Unexpected
Chapter 28
*Niall’s POV*
We had all boarded the bus with our things and set off toward the police station. We had nothing to tell them except that our friend was missing and that we needed to find him as soon as possible. The only lead we had was the suspicious text Harry had sent me earlier this morning after he left the dining room. We sat in the media room, everyone quiet on their phones or staring blankly out the window. The silence was almost deafening, suffocating us. We all jumped, surprised, when my phone began ringing.
I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. My heart fell when I saw Sammie’s name and picture pop up in the middle of the screen. I wanted to talk to her so desperately in the last week, I hoped everyday that she would call or text me, but now that she had decided we should talk, she picked the worst time in the world. I reluctantly picked up the phone.
“Sammie, this isn’t a very good time,” I told her without greeting.
“I know,” she answered. I was confused by her response until she continued. “You’re missing your friends, aren’t you?”
There’s no way she knew where Harry and Chloe were. She hadn’t taken them, had she? No, she was way too nice and sane to do such a thing.
“How do you know?” I pressed the speaker phone button in order to answer the questioning looks I was getting from everyone around me.
“My uncle owns a run-down private airport out in the middle of New Jersey. Harry and some girl came in today with two muscley guys and a skinny blonde girl. The guys looked like body guards or something and the girl was obviously the leader; she looked mean. You have to get here before their plane takes off,” she said in one quick breath.
I thought for a moment about who it could be that took our friends. A crazy fan, maybe? After a couple seconds of consideration, I realized there’s no way that was possible. Our fans are the craziest in the world but none of them would do something this bad and illegal.
“When do they leave?” I asked her.
“In an hour,” she told me and gave me the address to the airport. Zayn ran out of the room to tell the bus driver the new destination and inform Paul of the change in plans. I felt the bus make a sharp turn and speed up with the new information.
I thanked Sammie more than once and hung up. I know I’ve wanted to talk to her but now was definitely not the time. I told myself that I’d talk to her more once we got Chloe and Harry back safe and sound.
*Chloe’s POV*
I sat in the small room with my arm held tightly by Jack. I wasn’t listening to anything Jim was telling us but I could tell he was very enthusiastic about planes for some reason. Staring out the window, I saw dense trees behind the runway. If we could only get away, we could run deep into the woods and hide out until we could get help.
I glanced to my left at Harry who was staring at the ground. I felt awful for him: his insane ex-girlfriend kidnapped him and he’s probably blaming himself for getting me kidnapped, too.
After about half an hour of Jim talking, he took us out to the runway and, just when I thought I was safe from his boring lecture, he began talking about the parts of the plane. I zoned myself out again and tried to think of a way to get away from Blair, Jack, and Jeremy. I tried to communicate with Harry by using my eyes but he wouldn’t look at me. Slowly, I gave up and decided I would just have to leave the country with my kidnappers.
*Niall’s POV*
We were almost at the airport and my nerves were worse than they’ve ever been before. I crossed my fingers and prayed that we would get there in time to save them. The bus sped up as we finished going around some curves in the road and we raced toward the airport.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Louis asked quietly.
“Of course we’ll make it,” I answered, half trying to convince myself as well.
I watched out the window at all of the trees rapidly passing by. They started to thin out and we finally came up to the building. I bolted out the bus door and ran inside, only to see Sammie waiting for us behind the reception counter.
“There you are! I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it,” she said when she saw me.
“Where are they?” I asked out of breath.
She pointed behind her and out a door to where the runway was. Through the windows behind the desk I could see six people outside near one of the small planes, all but one of them with their backs facing the building.
“Do you have anything heavy?” I asked as everyone else entered the room.
Sammie looked confused but left the room. A few moments later, she returned with some planks of wood and a metal mop bucket. She handed them to me and quietly opened the door that led outside.
At this point, the man who was talking to the people by the plane had his back turned toward the building, pointing at something under the plane.
I handed Zayn and Liam two pieces of wood, since they were the strongest besides Harry, and kept the bucket for myself. I asked Louis, Tess, and Aleanbh to stay behind with Sammie and watch the door in case something happened.
Liam, Zayn, and I slowly crept outside, stopping every once in a while to make sure we wouldn’t be discovered.
When we had gotten about 5 feet behind the crowd, I – being the stupid boy I am – didn’t see a stick on the ground. I winced and felt my stomach clench as it snapped easily beneath my shoe. Everyone turned around to face me. Good thing I’ve always been a quick thinker.
