The Fugitives: There's always a plan

The Abduction

Walter drove a vintage four doors with a spacious cab that you might be able to use to camp out or play a game of bridge. 

He was genuinely short and unassuming slight build, diminishing grey hair, delicate voice, and his light blue eyes made people trust him.

Even though his rival; Joan, operated a slightly smaller car, its rear seat was still capable of accommodating three full-size adults with their luggage in the trunk. 

The real point of contention between them was their association with Melvin Otani as collector of the enterprise, and they would do just about anything they could to make it.

As soon as Walter spotted Holly Minard,

“I have the target on sight.” Walter said through the earphone.

“Get everything ready as planned.” He added as he drove to her.

Holly Minard was dressed in a standard professional suit - a white blouse and black trousers. She looked seductive even in her suit because of her hourglass figure.

He slammed on the brakes and spoke with almost a calm voice. “Holly Minard?”

“Yeah…C3?” Holly Minard inquired.

“C3TS… Hop in.” C3 was the clandestine identity for a pickup and the TS attached to the clandestine identity was a representative of whom to meet. That was their secret language.

Holly Minard was to meet Tomica Schwann at the conventional center for the exchange. That was why TS was added to the clandestine identity. C3TS

"Hey… I need to make a private call, any means?” Holly Minard asked Walter immediately she was inside the cab.

“The front and back seats are separated by a bulletproof window. It was added for a different reason. To prevent drivers from listening to passengers' discussion and, most importantly, being shot from behind the wheel. Is it okay if I close it?”

“That would be just be right…Thank you!.”

“You will also notice that there are no lock knobs or door handles for the back seat that can be reached. This was done to prevent passengers from leaving the cab without paying or allowing others to enter, So trust me… It's safe and…” He didn't finish before she interrupted.

“Hey… You used the pick up code. Right? Why explaining? Hush!!” Holly Minard sounded harsh, but Walter had to keep it cool.

“Sorry!” Walter smiled unnoticeably as he felt proud of himself. The target had been found, the trap set, and the capture would soon happen since Holly Minard was in the back seat. 

Now that the capture was so close, his pulse sped up. He maintained his firm grip on the wheel while closing the window and focused on completing the capture as he looked ahead. 

Holly Minard had no idea that Walter was using a pair of earbuds to listen to her conversations taking place in the back seat from the passenger's side because a small microphone was positioned beneath each of the rear speaker grills. 

Without hesitation, Walter picked up his phone since he heard the buzz. It was a message from Joan.

He read the message,

“Change of plans. There's an imposing Tomica Schwann…So, bring the package straight up.”

The conventional center was less than 10 blocks away from the cab. Walter anticipated arriving within seven minutes or less.

Holly Minard continued to provide detailed information to her manager over the phone and sticking with the deal Tomica proposed. She had to call Tomica, but it was very obvious Jones took his cellphone as well since he answered the call.

“Holly Minard on the line. Get the package ready.” she spoke with great confidence.

“Hey, hey!!… Listen to me, where are you??” Jones sounded disturbed.

“At the intersection on the direct route to the centre.” Minard said.

“Good…These guys are trying…” She couldn't hear anything after Walter heard that the imposing Tomica almost made their efforts ineffective. He had flipped the switch to activate the mobile phone signal jammer.

He went three blocks, two more rights and finally a left turn before heading directly to a garage.

Holly looked at her phone screen.

No bars. No signal.

“Gosh!!!” The call got dropped, but she tried calling back.

Walter pressed the button to ask one of their associates to open the gate of the garage at the processing center, which was about a block away.

 He was informed that everything was intact and that the entry gate would be opened by the red light response signal on the dash. 

He pressed the button to close the inner gate as soon as he saw that the car had cleared in.

In less than 35 seconds, Walter's cab entered the garage and the gate closed after he pressed the button to notify Joan. Walter drove straight up and parked the cab, got out, and left Holly in the cab.

Holly thought the cab had turned into an unidentified garage as soon as she saw it, but she didn't bother because Walter had used the pick-up code, which was known only to people of the enterprise.

While Holly was inside, she turned around to look at the entrance 30 feet away, the left building wall's floor 50 feet away, the right wall's walk-in freezers and connecting office 20 feet away, and the front exit 30 feet away. 

“Why did he park in the center of the building when there was ample space elsewhere?” She murmured in confusion.

After attempting to open the bulletproof window and turning around, she discovered that she was stranded in the back of a cab in an unknown location.

 She took a deep breath, leaning her head close to the window, She yelled…

“Hey…Get me outta here”

“Open this fucking door and let me out of here now!” but she was ignored completely.

Walter looked like they were about to enter a confined space or perform toxic gas testing, despite wearing masks and breathing normally.

He quickly made his way to the trunk, attached the nozzle to the trunk, and opened the valve to start the nitrogen flow into the cab. When the gas entered the cab, it hissed like a snake about to bite.

 Holly Minard screamed once more when she heard it, but this time with even more fear and adrenaline. It was flight time, but it seems like her flight had been hindered.

 She injured her hand by slamming her fist against the window of the door.

The cab's oxygen level rapidly decreased. Holly was becoming confused, lightheaded, and dizzy after just two to three breaths of the nitrogen.

They moved the lowered trolley into position and opened the cab's door as soon as it appeared that she was out. 

They secured her with a chest harness, moved her to the trolley, strapped her in, and started the oxygen flow to begin the wake-up process. They rolled the trolley into a processing room while oxygen was flowing.

Walter closed the heavy processing room door, returned to the garage floor to stop the nitrogen, and opened the cab doors to bring the oxygen level in the cab back to a safe level. 

It was at that moment, Joan walked in with some burly men.

“You got her?” Joan asked. Joan was slightly taller and muscularly built than Walter.

“Yeah… I will contact Melvin soon. How about the…" Walter didn't finish before Joan cuts in.

“Oh… It's fine, got some residing host there. Just notify boss that we got the package. I will be joining them in killing that fake Tomica” Joan replied as they got separated.