Full Circle Ch. 4

                                             ~*~*~Full Circle~*~*~

                                                      Chapter Four

A.E.D’s heart rate quickened as he stood frozen in place with a stranger pointing a gun at his back. The low voice that addressed him earlier spoke, “Okay, agent, put your hands in the air and turn around real slow.” His mind was racing as he tried to think of a way out of this. ‘This can’t be happening!’ he thought frantically. ‘This can’t be real! It has</sub> to be a dream!’ He reprimanded himself for leaving his pistol in the glove compartment, not that it would do much good if the other’s weapon was more powerful. Seeing no means of escape, however, A.E.D did as he was told and turned around to face them.


It was too dark to distinguish their features but he could see that they both had semi-dark skin and dark hair and they both wore gray suits. One held what looked like a rifle and had it aimed at his chest. A.E.D glanced at Kimmie, wondering if whatever these guys were planning included her. The little girl was as frozen as he was, staring wide-eyed at the rifle in the man’s hands. He could tell she was scared. Her gaze met his for a moment and he could see the distress in her worried eyes.


Then the man with the deep voice spoke again, “All right, now, I’m gonna need you to come with us. And I suggest you come quietly; Marco here has a real itchy trigger finger.” The one holding the gun smirked and adjusted his hold on his weapon. A.E.D then noticed that he had left the window open on the passenger’s side. He could slap himself for forgetting to close it later; right now it presented their only possible means of escape. If he could just find something to distract them long enough… His eyes fell on the little girl standing beside him and his lips curled into a smile. Kimmie looked up at him curiously then she saw one of his hands open and close in a motion that usually meant ‘talking’. She gave a quick smile of understanding then spoke, “Hey, misters!” she called to the two.


They looked down in surprise at the high-pitch voice and saw the little girl staring up at them with adorably large eyes, her head tilted slightly. “Are you going to take us to the gas station? Our car stopped and now we need to get help because Daddy can’t fix it all by himself. And, you know, I never thought that this kind of thing could happen at night; I always thought it only happened during the day when people can see you and stop to see if you need help. But then I guess cars can’t tell time, can they? Which I think is weird because they all have clocks inside of them, right? So, I wonder, what good are the clocks if they can’t even read them?”


She continued to babble on, jumping from one subject to another as the two men just stared at her blankly. A.E.D in the meantime began slowly and discreetly moving to the other side of the car, hoping Kimmie could hold their attention long enough for him to get the pistol out of the glove compartment without them noticing. He was almost to the door when the man holding the rifle, Marco</sub>, happened to look up at him and noticed he wasn’t where he had been standing a few minutes ago. He noticed the window was open and put two and two together. “Hey!” he shouted and took aim. A.E.D looked up just as the gun fired and he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.


Kimmie screamed as he slumped to the ground, grabbing onto the car for support. He took in a few gasping breaths before he looked at his shoulder. To his surprise, he didn’t see a bullet wound, but some kind of dart. By the time he realized what it was, his head began to spin and his vision blurred. He grasped the end of it and, with a quick jerk, pulled it out of his shoulder and tossed it away from him. He groaned as another wave of dizziness came over him and shook his head, struggling to stay aware. He looked up and saw through the spots that were swimming before his eyes that the two men were coming toward him.


He forced himself to look over and focus on the little girl who now stood beside him, her eyes wide with alarm. “Kimmie…run!” he rasped as loudly as he could. Kimmie stared at him, hesitating then turned around and took off running as fast as her little legs could carry her. By now the two men had reached A.E.D and were standing over him. “Hey!” shouted Marco with his gun now slung over his shoulder, pointing at Kimmie. “The kid’s getting away!” “Get her!” exclaimed the other. “We can’t let her tell the cops!” Marco nodded and started after Kimmie, but A.E.D wasn’t completely out of it yet. ‘Oh, no you don’t!’ he thought, gritting his teeth. He swung a leg out in front of Marco who, with a startled cry, tripped over it and toppled face first to the ground.


A.E.D smirked at the man as the other started yelling at him for his clumsiness, saying that the kid had gotten away and if she told the police that it would be on his</sub> head. A.E.D looked out at the darkened alleyways where Kimmie had run to and hoped against hope that she would be all right. Then his vision faded and his eyes closed, his body going limp as the world suddenly went dark.

                                                        ~*~*~*~

Kimmie ran through the back alleys of the little deserted area, not stopping to rest or view her surroundings. She didn’t even think about where she was going as she darted around corners and squeezed between boards of broken fences. All she thought about as she ran was finding someone, anyone</sub> who she could tell about what had just happened. She didn’t understand why, but those men wanted to hurt her father and she would do anything to stop them. Tears stung her eyes as she ran, blurring her vision before she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She wouldn’t let herself cry. Not now. ‘I don’t have time to cry! Daddy’s in trouble and he needs me to be a big girl and find help!’ she told herself with a determined frown.


