Love Behind Lies (5 page)

Chapter 9

A few seconds later there was a loud noise again and Brent went over to the window. Brent rushed me to the window, making me forget about William. I should have told William that I was leaving, but this was an emergency. Hopefully no one would come looking for me while I was gone.
“Ok. We can go down now. I want you to stay close when we go down the ladder, ok?” Brent asked.
“Ok,” I said.
Brent started to climb down the ladder. He was always looking right at Sam. Probably to make sure that Sam wouldn’t do anything stupid. Now, I knew what Sam meant when he was talking to me earlier.
“Ok, Cat, you can come out now,” Brent said.
I looked out the window. It was a long way down to the ground but I had to be safe. Brent was there, right?
I started to climb down. I thought I was only about half way when Brent said that I could step off the ladder. I must have been lost in my thoughts.
Brent grabbed my hand and started to walk over to Sam. If we weren’t going out, then why was I holding hands with Brent? I don’t mind holding hands; at all! This is a good thing. Maybe we are going out secretly, we just don’t know it yet. Either way I decided that I liked Brent, a lot.
Sam was ahead of where Brent and I were walking, so Brent whispered some tips into my ear. “Ok. So from now on there is nothing that you need to say. If they ask you a question, answer it, carefully. You can tell them the truth, but tell them carefully. You don’t need to go into complete detail about everything. Just keep the stories vague,” Brent said.
“What about the rest of my family? My window is wide open and with the ladder there anyone can climb in,” I said.
“When we get there I will talk to Loren. They should be fine. Loren didn’t say anything about them.”
I decided not to say anything more. Brent knew what he was doing and even though I basically just met him, I trusted him. I knew that he was going to keep me safe, and that I would be home soon.
After a few more minutes we reached a clearing in the woods that I never knew was even there.
“Ah. Good. You brought the girl,” Loren’s voice seemed to come from the middle of nowhere. I then realized that we had stopped walking.
“The girl’s name is Catherine,” Brent said.
“Oh, is that the name?” Loren laughed. I then realized that Loren’s voice was coming from behind me. “There are a lot of nicknames that can go alone with that name. I am sure that is why your mom named you that.” He had his hand on my left shoulder. I tried to shrug it off but he just held on tighter. I squeezed Brent’s hand and he looked at Loren.
“Stop,” Brent yelled.
“Oh, why? You don’t like it when I touch your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. Just leave her alone. She has nothing to do with any of this!”
“She’s not your girlfriend…yet. Oh, and I believe she has everything to do with this. First, her sister doesn’t listen to us. Then her dad. Then you ask her to work with you. And now you are basically going out with each other. How does she not have anything to do with this?”
“My sister has nothing to do with this,” I blurted out. I knew right after I said it that I shouldn’t have talked. Loren’s hand moved from my shoulder to my face and back very quickly. My cheek was now stinging.
“Don’t talk, unless I ask you too!” Loren’s voice was so loud.
“You don’t need to slap her!” Brent was mad now.
“She is just too irresistible though,” Loren replied.
“Yeah I mean she is pretty cute. All I want to do is touch her,” another voice rang out. I tensed up as I felt another hand on my other shoulder.
“Be quiet Nate, I think you are scaring her,” another voice whispered.
I felt Brent’s hand tense up next to mine. My stomach in butterflies once again, but for a totally different reason. I felt like I was going to throw up.
“Shut up Sam!” Brent yelled.
“Maybe you should be slapped too.” Sam replied.
“What do you want with her?” Brent asked angrily; ignoring Sam.
“We just want to ask her some questions,” answered Sam.
“What if she doesn’t want to?” Brent asked.
“Then you don’t get to talk to Evan,” Nick said.
“I’m not leaving her side,” Brent said.
“That’s too bad because neither are we. At least until you let go of her hand and let Nick take you to Evan,” Loren said.
“Then we will all stop touching her,” Sam said. It was then that I realized that there were three hands touching me. Loren on one shoulder, Nate on the other, and Sam was on my waist, and I could feel his cool breath on my neck. His breath was sending shivers down my spine. Loren moved so that he was standing in front of Brent and me; his hand still on my shoulder.
“Just let go of her and we will let go of her. You can even talk to her for a few seconds before Nick takes you to Evan. You can talk to him for five minutes and then Nick will bring you back to her and you guys can go home.” Loren was very clear with what he wanted.
