ELEVEN

EDEN'S POV

Who would have ever though that the spoilt brat could actually have the guts to stand up to me and try to question me? I was surprised. But it did not shock me that he fainted. He obviously was not used to my way of life. After making sure that he truly was unconscious, I stood up to check the contents of the car. I intended to take anything which I deemed useful. Continuing to drive the car was a huge risk, and being at that spot in itself was bad enough, because who knew when the people tracking the car were going to arrive? I shook my head and tried to think how else I could make the car move without a tyre. I was left with only one option.

My plan was already going out of control before it even started. I stamped down on the ground furiously. Some years back, a lady who I used to work for always mentioned that I was slow, as in my thinking was weak. I hated that statement, yet the situation that I was in seemed to confirm that. I greatly miscalculated everything. Why? I took a very long time planning this, and it seemed like it was going to explode in my face? Why?

Kidnapping that de Milo boy was my first greatest error, and I hated myself for that. I had no guts to kill him, the de Milos were just too big to be messed up with. I never imagined that one day I would be with one of the de Milos, considering how rich and famous they were. It meant that my operation was now becoming even more tough, because I knew that once word came out that the de Milo boy was missing, police would leave no stone unturned until they found him.

I walked towards the road; it was very quiet. The capital city, Southrain, was at that time very difficult to access, thus traffic was lower than usual. I kept standing in hiding, when I saw a bus coming. I hid behind a tree and waited, then I saw two small cars. There was silence for a while, until a small red car appeared, moving at a slow speed. I waved for it to stop.

The car slowly came to a stop, and an elderly man peeped through the window and smiled.

"God bless you dear child, what brings you here in the middle of nowhere? Are you alright?" the old man's voice was gentle, and the smile did not leave his lips while he spoke.

The moment he started to speak, he stretched out his hand to shake mine "I am pastor Noel Everdeen."

"Good day pastor. I need help, my car broke down so if you may take me to the next garage, I would be forever grateful." I smiled at him.

"Oh, hop in then. Where is your car? I don't see it?" The old man stretched his neck and looked around.

"Please drive a bit out of the road. I parked further down, as I meant to take a nap. I was driving the whole night through." I pointed in the direction in which Dylan's car was.

The elderly pastor nodded his head and drove down towards Dylan's car. Then he stopped.

"Oh, that's your car? What a nice car! You must have a lot of money to afford such a car. By the way what do you do? I never asked your name, I am Pastor Noel Everdeen from the God Comes First Church. What is your name?", he asked as he stood next to his car, stretching himself and letting out a loud yawn.

"Pastor Noel Everdeen yes, you told me that before." I faked a smile.

"Oh yes I did. I am just taking time away from the noisy Southrain. I am travelling to Yellowleaf. My son, life has been tough, but I believe if I get time to …."

"Old man, you talk too much", I said as I covered his mouth from behind, at the same time bringing his hands back so that he would not fight me.

"Stay still, I do not mean to harm you," I whispered in his ear.

I gagged him and ordered him to get into the trunk of his own car. He was visibly shaken, but I needed to move as fast as possible, so I had no time to say anything more to him. After throwing in Dylan next to the pastor, I took out everything from Dylan's car. It was not much, there were some few booklets, one of which looked like a prescription booklet, and some pens. All this while I was wearing gloves, for I dared not leave my fingerprints on anything.

Part of my mind would have loved to just leave the pastor there, but I figured he was going to cause a lot of trouble for me, for upon finding help, he surely was going to get in touch with the police. I could not have such a disturbance at such a crucial moment. My aim was to reach Yellowleaf as soon as I could. Yellowleaf was my territory. I knew it like the back of my hand. It was the second largest city in Lakeworld, and my town where I was born and bred. I knew every corner of that city.

As the car fired away, I pulled out my cell phone and called my sister. "Evangelista; there is a lady coming there. Please help her out."

"Who is she?" Evangelista sounded bored.

"A friend. She has a child. Take care of her, Eva. Give them food and a place to take some rest. I'll be there soon."

"I will," she sounded even more bored, and she ended the call.

I dialed another number. "Yes?", came the response.

"Terror; prepare the warehouse." I told him sternly. There was no time for a lot of explanations.

"Boss? Boss is that you!? I thought you were in Southrain. Are you not lying low for now? Don't tell me you're back in action. You're back in action, aren't you, boss?"

"I am" I smiled.

"Oh that's my boss! Back from the dead. I must prepare the warehouse, what do you have?" he asked with great excitement.

"I am in a mess. Three hostages."

Terror roared into laughter before saying, "well just kill them."

"Wait until you know who one of them is," I sighed.

"You'll find a way, my boss. I know you will!"

I remained silent, and Terror went on, "You do have something to do with that la Martina woman, the missing baby and all that nonsense all over the news?"

"It's messed up, dude. Prepare the warehouse." I replied.

"Yes boss", Terror said, and I ended the call.

DYLAN'S POV

When I started to regain consciousness, I felt sharp pain in my whole body, especially in my head, and when I opened my eyes all I could see was darkness. I tried to stretch myself and I felt that I was in a cramped space, there was nowhere for me to go. It was very dark. Looking around, I could see absolutely nothing. I could feel that I was in a moving something, and it did not take me long to know that I was in a car. Suddenly I realized there was a person right next to me. I could feel the warmth of that person, he or she was softly breathing, as if they were in a deep sleep. Who could it be? Who was with me? The car was moving fast.

After a long painful drive, the car stopped. The trunk was opened and I was immediately blindfolded.

"Please my child, if it's money that you want, I truly don't have any money on me now. But I can arrange for you to get some money", an elderly voice was pleading.

"Terror, take them to the room", that surely was Eden's voice.

I was pulled by the arm and dragged to "the room". We walked a long distance in silence. I heard the sound of a metal door cracking, and soon it was closed firmly behind us. We continued moving, and yet another door was opened. The person who was pulling me ordered me to sit down on the floor.

I heard footsteps, and a loud noise just next to me. Someone must have been thrown, or maybe threw themselves down next to me.

"You're hurting me, my son!" the elderly voice spoke.

My blindfolds were roughly pulled off. The room was not too bright, but still the dim light hurt my eyes. I closed them for a few seconds and opened them again. Soon my eyes became accustomed to the darkness, and I saw, sitting beside me, an old man who was literally shivering from fear.

Standing in front of us was none other than Eden and another man. Both of them were staring at us.

"What do you want, Eden?" I asked him. "And who is this man that you have also held captive? Please let him go. Look how old he is. For the sake of humanity, please let him go." I tried to reason with the lunatic.

He laughed out loud and said "Humanity! What humanity?"

The old man I exchanged glances as we wondered whether the man was sane or not.

"What have we done to deserve this?" the very old man asked in a begging tone.

Eden did not say anything, but the other man standing next to him began to speak, "My boss has nothing against either of you. He had no plans of bringing you here, but now that we have you, we might as well use you! There is a child who is coming to join you today; and at any and all costs; my boss wants that child alive. You, deMilo, will ensure that the child is alive and well. You might as well get to doing some work instead of just sleeping here in the warehouse! As for you, old man, you can spend all your time sleeping. What value can you add to us? We have nothing for you to do, but we cannot let you go. Once you go, you will go blabbering to the police."

The two men walked out, shutting the huge door behind them. Left alone, the old man and I started to talk. He narrated to me how he ended up in such demise, and I also narrated to him my own story. I was confident that my father had surely sent out his men, and police of course, to look for me. Comforting each other, we spent long hours talking and trying to figure out how we could free ourselves from the hands of the lunatic Eden.