Chapter Ten Can't Get Enough of Your Love

Monday, June Thirteenth, 8:00 a.m., San Diego, California

Alex had gone back to bed after getting up and showering at four in the morning, because Bruce had called his hotel room at five in the morning and said, “The weather is crap, we’re not flying today.  Go see the sights instead.”

He wandered down to the breakfast room to see what they might have for him.  Alex was mildly disappointed, though not surprised, that all they had were miniature boxes of cereal, an assortment of danishes in unappealing flavors, and cheap, plain bagels.  There was, at least, plenty of coffee, and it was even passably good.

Alex grabbed a table by a window that had a nice view of the church across the way, and sat down with a box of Corn Pops, an unappealing danish, and a bagel with cream cheese.

He thought about what he might do with the day, since he had it to himself, as he ate his Corn Pops.  He’d heard good things about the beach.  He would have to take a cab to get there, though.  Somehow, taking a cab to the beach just seemed… wrong.  Alex wondered if the people at the front desk would be able to suggest anything to do that was within walking distance.

The danish Alex had grabbed was, indeed, completely unappealing.  He managed to choke down the one bite he took, wondered who on earth would want a Marmite danish, and rinsed his mouth out with coffee.  Luckily, the bagel was better than the danish had been.

There had been a steady flow of other hotel guests in and out of the breakfast room, but now it was starting to fill up.  Alex refilled his coffee and decided to head up to the reception desk to see if they might have some suggestions for things to see in the area.

The front desk was less busy than Alex had expected it to be at 8:30 in the morning.  He supposed that most people probably no longer go to the front desk to check out, though.  He approached the desk next to the sole employee who was working, and set his coffee cup down on the counter top.

The woman behind the counter had black hair and brown eyes, and Alex guessed that she’d been working the overnight shift and couldn’t wait to get home.  She gave him a perfunctory customer service smile and said, “Good morning, how can I help you?”

“Good morning,” Alex said.  “My plans for the day changed, and now it seems that I’ve got the whole day to myself.  I was wondering if there’s anything cool within walking distance that I should check out while I’m here in town.”

The woman behind the counter said, “You’re in the wrong part of town to be walking, my friend.  Not much is in walking distance of anywhere around here.  If you feel like a good long hike, you can get down to the bay by heading west.  I think there are sidewalks the whole way there.   You don’t have a car?”

Alex was about to tell her that no, he did not have a car, but the phone on the desk rang, and she excused herself in order to answer it.  He took a sip of coffee and turned to look around the lobby while she was on the phone.

“I’m sorry?” she said.  “Um, OK.  I’ll ask.”

She held the phone against her chest and said to Alex, “Is your name Alex Minor, by any chance?”

Alex’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.  “Yes, it is.  Who’s asking?”

“I don’t know, but I think this call is for you,” the clerk said, and held the phone out to Alex.

Alex took it, and in a confused tone of voice said, “Hello?”

“Mr. Minor?” the voice on the phone said.  It was a woman.

“Yes, that’s me.  Who is this?” Alex said.

“A car for you has just arrived in front of your hotel.  Please get in it,” the voice on the phone said.

“Hang on, who is this?  Why should I?” Alex said.

Getting into strange cars with unknown women seemed risky even to him.

“Don’t delay,” the voice said, and disconnected.

“Hello?  Hey!” Alex said into the phone before giving up and handing the receiver back to the woman behind the desk.

“Well,” he said, “I guess I’m not going to need any suggestions on what to do after all.  Thanks for your help, though.”

“Mmm-hmm,” the woman behind the counter said.  She’d already turned back to her computer and was tapping away at the keyboard.

Alex took his cup of coffee and went out the front doors.  There was a silver car with darkly tinted windows parked in the driveway just in front of him.  The driver of the car, complete in suit and cap, jumped out, ran around and opened one of the back doors for Alex. 

Alex approached the car, leaned down and took a look in the back.  The car’s interior was finished in grey leather and plush grey carpet, with dark wood accents.  There was no one in the car at the moment.

“Where are you going to take me?” is what Alex was going to ask the driver, except he didn’t get a chance to.  The driver shoved him, rather rudely in Alex’s opinion, into the back of the car, and shut the door.

