The Open Road

Chapter 12

Bob

Metal.

This is the first thing I tasted on my tongue when I came to. What was that noise? It was shrill and overbearing...It made my head pound.

"Arggggggh!"

I planted my palms against my ears, nothing changed. In fact, the sound seemed to be getting louder, more excruciating.

"Make it stop...make it stop!"

Later, when the sound dissipated, it occurred to me that the high-pitched sound was a ringing inside my ears. A ringing caused by the injury at the back of my head.

In fear of being found awake, I bolted my eyes shut attempting to buy myself some time to think. Who would want to kidnap me? It could not be a random stranger since the media had already painted me as a villain, a dangerous man. The assumption was, everyone was scared of me. So, maybe somebody I knew? Someone who knew I could not hurt a fly? Had Darren found out about my meeting with Sue? I would not put this whole ordeal past him. The man was a sociopath.

"Is he awake?"

A foghorn voice bellowed the inquiry from across the room. My heartbeat heightened, what if my captors killed me? I had the sudden urge of peeling my eyes open but I refrained, I needed more time. I needed to come up with a plan.

"Who does he think he is? Freaking sleeping beauty? Wake him up!"

I anticipated being roughened up, prison style. It would not be my first rodeo. I had been beaten up twice while I was in the pit. During the second attack, one of the guys had brought a knife to a first fight. I had wound up spending a week in the infirmary. I visibly shivered at the memory of that dingy clinic. The smell had been unbearable, the staff incompetent and the food? For the first time in my life, I had prayed to be taken to a cell. When I did return to my cell, no one ever tried to lay their hands on me again. I had become one of Jere's boys.

Instead of being physically assaulted, however, a barrel of cold water was aggressively spewed on me. I immediately sat up.

"Who are you! Do you know what I am capable of? Let me go this instant or-"

My rant was rudely cut off by one of my captor's chuckle. He was a tall, light skinned young man with a little Naivasha tan. I immediately doubted if he was the one with that deep commanding voice I had heard earlier, well until he opened his mouth.

"I'm your helper, assigned by Tommy who is Jere's dealer."

He had a certain way about him, a tactile madness. I had a feeling that he was used to people underestimating him. I had a feeling that he relied on people to underestimate him.

"Was the clubbing on the back of my head necessary?"

My so called helper eyed me for a minute before dismissing my question altogether. He just stood there with a smirk on his face, watching me with quiet amusement. Soon after another man entered the room and untied my hands and legs. I took this time to assess my surroundings. I quickly noticed how tiny the room was, it was smaller than my prison cell. My eyes lingered on a dark, still figure in the corner of the room. His hands and feet were bound and as far as I could tell, he was either unconscious or well, dead.

"My name is Jack and as from now on I'm your designated bodyguard."

So this is what Jere had meant by protecting me on the outside, he had gotten me a personal bodyguard. I almost felt rich again, key word, almost. I analyzed the man from the corner of my eyes while pushing myself off the ground. Jack was lean and taut, a man who was capable of taking care of himself and me in case we found ourselves in a scuffle. Too bad I couldn't trust him.

"Any chance I can step away from this offer?"

Jack, who was muttering instructions to the guy who had untied me, flickered his attention towards me.

"I believe you know who Jere is, when he gives out orders, you don't blink, you don't quip, you just follow. So unless you want my corpse on your hands..."

He was right. Jere loathed men who would not complete their assignments. His distaste of unaccomplished missions put a line of hitmen on a person's back.

"Fine. Any idea where I can find this?"

I patted my left pocket and fished out a crumpled piece of paper. It was the note Tommy had left me. In order to set a course for my freedom, I had to fulfil the promise I had made to Jere. If it were not for him, I would not have survived prison or escaped from it. I owed him my life.

"Yeah I do, I'll take you there. It's not that far from here anyway."

He did not even ask what I was going to do there or whether we would be facing a threat of any sort. Was Jere paying him that well or was there more go their relationship? Loyalty was a hard quality to find, I should know this better than anyone. I gave Jack a small nod and let him lead me out of the tiny room.

"Hey, what will happen to that guy?"

Jack chuckled humorlessly before responding to my question.

"What do you think?"

I gulped uneasily. Obviously these were not the sort of people to mess with. A shrill sound blared through the air. I smiled apologetically to Jack before fishing for my phone in my right pocket. I hesitated before pressing the green button.

"Sue?"

My voice came out strained and alien. Did I really want to involve her in all this mess?

"Bob? It's Kim, she is in the hospital. I'm so scared Bob, I'm scared she is...Bob I think she is going to die."