Nina hadn’t seen Luke for the past five days and she was extremely worried. Of course she’d heard about the building collapse from TV and they had spoken about it, but that was almost two days ago. She was becoming increasingly worried with each passing day.She stepped into her kitchen to fix herself a cup of cofffee and realised the trash needed to be emptied. She readied the garbage bag and proceeded to the downstairs trash can to empty it.The sound of her phone ringing startled her. She looked down and realised it was nearly nine PM. It was not safe to be outside this late. The caller ID read “Luke,” and her heartbeat hitched with excitement.“Hey, Luke”“Nina. How are you?” “Good. Good. How are you?”She pressed the phone against her ear as she listened to Luke talk about the developments on the case.“The Humsworths are very horrible people. Serves them right.” She chipped in.She arrived at the trash can and was about to dump the trash when she felt a prickling sensation on
Luke was worried.It’s been twenty four hours since Nina and her friend, Kayla were last seen. The police were currently questioning Lacy, but she’d already told them everything she knew, nothing which proved useful.The last time they were seen was when they both went to the alleyway. The police had conducted investigations but other than traces of Nina’s vomit and suspicious footprints, nothing else had been recovered.Luke was currently questioning the manager of the place.“Why on earth would you allow two unprotected women to go to an alleyway alone. Didn’t you realise how dangerous that was?”“Once again, sir, I sincerely apologise. Please exercise a bit more patience. They will be found soon.”Luke paced from one end of the office to the other. This was all his fault. He should’ve never allowed Nina to go to that party alone at such a late hour. He should’ve accompanied her.Just then, an officer barged into the room, appearing out of breath.“Sir, there’s been a development.”
“We’re unable to track the number, sir. It’s been badly scrambled.” One of the hackers said to the deputy.The hackers had been trying to trace the number which delivered the kidnap video for hours. Apparently, there was still no luck.“That’s not good. Send it to our hackers at headquarters. Let them give it a shot.” The deputy ordered.“From the state of the building, it doesn’t look like they’re in the country.” One of the officers observed.Luke turned to him,“What do you mean?”“I’m just saying.” He walked over to the computer, restarted the video and zoomed in on the plants peeking from the ceiling,”this kind of vegetation will never survive in the London cold. That video was probably shot in warmer areas, like Las Vegas.”“Wonderful job there, Kent.” The deputy clapped him on the shoulder and turned to Luke.“I think he’s right. This means that our investigations may not be centred on London alone.”Luke could not believe this.“Are you telling me that within twenty four hours
Luke watched closely as the trackers, the size of a grain of rice, were planted into the bag.“How does it work?” He inquired.The deputy was happy to explain.“The trackers are wirelessly connected to our central computer right here. Not only does it tell us where the money goes, but it’s also fitted with a tiny camera that even though isn’t wide ranged, helps us with hints on what the environment where the kidnappers are operating from might look like.”Luke was awestruck.“Cool stuff.”“Thank you. Oh, and Mr. Luke?”“Yes?”“Have you perhaps received another video from the kidnappers? We need a drop off location for the money.”Shit. That was true.“No. No, I haven’t. Maybe they’ll send one later.”Luke paced the room nervously and tried to do some homework while they waited for some kind of message from the kidnappers. He tortured himself with countless images of Nina probably lying dead and broken somewhere. All that did was shoot up his blood pressure even more.Seconds ticked i
Luke watched helplessly as the kidnappers drove away. Right there and then, he vowed to have his revenge. He slumped to the hard concrete floor, totally weak from all his wounds.The officers gave it a full minute before they swooped in to help him.“Call 911 immediately. I need an ambulance here ASAP. He’s losing blood.”Luke tried to explain that he was fine and it was Nina he was worried about, but of course, they refused to listen. If anything happened to him, Lord George would have all their heads.The ambulance finally arrived but he refused to get in.“I’m telling you, I feel fine. It’s just a few injuries. Nothing a bandage and some pain meds can’t fix.”“I’m sorry, sir, but we need to take you back to the hospital and run a full scan. It appears you were hit pretty badly. There could be chances of a concussion or even internal bleeding.” The EMT argued.After much persuasion, Luke finally allowed himself to be driven to the hospital with the officers following closely behind
TRENT CARMICHAEL’S OFFICE“Miss Emilia. It is an honour to have you here.”Emilia Gregory looked around, fear and suspicion rife in her mind as Trent Carmichael ushered her warmly into his office.She didn’t know why, but she did not trust this man. She did not trust any rich man aside from her boss. Period.“So, what will you have? We have juice, champagne…“Nothing for me, thank you. Uh…why am I here again?”Mr. Carmichael’s eyes gleamed maliciously. After Luke all but made him kiss his feet at his own bank yesterday, he’d had sleepless nights, thinking of his revenge.Trent knew that the George family harboured a secret. His first degree in Psychology made it easy to read into their stiff postures and worried glances and come to the conclusion that something was wrong.Something was going down…something big. And he wanted to know it all, who knows, maybe his revenge would stem from whatever big secret mission the George’s wanted to accomplish with twenty million dollars.So what di
For a moment, the entire museum was silent. Time froze and Luke froze with it, expecting to experience mind numbing pain but instead, feeling nothing.Dregs of sticky blood mixed with bits and pieces of human flesh slid down his face and arms. Before him, the kidnapper’s mouth hung open in shock, then he fell forward, narrowly missing Luke and Nina.Luke’s gaze snapped up in shock, and relief flooded his system when saw two more officers in the room, one pointing his gun at the exact spot where the currently lifeless kidnapper had been standing a few seconds ago.“You saved my life.” Luke whispered, his fingers still trembling slightly from shock.The officer shrugged as he watched his partner order the second kidnapper to drop his weapon.“I was just doing my job, sir:”Luke was having non of it.“No. What’s your name? You will be rewarded for this.“Name’s Micah, your lordship. Once again, it is my duty to protect you. I was merely doing my job.”After the deputy checked to ensure t
“Are you trying to tell me, deputy, that a heavily guarded criminal simply broke from his cuffs and killed a bunch of detectives? Do you realise how stupid that sounds?” Luke asked through gritted teeth.The deputy locked his jaw.“Information reaching me has it that they stopped for a restroom break and the kidnapper faked a seizure. They had to free him so he didn’t end up hurting himself with the sharp edges of the handcuffs. Before they realised it was all staged, he’d already gone for Marshall, the officer closest to him.He shot Marshall point blank in the head with his gun. Connor tried to step in but he was shot as well. He died on his way to the hospital.”Luke could not believe his ears.“And the criminal? Where is he?”After a silent beat, the deputy said.“He shot himself. He’s dead.”“Fuck!” Luke exclaimed, pacing to the other end of the room. Behind him, Nina’s mother gasped in pure horror.A few seconds later, Luke felt someone grab his shirt from behind.“Are you a cri