Meant to Be (26 page)

Finally, when I thought I would go stir crazy
from lying on the table for hours, I heard someone say it was lunch
time. There was steady noise throughout the room as everyone closed
up their stations and headed to lunch. The room slowly emptied and
was soon quite, but I remained still and decided to wait a few
moments before I moved.

My heart almost stopped when I heard someone
approach my table. I laid there, barely breathing feeling the
person’s eyes on me. I kept my eyes closed and tried to even out my
breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, the
person finally walked away. I forced myself to wait a few more
minutes before I dared to open my eyes.

I blinked in the light as my eyes adjusted to
being open. I was definitely alone. This was the opportunity I
needed; I was going find Mark and get us out of this mess.

I sat up and was taken aback by how
lightheaded I felt; I needed to find food fast. After a few moments
to clear my foggy head, I swung myself off the table and stood on
shaky legs using the table for balance. My first steps were
tentative as my body betrayed my determination, but I made my way
to the coffee pot where I found leftover muffins.

The pot was empty, but I was pleased to see a
left over muffin in the basket. I grabbed it quickly and gulped it
down. It was dry from sitting out unwrapped all morning and the
last bite got stuck in my already dry throat. I scanned the room
and my eyes lit up when I spotted a half filled bottle of water
sitting at one of the work stations.

The water helped the last of the muffin go
down and I felt better with something in my stomach.

There was another bottle of water at the last
work station. I picked it up and curiously glanced at the computer
screen to see Mark locked in a cell similar to the one I had
occupied. I moved the mouse hoping to enlarge the screen and was
surprised when a different room came into view. The room was
definitely not in this building. The rich exterior and massive size
of the room made me think of a ballroom you would find in a mansion
on television. The room was richly decorated, but that was not what
grabbed my attention.

The image showed two individuals reclining on
leather sofas that sat in the far corner of the massive room
reading. Could they be the missing pair that Russo raised as his
own children? I stared at them for a few minutes wondering what
their fate would be. Finally, I dragged myself from the screen;
getting out of here was more important now.

I cautiously headed down the hallway, pausing
at each door to listen for any signs of the goons that were holding
us hostage. If it was silent, I would try the door knob. The first
one I tried was locked. I made a mental note that Mark might be
locked in there and moved on to the next one, but it was locked
also.

“Crap,” I said, quietly moving on. The next
three were also locked. Finally, trying the fifth door, the knob
turned. I opened the door and recognized the room I had spent the
first thirty six or so hours locked-up in. Moving on, I tried the
next door which also opened when I turned the knob. The room
appeared to be a supply closet. I gave the room a quick once over
and then shut the door. I finally hit the end of the hallway which
split off in two directions. I was just about to go right when I
heard footsteps.

I quickly darted back the way I had come; I
ducked into the supply room, and closed the door softly. I pressed
my ear against the door and listened to the footsteps as they
passed by. Another set followed closely behind with another behind
them. I could hear their conversations as my captors headed back to
the lab.

I waited. I knew I needed to get out of the
supply room before they discovered I was missing. My hand was on
the door knob and I was starting to turn it when I heard several
more sets of footsteps.

I released a hiss of air. That was a close
one.

I waited a few more seconds then turned the
knob; I stepped out of the room and looked in both directions. The
coast was clear. I took off down the hallway as the adrenaline
raced through my veins propelling me forward. I hit the fork in the
hallway and turned to the right, running at a pace that was
unfamiliar to me. It was as if my feet had been given a boost, they
propelled me full force down the hallway. Before all of this, I
would have said my body was using my adrenaline as energy, but I
now believed a higher force was helping me.

The long hallway ended with a door. I twisted
the knob cautiously and stepped out of the hallway into the room.
It was another room like the lab except it was occupied by a small
Cessna plane. I had been right when I thought the lab looked like
an aircraft hangar. I rushed across the large space and headed out
the door that had an exit sign lit up over it.

