Chapter 7

“Hey Tony, still tied up?”, he asked when his friend picked up the phone.

“Oh yes, Marcy," Tony said sweetly. "Trevor was superb. Looking forward to having him again next holidays.”

“Great," Jason sighed. "Just tell me you're closer to finding Carlos.”

“Oh no Marcy. Work's as hard as usual, but... (switching to a harsh whisper) hey look, things are difficult enough here. I certainly could do without you calling me every now and then!”

“Just tell me what you've got.”

“Nothing," was the sharp response. "It's not three hours yet. I'm going through everything we have on the Alvarezes, but so far, nothing. I'll let you know if something turns up.”

“When, Tony. I prefer a 'when'. Have they found my car yet?”

“They left a couple minutes ago. Cut them some slack, Owens is not as good as you are, you know.”

“Owens?”, Jason blurted, nearly choking on his drink.

“He's leading the team. He's volunteered to put his all into getting you.”

“Haha. I wish him luck. Send me the file on the Alvarez brothers, Tony.”

“Wildo. Just don't call me. I'll call you when I have something.”

With that, he disconnected the call. Jason had hardly taken the phone off his ear when another call came in.

“Ready for your instructions?”

It was Carlos Alvarez.

“Look.. listen, Carlos...”

“Go to the bar where we first met. The first table on the right, there's a plate. Under it are your instructions. Follow them to the latter if you want to see your daughter. Understood?”

“No,” Jason replied, firmly and calmly.

“What do you mean, gringo? Are you deaf? Do you love your daughter?”, Carlos shouted over the phone.

“You're the deaf one here, Carlos. And yes, I do love my daughter.. very much, but do you love your brother well enough? Remember, his life is in my hands. I wanna speak to Chrissie right now.”

“You'll speak to her when you get here. Go to The Sailor's now and stop wasting my time, you...”

“I'm not moving an inch until I speak to my daughter! How do I even know you're not bluffing?”

There was a short silence and then...

“Fine! Hold on.”

Jason held on, his heart pounding like a jackhammer. He could hear Carlos giving orders in the background and in a few seconds, Chrissie was on the line.

“Dad!”

“Hey hon, are you okay?”, he asked with a voice full of concern.

“Yeah. I'm really sorry, dad, for all th...”

“Don't worry about that, sweetheart. I'll get you out soon enough, okay? Just hold...”

“That's okay, Jason,” Carlos quipped as he got back on the phone. “The Sailor's. 4:30. Time's ticking.”

***

Chrissie felt a little relieved after hearing her father's voice. At the least, he was okay and working on getting her out. She felt deeply sorry for the trouble she had caused, but she prayed that all this would end soon and they would go back to living as peacefully as ever before. Alvarez had ordered that she be treated nicely, but if she gave any trouble, they were to tie and gag her.

She was kept quietly seated not only by Alvarez's injunction, but also by a huge and scary-looking man that stood guard over her with a gun that Chrissie guessed from her little knowledge of guns to be an AK-47. He was standing quite close to her and made it a point of duty to keep the muzzle of his rifle always pointed in her direction. It made her uneasy and uncomfortable, but she knew it was a deliberate tactic to keep her subdued. A dangerous one, she thought. Though the gun might not be loaded for all she knew, but she was far from willing to hazard a guess, so she sat meekly and quietly, praying inwardly for her dad to come to her rescue as quickly as possible.

Later in the evening, Clyde was ordered to take her back to her container residence. Chrissie had no idea why they isolated her, but she was glad to be far away from the rifle-wielding ruffian. It would be her first night in the container and she had no clue what to expect. She hoped that having stayed there most of the day, she would perhaps be familiar enough with it to pass the night without going mad from fear.

Clyde escorted her to the door, opened it and let her in. Chrissie swept her gaze around the place and found that it was exactly as she had left it earlier in the day. She turned to Clyde. He was standing at the entrance, focused on her. It seemed as if he had something to say, but he finally decided against it and turned around. Before Chrissie could think of calling out to him, he shut the door and locked her in.

She could not imagine why he always looked like he wanted to say something, but at the end, never did. With that on her mind, she walked over to the corner farthest from the door and sat down. There was nothing she could do but wait and hope. Pulling up her knees, she placed her head on them and started a flashback on the nice times she had with her father, back when his job was not so demanding. Surfing and swimming in the wild waves of the south, bicycle chases on the beach and her deliberate accidents just to make him lose, dart throwing after dinner and so many other warm memories.

She was in this position for quite a while and almost falling asleep when she heard a sound. A sound of something dropping - a faint thud. She looked in the direction where she thought the sound emanated from: the opposite wall. From the way and manner she had heard it, she knew that whatever it was that fell had fallen into her box. She was scared, but curious at the same time. It could be anything. The thought of a crawling creature or something of the sort occupying the box with her throughout the night sent a shiver down her spine. She had never been fond of insects or any other crawlie.

After a few seconds of indecision, curiosity won over fear. She decided to hazard a look. There wasn't much light since the sun had set, but there was enough to enable her find her way to the opposite wall. Slowly and cautiously, she crawled on the hay, expecting every second to come in contact with a beetle or something much worse. But nevertheless, she crawled on. She was now at the other wall, but she could feel nothing strange on the hay, so she stamped her palms around her, carefully at first, but faster and angrier after a while. She was about to give up when she touched on something strong. She shrank from it immediately and quickly pulled her hand away, thinking it was some giant beetle.

She waited with beating heart, expecting it to crawl towards her, but there was no sound or any sign of movement. So she became a little bolder and reached for it again tentatively. Her heart pounding in fear, she felt it all over, all the while expecting it to start crawling. But she soon found that it was no giant beetle, but just a plastic object. She could almost see it in the little light that was still available and it looked strangely familiar. Going closer, she picked it up and applied a little pressure. To her surprise, it turned on. It was a phone! And it was so familiar because it was Clyde's!