Chapter 19

The indicator light on his telephone blinked incessantly. It had been blinking for the past five minutes, constantly telling him that he had a message, but Matthew was not interested in talking to or hearing anyone.

The past few days had been a whirlpool of emotions for him. Like a small boat in the treacherous ocean, he had been rocked by a horrible storm, shipwrecked and washed up on shore as a pile of wood and scrap metal.

He did not know and would never have guessed that the absence of a woman could have done this to his psyche. Every day felt uninteresting, dull, and without color. Misery and insomnia were his constant companions.

Sighing, he picked up the phone and depressed the button to hear the message. A cool male voice narrated a message to him.

"Mr. Devin, you asked us to track the movements of Samuel Karly a while back. Well, he's made a suspicious transfer and we think that he may be preparing to kidnap someone. Please call back whenever you can, sir."

Without wasting a second, Matthew redialed and swore under his breath as the phone rang several times without anyone answering.

He called once more, and the phone was answered on the first ring.

"Hel—"

"Samuel Karly. All the information you have on him. Let me hear it. Quickly!" He all but shouted into the phone.

The person on the line seemed to understand his urgency and instantly made his report.

"Yes, sir. We discovered that Samuel Karly made a transfer of 70,000 dollars to a company named Good Luck Electronics. It seemed like a normal transfer, but Karly had transferred the money out of one of his several offshore accounts."

Matthew understood the implications immediately. "He did not want the money to be tracked."

"Yes, and so we did some more digging into Good Luck Electronics and found out that they are a front of an illegal kidnapping and trafficking group."

Matthew felt his heart drop. "And?

"There were some individuals in the ring that were willing to give us information in exchange for money and from the information we retrieved it seems like Karly's target is a young female journalist. We were not able to ascertain her full name but her first name seems to be Miranda."

The phone began to tremble against Matthew's ear and the tremble spread around his body as fear consumed him.

"W-when is the kidnapping supposed to take place?"

"Tonight. Is there a problem, sir?

Yes, there was. There was a serious problem. Miranda was going to be kidnapped.

"Where is she to be held?"

"We have no idea, sir. Good Luck Electronics has different branches around the city and the state. They may hold her in any of those branches. Can we get back to you?"

"Send the head of department up now!"

"Yes, sir."

Slamming the phone back in its cradle, Matthew rose from his seat and paced the office anxiously. At that moment, all the thoughts of Miranda's supposed betrayal flew from his mind, his entire brain filled with the desire to keep her safe.

The pacing continued until a knock interrupted him. The door swung open and in a black and white suit was the head of security of Devin Constructions. Security was very important in a company like this where construction materials were being made, processed, and distributed.

In the early days of the company, he had outsourced security but as the company expanded, branching out into different fields and different locations, the amount of security needed at all the production, storage, distribution sites increased dramatically. Outsourcing was no longer possible.

He had hired the best security agents to protect his assets and that protection evolved beyond physically securing the buildings to cybersecurity, and the use of state of the art equipment to prevent preemptive strikes on the company.

Today, the security department of Devin Construction was advanced, taking up two floors of the entire building, as well as offices in other branches.

Matthew looked at the man who was his head of security, Lachlan Darley. He was one of the few men who had Matthew's personal contact. He was one of the members of the security company Matthew had originally outsourced security to.

Once he heard that Matthew would be crafting his own dedicated security department, he had quit his job to join him at Devin Construction and had served loyally since then.

"I need your help," Matthew said, standing in front of the desk.

"Sir," Lachlan said, his posture attentive.

"I got a call from the security department. I assume you are aware."

"Yes, sir. I directed one of my subordinates to inform you of the direction our investigation was taking."

"Keep her safe. The woman who Karly plans to kidnap. Keep her safe."

Lachlan raised his brows but said nothing.

"Find out everything you can. Everything. And do everything you can as well. You can use whatever weapons you choose but make sure she's unharmed. That's all I care about."

Lachlan nodded. "I'll do just that. But sir, can I get some information about this woman? What she looks like, where she lives, where she works. That kind of information."

"Walter has all the information you need. I will call him to get it to you.

Lachlan nodded again. "I'll get back to you in an hour with more information about the kidnapping plan, sir."

Lachlan left the office and Matthew immediately went for his phone. Tapping the call icon next to Walter's name, he placed the phone against his ear and waited for the assistant to answer. As he waited, horrible thoughts began to flood his mind. He'd sent her away, hadn't he? Never giving her a chance to explain herself and now she was in danger again.

The phone clicked as Walter answered. "Sir."

"Walter, I need you to send all the information you have on Miranda, including her current address and employment details to Lachlan. He requires it urgently."

"I will do that immediately. Is Miss Dunne in any danger?"

"Yes, the security department discovered that Karly sent a group of kidnappers after her."

