Chapter Eighteen

 The soft shuffle of footsteps beside her head, roused her and her eyelids flickered. It hurt too much to move, even to open her eyes, but Adira strove to pull up all her strength.

I am in danger. I was taken. I need to get up and assess the situation.

She held her breath and her heart fluttered with terror. She found herself looking out through metal squares and instantly her stomach knotted tight. Her head started to throb when she raised herself and brush her hands against the shiny metal.

“I bought it new.” It was that voice again. So familiar, yet she couldn’t place where she had heard it. “I’m glad you’re awake now. You’ve been out for about...hmm...let’s see...twelve hours now?”

Adira jerked upright and yelped when the top of her head collided with a hard surface. The sound of metal made her realize she was in a small cage. Grasping the metal bars, she turned all around and saw a skinny man stride up to her.

He had curly long hair up to his shoulders and wore thin silver-rimmed glasses. He was dressed in a muddy brown sweater and maroon pants. Kneeling beside her, he smiled, “Remember me, Adira?”

She shook her head slowly, panic gripping her heart. She couldn’t fully remember him, but even as she reacted to his question, a memory surfaced in her mind and she felt that she did know him.

“It’s only been ten years. I haven’t changed much.” He shrugged and touched a curly lock of his hair. “Except for my hair. I’m growing it.”

Adira stared at him, not knowing what to say. He reached a hand inside and she pulled herself back, and then held back another moan as her back pressed against cold, hard metal.

“Don’t be afraid of me. I’m all you have now.” He grinned and stood. “I’ve had my eye on you for some time now. You know, when you were younger, you were such a brat. So moody. I know you didn’t like me and I didn’t really care. After all, I was going to marry Sibyl. She was so beautiful. So sweet.”

Adira gasped. “Jayson?”

He grinned at her. “Ah, you remembered my name?”

She nodded as memories poured into her mind. Yes, she knew him. Jayson was the neighbor’s son who was to be engaged to her sister. The only reason the relationship was being built was because her father was a farmer and Jayson’s family worked in retail and was going to help him distribute the produce.

It wasn’t really going to be a marriage but a business deal.

At that time Adira hadn’t understood it, but Sibyl had. The minute the engagement was planned, Sibyl had run away from home and the focus had been on that, not the failed business.

“Oh,” she said slowly. “So all this was for revenge. For what Sibyl did.”

Jayson’s face hardened. “She brought shame to my family. It doesn’t work only one way you know. Sibyl running away may have shamed your parents, but everyone in town thought that there must be something wrong with me if such a sweet, timid girl could take such a bold step.”

Adira looked all around her. They were in a pale white room, with tubelights overhead. There was nothing else in the room apart from the cage she was in and the long desk against the wall that held five monitors. She looked down at the white floor tiles and saw that they looked like they had just been cleaned.

“Where’s my sister? What did you do to her?”

Jayson’s smile grew back. “What do you think I did to her? I loved her. You know how heartbroken I was when she broke it off with me?”

“Where is Sibyl?” Adira’s hand against the bars, tightened. Jayson had seemed like a dutiful son ten years ago. Now, he looked psychotic and capable of violence.

“No need to be afraid. She’s safe.” Jayson walked up to one of the monitors and typed in his keyboard. “I’ve lost all interest in her. It happened the first time I saw you. At first, I was following you just so I could take pictures and send them as a warning to Sibyl to not expose my secret. But then, I realized, I wasn’t attracted to her anymore. You know, you look a lot like her. But younger.”

Adira’s throat tightened. “Is she here? Can I see her?”

Jayson appeared not to have heard her as he kept typing. The monitor lit up with green letters and numbers, that Adira couldn’t make any sense of. “I thought she was my friend. But she just had to betray me. Ten years ago, she ran away. And then when we meet after such a long time, she decides to screw me over again.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her voice came out stretched and she begged herself not to cry in front of this psycho.

Jayson whipped around and she saw the contortion of anger on his face. “Of course not! That’s because you’re not a traitor like Sibyl!”

Adira clenched her hands and stared at him with tears in her eyes. She knew if she blinked, the tears would fall, making the psycho so happy.

Stupid Ramon and his stupid ideas!

Her mind flashed with the image of him checking her phone. He had stolen it from her, probably concocted a ridiculous idea that would keep her out of trouble.

Of course, it backfired. If only he would trust me enough to tell me his plans…

And then a thought occurred to her. Yes, Ramon did enjoy playing his little games. But he also had a way of planning things out that proved to be beneficial in the long run.

He must have anticipated all contingencies. He must have a backup plan...the jacket!

Adira peered down at her and saw that the jacket was still tied around her waist. She patted herself as discreetly as she could while Jayson turned back to the monitors, muttering to himself.

