Chapter 3

Clarissa studied the younger version of her Dan with a knowing eye. "Dan, I think DJ is in love with Cami," she said, her voice just loud enough for the two men to hear.

DJ felt the flush that settled in his cheeks under her gaze. He looked from Clarissa's tear stained cheeks and up to the questioningly look from his father. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm in love with her. But she doesn't know and if I don't get her back then I won't be able to tell her."

Dan reached out, laying his hand on DJ's shoulder. "We'll get her back, son. We just have to do what the kidnappers want. And that means getting the money together and dropping the charges on those two burglars."

With a suddenness that caused DJ to jerk, startled by the shrill noise, the phone rang. Dan turned towards the headset sitting on the stand next to the couch. He picked it up, his arm still around Clarissa. Looking at the cops who were sitting at the small bar that sat on the pass through to the kitchen, he waited for the third ring before picking it up.

"Hello," he said cautiously.

He paused as the person on the other end of the line talked. "No, this is her stepfather. You can deal with me." Another pause though this one was longer.

"Her mother is right here with me."

Pause.

"Yeah, I got it. But can I talk to her, make sure she is okay? Wait, don't hang up, please, just let me talk to her." He held the receiver away from his ear, closing his eyes.

"What?" Clarissa asked. "What did they say?"

Dan hit the off button on the phone. "They wanted to know if I had the money and then told me that they would call again later." He turned to look at his bride to be. "They wouldn't let me talk to her, Rissa. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Dan. You're doing everything in your power to get this over with. I know that and so does Cami." Clarissa stood with her arms crossed, her hands holding her elbows as if were she to let go, she'd collapse.

"I have to go get the money, but then I'll be back." Dan bent down and let his lips linger against Clarissa's mouth, his hand gentle on her cheek. "I'll be right back," he repeated, staring into her eyes.

She nodded, her eyes hollow with fear and watched him walk out the door.

Cami rubbed the tape across her eyes against the shoulder of her tee shirt. Slowly but surely it was coming loose, pulling at the small hair at her temples. She could open one eye now part way even though the tape made it painful.

And she could see her surroundings. It was a depressing sight, a small room with wood nailed over the broken window, glass sparkling on the cracked linoleum floor. The chair she was in was the only furniture in the room. There was a door that was shut and another that was opened that looked as if it led into another part of the house.

Now that she could partially see, she started working at the tape that bound her arms to the chair, yanking and pulling, rubbing it against the splintered arm, trying to pull some slack into it so that maybe she could pull her arm out from under it. The adhesive was strong, and she felt blood start to flow as it tore bits of her skin off of her flesh.

Whimpers of pain came from her mouth, the only sound she would allow. She didn't know if her kidnappers were outside or in the next room or gone all together but she couldn't take the chance that they could hear her.

It took time, too much time she thought, feeling a desperate anxiety to be away from this place, but soon her right hand was free. It hurt, where the skin had been torn away and the adhesive had settled into her flesh, leaving welts and cuts. She tried to ignore the pain as she ripped the tape from her face, wincing as it tore at her hair.

And then she started on her other hand, breaking two nails below the bed line on the tape as she peeled it away. When it was free, she quickly untied the rope around her ankles and stood, feeling the blood returning to her extremities with painful intensity. Her bad ankle wanted to collapse but she refused to give in to the pain.

Going to the door, she found it padlocked from the outside. The only window was boarded over so she had no choice but to go through the house and look for some other way out.

Cami limped as quietly as she could through the house, going from room to room searching for a way out. All the windows on the main floor had been boarded over. The only other door was buried under a ton of debris, including an old hot water heater and a moldering desk.

"Dammit!"

She cringed as her voice echoed throughout the empty house, sounding too loud to her ears. She had no other choice but to head up the stairs. Taking a hold of the railing with both hands, she put one foot gingerly on the first tread, hearing it squeak and pop under her weight. The next one creaked.

The fourth step broke under her weight and she had to jump over it or find herself with her leg caught in the stairwell when the kidnappers came back. The upstairs was in worse repair than the down with ceilings that were barely hanging and floors that tipped and tilted as the foundation settled. One window was unbroken and it resisted her attempts to open it.

Finally, sheltering her face with her arm, she used her elbow, wrapped in her tee shirt, to break out the glass. The roof below the window was steeply inclined. Cami could do nothing but say a prayer that she wouldn't kill herself and stepped through the window onto the roof.

