Falling For The Mafia Underboss

CHAPTER 3: FLIGHT

They had been driving for a long time. How many hours had passed? Kelsi didn’t know. Her senses were dulled. Her kidnappers had put down a heavy cloth bag over her head that blocked out all the light. Not being able to see was making her disoriented. The rain still had not stopped. She could hear patters coming down on the roof of the van and the steady swoosh of the windshield wipers.

She was thirsty. She was cold from her wet clothes. The tight cover around her mouth was making her cheeks numb. Her shoulders and arms were getting sore from being in the same position for too long. She couldn’t feel her fingers. All she could feel was the rumble of the engine as the van moved. Intermittent bumps on the road made her body ache more.

The two men who were in the car with her hadn’t talked much during the trip. She could not tell where they were.

Kelsi succumbed to a stupor. She had already given up. She didn’t struggle or make any attempt to escape. She was expecting the worst, at what awaited her at the end of the road.

“Alright, almost there,” the voice coming from the driver said after a while. The vehicle jerked as it drove over a hump on the road, then slowed down.

“We’re here.”

The vehicle came to a halt, then the engine was turned off.

“Now all we have to do is wait,” the voice from the man beside him said. “Any minute now, they should be here to take the package.”

Package? Kelsi thought. Am I the package?

Kelsi shifted uneasily. Slowly, a feeling of dread filled her in anticipation of what was to come. If these men were not going to kill her, she did not know what else could be their motive. They did not rob the house, they only took her. But the men said 'hand off the package'. Is she being sold? Is she going to be a victim of human trafficking? The thought terrified her more.

“Look… at that black car turning the corner. That must be them.”

“Yeah, go meet them.”

“Stay here. And don’t try anything,” the voice beside her commanded.

Kelsi heard the sliding door of the van open. She felt a breeze of cool air as the man beside her got up and exited the van. The door was slid shut and Kelsi heard footsteps moving away.

Okay, Kelsi. Think. Is there anything you can do?

She knew the driver was still sitting in front, so she had to be careful. She slightly shook her head, trying to look for an angle where she could see. But the fabric of the cloth bag was very thick, it blocked out everything completely. She tested the cuffs on her wrist. It was still very tight. No way of breaking free.

POP! POP! POP! Loud noises suddenly erupted from a short distance outside.

Were those gunshots?! Those were unmistakably gunshots! Kelsi thought fearfully.

“f**k!” the driver yelled.

She heard his door open. More gunshots followed, but now they sounded closer, as if the driver had shot them.

Oh no! What on earth is going on?!

Kelsi instinctively ducked down in terror. Something must have gone wrong.

Wait, maybe I can get this thing off!

She lowered her head to just between her knees and shook her head hard, trying to shake off the covering on her head. However awkward and uncomfortable it was, as her hands were still tightly bound behind her back, her sense of self-preservation took over. She tried to use her knees to press together the tip of the covering near the crown of her head. Once she had the grip on the cloth, she pulled her head back, freeing herself from the covering.

She blinked a couple of times as her eyes steadily adjusted to the light. I can see!

With her head still lowered, she looked around. Kelsi saw that she was now alone inside the van. They were parked on the left side of a small dark street surrounded by abandoned-looking buildings. She ducked down again as more gunshots ensued from the front of the van. She took a chance to peek over the driver’s seat.

Kelsi saw a short masked man, probably the driver, crouched behind a large green dumpster a few feet away in front of the van. He had a pistol in his hand and was alternately taking cover behind the dumpster, and firing the gun at a black car that was parked a few yards away to the front. She could see muzzle flashes from behind the black car as whoever was on that side was also firing back at the driver. She could not see the other kidnapper anywhere.

Kelsi cowered lower in her seat.

What can I do? I have to get out of here! she thought while frantically looking around.

I can get to the door! But how do I open it?

Kelsi had an idea. While trying to make herself as small as possible, she raised her legs close to her body and placed her feet on the seat, so that her chin was now resting on her knees. Then from behind her back, she lowered her bound wrists closer to her bottom until she was sitting on them. She wriggled and struggled painfully as she slipped her wrists under her buttocks, and over her feet and legs. Her wrists were still bound, but they were now in front of her body. She now had limited use of her hands.

Yes! she breathed with relief. Now I can open the door and escape!

Kelsi flexed her wrists to bring back circulation to them. Then, with difficulty, she pulled down the scarf that was covering her mouth. She reached behind and tugged the hood of her hoodie over her head. She had to come up with a way to escape without getting caught or getting shot. She scanned the street for any escape route. There were multiple alleyways across the road but there was no way she could reach them without being seen.

There was no other choice, she had to risk escaping to the back of the street and rely on luck. She just needed to make sure to run behind the van, to give her some cover. With one last glance at the gunfire scene in front, and seeing that the driver was still distracted, she acted.

