the pressure of the police presence had gotten to him. He had laughed, he knew that he wasn't going to be taken in for questioning, at least not immediately. He had a game plan, and he knew what was going to happen, but I didn't. If I didn't know the man that I was being forced to live with, then it could spell disaster in the end. 

I could predict him to react one way, but he goes the totally opposite side of the spectrum. That would be dangerous, because I had to play into his desires, and to do that I had to know what he was thinking. His behavior would only give me so much. It was the window to who Alec was, but his actions spoke deeper levels of his mind. Since I didn't understand that, I couldn't see what his overall goal is. Steve's was the perfect family, but Alec had skipped over that step by taking someone he thought was trained to be the perfect wife. He had skipped processes that Steve had coveted and spent years refining. Was there more to Steve, and he could just never find the perfect family to move forward with or was this all Alec?

He went after the girls, but hasn’t made a move toward me. That could change, but I didn't understand what made him refrain from touching me, or what made him so patient. I was behaved, as I had learned to do from living with Steve, but I was far from perfect. He was after something else. He wanted something more than the perfect family. There had been another step to Steve's plan, but he hadn't made it far enough to move onto the next step.

There’s something that is missing from the profile, because up to this point, no one had considered that there was more to the fantasy. Both Alec and Steve wanted the same thing. Alec didn't waste his time with searching for the perfect family, because he went after me since I was taken by Steve. Now he was moving onto the next stage, I just don't know what it was going to be and that scared me.

"Just remember, Jessi, this is life and death. You've chosen not to leave, and now you'll be up there alone with him," Tegan's voice reminded me as I looked out the window for Alec to come home. "You'll be alone, no one will be here for you, and if Callum isn't here soon you can say goodbye to your freedom, and maybe even your life."

There was an emphasis whenever she said the word alone. I should have taken it as a hint, but I thought that she was just trying to tell me not to hold out for Callum. I never thought that I would truly be alone, with no one else to help me. I never thought they would leave me.