Surviving the King

Familiar

After the warning I was placed in noise cancelling headphones and shoved into a tight space. At first I thought I was in a van or something, but the lifting I felt told me I’d gone airborne and was likely in a helicopter. I was not in the hands of people with few resources. This meant their demands would be lofty if they had any. The craft landed after about two hours and I was slung into a wheelchair and taken into an enclosed space. I’d gotten a salty whiff of fresh sea air...

I began losing track of time quickly with the constant darkness and lack of sound around of me. My bladder was beginning to hurt, though, so I knew it had been hours. Then I heard footfalls quickly approaching from behind me. There was no point in trying to crane my neck, but I did curl up in a futile attempt to protect myself.

“I'm not going to hurt you if you listen.”

The voice was robotic–whoever it was was intentionally disguising their voice, which scared me more than anything so far. I felt like I had to know this person in some way.

“What do you want?” I asked quietly. “If this is for ransom, you would be paid–”

“It’s ransom with some heavy conditions. I’m here to make sure you don’t suffer at least or die at worst,” the voice said while clipping my ankle ties. By the ease that I was lifted from the floor this person was definitely in shape and likely male. I didn’t struggle against this person as they then sat me on a cushioned surface. It was a bed! Sweat began beading at my brow as I felt my heart clench, but sensing my tension the person quickly added assurances. “You’re as safe as possible given the circumstances. Close your eyes!”

I did. The bag was removed and I felt a cool cloth run over my face and neck. I felt something balmy applied to my lips which struck me as insanely strange before a blindfold was put over my eyes. The fabric was designed for this purpose, so no light got in around the bridge of my nose. I felt the zip tie at my elbows go, and my hand instinctively went to my eyes.

“If you do that we’ll both die.”

My hand dropped but my anger bubbled, “I have to use the bathroom and I’m thirsty.”

“Count to thirty and then take off the blindfold,” they said as they departed my area, which no longer echoed nor smelled like damp sediment. A door shut and I removed the blindfold to find myself in an eerily familiar space. It quickly began driving me mad feeling like I knew the room I was in, but not being able to recall clearly.

As I stepped across the room a tray caught my attention. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast yesterday. Thinking of breakfast made me think of Dad and how beserk he must be going right now. Jada would be chomping at the bit to pin anyone to the wall that had even looked at me sideways recently. I felt confident that people who loved me were willing to try to find me. My best bet would be the elite team from Centurion, but they were still contracted out to the British government through the end of next week.

I could survive a week. Right?

-Corbin-

Seeing her look at me that way in the lobby had almost killed me. I had no way to know that she would react to me. I was sure I was dead to Mari. At the very least I deserved to be…especially now.

The burner phone in my pocket buzzed. “Hello?”

“What the hell did you do!?”

I yanked the phone away from my ear in annoyance. This old man was getting on my nerves more each day. “Nice to hear from you, too,” I sneered.

“Don’t give me that s**t. Five people got run over in that lobby and one was the Attorney General’s son! I mean fed, not state!”

“I wasn’t driving and I didn’t want to do any of this,” I said with a sigh. “You wanted Dominic and TJ to set everything. I was just supposed to be the bait.”

“You’re the oldest, Corbin! I didn’t think you’d let your knuckleheaded brothers run wild and screw up this bad.”

I didn’t even realize that I was pacing until I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. “We can’t fix what happened to his son, but we can lay low for a month or two while we pin this on another group.

That seemed to satisfy the old man a bit. “Ok. You take care of everything from here on out. And get another phone.”

Snapping the phone in two, I tossed it in the trash and muttered, “Love you, too, Dad.”

A roaring scream ripped from my throat. My brothers were absolute idiots sometimes. Everything they did was fashioned after something they saw in some movie.

Dominic had a mouthful of pasta when I walked into the great room. “Ay, what’s with the screaming, Corbin?”

The look I gave him made him turn his head and finish eating instead of talk. I’d done everything right. I’d done well in school, I dated the right girl, and was on my way to work for one of the best firms in New York when my family stopped me dead in my tracks.

“You’re a King, Corbin,” Dad had said holding my face. He was half Italian and also thought his life was a mob movie. All any of these schmucks had to do was live off their trust fund interest, but no. They pull me into their idiocy.

Well, I guess I had to be a bit of an i***t too not to find Mari and run before this situation got completely out of hand. I had loved her pretty immediately as a kid. Daniel and Vivienne Galindo were my favorite adults. I wanted Mr. Galindo to be my dad; he was smart, funny, and always talked to me like a person. I understood why Vivienne and my mother got along, but it was impossible to know why Daniel had any dealings with my dad.

We’d all get together during the summer and spend time at one of the Galindo houses. Mari and I would play on beaches or in the yard for hours. We got along so well. Then Mom had Dominic and suddenly our families stopped hanging out. Dad pulled his money out of Daniel’s brokerage firm and Vivienne had fired Mom from Centurion.

“Petty rich people s**t,” I muttered as I threw back a glass of bourbon. Mari was never going to forgive me for helping get her kidnapped. I went to the kitchen and pulled out the drawer full of phones and powered up another burner and activated it. I had to get the blame for the deaths at the Liberty building shifted elsewhere.

“Hey,” I sighed. “I need that favor.”