Story Chapter 12

  Chapter Twelve 

Kidnapped

The door started playing a pleasant melody and the Nano-mechanical voice said, "Ms. Chloe you have visitors at your door would you like to attend to them." This was a new experience for Chloe; since she had been in the apartment, she had not had any visitors other than Dr. John. Chloe without thinking, and knowing what to think she relied to let her guests in. The visitor was Mairenn and a heavyset man who seemed to be very nervous, and Chloe did not like the looks of this man and was wondering who this man was and why Mairenn would be with this man and at her apartment. Mairenn stepped into the room and immediately asked where Liz was? Here again Chloe made a mistake that she would later regret when she told Mairenn that Liz had gone out, but she would be back shortly. At that point, the heavyset man moved in front of Mairenn and said, "Can I have a drink of water?" Chloe replied, "Sure," and walked over to the wall refrigerator to retrieve a glass of cold water, but before she could get there, this burly man took a handkerchief out of his pocket and reached around in the back of Chloe and put it over her face. Immediately Chloe felt her legs getting weak and she was losing consciousness. She had no resistance as she slumped towards the floor as the big man that came with Mairenn held her from falling to the floor. Mairenn told her accomplice to get on with it; they needed to get Chloe out to their location without incident. They had plans for Chloe to make history this very day. She would see whom Dr. John paid attention too then. They had a large crate outside the door that they put Chloe into to keep her hidden. When Liz came back and found that Chloe was not there and there was no indication that she had left any kind of messages she called security and informed them, and she told them of Chloe's special status. Security informed Liz that they would be locking down the apartments and that they would do a scan for Chloe, or anybody that is not supposed to be in the building. No one in the apartment building recollected seeing anything suspicious. No one remembered seeing anybody leave and nobody had any idea what happened to Chloe. Liz was not sure whether she should, but she took the liberty of calling Dr. John and they said that he was not available to come to the phone, which she expected that. Liz left a voicemail and told him what she knew and she felt like Dr. John would call her back. When Dr. John got the message he felt his heart sink, he knew he had to do something, he had to look for Chloe. Something worried him, something was wrong. He knew that Chloe would not wander off on by herself somebody had kidnapped her. Why would anyone kidnap Chloe, and for what reason? The authorities began a very sophisticated scan of the entire city, seldom needed in their society, but it was very effective. Before many minutes, they had come up with video of Mairenn and the unidentified man going into the apartment building with a crate. They left the building with the same crate and seemed to be hurried. All the information available was broadcasted to every law enforcement person and a special division for those that were suspected of criminal activity. Mairenn and her accomplice had taken Chloe to an abandoned building, that was going to be condemned and then rebuilt, but it was in a transition stage and they had access to it. As Chloe began to become conscious, she realized she was laying on a metal surface, and it was cold and her head hurt. As her eyes began to focus, Chloe saw that the room was dim, and then she could hear voices in the background whispering. She strained to hear what they were saying but she could not make it out. Chloe thought about the little box that John had given her if she ever needed him. She needed him now, but did not have the box. She tried to move and realized that she was restrained and that caused Chloe to begin to panic. The lighting became very bright, it hurt Chloe's eyes, and she squinted to be able to focus and to see better, what was around her. Then she heard Mairenn's voice saying to her, "I guess you're wondering where you are, and what's happening to you." Chloe tried to reply but her throat was dry and nothing came out. Mairenn said, "I am upset with you because I am interested in Dr. John and for you Chloe, a stranger with Dr. John, and it was obvious that he had become infatuated with you. I intend to have Dr. John and you will never get the chance to see him again." Mairenn's words brought fear into Chloe's heart that she had never felt before, more fear than when she lost control of the Cessna 182 and they were engulfed in the mysterious cloud and lights. Chloe began to focus better, and she could tell that Mairenn was dressed totally in black, and as she wondered, why she would be dressed like that. Mairenn continued and told her that she belonged to a group that dated back to ancient Egypt. They were bent on world domination by an elite few at any cost and that she, Chloe was going to be a part of making that happens. Mairenn went on to say that, they felt they had a break-thru to be able to send someone back to the other dimension, and she was going to be their first experiment. If it worked, they would be able to quickly, dramatically implement their plan for total world domination. Chloe felt as if she would pass out, and not from whatever drug she had been given by the big man that had drugged her, but from fear of what was going to happen to her. Mairenn told Chloe that she was going to be a part of history and it could go bad for her, or it could actually work out quite well. She went on to explain that her group had information for a long time about what they believed were the missing parts of the puzzle that had eluded the Science Department. We are going to try to send you back to before you left San Andros for Nassau. Furthermore, we believe that we can prevent you from ever coming back. You will be back with a tall story to tell, and we think, we will be able to tell if our experiment worked. Your Dr. John will never see you again whether this works or not." Mairenn laughed and looked at Chloe and said, "Don't be so glum, I will take good care of John."  Chloe was terrified, and scarcely could believe any of what Mairenn had just told her. She did remember John or Liz telling her something about the Science Department had been working on the ability to contact people in the other dimensions, but she had not understood much about it.
 