“Now!” I shouted and the two boys and I lunged at the three unfamiliar people surrounding Harry and Chloe.
Sammie had pointed out which one her uncle was before we left the building so we left him to watch in wonder and confusion as we took out the kidnappers.
I swung the bucket and hit the girl in the side of her head, instantly knocking her out. Guilt immediately flooded through me; I’d never had to hit a girl before, let alone knock her out. Liam and Zayn quickly took down the two large men that were with her.
I smiled at them and hugged Chloe and Harry after they got over the shock of what had just happened.
“Thank you so much!” Chloe gushed, holding on tightly to me.
“Don’t thank us,” I told her. “We had to save you. You’re family.”
I’m not sure if it was the happiness of being saved or if my words touched her, but when she pulled away, despite the smile on her mouth, she had tears welling in her eyes.
We explained to Jim what was going on and he quickly realized that must be why Harry and Chloe had looked so spooked the entire time he was talking.
I walked with them back into the building and called the police to come and get the three who had taken them away from us.
“So,” Sammie said once all of the excitement had died down. “How’s your tour going?”
I realized that now I was finally going to get a chance to talk with her: something I’ve wanted to do since the day I had to leave her back in New York.
“Pretty hectic,” I answered honestly, motioning behind me at the crowd.
She sighed and nodded in understanding. “As soon as I saw them in here with those guys I knew something was up. There’s no way Harry would fly out of the country during your tour with some random guys.”
“I feel so bad,” I said. “I saw him just this morning and didn’t even realize something was up. I’m just really glad we got them back before they could have left.”
It was silent between us for a moment and it began to get a little uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry I didn’t contact you,” Sammie apologized. I could tell by the way she said it that I was genuine. “I’ve been so busy lately. My uncle made me come down here and help him out with this old place. Nobody even comes here anymore.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “I’m just glad I got to talk to you today.”
A smile spread across her lips and just as I was about to lean in and kiss her, the back door flew open. One of the men we had knocked out was standing in the doorway with a gun raised.
“You thought you could get away with that, didn’t you?” he asked in a mean voice. “You thought wrong.”
We had all boarded the bus with our things and set off toward the police station. We had nothing to tell them except that our friend was missing and that we needed to find him as soon as possible. The only lead we had was the suspicious text Harry had sent me earlier this morning after he left the dining room. We sat in the media room, everyone quiet on their phones or staring blankly out the window. The silence was almost deafening, suffocating us. We all jumped, surprised, when my phone began ringing.
I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. My heart fell when I saw Sammie’s name and picture pop up in the middle of the screen. I wanted to talk to her so desperately in the last week, I hoped everyday that she would call or text me, but now that she had decided we should talk, she picked the worst time in the world. I reluctantly picked up the phone.
“Sammie, this isn’t a very good time,” I told her without greeting.
“I know,” she answered. I was confused by her response until she continued. “You’re missing your friends, aren’t you?”
There’s no way she knew where Harry and Chloe were. She hadn’t taken them, had she? No, she was way too nice and sane to do such a thing.
“How do you know?” I pressed the speaker phone button in order to answer the questioning looks I was getting from everyone around me.
“My uncle owns a run-down private airport out in the middle of New Jersey. Harry and some girl came in today with two muscley guys and a skinny blonde girl. The guys looked like body guards or something and the girl was obviously the leader; she looked mean. You have to get here before their plane takes off,” she said in one quick breath.
I thought for a moment about who it could be that took our friends. A crazy fan, maybe? After a couple seconds of consideration, I realized there’s no way that was possible. Our fans are the craziest in the world but none of them would do something this bad and illegal.
“When do they leave?” I asked her.
“In an hour,” she told me and gave me the address to the airport. Zayn ran out of the room to tell the bus driver the new destination and inform Paul of the change in plans. I felt the bus make a sharp turn and speed up with the new information.
I thanked Sammie more than once and hung up. I know I’ve wanted to talk to her but now was definitely not the time. I told myself that I’d talk to her more once we got Chloe and Harry back safe and sound.
*Chloe’s POV*
I sat in the small room with my arm held tightly by Jack. I wasn’t listening to anything Jim was telling us but I could tell he was very enthusiastic about planes for some reason. Staring out the window, I saw dense trees behind the runway. If we could only get away, we could run deep into the woods and hide out until we could get help.
