Chapter 18
“I am dumb, dumb, dumb. I’m the only one to blame. Lily won’t want anything to do with me when this is all over. I was the one that put her in this situation,” Landon thought to himself as he pulled his car over to the side of the road.
Lily called the police to let them know where they were. If the squad car was close they wouldn’t have to wait long before help would arrive. Landon checked to make sure the doors were all locked before turning to see what the man would do next.
“He’s coming,” he whispered taking hold of Lily’s hand. When he looked up all he saw was hopelessness written across her pale face. He felt like a knife had stabbed his heart. He was supposed to take care of her and keep her safe, and now they were trapped. There wasn’t anything he could say or do to make this better.
They both jumped when someone from the outside tried to open the passenger door. Lily turned to see the muscular man snarl at her through the window. He stalked around the back of the car and appeared a moment later at the driver’s side. Without trying the door handle he rose what looked like a wrench over his shoulder and slammed it into the driver’s side window. Landon crouched with his hands over his head just before he was showered with shards of glass. Before he could turn to look the man in the face, he was stabbed in the neck with a thin needle. Lily finally let out the scream that had been building up in her throat. Tears began streaming down her face as she watched Landon slump over the center console. The hand that had been holding hers went limp.
“What did you do to him,” she screamed at the man who was making his way back towards the passenger side of the car. Even with her vision blurred by tears she could see him motion to her to open the door. She shook her head slowly not knowing what to do. Lily racked her brain trying to remember where the pepper spray Malaya had given her was, but her mind went blank. She strained to listen for any possible oncoming sirens, but she heard none. The police weren’t anywhere near yet. She was on her own now. Lily had hoped so much that the man would fail in any other attempts he might make, so she hadn’t thought through what she would do if she were in a situation like this. She had to make what might be a life or death decision on the spot. Was it best to go kicking and screaming the entire way and risk getting a needle in the neck like Landon? Or was it better to go with the man anyway since it seemed he wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer? She took a deep breath and tried to think about what her mother would have told her to do. She probably would have told her to be brave, but what good would it do to be brave? What did that mean anyway? In this case did being brave mean never backing down despite the consequences, or was it doing what you don’t want to do even though you really, really, really don’t want to do it? She slowly unlocked the passenger side door. The man swung the door open, waved a gun in her face and said, “You can either come peacefully or you can come unconscious, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“I’ll come peacefully,” Lily sniffled as she edged her way out of the car. She was still on her crutches, and although she had become quite proficient at walking with them, there was no way she could out run him. Even if she wasn’t on crutches, she wasn’t sure she could. Lily had noticed how exact and quick he was at everything he had done up until now. He seemed to be trained at what he was doing. Or at least he had had a lot of practice. She was no match for someone with so much training and agility. She walked towards the sleek, black car parked behind them.
“I hope you like jewelry, because I got these special just for you,” he said pulling some handcuffs out of his back pocket. As soon as he had Lily handcuffed and in the passenger seat of his car, he went back for Landon. The muscular man pulled him out of the glass covered driver’s seat and dragged him to the back seat of his own car. He slapped handcuffs on Landon and then hurried to the driver’s seat and sped away with his victims. In the distance Lily could hear sirens.
***
Landon blinked his eyes as they adjusted to the light in the small, square room. His eyelids felt so heavy along with the rest of his body. His first thought was to find Lily and make sure she was safe, and if she wasn’t, to bash in that guy’s face. He forced his eyes to open completely so he could assess the situation. The grey room he was in was dark except for what he guessed was a single light bulb overhead. He slowly straightened from the hunched over position he had been in from resting his head on a table in front of him.
“Landon,” said Lily’s anxious voice. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he replied thankful she was sitting right in front of him unharmed.
“Where are we?”
“Well, we’re in Las Vegas, but I’m not sure exactly where in Las Vegas. I lost track of where we were after getting off the plane.”
“We were in a plane? So we’re not even in Texas anymore?” They wouldn’t be walking home, that was for sure.
“It looked like it was a private plane, come to think of it,” she said thoughtfully.
“That means that guy, or whoever is behind all this, has bucket loads of money lying around.”
“Hmm, I doubt that guy is wealthy. Rich people never do the dirty work themselves. They pay someone else to do it for them, so there is someone else orchestrating this.” All of those hours wasted watching television was finally paying off.
“Great,” Landon said kicking a leg of the stainless steel table. The person, or people for that matter, who had them kidnapped weren’t going to go down easily if they were loaded. Money was hard to fight, and even harder to win against.