When she only felt empty pockets, her heart sank. She had desperately hoped he had stashed away a phone or something.

I hate him!

“After the utter humiliation your sister left me with, I told my parents I wanted to go to the city. I was already a graduate but I wanted to study something else. Computers. I got a degree and landed a solid job at OnConnect. I was great at it. The manager was impressed with my work and promised me a promotion. Of course, when the time rolled by, someone else got it. The manager’s friend’s son.” Jayson scoffed. “He was a newbie who didn’t understand anything. He was useless. An imbecile. He got an office and I was stuck in a cubicle. That’s when I decided to get revenge. Enough people had walked over me. It was time I did something about it.”

“What did you do to Sibyl?” Adira asked, her throat clenching with fear.

“You mean what she did to me!” Jayson paced the room angrily, thrusting a hand in his gelled curly hair and pushing it back. “I found her online, befriended her and told her I understood why she ran away. We talked and became friends. We even met a couple of times. I could see that she liked me. I thought I could trust her and told her my little secret. And what did she do? Told me that I was wrong. That I had to stop this. Told me, that if I didn’t, she would have to report me. I went home and hacked her computer. That’s when I found out she was an investigative reporter. Sibyl was dedicated to her work and I knew she would tell the whole world what I was doing.”

“So you kidnapped her?”

“It was the most logical thing to do.” Jayson sighed. He pulled out the swivel chair from the desk and sat down, then turned around the seat so that he was facing her. “I thought that once I showed her my work, she would be impressed. It was ingenious, really.”

A sick smile played on his lips. He wasn’t looking at her anymore, but somewhere behind her. Adira swallowed and thought frantically on her chances of escape. She was rendered helpless in this little cage that gave her enough room to only sit. She could barely stretch her arms or her legs. There was no weapon, and no phone on her.

Stupid Ramon took my phone! At least, he could have tracked me with that. But no, he had to steal it away from me.

“You know how sometimes you receive those spam messages? Just two lines about subscribing to world news or jokes or horoscopes as text messages?” Jayson grinned, but still not looking at her. “That was my little plan at revenge. It didn’t take much to build those messages and send it to every one of our subscribers. They could either sign up for it or unsubscribe, but in order to do so, they had to type in a code and send it. That was how I hacked them. Most of them grew tired of receiving those spam messages and would send the code to a little number I made up. Once they did, they unknowingly opened the gate to their information. Sometimes I would deduct their credit, just a couple of bucks they thought they had spent on calls. Other times, I would steal their passwords.”

Jayson looked at her then, studying her, expecting her to be impressed by his plan. Adira just stared back blankly. “Moderation is the key,” he continued. “I took as much as I could without raising alarms. Just a couple of bucks from their banks that they thought they had spent shopping online. Ten, twenty bucks.” He leaned forward, intertwining his hands. “But imagine stealing ten or twenty bucks from thousands of customers?”

“You’re a thief!” Adira blurted. “No wonder Sibyl was ashamed of you.”

His eyes grew stormy. “You too?” He scoffed. “You sisters think you’re perfect, don’t you? So kind and generous and goody-goody?” He pushed himself up, sending the chair rolling backward. “This is how you get ahead. This is how you make money. Honesty never pays.”

Adira held her breath as Jayson came nearer. Her stomach clenched painfully as he towered before her. “No need to be afraid, sweetheart. I wouldn’t hurt you. You can trust me that I won’t.”

“I don’t understand what you could want with me?” Adira whimpered.

“You’ll stay with me.” Jayson smiled as if he had just uttered something that was completely a normal thing to say. “Ramon made a choice, so we’ll keep our deal. You’ll be happy here. We will get to spend time with each other, get to know each other. Sibyl and I never had that which was why she ran away. I won’t force marriage on you. I’ll give you time to fall in love with me.”

She stared at him in utter disbelief. Her mind was having trouble comprehending what Jayson had just said and she was sure she had misheard.

“What did you mean...Ramon made a choice?”

Jayson laughed and clapped his hands. “Oh, you poor thing. Now I get why you seem so perplexed. Oh, you thought someone was coming to rescue you. Ramon?” He laughed again. “I told you not to trust him.” He shook his head, still laughing though he pretended to stifle it. “The minute I took you, I sent him a message, told him to bring the flash drive or I would hurt you. He could have Sibyl if he wanted. He delivered the flash drive and I gave Sibyl to him. Of course, I told him that if he even thought about going to the police, I would kill you.” Jayson knelt beside her and reached inside to touch her cheek with his finger. “He doesn’t know that I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Adira swallowed twice, trying to push down the onslaught of tears and sobs that were wrenching her throat.

