17. Katie
Chapter 17
Katie
Katie felt so scared.
More scared than at any other point in her life.
She didn’t know where she was.
All she knew was that she absolutely hated it.
‘Hmph, can’t you get that miserable look off your face?’
‘W-w-w-who are you?’ Katie asked, looking over at the man who had kidnapped her. ‘Just let me go. I pinky-promise I won’t tell anyone. Not the police. Not my friends. No one.’
‘You don’t recognize me? It’s me, Tommy,’ the man said, a look of disgust on his face. ‘As in, Tommy Franks. Your number one tipper. Your biggest fan.’
Then it dawned on Katie exactly who Tommy Franks was.
Yes, it was definitely him.
In his forties, bald and with a ratty mustache and soul patch combination.
That snarling, creepy voice.
It was Tommy Tipster. Real name, Tommy Franks.
Katie immediately felt ill.
In her worst nightmares she hadn’t imagined being kidnapped by one of her camming work customers.
This was like something out of a movie.
A horror movie at that.
‘Tommy, please, let me go,’ Katie whimpered, struggling to hold back the tears. ‘I… I don’t deserve this.’
Katie took an intake of shocked breath as she witnessed Tommy jump up and down on the spot. He was like a toddler having a tantrum.
‘Don’t deserve this? Don’t deserve this?’ Tommy screeched. ‘But what about what I deserve?’
Katie didn’t know what to say.
Tommy seemed unhinged.
Dangerously so.
‘I… don’t… understand,’ Katie said, quietly, trying to stay calm.
‘Well allow me to explain,’ Tommy said, sneering as he prowled around Katie. ‘I spend all my money tipping you. Way more than any other cam-girl I watch. And what do I get in return? Nothing! You just stop camming without giving any explanation or notice. That’s not right!’
Katie didn’t know how to respond.
She suddenly realized just how dangerous cam work could be for her and the other cam-girls. Sure, they were all adults, but there wasn’t an instruction manual on how to deal with deranged customers. And there needed to be if Tommy was any indication of what could happen.
‘Um–’
‘Shut up!’ Tommy said, cutting Katie off before she could get a word out.
Tommy jumped up and down again, the soles of his shoes slapping hard against the concrete ground.
Katie looked around again.
It appeared as if she was in a garage.
There was a beat-up old car in the corner. It looked seriously worse for wear, but Katie wondered if it could possibly be used as some kind of getaway vehicle.
‘I wouldn’t bother trying to figure out a way out,’ Tommy said, laughing maniacally. ‘I’ve put some serious planning into this. You’re mine now. There’ll be no more walking out on me again. No fucking way.’
‘Please, no. I’m begging you,’ Katie said, fighting back the tears. ‘It doesn’t have to be like this. There’s always a way to change your life around. Trust me.’
Katie was trying to help.
She could see that Tommy was a damaged individual.
If she could just make Tommy see sense, Katie figured it was plausible that Tommy would let her walk.
But that was all well and true in theory.
In practice, it seemed much more unlikely.
Tommy didn’t react well to Katie’s words.
Picking up an old pot of paint, Tommy threw it across the garage and up against the opposite wall.
The loud crashing noise made Katie shake in fear.
But worse was to come…
‘Hey, what’s that red light?’ Katie asked, trying to hide her nerves. ‘The one there. The flashing red light?’
Tommy scurried around towards Katie.
Katie nearly threw up as she caught wind of Tommy’s horribly stale odor. It was gross. Like Tommy hadn’t bathed in weeks.
‘That, my favorite cam buddy, is your camera!’ Tommy said, a strong streak of menace in his voice. ‘Smile, you’re recording!’
Katie felt her stomach twist and turn.
Tommy was recording her.
The whole situation had been recorded.
‘You can’t do this!’ Katie screamed. ‘I have rights! Let me go! Release me now or I’m telling my Daddy!’
Tommy stopped in his tracks.
He was deadly still.
Totally silent.
‘What did you just say?’ Tommy hissed, his voice as cold as ice.
‘I said I’m telling my Daddy on you!’ Katie said, repeating the words with extra emphasis this time. ‘He’ll find me, and he’ll kick your mean butt all over this garage before taking you right down to the station.’
Tommy looked Katie up and down.
He turned and made a big show of looking around the garage.
‘Well unless he’s a teeny-weenie little ant, I don’t think I can see your so-called Daddy anywhere,’ Tommy said, leering and taking pleasure in Katie’s distress. ‘Ha! I’m always right. I knew you’d just be another loner cam worker. You’ve got no one. You made your Daddy up to try and scare me!’
Katie shook her head.
She wanted to tell Tommy how wrong he was, but Katie couldn’t get any words out of her mouth.
‘You’re probably wondering why a handsome man like me loves cam workers so much?’ Tommy asked, chuckling away to himself as he played with his cell phone. ‘Well, I’ll tell you. I just love the control. I’m the one with the money. The other person is my servant. My slave. My employee. Worthless. Only there to do my bidding. It’s hot.’
