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Jody wakes with a start. The ground underneath her is cold, hard, concrete. She’s not in her hotel room, she’s not in her trailer. She has no idea where she is.
She freezes.
She has no idea where she is.
And when she feels a hand on her shoulder, she doesn’t hesitate. Her elbow slams into the back of the person behind her, and she twists her hips so her legs can kick whoever it is back. The hand doesn’t leave her shoulder, so she jerks again, trying to get herself free. The hand, or hands, she doesn’t care to distinguish, finally release her and she whirls around, getting another kick as she lunged forward, pinning her weight against whoever was stuck with her.
“Holy shit, Jody, it’s me,” someone wheezed below her. She looked down, scrambling away as she saw Dan’s panicked expression. He sucked in a deep breath as she sat further away from him, eyeing him suspiciously. “Where the fuck did you learn how to do that?” He groaned as he sat up.
“Cut the shit, where the fuck-”
He held up his hands, and she cut herself off as she saw the zip ties wrapped around his wrists. “I don’t know why they grabbed you too but I swear to you, I have no idea where we are. I promise I have nothing to do with this.”
She swallowed, looking between him and the zip ties. “Who’s they?”
“Ryder’s goons, I’d assume.”
Jody’s nose scrunched. “Ryder? Tom Ryder? Since when the hell does he have goons? Why the hell would he want to kidnap me, much less you?”
His eyes widened, and he looked away from her, shifting his hands as though it could provide some relief from the chafing against his skin. She rubbed at her own wrists, secretly glad that whoever had captured them hadn’t decided to restrain her as well. While Dan still avoided her eyes, she decided to take stock of their situation.
A warehouse. Very super-villian-esque, like a Batman villain or something. It was empty, generally. There were some cobwebs in the corner, a few boxes against one of the walls, but by every other metric it seemed run-down. Abandoned. The second location. Jody shuddered. Never let them take you to the second location.
“Henry’s dead.”
She whirled around to look at the stunt coordinator. “What?!”
Dan winced. “He’s dead. He was uh, he was on ice in the hotel, and then he disappeared when the cops showed up and- uh-” he swallowed. “Ryder killed him, Jody. Like, kicked him against something and he was, he was super dead Jody, it was freaky as-”
He silenced himself as Jody held up a hand, her eyes wide in horror. “You saw Henry’s dead body, on ice, in the hotel? The hotel that you aren’t staying in?”
“I didn’t find it, uh-”
“So then how do you know any of this?”
“Because Colt’s been doing some crazy shit since he got here. I mean, showing up, breaking into Ryder’s house, getting drugged by some weird guy named-”
“Why does Colt have anything to do with this!?” She screeched. “He- he’s gone Dan. Gail sent him home.”
“Considering I watched the video of Ryder murdering Henry with him maybe, I don’t know, two hours ago, I would say that Colt is very much still in Australia.” Dan shrugged as Jody scowled.
“He skipped-”
“He walked in thirty minutes after you left with Ryder’s fucking dog, Jody. And his phone. And he looked like shit. I don’t- I don’t pretend to know what the fuck Colt is doing half the time, but he-” Dan shook his head- “there’s some dark shit that he’s gotten involved with.”
“Why the hell would he-”
“Because he’s so stupid that he was willing to get drugged, beaten up, and shot at-”
“Someone shot at him?”
“Yeah, uh, Dressler? Ryder’s security guy?” Jody nodded, forcing her jaw to close. “Yeah, fucking shot at both of us. With the intent to kill.”
She shook her head. “No. No that doesn’t make sense. Why- why would someone want to kill him? I mean it’s Colt, Dan! He wouldn’t hurt anyone. He wouldn’t-”
“Jody, that murder video is going to blow a movie star-sized hole right through your big break as a director. That murder video is going to set off a nuke in Ryder’s career. I don’t know why Colt’s so determined to get to the bottom of this but I’m sure in some way he thinks it’s going to help you.”
“Why does he care so much?”
“Because he loves you!”