“I guess we should be working on a plan to escape,” Landon said already formulating possible scenarios in his mind.
“I think we should wait and see what he has to say before doing anything,” Lily said resolutely.
“What? This guy is a creep, Lily, and whoever else is involved in this is scum for doing this to you. They can’t possibly want you for anything good,” Landon spat out.
“I know that,” she responded irritated. “But they will just keep trying and trying and we’ll just be right back here in this same position. I won’t have any peace until this is settled once and for all. Besides, the next time you may not be with me, and I don’t think I could deal with this alone,” she spoke almost pleading.
“Alright, it’s your call,” he said even though inside he wanted to blast his way out of this dump and save her.
“Once we know what it is he really wants, then we can decide what to do.” Landon didn’t like this plan at all.
Landon looked at Lily sitting on the other side of the table from him. Her hair was disheveled and flat, her eyes tired and her shoulders slumped in discouragement, but to Landon she was just as beautiful as the first time he had seen her in the hall at school. It had been the end of the school day and in the hustle and bustle of everyone rushing home, he had taken a different route than normal. The hallway had been filled with other students, but Lily was the only one he really saw. She was like a breath of fresh air to him. It was as if he already knew her somehow.
Landon had found himself watching her more often than not. Whether she was in the hallway, cafeteria, or in front of the school with her friend he just couldn’t get enough. He had been on an afternoon jog one day and by chance stopped by a faded wooden fence to catch his breath. Lily had been on the other side. She seemed so at peace even though she was stuck in a wheelchair. He made up his in that moment to meet her. He had to meet her. So he did.
Now that he was in her life, it seemed she was even more than fresh air to him. She was like the air he needed to survive. It wasn’t as if he was a needy, clingy person, because he wasn’t, but somehow he knew he needed her. His instincts told him that if there were ever a time when she was no longer in his life, then his life would mean little. Landon didn’t want to even think about anything bad happening to Lily. He didn’t have any idea what their kidnapper had in store for her, but his only objective right now was to protect Lily. He couldn’t bear to think what would happen if he failed at that objective again. “I did my best then, and I’ll do my best now,” Landon thought, giving himself a pep talk. He was going to do everything in his power to keep her safe, and that was all he could do. At that point there wasn’t anything else he had to say to himself. They weren’t escaping yet so he didn’t need to make any plans, and all the other thoughts that kept popping into his head were depressing so he decided to stop thinking altogether. He sank back as far as he could in the hard plastic chair and let his mind go completely blank.
***
They had sat in silence for a long time, buried in their own thoughts. Lily could really have used a hug at that moment, but being handcuffed to a chair wasn’t conducive to hugging.
“I hope he comes back soon. I’m getting really hungry,” she said when her growling stomach broke the silence.
“Me too,” Landon said staring off into space.
“So what have you been thinking about,” Lily asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing,” Landon said only telling half the truth.
“He’s coming,” Lily said listening. “I think he may have someone with him. I can hear someone’s thoughts, but they aren’t his.” Landon sat up on his guard and Lily turned towards the door to meet their captors. The door opened silently and two men walked into the grey room. The muscular man who kidnapped them led the way and looked very satisfied with himself. The other man, on the other hand, looked livid at the sight of Lily and Landon.
“YOU IDIOT,” he screamed at the man in black. “What do you think you’re doing to these kids?” He seemed to be calming down for a brief moment, but then raged on at what he saw next.
“YOU HANDCUFFED MY OWN SON? YOU’RE FIRED! GET OUT! OUT, OUT, OUT!” The man in black slinked back into the wall like a chameleon and slithered out the door.
“Dad?” Landon’s voice was filled with confusion and anger. Mr. Turner pulled a slim, black cell phone out of his suit jacket pocket.
“Tim? Oh, Brad. Is Tim there? Oh, never mind Mack’s on his way down. He should have some handcuff keys on him.” He was cooling down and his face was no longer red. When he snapped the phone shut he turned to Landon and said, “Hey, how are you doin’ son?”
“You haven’t shown your face to us in months and that’s all you have to say?”
“What do you want me to say,” he said flatly. “You want me to grovel? Is that what you want?”
“No,” Landon replied glaring at him. “I want a father.”
For a brief second Mr. Turner looked hurt, but a moment later his face was smoothed over to stone.
“Sorry about all of this,” he said motioning to the handcuffs and then around the bleak room. “It’s so unfortunate Mack has such bad manners. It’s not the first time that guy has messed things up, so try not to take it personally.”