She zipped around another corner and was almost in the city when- “Where do ya think you’re</sub> going, little dame?” A big hand grasped Kimmie’s arm and jerked her to a stop. She whirled around and looked up at the faces of two burly men. Kimmie frowned at them and tried to wriggle her arm out of the man’s grasp but he held tight. “Let me go!” she demanded. “Let…me…go!” she said between tugs. She put her entire weight into it but the hand that held her wouldn’t budge. “Not so fast, little missy.” he said, pulling her back. “What do you want? Let go of me!” she yelled, pounding and clawing at his hand.


“Bern, maybe we should let her go,” said the other, looking around nervously. “You remember what the boss said,” Bern retorted. “This kid could be our lucky break!” “Yeah, but this ain’t like the other jobs we pulled. This is serious business!” “Relax, Dean. Let’s get her back to the boss and see what he thinks.” Dean shrugged and started down the alley. Bern picked up the struggling Kimmie and slung her over his shoulder. “Put me down!” she shrieked, beating his back with her fists and kicking her legs wildly. “Hold still! Ouch! Ya little brat!” Bern exclaimed, trying to avoid the sandaled feet of the small girl. “No! You put me down, you big, ugly bully! I’ll tell my daddy on you!” she threatened.


Bern grunted. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, little miss.” “What?!” she demanded in surprise. “Your ‘daddy’ probably don’t even know where you is and you don’t know where he is, now, do ya?” Kimmie was silent and stared down at the ground as she realized what the stranger meant. She emitted a small growl and began thrashing again. “Let go! Daddy needs help! I have to get help!” Bern ignored her screams and dumped her into the back seat of an old truck. He got into the passenger seat and shut the door. “Let’s get out of here.” Dean nodded from his place at the wheel and started up the truck, backing up and driving out of the alley.


Kimmie sat in the back, knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. Her eyes were wide as she stared out the windshield. Her tough girl act had dropped as soon as she realized there was nothing she could do to stop them. She didn’t know where they were going or what these men intended to do with her, and she was scared. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, determined not to let the big bullies see her cry. ‘I wish Daddy was here…’ she thought miserably. She wondered where he was, if he was okay. She didn’t even know why the two bad men had taken her father. She wasn’t familiar with the game of “agent versus felon”. ‘I hope they don’t hurt him,’ she thought worriedly.


They drove for several minutes after that and all Kimmie could see the whole time were the buildings they passed. It looked like they were still in the same district with the old, decrepit buildings all around. They came to a stop in another alley, facing a large, yellow brick building which appeared to have been a school at one time. Dean got out first and came around to Bern’s side as he grabbed Kimmie and slung her over his shoulder again. As soon as they started moving, Kimmie started kicking and struggling again. “You big bullies!” she cried. “If my daddy was here he’d put you both in jail and keep you there forever!” Dean snorted and Bern just ignored her as they approached the old brick building.


Kimmie was confused when, instead of walking up the steps to the doors, they started walking around the dilapidated structure and over to a set of stairs that went down to a door which led to what was apparently the basement. They came down the stairs, opened the door and stepped inside. Kimmie looked around from her place on Bern’s shoulder. She was facing behind him so she couldn’t see much, but a few jerks and twists got her torso upright enough to see the whole room. It was small, but well furnished with several file cabinets lining the wall and an adjoining room that could only be described as a lounge with a water cooler and a few recliners in it.


She could also see a man with black hair and a black suit sitting behind the desk at the back of the room, bent over a piece of paper he was writing on. She couldn’t see his face, but she thought it was funny that a grown up like him was wearing a set of red goggles around his head. “Hey, boss,” said Bern. “Yeah, hey, Mr. Redback,” Dean greeted. “What are you two doing back so soon? Didn’t I already tell you-” “But, boss we’s got something that might solve our money problems!” Kimmie could see the man roll his eyes. “Yeah, that’s great, Bern. Why don’t you show me later?” “Actually, I was wondering if maybe we could show ya now.” The man sighed. “Fine.” He looked up from his writing with apathetic eyes; eyes that went as wide as saucers when Bern held up the struggling Kimmie.


