Chapter 55

I felt like shit, nauseous, with a head that was pounding. The silence surrounding me felt oppressive making me frightened to move or open my eyes. I tried to work out where I was and ran through any memories that came to me. We'd been at that restaurant and were dancing. The memory of Ranger proposing to me flashed in front of me and unconsciously my thumb on my left hand moved to my ring finger. It hadn't been a dream, because I could feel the reassuring comfort of a ring on my finger which had me calming slightly. Opening my eyes, I registered that it was dark with only ambient light from somewhere filtering into the room. I was laid down on my side but the whole thing felt so unfamiliar to me. Automatically I moved my hand to the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes to try and alleviate the throb that was threatening to take over.

Opening my eyes again I tried to see where I was and was shocked when I appeared to be in a large room with tall windows facing me. That was where the light seemed to be coming from, so where the hell was I. I knew immediately knew that Ranger wasn't with me and that had vague flashes of images come to me. Mist and clouds as we danced and then people panicking. I'm sure that I must have lost consciousness but was aware of being picked up and carried.

Where to I wasn't sure. This was definitely not Rangeman, the house or even a hospital, which a slither of fear skittering through me. I used my hands and arms to push myself up into a sitting position something that had the nausea coming back. I rested my head back to settle myself and then opened my eyes again. I was sat on a couch, a leather couch that smelt of cigarette smoke, in fact the air around me smelt stagnant as though the place had been empty for a while. Looking further to my right I could see a large modern looking desk and a leather chair, both of them completely empty of anything that might tell me where I was.

Ahead of me looked to be a large round table with chairs tucked into it as though waiting for people to arrive. There were three doors side by side beyond the desk, all closed. I realized that I wasn't tied up so couldn't work out where I was. It was the sound of the rustle of fabric and what seemed to be something moving that had me trying to see into the far corner of the room, the one furthest away from where the light could reach, making it pitch black.

"At last you've woken up Miss Plum"

I jumped at the sound of the voice and at the sudden appearance of a flame. Whoever it was had just lit up a cigarette making me pretty that sure I knew who was watching me. Coleman. As he started to walk toward me I was actually confused with why I was here. I mean we'd sorted out with him that the drive was bogus that it wouldn't do what he expected it to do. I had nothing else that I could tell him because I definitely wouldn't be telling him where Narong was. Anyway, what good would it do, Narong had said that the program didn't work and couldn't be duplicated.

As Coleman moved closer, he grabbed hold of one of the chairs from around the table and placed it in front of me. I could see him more clearly now and seeing what he looked like made my blood run cold. He was still wearing the beige suit that he'd been wearing when I last saw him at that meeting but it looked creased and I was sure there were dark stains splattered on the front of it.

As he leaned forward toward me I pushed myself away from him into the edge of the couch up against the arm rest. His arm moved past me and suddenly the room was bathed in a white light from a spotlight sat on the table next to me. The light only enhanced his features, the rest of the room seeming to become darker. I watched as he put the cigarette to his mouth and inhaled the smoke only for him to blow it out across to my face. I refused to let that intimidate me because to honest his presence this close to me was doing that all on its own.

I didn't say anything as he continued to stare at me, though I have to admit that I was momentarily lost for what to say. He looked so scary that I really didn't want to tip him over the edge. His eyes were wide open against the grey pallor of his skin and his hair, once neatly combed, was now sticking out all over the place. The glow from the end of the cigarette danced in his hand as his knee jerked up and down until he dropped it on the floor and used his foot to grind it into the carpet, effectively extinguishing it. That was when I was drawn to his face again seeing for the first time dark marks on his skin. I had no idea what they were and to be honest I didn't want to know.

"You, you have single handedly ruined me. You destroyed my factory in Cambodia, you kept that drive away from me and now. Now I have people after me, all because of you"

Okay maybe I could agree with the first two things that he'd said to me but the last part, I had no idea what he was talking about. I'd assumed that he hadn't been arrested by Desilva because there were probably no charges that could be brought against him, though kidnapping Ranger seemed a serious enough charge to me. Oh, and let's not forget beating up my friends and Joe and that man who had been found dead. So who else did he think was after him and why were they after him? I stayed quiet not sure that even if I said anything it would change what he thought and to be honest he seemed pissed off enough already without me upsetting him even more.

"Who the hell are you anyway. Everything I learnt about you told me you were just some hapless bounty hunter"

I almost smiled at that, maybe that had been true a few months ago but it wasn't now. I'd managed to find him and destroy that damn factory allowing the locals to free the prisoners and I'd saved Ranger. Hell I'd just about solved the whole issue surrounding that damn drive, okay I had help from Rangeman but I wasn't as stupid as he made me out to be.

"You are a lose end that needs to be cut off just like Pagna was. God, she was a whining, miserable woman and so demanding. She expected me to pay her when that whole escapade with that drive failed miserably"

I'd never really thought about what Pagna would do, maybe the idea that she would just go home was at the back of my head, but to be honest I hadn't given her a thought. Did that mean that Coleman had killed her, is that what he meant by tying off loose ends? Is that what he wanted to do to me? That was when I really wished that Ranger was here, he'd stop Coleman and to be honest if that meant getting rid of him permanently, I had no problem with that. So where was Ranger? Had he been knocked out like me, was he only just realizing that I wasn't there at the restaurant?