“Then I moved. Took you somewhere else, in case, you know, he decided to be a hero.” Jayson shrugged. “He didn’t even try. I monitored him for a while, through your phone in his pocket. He took Sibyl to the hospital and has been there ever since.”

Adira clutched Ramon’s jacket that was still around her waist. Jayson caught the movement and his smile widened. “I did check you for any electronic devices. Patted you down. Ramon doesn’t care about you. Did you think he did? Did you think he even trusted you? He took your phone. I realized immediately when I was sending messages that it wasn’t you. I turned on the camera and saw it was Ramon. After that I moved ahead with my plan to take you. He didn’t even take a second to consider his decision. He just handed over the flash drive and took Sibyl.”

Adira felt like she was being stabbed in the heart with every single word that left his mouth.

Ramon said he cared deeply about his friends and would do anything for them. I guess I’m not one of them.

 

“You don’t need to be disappointed.” He went back to the monitors. “You have me. I’ll take care of you. Sibyl stole the codes from me- the ones I used to hack into people’s phones. Now that I have that, we’re going to get rich.” He turned to look at her again, as if expecting her to laud him for what he was doing. She sat still, feeling her heart break into a million pieces.

At least Sibyl is safe. But that thought didn’t give her the relief she had hoped. Ramon’s betrayal stung.

“I’ve been running a program, just in case Ramon tampered with my codes. I like to cover my bases.” He inserted the flash drive and clapped again.  “Clear. I’m surprised actually. I thought he would have a ruse up his sleeve. That guy is not to be trusted.”

I know that now, Adira thought gloomily.

For the next ten minutes Jayson stayed glued to the monitor while Adira searched for any way she could escape. There was nothing to use as a weapon. The cage was bolted and she could see a large lock that seemed unbreakable. Besides, what did she have to break it open? Her clothes? Ramon’s jacket? Her bare hands?

As quietly as she could, she tried to pull and push the bars, keeping an eye on Jayson. The bars didn’t yield and the lock wouldn’t budge. She surveyed the room and saw that it was plain; no screws or hammers laying about conveniently, like in the movies.

Another five minutes later, Jayson got up and pumped his arm. “We’re back in business. I’m running the code now.” He rubbed his hands together. “This will be so much fun. Just you and me, forever.”

The word ‘forever’ made her panic and she started kicking at the cage with all her strength. The cage didn’t budge and Jayson came over to stand and look down upon at her with disappointment in his eyes.

“Now that’s not very...”

There was a sudden buzzing sound that turned shrill. Jayson turned to the monitors and saw a notification in red lettering popup.

“What the hell?” He peered at the screen and clutched at his hair. “What the…?” He started to type, but she could see that nothing changed on the screen. He slammed his fists on the keyboard but still nothing changed on the monitor. Growing frustrated, he pressed repeatedly on the power button.

“Shit!” he screamed.

Adira cowered in her cage, nervous about seeing him so enraged. Considering what she had seen of him, she anticipated him venting his frustrations at her. Wrapping her arms around her, she readied herself for his violence.

“That bastard!” Jayson ripped the keyboard from his desk and threw it on the floor. “He hacked me! He hid a virus! He’s tracking me!”

Adira couldn’t understand what was going on, but when Jayson came closer to her and she saw him taking a key out of his pocket, she readied herself for a fight.

“We have to leave,” he told her as he stuck the key into the lock. “He’s going to find us. He ruined my program.”

He stopped suddenly and looked at her. “You will come with me willingly, right? Or do I have to use a sedative?” He dug into his pocket. “I think I have one more.”

“I’ll come!” Adira almost screamed. “Don’t use that on me anymore.”

Jayson nodded. “Okay. But we have a deal. You won’t betray me like your sister did, would you?”

Adira quickly shook her head.

Jayson looked relieved. “I knew you weren’t like her. The first time I saw you, I knew you weren’t like her. You’re my sweet little girl. Not a bitch like your sister.”

Adira suppressed her anger and took a deep breath to calm herself. She would probably have only once chance to save herself. She still couldn’t understand what Jayson had been screaming about and she couldn’t count on anyone at the moment but herself.

Only I can save myself. But be careful. He’s so unpredictable. And crazy!

The lock clicked open and he pulled open the door. Before she could even move, he had reached inside and grabbed her arm.

“We have to hurry,” he spoke with urgency and dragged her out.

Adira stumbled and fought to keep her balance as he pulled her along. She had to be patient, assess the situation before…

Her mind screamed with desperation: Just do it!

Adira pulled her arm back and at the same time, shoved him with her other hand. Jayson gave a gasp of surprise and faltered, but his grip on her elbow only tightened. Using her for support, he grabbed her wrist and shook her.

“Don’t you dare!” he screamed.

