Chapter 17

Inside the room, after much effort, Naomi finally managed to sit up and, looked around, tried to find a way out of that place.

"Damn it. I need to get out of here if I could remove get these handcuffs off..." Naomi said in anguish.

And no matter how hard she tried to find a way out of there, it seemed like there was nothing but the cage she was in it, was almost as if the place had been left behind, with no window or any other kind of natural light coming in, it was hard to tell if it was day or night.

And since she woke up, the only people who had entered that room were Yin and the two subordinates. During her conversation with Yin, Naomi couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the way Yin said he had chosen the cage for her as if he had been watching her the whole time inside Tatsuo's mansion.

"But how did Yin find out that I was hiding in Tatsuo's mansion? There was no way for anyone to know DF doesn't know anything other than what I told him ..." At this moment, Naomi concluded. "... Unless Yin has an informant inside Tatsuo's mansion, I wonder if Satoru already knows about this? Or rather, will someone come to rescue me? ..."

It was almost winter, the temperature in the room was getting lower and lower, Naomi felt the cold reaching the tips of her fingers and toes, and it wouldn't be long before her body would start to shiver. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, and her throat was dry, and all she had eaten was her morning coffee. But her hungriness was the least of her problems.

When she suddenly heard the door creak open, Naomi thought it might be Yin, but to her surprise, it was only one of his henchmen accompanying a blond woman carrying a blanket and a tray with a piece of bread, a bowl of soup, and a glass of juice.

Without saying anything, the man approached the cage, and as he opened it, the woman waited. At that moment, Naomi realized that this would be the best chance she would have to escape from that place when the man was about to release the handcuffs, he whispered saying:

"If you try to run away, I have orders to punish you in any way I see fit."

Naomi felt fear take over her body after hearing what that man had said. In the tone of his voice, there was no hesitation at all. In truth, it was as if he wished her to do something.

After the man loosened his cuffs, the woman who until then had remained motionless approached the cage and left the tray and blanket in front of Naomi and stood waiting by the henchman's side until Naomi had finished her meal. Naomi looked at that food and, taking the bowl in her hands in her, mind wondered:

"Is it safe to eat this? They would have no reason to poison me, right?" Naomi felt her stomach rumbling again. "I am a bargaining chip for them. I don't think it would make sense to kill me now. Ungh! May it be what God wills."

Without a spoon, Naomi would have to drink directly from the bowl. Blowing off the steam, she felt her mouth fill with water, and quickly took the first sip. But it was so hot that it went down her throat and burned. Desperate, she grabbed the glass of juice and drank it all at once to ease the pain.

"cof! cof! Damn ... too hot ... I burn my throat." Naomi said.

"Shut your damn mouth and finish eating." Said the subordinate with a stern tone of voice.

And the moment their eyes met, Naomi felt suffocated. She had never seen a look as intense and icy as that man. Fear paralyzed her body, for a few seconds, her voice had stuck in her throat, Naomi tried to regain her calm and with great effort managed to say:

"S-sorry ..." said Naomi fearing the worst.

Without saying anything else, the man sighed and looked away. After calming down, Naomi returned to eating. It was then that she noticed that even though she had in some way harmed Tatsuo, he never showed hostility towards her, unlike Yin, who treated her like an animal that needed to be locked up in a cage. But the feeling she had was that Yin was using her to cause Tatsuo anger and not to find DF.

She tried to understand the real reason why Yin wanted her around but could not find an answer. It made no sense to use her as a bargaining chip since she had no sentimental attachment to Tatsuo for this, the reason she knew he would not come.

"Whew ..." Naomi sighed. "I have to find a way out of here."

☸☸☸〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰☯⚛☯〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰☸☸☸

It was just over half an hour before meeting Yin at the restaurant when Tatsuo left the mansion along with Satoru and two other subordinates and headed for the car parked right in the driveway. As soon as Tatsuo got into the car, Satoru received a phone call, and when he saw that it was from one of the henchmen in charge of finding DF's whereabouts, he quickly answered and said

"Can speak."

"Assistant Satoru, we found the guy who was Naomi's partner." Said the voice on the other end of the call. "He is trying to escape to Saitama City right now. We will intercept him as soon as he disembarks from the subway.."

"Great, bring it as soon as possible. Master Tatsuo wishes to have a conversation with him." Said Satoru.

"Yes, Mr. Assistant Satoru." Said the voice on the other end of the connection that disconnected the call.

The moment Satoru got into the car, Tatsuo asked him:

"Found the bastard?"

"Yes, sir, he is trying to escape in the direction of Saitama City, but our men are tracking him.."Satoru answered diligently.

"Well, it looks like my night will be a full one." Said Tatsuo sarcastically. "What information did you get about him?"

Satoru opened a file on his cell phone and started reading.

"His name is Kenjiro Saito, 26 years old has been involved in several cyber thefts and has been arrested only once for breaking into a national bank's system and transferring money from the vault to a private account. And after this, he has remained in hiding until now. And recently, he is back in business, just before he hacked into the Avant Kaishi system."Satoru said, reading the file.

"So this is the kind of person Yin chooses to do the dirty work? I wonder how much Avant Kaishi would lose if Yin's plan had worked." Said Tatsuo thoughtfully."And what else do you have about him?"

"When I investigated Naomi, I discovered that they worked together a few times. But always to protect the company's systems and never to steal data." Said Satoru.

"hmmm... Then it was true... " Said Tatsuo thoughtfully. "But that doesn't matter, as long as this Kenjiro can help me with a service. Since Yin dared to play dirty with me, I will also do the same, and we will see who will fall first."

Satoru quickly signaled for the driver to proceed with the journey. While Tatsuo contained his hatred, I remembered Hidetaka's words in this situation it, was wiser to act cautiously and make sure to obtain information about Naomi and her location. And resolve the disagreements once and for all and bring rest to those who had died unjustly.

☸☸☸〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰☯⚛☯〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰〰☸☸☸