I made it
, I thought stepping out into
the brilliant sunlight. Now I needed to locate a phone and call
Shawn and Sam. I would need their help if I was going to help
Mark.

I looked back with a pang. I hated to walk
even a step further away from Mark, but I knew I must if I was
going to save him.

I rushed around the side of the hangar and
stopped dead in my tracks.

I had found Bruno
.

Chapter 13

Bruno was leaning against a white Ford F-150
smoking a cigarette. He dropped the cigarette when he spotted me. I
made eye contact with him and saw him jerk his head slightly toward
the direction I had just come.

I backed away slowly and gave him a small
smile of thanks. Once I was back around the corner, I headed in the
opposite direction. I took off at a fast trot and rounded the next
set of aircraft hangars and spotted an airport office up ahead. I
marveled when once again I was able to run at a pace that would
have made a track star’s jaw drop. I reached the door and opened it
slowly. I cautiously walked into the small space, finding the
office was empty.

I closed the door behind me and franticly
searched for a phone. My heart raced when I spotted a dirty white
clunky phone on the corner of the desk. I picked up the receiver
and went weak with relief when I heard the dial tone.

I punched in Sam’s cell phone with clumsy
fingers. The phone rang and was picked up instantly.

“We’re sorry the number you dialed is not in
service, please check the number and try again,” a recorded voice
said.

My heart sank.

I tried again. This time I took my time and
the number went through. The phone rang twice before it was
answered on the other end.

“Hello,” Sam said.

I could have wept with joy at the sound of
Sam’s voice.

“Sam, it’s me.”

“Krista? Thank God, we have been worried
sick! Where are you?” Sam said in a rush.

“We were kidnapped! I need your help, they
still have Mark locked up,” I told her urgently.

“Where are you?” Sam asked.

“At some aircraft ha…” My words were cut off
as the phone went dead.

Dread filled my whole body, but it was easy
to fight it back. For the first time in my life, I was in charge of
my emotions. I turned and faced the door bracing my hands on the
desk behind me. As the knob was turning, I felt the cool metal of
some kind of tool where my left hand had landed. I slid the tool
into the waistband of my scrubs just as the door swung open.

Bruno’s almost twin James was standing in the
doorway. I tried to back away from his grasp, but the desk stopped
my backward motion.

James seized my arm and dragged me out of the
office. With his other hand he dragged a radio out of his pocket.
Pressing the buttons, he paused. “I got her she was trying to make
a call, but I cut the lines just in time.”

“Take her to her mate. We will be taking care
of them tonight. I’m done with these games,” Amanda said on the
other end.

James grabbed me by my arm and started to
drag me back in the direction I had just escaped from. Though they
had found me, I felt a rush of excitement from Amanda’s words. She
told him to take me to Mark, in a few moments I would see him. It
had been over forty eight hours since I had last seen him in the
flesh, and not in a dream state.

I kept my eyes open, observing my
surroundings as James continued to drag me back into the building.
I was soon in the familiar hallway where my own cell was located.
James walked a few more doors down and paused at the first door I
had tried earlier during my flight down the hall.

He paused and used his free hand to pull a
gun out of the waistband of his pants.

I gasped when I saw it. I had seen guns
before on T.V, or on a policeman’s belt, but I had never been this
close to one.

James pointed the gun at me and told me not
to move as he released me so he could unlock the door. Once the
door was unlocked, he told me to open it. I twisted the knob at the
same time that James pushed me through the door. He kept the gun
pointed at my head.

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot her,” he said as he
backed out of the door.

My eyes met Mark’s as James backed up out of
the door. Mark looked ready to spring, but stayed put when he
spotted the gun pointed at my head. James cleared the doorway and
slammed the door behind him, engaging the lock.

Mark rushed over to my side and dragged me
into his arms. He buried his face in my hair and ran his hands over
my arms and down my back looking for injuries.

