"Oh, she's finally awake," a deep voice said.
"Good, I was tired of sitting here, waiting on her to wake up," another voice replied. Both sounded masculine.
Kenzie lifted her head up and felt her whole body ache. For some reason, she was on the floor, on a rug. Was this her makeshift bed? She remembered being grabbed, but that's it. She was probably knocked out with some substance on the white cloth that had covered her face. And this is where her captors put her. On a rug on the floor, surrounded by junk. How nice.
"Who are you two?" she asked when she caught sight of two men sitting on a couch, probably stolen.
"What's it to you? Why don't you tell us who you are?" the one on the left replied, his green Mohawk catching the light.
"Dude, you don't know?" his companion said. He pushed his hat up on his head before saying, "She's that big-shot detective from hick town Riverview. The fat one that's always in the newspapers."
Kenzie grimaced. That was uncalled for. And before she could stop herself, she found herself standing up and glaring at the two men through her chain-link prison.
"I'll have you know, size 12 isn't fat," she said. "These days, it's the average size, and a lot of size 14s are also considered average. Fat is like..."
"Oh, shut up," the man with the hat said. "We don't care about that. But what we do care about is how you got in here, and what you think you're doing. You think you're going to take pictures of all our stolen stuff with your fancy camera and turn us in?"
Kenzie bit her lip. That was exactly what she'd been planning. This guy wasn't as dumb as he looked. But instead of replying, she figured she should keep her mouth shut.
"Nice pictures, by the way," the guy with the Mohawk said as he scrolled through Kenzie's camera that he was holding. "We should put these up on some online site and sell the stuff that way. Bet we'd get a lot more buyers."
"You idiot," Hat Dude said as he slapped Mohawk Man on the back of the head. "We'd get caught in no time flat if we did that. The cops would trace our IP address and people would recognize their stuff. We keep doing what we're doing."
"So, you must be the techie guy who manages to disable the burglar alarms in people's houses," Kenzie said, indicating Hat Dude.
"You got that right. I'm also the one that got the lousy job of keeping an eye on you and making sure you didn't bust out. How'd you get in here, anyway?"
"What does it matter? I did, and I know what you guys are up to."
"And what do you plan to do about it? You aren't getting out of here, FYI."
Before Kenzie could respond, she heard a softer voice say, "Now boys, let's play nicely with our new companion."
Kenzie saw a young woman with short, dark hair with red streaks walk into the room. Her clothes made her look like more of a stripper than a gang member. But the green dragon tattoo on her bicep proved that she was also a member of the Komodo Dragons.
If it hadn't been for that tattoo, Kenzie would have thought this girl was also a prisoner. She didn't picture the Komodo Dragons being very friendly toward females, nor did she picture a female being involved in something like this.
It just goes to show that one does learn something new every day.
"Destiny," Hat Dude said as he and Mohawk Man both stood up, the latter putting Kenzie's camera on the nearby table. "What do you want?"
"Drake sent me down here to find out what's going on. Good to see our little visitor is awake. Or should I say, big visitor."
The two guys laughed, obviously trying to impress this girl. As if she were a real prize. Kenzie tried not to gag. She also bit her tongue before she said anything.
"Spike, why don't you go tell Drake she's awake?" Destiny said, looking at Mohawk Man. Spike was an appropriate name for him. If someone got skewered by his hair, they would be seriously hurt.
"Why me?" Spike whined.
"Because I said so. Now move it!"
Spike grumbled some more but headed down a hallway that Kenzie hadn't seen before.
"So, what's her story?" Destiny asked Hat Dude.
As he explained what he'd already found out, Kenzie examined her surroundings. She was locked in a chain-link fence cage full of junk, and there was a heavy padlock holding the gate in place. She could try to pick it, but she couldn't do it with people around. That was most likely why some gang members had been put on watch duty. They wanted to make sure she didn't pick the lock and escape, bringing the police in.
Hat Dude finally finished up his story and Destiny was shaking her head. "You figured out all that, but not how she got in here?"
"Hey, I hardly had time to check out the damage she'd done in between baby-sitting her and Spike."
