No Return

[IndigoNova]

(closed)

What a gorgeous day, Brady thought as she walked out of the house and on to the expansive front porch. The perfect Texas morning. the temperature was in the high 60's, the sun was blinding as it rose in the sky, and Brady was done with college for the summer. Life couldn't get any better.

Well, actually it could, but she didn't like to dwell on that. Her father had been extremely stressed out lately; he had been receiving some veiled threats recently concerning the family's safety, and it was starting to get to him. Brady figured it was all just a big hoax. After all, it wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

Anthony Marek owned the largest ranch in Texas, and was one of the wealthiest men as well, so it wasn't uncommon for him to receive threats and the like.

Shaking off the negative thoughts, Brady headed towards the barn to saddle up her gelding, Eppie, and go for him daily morning ride. Nothing relaxed her, and got her more ready for the day, than the long ride she took every morning just as the sun came up.

Eppie was anxious to hit the open land, so Brady wasted no time in saddling him up. Soon she was climbing onto his back and heading towards the open land. Once they were clear of the paddock fences, she let Eppie have his head. The palomino gelding ate up the ground with his long strides and soon they were far away from the main house, out of sight of everything except for the rolling hills and green pastures.

Brady took the same route that she usually did, allowing Eppie to fly across the ground, his hooves tossing up dirt as he ate up the ground. Brady threw her head back and let the wind fly through her hair, enjoying the feel of it on her face.

After a while she reined Eppie in right as they reached a stand of trees at the edge of the field. Eppie nibbled on some grass as Brady lay back in the saddle, her head resting on the horse's rump, her arms dangling by his sides. She could feel the sun heating her skin where her tight t shirt had ridden up on her stomach some and sighed. If there was a heaven ... this would be it. She closed her eyes and just enjoyed the sound of Eppie's teeth tearing through grass as well as the occasional rhythm of steps that he took.

Eventually she sat up and swung her leg over, deciding to get down and walk around for a moment. Her back was to the woods and she was completely unaware of the men in the woods behind her, watching her every move.

Brady was standing there stretching out her muscles when suddenly Eppie shied away and whinnied. His ears pinned back against his head and the whites of his eyes flared. Brady immediately looked down to the ground for a snake or some other threat. But then a strong hand clamped down over her mouth.

She started to scream until the rough, deep whisper in her ear told her not to. She wouldn't be harmed if she didn't scream. Like she'd believe THAT! She watched in horror as some thuggish looking man clamped onto Eppie's reins so that horse couldn't bolt. She struggled against the man holding her tightly, afraid for her horse and herself.

Someone placed restraints around her wrists and ankles making her unable to struggle anymore. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes but she resisted them, refusing to let that weakness show. The man swung her up into his strong arms and carried her to a van where she was placed in the back and they drove off.

The entire time she struggled against her restraints but to no avail. They were cutting into her wrists and her struggling was only making it worse. She could already feel her wrists and ankles growing raw. The back of the van had no windows so she couldn't even see where they were taking her. She tried to memorize turns... left, left, right, left... but she lost track and whimpered in helpless frustration.

She should have listened to those threats her father had been receiving. But how could she have known this time would be any different??

(My idea is that one of the kidnappers is an undercover cop or perhaps he has his own agenda for some ransom money. If you have any suggestions/ideas, please let me know.)

 

[FireyIce]

James Williams knew that the job was going to be a big one. He had been a criminal for part of his life, not getting caught that many times. Most of the charges were for small things such as burglary, petty theft, etc. Though the idea had been his, he was still a small man on the totem pole.

As he had grown up near where Brady lived he would occasionally see her go riding in the morning. Lately, with her being back from college, it was fairly obvious that she had developed somewhat of a pattern of when she went riding. It didn't take long for James to find out what her pattern was. It was always the same trail around the same time of the day.

That's when the idea came to him. A good way to get rich and never have to worry about being a small time crook. He told his "boss" about the idea and after a few days, the decision had been made to kidnap Brady and to hold her ransom for 10 million dollars. Between the five of them they could live comfortably with having the money split evenly.

James wasn't the one who tied her up, however, he was the one who took care of the horse. He had a bit of experience with taking care of animals and while Brady was being restrained, he was taking the horse to another area. There was a bit of guilt as he watched the van drive off and he took the horse deep into the woods. He knew that she would get mad upon hearing that the horse got away and was probably lost. If it ever came to that, he wouldn't tell her the truth, that it was very distinguishable and had to be put down.

A few hours later, James arrived at the hideout. He spent some time talking to his boss, Mike, and then headed over towards the room where Brady was being held in. "Hi, Ms. Marek," he said as he came in, "I hope you're not hurt too much," he said as he sat down across from her. He noticed that her legs and arms were still restrained. "So, my boss Mike wants you to call your dad and tell him that you're being held hostage for 10 million dollars," he said fairly bluntly. "This should be fairly simple," he assured her, "we get paid and you go free. We won't hurt you. If everything goes well, it'll be a day, two at most." He looked her over, scratching his chin before he asked, "did you need anything to eat or drink?"