“We won’t,” Landon said flatly.
“Good. I certainly wish I could have met your friend under better circumstances,” he said smiling at Lily. “It’s Lily, right? It’s a pleasure to meet you my dear.”
Lily wasn’t sure why, but something about the way he said it made her skin crawl. This man knew who she was and he must know about her gift. There was no way she could trust him, even if he was Landon’s father. Instead of risking giving away her feelings when she spoke, she forced a smile at the grinning man. An old, scruffy faced man entered the room, handed two keys to Mr. Turner and then turned and left as silently as he had come. Once Mr. Turner had uncuffed Lily and Landon, he escorted them through a maze of hallways to a brass elevator. He punched the “lobby” button and the elevator lurched and then plummeted down to the selected floor. By the time they reached the lobby, Lily felt like her stomach had risen and become lodged in her throat. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she exited the elevator into a sleek, modern foyer. It was very well decorated with charcoal greys and deep purples with accents of black. It was small, and held only a front desk and a few plum purple velvet chairs.
“Please wait here while I arrange for transportation to your hotel,” Mr. Turner said motioning towards the chairs.
Lily sat down in the chair closest to her, but Landon refused to sit, and stood facing his father with his arms folded across his chest. The angry expression was gone from his face, but it had left a residual irritation behind. Lily couldn’t think of anything to say that would help the situation, so instead she reached over and put a hand gently on his arm. He smiled at her briefly, but quickly returned his attention to watching his father who was returning from his phone calls.
“Alright you two,” he said happily. “I’ve got a room for each of you at the Venetian. The reservation is under Landon’s name. Everything is already paid for. Your ride will be here in about five minutes. He will take you to the Venetian where you will need to go shopping for some decent clothing. There are stores in the hotel, so please don’t go wandering all over the strip at night. There can be some real, ahem, strange people out there.”
“But we don’t have any money,” Lily started.
“Don’t even worry about that. This trip is on me. I will take care of everything” he said handing them each a wad of bills.
“Before you go we have a couple of phone calls to make.” He handed a silver cell phone to Lily. She dialed her home phone number and waited for her aunt to pick up. Lily told her aunt, as she had been directed by Mr. Turner, that she and Landon would be visiting Landon’s father for the rest of the weekend, and that they would be back late Sunday afternoon. After reassuring her aunt that she was perfectly safe she hung up the phone and handed it to Landon. He called his mother and told her the same, although unlike Lily, he got an earful of what his mother thought of his little “escapades” as she called it.
“I raised you better than this Landon Turner. Don’t just run off without telling your mother, even if it is to your father. You better bring that sweet girl back home right now.”
“Mom, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down young man. I’m tired off all this. Your behavior has gotten out of hand.”
“My behavior? When was the last time I got in trouble, I mean really in trouble? Maybe a year ago, but you know that wasn’t really me who did that. It was Dean.”
Landon and his mother went back and forth for a couple minutes before Landon’s father grabbed the phone unemotionally, rubbed the speaker on his shirt for a moment, and then clicked the “end call” button with his thick thumb.
“If you want to call anyone while you are here please use this phone,” he said handing Lily the silver flip phone. “Don’t use the hotel phones or payphones. I already have plans for tonight that I can’t get out of, but we will do dinner and a show tomorrow night. I’m sure you’re both tired anyway, so I hope you don’t mind the delay in our catching up.”
“Hmm, I’ve already waited over a year, what’s one more day,” Landon spoke with venom flying off his lips. Mr. Turner ignored the comment and continued.
“Lily, I’m sure you’re curious as to why you are even here to begin with. I want to have a one on one chat with you about that. Sunday morning the driver, Mr. B., will be waiting for you outside the hotel at nine o’clock. Please be on time.” Lily nodded her head, not sure what else to do or say. A mixture of anxiety and excitement welled within her. She was finally going to figure out what this was all about.
“Ah, there he is,” he said opening a heavy glass entry door allowing a wave of heat to wash over them. All three of them walked outside in time to see a plump, dark skinned man dressed in a black suit emerge from the driver’s side of a sleek, black limo. The only thing Lily found odd about him was that he was wearing dark tinted sunglasses at night.
“Mr. B.,” Mr. Turner said pausing for effect. “This is my son, Landon, and his friend Lily. They will be with us until Sunday afternoon. Landon, Lily, this is my most trusted employee, Mr. B.”
