“You know Chase?” I asked Salvador.
“No, ma’am. I don’t know him personally. I just heard he was working with those guys. You better be careful. I heard he got on their wrong side and they were after him.”
“Some Mexican cartel is after him?” I asked.
I swallowed hard as I took in all the information that was coming at me. I still didn’t know who Salina and Salvador really were, but it was starting to worry me that they knew of Chase, or anyone from the Mexican cartel.
“I guess. I heard he stole the black book from one of the lead guys. There was a bounty on him for like a million dollars or something.”
I just sat there and looked at Salvador, and then over at Salina. If what they were saying was true, Chase was in a lot more trouble than I could have imagined. But how did these two even know anything about the cartel at all? They said they had just gotten to town.
The whole situation started to make me feel really uncomfortable. Something about the way Salvador and Salina were looking at me made me feel like I needed to get out of there and back to Chase.
“Did you see a black book around him lately?” Salina asked me.
My heart sank when I looked into her eyes. She didn’t want to be my friend at all. Chase was right about them. Salina and Salvador worked for Escabar, and I was stuck sitting there with them.
They could have killed me if they wanted to, but they didn’t. That seemed promising. They needed information from me. I thought back to every crime television show I had watched, while I tried to think of how I could get out of the situation without getting hurt. I certainly didn’t want any broken ribs like those that Chase had.
I shook my head back and forth to indicate that I had not seen the black book. But my mind raced back to the safe room and being stuck in there holding the black book while Chase was beaten up. My heart raced, I didn’t know what to do. I also had no idea where the black book was anymore. I assumed Chase had it, but I really didn’t know. For all I knew, it was still back at his house in the safe room.
“Jordan, you’re in danger with Chase. You should come with us. We can protect you,” Salina said as she stood up and put her arm around my waist.
I felt the cold barrel of a gun on my back, and I knew they weren’t asking me to go with them. They were kidnapping me. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what I should do. We walked up through the eating area and suddenly it hit me. I knew exactly what I should do.
I flung myself onto the floor and started pulling down everything I could from the tables around me. If they were going to kidnap me, they were going to have to do it with me making a huge scene. I knew enough about kidnapping from watching television shows, and I knew that I should not leave the first location if it were at all possible.
My body continued to kick and roll around the ground, and I knocked over as many tables and chairs as I could. There were drinks and food all over the place. I was trying to make as big of a scene as possible. I hoped that Salina and Salvador would just leave me alone. But as I looked up, I saw Salina standing over me. Eventually, the manager came up to us, and he grabbed my hand and pulled me up.
“I’m sorry, sir. She has seizures. I’ll get her out of her. She needs to rest,” Salina said to him. “I’ll kill you right here if you do something like that again,” she whispered in my ear.
Again, I felt the cold gun at my back, and I heard her cock the barrel back as we walked. I decided it probably wasn’t the best idea for me to fight anymore.
“I don’t know anything. I’m not going to be of any help to you,” I said as we moved out of the building and to the car that Salvador had waiting for us.
“Another scene like that and I’ll shoot you,” she said as she pressed my head down and pushed me into the car.
I wasn’t going to make another scene at all. It was too late now; I was in their car. Every television show and movie I had seen told me that I was going to be killed by the two of them. I wasn’t of any use to them at all – there was no reason for them to keep me alive. I knew what they looked like and who they worked for. It was all over for me.
Chapter Fifteen
Chase
Jordan had been gone almost three ho
urs, and I officially started to worry. She had the car and I was in no shape to try and run after her. I had to call Carlos and tell him what was going on. Jordan was worth me confessing to Carlos.
“Carlos, I know you’re going to be pissed,” I said calmly.
“What’s going on, Chase?”
Carlos had heard that tone in my voice before. He was one of my best friends and he certainly knew the kind of trouble I was capable of.
One time, when we were younger, I had accidently wrecked my father’s car. I called Carlos to come get me and he was there within a few minutes. The two of us together figured out a plan to get the vehicle fixed before my father even knew it had been missing. It was that type of friendship that I desperately needed at that moment, and I knew Carlos would be able to give it to me.
“Remember that website you and Mathew were talking to me about?”
“Mathew, it was Mathew who was talking to you about that website.”