Chapter 6.
One thing that Harvey worried about immensely was that what if they didn't contact him at all on Monday? What if he didn't hear from them? What would he do then?
He would have to call the police then. Then he would regret not calling them sooner, because they would have lost about three days when they could have been out looking. There still was an option to call the police. He could do it. But he didn't.
Instead he continued going through the list he and Donna had been working on the previous day. They had made a new list of possible suspects by eliminating all the people that it couldn't be, or at least that they suspected that it wasn't. This new list only consisted of men, even though Donna had argued that they could deal with a woman as well.
They had also sorted the list by age and time of employment and termination. It was still a long list. Too long, but what else could he do than to go through it.
It was a terrible day. He was in a foul mood and even got into an argument with Donna, who arrived a little after ten at the firm. He even yelled at her. She didn't argue back, and he regretted his outburst. He apologized to her too, because he really needed her on his side in this. It wasn't fair that he yelled at her either, because she cared deeply for Mike as well. She said that she understood him, that she knew it was the stress and the worry.
"We will get him back Harvey." She comforted him. "I just know we will."
"Yeah." Harvey clenched his jaw and thought of the image of Mike bruised and bound. "If I just could talk to him, make sure he is alive. This whole not knowing is driving me insane."
"Me too." Donna said. She looked tired and sad where she sat at his table with a bunch of files in front of her.
Harvey nodded.
"Like you said. We will get him back." He said, wanting to encourage her, the way she had done for him just now.
Monday was exactly seven hours and seven minutes away now when he looked at his watch. Not that he thought that they would contact him at midnight. Hopefully in the morning at least. It was then about fourteen hours left, if they rose early. It meant that Mike had to spend another fourteen hours in captivity.
Harvey had never dealt with something like this before. When he got Mike back, in what state would he be? Would he be unharmed? What if he had been hurt? Tortured? Just the thought of it made him feel sick. How did you deal with something like that?
They left the office close to eleven that night. Donna refused to leave earlier even though he had told her to.
"I care about Mike just as much as you." She said. "And I know that the roles were reversed and I had been taken instead, I know Mike wouldn't have taken any breaks, so I won't either Harvey."
He could understand her position and he knew she was right. Mike wouldn't have stopped for anything if it was anyone of them, he would have given it his all. He deserved the same from them. It was just that they were failing him right now. They weren't getting anywhere. And tomorrow was the day that they would hear from the kidnappers again.
It was another sleepless night. Harvey spent a lot of it out on his balcony. He couldn't help but making up awful scenarios in his head. What if they didn't make it contact tomorrow? What if they had hurt Mike? What if they had done something worse, like killed him?
He replayed his and Mike's encounter with those men. He remembered the way that they had looked at Mike. He wished he would have acted then. He could have prevented this. He could have saved Mike from this. What if they had hurt him?
He had the ransom money already set up for transfer. He just needed an account and he would pay right away. He couldn't understand why they had to wait for so long until telling him that, he would have paid immediately if he had had the chance. Then they could have ended this so much earlier, they would have been spared several days of anguish.
He was up early on Monday morning. The first thing he did was to check his phone, but he had no texts or missed calls. He swore at that and went to open the only text messages he had gotten. He looked at the picture of Mike for a long time. He read the message from the kidnappers over and over again.
He went up and had a cup of coffee for breakfast and went to work. He was almost the first one there. He took the way through the associates cubicles and almost had a heart attack when he saw someone sitting on Mike's spot. But before he made a fool of himself and rushing over he noticed that it wasn't actually Mike's spot that was occupied but the one next to it. Maybe he should have slept a bit longer.
The first thing he did was to open up his laptop and check his emails to see if they maybe had contacted him there. They hadn't. He only had a few emails from clients. Some claimed to be urgent but he almost wanted to delete them in frustration. He had much more urgent things to take care of, if the damn kidnappers just would make contact.
Yet again he opened the text message, even if he knew by now what it said.
One million. You have three days.
No police or he dies.
Further instructions on Monday.
It was Monday! It was Monday and they hadn't made contact yet. He hated them for making him feel this useless. He always had a plan; he always knew what to do. Waiting for other people wasn't his thing, but right now, he didn't see any other option.
Jessica dropped by, even before Donna arrived. Donna had already texted him asking for news. When he got the text, his whole body tensed in anticipation. Jessica also wanted to know if there was any news regarding Mike. She also said that if it was anything she could do, he just needed to ask. She also wanted to know when they made contact.