Could this really be happening to her? She was afraid, her head hurt, she assumed it was the drug used to incapacitate her. Her mouth was dry and yet she managed to ask Mairenn for some water. Mairenn went and got her cup of water and held it to her parched lips and let her drink. The man that had drugged her with his handkerchief had been listening, he told Mairenn that there was no need to give Chloe anything to drink because if the experiment failed she would get to drink the Atlantic Ocean, and laughed.  Chloe was struggling to keep from crying, she was afraid of these evil people. She wandered why they had chosen her, what would make her a better fit than anyone else would. They surely had a reason other than Mairenn wanting to make sure that Dr. John never saw her again. Chloe could tell that they were in some kind of big warehouse, which was probably empty except for them. Sometimes it sounded like the sounds that they made echoed. Chloe was then strapped into the seat of a Cessna 182 very similar to the one she had flown in from Nassau and San Andros. It seemed to fasten to some sort of rail, almost like a train track. About 0ne hundred yards in front of her there was a large metal like ring structure. The rail ended abruptly were the wall of the warehouse was. On her, left there was something like she had seen in a control tower with a lot of electronics and monitors. Sitting in this area there was a small balding man about sixty and he was intent on what appeared to be an electrical panel of some sort. Occasionally he hollered at someone that sounded like they may have been down near the wall, and where the ring was. Sometimes when the man hollered to his hidden accomplice there were lights that began blinking on the ring, and then came a strange whooshing noise.
 

Chloe tried to make some sense of what they planned to do to her, and it just appeared that they planned to push her forward towards the ring, and the wall but there was nothing but a wall. What would crashing into the wall accomplish other than probably breaking her bones and the chair. Chloe tested the straps again but they were so tight that it seemed they were cutting into her skin.
 

Chloe's thoughts drifted to John and wondered if he would ever know what had become of her. She wondered if Liz had come back and realized she had been kidnapped, and would she call the authorities. She began to think of different scenarios in her mind. Then almost at the point where she felt as if she was going to panic, her mind went back to a very old poem she had read in Dr. Rassins waiting room many weeks ago. She tried to remember the words...where there is hatred let me sow love, when there is injury let me sow pardon, it is in forgiving that we are forgiven, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Chloe seemed to remember, that it was a priest that wrote the poem. It seemed to give Chloe a peace.
 

The man that had been working on what must be the electronics shrieked that he had it, and they were ready to give making history a chance. Mairenn looked at Chloe and said, "You're up!" They doubled checked Chloe's straps, put a belt around her waist, and then hooked cables attached to a miniature camera devise around her forehead. Evidently, they somehow planned to video tape this experiment. Is that even feasible, they must think that it is possible.
A man in a white lab coat that Chloe had not seen appeared, and asked if they were sure everything was ready, and had they double-checked everything. Mairenn spoke up and said, "Yes Sir, we are ready to make history." They all acted as if Chloe was not even there except for Mairenn, and she kept a scowl on her face and kept glancing at Chloe.
 

The balding man started the countdown, "10, 9, 8," Mairenn moved over to Chloe's side and leaned over and whispered, “Good luck, bitch,” "7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and GO!"
 