Adira let her instincts take over. She kicked him in the shin and turned away slightly and hit him with her shoulder. Jayson let go of her elbow, but held onto her other hand.

She tried to wriggle her wrist free and Jayson uttered a loud curse at her. He raised his hand and slapped her hard. Adira stumbled to the floor and clutched her burning cheek. Turning her head up, she saw him snarling and grabbing her by the arm again.

“Don’t tempt me, Adira. I am this close to hitting you so hard you won’t be able to stand straight. Or better yet, I’ll drug you. Is that what you want? Huh?”

She struggled and he threw her against the wall hard. Adira let out a cry and when she saw him charging at her, swung her fist and caught him on his jaw. Jayson’s head flew back and she saw his eyes blaze with rage.

“You fucking bitch!” He made a grab for both her wrists and Adira clawed one hand and scratched him on his cheek. Blood broke out from his skin and trailed down his chin. This made him madder and he rushed to the desk and took out a hammer. “You asked for this!”

Adira froze on the spot. She didn’t have a weapon to defend herself. Swallowing, her eyes darted all around the plain white room and realized she would have to dodge him.

He thumped the hammer on his open palm. “I didn’t want to hurt you,” he told her slowly, “but you’ve decided to act like a bitch. Just like your sister. She got the same treatment too. Maybe she might be able to use her hand. Maybe.” When he grinned, she saw the thin film of blood on his teeth. Jayson, in his anger, hadn’t realized that her punch had caused him to bleed.

He hit Sibyl! He hurt her! Did he break her hand?

Her anxiety diminished and was replaced by rage. She imagined him tying up Sibyl and hitting her repeatedly with the hammer.

And then she remembered that Jayson himself had told her that Ramon had to take Sibyl to the hospital.

Because he hurt her. This bastard hurt my sister!

She glared at him as he came forward, still hitting the hammer on his palm and grinning like a madman.

“Now, are you going to behave?” He reached out to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear.

Adira didn’t know what had come over her. In the very next second, she had grabbed his hammer and twisted his wrist. He yelped and before he could react, she stomped on his foot, hard. He let go of the hammer and she gripped it tight.

“What did you do to my sister?” she demanded to know.

“Give it!” He lunged for it, but she stepped back.

“Tell me, or this goes right on your head.” she held up the hammer.

“Just one hand. The one she used to type. She was going to expose me.”

“So it was okay to hurt her?” Adira could feel her calm dripping away. Reasoning and conscience were being suppressed. All she could think about was hurting the man who had hurt her sister.

An eye for an eye. A hand for a hand.

“You won’t hurt me,” he said, confidently. “I know you, Adira. I’ve observed you. You’re sweet and kind...”

Adira let out a laugh. “Oh, you little idiot. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” She raised the hammer and brought it down on his shoulder.

Jayson screamed in pain and fell to the floor. “What did you do?” He clutched his left shoulder and writhed.

Adira came over him, even as her mind told her to hold back and think about what she was doing. But she stopped that voice with these words: He hurt my sister.

She raised the hammer again, getting ready to drop it on him again when she heard a banging on the door.

“This is the police. Open the door!”

Adira breathed fast and watched Jayson as he cowered.

The door banged again. “Open the door now!”

Adira knew she had enough time to hurt Jayson, to actually incapacitate him, or even...kill him. One blow to the head would do that and all his madness would run out. The police would think she did it in self-defense. No one needed to know the truth.

Don’t Adira. Don’t. If you do this, if you kill him, you’ll have to live with his blood in your hands forever. It is going to change you. There’s no going back after this. Every time you look in the mirror, you’ll see a murderer.

“You’re not worth it,” she told him.

The thumps on the door grew louder and she heard it creak. She stepped back and leaned against the wall, watching him as he looked at her with fear in his eyes.

The door burst open and five men in uniform entered with their guns raised. They looked at her and then at Jayson on the floor.

“Put your hands up!” One of them screamed at him.

Adira let the hammer fall to the floor as she watched Jayson being handcuffed and made to stand. One of the policemen came over to her and was asking her something, but she couldn’t bring herself to listen to him. Her eyes were on Jayson and her mind was on what he must have done to Sibyl.

Sibyl.

“Where’s my sister?” She asked the policeman.

“At the hospital. Ma’am are you alright? We tracked you down through the tracking device. Sorry, we came in a bit late. Did he hurt you?”

Adira blinked at him, finding it hard to wrap her mind around all his questions. “Tracking device?”

The policeman pointed down at her. “On the jacket. Mr. Windew told us that he had attached it to his jacket that he gave you.”

“Ramon did what?”

“Ma’am we should get you looked over by a doctor.” He was leading her out, and Adira let herself being taken away, her mind feeling cold and confused.