Walter drew in a breath, shocked. "I'll do that immediately," he said firmly.

Matthew returned to his seat and pulled the phone from his ear, intent on ending the call but he realized that he needed the information as well. "Walter, send me all the documents as well."

Walter paused, hesitant. It did not need a genius to realize what was going on in Matthew's mind. "Sir, you explicitly told me not to give you any information concerning Miss Dunne the day that she was removed from your residence."

"That was a different situation. She is in danger now. Send the information to me now."

"And what will you do when you get this information, sir? Will you rush out to her place of work or her residence?"

Exasperated, Matthew tilted his head to gaze at the white ceiling of the office. "It does not concern you what I choose to do with the information, Walter. Send it to me."

"I will not do that, sir."

"Walter," Matthew said through gritted teeth. "Tell me where I can find her so I will go and get her. Karly wants to abduct her again."

"You mentioned that the security department was already dealing with it. If that is the case, then there is absolutely no reason for you to involve yourself any further in this issue. You will only endanger yourself."

Banging a fist into the desk, Matthew shot up from the chair, sending it falling backward. "I need to get to her. I need to…"

He ran his hand through his hair, body quaking.

Matthew could hear the sympathy in Walter's voice as he tried to assure him. "Miss Dunne will be fine, sir. The security department is competent and will handle the situation professionally. Please try to get some rest and put this matter out of your mind. I will be back at the company very soon. See you then."

A click and the call ended.

Matthew's hand fell limply to his side, the phone sliding from his grip and clattering to the tiled floor beneath him. He glanced at the phone, emotions surging and receding. He recalled with startling clarity the swiftness with which he deleted and blocked her contact from his phone.

Email, phone number. Everything. He vowed to himself that he would never contact her and that he would never allow her to contact him. Hindsight, they say, is twenty-twenty.

Lifeless, Matthew walked to the window and stared out of the beautiful glass and metal structure that was Devin Construction. He banged his head on the glass, wishing he could go back and make things right again.

He remained there, looking at the bustling city, thousands of people going about their day, everything in its normal place. The world was still going round; it had only stopped for him. The longest hour of Matthew's life passed, and the head of security returned, his face grim.

Placing his hands under the desk to hide their shaking, Matthew looked at the man. "What's the update?"

"We visited Miss Dunne's residence and her place of work. We cannot find her anywhere. We asked her fellow employees and they told us that she did not come to work this morning. We fear that she might have been abducted already."

At once, all the air in the room evaporated and Matthew was left gasping and breathless. Clenching his teeth so his breakfast did not make its way back, he asked, "So what are you doing?"

"Sir, we've been able to narrow the spots where we think she is being held. We are currently staking out all the plausible spots. We will have more information soon. In the meantime, we will keep trailing Karly, tracking his movements. We have been able to plant a bug on him. We will inform you if there is any new information."

Matthew shook his head. "No. I can't wait. I'll follow you. I want to see you working."

Lachlan raised his brows, surprised. It seemed that he was finally understanding the importance of Miranda to his boss. "If that is what you wish, sir."

It was a game of waiting. Checking the available information, putting teams into position, setting up an elaborate rescue plan but mainly a game of waiting. Their patience was rewarded soon.

Through the bug, Matthew and the other security operatives could hear a car door slamming.

"Mr. Karly," said a light female voice. "I did everything you asked me to do. I gave you her location. I even lured her out and I set up a meeting place. That was why you were able to get her. Please give me money," the woman said, desperation leaching out of her voice.

Karly laughed darkly in response. "What a lovely family. You sold your sister out for money. I will pay you when I confirm the work has been done and I have my first taste of what is between her thighs. Till then, don't bother me."

The female begged and pleaded but Karly kept his ground and before long, grew tired of the woman, sending her away.

"When was this?" Matthew asked.

"About five minutes ago. We are tracking Karly's movements currently."

One of the operatives at the computer stations looked up from his screen. "Karly is heading to one of the places we have under surveillance."

Lachlan and Matthew's attention immediately turned to the voice. "Where?" they said as one.

The operative pointed to the screen. Lachlan tapped his chin, taking in the information. "This is probably where she is being held. There is no reason for Karly to be in this part of the city. A strike team is currently on standby here at the company, but we have no idea where she is being held in the building. If it is agreeable to you," he said, turning to Matthew. "We will wait until she is being transported before moving in."

"Karly is entering the building," another operative noted.

The two men immediately refocused on the screen. Indistinct conversation filtered through the bug, making the audience in the room strain to pick out the words but to no end. Fortunately, the conversation ended, and Karly began climbing or descending metal stairs. They listened carefully and heard a metal door rattle open.

Footsteps, then a pause. What is going on, Matthew asked himself. And then Karly's evil laughter filled the room.

"Miranda, you foolish wench."