She froze. Part of her knew that was going to be the answer. She wasn’t blind, he’d been staring at her with those big blue puppy dog eyes. He’d waxed poetic about how pretty and gorgeous she was and how he loved her haircut for far to long to be normal when she’d ran into him at the hotel. All of it was so…familiar. That warm, fuzzy feeling she’d tried to bury had been blossoming in her chest. Jody bit her lip, shaking her head. “Don’t even-”
“Jody, he looks at you with those big stupid puppy dog eyes. He’s been making eyes at you since he got here. He’s- he’s got it in his head that he needs to do anything and everything it takes for you to get your big break. He fucking got the shit beat out of him and still showed up to karaoke because he didn’t want to let you down-”
“Then why didn’t he tell me?” She shouted, glaring at him, ignoring the tears that were threatening to fall. “You know why it fell apart, Dan? Because Colt never talked to me. He just did the stupid thumbs-up whenever something happened and he just left it there. He didn’t want to let me in. And I hate him for it because everything-” a tear finally did fall- “everything was perfect with him. He was sweet, he was kind, he cared about me, my parents loved him, and I- when I thought about the future I could only see one with him but he just- he had this wall around him. He didn’t let me in! He never let me in, and when I tried to be there for him, he disappeared!”
Dan recoiled, trying to shift his arms awkwardly as the zip-ties around his wrists dug into his skin. “I was surprised when he told me,” he admitted. “Colt, the guy’s been my best friend for years. He disappeared on me too, Jodes. I was surprised when he showed up on set without saying anything, but as soon as he saw you it clicked. He came here for you. And I think he’s just…trying to shield this from you. I mean, look at where we’re at-” he gestured upwards as best he could- “If they had the balls to go after you, for whatever reason, can you blame him?”
Jody made a face, the unease settling back in her as she remembered where she was. She still couldn’t remember how she’d gotten here. Who had brought her here. She swallowed, staring at the ground. “I- I just wanted him to let me help,” she sniffled, shifting over to sit next to the stunt coordinator, resting her head on his shoulder. “He’s- he’s so selfish.”
Dan hummed approvingly and nodded. “He’s an asshole.”
“Such an asshole,” Jody echoed. “Did you know he ruined Taylor Swift for me?”
“He did?”
“Mhm. Taylor Swift, ruined. So many breakup songs off limits because they all made me think of my stupid ex-boyfriend.”
He shook his head, laughing. “God that must’ve sucked. She’s like the queen of break uo songs. I listened to Taylor Swift during my last breakup. I can’t imagine going through one without her.”
“He ruined so much stuff for me,” she laughed, wiping at her eyes. “Rom-coms are a no-go. I uh, I’m not proud of the Tom Ryder movie marathon I had after I found out he changed his number.”
“Why’d you-”
“Because I knew it was Colt getting punched.”
He blinked at her a few times, trying and failing to stifle his laugh. “That’s…a fantastic idea. If the guy wasn’t a murderer, I would totally steal that next time he pisses me off.” His smile tightened. “God, I hope Colt’s okay.”
Jody’s chest tightened at the realization. The sweat running down her back felt glacial as she thought about how he looked in the hotel. Dressed in bright neon. He’d been slightly hunched, wincing as he twisted his body like how he was after he’d been hit by a car. His face did look like shit, littered with cuts and scratches that she knew hadn’t been there after the cannon roll or the boulder. His eyes were big, and he seemed spotty. Drugged. It explained so much.
A little something stung as she realized that of course, he hadn’t been sober while telling her how pretty she was, but Colt had always been a rather clingy and affectionate drunk. It was her foolproof way of knowing when it was time to cut him off, when he’d come up behind her and bury his face in the crook of her neck, alternating between murmurs and kisses against her skin. Maybe he was the same when he was drugged, against his will. Her fists clenched.
“When did you last see him?” She asks, and it comes out more desperate than she means but she honestly doesn’t care. “I- you said-”
“I took Jean-Claude after he got a gun, well, prop gun, to Dressler’s head.” Dan looked away. “I- I went out the front to make sure no one was there and I-” he grimaced- “fuck, I shouldn’t have left him alone. I- Dressler was unarmed but I- Jody if we’re here, I don’t- I don’t think Colt’s alright.”
She shook her head. It’s Colt. He has to be okay. “It’s like- it’s like Taken, the uh- the second one. When Liam Neeson realizes that they’re going to hurt his wife to make him pay for killing the guy that tried to kidnap his daughter in the first one.”
“I think Lennie is Bryan’s ex-wife. Her husband kills her in the third one and then kidnaps Kim again.”
Jody deadpanned. “I- that’s beside the point. What if we’re the bait to get Colt to come back or something?”
“Or we’re the leverage to get him to talk.”
Jody sucked in a breath, trying not to imagine what they’ve done to Colt, even to necessitate needing other people to get him to talk. “God, I hope not.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m such a petty bitch for slamming him against that boulder.”
