Chapter 22

The first thought that came to my mind was that my head hurt and then I remembered what had happened. I didn't move as I tried to work out where I was. It was cold as though I was laid on concrete but as I tried to open my eyes, I couldn't see anything. It was dark, with no windows to show me where I was being held. I moved my arms to sit up realizing that I hadn't been tied up, but what did catch my attention was a red light coming on up in the corner of the room. Damn, they were using motion sensors and cameras to keep an eye on me, which meant that someone would be here sooner rather than later.

I suppose the idea that someone had kidnapped me shouldn't have surprised me. It seemed an inevitability of being me and let's face it, wasn't this what I had hoped for. Okay maybe not being actually kidnapped but I did want to find the men that had taken Ranger just not for them to find me. It did surprise me though because I couldn't understand why they would focus on me. Then the memory of feeling like I was being watched and followed came to me making me wonder if they knew who I was. Were they already looking out for me, expecting me to turn up here? Why would they expect that of me? It wasn't as though I was the type of person to do something like this.

This wasn't the time to start thinking about the why and how, it was time to work out where I was and what the hell someone wanted with me.

As I sat up, I brought my hands to my chest and with a wave of panic realized that my rucksack was missing. Did they expect me to have the hard drive, but why would they think that? Did that mean that they'd found the two hard drives. If they found both of them, they'd be suspicious, and they wouldn't think that it was the one that Ranger had taken. I almost felt like crying. I'd got myself into a situation that I couldn't see a way out of. There was no Ranger to save me, to take me away and get rid of the bad guys. No Rangemen to give me backup. I was well and truly on my own.

I heard the sound of something from the door and watched as it opened, light spilling in from the outside.

"Get up. The boss wants to see you"

This was a different man to the ones who had ambushed us, but he didn't look any better. He was a large man as well, but Asian, with lots of muscles showing beneath the polo shirt he was wearing. I saw no point in refusing to do as he said so pushed myself up onto my feet. Maybe I could bluff my way out of this, after all maybe they had no idea who I was. Like that was likely. The man walked behind me along a dimly lit corridor, but it wasn't the lack of light that creeped me out. It was the stench that hit me and the sound of moaning coming from everywhere making me wonder what the hell was going on here. I knew I was feeling worried and anxious, but this was maybe what I'd been waiting for. My mind went to Ranger for some strange reason and that had a feeling of calm come over me. Ranger had always had that effect on me and maybe because I was eventually at the end point of my plan it helped me to focus as well. At the end of the corridor a door seemed to open in front of me and he pushed me through to some stone steps. At the top of the steps was another door that came out onto another corridor. This was wider and better lit with doors leading from it. The end door was open and that's where it seemed I was going.

I was surprised as I stepped into the room, it was a large luxurious office with banks of computers along one wall and screens along another. My attention was caught by a man in a suit, a tall well built man with dark hair that had been neatly cut. He was wearing a cream suit that looked expensive and contrasted against the darker tone of his skin. I had no idea what his eyes looked like seeing as he was wearing blue tinted glasses which to be honest was spooking me slightly. I'd never seen the man before and watched as he stood up from his chair behind his desk and walked to the front to lean against it. He stayed like that for a minute before shaking his head and looking at me.

"I never ever expected it to be you who came here Miss. Plum"

Oh shit, he knew who I was but what else did he think he knew.

"I admire your courage and devotion, to do this on your own and fool everyone with where you were"

I had to ask, so sue me, I like to know who the hell I was talking to.

"Who are you?"

He smiled as he continued to look at me and then took a packet of cigarettes from the desk. I shook my head as he offered me one but watched as he used a stone statue that was a lighter to light his cigarette. After he blew smoke into the room, he finally answered me, not the answer I wanted though.

"You have something that belongs to me and I want it back"

I didn't answer, I just stared back at him, he was really beginning to piss me off if he thought I'd cooperate that easily.

"You obviously came here to Cambodia to retrieve the hard drive that was stolen from me by that man. Did you find it?"

Okay, so he thought I had the original hard drive, did I lie and say I hadn't found it, or did I drag this out until he guessed that I was in possession of it. I looked down at my feet, trying to play coy, as though I knew where it was.

"Ah, so you found it. Excellent. Kosal?"

