Chapter 9

Michael ran Immediately, following the trail. Jumping over rocks, rushing through bushes, dodging trees, but he finally arrived, his clothes torn and dirty.

He stood there, exhausted, in front of the station. Taking a short break to catch his breath and analyze the surroundings before going in, but he soon realizes there's no time as screams emerge from the building.

"PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!"

'That has to be Arnold' Michael thought dashing in blindly.

He came in from the front entrance, the station was getting dark so it was hard to see, but he could the sounds in the distance.

Following the noises, Michael snuck his way towards Arnold and his captors; they had tied Arnold to a chair, the bag still over his head with his arms and legs tied.

Michael picked a spot to hide behind an old dusty crate. Looking closely at the scene, he saw bruises all over Arnolds body, meaning he was beaten up earlier.

One of the men sat at the corner scratching his head, while the other reached for a bag on the floor close to Arnold, they were both wearing Identical masks.

Picking up the bag, the man in the mask pulled out an old Hunting knife, he looked at it with excitement in his eyes, then yanked the bag from over Arnold's face.

Michael almost jumped out of his position when he saw the Knife, but knew better, this wasn't the right time to act. Instead, he pulled out his own service weapon to be prepared, as he stealthily crunched towards the other man.

"Do you know why this is happening to you?" The masked man with the Knife asked with a completely different accent.

Arnold, bruises all over his face, was shaking his head left to right, as it hung low from his shoulders. He was sweating, dirty and shaking.

"Can you believe that?" the Masked man replied, looking over to his brother, who shook his head. "Well, let me enlighten you." He said back at Arnold. "All of this is happening because of Jane Pearson."

"What?" Michael and Arnold said at the same time, both of them confused as to why.

"Yep, you don't mess with the Boss and get away scot-free." The kidnapper said menacingly.

"But I didn't do anything wrong." Arnold said, his voice trembling and frightful. "Please, I'm sorry, I'll never disrespect her again, please just let me go."

"Sure, we'll let you go alright, but only after we've gotten our message across." The masked man said, bending down, positioning the knife towards Arnolds toes.

Arnold was instantly injected with a new kind of fear, as he wheezed in the chair, hopelessly trying to avoid losing a toe.

The masked men bursted into laughter, trading looks with one another as the laughed.

"He sure is a funny one bro." The masked man in the corner said, unknown to him that Michael was right behind him.

"He sure is." The masked man with the Knife concurred with his brother, whipping a tear from his eye before Crouching back at Arnold's feet. "Now, back to where we left off."

Arnold squinted his eyes in anticipation of the pain to come, as the masked man was getting ready to act.

At the same time Michael, jumped up from behind the other masked man, restraining his arms and holding a knife to his neck.

"Stop right there!" Michael said, his voice bold, echoing through the station.

The masked man jumped up in surprise, dropping the knife by Arnol's feet.

"Who the heck are you? Where did you come from?" the masked man asked.

"That doesn't matter, just surrender now or your brother gets it." Michael said, gripping the knife tighter towards the brother's neck.

"Well two can play at that game." He replied, as he rushed behind Arnold. "If you harm my brother, then I'll kill the hostage." He continued, pointing an empty fist toward Arnold.

Michael was confused, Arnold was confused, even his restrained brother was confused. The masked man didn't understand why they made those faces at him, until he saw his knife at Arnold's feet.

Quickly he went for the knife. Michael knocked his hostage out with a hit at the back of the head, then rushed for the masked man, who was about to reach the knife.

Arnold, reading the situation immediately kicked the knife across the room, just as the masked man was about to grab it. He injured his toe in the process, as the knifes blade slashed him.

The masked man looked up at Arnold Hopelessly, as Arnold, in turn, kicked the man with all his remaining strength, right underneath his chin, lunching him away.

Michael, seeing what just happened with surprise in eyes, rushed for the masked man on the floor, to make sure he didn't do anything.

Michael laughed; the masked man was knocked out cold. He then went to free Arnold, using the rope same rope to tie up the brothers.

"Thank you for saving me." Arnold said as Michael applied first aid to his toe.

"No problem." Michael said as he finished bandaging the toe. "I've already called the authorities, they're on their way"

As they were waiting for the police, one of the kidnappers woke up, it was the one Michael knocked out. He quickly rushed to question him, grabbing him by his shirt.

"Who sent you?" he asked menacingly.

"I don't know, I swear" he was afraid of Michael.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Michael was insistent.

"All I know is my brother got the orders from a pretty sounding lady over the phone."

The brother was just waking up. Michael immediately turned to him.

"Well. Who was the 'pretty sounding lady on the phone'" Michael asked.

"Don't know, never met her."

"How can't you not know after you did all this for her." Michael pressed for a reasonable answer.

"Look, the lady called me out of nowhere, telling me to kidnap some guy, cut of his toe, tell him Jane Pearson sent me, and I get paid a whole lot of cash."