Simple Instructions
“Lexa, tell me what happened.”
Lexa had almost forgotten Bellamy sitting next to her. Tilting her head back and willing away the worried tears that welled up in her eyes Lexa took a deep breath before answering Bellamy with a shaky voice.
“They have Clarke.”
“What do you mean they have Clarke? What happened?”
“I called Clarke and tried to tell her to make sure the door was locked and to stay inside until I got there but it was too late. She had already opened the door and Niylah was standing there. I listened to them scuffle for a few minutes before Clarke was able to grab the phone again. I told her to get somewhere safe but Niylah had the blonde guy, I think I heard him say his name was Caleb, with her. All I heard was Clarke trying to scream before Niylah picked up the phone. She told me if I ever wanted to see Clarke again that I would wait for their instructions.”
Bellamy’s nostrils flared as he let out a rage filled breath, trying to keep calm. Lexa quickly flew around a slow moving car, causing the occupant of the vehicle to press on their horn in protest. Not caring about the occupants feelings Lexa continued her hasty drive towards the apartments.
“Five more minutes until you reach the apartments. Keep calm, Lexa. Clarke’s going to be fine. You’ll get her back.”
Lexa chanted those words over and over in her head as she neared closer to the apartments. Taking a sharp left turn Lexa sat up straighter in her seat as she saw the dozens of cop cars filling her apartment’s parking lot. Lexa pulled into the parking lot, not bothering to find a parking spot, and quickly threw the truck in park before sliding out. Bellamy followed behind her as she flung herself through the crowd of officers, praying that one of them was able to stop Niylah and Caleb.
Lexa saw a group of senior officers talking amongst themselves and made her way over to stand before them,“What’s the update? Did you find our suspects?”
A bald officer about a foot taller than Lexa gave her a grim expression,“No, Detective Woods. By the time the first responder arrived there was no sign of them. However, there was a brunette female that we found laying in the stair well. Said she knew the women that they took and had tried to stop them only for the female assailant to throw her down a flight of stairs.”
“Octavia,” Bellamy quietly whispered behind her,“Where is she now?”
The officer pointed over to an ambulance van who’s back doors were open wide to reveal Bellamy’s sister sitting calmly on the stretcher. Lexa followed Bellamy as he ran over to the ambulance catching the eyes of Octavia.
“Bellamy! Lexa!,” Octavia paused for a moment as Bellamy hopped into the back of the van and looked her over carefully,“I tried to stop them, but that blonde bitch played dirty and decided to knock me down the stairs.”
“It’s okay, Octavia. You tried. At least you’re not seriously hurt. Why were you here in the first place?” Lexa responded.
“Clarke left her sketch pad at the dojo the other day after you guys just disappeared. I was going to drop it off before heading home. I was walking up the stairs when I saw them. That’s when that little bitch suddenly came at me and pushed me down the stairs. If we hadn’t been in such a small space I would have handed their asses to them.”
“Let’s leave that to the police, okay sis?” Bellamy chided.
“Whatever. Who were they anyway? Lincoln filled me in on the details about Aaron but didn’t say anything about two other people.”
Lexa glanced over at Bellamy who gave her a curt nod before facing Octavia once more,“Niylah and Caleb. Caleb was alongside Aaron helping whoever is behind, and Niylah, we’re still trying to figure out just how she comes into this. There’s one more person who we haven’t heard from yet. Clarke said he went by the name ‘Daniel Price’. She said he showed up at the hospital a couple of weeks ago for stitches and has been ‘randomly’ running into her all over town. We saw both Daniel and Caleb on the security footage from Grounders. Caleb was taking pictures of everyone and there were a few minutes where Daniel approached Clarke and talked with her. After seeing that we got Clarke down to the station to identify him. She remembered Niylah being with him when he got his stitches removed and we did a search on her. Came back that she’s been arrested for drug possession, sales, and a few other things. That’s what lead us to her house.”
“Damn, that’s a lot to take in. Do you think this ‘Daniel’ guy is behind everything?”
Bellamy lightly shrugged his shoulders,“We’re not sure yet.”
“Yes, he is.”
Bellamy and Octavia turned to look at Lexa after she spoke.
“How do you know this?” Bellamy asked.
“After Niylah got into Clarke’s apartment I heard her say that she wasn’t just ‘Daniel’s’ friend and that she was just there to do his dirty work. Hearing that I’m more than assuming ‘Daniel’ is behind this. What I want to know now is who the hell he really is.”
Bellamy nodded his head in agreement before Harper came waltzing around from the front of the ambulance and looked at the three friends with a smirk.
“I’m beginning to think you all should just put us on speed dial. This is the second time I’ve been over here in less than a week.”
Lexa could tell by the cautious tone in Harper’s voice that she was trying to lighten the mood without over stepping any boundaries, and for that she was thankful. Harper gave her a gentle smile before moving to continue taking care of any wounds that ailed Octavia. Turing away from the ambulance, Lexa saw Indra, Anya, Lincoln, and Raven making their way through the crowd of officers. Lexa began walking and met them halfway only to be tackled into a hug by Anya.
“She’s going to be okay, Lex.” Anya whispered against her ear, having already been updated by a passing officer.
“I know, but I’m not resting until I find her.”
Anya pulled away, her eyes filled with slight concern, and allowed Lexa to look over the rest of their unit. Indra was the first one to walk up to her and place a comforting hand on her arm.
“I’m sorry we weren’t able to get officers down here in time. We won’t stop until Clarke is found and everyone apart of this is behind bars.”
