Book 2: Chapter 33

I felt my strength leaving me as I felt the cold metal in my temple. I could not understand what was going on, but what came to my mind was that these men were probably President Ric's hired men.

"What do you what from us?" I glared at the man who was poking his gun at me.

I then rolled my eyes sideways to peer at the driver, wanting to see his reaction. I was thinking he was an accomplice, sending me into a kidnap-for-ransom set-up. However, I got surprised. The driver was shivering in fear, his color draining from his face.

"Just follow us silently if you don't want to get hurt."

"Who is the mastermind behind this?" I bravely asked, mustering all the courage I could get to maintain a sound mind. I pretended unintimidated.

"Keep your mouth shut. You won't get an answer anyway," the man roared in my ear as I stepped out of the car; his pungent smell turned my guts inside out.

I ran to the side of the street as I was about to throw up, but the man yanked me up, grabbing my hair.

"Stop it!" A familiar voice thundered in my ears, making the man release his hold on me. It allowed me to crouch and throw up all the contents of my stomach while the man walked towards us. The discomfort I had felt overthrew my fear of being in the hands of the kidnapper.

How lousy this kidnapper is, I thought while resting from a bout of throwing up. He could have tightened his hold on me since he could use me as his hostage if ever the man who came was a cop.

But to my surprise, he was not just any man but Eric!

"Why are you here?" I asked as I tilted my head to look at him. Maybe, I just felt too bad that I didn't recognize his voice right away.

"I saw you in the lobby, so I followed you. My question is, who are these men?"

"How would I know?" I said angrily, glancing at the man who caused such turbulence in my stomach. How could Eric be so dumb to ask me such a question at the wrong place and time?

"Can you stay away from me? You make me puke out my guts!" I hurled my fingers at the man who started walking close to me. I was becoming a little braver now that Eric was there.

"Shut up and follow me. Now!" The man snarled again, and this time, he pulled out another pistol from his back and aimed it at Eric.

"Who are you?" asked Eric, demanding an immediate answer.

"You have no right to ask me! If you care about this woman, go and die with her. But if you don't, leave before I change my mind and throw you into this mess!" The man then turned away from Eric and pulled me along with him.

"Please, be gentle with her. She is pregnant," Eric tried to beg while following me and the man towards the van that blocked us on the road. I also wondered why no other vehicles were passing this way. They could have stopped these men from whatever they wanted from us.

I did not dare to turn my head and looked at Eric. If he truly cared about me, he would not think twice about going with me. This place was not our country where he had control. He could not possibly connect to someone and rescue us from this ordeal.

As the man shoved me inside the car, he turned to look at Eric.

"Step aside if you want to spare yourself! You're so lucky that I'm considerate enough. I don't have eternity to wait for you."

This man is too stupid! Why would he release Eric? He could be a witness to this crime! He could even commit to his memory the details of the car's plate number, the car's model and features, and many things, else, including his built.

"I'm going with her!" Eric stuttered as he finally slid himself beside me on the passenger's seat.

Cold sweats ran over my temples, and my hands were already shaking visibly.

"What do you want from us?" I asked again. My voice was so shrill in anger that I knew it irritated the man.

The man gave me the cold shoulder, and then I heard a clicking sound, indicating that he was securing the locks. A monitor hung beside the rear-view mirror, showing our anxious looks by the passenger's seat.

"Be patient! You'll soon have your answer," the man answered, glancing at us through the monitor.

His smell lingered inside the car, and my stomach started to act out again. I felt like throwing up, but since I have already emptied my stomach a short while ago, I no longer had something inside to puke out except some pools of saliva.

"What's wrong?" Eric asked, rubbing my back. I also hurriedly pulled out my box of wet wipes inside my bag.

"HIs smell irritated me. Pregnant thing, you know," I replied, glancing at the man.

"Open the windows and pull down the partition," demanded Eric. I got so surprised at how thick-skinned he was to make demands from his abductor.

But the man obeyed him and rolled down the windows right away. Perhaps, this man was not a hardened assassin yet. As I put my head outside the window when another bout of nausea hit me, I saw the hotel's shuttle. And I had realized that these men released the driver easily.

What if the driver would speak up and record everything? Whoever was the mastermind of this abduction may be inexperienced because he also assigned equally lousy men to conduct the deed on his behalf. His men did not even tie us to a cuff. I was grateful, of course, because if I could get out of this, these men wouldn't be able to escape by then.

We entered a private place, and not long after we turned to a corner, the man pulled in front of a concrete house.

"I don't need to restrain you, as long as you won't make a wrong move. Now, both of you go down. We'll get into that house."

Eric went down first and helped me get out of the car. The cold and crisp air instantly blew away the stale smell that made me nauseous and dizzy. I lifted my head and looked at the house. Standing alone in a long stretch of wild shrubs and tall grasses, it looked desolate.