Chapter 2 The Kidnapping

Meera exuberantly took out her smartphone from her light blue, full-sleeved jumpsuit and dialled a number. The display read 'lovepie'.

"Hey, Era!" A voice from the phone shouted.

"I am going to tell him, Liv," said Meera heartily. She was bursting with joy, it felt like her feet barely touched the ground.

"That you love him?" asked Liv in a shocking voice. Meera could tell from her friend's shaky voice that he was sitting and instantly stood up in disbelief when she gave him the news.

"Yes." Her voice was ringing with happiness.

"Are you sure?" The sudden news was hard to digest for Liv.

"Yes, I just had a chat with Ryan. He was happy and no one knows Arthur better than him."

"Ok. But what if he doesn't reciprocate?" He teased her. One could easily hear the bliss in his voice for he was over the moon for his best friend.

"I'll break his neck. If he doesn't love me after all this time, that means he is an idiot and he deserves to die," she mocked him back.

"Will you be able to kill him?" Liv was in no mood to end the back-and-forth teasing.

"Yes, his death will break my heart, but I think I am capable," she said sarcastically.

"Wow! That's what I call true love."

"I know." They both kept laughing and giggling all through the conversation.

While she was on phone, two shabby-looking men crossed her on the sidewalk where she was waiting for her driver to bring the car. One of them was a tall man in his early 40's and was walking a few inches in front of the other while staring at his phone. The second one was an average height man with a big paunch. He was drenched in sweat and was breathing heavily which concerned her soft heart. She followed him with her eyes and saw the man walk a few inches and collapse in front of her. The other man ran towards him, knelt, and leaned over him and the next moment she heard the shouting.

"Please help, someone please help," the man cried.

"Liv, I will call you back," said Meera. She disconnected the call and ran towards the man who was screaming for help.

"Era! What happened? Is everything OK?" He asked in a concerned tone, but Meera had already disconnected the call by then.

"Is he alright?" asked Meera.

"I don't know, one minute he was fine, another he just collapsed." He was continuously shaking his friend and trying to revive him.

"Let me call 911." She unlocked the phone and started typing the numbers.

"There isn't time, he has a weak heart, what if he dies. Please no, I can't lose you too." The distress in his voice was heartbreaking. He kept waggling his friend to wake him up.

"My car is near, let me take you to the hospital," suggested Meera.

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much." The hope and relief were visible on his face.

Meera immediately placed a call to his driver giving him her exact location. A speeding car approached and halted beside them with a screeching sound. The driver got out of the car and stood beside Meera.

"Toby! Please help this gentleman," she requested. Her driver helped the man to put his friend inside the car. She sat in the passenger seat and two men were safely sitting in the back. Before Toby could start the car, both Meera and Toby felt a cold metal pressing at the back of their head.

"Not a sound. If anyone of you moves, I'll shoot. Hand your phones over to me," the fainted man suddenly sat up and spoke. Both gave their phones to the thugs.

The tall, gun-toting goon got out of the car and dragged Toby outside. He pistol-whipped Toby at the back of his head and left him on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, the second goon kept staring at Meera from the back seat with his gun pointed towards her.

"No, don't hurt him," cried Meera but Toby was lying unconscious on the pavement. Before she could react further the tall man came to her side, opened her door, and forced her into the back seat of the car. The second man never lowered his gun even for a second.

"Who are you? What do you want? I have money, just take it, please let me go." She somehow gathered her courage and spoke in a quivering voice.

"Money! We don't want your money," said the second man. In the interim, the first goon made his way to the driver seat, started the engine, and activated the child lock.

"Then what do you want?"

"To make our boss happy, after almost a year he gave us a job, which is to kidnap you. We thought he was going straight, but you forced him to break bad." The second thug batted his eyes at her.

"What are you guys talking about?" The meaning of the whole conversation was lost to her. She knew no such person who would want her kidnapped.

"Our boss is obsessed with you. All he talks about is you."

"Who is your boss?"

"He said you talk a lot. I don't like people who talk a lot, so could you just shut up," he shouted.

"Where are you taking me?" Meera continued her interrogation.

"That's it."

"Hey calm down, Angry. She must not be harmed. He gave us clear instruction," the goon in the driver's seat interjected.

"I know. Do you think I have a death wish? I am just shutting her mouth and covering her eyes."

"Oh yeah, he said she should not find out."

"No," shouted Meera and frantically tried to force the door to open. The second assailant lowered his gun, grabbed her arms, and pulled her towards him. She tried hard to escape from his grip, but he easily overpowered her and tied her hands behind her back. He then gagged her and put a thick opaque bag over her head.

She felt the car moving for a long time and kept struggling and screaming over her gag for the whole journey. After a long time, the car stopped, and they dragged her out of the car. One of them threw her over his shoulder and started walking. An electronic key beeped and she heard the opening of a door. No matter how much she squirmed, the assailant never loosened his grip. They soon entered a second door and the next moment she was softly placed on a very comfortable bed.

They removed the bag that was covering her head. As soon as she saw them, she crawled to the end of the bed and stopped only after a wall crept behind her.

"Relax! We are not going to hurt you. We already told you that," said the tall man.

"I am going to approach you so don't freak out, I will just remove your bondage. Do you understand?" The short man raised his hands with his palms facing towards her to prove that he meant her no harm and moved forwards in her direction.

He cautiously approached her and removed her gag and bondage. Once she was free, she ran towards the door, but the tall man lifted her with one hand in an instant.

"Let me go, let me go," she kept shouting and fighting her way out.

"Stop struggling, we don't want to hurt you, else our boss will hurt us." The short man shouted at her.

She went mad with anger at the constant talk of 'the boss' and shouted back at them in an irritating tone, "who the hell is your boss?"

"You know him, you have met him." Evil smiles played on the assailants' faces.

"What?" She was shocked beyond her imagination that she knew someone who was capable of kidnapping.

"Ha-ha. Now just stay here. You will see him soon. He just needs to complete his plan," said the man with a paunch.

"Plan? What plan?" Asked Meera. Sweats of fear were dripping all through her body.

"You are the first step of his plan, congratulations," mocked the tall man.

"I don't care about your boss; I don't care about his plan. Oh my god, Toby. I have to make sure he is alright. Arthur... I just want to see Arthur; I have to tell him something. Please let me go," pleaded Meera.

"Woah! Don't take his name in front of Boss. He absolutely hates him," said the tall goon.

"But I love him. I have to tell him I love him, please," begged Meera.

"You can say that to his dead body. Forget about him, you belong to Boss now," scolded the short man.

"No!" Meera shouted and started sobbing.

Both thugs left her alone and locked the door behind them. She curled herself in a ball and kept crying for long reminiscing about the day she came to New York. If she would not have come to NY, she would not have met Arthur and she would not be pining for him now. In the present moment, she was not thinking about getting out or escaping from her kidnappers, she was thinking about Arthur. She was thinking about what would happen to him after he gets the news of her kidnapping and what the goons meant by Arthur was going to die soon. What was the plan that was set in motion by her kidnapping?