Strange Fortune

Chapter 1 If he had to get kidnapped, Jake figured he was lucky to end up in the hands of incompetent kidnappers. Either they hadn’t taken the time to research him at all or they knew he’d been military and couldn’t be bothered to be extra careful. Whatever the reason it worked well for him. After a day and a half of pretending to be docile he made his move. They sent in a beta to bring him food, another dumb move on their part unless this was an exceptionally strong beta. It was almost insulting. Jake may have needed medical retirement but he was still an alpha and former special forces. It wasn’t hard to subdue this so-called guard. When the guy was knocked out cold Jake checked for weapons. None. Apparently the kidnappers took some precautions. He’d just have to make do and get down the hall to the next guard before anyone noticed the dinner delivery was taking longer than usual. Food deliveries were always very quick affairs and he wanted the element of surprise. This plan was somewhat derailed when he saw through a small window that a man was curled up looking miserable in the room next to where he had been held. Maybe Jake wasn’t the only person kidnapped? He couldn’t very well leave the poor guy behind, even though odds were good that another person would just make it that much harder to escape. The door was locked, so he had to go back to grab the keyring off the unconscious guard. s**t, someone was going to get suspicious soon. “You wanna get out of here?” asked Jake as soon as the door swung open. The guy tried to get up but couldn’t. He looked terrible and had to have been in this abandoned warehouse for longer than Jake. Damn it, this escape was not at all going according to plan and for the first time Jake began to worry. He barely heard the guy say, “I can’t.” He couldn’t just leave the guy. As soon as Jake escaped, the kidnappers were likely to move their other captive (captives?). Time for plan B, then. Too bad Jake didn’t have a plan B. “Okay, let me see what I can do,” he said. The obvious first step was taking out the other guard. By this time the second guard had gotten suspicious about how long his buddy had been gone. That actually worked to Jake’s advantage. He shut the door to this other guy’s room and moved away from the window, keeping his hand on the doorknob so he could open the door silently. He only had to wait a few seconds until the guard went to the room where he’d been held. Then he pounced. The element of surprise was a grand thing. Subduing this guard was slightly harder; the guy was an alpha and no weakling either. Jake almost saw stars when the guard’s foot connected with his bad knee. He channeled his pain into rage and managed to get a solid chokehold, holding it tight until the guard blacked out. This guard had a loaded Glock, giving Jake something to work with. On the other hand one Glock wasn’t going to be nearly as much help if he had to carry the other prisoner out with him. Along with the Glock he discovered a cell phone. Now he had a better plan B. He tied the guards to a pole in his room. He only had their clothes to work with, effective gags but not the best restraints, so he pistol whipped them for good measure. That ought to keep them out cold a while longer. While Jake had zero problems killing his kidnappers, he’d rather not call attention to his escape with gunshots if it could be helped. That done he tapped the word Emergency to bypass the passcode and called 911. “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” “My name is Jake Nelson and I’ve been kidnapped,” he reported. “I’ve tied up the guards for now but I don’t know how long before they’re missed, and there’s another captive here who’s in bad shape. He can’t walk.” “Do you have any idea where you are?” “I was kidnapped outside the Auburn YMCA, and they only drove for about ten, twelve minutes at most. I’m in what looks like an abandoned warehouse, and when they took me I was put in a blue cargo van, the kind with no windows.” “I’m getting your location information now, Mr. Nelson. Police and ambulance are on the way and I’ll stay on with you until they arrive.” Plan B couldn’t have gone better. Jake knew 911 couldn’t always get the location information from cell phones so, aside from that kick to the knee, this whole escape was going very well. He limped back to the other guy. “Police and ambulance are on their way. Hang in there, okay?” This time it registered that the other guy was an omega. No claim scar, but he was young enough to be unclaimed, and his pheromones were weak which was hardly surprising considering his poor physical state. “So thirsty,” he croaked out. “I think I have some water left. Be right back.” Jake moved as fast as he could manage with his busted, throbbing knee. Sure enough, there was a little bit of water left in his plastic bottle. Why hadn’t the other guy been given water? Jake got sufficient water and three meals a day, even if the food was lousy and he had a bucket for a bathroom. “Here,” he said, giving the other guy the water bottle. “Not much left, but I’m sure you’ll get more soon.” Besides, if the guy was dehydrated he shouldn’t be gulping down a whole bottle at once anyway, as much as he might want to. Vomiting wasn’t going to help anything. “What is his name?” asked the 911 dispatcher. “Nine-one-one wants to know your name.” The other guy finished the water before answering, “David Beecham. And we were kidnapped by Roger McLaughlin. He’ll be here any time.” David looked frightened just mentioning their kidnapper’s name. Jake wondered how exactly David knew this but speaking seemed like a lot of effort for the guy so he relayed the information to their dispatcher and reminded himself his questions could wait. Besides, he heard noise coming from down the hall which couldn’t mean anything good. Sure enough, he heard a loud “What the hell?” and a couple seconds later they were joined by an irate man posturing in an attempt to make himself look like more of an intimidating alpha than he really was. Sure, the guy was an alpha but he wasn’t a particularly daunting specimen. Did he even bother to work out? Besides, Jake had the Glock pointing straight at him. “You,” growled out the wimpy alpha. Eloquence wasn’t his strong suit, evidently. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair soon enough,” replied Jake. “Do you really think you’ll get out of here alive?” Jake hoped all this was making it to the 911 recording. “Yep.” Wimpy alpha shook his head. “Not a chance.” Maybe he didn’t realize one of his goons had a cell phone. If Jake was going to kidnap people he sure wouldn’t allow cell phones around the prisoners. This whole operation was poorly devised, to his great personal benefit. “Do I look worried?” Now he was just stalling until the police showed up. Wimpy alpha hadn’t produced a weapon yet. This kidnapping was so badly planned Jake wouldn’t have been surprised if he was unarmed. On the other hand, he could pull out a weapon at any moment. Their captor’s phone rang. He moved to answer but stopped when Jake said, “Uh-uh, hands where I can see them. Stand against the wall.” Defeated, the man did as he was told. Jake had figured he was the kind who was nothing without his hired muscle. Sorry excuse for an alpha, really, though since he was a criminal, Jake wasn’t complaining. They remained this way for a couple minutes before Jake could hear the police approaching. “In here!” he yelled. Then it was over. Wimpy alpha was in handcuffs, one of the officers helped Jake stand, and EMTs rushed in to take care of David, who was weak enough he was carried out on a stretcher. “Thank you,” said David as he was taken out. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” replied Jake, because what else could he say? Another officer came in and shook Jake’s hand. “Detective Rossini. I have to say, Mr. Nelson, you’ve done most of our work for us.” “Shoddiest kidnapping I’ve ever seen.” The detective’s eyebrows shot up. “Have you seen a lot of kidnappings?” “I was on a rescue team. Special forces.” “That explains a lot. Dispatch said you were admirably calm. Let’s get you out of here so your knee can be looked at.” “I’m guessing they took me for ransom,” he remarked as he hobbled down the hall. Another EMT arrived with crutches, making his life much easier. Rossini nodded. “Your parents received ransom demands.” Jake’s parents had recently won the lottery. It wasn’t a huge jackpot—after taxes they received a lump sum just over $8 million—but it had been big local news. They’d expected people would come out of the woodwork asking for money. None of them had foreseen the win would lead to kidnapping. “They’ve been worried sick. You want to give them a call?” Rossini unlocked his phone and offered it to Jake. “Thanks.” He’d reassure his parents he was okay and have them meet him at the hospital. If he was very fortunate he’d be released in a timely fashion and his parents could drop him off to sleep in his own bed.