Rini POV

"I will not be late this morning." I muttered as I sprinted round my flat, searching for the keys.

Of course this morning I would be late. I'd been studying nearly all night for a test on Monday and it still felt like I was nowhere near ready. I wanted a time turner so I could just repeat last night. The information had to go into my brain.

I found my keys by the door. Figures. I found my name tag along with them and rushed out the door, locking it. The hallway was quiet and I made my way down the sticky carpet. Sticky, because the people in number 7 insisted on having crazy parties on Friday's.

I jogged towards the stairs, stopping to greet my neighbour, Mrs Appleby.

"Hey cutie, off to work?" She chuckled.

"Yeah, feels like it's all I do." I smiled.

"Well, don't forget to have fun once in a while," She said, digging into her hand bag. "It was your birthday last Thursday, right?"

I nodded and she presented me with an envelope. I accepted and smiled. I was at a loss for words.

"Thank you so much." I gushed.

"No, don't think anything of it." She replied, patting my arm and strolling by.

I walked down the stairs, opening the card as I did. It was a cute card with a teddy bear on the front. It reminded me of a bear I'd had as a child. I opened the card and was surprised to see a £10 note. I didn't feel great about accepting money from a pensioner.

I continued to work, getting to the underground and waiting for my train. All the while, I was debating on what to do with the £10. I could always buy a cake and get one for Mrs Appleby and her husband, Norman.

The train pulled up and I put the card in my bag, climbing into the carriage with the rest of the general public. It was a busy morning and the carriage was packed with people. I had forgotten my ear buds so I settled for sneakily listening to people's conversations.

"Did you see the news this morning?" Some guy across the way was saying.

"No, why?" Asked his lady friend.

"Well, six months ago, two people stole plutonium from a nuclear facility."

"I think I read about that."

"Well, two weeks ago, some uranium was stolen from a nuclear facility in England."

I continued to listen. This all sounded a little scary to me. I hardly got a chance to watch the news or read the papers so this was the only chance I got.

The train stopped and several people got off and a few more piled on. The conversation turned darker still.

"So, who do you think did it?"

"I dunno."

"What would anyone want with plutonium?"

"Use your brain. It's obvious."

I zoned out at that point and the train stopped again. The man and woman got off. I glanced at the map on the wall. Oxford Street was the next stop. The train trudged along and stopped at the platform. I followed a crowd of people as they exited.

I mounted the steps onto Oxford Street and walked down the busy sidewalk, avoiding people going against the crowd. My work place was a small cafe nestled between a department store and a book shop.

I walked in and waved at my co-worker, Jace. He was collecting trays and wiping down the tables. He waved back, nearly dropping a cup on the floor.

The door to the staff room opened and my manager, Beverly appeared. She was a tall woman with long hair and a kind smile. She had a wicked sense of humour and loved to joke around.

"Good morning, Ri-Ri." She smiled, giving me my usual nickname.

"Morning, Bev." I said, slipping by her.

I clipped my name tag to my uniform and did my apron up. I tied my hair back and took a steadying breath before going out to face the general public. We had a string of regular customers and Saturdays were always busy.

My job was to stand at the till and take orders, Bev would prepare the drinks, a girl named Rosheen would prepare food and Jace would clean. It was an organised system and we all worked well together.

The day ticked by like usual. At around three thirty, just before my shift ended I heard some more people discussing the nuclear facilites.

"Scary, eh?" Bev said, leaning over to listen.

"Yeah, it is." I was inclined to agree with her.

"Hey Bev, some girl said her drink is cold." Jace walked over, brandishing a cup.

"Well, if she drank it instead of taking photo's of the damn thing then we wouldn't have a problem." Bev smirked, taking the cup.

She refilled it and handed it to Jace. He went to take it and she moved back, grinning at him.

"If I see you flirting with her though, I'll have you cleaning toilets." She said, handing him the cup.

Jace looked mortified and skulked over to the girl, flashing her a winning smile and giving her the drink. The girl was so pretty and she batted her lashes at Jace. Who could blame her though. Jace was a good looking guy. For the longest time I wished he'd flirt with me.

"That is just weak." Rosheen sniped, staring at Jace.

"She's so pretty." I whispered.

"So? You're pretty too." She said.

"Yeah, but she could be a model." I replied.

"I'll bet she picks her nose and eats it," Rosheen cackled. "Or that she's a closet psychopath."

I covered my mouth to hide my laughter. Rosheen nudged me, grinning cheekily. Jace carried on talking to the girl and I sighed.

"Hey, why don't you come out tonight with me and Carly. You never go anywhere." Rosheen said, setting some more cakes in the glass display.

"Can't, I have to study." I murmured.

She laughed then, "You'd die studying, you know."

At four my shift ended. Bev said her goodbyes as did Rosheen. I waved at Jace and he ruffled my hair as he passed. It was so obvious he thought I was a boy. I left the cafe and made my way down the street.

I continued onwards and got on one of the trains. My aim was to get some cakes and maybe look round one of the malls. The night was slowly drawing in and I didn't want to be out too late. I got off the train and entered the mall.

It was a massive building with shops as far as the eye could see. People moved around, chatting and shopping. I didn't come here often so I went to look at the map. I wanted a cutesy bakery that did really good cakes.

Something caught my eye in that moment. I peered round the podium of the map and frowned. A stuffed bear was sitting on the floor, several metres away. It was pretty weird, to be honest. Had a child lost it? I abandoned my shop hunt and round the podium.

