Use a Hostage to Take Another Hostage

"Clap, clap, clap!" A round of slow clapping comes out from the corner in the kitchen. A young man with a goatee steps out from the shadow and walks into the living room.

"Oh, don't mind me. Keep going," The young man makes a gesture, "I like to keep Amelia happy. She likes an open relationship where she can date different men. It's very popular where I'm from, so I don't mind at all."

Jack is entirely shocked. But he finds himself continues the conversation: "Oh, so where are you from?"

"California." This young man laughs.

Jack doesn't want to be rude, but he lightly pushes Amelia, letting her know he wants to get up now. Amelia slides off from Jack.

Jack stands up, "Well, Hi. I didn't know it snows in California? But you are Snowblind, right? Or do you prefer The Waterfalls?"

"I don't care either way. I can tell you my real name if you want."

"Yes, please do tell me."

"My real name is... get the f* out of my house." The young man suddenly raises his voice.

"Whoa. Slow down. Whatever happened to making your girlfriend happy?"

"Who sent you here to find me?" He stares at Jack.

"No one. I told Amelia. I am a fan of your work. I want to know how you make people experience snow blindness."

"Don't lie."

"I don't know what else to say."

"Then what do you wish to achieve by finding me?"

"Um, make friends with you?"

Of course, Jack cannot tell this young man that he is supposed to kidnap him.

Jack reaches his hand out to try to shake his, "I really do want to know your name. Come on. Just a first name is fine. Or last. If you prefer to tell me your last name, that's cool. Or both."

"Shut up!" The young man raises his voice again.

"OK. Fine." Jack makes a gesture as if he zips up his lips.

"His name is Dominic. I happen to like some dominance." Amelia says, and she slips her dress back on.

"Awesome. Dominic. Love it. So..., Dominic, I brought wine over. Would you like some? Let's sit down." Jack gestures the couch.

Jack now tries to think if there's anyway to get Dominic drunk and alone. Is there anyway to get Amelia to leave? Or, maybe he should come back later tonight when they least expect it?

Bob once told him a Sun Tzu quote about waiting for the right opportunity. Jack thinks he really needs to wait for a better timing than now. There's no way Amelia is going to leave just Dominic and himself alone.

All he can do now is pretend to be friendly.

"I don't really drink. Definitely not a rose."

"I'm sorry that this is not what you like," Jack says but he takes a mental note that Dominic doesn't really drink alcohol, which means, Jack will have to find a substance that can put Dominic to sleep somehow.

Or, he can lure him outside the house alone and just knocks him out.

"Shall we continue our little fun game?" Amelia holds a wine glass and smiles.

"Well, I don't think I can do it if someone is watching." Jack starts to get some ideas in his head. "Is it possible that you and I go to a bedroom and have some privacy? Leave Dominic alone?"

"Hmm, no. I want him around."

Jack then thinks to himself: Seriously? Argh. How weird. But that means he really has no chance to getting Dominic alone and separate the two.

"Well, Maybe I will come back some other time." Jack then tries to re-adjust his own clothing.

"Once you leave, you are not welcome back." Dominic says.

"Oh yeah? Why?"

"You really just come here to stop me from hacking gas station operating systems. Am I correct?" Dominic stares at Jack.

"Oh? You hack into gas stations? That's cool."

"Don't play dumb. You can tell whoever sent you here, I have my own boss. I am not stopping. Hackers need to make money, too. I am getting paid to do this."

"Oh. Is there anything else you need?"

"I just need you and your people to stay out of my business."

"If you just need money, what if someone else pays you more money, would you take that?"

Jack cannot believe he is helping Keith to bargain with Dominic. Maybe, Jack also wants to stop Dominic from hacking into gas stations. That's quite annoying to regular people's day-to-day life in general. And Jack is one of the regular people.

"We can talk some numbers. But, I don't think I'm interested in taking new clients right now."

"Well, then I guess that's good enough information now." Jack now moves towards the door way. As he takes his steps over there, he sees an umbrella by the door.

What if he can just beat Dominic up? He can use the umbrella as a weapon, like a sword of some kind. He is confident to be able to punch Dominic and throw him to the ground, but having a weapon to keep a little distance from Dominic is a good thing right now. He needs to keep his vision field wide open.

There is also Amelia. He can also use Amelia as a hostage to make Dominic listen. Ha! Hold a hostage so he can hold another person as a hostage!

Jack is not a man of patience. Yes, he can come back around again to try to get Dominic alone. But he also has a feeling that Dominic might not be here tomorrow.

"Well, I hope you enjoy the wine, Amelia," Jack pretends to bend down to tie his shoes, "Too bad we can't get more done."

Amelia gets up from the couch and walks over to Jack.

"Aww, I know," She stands next to Jack.

Suddenly, Jack hugs Amelia's legs and pulls her to make her lose balance. Amelia screams and she falls down to the floor.

"Amelia! No!" Dominic shouts.

Jack then quickly stands up and steps on her back, using the umbrella to point at her right hand, "Don't you any of you move, or I can break her fingers with the umbrella, then you will not be playing any violin with your doctor friends."

Amelia whines. Dominic disobeys Jack's order and rushes over, "Stop! Don't hurt her!"

Jack thinks it's funny that Dominic thinks he can do anything about this.