"Whatever. Did you take care of her camera?"
"Drake didn't say to do anything with it. He just wanted us to see what tripped the silent alarm and deal with it."
Silent alarm. So that's how Kenzie had gotten caught. There was a silent alarm in a gang warehouse. They really wanted to protect their stolen property. What was the world coming to?
Suddenly, Kenzie could hear approaching footsteps. A lot of them. At least three pairs. As they came closer and closer, Kenzie's heart rate sped up. Who was coming? As if she had to ask.
Rounding the corner was Drake himself, his posse right behind him. There was Spike, a dark-skinned guy with dreadlocks and glasses, a girl with short black and purple hair who looked more like a punk musician than a gang member, and a guy wearing a backwards baseball cap with a ridiculously long beard. All of them had the same green dragon tattooed on their arm.
There were seven gang members in this one small room. And Kenzie was locked in a cage at their mercy, having been caught documenting evidence against them. What were they going to do to her?
Kenzie was afraid to know the answer to that question. They could do whatever they wanted with her. This was just as scary as when she'd been locked under a mausoleum with three hungry vampires staring her down, able to read her every thought. But at least then, she'd had an ally that could save her and was at least a halfway even match. Now, even if her thoughts were safe, she was in a hopeless situation. No one knew where she was. Only Jillian, who was probably still angry at her for her foolish outburst and accusations, who might not even be home yet, or might not have even read her note. And even if she did, what would she do? Call the police? With all the help the chief had given her, or lack thereof, they wouldn't just barge into a presumed abandoned warehouse at someone's word. They'd need something concrete and solid.
It was no wonder that Jillian had said that if Drake were to get arrested, or if she got a restraining order against him, it wouldn't stop him. He was the leader of a gang, and his posse would probably break him out of jail if they had to. He was like the alpha wolf, the leader, the one that others followed. Just thinking of him in comparison to wolves made Kenzie feel ill.
"What did I just hear?" Drake asked in the same authoritative voice she'd heard him use with Jillian. Now that he was in close proximity to her, it sounded even more menacing.
"Lionle didn't take care of her camera," Destiny answered, sticking her chest out. What a twisted love triangle - Spike and Lionle were trying to impress Destiny, while Destiny was trying to impress Drake. This just kept getting better and better.
Drake didn't seem to notice, however, when he glared at Hat Dude.
"Why are you keeping a camera full of pictures that could ruin this whole thing?" he demanded, pointing a finger at Lionle.
"Dude, you just told me to find out what tripped the alarm and deal with it. Then you wanted me and Spike to baby-sit Ms. Detective over there."
"And while sitting here on your butt, you didn't think to get rid of something that could nail us?"
"Guess not, since it's hidden down here with all our stolen stuff. So it's either leave it here or upstairs where anyone can find it."
Drake threw his hands in the air, frustrated, obviously because Lionle was being a little smarter than him. "Whatever, man. Just...get out of here. Get out of my sight!"
Lionle hurried off. Drake heaved a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder why I chose you guys to be my gang."
"Hey, we all took the test, and we all passed," the girl with purple hair piped up. "You had us break into a certain house, steal something, and whoever did it the best got in. So we all earned our spots."
"Shut up, Electra," Destiny snapped. "This chick works with the cops. Do you want her to blab everything to them?"
"You don't have to be such a jerk," Electra snapped back. "I was just answering a question."
"Put a sock in it, you two," the guy with the baseball hat and beard said in a bored voice.
"Buck's right," the guy with the dreadlocks said. "Why don't we figure out what we're going to do with that chick?"
"I give the orders around here, Rocky," Drake said. "This is my gang, and what I say goes. And right now, I say you all leave me alone with our uninvited guest. I've got a few things to say to her."
"You sure you want to be alone with her?" Destiny asked, concerned. Kenzie resisted the urge to vomit.
"I'll be fine," Drake said not even caring that Destiny was slightly flirting with him. "Now get out and don't come back until I come get you."
"What if she gets out while you're getting us?" Electra asked.
"She won't even try it, if she wants to live," Drake said with certainty.
The Komodo Dragons all gave in and left the room. Drake turned to face Kenzie and she felt her blood boil.