“Are you okay?” he asked anxiously.

“Yes, I’m fine, believe it or not, except for
sores from the sensors, I feel kind of great.”

Mark pulled back slightly, looking
confused.

“You do look good. I have been so worried
about you. We’ve been here for over forty eight hours. I expected
you to be as ill as you were where when your mom kept us
apart.”

“I was, but last night in the dream when the
wall disappeared, I felt a lot of the sickness leave me. At first I
thought the feeling would disappear when I woke, but it didn’t, in
fact I started to regain all of the strength I had lost. We did
something in the dream. I think it happened when I talked about us
opening our minds. It’s like we opened a locked cabinet, we took
control over our dreams. I think if we survive this, we will not be
pulled apart anymore. It was like our dreams were trying to give us
a warning that something bad was going to happen to us.”

“You mean that our dreams somehow saw the
future?” Mark asked skeptically.

I laughed at his tone. “You’re going to doubt
that when all of this has happened? We defy the norm on everything.
I have found out so much in the last two days. Like the fact that
some kind of celestial beings sent us here to protect humanity.
Dreams that could tell us our future seemed like small potatoes in
comparison.”

Mark looked at me, intrigued.

I became self-conscious with him looking at
me like that.

“What?” I said.

“You seem almost energized like you’re riding
high or almost happy about something, you’re glowing. You look
absolutely beautiful.”

I assessed his words, he was right, I did
feel energized. Maybe it could be left over from the adrenaline
rush from earlier, but even though we were locked up and facing a
threat, I felt oddly happy, almost like everything was okay.

“I think it’s
because
I’m with you.
Even though I know we probably won’t make it through the night, I’m
okay with it as long as I am with you. It’s only when I’m away from
you that I feel so lost. The only thing that would make this better
is if I had a chocolate candy bar,” I said playfully.

Mark smiled at my comment.

He pulled me even tighter into his arms; it
would have been painful if it didn’t feel so right. I felt him
brush a kiss across the top of my head. “I’m glad you’re with me
too.”

I looked around the room for the first time
and laughed. Mark must have had many fits of rage. The bed, which
was no longer sitting normal, had countless restraints still
hanging off it. It looked more like it had been tossed in a trash
compactor. The metal was bent at odd angles that made it look more
like a jungle gym than a cot.

“Rearranging your room?” I asked with another
giggle in my voice.

Mark smiled slightly embarrassed. “That’s why
James pointed the gun at your head. They don’t trust me; he thought
I would rush him even with him holding a gun. They have tried to
weaken me, but the more time that passes, the more frequent the
rage comes on. I think I scare them,” he said with a smile as he
bent the metal of the bed as close as he could back to its original
position.

I sat on the edge of the now rickety bed as
he held my hand. I filled him in on my morning excursion; making it
outside of the building and discovering that we were being held at
some kind of storage hangar for airplanes. I then told him about
finding the phone, but being cut off before I could tell Sam more
about our location.

“I’m proud of you, but I can’t believe you
put yourself in that kind of danger, you should have fled as soon
as you hit daylight.”

I looked at him with disbelief. “You think I
would have left without you? I told you before, I can’t live
without you. Would you have left me?”

“That’s different. I’m the guy, it’s my job
to protect you, and in case you missed it, I’m doing a lousy job of
it. You’re out there trying to find a way out for us while I sit in
here cooling my heels,” he said with barely controlled
frustration.

I placed my hands on his chest to neutralize
his anger. “We may only have a few hours left. I don’t want to
spend them in anger and frustration. I want us to make the most of
our time together,” I said in a pleading voice.

Mark rested his hands on top of mine. I could
feel the heat of his body. I felt a light blush approach as I
thought of how alone we were. I was suddenly filled with the
feeling of wanting to be with him as much as I could be. I had
always said I would wait until marriage, but what if they did kill
us tonight. We would never discover the true feeling of being
together in the fullest sense.