CHAPTER 31

Tricked

Some days later

El Deols, Anthanna

"You may come in Henry," Cara answered in response to the doorbell.

Henry opened the door gently and stepped in. He closed it and walked straight to Cara's table.

Her eyes were on him as he advanced, and she wondered why he was there at that time of the day. He rarely came into her office during work hours, he had only been there once, on the first day he resumed his job as her bodyguard, and even though their office was only separated by her secretary's, they mostly never saw each other at work until closing hours except on days they went out for lunch together.

"Cara, I just got a message that Miss Tayo has been kidnapped." He said to her,

"Kidnapped?" She squinted at him. "Isn't she supposed to be in your office with you?"

"Yes, but she did not come, I started calling her number at ten o'clock, and it wasn't answered until five minutes ago."

"Who answered it?"

"He said his name was Lion and that he had Miss Tayo with him, and he wanted to strike a deal with you."

"With me?" Cara asked, surprised.

"Yes, I was surprised, too."

Cara fell back in the chair to consider the situation. She leaned back forward after a minute. "Can you call them back?"

Miss Tayo was an instructor. A Nigerian she was, she had migrated with her family to Anthanna and lived there from a young age. She worked in a freelance organisation from where Cara employed her services.

Henry held the phone up to dial back the number, but he stopped as some messages entered the phone. He was frozen on the spot for a while.

"What's happening? Why didn't you call back?" She asked.

He moved closer and stretched forth the phone to her. She stared at his face for a moment before collecting the phone.

A picture had been sent from the kidnappers, and it showed Miss Tayo tied to a chair, blindfolded and with her mouth gagged. Her clothes had been ripped off, and she looked disorganised already, even though it didn't look like she had been beaten or battered.

"Please dial the number," she said, handing back the phone to Henry.

Henry dialled the number and listened until it was answered. "Hey, I'm with Miss Cara now." he said before giving her the phone.

"Hello…" Cara's voice sounded low.

"Miss Cara, I believe he must have explained everything to you. We are nice kidnappers, and we do not kidnap to kill. We only need some little amount of money from you."

"What do you need?" Cara asked. She had more suspicion in her mind and was wondering why the kidnappers were demanding the money from her and not Miss Tayo's family members.

"Ten thousand US dollars, no negotiations."

"Ten thousand US Dollars?" She questioned. The money seemed so small to her that she had expected they would demand a lot more.

"Yes."

"Can I call you back, please?"

"Sure, you can. Make sure you don't involve the police," the man warned.

"Okay," she replied before ending the call. "They want ten thousand dollars," she said to Henry.

"We've got to inform the police," Henry put in as he sat in the visitor's chair.

"Yes, we have to. You should get that started while I ask for the details of their location."

"Okay, " Henry got up and proceeded out of the office. He needed to make use of another phone to inform the police.

"Where can we meet you? Do we come with cash?" Cara said into the phone, returning the call after Henry had walked out of her office.

"I will give you the transfer information when you get here. I'm at Andrews Warehouse beside the bridge."

"Oh!" She exclaimed. The location was not somewhere far from the office. "We'd meet you there in twenty minutes."

"You have thirty minutes to get here. You are allowed to come with one person who isn't a police officer. If you come any minute late or appear with the police, we would drop Miss Tayo on the bridge unconscious after making sure she's stark naked, I hope you know she would not like the embarrassment."

'We'd be there on time." Cara replied before ending the call.

She dropped the phone on the table. She wasn't in a hurry to get up. She tapped on her computer in front of her and opened an application.

_____________________

Twenty Two Minutes Later.

Cara and Henry got to the warehouse alone after informing the police and being sure that officers had surrounded the place and were watching closely.

The door to the warehouse opened as they approached it. They stopped at the entrance and looked in, not wanting to get in until they confirmed what or who waited for them in there. They only saw one man. He was sitting on a chair adjacent to the chair of the kidnapped lady who was half naked and tied.

Henry looked sideways, his eyes met with the police officer that had followed them there and was hiding in a corner. He saw the man nodding for them to proceed into the warehouse.

"Let's go in," he said in a soft tone to Cara.

The door of the warehouse closed as soon as they stepped in. They advanced towards the man who was now looking at them. They had gotten to the centre of the hall when the man spoke.

"I warned you not to inform the police."

They stopped walking immediately, and his voice sounded. Cara felt some fear. She wondered how the man had known they informed the police after the police had assured them that the kidnappers would never know of their presence.

Henry was less afraid. His fingers reached for the button attached to his belt, which the police officers gave them to press when they needed quick intervention.

A loud alarm sound echoed through the hall as Henry's finger touched the button. Henry touched it again, and he realised that it was the response to his touch. He was confused for a while, wondering how the button could spark a response from the hall.

"Stop alarming the police. They can't help you here." the man said with an evil smile, now proceeding towards them. "We only want to teach you some lessons while Cara sits and enjoys the show."

Cara heaved a sigh of frustration. Henry was getting into trouble again, just a few days after they got out of one. What made it bad was that the enemies had the police with them this time. She thought that was bad enough until they began to hear sounds from different corners of the large hall and saw different men coming out of the corners. They looked angry and fierce, most of them heavily built.

Cara quivered in fear at their number. The men were numbering up to thirty, and most of them had weapons in their hands. She began to feel her knees buckling, and her bladder was suddenly full.

A scene flashed quickly through Henry's mind. It was blurry. He saw some angry looking men in the vision, holding metal rods and lashing someone on the ground desperately. The man on the ground was him.