Come Closer

Chapter 38

“Avelyn! Avelyn! TALK TO ME!” Nathan screamed on the phone. After the deafening gunshots and screams he heard, everything on the other side went silent. He turned the steering wheel left, barely passing by a car at the speed he was driving at.

“Hello! Sir!” Nathan heard a voice from the phone. “Where is Avelyn?” Nathan asked, as he recognized the voice of the bodyguard. And his blood ran cold as he listened to the news. “Sir, some masked men kidn*pped her!”

“Did you identify them?”

“No sir. We were fighting and they were wearing masks and covering themselves well. I couldn’t notice any sign of whom they work for.” Nathan shook his head. He needed to think straight and be in his right mind to solve this problem. “Are you all still at the company?” he asked.

“Yes sir.”

“What’s the situation now?”

“Three of us are injured severely, sir. I’ve sent them to hospital.”

“Then the others?”

“Two of them went with the injured ones. Five of us are still here.”

“Police?”

“No sir.” Nathan wasn’t surprised. Though this was a new city where they moved to, the police were still scared of the ones in power. “I’m coming, wait there.”

When Nathan arrived at the scene, he saw what a mess the company’s front had become. Blood was splattered all over the floor, and broken pieces of glass were scattered everywhere. Avelyn’s handbag could be seen on the floor with its contents spilled out. Only the five bodyguards were standing there, after sending away the terrified workers of the office. People had isolated the place after the scene they had witnessed. The head guard handed Nathan Avelyn’s phone. Nathan glanced at the cracked screen and put it in his pocket. He looked around the road, and spotted a few CCTV cameras. “Get the CCTV footage. Quickly!” He instructed his men and ran into his own company’s security room to get the footage of their security cameras.

“They’re going out of town.” Jayden rubbed his face with his palms, after they had watched the last recording which showed the van that Avelyn was taken away by.

“Where could they be taking her to?”Nathan drummed his fingers on the table.

“I have no idea. Can’t we send some men in that direction?”

“We can but…” Nathan traced the map with his fingers, “they could take any turn to these side roads. Their route is through the forest. So many different paths to different cities. Dadburgh, Galgart, Kaberry, Burnbrook.” He sighed. “And they can still go further. We will never be able to get the clues in less than three days. The odds are heavily against us.” Nathan rested his head on his hand.

“Black masked men...” Jayden muttered, “…black masked men..”

“These can’t be some random gangsters. A well planned a*******n, and a well-executed one.”

“Did Avelyn have any rivals then?” Jayden asked, his gaze still focused on the map, but he raised his head and looked at Nathan as his question was answered by silence.

“Avelyn didn’t, but The Ghost did…Whoever took Avelyn, precisely knew who she is.”

Jayden’s eyes widened. “You mean,…the mafia that sent a spy to us?”

Nathan shook his head uncertainly. “I’m not exactly sure. But everything leads us in that direction.”

“This can’t be over some small matter. A grudge that still makes him chase her even after six years after The Ghost disappeared. Their loss must be big.” Jayden thought out loud.

Nathan racked his brain for something, anything that would give him a suspect. The Ghost had attacked many mafias, small and big, and Nathan wanted to sort out the losses each one had faced. He massaged his temples. “Did we burn all the files?” he asked, referring to the files they destroyed when they left the underworld.

“Yes, Avelyn strictly instructed that it was necessary.”

“Aaargh!” Nathan got up from his seat and started pacing around. “I can’t remember the details!”

“How can you? It has been six years already!”

“But we can’t just wait and watch. We need to rescue her!”

“Yes, but how?”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“What if we ask for help?”

Nathan shook his head. “Who is there to help Nathan?” He placed his hands on his hips.

“Hayden.”

Nathan immediately shook his head. “No. Anyone but him. He would never help Avelyn.”

This time, Nathan stood up. “And why is that?” His fists were curled.

“Because he f*****g ORDERED HER TO BE KILLED! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT HE WOULD EVEN CONSIDER HELPING HER?”

“HE DOESN’T KNOW WHO SHE REALLY IS!”

“Do you think he would ask? Huh? Do you think that he would just agree to help us get Avelyn back?”

“No, but if I ask him, -’’

“If you ASK him!”

Jayden sighed. He took a deep breath, and tried to calm down. “Listen. We are not getting anywhere near Avelyn right now, are we? So let’s just try, at the least, to get help from Hayden. It’s better than just sitting and arguing, right?” He tried to reason with Nathan.

A few seconds of silence spread in the room as Nathan gathered his thoughts. He let out a long breath, and nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go.”