Chapter 26 - Down the rabbit hole

Keegan’s POV

The darkness around me was crippling and all-consuming. It was scary and lonely, but I couldn’t get my body to cooperate for what felt like forever. My eyes felt like a concrete slab was holding them down, but slowly my eyes started to cooperate. The first time I struggled to open them, and they were only open for a second before I passed out again, the second time, I would have been lucky if I could manage a few minutes, and even then, my vision was so hazy that I couldn’t make out where I was. The third time I pushed my eyes open, they felt lighter, and I felt more myself.

When the room came into view, I realised I was in an office of some description with no windows, lying on a dusty couch. I got up on my feet. They were a little shakey to begin with, so I took it slow when I moved as I made my way to the desk, picking up the phone, but it was dead. Nothing on the desk or in the draws was any help in clueing me in on my location or providing me with any I could use as a weapon to defend myself. There were three doors, one was locked and wouldn’t budge, one was a closet with nothing useful in it, and the third was a small shoebox bathroom with just a toilet and a sink, both of which had not been clean in at least a few years.

I ran the cold tap until the water stopped running brown and splashed some water on my face, taking in my appearance. I looked white as a sheet, and it made me wonder how long I had been out. Turning my head, I examined my neck where there was a raised red welt from where the needle went in. What the hell did this person give me? Did Grams realise I wasn’t going to show up yet? Had Ryder realised that someone had taken me? Was anyone looking for me? And most importantly, who the hell wanted me that badly that they resorted to this to get me?

The was no clock in here, no way of tracking the time. I tried to break the door down, but it was either stronger than I was, or there was something else blocking it. It wouldn’t budge, and all it left me with was a sore shoulder. I was going stir crazy locked in the room. I found a pen and a few pieces of paper on the desk and decided to sketch to calm my nerves. It worked for the most part until I heard movement outside the door, and then all the fear and nerves came rushing back.

I stood up from the chair at the desk and waited while the key slipped into the lock, the tumbler turning before the door handle turned. To say I was shocked about who entered was an understatement.

I glared at him as he strolled through the door, a bag of takeout in his hand, “What the hell is this, Dale?”

He rolled his eyes at me, strolling into the office and placing the bag on the desk, “This is lunch, sweetheart I thought you would be hungry. The drugs I gave you can give you an upset stomach, so I went with a grilled cheese and some soup.”

I looked from the bag and back to him with disbelief, “what am I doing here?”

My ignorance seems to be funny to him because he started laughing, “You, my dear are here because you are my ticket out of this godforsaken hellhole. It seems one of my clients has taken such a shine to you that he’s willing to pay me a lot of money and set me up in another country just to get his hands on you.”

And that’s when it dawned on me. There was only one of his clients that I had met. The same one who had made his intentions towards me very clear, “Viktor.”

“That’s right, my dear.” He sneered, “And when you think about it, it’s really all your fault. If that boyfriend of yours hadn’t screwed me here, I wouldn’t have had to resort to this. But he’s locked me out of everything here.”

“You locked yourself out.” I exclaimed, “when you bet something that wasn’t yours. You know, every time I think you have done the absolute worst thing I can imagine, you exceed my expectations. What you are talking about is human trafficking.”

Ryder had explained the rules of the games he attended before we got together, and my father had broken them big time by beating something that wasn’t his. He was on the title for Grams’ place, but he knew the house wasn’t his to bet. Once Ryder had reported it, Dale was blacklisted from all of their future events, and apparently, they had a far reach when it came to the gambling world, blocking him from a lot of the places he used to frequent.

He started pacing the room and pulling at his head, “I’m sick, Keegan, this is a disease. I can’t fight it. I need to play more than I need to breathe.”

“If you’re sick, you go to a doctor. You get help and start going to gamblers anonymous. You don’t sell your daughter to the highest bidder for your next fix.” I countered, unable to comprehend how this evil monster contributed half of my genetic code, “Get out, I can’t even look at you anymore.”

Dale sighed in defeat, “Eat. You need to keep your strength up. Viktor won’t be here until tomorrow, but I couldn’t wait until then to take you. It’s hard to get you alone these days.”

“GET OUT,” I screamed as loudly as possible, pissed that I couldn’t find something big enough to throw at him. I would have settled for a stapler.

He finally got the hint and stormed out of the room, pushing something back in front of the door again. I needed to get out of here and had until tomorrow to work out how.


Ryder’s POV

I couldn’t believe this, I had been at the police station, and I was still no closer to finding out what had happened to Keegan. Thankfully because her car had been abandoned and there had been signs of a struggle, they could forgo their usual forty-eight hour missing person requirement. I swear if they had gone down that route, I would have unleashed holy hell on them.

I had her Grams calling me every hour for updates. She was beside herself with worry. Thankfully, Faith stayed at a friend's house last night and didn’t know about anything yet. She was due back tonight, and I had no idea what I would tell her.

Accordingly to the police, the last time her phone pinged a cell tower, it was in the vicinity of her grandmother’s house, so whoever took her must have incapacitated her and dumped the car later. They were in the process of processing the car for fingerprints and DNA. Nothing was moving quick enough for my liking, but I had to give them props. They were keeping me informed more than they would a normal person. The lead detective was a Lakers fan. If he got Keegan back to me safely, I would make sure he got tickets to any game he wanted for life.

As if he had heard me thinking about it, Detective Foster walked up, “Mr Masters, can you please come with me?”

I left Marcus sitting there with my phone while I got up as it was nearly time for her Grams to call again and followed the detective. He pulled me into a separate room where a man in a suit was waiting for us, “What’s going on here?”

The guy stood up and extended his hand, “Mr Masters, my name is Special Agent Arthur Kent from the FBI. Can you please take a seat for me?”

I couldn’t understand why the FBI was involved in this matter, but I took a seat as he asked, and he did the same after me, searching through a folder of papers and sliding a photo at me. It was a photo of Keegan’s dad, Dale getting out of Keegan’s car at the convenience store. He was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, but there was no mistaking him.

“That was taken earlier today. Do you know who that is?’ He enquired.

I fought the urge to scrunch the photo up in my hands as I stared at it, rage building inside of me. “That’s Keegan’s father, Dale. He’s a degenerate gambler.”
The agent handed me another photo, “And this man.”

It was another photo of her father, but this time with the Russian prick that kept showing up and hitting on Keegan all the time. It was a photo of them in a restaurant. This wasn’t from a surveillance camera. It had to be taken in the restaurant. What the hell was going on here?

“Viktor Korma something. He’s been showing up at my team's functions. The owner of my team knows him. He’s also shown interest in Keegan. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?” I demanded, slamming the picture down on the table.

“The FBI has been investigating Viktor Komarov for several years now for his ties to the Russian mob, and we’ve recently started surveilling Mr Marshall as we believe he is laundering money for him.” Agent Foster explained.

“So if you are surveilling her father, how did you not see what happened today? How the hell do you not know where Keegan is?” I asked them loudly.

Agent Foster sighed, “We only have the approval to surveil Mr Marshall when Mr Komarov is on American soil, and according to our intel, he isn’t flying in until tomorrow.”

It was too much of a coincidence that he had shown interest in Keegan, she’d turned him down, and now she’s been taken just before he came back to town.

“So what happens now?’ My tone was now quiet, barely above a whisper, as if I didn’t want to know the answer.

“Now.” The agent stated calmly, “We try and find your girl and hopefully take a dangerous criminal off the streets in the process. But I’m going to need you to keep this quiet. If Komarov gets any hint that we are moving on him, he’ll go underground, and all hopes of finding Miss Marshall will be lost.”