"How long have I been here?"

Just came out of my mouth. I knew that Ranger had said that we were going to be offline so did that mean that no one would be looking for me, that they wouldn't know that something had happened? Did I have any trackers on me? That had a cold shiver go down my back, the idea that I was on my own with no one coming to my rescue. Could I manage to get out of here, wherever here was?

"Too long"

Was the reply that I got, not giving me any optimism for an immediate rescue mission. That's when I watched as Coleman started to delve into his pocket and brought out a phone. It must have been on vibrate because I never heard it ringing. Coleman stood up and took a few steps away from me while he listened to the caller. He never spoke and I could see from his posture that he wasn't liking what he was being told. His fist clenched around the phone and the next thing it was flying across the room smashing as it hit the wall.

Time to move my ass, so as quickly as possible I was on my feet and heading toward one of the doors opposite me. Coleman couldn't have been expecting that move from me, stupid man, but after swearing he was suddenly closing the gap between us. The handle of the door turned, and I was pulling it open ready to make my escape when the unexpected happened. Coleman pushed me, very hard against my back and I was suddenly falling onto the floor. The door slammed behind me and I heard a lock being turned just as I landed on my hands and knees.

It was pitch black with no light coming from anywhere. As I made to get up the floor felt sticky underneath me and it didn't feel like carpet on the floor, more like linoleum. Not being able to see in front of me gave me the creeps, what if one of Coleman's men were waiting inside for me. I needed light, surely there'd be a switch somewhere. I made it to my feet and with one step was against the door so finding the handle I carefully turned it, but the door wouldn't budge.

Okay, so now to get some light and see where this door led to hoping that maybe it was a hallway out of here or even another office where there might be a phone. I ran my hands down the side next to the door so relieved when my hand came upon a switch. Pressing down the switch I was bathed in light but instead of turning around to see where I could go, I was staring at the wall. There were smears of red on the door and down the wall, over the switch but as I looked further, I almost screamed. My hands and the front of my dress were covered in some sticky red substance, and I had no intention of saying aloud what I thought it was. If I didn't say it then it wasn't true.

Did I really want to turn around now? Not really but I knew that I had no choice. There, a few feet away at the end of a large smear of blood was the body of Pagna. Her eyes were open, looking up to the ceiling, a shocked expression on her face. Well, I suppose having a bullet shot through the center of your forehead would shock you and I suddenly knew now what the dark stains had been on Coleman's suit jacket and on his face. He must have killed Pagna and then dragged her in here, which was why there was a smear of blood across the floor.

Looking beyond Pagna I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. I was inside what looked to be a storage room, the place full of shelving with stationary equipment on them. I took a step back against the door and then sank down on the floor. What the hell was I going to do now, how was I going to get away from Coleman?

As I sat there feeling very sorry for myself and totally upset with the predicament that I was in I lifted my head and turned it so that my ear was against the door. I was sure that I could hear talking and it sounded as though there was someone other than Coleman in the room. I almost started to bang on the door and scream out that I was in here when I stopped myself. Here I was thinking that it could be Ranger or one of the Merry Men or even Desilva or the police when I felt a sense of dread come over me. It could be one of his men, though the way the voices were talking I didn't think so. It could also be one of his associates or even someone he did business with. I placed my hand over one ear to block anything from that side and pushed my other ear up against the door. Better, either that plan worked or they were closer to the cupboard where I was locked inside.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to collect what you owe me"

The voices were too muffled to make out exactly who was talking but in the back of my brain I had a vague memory of having heard it before.

"You and everyone else. I don't have it"

"Where is it then because if you think you can cut me out then you are sadly mistaken"

Okay, so maybe this was someone that Coleman had said was after him. Maybe someone he'd planned on selling the information from the drive to.

"It doesn't exist"

"Noah, don't treat me like a fool. I saw Manoso and that woman leave the hotel where you were. How much did you pay for it or did you get it by some other means?"

"That damn woman had it. I had an excellent plan, the drive for Manoso. She even turned up with that man who wrote the program. Apparently Pagna had been fooling us all along"

"What are you talking about?"

"It couldn't access any useful information. She lied when she dragged me into this"

Okay so that confirmed that it was Pagna who decided to get her hands on that drive, but I was sure that it had been Daraldson who initially worked with Coleman. I had a feeling that Coleman would have just ditched Daraldson and Pagna and kept the drive and any proceeds to himself. That didn't help me out though because I had no idea who was with Coleman now or whether or not they would help me. Hell, they could see me as a witness and want rid of me as well.

"If the drive is no good then why are you here?"

"It isn't over yet. The man who wrote the program is somewhere close by. I was thinking of . . ."

"Trying to convince him to rewrite it? Noah, you are so stupid. Why the hell would he want to do that?"

There was a moment of silence, when I was sure that Coleman was trying to come up with a reason. I knew that Narong had hidden his family somewhere safe so why did Coleman even consider that Narong would rewrite the program and as far as I knew he couldn't do it anyway.

"Maybe because I have something that would convince him to do it"

Through the silence I almost jumped when I heard the lock being turned in the door and I didn't have enough time or probably sense to move away from the door. As the door opened, I literally fell out, again landing on my hands and knees. Coleman was stood behind me so pushing myself up to standing I squared my shoulders and put on my best Jersey glare as I looked at the man in front of me.