When Dan came back he had a small satchel in his hand. He handed it to one of the policemen who would take it to their tech man and have a small surveillance device implanted in the material of the satchel itself and another one slid in between the packs of money.

DJ had been busy while Dan was gone, asking questions of the cops, trying to find out as much as he could about the men who were still held down at the county jail. As soon as his father came back, he gave him a hug, kissed Clarissa on the cheek, and left.

He had an idea and he was going to do everything in his power to get Cami back. But he needed help and one of the biggest geeks/computer experts in town happened to be a friend of his.

Pulling into his driveway, he could only pray that Randy would be home.

He answered on the first knock. "Hey, DJ what brings you out this way?"

"I need your help," DJ said, pushing past the tall, skinny man dressed in a loud short sleeved Hawaiian shirt and shorts that came down past his knees. Dark blue dress socks came halfway up his calves and his feet were clad in expensive leather sandals. His hair was slicked back was smelly hair oil that DJ teased him about all the time and his eyes were magnified by huge coke bottle glasses.

Randy's mom came out and greeted him, amazed as always when she saw her skinny son with the well built man who'd befriended him so many years ago in high school. DJ had kept Randy from getting the snot kicked out of him more than once, and she was grateful.

"How's your dad?" she asked. "Getting nervous yet about the upcoming nuptials?

"No, ma'am. But we do have a problem and I need Randy's help. If you don't mind that is."

"No, of course not, anything we can do to help." She smiled and waved, going back into the kitchen and leaving the two of them alone.

"I need you to find out all you can about two men. They were caught yesterday breaking and entering at Cameron's house. I need to know relatives, if either were married, if they have any property in the immediate area. And I need to know quick."

"What's going on?" Randy asked, heading through the living room and into his bedroom which still looked like it did in high school except for the high tech computer equipment that occupied one entire wall of the room.

"Cami's been kidnapped. They're asking for money and the release of those two men from jail. That tells me that the kidnappers are related to those two. If I can figure out where they might have her stashed then I can go and get her now." DJ sat on the edge of Randy's bed, watching while the skinny guy turned on his computer, hearing the sound of the high tech machine warming up. Within seconds it was ready and Randy started typing in information.

"I'm going to have to do some hacking, get into some of the government files and pull up some of the info you want, DJ. It could take a few minutes." Randy continued typing, looking up from the keyboard and perusing what came up on the computer screen every few minutes.

"Hmm, nothing under the first name you gave me." He used the mouse and clicked a few boxes before typing more. "I think I may have something here, DJ. The second name, well he's married and his wife owns property out by the Fairview area." He wrote down the address, handing the paper to DJ.

"I owe you, Randy." He took the paper and ran out of the house.

Cameron felt her feet sliding and grabbed the ledge of the windowsill, a gasping shriek coming from her mouth. Her stomach hit the roof and her air was knocked out of her with a whoosh. Scrabbling with her feet, she fought to find some kind of traction on the slippery shingles, glancing at the long distance between the edge of the roof and the ground with a shiver of fear.

Using her knees, she managed to steady herself. Cami let go with one hand, reaching out to find some kind of handhold to let her body down a little until she could reach the gutters. If they weren't rotted out she should be able to let herself down from one of them.

But finding a stable handhold was difficult. The roof was slick with rot and mold. Everything she tried grabbing on to crumble in her hand. She struggled, finally coming to the decision that she would have to pry some boards off one of the other windows when she heard a car pulling into the driveway which was on the other side of the house. She couldn't see it from where she was.

"Oh God," she whispered. "They can't find me up here like this."

Her arm was tired from holding her weight up and when she went to reach for the ledge with her free hand, she almost fell. A startled shriek was wrenched from her and then a hissed curse. She heard the front door bang open and knew her kidnappers had heard her.

Even as she tried to decide what to do, whether to just let go and pray she wasn't hurt too badly by the fall or to try and pull herself in and take her chances fighting the kidnappers, a large hand grabbed her wrist. She struggled and fought with but was pulled up.

"Cami, stop. It's me." DJ's voice never sounded so sweet.

"DJ? How did you find me?" She reached up with her other hand and let him pull her back in, launching herself into his arms the second her feet touched the floor.

"I just had an idea and it panned out. Are you okay?" DJ wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him as if he'd never let go.