The ring on the forward wall changed colors and it seemed to be pulsating with the other lights on the ring. Chloe held her breath and the chair that she was strapped into lurched forward violently and advanced down the track at a tremendous speed. Then it stopped as quickly as it started and Chloe felt the g-forces pulling her forward and then she stopped. It was like hitting a brick wall. Chloe blacked out and the whole crew was scurrying to shut down the rest of the equipment.  No one bothered to check on Chloe, and strange images floated in and out of her consciousness. She thought, I guess the experiment failed and I am alive, or am I. She felt like she had been in a terrible accident. Dr. John got no encouragement from the authorities and they were closed mouth, but they did say that they were following leads, and that they had questions for him about one of his past assistants named Mairenn. Dr. John told them any information that they needed he would give it to them, and anything that he could do to help. He informed them of the incident with Mairenn recently and now she had abruptly left her position and moved to another facility. They thanked Dr. John and told him that they would be in touch, and they assured him that they were not sparing any resources to find Chloe. The authorities at that moment in time with their sophisticated electronics had gone back in time and traced through a mainframe computer Mairenn, and her burly friends whereabouts, and their actions over the past several months and it led them to the empty building. A plan of attack made for the building, and they rehearsed the plan and at that point, they had additional information. The building and been scanned and there were about fifteen live bodies in the building, and they were congregated in what appeared to be one large room. One of the bodies was not standing erect; it was in a horizontal position, which made them worry. The captain in charge of the task force made every effort to move everything quickly and they arrived at the suspect building. Within moments the tasks force was in the building and made their way to the room with Chloe was facing imminent death at the hands of lunatics. There was a lot of piercing sound, the lights went out, and then there was a loud high-pitched sound, which even made Chloe's teeth hurt. Evidently, her head did not hurt nowhere near as much as the rest of the people. She saw Mairenn with her hands on her ears screaming and falling in a heap to the ground.  The lights came back on, the security team was in the room and was immediately restraining all of the culprits, and there was a medical team asking Chloe if she had any recollection of what happened to her. Did she know if they had given her any drugs, did she know if they had done anything to her? Chloe did her best to answer the questions but most of the questions she had no idea what the answers needed to be. They completed an initial examination of her and the person in charge explained it appears we got here in time; they have not done anything to her. "She is a bit banged up, as if she ran into a wall." An attendant told Chloe that she would have to go to a hospital facility to be examined, but from all appearances, it appeared that she was going to be fine; Chloe was still very weak on her feet and required a guiding hand as they helped her out of what had been her prison. Dr. John had heard the good news, he had been on the phone with several people that he had contacts with over the years and his position had gotten him through to the head of security. They informed Dr. John that they had just received word that Chloe is been rescued, and the perpetrators have been apprehended. Chloe is now being transported to Northridge, a hospital facility to be checked out further, but she appeared to be just fine. Dr. John could feel the knots in his stomach begin to unwind and he realized how much he really did care for Chloe, and he was so very thankful that they had found her. He made his way to the hospital facility that they were taking Chloe and estimated that he should get their soon after Chloe did. After arriving at the hospital and showing his credentials to the hospital officials, he made his way to the emergency room. As Chloe saw him she began to sob, and Dr. John did his best to comfort her, but he knew that she needed time to let her emotions out from the trauma that she had just gone through. His training had taught him that he needed to be there to be supportive and comforting, but that he would not ask for any information. He just needed to assure her that he was there, and that if she needed anything not to hesitate to ask him. The attending physician for Chloe happened to be a friend of Dr. John's and he told Dr. John that Chloe's examination confirmed that she was going to be just fine, and appears not have permanent injuries. The drug that they used had all but worn off, and there would be no lasting effects. She would be fine, but they would keep her for the rest of the evening, and he was sure that she would be able to leave in the morning. Dr. John stayed with Chloe the entire night. In the morning as expected, Chloe leaves with her Dr. John. Without asking, he took Chloe to his apartment and made her comfortable. He had gotten permission to take time off to be with Chloe. Several days later one of the officials in the investigating team that had been instrumental in locating Chloe came to see her. They had a few more questions for Chloe and she had questions for him. Lt. Job told Chloe and Dr. John that it was still an ongoing investigation but that he could say a few things, and that Chloe was very lucky to be alive. The people that had kidnapped her and been on observation for the past several months, but they had no idea what they had been planning. They were a part of an element of society that they thought had been lost a long time ago, but had resurfaced. The leader of this group lived in an elegant mansion. He had been able to fool them into thinking that they were decent law-abiding, loving people.  