“I doubt that will actually work,” Brent said.
“It will as long as you listen, because if you don’t, we keep Kate,” Loren sounded so serious.
Brent’s hand tensed up one more time before he let go of my hand. Brent must trust Loren a lot to let me stay with him, alone. As soon as my hand was free Loren and Nate let go of me. Sam’s hand lingered at my waist before he let go of me. They all stayed where they were though. I could feel Sam standing right behind me. It was like I wasn’t even there. He was practically standing on top of me.
Nick, who was standing off in the distance earlier, grabbed Brent by the arm and started to pull
him away.
“Wait,” Brent said.
“What?” Loren asked.
“You said I could talk to Kate for a little bit.”
“Oh, yes. You’re right. Nick let them talk.”
Nick let go of Brent and he walked over to me. He gave me a hug.
“No matter what happens tonight, I will always keep you safe.” Brent smiled at me. Then I knew that we were going to be going out soon, just by the way he was talking to me. I smiled back at Brent. “Try to answer the questions with simple answers and don’t get yourself hurt. I should be back to get you in five minutes. Ok,” Brent was talking really fast. He must have been worried.
“Ok. And I trust you Brent,” I said. Brent looked at me one last time and then he left; still smiling to himself. He followed Nick into the darkness.
I turned around to find that Loren, Nate and Sam were all watching me. Loren whispered something to them and they started to walk towards me, with evil smiles plastered on their faces.

Chapter 10

Nate and Sam grabbed my arms, and started to walk back towards Loren.
“If you do not answer these next questions that I have for you, you will never see Brent or your family again. Do you understand?” Loren seemed angry.
I nodded and then he slapped me right across the face. My face was still burning from his earlier slap. I winced and tried to move away, but Sam and Nate held me tight. Why was he so mad at me?
“What was that for?” I asked. I suddenly regretted it because Loren’s smile was one of the most evil smiles I had ever seen. He just stared at me.
“I just wanted to see how feisty you were and I think that by what you just did, we are going to have a lot of fun tonight.”
I glared at him and he turned around. He started to walk away and Nate, Sam, and I followed.
I had spent my time walking trying to get to know the faces of the guys that were kidnapping me.
Nate was tall and very strong. He had dirty blonde hair that was cut short. His face was skinny, matching the rest of his body.
Sam was hot. He wasn’t short, but he wasn’t tall, either. He has brown hair that was only a little bit longer than Nate’s. His hair almost matched how tan he was. Sam was strong and bulky. If he weren’t kidnapping me right now, I would feel safe standing next to him.
Loren isn’t as tall as Nate, but he was taller than Sam. He had dark brown hair that stood out next to his pale skin. He was strong too, but his body didn’t show it as much as Sam’s.
After I got to know the faces of Sam, Nate, and Loren, I had nothing to do. I stayed quiet. I didn’t want to get slapped for talking again.
Either Sam or Nate were really slow walkers or they didn’t want Loren overhearing their conversation. We were so far behind Loren that I couldn’t even see him anymore.
“So, Kate, how do you like Brent?” Nate asked, breaking the silence.
“Why do you care?” I replied, very agitated.
“Just answer the question,” Sam snapped.
“No,” I said, trying to twist out of their grip on me.
“Loren was right. We are going to have fun with her tonight,” Nate said to Sam.
“Too bad Brent isn’t here to watch it all happen,” Sam said to Nate
“I have a question for you,” I said. I was trying to relax.
“We might have an answer,” Nate said, relaxed.
“Is Loren the leader of this ‘group’?”
“Yeah, I think that you could say that. Wouldn’t you Sam?”
“Yeah. We always listen to him, but we sometimes take turns. Like last week I lead most of what we did.” Sam said.
The forest was silent for the most part. Except for the occasional trees rustling or animals moving, and our footsteps of course.
“Will you please let go of me?” I asked. Breaking the silence.
Nate gave Sam a questioning look.
“As long as you don’t run,” Sam said.
“I won’t.” They let go of me but stayed really close. “But what would happen if I did?”
Nate tensed up before answering. “We would probably chase you and bring you back.”
I was just about to ask another question when Loren’s voice interrupted.
