THE LYING GAME

09

~JADE~

My lungs begged to stop and take a break, breathe in some air, but my feet had a will of their own.

I ran after the security guard, into the school’s control room and shifted on my feet repeatedly as the guard fetched for the footage that had captured Eva getting hauled into a black van just in front of the school’s entrance by men in full black outfits, approximately forty-five minutes ago.

I wondered how they had managed to get through the checkpoint at the gate without suspicion but another guard hurried in with the report that the security men at the gate were knocked out and still unconscious.

“How could you all let this happen?!.” Principal Dwyer scolded the men, but their sluggishness was starting to get on my nerves.

“We don't have the time for this.” I pointed out and did a rewind of the CCTV footage to have a better look at the van. The vehicle had moved fast, but I was able to pause the video at an almost blurry angle where the plate number was readable.

“Call the police!.” I heard the principal order the men.

I fetched a notepad and a pen from my bag and took the numbers down. Then I walked a reasonable distance away from the men to place an urgent call with my hidden phone.

Luckily, the person on the other line picked up on the second ring.

“Ruby. It’s me.”

“Jade?.”

Ruby responded. Her voice was nervous and sounded more like a whisper.

I could feel the worry in her tone and I felt sorry for not reaching out to her to let her know I was settled in fine.

“I’m sorry. I know I should have reached out in some way, but this is urgent.” I rendered my apology first, driving straight to more pressing matters like saving a missing Axton Female.

“Alright. Shoot.”

“I’m sending you a plate number. Black van. I need to know its current location. It was last seen about fifty-two minutes ago. I want to know if there’s been any stops as well.”

“Okay. On it. Stay on the line, Jade!.”

It was time for recess and students trooped out of their classes. I couldn’t stop pacing about as I waited for Ruby’s response and I was attracting the attention of the students in doing so. I made to return to the control room but a wee voice from behind called me back.

“Hi.”

I turned around to see a petite girl with thick-framed glasses staring up at me. “Hi?” I returned with a lift of my brows.

The girl swallowed, her eyes darting around the hallway nervously before reluctantly meeting mine.

“Uhm… I’m Betty. Saw you come drop by earlier with Eva. Eva Axton… from the car.”

Eva.

My hand clenched tightly around the phone. “I’m Eva’s tutor. Betty. Is there something you wanna tell me?.”

“Uhm. I’m sorry. I know you must be looking for Eva right now.” She pointed out, her hands starting to fidget.

My brows tightened. The police were yet to arrive and Eva’s disappearance was still unknown to the students. “How do you know that, Betty?.”

"My locker's next to Eva's and I heard her earlier on the phone. She mentioned stuff about being out front in a few minutes. I know it sounds batshit spooky but I followed her to the entrance and was only some distance away when she got… grabbed."

My eyes squinted and my brain tried to process the information I just heard. "Why didn't you say something? You could have let someone know!.”

I was getting angry and my voice drew more attention to us, so I tried to tone down my voice. “It's almost an hour. Anything could have happened, for crying out loud.”

Betty’s face paled, her eyes filling up instantly.”I’m sorry. It all happened so fast and… I was so scared okay?. I didn’t know what to do. I’m sorry.” She repeated and glanced around. Then she hurried away.

I wanted to go after her but my phone started to vibrate. I picked up.

“Found it.” Ruby’s voice filtered through and Instead of relief I felt even more anxious. I had to know where they took Eva too and why. Most of all, I needed to make sure she was alright.

The phone beeped.

“Hey, Jade?. Are you there?. I sent you an address. There were no stops but you should hurry so they don't change locations again.”

“Thanks so much, Ruby. I owe you one.”

“Bet you do.”

The line disconnected and I forced my legs to move. Soon I broke into a run. My stamina was great but I made a mental note to put in more training when I had the chance.

I brushed past the approaching police vehicle on the way and hurried past the gate to halt the first available taxi I could get a hold of.

The address was a familiar one. A well-known suburb area with lots of properties belonging to high-class citizens of the city. The type of suburb that Ruby had mentioned was worth settling down in more than a million times.

The taxi halted in front of a duplex and I alighted. The black van from the footage was tucked away in the open garage next to the house and I knew I was at the right place.

The van was empty, they had to be in the house. I walked up to the door and held my hand up to knock but did a bypass instead and followed the corners to check the windows.

They were shut tightly. Frustrated, I turned to the only option I had. Right back to the door.

Picking the lock was uncomplicated but my cover was blown the instant I kicked the door open.

“Holy cow!.”

“What the f**k?!.”

I had anticipated the worst. Some grown men or women maybe, with stern-looking faces; Not a bunch of high as f**k teenagers in full black outfits glaring at me in shock for invading their territory.

“This is private property, Ma’am. Don’t make me call the police.” One of the boys came forward, his face mask pulled back like a warmer on his head and the others stood behind him to back him up.

“Not if you get arrested first for k********g. Give it fifteen minutes or nah… any moment from now. Now where the f**k is Eva Axton?.”

“What?. The police?.”

The boys panicked, their faces pale with fear.

“It wasn't a kidnap okay? It was just a little prank!.”

“Jeez. Can't you all handle a joke? It's not so serious.” Another boy spat, his eyes were wide and red, probably from the knowledge that he was going to be arrested soon.

One of the boys who had been resting against the wall, observing everything suddenly moved forward and threw a punch at the one who had spoken first, ignoring his swears to pull him up by the collar.

“This was your stupid idea, Collin. I told you it was f*****g stupid!. Now you’ve put me in a mess! My parents are going to be f*****g mad when they return!.”

A full-blown fight started and a girl I hadn't noticed was present, threw herself right in the middle of it to separate them.

I ignored them and searched the rooms on the ground floor. There was no sign of Eva in any of the rooms.

I sprang up the stairs and met a scene.

Eva rushed out of one of the rooms, sobbing with a boy hot on her heels.

He grabbed her hands, trying to stop her from leaving but Eva shook him off.

She turned to face him and from where I stood, I could see her face clearly. She had been crying again. “I don't want to ever see you again, okay?. You cheating, lying, jerk!.”

“Calm down Eva. You are overreacting again! I already explained, didn't I? Whatever you thought you saw at the party was wrong! She was forcing herself on me. Please, baby. See I did all of this for you! You wouldn't even pick up my calls all night, or give me a chance to explain. I had to bring you here to get you to listen.”

Eva scoffed and I took a step back.

“Stop lying, Nate!. You should have seen the way she looked at me in class! Like she had won or something. It’s so sick and I don't f*****g believe you!.”

Nate ran a hand through his hair, he finally let go of Eva and paced about the room frustratedly. “What about our deal? What you promised. I need it to sort things out this weekend!.”

Eva looked at Nate in disbelief, “That’s all you f*****g care about… f**k you, Nate!. You hear me?. f**k you!.” She turned away and headed straight towards my direction with Nate rushing after her.

Eva halted when she saw me, and the siren of police vehicles closed in on us.