tabby

that Mr. X had been planning this abduction for a long time, but when I discovered that the clothes varied in size, I relaxed. They weren’t all meant for me.
I riffled through them all, settling on a pair of black jeans that pulled like they contained stretch, which would make movement easier. A black loose sweater completed the look. Try as I might, I couldn’t find any underwear or bras in the dresser. Not that I wanted to wear something that belonged to another person, but even though my breasts weren’t huge like some of the other strippers, having them bounce around while I ran and climbed would become painful. Not that I planned on wearing clothes for long. The moment I could, I’d transform into my cat. I’d be smaller and faster that way.
The moment I had the clothes on, I knocked on the door. It was time to test Mr. X’s word.
The sound of the door opening had me jumping to the side so I didn’t get hit. The same elderly butler stepped into the room. “May I help you, Miss Kitty?”
“Yes, please. I was wondering if you could give me a tour. Mr. X said I was free to go anywhere so long as I was accompanied.” I attempted to put all the confidence I could muster and more behind the statement.
“Of course, miss. If you will come this way.” The door opened under his touch, and he ushered me out.
We walked around what appeared to be a giant mansion, checking out a couple of living rooms, a giant dining room, a large kitchen, and a library. But the one thing that we never saw was another person. For a house this size, it surprised me. There should have at least been more staff.
We were walking past a large office when the butler put his finger to his ear. It took me a second, but then I saw the thin wire that led to it. The butler was wearing an earpiece and a mic for communication. That was why I never saw another person and why he’d backtracked so many times during the tour.
“I’m sorry, Miss Kitty, but I’m needed somewhere else. You’ll have to wait in this room until someone can come and retrieve you.” He motioned to the office, and once I was inside, he closed the door with the telltale click of the lock sliding into place. I rushed to it and twisted the handle to double check, but it didn’t turn. It appeared I’d changed one prison for another and was no closer to finding a way to escape.
Hoping for some clue as to my whereabouts, I checked every window. And while these windows didn’t have the fake pictures in them, they were locked, and between the darkness beyond the floodlights, I wasn’t able to see more than a couple of feet of grass.
The empty desktop contained no clue as to who the office belonged to or if it was even in use. But that didn’t stop me from searching the room. When I didn’t find anything, I sat down on the chair behind the desk. I needed to think, to channel Bae, Arin, and Kasim because they would know what to do and how to escape. I could only hope, since I was doing a poor job, that they were faring better. Maybe, even at this moment, they were on their way to rescue me.
Maybe instead of escape, I needed to focus on what I was good at... observation and digging for facts. It would be nice to know why Mr. X had kidnapped me.
I drummed my fingers along the edge of the desk.
Click.
My fingers stopped as the centre of the desktop split. Hmmm. I wonder what this is. I tried to pry the edges, but it didn’t budge. And then I tried to slide the top, but the result was the same. Since it opened when I tapped the edge of the desk, I ran my fingers over the surface, looking for the hidden mechanism that I must have touched earlier. It was well hidden and took some time to find it, but I did. When I pressed on it, a louder click sounded as the desktop fully opened to reveal a hidden compartment that looked like a regular desktop complete with a laptop computer.
Yes! Now we were in my territory. I propped open the lid and hit the power button, only to be met with a password login. I hadn’t had much to smile about since I stepped off the stage and discovered that neither Arin or Bae were there to meet me, but I grinned now.
Thank goodness, I’d had the foresight to create a mini DICC so I’d never be without one.
I pulled one of the barrettes—where I concealed the mini DICC—from my hair. I had to work fast since I didn’t know how long I had before someone came to get me, to return me to my room. And I needed to make sure that whatever cameras were operating in this room didn’t see me access any files.
Pretending to give up in defeat, I lowered most of the laptop lid to hide any flashes of light from the screen and, at the same time, slipped the mini DICC USB end into the machine. I trailed my fingers over the keys, gently pressing out my commands as I looked around the room. The soft whirl told me my mini DICC worked, and I bit my lip to hide my smile.
The flashes stopped at the same moment I heard a noise outside the door. With a swift movement, I pulled out my mini DICC and closed the lid of the laptop. I didn’t bother to close the desk since they probably already knew I’d found it.
The door opened, and in walked Mr. X. His gaze dropped to the open desk and hardened. “I see you found my hidden secret.”
“What?” I twirled the end on my hair around my finger. “Oh,