“It looked very cathartic.”
“It was very cathartic,” she laughed slightly. Regardless, her stomach twisted with guilt as she remembered the flickers of pain in his eyes before he flashed that stupid, stunt-guy bullshit thumbs-up.
“He’ll be okay, Jody.”
He tried to ignore the spots dancing along the edge of his vision as the pain from his now-broken nose radiated through his face, mingling with his pounding head from the multiple concussions he’d probably had in the last few days. As well as the lack of sleep. And the caffeine withdrawal.
This was not a good week for Colt Seavers.
Ryder kneeling in front of him made everything worse. “Listen,” he began, reaching up and tugging on Colt’s hair. “I’m gonna need the phone.” He yanked on the hair in his fist, and Colt bit his lip to suppress the yelp that tried to escape. “Where is it?”
He’s not sure if he drew blood from his lip, but regardless, the metallic taste in his mouth is almost too much to bear, and he has to admit that seeing Tom Ryder’s shocked face as a mixture of Colt’s blood and saliva drip down his face is a little bit satisfying.
“You know what,” Tom snarled, taking a towel from one of his goons. “Yeah, sure, tough guy Colt Seavers can keep taking hits all night. And you know what, as nice as it is out here, I think a…change of scenery might make you more talkative.”
Colt stared at him blankly. “I don’t have it,” he repeated with a little more force. “So you can call off the goon squad because I don’t have the damn-”
Something hits him in the back of the head before he can finish his sentence. And the world around him goes dark.
“Son of a bitch,” Jody grumbled, testing the resilience of the nylon rope now binding her wrists together and holding her against a structural column of the warehouse. Dan was tied up to a column near her, his rope was thicker, and while part of Jody did want to roll her eyes, he was nearly twice her size.
“Something’s gonna happen,” Dan muttered, wincing as the nylon dug into his skin. “They wouldn’t tie both of us up if something wasn’t gonna happen.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, the only noise being the rumbling of the HVAC echoing through the empty warehouse. She could feel the cold sweat running down her spine, soaking through her shirt, stinging at the burns starting to form along her arms.
“How do we get out of here?” She said quickly, looking down at the floor as she kicked against it fruitlessly. “Our chance of survival drops every time we get moved so considering we’re already at the second location, I’d prefer not to find out about a third.”
“Jody, we are dealing with-”
“Yeah, and Colt is out there, Dan. He-” she froze, trying to think back to what she remembered before her chest tightened in horror. She remembered Gail. The takes from the day. Nothing past that. She turned to her stunt coordinator. “Dan, who sent him to find Ryder?”
“I- Gail, I think? She’s been hovering around him a lot and he said she was the one who sent him to Ryder’s apartment in the first place.” He stared at her. “Why?”
“Gail is the last person I remember before I woke up here,” Jody said slowly, hands trembling. “Gail was the one who got him to Australia in the first place. Gail is Tom’s producer, I- I mean-”
“You think she has something to do with this?”
“You told me at the start of the shoot here that you tried to find Colt but he’d gone off the grid. How the hell did she find him? Just…stumbling across his number through her connections?” Jody tried her best to gesture desperately, despite the rope. “Or was she looking for him?”
The heels clicking as someone walked towards them had them both flinching, and Jody’s eyes widened in horror as she made eye contact with the producer, who clapped her hands in slow applause. “That’s my clever girl,” she announced, beaming, though her eyes seemed nearly predatory. “I knew you’d figure it out eventually.”
“Where is he, Gail?” Dan spat as Jody’s mouth ran dry, voice caught in her throat. “What did you and Ryder do to him?”
Gail didn’t turn to him, instead keeping her eyes on Jody as a smirk spread across her face. “This is your fault, you know,” she said, kneeling down to the director’s eye level and running her hand over Jody’s blonde hair.
“She has nothing to do with this,” Dan warned as Jody pressed herself against the column.
“On the contrary, Colt wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her, so, frankly I’d consider her a bit of the catalyst.” Gail tilted her head to the side. “He wanted nothing to do with me when I called him, refused every offer I gave, nearly hung up on me-” she traced her thumb along Jody’s jaw before tapping her nose- “until I told him who the director was.”
Jody’s blood ran cold.
“You have that boy wrapped around your finger, and you don’t even realize it,” she hissed. “You really think we’re the ones to blame when the only reason he came here was for you?”
“You manipulated him,” she spat.