His jaw dropped a good inch as he stared at the face of the little girl. He snapped it shut a moment later and stood up abruptly, glaring at the two men in front of him with narrowed eyes. “You idiots!” he shouted. “Imbeciles! What have you done?!?” The two thugs jumped at the sudden outburst and glanced at each other nervously as though they were asking “What have</sub> we done?” Redback put a hand over his eyes and let it slip down his face. His auburn eyes boring holes into the two incompetent thugs in front of him. “…We was just doing what you told us to, boss.” offered Bern. “Yeah,” continues Dean. “Remember, we asked you if there was anything you wanted us to do and you told us to find some way to make some dough so we found one.”


He gestured to Kimmie who was still struggling in Bern’s grasp. “She’ll probably bring a pretty good ransom.” “Besides we wasn’t actually looking</sub> for kids to abduct; this kid just ran right into us.” Redback stared incredulously at the two of them. Then his lip curled into a sneer and he released a growl of frustration. “That isn’t just any kid, you NIMRODS</sub>!” The two seemed afraid now and took a step back. “SHE’S A.E.D’S</sub> KID!!!” Both thugs just stared at their boss, not knowing what to do or if the initials “A.E.D” were supposed to mean something to them. Redback was breathing hard and practically shaking with suppressed rage. “Put. Her. Down.” he ground out with a deadly calm.


Bern immediately released his grip on the girl who was too startled to catch herself and fell to the floor. “Ow!” she exclaimed, sitting up, rubbing her elbow and glaring up at the two men. “You meanies!” “Now, get out!” growled the drug lord, and the two were quick to obey. When they were out of the room Redback went over to the little girl and offered her a hand. “Hey, kid, you all right?” Kimmie stared up at him in a daze for a moment then bobbed her head and took the bigger hand as he helped her to her feet. “You know, you really shouldn’t be running around places like this all by yourself.” Kimmie nodded her head in agreement with the statement.


She stared up at him with a puzzled expression as she studied his face. Something about him seemed familiar… Then it came to her and she gasped, taking a quick step back. “Y-you’re the one who shot Daddy!” she cried in alarm. Redback looked taken aback by the outburst but quickly recovered and tried to calm her down. “Easy, kid! That was all just a big misunderstanding. I never meant to hurt your dad. I made a mistake, but that’s over now. I wouldn’t ever hurt you or your dad.” Kimmie seemed to relax slightly but she still looked nervous as she took a small step forward. “Promise?” Redback smiled. “Promise.” Kimmie stared up into his face for a while before returning to her place, standing in front of him.


“Anyway, you probably heard those creeps call me Redback, but you can call me Izm.” He extended a hand with a grin and the girl hesitated before shaking it. “Sorry if those dimwits scared you. It’s hard to find good help these days, especially at a time like this. By the way, what’s your name, doll?” “…Kimmie.” she answered timidly. Izm smiled at her. “Nice name. So, Kimmie, what are you doing here? Is your dad with you?” Kimmie sniffled and shook her head. “No,” Izm’s grin disappeared for a moment as he stared intently into the girl’s face. Kimmie dropped her gaze to her sandals and shuffled her feet restlessly.


An idea came to him then and he went over to his desk and picked up a small dish filled with M&M’s. He came back over to Kimmie, his grin back in place and held out the dish. “You like M&M’s?” Kimmie looked up and nodded and was about to take one when she remembered something and withdrew her hand. “What’s the matter, kid? They’re not gonna bite ya.” Kimmie frowned up at him. “Daddy told me never to take anything from strangers.” Izm chuckled. “Good advice. But I’m no stranger; I’m an old friend of your dad.” “You are?” Kimmie asked in surprise. Izm grinned and nodded.


Kimmie didn’t look convinced so Izm opened a drawer at his desk and started feeling around until he found what he was looking for and held it up for Kimmie to see. It was a photograph with two teenaged boys standing in front of an amusement park. The one with black hair was holding a stuffed green crocodile with blue google eyes under his arm and was grinning widely. The other had dark brown hair, brown skin and was holding a half-eaten lollipop in one hand while the other was in his pocket. Unlike his companion, he wasn’t smiling. Kimmie instantly recognized the ‘fang bangs’ and the other boy’s red goggles. She looked up at Izm with wide eyes. Izm smiled in amusement. “That was us back when we were in high school together.”


Kimmie looked back at the picture. “So…you were friends?” Izm tilted his head in consideration, his eyes fixed on the far wall. “…Yeah, something like that,” He grinned at Kimmie who studied him uncertainly but after a moment she smiled and took one of the offered candies. “Thanks, Mr. Izm.” she said before popping the colorful treat into her mouth. “Just call me Uncle Izm; after all, you’re like family to me.” Kimmie smiled at him. “Okay!” “So, anyway, we were talking about your dad. Where is he?” Kimmie looked sad and dropped her gaze to the floor.


“The…the bad men took him.”