Katie desperately wanted Cage to bang the door down and rescue her.
But how the hell would Cage even know where to look?
Yes, Cage was a detective. But on the other hand Tommy was evidently very good at hiding his tracks.
Katie decided that if she was going to get out of this mess, she would need to do some detective work herself. See if Tommy made any mistakes. Try and work some kind of angle to expose.
‘Tommy, can I ask a question?’ Katie asked, deliberately keeping her voice sounding as timid as possible. ‘Please. Just one.’
Tommy seemed to get off from how shy and nervous Katie seemed. He took a moment to think. Then grinned a horrible, smug smile.
‘Shoot,’ Tommy said. ‘Ask away. I’m glad to see that you haven’t totally lost your cam worker charms.’
‘Thank you, Tommy,’ Katie said, hating herself for having to be so nice to this creep. ‘How did you find me? You must be so clever. I could never think of how to do something like that.’
For a brief second it looked like Tommy knew what Katie was up to. But his vanity and ego were obviously more important to him. Before Katie knew it, Tommy was explaining in great detail what he had done.
‘Well, it’s pretty simple when you know what to do,’ Tommy said. ‘Especially if you have my set of skills. You see, I hacked your laptop. Not any old basic hack. Real deep hacking. The kind where I can access anything. And I mean anything. I’ve had a good old look at everything you have on that laptop. By the way, I’d suggest an upgrade. You could do with a new security package too. Ha!’
Katie felt humiliated.
She was upset, scared, and totally freaked out by how devious Tommy was.
But she had to keep her mind on the mission.
Katie needed to keep Tommy talking.
Hopefully Tommy would slip up and reveal even the smallest detail that could help Katie.
‘Is that how you found out where I lived? By looking through my online accounts?’ Katie asked. ‘I’m not very good with computers really. I wouldn’t know where to begin.’
‘No, an idiot little cammer like you wouldn’t,’ Tommy said dismissively as he cracked open a can of Sprite.
Tommy let out a long belching sound as he took a break from downing the Sprite.
It was disgusting.
Katie couldn’t help but make a face.
‘Get used to it,’ Tommy said. ‘You’re mine now. So, you’ll have to deal with every inch of me. Including my love of fizzy drinks. Hey, if you perform well enough for me, I might even let you have the occasional can. But you need to really impress me for a treat like that. If you know what I mean.’
Katie closed her eyes.
I wish-wish-wish-wish with all my heart.
Take me away from here.
Please-please-please-please rescue me…
But when Katie opened her eyes, she was still locked up in the dark, damp garage. And Tommy was still there, taking photos of Katie and generally being a leering, crazed slob.
‘I realized I didn’t answer your question,’ Tommy laughed. ‘I wouldn’t want to deprive you of my wisdom. The answer is yes, I did find your location by looking through your laptop. It was a piece of cake.’
Katie sighed.
If only she’d been with Cage for longer.
Cage would never have allowed something like this to happen.
No way.
‘It could all have been so different,’ Tommy continued. ‘If you hadn’t stopped camming, none of this would have been necessary. I could have carried on having my fun from a distance. But no. You had to stop. You had to try and be something else. But forget it. Once a cam-girl, always a cam-girl!’
Katie cowered.
Things were going from bad to worse.
If anything, Tommy was getting more unhinged by the moment.
It was like he was running out of control the longer the situation went on. Tommy was obviously not stable in the first place, but now he had got what he wanted it was like he was going up another gear.
‘Ha-ha! And speaking of cam shows, now I get to have one any time I like,’ Tommy cackled, totally out of control and almost bouncing around the garage. ‘You’ll do what I say. When I say. And how I say. No excuses. I’ll have you doing the dirtiest, most explicit things imaginable. And I’ll love every second of it. So will all the folks out there online as I broadcast it to the world!’
Katie gulped.
She could feel herself sweating.
The garage was surprisingly cool given the heat outside, but that didn’t stop Katie’s sweat.
This was like a waking nightmare.
Relentless.
Terrifying.
Katie knew what she needed. Or rather whom she needed.
But Cage was nowhere to be seen. Yet.
All Katie could do was pray that it wouldn’t take long. She wasn’t sure how much of Tommy she could handle. Tommy was gross. Totally yucky. Not the kind of person Katie would ever want to spend time with – let alone be kidnapped by.
But this was the reality of the situation.
Katie didn’t even have Snug with her to cuddle. That would have made things a little bit better.
But on the other hand, Katie was actually glad that Snug didn’t have to be in this smelly old garage. Snug deserved better.
Don’t worry Snug, we’ll be back together soon.
Cage will save me.
Then the three of us can reunite forever.
‘I need to do some stuff next door,’ Tommy said. ‘Behave. Don’t even think about leaving. Oh, wait, you can’t even if you wanted to! Anyway, have fun cam-girl and I’ll see you soon.’
With that, Tommy hauled his ass out of the room.
Katie was alone.
She was bound.
Trapped at Tommy’s mercy.
Something had to give.
There had to be a way out.
There just had to be.