I glanced to my left at Harry who was staring at the ground. I felt awful for him: his insane ex-girlfriend kidnapped him and he’s probably blaming himself for getting me kidnapped, too.
After about half an hour of Jim talking, he took us out to the runway and, just when I thought I was safe from his boring lecture, he began talking about the parts of the plane. I zoned myself out again and tried to think of a way to get away from Blair, Jack, and Jeremy. I tried to communicate with Harry by using my eyes but he wouldn’t look at me. Slowly, I gave up and decided I would just have to leave the country with my kidnappers.
*Niall’s POV*
We were almost at the airport and my nerves were worse than they’ve ever been before. I crossed my fingers and prayed that we would get there in time to save them. The bus sped up as we finished going around some curves in the road and we raced toward the airport.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Louis asked quietly.
“Of course we’ll make it,” I answered, half trying to convince myself as well.
I watched out the window at all of the trees rapidly passing by. They started to thin out and we finally came up to the building. I bolted out the bus door and ran inside, only to see Sammie waiting for us behind the reception counter.
“There you are! I was starting to think you wouldn’t make it,” she said when she saw me.
“Where are they?” I asked out of breath.
She pointed behind her and out a door to where the runway was. Through the windows behind the desk I could see six people outside near one of the small planes, all but one of them with their backs facing the building.
“Do you have anything heavy?” I asked as everyone else entered the room.
Sammie looked confused but left the room. A few moments later, she returned with some planks of wood and a metal mop bucket. She handed them to me and quietly opened the door that led outside.
At this point, the man who was talking to the people by the plane had his back turned toward the building, pointing at something under the plane.
I handed Zayn and Liam two pieces of wood, since they were the strongest besides Harry, and kept the bucket for myself. I asked Louis, Tess, and Aleanbh to stay behind with Sammie and watch the door in case something happened.
Liam, Zayn, and I slowly crept outside, stopping every once in a while to make sure we wouldn’t be discovered.
When we had gotten about 5 feet behind the crowd, I – being the stupid boy I am – didn’t see a stick on the ground. I winced and felt my stomach clench as it snapped easily beneath my shoe. Everyone turned around to face me. Good thing I’ve always been a quick thinker.
“Now!” I shouted and the two boys and I lunged at the three unfamiliar people surrounding Harry and Chloe.
Sammie had pointed out which one her uncle was before we left the building so we left him to watch in wonder and confusion as we took out the kidnappers.
I swung the bucket and hit the girl in the side of her head, instantly knocking her out. Guilt immediately flooded through me; I’d never had to hit a girl before, let alone knock her out. Liam and Zayn quickly took down the two large men that were with her.
I smiled at them and hugged Chloe and Harry after they got over the shock of what had just happened.
“Thank you so much!” Chloe gushed, holding on tightly to me.
“Don’t thank us,” I told her. “We had to save you. You’re family.”
I’m not sure if it was the happiness of being saved or if my words touched her, but when she pulled away, despite the smile on her mouth, she had tears welling in her eyes.
We explained to Jim what was going on and he quickly realized that must be why Harry and Chloe had looked so spooked the entire time he was talking.
I walked with them back into the building and called the police to come and get the three who had taken them away from us.
“So,” Sammie said once all of the excitement had died down. “How’s your tour going?”
I realized that now I was finally going to get a chance to talk with her: something I’ve wanted to do since the day I had to leave her back in New York.
“Pretty hectic,” I answered honestly, motioning behind me at the crowd.
She sighed and nodded in understanding. “As soon as I saw them in here with those guys I knew something was up. There’s no way Harry would fly out of the country during your tour with some random guys.”
“I feel so bad,” I said. “I saw him just this morning and didn’t even realize something was up. I’m just really glad we got them back before they could have left.”
It was silent between us for a moment and it began to get a little uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry I didn’t contact you,” Sammie apologized. I could tell by the way she said it that I was genuine. “I’ve been so busy lately. My uncle made me come down here and help him out with this old place. Nobody even comes here anymore.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “I’m just glad I got to talk to you today.”
A smile spread across her lips and just as I was about to lean in and kiss her, the back door flew open. One of the men we had knocked out was standing in the doorway with a gun raised.
“You thought you could get away with that, didn’t you?” he asked in a mean voice. “You thought wrong.”
6/16/13