“Glad that you guys caught up. Now if you would please go inside and sit down.” I was glad that I could actually see Loren. I looked over the building before I entered it. The house was small. It looked nice from the outside, but knowing Loren, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a dump.
I was really nervous and scared. When I walked into the building, there were two couches, parallel to each other, with a table and chairs off to the side. There was a small coffee table between the two couches. There was a mini fridge in the corner.
The small one room building almost felt like a cabin. There was a fire place on the far wall and most of the structure was made out of wood. There were blankets and pillows scattered around the room too. As I was looking around the room I began to wonder if I was still on my land or if I just never knew that this place existed.
Just then the door opened and Loren walked in. Sam and Nate had already sat down in some chairs on the other side of the room. They were talking quietly to themselves. Loren sat down on the couch opposite me. Sam and Nate had stopped talking and were now sitting on the couch with Loren. Loren had one of those evil smiles plastered across his face again. Making me nervous.
“Hi, Catherine,” Loren said.
I just looked at him.
“What do you prefer I call you? Catherine, Kate, Katie, or Cat?”
The last name got to me. That was what Brent had called me. That was the first nickname Brent had made up for me. I tensed up as I heard the name. Obviously Loren noticed because he smiled.
“What will it be?” Loren asked again.
“Catherine,” I said quietly.
“Good. Now that we got that out of the way, we want to ask you some questions about yourself and your family,” Loren said.
I didn’t even look at him. I was looking down at my hands. They were intertwined together and turning different colors. I hadn’t realized that I was taking my anger out on my hands. I was squeezing them so hard. I relaxed my grip on my hands and looked up to see Loren looking at me.
“How many people are in your family?” Loren continued, knowing that he had my attention. “We know that there is you and your sister, Margaret, and of course William and your dad.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t ask for this to happen, so I wasn’t going to answer any questions. Why would I give these answers to strangers, whether or not they go to the same school as me.
“Catherine, answer the question,” Loren said and then whispered something to Nate and Sam.
“No, I don’t want to,” I replied. “There is no reason for you to know about my family. I don’t even understand why I am here! It’s not fair! You guys are a bunch of idiots!”
“So that is how it’s going to be. Well then I guess I should start by telling you that your family is in danger right now. If you don’t answer the questions then we will lock you up in here and you will never see your family or Brent again. So, I will ask you one more time.
“How many people are in your family?”
“Brent said that he was going to talk to you about how safe my family was!” I protested.
“I understand. But we don’t always do what we say. So please answer the question. Or I will call one of my friends. He is just outside your house. Waiting for me to tell him to go inside your house.” Loren took the phone out of his pocket.
“You’re threatening me!” I yelled.
“Yes, we are. Please answer the question!” Loren’s voice was louder than mine. I shrunk back into my seat. I was scared of Loren.
“There are seven of us,” I replied, defeated.
“Thank you! Seven? I thought there were only five. Ok, tell us some more.”
I hesitated, not wanting to tell him too much, but Nate stood up and walked towards me. “I have two brothers Oscar and Thomas. We are triplets. My mom is always inside, and she rarely leaves the house. That’s why you never see her.” I rushed. I didn’t want Nate to come any closer. He had stopped walking as soon as I started talking.
“Oh, ok. I understand now. Thank you for answering the question. Now, how did you meet up with Brent? Are you working for Evan?” Nate went and sat back down next to Loren.
“I don’t want to answer that question,” I said quietly, looking away from the boys.
Loren whispered something to Sam and Nate and they stood up. I inched backwards on the couch once they started to walk towards me. They sat down on either side of me and grabbed me. Sam was on my left side and Nate on the right. They had grabbed my shoulders. I could barely move.
“Ok, now answer the question or else these two will pick you up and lock you in that room.” He pointed to a small door in the corner of the room, across from where I was sitting. “Right now we have no one moving towards your house, but we can change that as well.”
“Fine, I’ll answer the question.” Loren was pissing me off. He was acting way older than he actually was, and it was ridiculous.
“Good,” Loren said with a smile.
I then proceeded to tell Loren, Sam, and Nate everything about what had happened. When I was finally done Sam and Nate stood up, yanking me off the couch with them. They walked over to the door towards the front of the small building. Then Loren opened the door and we started to walk. Hopefully back to where Brent and I had gone separate ways…but who knows.