I lowered myself to eye-level with the bear and tilted my head to stare into its happy, little face. Glancing around, it was obvious no one had noticed the bear. I reached out and picked it up. It felt quiet heavy for some reason. It must have a special filling so it sits up without falling over.

I tucked it under my arm and carried on walking, trying to find 'lost and found'. There were signs for the toilets and for lifts. I followed the signs and wandered into an open hallway. I kept walking till I got the end.

This area was obviously for staff only. I couldn't see any staff though. I pushed open a door and peered down the corridors. I could hear someone moving around at the far end of the corridor. It was probably a security guard. I could turn the bear into him and be on my way.

I walked, rather briskly towards the source of the noise and paused by an open door. Inside were cameras, showing various views of the mall. I stepped closer and looked around for any people operating the camera's. The noises increased so I continued my little journey.

"Hello?" I shouted. "I'm sorry about being here, but I want to give something to customer services. I think a child may have lost it."

The noises stopped and this confused me further. A growing sense of unease settled in my stomach and I rounded the corner. Another bear was sitting on the floor. Ok, this was kind of creepy.

Before, I could go any further, someone clamped a hand over my mouth, muffling the scream that was about to tear through my lips. A masked figure appeared from the opposite door.

"Take the bear from her. Set it up near the main door." The person behind me said.

He had an American accent and his tone was deadly serious. Was this some kind of publicity stunt that I was ruining. The masked guy nodded and walked away with the bear.

"How did you get back here?" A very threatening voice whispered in my ear.

He removed his hand, but kept my smaller frame pressed against his taller, leaner frame. His fingers dug into my arms.

"I was just looking for a member of staff to return the bear to. I didn't realise the mall wanted it set up like that. I'm so sorry." I whispered back.

The other figure appeared and he stopped, looking from me to the other guy.

"Who's the girl?" He asked.

"How in the fuck should I know." The guy behind me sneered.

"What should we do with her?" Masked guy asked.

My captor shrugged and angled my body so he could look at me. He was wearing a mask too. It was an odd thing. The eye piece was black so I couldn't see his face properly at all.

"Do you want to die?" He hissed at me.

"N-no, please don't kill me." I begged him.

"Very well." He snapped, gripping my arm and tugging me along.

We carried on down the hallway and all the while I was thinking of a way to escape. Who were these two? They wanted to kill me. We got to a fire exit and the guy holding me reached,
smashing his fist into a fire alarm.

The alarms began to sound and the second guy pressed a button. I heard it before I could see it. The sound of multiple explosions. The guy holding me forced me out the door and we ran down the street, stopping far enough away.

I turned in his arms just in time to see the smoke rising from the mall. My eyes widened and I was suddenly pulled to walk.

"Let me go, please." I yelped. He turned, staring down at me.

"Shut up." He said, his tone taking a very sinister turn.

I parted my lips then stopped. He turned to the other guy and nodded. The other guy ran up the road and disappeared into an alley. My captor kept his grip on my arm and used his free hand to slowly remove his mask.

He slid it into his jacket pocket and turned to glare at me. My breath caught in my throat. In front of me was a man. He was incredibly good looking. His hair was long, a fringe partially obscured one of his brown eyes. He gripped my arm tighter, pulling me to walk with him.

"W-where are we going?" I murmured.

He said nothing. I gulped and panic began to set in. This was no stunt. No hidden camera crew were going to appear. We carried on down the street, before taking a detour into a back alley. A stationary motorbike was there.

My captor stopped and kicked some boxes out the way, before turning on me. I thought he might kill me, instead he handed me a helmet.

"Put it on." He said.

I nodded, doing as I was told. He did the same and got on the bike. I clambered onto the vehicle and sat there for a few minutes. I had to hold on, but I was too afraid to touch him, lest he kill me.

"If you don't hold on you'll die." He seemed to sense my dilemma.

I wrapped my arms round his middle and he started the engine. The bike burst out the alley way and onto the street. We skidded down the streets and weaved through traffic. It felt like hours and we finally got to a block of flats. He killed the engine, removing his helmet.

I watched him get off and he grabbed my arm, making me follow him. We entered the building and some guy approached us, demanding money. My captor merely elbowed him in the face, knocking him down. We got to a door and he unlocked it, casually, as though he hadn't just assaulted someone.

The flat was dark, curtains drawn. The other guy was here too and he had removed his mask. He was young too with long, dark hair that hung in loose waves around his shoulders. He smiled at me as though they hadn't just abducted me.

My captor sat on the arm of a battered couch and his eyes raked over my small form and he smirked.

"What's your name?" He snapped. I didn't answer. "Better speak, or I'll assume you want to die."

"Rini Maeda." I blurted out.

"Rini? Pretty name," He mused. "I'm Ashley. He's CC."

"You set up explosives at the mall." I whispered.

"Yes, we did." Ashley said.

I needed to try reasoning with them as best I could.

"Please let me go. I won't tell anyone about any of this, I promise."

"We can't let you go. You're an accomplice now." Ashley smirked when my face became pale.

"But I never took part in any-"

"How bad do you think it'd be if the police found out you were there with two terrorists?" CC grinned.

My legs gave way and I slumped to the floor. This could not be happening. My day had gone from normal to dangerous in the space of several hours.

Notes