“Hey!” Alex shouted into a face-full of exquisitely soft grey leather.  He pushed himself up and smacked his head against the luxuriously cushioned headliner of the car before tumbling back into the ergonomically perfect seat.  Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the name “Bentley” embroidered in one of the seatbacks, under a winged logo.

Alex grabbed the door’s handle and pulled it, but the door wouldn’t open.

The driver got back into the car, and Alex barely noticed the sound of the engine starting. 

“Hey!” Alex said.  “What the hell is going on?”

In reply, the driver raised a window between the front and back of the car, isolating Alex.

“Hey!” Ales said.

He slouched back into a seat that, by itself, was more refined than anything Alex had ever owned.

Well, this is certainly the most prestigious abduction I’ve ever been on the wrong end of, Alex thought.  He hoped that whoever was kidnapping him had even more luxury in mind, and less rough blanket on a thin pad on the floor in a concrete cell, when it came to his imprisonment.

Alex noticed that the neighborhoods they were passing through kept getting nicer.  Eventually, as they wound their way through a neighborhood that was definitely all residential, Alex realized that they were right by the ocean.  Seconds later, they were driving down a slope into an underground garage, filled with other exotic and luxurious cars.  There was also an incongruous, battered Buick Century that looked as though it was still driving only because it was too stubborn to die. 

The Bentley came to a stop, and Alex became aware, just barely, that the engine had been turned off.

The driver came around to the back of the car again, and opened the door for Alex.  He stood, waiting impassively for Alex.

Alex got out of the car, straightened his clothes a bit, and then shoved the driver as hard as he could.

“What the fuck is your deal?  Where did you bring me? And why,” Alex shouted, “aren’t you even moving when I’m shoving you as hard as I can?  It’s very rude to just stand there and not even look a little ruffled when I am doing violence upon you!”

The driver cleared his throat and said, “Oh dear, it seems you may have mussed my hair.  Please stop savaging me, won’t you, sir?”

A woman’s voice behind Alex said, “If you’ve gotten it all out of your system, would you please stop whatever it is you’re doing to my driver and come inside like a civilized adult?”

“Huh?” Alex said.  He turned his head and looked back at where the voice was coming from.  There was a doorway back there, and someone was standing in it.

Whomever it was, she was in silhouette and the only thing Alex was reasonably certain of was that it was a she.

He looked back and up at the driver, who was looking down at Alex with an expression of polite disdain.

“Uh,” Alex said to the driver.  “Sorry.  The adrenaline kicked in and I didn’t really realize…”

“Not at all,” the driver said.  “Forgiven, forgotten.”

“Thanks,” Alex said.

Something about the driver seemed familiar.

“Say,” Alex said.  “Have you got a brother?”

The driver raised an eyebrow, ever so slightly, and said, “Indeed I do, sir.”

“Is he named Harold?” Alex said.

“Yes, it is.  Are you acquainted with him?” he said. 

“I work with him,” Alex said.

The driver chuckled politely.

“Forgive me, sir.  Harold is a butler.  I don’t see how you could have worked with him,” He said.

“Ask him sometime,” Alex said.

“Indeed I will, sir,” the driver said.

The woman, whose voice Alex now recognized from the phone call, said, “If you two are done, we have some things to discuss, Mr. Minor.  Please come in.”

Alex realized that he still had his hands on the driver’s shoulders and he was, in fact, still shoving against the driver.  He let go and stood up squarely again.

“Um, sorry again,” Alex said.

“Think nothing of it, sir,” the driver said.

“Say, if you don’t mind telling me, what’s your name?” Alex said to the driver.

“Howard, sir,” he said.

Alex smiled and said, “Nice to meet you.”

“Indeed, Mr. Minor,” Howard said.

Alex turned and walked towards the doorway where the mystery woman was waiting, impatiently.

“Finally, Mr. Minor,” she said.  “Come with me, we’ll go talk on the patio.  Would you like a drink?”

This is by far the classiest set of kidnappers I’ve had to deal with, Alex thought.

Alex shrugged and said, “Sure, I’ll have whatever you’re having.”