“Thank you, Indra. You don’t know how much I appreciate it.”
Indra nodded understandingly and lowered her hand back to her side as Bellamy waltzed up pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Octavia is going to be fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. Harper said she’s lucky she doesn’t have any fractured or broken bones.”
Lincoln gently pushed his way through everyone to stand next to Bellamy,“What happened to Octavia? Why is she even here?”
“She was here to return Clarke’s sketch pad that she left at her dojo. On her way up she ran into Niylah and Caleb. Niylah took her off guard and knocked her down a flight of stairs before making their get away. She’s over in the ambulance if you want to see her,” Lexa calm explained.
Lincoln didn’t hesitate as he moved past Lexa and Bellamy and jogged over to the ambulance. Lexa watched with a heavy heart as Octavia jumped from the stretcher and threw herself at Lincoln, who caught her and spun her around before pulling her into a heated kiss. Lexa turned away and allowed them their moment of intimacy.
“Wait, Lexa, you said Caleb. Who the hell is Caleb?” Raven asked.
Lexa began the long story of explaining the distressing phone call she had endured with Clarke while driving like a bat out hell. Everyone listened intently as she talked about how Clarke had gotten the name out of the man before being abducted.
“So, by the sound of everything, it seems like Niylah and Caleb are being ordered around by ‘Daniel’. If we had his real name maybe we could finally connect all of them. Is there anyway you could do a cross reference search with Niylah’s name and Caleb’s, Raven?” Anya suggested.
Raven disappeared for a new minutes and returned with a computer with the precinct’s logo stamped on the front. Setting the computer on the hood of a nearby police car, everyone began to circle around Raven as she typed her way through the millions of police records. Lexa watched intently for a few moments before a buzzing from her back pocket had her moving away from the talking group to quickly answer the ringing phone, not bothering to check the name of the caller.
“Hello?”
“Walk away from your friends, Detective.”
Lexa’s heart stilled for a moment at the raspy voice before casually walking further away from her friends,“Where’s Clarke, Daniel?”
“Don’t worry about you’re little girlfriend. I promise she’s safe and sound, for now. She’s just taking a little nap. Now, you’re going to listen very carefully to the instructions I give you, and if you don’t follow them exactly as I explain them then we may just have to spill a little bit of Clarke’s blood. But we don’t want that, now do we?”
“I’ll follow your instructions, but if Clarke so much as gets a scratched, then I won’t hesitate to put my gun to your head and pull the trigger,” Lexa hissed.
“Feisty one aren’t you? No harm will come to her as long as you follow your instructions. You have my word.”
“Your ‘word’ is bullshit. Now, tell me what you want me to do.”
Daniel chuckled deeply into the phone before composing himself,“After I end this call you’re going to get a text with an address. You come to that address disarmed and alone. You bring any of your little friends with you or even try to bring a gun I’ll shoot Clarke point blank.”
Lexa’s heart lurched in her chest as she heard the sound of a gun being cocked near the phone,“I’ll be there, but I want a picture of Clarke first. I need to know she’s okay.”
“Fine.”
Dial tone.
Lexa dropped the phone from her ear and anxiously waited for the familiar ding of her phone. Two minutes of nervously biting at her lip Lexa saw the pop up for the text before she even heard the ding. Tapping on the text, Lexa’s breath stopped instantly as a picture of Clarke, clearly unconscious, tied to a chair in a dimly lit room. Relief flooded her veins at seeing the blonde uninjured and, for the moment, safe.
Lexa forced herself to look away from the picture and looked at the address that sat below the picture. Eyebrows furrowed as Lexa realized just where the address would take her.
“The port of Los Angeles? He’s picked a setting that a typical bad guy in any movie would choose.”
Lexa stuffed the phone in her back pocket before turning to look at her team, who still huddled around Raven as she searched through the computer. Not giving anytime for someone to stop her Lexa ran full force through all the officers towards her truck. Taking her keys out of her pocket Lexa unlocked the truck before hopping in and starting it up. As Lexa began backing out of the parking lot she caught sight of Anya searching around the crowd before her eyes locked on her retreating truck. Anya began shouting something Lexa couldn’t make out and right before Lexa took off down the road she could see her entire team running towards her.
“I’m sorry guys, but I have to do this.”
Driving down the highway for a few moments Lexa wasn’t at all surprised when her phone began to ring. Digging the phone from her pocket Lexa saw Anya’s name light up across the screen before pressing a finger to the accept button.
"What the hell are you doing, Lexa?!” Anya screamed through the phone.
“I’m going to get Clarke back. You can’t follow me, Anya. He’ll kill her if you do. Just trust me when I say I can handle this on my own.”
Lexa didn’t give her sister time to retort before she hung up the phone. After silencing the device and throwing it onto the passenger seat Lexa focused on the road ahead of her, nothing but thoughts of Clarke filling her mind.
“I’m coming for you, Clarke. Wait for me.”
Lexa cautiously lead her truck through the large port before coming to a stop a few feet away from a small shack near the edge of the port. Sliding out of the truck Lexa took a quick assessment of her surroundings. Stacks of large cargo containers lined the area around her, basically creating a metal wall on either side of her.
Lexa took a few steps away from her truck towards the shack only to stop as she felt the familiar feeling of a gun’s barrel being placed against the back of her head. Raising her hands in the air, Lexa cautiously turned around before coming face to face with the shaggy haired male from the security footage.
“It’s finally nice to meet you face to face, Lexa Woods. Too bad it has to be on these terms.”
The ear splitting sound of gunfire bounced off the metal containers around them.