At the sound of his name, Mr. B. smiled a big, bright, toothy smile in their direction.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he said as he opened a limo door to the back seat.
“Take them to the Venetian, B. I’ll contact you with further details later,” Landon and Lily heard Mr. Turner say as they scooted across the limo’s black leather seats. With a nod of his head Mr. B. swung the limo door gently shut and was in the driver’s seat taking them towards the famous Las Vegas strip.
“Have you ever been to Las Vegas before,” Lily asked Landon as they rode behind the darkly tinted windows.
“Never.”
“You didn’t know your dad was here, did you,” she asked him carefully.
“No,” he said shaking his head in disappointment. “I can’t believe he’s in on this. My own father.” He shook his head in disgust as he fiddled with the wad of cash still in his hand.
“He must have a good reason,” Lily offered hopefully.
“He better.”
***
By the time they reached the Venetian they were ravenous. Once inside they set out to find something to fill their aching stomachs. They decided on a small café near the tail end of the shopping area. They watched people pass by as they ate their meal. Other than a random comment about a street performer or an oddly dressed tourist, they said nothing.
“It looks like the stores are closed for the night, so we’ll want to come down first thing and get some clothes to wear for the next couple days,” Landon said as he paid their dinner check.
“I’m kind of glad they’re closed,” Lily replied. “I think I’m too tired to do anything else tonight.”
They left the café and walked back the way they had come through the indoor shopping mall. The ceiling was painted like the morning sky complete with puffy clouds. It was nearly ten o’clock at night, but the in the artificial daylight it felt much earlier. They passed shoppers heading back to their rooms for the night or going downstairs to gamble away any change they had in their pockets. Lily never understood why people would want to throw their money away. There was such a slim chance of ever winning anything significant. It just didn’t seem worth it to her. When they reached the front desk they were nearly walking zombies. Lily was so tired she had to lean against the counter to keep her balance. She was thankful the young man at the desk quickly gave them their room keys, because she was sure she would drop at any moment.
“Here you are sir,” the desk clerk said handing Landon the room keys.
“Thanks,” Landon said before heading toward the elevators.
At least his father had gotten them a nice hotel. The Venetian was probably one of the top hotels in Las Vegas. It was right on the strip with easy access to anything you could possibly want. Food, shopping and entertainment were all inside the monstrous hotel, and if they didn’t have what you wanted, there were several other similar hotels within walking distance.
“Here,” Landon said handing her a room key as they rode the elevator to their floor.
“I’ll walk you to your room, and then I’ll go find mine.” Lily smiled at him sleepily from under her long dark eyelashes.
“Okay.”
They quickly found Lily’s room not far from the elevators. Lily swiped the card through the attached reader, swung open the door and stepped inside. She turned to give Landon a goodbye hug.
“I’m going to go find my room, will you be okay,” Landon said as Lily pulled out of their embrace sooner than he would have liked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I think what I really need is a good night’s sleep,” she said still smiling from the warmth of his hug.
“Alright, be sure to lock and bolt the door. I’ll come get you for breakfast,” he said squeezing her hand. Landon left her room and pulled the second room key out of his pants pocket. He checked and double checked the room number, unsure if it was correct. He finally turned to the room right next to Lily’s, and swiped the key through the slot. The green “open” light appeared and he pushed the heavy door open to a room similar to the one he had just left.
“Boy, my mom is gonna have a hay day if she ever finds out about this,” he muttered under his breath before walking the few strides it took to reach Lily’s door.
He knocked a few times before a small “Who is it” came from the other side.
“It’s me Lily,” Landon said speaking thought the thick door. “I just wanted you to know that I’m right next door if you need anything,” Landon said once she had undone all the locks.
“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re so close. I definitely feel safer having you right next door.”
“Anyway, I just wanted you to know,” he said moving to return to his room.
“Landon,” Lily called to him curling her pointer finger in a “come back here” manner. He stepped back in front of her half open door wondering what it was she wanted. She grabbed his face gently with both hands, turned it slightly to the left cradling his chin in the palm of her hand, and softly kissed his cheek.
“Thank you, Landon. For everything.”
When she released his head they stood face to face gazing into each other’s eyes. In that moment it was as if nothing had happened. It was as if they were all alone in the world. There was no car chase, no hotel, and no kidnapping. Their world was at peace. Lily sighed and what he had hoped might turn into a kiss, turned into a yawn.
“I better let you get some rest,” he said flashing a grin at her sleepy face.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said as she turned back towards her room, and shut the door gently behind her.