Dawn had waited for the farmers to open the door. She heard the excited voices of neighbors, which she didn"t bother to concentrate upon. Hurriedly, she did what she had to."Uncle, we are in big trouble," Dawn whispered in the phone, sounding urgent. Her voice was quivering a little.
"What happened? Tell me," Alvarez could hear her nervous tone.
"We—"
She hadn"t even started the sentence when she heard heavy footsteps coming back to her room.
Without wasting another second, Dawn said, "The hunters in the family are closing in on us."
"Hunters? What hunters?" Alvarez was confused.
The man of the house was coming back to check upon her.
"What are you saying?" he said, walking in her room and pointing the gun at her.
Dawn gulped. She removed the phone from her ear and stuttered, "I— I am only bargaining with my family."
The farmer jerked his chin to ask her to continue talking.
Dawn put the phone back on her ear and continued in a subdued voice, "Uncle, hope you haven"t forgotten the location."
Alvarez stayed quiet. Something was seriously wrong on the other side.
"I am giving you the address again," said Dawn and gave the location. She added, "Instead of five million, get ten million because I want to enjoy my vacation. Also, these people here are demanding some extra cash. Please bring ten million if you want us safely back. And—"
The farmer s.n.a.t.c.hed the phone from her before she could speak any further. Dawn bit her lip. Cole tugged at her sleeve, feeling too scared. He hid his face behind her back. Dawn squeezed his hand.
Kiki returned after closing the door loudly. She scurried to the room. "Have you talked?"
"Yes," came a soft answer. There was a line of sweat on Dawn"s forehead.
Kiki looked at her husband and said, "Re-check the last number she dialed."
He checked and replied, "It"s the same: the Wyatts."
"Call it," Kiki said.
"What? Are you mad?" he barked at her.
"You fool! Just call it back. I want to make sure that this girl is not fooling us."
Sweat trickled down Dawn"s back.
The farmer called, and a man answered in a heavy clipped voice, just like last time, "h.e.l.lo?"
Kiki immediately grabbed the phone from her husband and declared, "You better get ten million dollars, else you will never find the bodies of these two kids." Saying that, she disconnected the call.
On the other side of the phone, Alvarez clenched his jaws in anger.
Kiki scoffed at Dawn, a.s.sured that she had not called anyone else, and left the room. She thought about what morons these rich kids were. Her husband followed her out, and they locked the room again.
Dawn blew out a breath of relief. When the couple had gone out, she had quickly changed the number saved under Wyatts and had called Alvarez instead. She was shaky when she did that. The fact that the farmer had come immediately made her all the more jittery. She talked in code, hoping that Alvarez understood her. She had a hunch that Kiki might redial the number.
And sure enough, Kiki did. Alvarez picked the call again. Kiki was trapped in her own vicious plan.
At first, Alvarez couldn"t understand, "Hunters? Trouble?" he said aloud. He replayed everything Dawn said on the phone.
Suddenly, he realized that Dawn was trying to give him a message that she was in severe danger in the location she had shared, along with the fact that the kids were facing danger from the family too. He pounded his table hard and rose to his feet. Opening the gla.s.s door of his office, he gathered a team of policemen and rushed to the location as described by Dawn. Five police cars drove there on an emergency basis with no questions asked.
"Drive fast!" he ordered. They had to reach the village sooner than anyone. Alvarez hoped that they would arrive before any harm was done. Luke had helped him a number of times, and this was Alvarez"s chance at helping Luke back.
His body shuddered and goose b.u.mps lined his skin when he thought about the grave danger the kids were in. He prevented his mind from thinking the worst. Once again, he ordered his men, "Go fast! We have to reach there like yesterday!" They were on a tight leash of time.
As soon as they reached the village, they parked their cars in an isolated place. They walked to the farmer"s cottage and upon seeing no sign of activity, all of them hid in discrete places upon Alvarez"s orders and waited for the captors to arrive.
Alvarez was shocked to see that it was Jason who had come to pick the kids, and he was accompanied with almost twenty men. There was a tight feeling in Alvarez"s chest when he thought how wrong the things could go.
Jason stepped out of the car, all dressed in black with a large brown duffle bag in his hand. He felt his holster where he was carrying his gun. He looked like a fierce madman. He walked to the cottage along with ten of his men. The rest of the men surrounded the front side of the cottage. Yet before Jason could knock on the front door, a bullet shot was heard. Everyone turned to look at the man who had fallen. The man was hot on the chest. He was propelled backward and immediately slumped, sliding onto the road. All the other men started to shoot in random directions, but more bullets came from places they couldn"t decipher. The attack was so sudden that it was impossible to understand where the gunshots originated from.
Jason shouted, "Retreat! This is a trap." Suddenly, a bullet came and grazed his hand. He dropped the bag, shouting in pain, and started running back to his car. It was not even ten minutes before the entire conflict ended. All those who were alive dashed into their cars and sped off.
While going back, Jason called the farmer on the phone. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you led us into a trap. Wait till I shred you and your family into pieces." He was so angry that he smashed the phone on the car"s window. They were this close in getting the kids, and all of a sudden, out of the blue, gunshots were fired at them. How did that happen? Everything was going so smoothly. He had the five million in cash, ready to give them. If he wanted, he could have killed them, but he was in a benevolent mood. He had collected the money from Helena and was waiting to get his hands on Dawn. Except, not only did he not get the kids, he lost all the money as well. The more he thought about it, the more his anger rose.