Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 1

in?"
    The girl eyed him with wondrous curiosity.
    "So you haven't heard," she said.
    "Heard what? I don't care, just tell me, is he in or not?"
    "In? Well, not exactly. You see, he was kidnapped this afternoon. His father just got the ransom note."
    ****
    Anton stood dumbstruck for a few long moments as his mind put two and two together.
    His first reaction was abject panic. He wanted to run, it didn't matter where— first, far from here before someone might catch him and interrogate him. Then, far from his dad. Because if he was really behind this, there was no telling what he'd do to Anton.
    Anton dropped his head onto his hands.
    No. He couldn't.
    It wasn't even his dad, nor Cam's father, whom Anton had only heard of. It was Cam.
    Anton took a deep breath, turned around and marched straight towards the militia cars.
    ****
    Cam was freaking out.
    They had stuffed him into some kind of storage closet in the back of a dilapidated little cabin. The rag they'd stuffed into his mouth choked him, and after a while mosquitoes figured out there was a defenceless feast around and found their way through the holes in the wooden walls. His whole body hurt, and as the seriousness of the situation set in, he struggled to hold back his rising panic.
    Minutes ticked by, or maybe hours, he couldn't tell. For some reason his thoughts strayed to Anton, and he wanted to howl with anger and bitterness. Of course the little bastard had ratted him out. And when push came to shove, he just handed him over to his father's thugs, anything as long as he didn't have to come clean.
    Cam listened to the noises and voices upstairs in deadening despair. And then a familiar voice cut through all that, clear as day. Anton!
    Cam tried to shout but his feeble whimper was muffled by the rag in his mouth. They were speaking Russian, and try as he might, Cam couldn't understand a single word. Suddenly he remembered how his father tried to get him to take foreign language classes a couple of years ago and how he flippantly refused.
    But Anton sounded so calm, the bastard. There, it was done, he'd sold Cam out, and now he was leaving.
    Cam wanted to cry.
    It was getting colder and colder, and he started to shiver. He wondered if anyone would come to give him some food or water, but all he heard were steps outside.
    And then, out of nowhere, there was the noise of cars. Cam struggled to sit up, shivering with cold and terror, but then he heard yelling, in Russian and then, English.
    Next thing he knew, there was the deafening crash of the door being kicked in, splintering, then the heavy thump of steps, and then the door of the storage closet was being kicked open.
    At first, flashlights flickered over him, blinding him, and Cam had to close his eyes. He heard his name being called in English, and pried one eye open.
    And found himself looking at a smiling Anton, backed by a team of at least twenty people in black Special Ops suits.
    ****
    "So why did you do it?"
    It was his last day here. Tomorrow morning he would be flying back home by private jet along with an entire team of bodyguards— his father decided not to take any chances. So as Cam stood across from Anton in the hotel room, he was suddenly very aware that this was goodbye.
    Anton shrugged. "Wasn't that, how you say, the right thing?"
    "Yeah," Cam looked down. "But... you know, blood is thicker than water and all that."
    Anton hovered awkwardly a few feet away, as if not daring to come close, his hands in the back pockets of his jeans."My dad will get off easily," he said. "He's already claimed that he had no knowledge of what was going on at the cabin, bla bla bla." He rolled his eyes knowingly. "A bribe in the right place helped."
    "You have got to be joking." Cam shuddered in spite of himself.
    "Meh. That's how it works. It's not that different in the States, is it?"
    "Guess not."
    A long, awkward silence followed.
    Finally, it occurred to Cam to ask, "And what about you? I mean, aren't you in some kind of trouble?"
    Anton lowered his eyes. Cam frowned.
    "What's going on? Just tell me, I'll tell my dad and..."
    "No, no," Anton said, laughing softly. "Your dad... pushed some strings?" He looked at Cam, uncertain.
    Cam couldn't hold back a smile. " Pulled some strings," he corrected. Anton blushed. "Wait. What strings?"
    "So apparently, he got me a visa," Anton said, still looking a bit dazzled. "Witness protection... something."
    Cam took a few moments to digest this. "Wait a minute. Visa?