A movement behind me surprised me, I had totally forgotten about the man who had brought me up here. His big hand went around the top of my left arm and suddenly there was a very long, very sharp knife pushed against the top of my other arm. I watched as the knife began to slice at my arm, the pain excruciating as the blood dripped down my arm and onto the floor. I locked my jaw together refusing to give either one of them the pleasure of me begging them to stop. As the pressure released, I looked at the suited man, pleased that I had refused to scream or cry out.

"Where is it Miss. Plum? Kosal can spend all night cutting you all over. You might think you're being brave, but I assure you, you won't last very long"

I knew he was telling me the truth and I knew I wouldn't survive being cut. I also knew that I needed to be mentally aware if my plan for the hard drive was going to work.

"Okay. Will you let me go if I give it to you?"

"Of course"

Yeah, right, as if I believed him.

"My rucksack"

He actually looked surprised at that and I followed his gaze as he looked to the side of the room toward a table. He had already emptied out my rucksack onto the table but from his questions it was obvious that he hadn't found my hiding places.

"May I?"

He gestured for me to walk over to the table and as I walked over, I took note of what had been found. My camera was there along with sunglasses and sun cream. Some lip gloss and the shawl that Arun had said I would need. They'd also found my wallet and passport for Lilian Aspenall with money and cards scattered all over the desk. I was surprised that they hadn't found anything else so went to the belt where I knew I'd hidden one of the pen drives.

The other hard drive and documents were still hidden, and I wanted them to stay that way because I was going to try and get out of here. I pulled the strap that was used for carrying the rucksack through the metal loop carefully so as not to damage the hard drive until I could feel that it was released from the confines that the buckle had provided, and then I worked the hard drive down to the end of the belt where I had pulled the stitching loose.

As I handed it over the suited man smiled and then looked at me, as though annoyed.

"This type uses a password, what is it?"

"I, err, don't know it, but I can work it out on the keyboard"

"Clever, so even with pain and torture you couldn't give it up"

I looked down at my feet knowing that I hadn't even thought of that.

"Yeah, that was the idea"

He took my arm and led me to the wall where the computers were and pulled out a shelf that held a keyboard, then pulled out a cable which I assumed would connect the hard drive of the computer. After connecting the two together, he pushed me down onto a stool in front of the keyboard.

"Open it. I need to know that it's the right one"

My left arm was throbbing now, with blood still dripping down so I rested it on my knee and used the fingers of my right hand to use on the keyboard. I could feel the suited man breathing behind me, watching my every move. I didn't want to let on that this was what I was waiting for, that all the planning I'd done was for this, so trying to school my face and biting my bottom lip I looked at the screen where it was asking for the password. I pushed one key at a time, typing in 1eJ.}0ts, until the screen opened to a file.

Lightning fast I double clicked on the file and waited and waited.

"I don't understand"

And I didn't. Had Adam duped me, taken my money and then failed to copy the virus for me? I sat back, not knowing what to do only to hear the guy in the suit laughing. That just pissed me off, so I stood up and faced him.

"I thought it would be there"

"I never took Ranger to be a comedian, but he certainly fooled me by using you as a decoy"

His stopped laughing and looked at me, his expression hardening as he glanced over to the screen behind me. I was mad as well, but for a different reason. I walked over to the table and started to shove my belongings back in my bag, surprised when no one tried to stop me. As I put the rucksack on my back and turned all hell broke loose on the wall holding the computer systems. Screens were slowly turning black and there was a loud beeping sound coming through. Both men were totally focused on what was happening, hitting keys and looking at the screens as though they might miraculously come back on, which gave me the opportunity to run.

I was out of that office and running down the corridor not really sure of where to go, but I knew I didn't want to go down the stairs to where I'd been before. As I opened a door, I heard footsteps behind me and was so relieved to see another staircase so set off down as fast as I could. As I came onto another corridor, I was sure I could see a large double door ahead of me so headed in that direction, hoping it was a way out of the building. There was the sound of gunfire behind me and I spun into the wall as a sharp piercing pain hit the top of my shoulder. I knew I couldn't stop so pushed away toward the door ahead of me.

I was almost at the door when it opened and my heart fell when I saw the silhouette of another gunman stood there, as he raised his gun more shots came from behind me and then from in front of me, a bullet hitting my thigh, caused my leg to buckle underneath me, before I fell into the wall. The pain was instant as my head hit the wall, and everything went black as I collapsed onto the floor.