"So, you're the famous detective from Riverview," he began with a sneer. "I have to say, you look better in person than in the papers."
"The papers don't usually print in color."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that. You know, even if you weren't in the papers, I'd still know all about you. Your blonde friend talked about you quite a bit."
Kenzie bit her lip. She should have known. She and Jillian were best friends, and as smitten as Jillian got with guys, it would make sense that she talked about Kenzie to her boyfriends.
But Kenzie then had another thought - all the gang members she'd seen tonight had unusual names, much too unusual to be real. In fact, she was willing to bet they were their gang names. That meant that Drake, from day one, had told Jillian his gang name and not his real one. And she'd believed him like a gullible fool.
If she made it out of here alive, Kenzie would have to have a long talk with that girl.
"Mind telling me what you're thinking?" Drake asked with a smirk.
"Not really."
"I figured. Well, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed that you were able to break in here, and find where we keep our stash. The papers said you were one of the best, but I didn't think you were that good. You surprised me. It's not easy to surprise me."
"I'm so flattered."
"You should be. You know, you're not bad-looking for a fat chick. Plus you've got some killer skills that would come in handy. If I wasn't sure you'd run to the cops if I let you out of here, I'd ask you to join us."
Kenzie blinked. Was he serious? He considered her worthy of joining the Komodo Dragon gang if she wasn't so close to the police? What did he take her for?
Instead, she said, "I'd never want to join your gang, no matter what you did or said. What you're doing is wrong, and I'm going to make sure you don't get away with it."
Drake just threw his head back and laughed. "And how are you going to make sure of that? Do you seriously think you're getting out of here alive?"
Kenzie said nothing but she was sure her facial expression gave away her doubts.
"Not only that, but I knew I should have taken care of that little blonde friend of yours when I had the chance," Drake continued. "I should have known she wouldn't keep her pretty little mouth shut for long. Especially with her best friend, the big-shot detective, in town. I knew when I saw you that she was up to no good. I told her to keep her mouth shut in the consignment store that one day, and again at the beach that night, but I should have known she'd be too stupid to do that."
"Don't you dare call Jillian stupid!" Kenzie shouted with all the anger and threat her voice could muster under the circumstances. "And you stay away from her!"
"Or what? What can you do, trapped in here like a rat?"
"Just...leave her alone! I didn't tell you that she told me! I'm an investigator, it's my job to find stuff out!"
"Well, there's no other way you could have found out. How else would you know to come to a warehouse that's supposed to be abandoned?"
Before Kenzie could respond, Drake also added, "And even if you did make it out of here and report it to the cops, you'd have to turn in your friend too. She's just as guilty as we are."
"Not exactly. You're paying her off to keep her quiet, scaring her to death."
"Well, since she didn't keep quiet, she won't be getting any more money from us, plus she should be silenced for good."
"Don't you dare!"
Drake just laughed again and rounded the corner. Kenzie began frantically trying to pick the padlock that held her in her chain prison, but it was no use. Even with the junk strewn about her, nothing could pick this lock. Everything was too weak and broke right off, or was too large to fit inside the small hole. And the fence stretched from the floor to the ceiling, so there was no way under or over it.
Footsteps approached again and Kenzie sank down onto the ground, covering her face. She wasn't entirely sure what was going to happen to her, but she did have a pretty good idea. She was also sure that Jillian would suffer the same fate. She would be responsible for the death of her best friend as well as herself, all because she hadn't thought to check for some sort of alarm. And all because she'd snooped in Jillian's business. So what if she was breaking the law? At least they'd both still be alive. Even if Jillian had asked for Kenzie's help, she could have swallowed her pride and turned the case down.
Tears began to fall from Kenzie's eyes as she began to accept her fate. There was no way she was getting out of here alive. It was hopeless. She felt so alone, and tears continued to cascade down her cheeks as she thought of Jillian, her parents, even her past loves and all that she'd be losing. Then the realization that she hadn't really even lived at all struck her and she cried even more. There were so many things that she hadn't experienced in life, and now would never be able to. Nothing could save her now.
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