While still ducking down, Kelsi moved sideways on her seat until she reached the door. She managed to slide the door open with her still-bound wrists and scrambled outside.

She ran as fast as she could towards the back of the van and away from the gunfire. She didn’t look back. She didn’t even check to see if she was being followed. All she could think of was escaping. She slipped a few times on the wet pavement but she did not stop running. The onrush of rain against her face as she ran felt like tiny painful needles.

She spotted an alleyway to her right, between two broken-down buildings. She immediately turned the corner and continued running away from the frightening sounds of gunfire. The dark alley was empty, not a living soul in sight. Graffiti covered the walls of the buildings that enclosed the alley on both sides. She tried to avoid the puddles of water on the ground that came from the gutters above.

Her whole body was aching as she ran with no destination, but adrenaline was also kicking in. She wove her way into different alleyways until she finally came to a big open road.

Kelsi nervously looked behind her to check if she was being followed. Luckily, no one was there. She hurried away from the alley and doubled over in exhaustion. She pulled her hood lower down her face and desperately attempted to bite off the thick cable tie around her wrists, to no avail.

The road in front of her had two lanes on each side. It was dark, occasionally being lit up if a car passed by, which seldom happened. Adjacent to the alley she came from were multi-story buildings that looked old and worn out.

Kelsi took a few more deep breaths and resumed moving along the sidewalk, keeping the buildings to her left and the road to her right. Shop signs can be seen in front of some of the buildings, but they were all closed at that time of night. The street was deserted. She couldn’t make out any of the street signs. Nothing seemed familiar to her at all. She was scared to flag down any car and risk getting in with more strangers. She was now afraid of people. She did not have any money or a phone on her.

She kept walking quickly on the same direction, not seeming to know where to go. A few feet ahead, she saw a group of people huddled in the shadows outside one of the buildings.

Maybe I can ask them for help, she thought, but also wary at the same time.

As she got closer, she could see that there were four of them, and they were all male. Two were leaning against the wall, smoking. The other two were crouched on the ground doing something she couldn’t see. Her heart started pounding fast. These men looked sketchy. One of them saw her and gave a low whistle. Kelsi started walking faster past them, fearful for her life again. She pulled her hands close to her chest so as to not let the men see that her hands were tied.

Please, please, please, don’t follow me, she thought nervously.

She continued forward, half walking, half running. Thankfully, the men did not follow her, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. She eventually reached the end of the street, then hastily turned the corner around the last building.

She soon found herself walking along an empty park with overgrown grass. She followed a pavement path lined with trees—leaves scattered on the ground made squishy noises as she stepped on them. The dim light coming from the soft glow of lamp posts along the path, was the only source of light.

The rain had slowed down now, but tiny visible drops of water could be clearly seen as they entered the patches of light given off by the lamp posts. Each blade of grass saturated with water droplets gave the illusion of tiny stars on the ground, and the wet pavement reflecting all the light it could take in, made it look quite enchanting. The whole scene was actually beautiful. Had she not gone through her recent trauma, she would have appreciated it.

She headed to a wrought-iron bench illuminated under a lone lamp post. After taking one last glance behind her, she slumped down on the bench and sighed. She shook out the hood of her hoodie and freed her hair. She took a deep breath and turned her face up to the night sky. The soft drops of the rain directly on her face felt somehow comforting.

That small feeling of comfort unexpectedly brought back everything painful that happened and tears immediately filled her eyes. She started crying silently, the rain on her face mingled with her tears. Kelsi still couldn’t believe what had just happened.

The last several hours that passed seemed like a blur. Her grandfather’s memorial and the scene she had with her uncle earlier today, felt like a very long time ago. Out of nowhere, she was kidnapped from the only safe place she knew, followed by the gunfire that happened between her kidnappers and the other people from that black car. She couldn’t fully absorb how she ever made it out alive. She had already expected the worst but by pure luck, she got out.

She looked down at her lap where her poor bound hands lay. The cable tie that was used to bind her had chafed the skin around her wrists, making them red and sore. She did not know any way of possibly getting them off alone. She tried using the metal edge of the bench’s armrest to cut her hands free, but it was too dull; she didn’t even scratch the surface of the cable. She threw her hands against her forehead in annoyance.

Kelsi was exhausted, emotionally and physically. Her whole body ached from all the physical effort she made. She was also shivering in the cold, her entire clothing was thoroughly soaked from being in the rain too long, and to top it off, she was barefoot all the while, her dirty feet scraped and bruised and raw.

Kelsi glared at a solitary tree in front of her.

“WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?!!” she screamed in exasperation.

“Hey, chill,” a voice suddenly came from behind her.

Kelsi’s eyes widened in fear. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

She hastily got up and whipped her head around in surprise.

A man wearing a black cap and dark clothes was leaning casually against the bench she was just sitting on.

“What did that tree ever do to you?” he asked with a grin on his face.