*
Nick barely said anything to Brent as they walked from the clearing to a small shelter on the
other side of the forest. The walk was short and it wasn’t awkward for the two boys. They used to be best friends, but then Nick got tied up into the wrong group and Brent had joined the spy organization; no one knew that though. The two just grew apart; it was that simple.
When they finally arrived Nick told Brent where to find Evan and then sat down on bench right outside the shelter. Brent didn’t hesitate. He opened the door and walked in . He went down one hallway and took a left. He came to the first door on the right and opened it.
Sure enough Evan was inside the bare room. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all made out of cement. The only thing that was in the cold room was a metal chair. Evan was tied to the chair and had duct tape over his mouth.
When Evan saw Brent, his eyes widened. Brent went right over to him and took off the tape.
“Oh, thank you so much,” Evan said and little out of breath.
“What happened?” Brent asked while untying Evan’s wrists.
“Once I got down the ladder they captured me and brought me here. They asked me questions about what we were up to and then tied me up. They told me that they were going to go and get you and Catherine. Where is she? Is she okay?”
“She’s with them. They wouldn’t let me talk to you unless she went with them. “
“They are probably going to ask her questions. She is going to tell the truth.”
“Yeah, she will, but it shouldn’t matter to them. I told her to be careful what to tell them when we were on our way over to meet them. What did you tell them?” Brent asked.
“I told them simple answers, some of them not completely true, but they shouldn’t notice the difference between how we all answer.” Evan said. “We just have to make sure that she doesn’t tell them the exact reason of why she was asked to work with us. You haven’t told her have you?”
“No, I haven’t. I never want to.” Brent said.
“Well you are going to have to sometime. Just make sure it’s the right time. Otherwise she might back out of the job, and that would be bad.”
“Yeah, I understand, and everything should be ok. I am supposed to meet them back there pretty soon and it was a long walk back here. I’ll come back later.”
“Ok. Good luck, Brent and keep her safe. We need her,” Evan said.
“Yes, I know Evan,” Brent said as he left the room.
*
By the time I got back to the clearing Brent had been waiting for me for five minutes. He looked worried, but I was glad to see him ok.
“Brent,” I said. I got slapped in the face by Loren.
“Don’t talk,” Loren said. Brent stood up and started to walk over to us. “If you take one more step you will never touch her again.” Brent stopped walking. Nate and Sam were still holding on to my shoulders, and had no sign of letting go.
“I assume that you were able to talk to Evan,” Loren asked Brent.
“Yes, I was. Thank you,” Brent replied.
“Good, well Catherine here was a very good girl for us. She listened nicely and answered all of our questions. So, you can have her back, for now. We might want to talk to her later, but that is out of your control.”
“Can I have her back then?” Brent asked.
“Yes, here you go,” Loren said. I was then pushed really hard and I slammed into Brent who didn’t even move, but put his arms around me. Having Brent’s arms around me made my stomach flip.
I felt so much safer near him. Yes, he had just delivered me to these boys that were in high school, but Brent knew what he was doing. At least that’s what I thought.
“Can’t wait to see you again Catherine,” Nick said and laughed quietly. He has just entered the clearing.
“You will never be seeing her again,” Brent replied for me.
“Don’t be so sure, Brent,” Nick replied and started to walk away with Loren. They laughed quietly. Nate followed Loren and Sam stayed behind.
“I’ll walk you back to your house, Catherine,” Sam said. “We wouldn’t want you getting lost.”
“Thanks but I think I can handle it,” Brent replied. Taking a step towards Sam. Brent grabbed my hand and I took a step towards Sam as well.
“I’ll make a deal. I’ll walk her home and you can go and get Evan from his room and bring him home as well.” Sam said, touching my arm.
“How do I know that she will be home safely?”
“I’ll let her call you when she gets there. Or William could call. Trust me. Loren and Nick want me to keep her very safe. I won’t let anything happen to her.” Brent looked over at Sam one more time.
“Fine, but if she isn’t safe I am going to call the police. You got that?”
“Yeah, I understand. Now let go of her so I can lead her to safety.” Sam was smiling.
Brent slowly let go of me and Sam grabbed my hand. Sam yanked me towards him and put his arm around my shoulder. I looked back at Brent and he looked really sad. I smiled at him, and he smiled back at me. Then I turned around and, let Sam walk me back towards my house, while Brent turned the other way and walked even deeper into the forest.