As the days went by, Chloe felt them getting closer, and each day she was able to relax and let go of the fear from the brief time she had been a captive of Mairenn and her friends. She was very grateful that John had taken the time to be with her. John told her that they all thought she was so very brave. As the weeks and the months went by Chloe learned more and more about her new world and became more adjusted in the world that she now found as her home. Her relationship with Dr. John continued, and reached the point where they were inseparable. Chloe was very much in love with Dr. John, and occasionally the question of whether he was in love with her had entered her mind in his presence and she felt like he had to have been aware of her thoughts. However, he gave her no indication that he did, and he definitely had never had expressed the same feelings to her that she had for him. From the visits of the authorities, Chloe learned that even though Mairenn was involved with a very evil group of people. The society in which she now lived had unique ways of rehabilitating them. The phrase that often comes up in reference to these evil people is that the light will always win out over the darkness, and that it was just a matter of time. Chloe and Dr. John had gone a lot and had been studying what they had found out on their visit weeks ago the museum, and those they were convinced that the similarity between two people on that ship that had the same names as Mairenn and Chloe were uncanny. The professor that had put the information together for the museum would discuss with Chloe additional things that he had found out about the ill-fated voyage of the Queen and its subsequent arrival into their world that Chloe now called her home. Chloe had formulated a number of questions she had when they had their meeting with the professor. They were still times when Chloe felt the loss of her world and particularly of her aunt and her uncle. She wished many, many times that she could talk to Aunt Jessica just for a little while, but she knew that was not possible. Chloe had learned that Liz had been involved with several other people such as Chloe that had come from another dimension. Liz was very well suited for Chloe to ask questions, and Chloe had recently come to the realization that Liz was a wealth of information. Liz had recently told Chloe that one of the science departments have been working diligently to be able to communicate with those in other dimensions and more particularly to those that were scientist, and would be open to such an idea. This was exciting to Chloe because if she could but talk with her Aunt Jessica it would mean so much to her, even if she would never see her again.  Liz had given her a lot of information in reference to what they called, "Lay lines," that ran around the earth. They were pockets of magnetic energy that opened up, if something were in the close vicinity, they would observe strange phenomena, and if it perfectly lined up, anything may be pulled into a vortex, and end up in another dimension. Typically, they were unarmed, but obviously, it was a very scary experience and there were those that had physical or psychological trauma from their experience. Liz said they were very capable of helping people to deal with the trauma. Liz intrigued Chloe, when she told that they were very close to be able to contact the other dimension.  As Chloe thought to herself that, it would be nice to be able to read Dr. John's mind and know what he was thinking particularly about her. Liz noticed Chloe's thoughts and smiled and said, "I'm sure you would really enjoy being able to know what Dr. John was thinking about you, but it's my guess that you don't have anything to worry about. I think he's falling hard for you."  Dr. John had a long weekend and he has made plans to take an overnight trip to another part of the country. Dr. John made all the arrangements and Chloe trusted his judgment and did not concern herself as to where they would be going. She just knew that the two of them would have a good time. John was a man of impeccable character and was the man Chloe wanted to spend the rest of her life. They arrived at a resort and Chloe was to realize that this was as close to Nassau that she would probably ever see in her new life. This is what Dr. John was expecting, Chloe felt like it was not the same obviously, but with Dr. John, there with her it was wonderful. They enjoyed themselves by having a nice meal and trying some of the more exotic food that was available. A walk in the area that was set up to show the beauty of a lush paradise, with the running brooks, the streams and waterfalls, the multitudes of singing birds, the more brilliant sky, and the pleasant weather. After a while they wandered back to the hotel complex, went up to their room, and took advantage of the made for two garden tubs and then Dr. John gave Chloe a massage. She would have liked to return the favor but she was so relaxed, she fell asleep in Dr. John's arm. Chloe woke up in her lover's arms, she began to stir, and John awoke and smiled at her and said the most magical words that Chloe would ever hear come from his mouth. He said, "I love you and I want to marry you, Chloe." Chloe smiled and said, "I love you." John said," I love you Chloe, so much" Within a few moments, they were lost in each other. The next day John had planned sightseeing but they missed the sightseeing time because they have had a light breakfast and gone back to bed to love each other.