Kidnapped: Book 1

Chapter 19. Trenton Bridge.

**One more chapter than it's over! I'm thinking about entering this one into the Watty Awards too because I think it's better than the original 1st book.... :) Anyway vote and comment!

"What did you just call me?” He hissed at me.

“I’m sure you heard me, Jackass.” I spat back.

Mark slapped me with all his strength. I fell back onto Jace. My face screamed in pain. Jace carefully lifted me off him and stood staring down at Mark. I take it back I love how tall Jace is.

“Mark, we don’t have time for you to kill him just yet. Go wait for the cases. DO NOT lose any of them or I’ll kill you!” Mr. N screamed after Mark as he ran out the door.

He glared angrily at me. “Why can’t you be like normal girls?  If you weren’t so damn stubborn Mark wouldn’t even think twice about you.” Then he turned to glare at Jace. “Why couldn’t you find a less pretty girl to date huh? This is all your guys’ fault.” He mumbled.

I couldn’t take it. I was going to scream until I had no breath left to scream with.

“Our fault? How dare you blame this on us! It’s your fault Derek is dead, it’s your fault Mark did what he did, it’s your fault Jake is dead. All of this is YOUR FAULT!” I screamed so loud I thought the police could surely hear me.

“Boss, help me! I can’t get them all!” Mark shouted from the river, figures he wouldn't be able to complete his one job. Mr. N swore loudly and sprinted out the door. My mind went into hyper drive. Jake was the last one to lock us with the handcuffs, he had the key.

I dived toward his body. My hand just barely reached his shoulder. I grabbed it and pulled him towards me. He was surprisingly light. I tried not to think about the fact that I was dragging a dead body.

“What are you doing?” Jace asked. I dug inside Jake’s pockets until I found the key. I held it up to Jace, he grinned like a Cheshire cat. I quickly unlocked both of our handcuffs. We peered out the window looking for Mark and Mr. Newman. They were down at the river trying to gather up all the cases. It would take them at least 30 seconds to register us running and 10 more seconds to come after us. We had a 40 second head start, people won the Olympics with that sort of advantage.

Jace threw open the door and we launched out into the sunlight. The sun burned my eyes and I staggered a little trying to see straight. Neither Mark nor Mr. N noticed us. We’re home free. Then Jace stepped on a stick and it cracked. Both their heads shot up. Damn it.

“Boss!” Mark shouted, but Mr. N was already running after us.

So much for our 40 second head start.

My legs felt like jelly and my heart struggled to beat. The days of sitting and barely eating had taken its toll on my body. The bruises and cuts stung with every pound of my feet.

A tree next to Jace exploded. They were shooting at us. Shit.

Jace POV

My lungs burned horribly as we ran through the woods. Mr. N and Mark were sprinting after us quickly closing the distance. A tree exploded beside me. At first it didn’t register that they were shooting until a second shot flew beside my ear making another tree explode. A third shot fired, no tree exploded. Izzy did though, she screamed out in pain, stumbled, but managed to keep running.

I risked a glance over. Her shoulder was covered in blood and her lips were drawn in a tight line. "We can make it," I encouraged, even though I was sure we wouldn't.

Izzy nodded. Her face was drained of color.

I looked for a way out. Ahead of us there was a set of stairs. Every little cabin had a set like it leading to the main road. I sprinted to Izzy’s other side and supported her as I rushed up the stairs. She looked like she was about to collapse. At the top I imagined seeing hundreds of cars rushing to help us, but there were no cars. Just a barren strip of highway.

Izzy’s POV

At the top of the stairs we stopped for a second. Mark and Mr. N were almost to the bottom of the stairs. My arm seared in pain.

“Which way do we go?” Jace asked quickly. I looked left and right. I had no idea where we were.

“Right,” I guessed. We sprinted off to the right. We rounded a corner and saw the Trenton Bridge. It was basically as far out of town as you could get. It was ten miles before the actually town even started. With no other choice we kept running until we were standing in the middle. Another bullet rang through the air and Jace fell to the ground swearing.

The blood stopped running in my body. Jace was shot. A puddle of blood began to form around his leg. There were vital arteries in your leg. What if one was hit? I heard sirens in the distance. Had they found us?

“Stop right there, Isabella.” Mr. N ordered. I turned to face him. Mark was grinning at me holding his gun out.

“Kill her,” Mr. Newman growled. I looked down at Jace. His eyes were shut and his teeth were gritting against the pain. I felt no pain, the adrenaline was blocking it. Mark raced forward and took me to the edge of the bridge. I looked down at the rushing rapids beneath me. They would have a horribly hard time finding my body in that.

“It’s too bad you had to run Spitfire. Boss and I worked out a deal. I would kill the boy first and then take you away with me and we would live happily ever after.” Mark whispered, dreamily.

“Please, Mark, take me with you.” I begged. He looked at me shocked. “Jace made me run, I wanted to stay. I wanted to stay… for you.” I whispered.

Mark grinned. He set the gun on the railing and turned me towards him. He ran his hand down my cheek. “I knew you’d see it my way Spitfire.” I smiled seductively at him. It wouldn’t be so bad living with Mark. He leaned his head in.

Yeah right. In one swift motion I shoved him back over the railing. My shoulder screamed in pain. He plummeted to the rapids. I heard a click behind me.

“Well done, I wondered how long it would take you to kill him.” Mr. Newman said. He pressed the gun against the back of my head. My fingers inched towards Mark’s gun. Mr. Newman pushed it over the side. “Goodbye Spitfire,”

BANG.