“I just told him what he wanted to hear. That he could have a second chance-” she ran a hand down the side of Jody’s face as the blonde flinched away- “with the love of his life, if he just did the both of us a favor.”
“I get the feeling Jody’s not included in the both,” Dan snarked, trying to draw her attention away from the director.
“No,” Gail hummed, pulling out fabric from her pocket before forcing it into Jody’s mouth as she tried to kick out. “No she’s not, and if she knows what’s best for her, she’ll keep her bloody mouth-” she reached behind Jody's head, tying the rag tight as she yelped- “shut.”
She stood up, wiping her hands and turned to Dan for a moment. “Relax, you’re not getting the same treatment.”
“And why’s that?”
She ignored him, turning away from them and taking a few steps. “Tom,” she called, too brightly. “Feel free to start that monologue whenever you want.”
Dan caught the movement in the shadows, eyes narrowed as the actor appeared, smirking smugly at his two captives. “Well, glad you two could make it,” he beamed. “Sorry for the uh, the circumstances.”
“The circumstances of you killing someone and then kidnapping us?”
“The kidnapping was more of a consequence.”
“Consequence of what?”
Tom clapped his hands gleefully. “You’ll see,” he announced, turning to the side. “Why don’t we bring our last guest into the party, then? See what happens when you don’t tell me what I need to know.”
Dan shot a glance at Jody, who stared at him wide-eyed, voice muffled by the fabric gagging her. He heard the rustling of feet dragging against the pavement, and the rhythmic pounding of footsteps in tandem with it. Someone being dragged.
Jody’s yelp, even muffled, echoed through the warehouse, settling uncomfortably with the pit of dread pooling in Dan’s stomach as he saw the flash of bloodied blond hair. His throat ran dry as his brain registered the body being dragged in front of them. “Colt,” he breathed. “What the hell, man!?”
Colt’s head shook, and Dan watched as Dressler threaded his fingers through the stuntman’s hair, yanking him upright. His face was bloodied: a gash on his cheek, a split lip, a cut under his eye, and something on the top of his head was leaking even more blood. Colt’s eyes widened in horror, looking between Dan and Jody, mouth moving ever so slightly.
“See what happens when you don’t tell me what I want to know?” Tom threatened, grabbing Colt’s chin harshly. “People get hurt.”
“I don’t-” he croaked weakly- “I don’t have it, please. Let them go.” Tears carved through the blood and grime on his face. “Let them go. Let them go.”
“See, Coltie, I can’t do that,” Tom goaded, walking away from him and heading towards the other two. “Dan, especially, I mean…he’s seen the murder video, so obviously I can’t let him go.” He turned towards the stunt coordinator. “You understand, right?”
“I understand that you're a piece of shit.”
Tom rolled his eyes, ignoring the stunt coordinator and taking a few steps closer to Jody as he looked back towards Colt. “Now, on the other hand, I have a feeling that if I so much as-” his hand hovered inches away from her as the goons holding Colt in place tightened their grip- “lay a hand on her, I’ll have you singing like a canary. Right?”
Colt’s eyes widened. “She has nothing to do with this Ryder, please,” he begged, struggling against the hold. “Leave her out of this.”
He scoffed, looking back down at Jody and jerking his thumb towards Colt. “See what I mean?”
She glared at him silently. A sparkle of defiance in her eyes that had Colt’s skin crawling.
“They’re here because of you, remember,” he called, looking back at Colt. “Because you just had to be stubborn about telling me what I need to know.”
“I don’t have the phone Tom,” Colt pleaded. “I swear to God, I don’t-”
Dressler lifted his leg, kicking Colt’s knees out before slamming his foot into the small of the stuntman’s back, forcing him to the ground. Dan winced as he heard a crack once Colt’s head hit the ground, face scrunching even harder when he realized that Dressler’s boot was pressing down on the small of his back. Right over the break.
“Jesus Christ, Tom, Dressler shot it out of his fucking hand,” he shouted as Colt tried and failed to lift his head off the ground. “It’s gone, he doesn’t have it!”
Tom narrowed his eyes at Colt. “Is that so?”
“Been trying to tell- FUCK!” He screamed as Dressler pressed even harder.
Tom crossed his arms, stepping away from Jody. “Well,” he began, smacking his lips before letting out a breathy laugh. “That’s a relief. Not only because that means that the original footage doesn’t exist. But, I gotta say, that does make this…” his eyes tracked very slowly over the three hostages- “way more interesting.”