"I am now," she said, snuggling into his arms and lifting her face to his.

DJ couldn't do anything but accept the invitation, his mouth finding hers with passion born of love and fear for her safety. Their lips touched, brushed and parted only to touch again. She clung to his strength as her world swayed dizzily, lost in the sensations that he created inside of her.

He broke the kiss reluctantly, staring down at her sweet face as if memorizing it. "We need to get out of here, Cami love. Your mom and my dad have been arranging your ransom, I think we should get there before they actually pay it."

She nodded and then gasped as he lifted her in his arms. Her arms went around his neck, holding on to him as he carefully made his way out of the rickety house. The stairs were tricky but he managed and he smiled down at her as he turned towards the front room of the house where she'd been held.

"Put her down!"

DJ stared at the man standing in front of the broken door. He was dressed in gray clothing, a huge pistol in his hand. With a muttered curse, he carefully set Cami down, stepping in front of her and protecting her with his body. "I've called the cops, they should be here soon."

"Yeah, sure you did," the man waved his pistol, sneering at DJ. "I know your type, kid. Rich and spoiled. I bet you haven't done a day's decent work in your life. You wouldn't call the cops, you'd want to be the hero and rescue the girl on your own."

"Not true, I called them from my car on my way here. They were only a few minutes behind me." DJ kept his arm back behind him, herding Cami around so that she stayed protected by his body as he scooted closer to the armed man. "Listen," he said suddenly. "I hear sirens."

The man glanced behind him, the pistol waving in his hands. It was all the opening that DJ had been waiting for. He pushed Cami back and leaped on the gunman, grabbing his arm and pushing it up toward the ceiling. It went off with a loud explosion, the bullet burying itself into the cracked ceiling, sending down a shower of plaster and dust. DJ beat the man's gun hand into the edge of the door until the gun went skittering away from him and across the floor.

There was the sound of skin meeting skin as fists flew with rabid intensity. DJ knocked the man backwards with a punch to his jaw that had him flat out on the floor. He didn't stay there though, jumping up to launched himself at DJ, knocking him to the floor. They rolled on the cracked linoleum, neither one able to get the upper hand.

"Get off of him," the gunman heard, the voice close to him. He also heard the sound of his .9 being cocked right next to his ear. Grimacing, he rose slowly, raising his arms above his head.

DJ stood up, feeling his lip swelling from where a blow had landed. Blood trickled from his nose and the side of his mouth. The gunman was in similar shape, his eye swelling and turning black, his nose bleeding a steady stream over his mouth and down his chin.

He took the gun from Cami, wiping away the blood from his face with his sleeve. "Have a seat," he said, pointing to the chair where Cami had been tied. He went and stood behind him, nodding towards the roll of duct tape that had been left on the floor. "Tape him up, Cami. And make sure it's tight. I'd hate for him to get away before the cops actually do get here."

"You didn't call them?" she asked, astonished.

"No, I wasn't sure if this was going to be the right place or not, so I thought I'd wait until after I found you and then got you home." He laughed at the consternation in her eyes.

"We'll just find a way to kidnap her again," the man said, his voice angry and full of venom. "You can't watch her forever."

"You won't kidnap her if you're dead," DJ hissed, furious at the thought that they wouldn't back down. He pushed the gun against the man's head, hard.

Cameron finished taping the man's wrists. She stood, gently taking DJ's hand and tugging at it until he looked away from the man, the violence in his eyes ebbing as he stared down at her. "He's not worth it, DJ. He's not worth being on your conscience nor on mine. Please," she begged, looking up at him with those soft blue eyes that always made him melt.

"Okay, baby. I won't kill him. Finish up on his legs and then let's get out of here." He touched her cheek with his hand, unable to stop himself from making that small connection with her.

Cami taped up his legs, making sure the tape was on tight and using up most of the roll. She then took one last long piece and slapped it on his mouth, making sure the ends were tight across his ears and into his hair.

DJ put the safety on the gun and shoved it into the back of his jeans, lifting Cami one more time to carry her out to the car. He handed her his cell phone. "As soon as we have a signal, call the cops. This is the address. Tell them they can come out and let him loose."

And then they were on their way home.

The two thieves never made it out of jail and were convicted of attempted rape, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. The woman and man who'd kidnapped Cami were both caught and charged. None of them would see free sky for many years.