He checked his phone every minute it felt like, but nothing. Donna arrived and sat with him a while, before she figured that he needed to be alone. He tried to keep himself busy by answering a couple of emails but found that he couldn't concentrate enough to write replies, he mixed up cases and got an angry email back from one client questioning his sanity. Harvey wanted to tell him where to go, but instead wrote back that he would get back to him.
A little after ten his phone rang making him stand up in surprise. It was a hidden number!
"This is Harvey." He said, trying to sound surer of himself than what he felt.
It was a client. He hung up without a word. He wanted to hurl the phone across the room but managed to stop himself. Donna showed up in the doorway.
"It was fucking nothing!" He almost yelled at her. He saw that she tensed, but she just went back to her desk without saying anything.
He just got more frustrated as time went on without anything happening. Why didn't they make contact? What would he do if he didn't hear from them? What would that mean? He didn't want to think about it, but his mind went there anyway. What if they had killed Mike already? What if he never heard from them again. What if that damn Thursday had been the last time, he ever saw Mike. He would never forgive himself. Never.
Things didn't go well when Louis came by his office just before lunch.
"Get out Louis. I don't have time." Harvey said as soon as he stepped inside his office.
"Harvey, I just got a call from your client claiming you hang up on him and now you are not taking his calls."
"Like I said. I don't have time." Harvey stood up. He was not in the mood at all for dealing with Louis. Things could have ended badly, for Louis, hadn't Donna intervened. When she came, they were standing close in front of each other, yelling. Donna pulled Louis away and put a hand out towards Harvey.
"Stop arguing right now. The both of you."
"What the hell is his problem Donna!" Louis yelled.
"Mike has been kidnapped, Louis." She then said.
"Donna!" Harvey yelled as Louis stared at her.
"What's the harm in telling him, Harvey?"
"What do you mean kidnapped?" Louis said looking between them.
Harvey sighed and went back to his chair.
"Someone took him outside his apartment on Thursday night. I got a text about it the next day. They want money. I'm waiting to hear from them again."
"Oh my God." Louis sat down on a chair. "Are you sure? It's not some kind of…"
"Kind of what?" Harvey angrily said. He took his phone and put up the message with the image of Mike. Louis took the phone and stared at it for a long time.
"Oh my God." He mumbled.
"Yeah." Harvey said. "It's the only contact I've had."
"I'm so sorry, Harvey. I know how much he means to you. God, I haven't even thought about that he isn't here."
"It's been only been Friday and today, where you could have noticed Louis." Donna said.
"This is the fourth day!" Harvey said. It was a few days too much.
"You could have told me. What do you know so far? Is there anything I can do?" Louis asked.
"I just showed you all we know."
"But tell him about who you think it is." Donna said.
Harvey reluctantly did then. It couldn't hurt to tell Louis. After all, he was a good lawyer, he might have some input. He didn't in this case though. He just asked a few questions and again offered his help. Harvey thanked him.
Twenty minutes after Louis had left Harvey's phone beeped and he just knew that it was them this time. His hand shook a little when he opened the new text message.
The message surprised him a bit. It was just a bunch of numbers. But then he realized that it was an account number. A new text came as he was reading the first one. This time it was an address. He waited a little and yet another text showed up.
Pay if you want him back. Come alone. 9 PM.
Harvey waited one minute then two but no more messages appeared. That was it. Pay if you want him back. 9 PM, that was in nine hours. He looked up the address on his laptop and saw that it was to some street in an area called Sunset Park. He opened street view and saw that it looked like a rough industrial area. Great.
The next thing he did was to open a new window and went to the site of his bank. He typed in the account number and then a one followed by six zeros. He paid the money without hesitation. The transaction went through and he was a million dollars poorer. Just like that. But now he was going to get Mike back. He wanted him back.
He closed his computer and went to tell Donna, then Jessica. He even went to Louis and told him. He just said that Mike's kidnappers had made contact and that he was going to get him back tonight. He left all of them before they had time to ask him questions. He went to the elevators and went down and out of the building. He went over to the coffee cart and ordered himself two hot dogs. He ate both of them there just standing there on the street, not far away from the place where Mike usually left his bike. Mike would hate the fact that his bike had been trashed. Harvey decided then to buy him a new one. Take him to the bike store, or wherever you bought bikes, and let him pick out the one he wanted. Mike would appreciate that.
When he got back to his office, Donna, Jessica and Louis were all waiting for him. He spent the next hour showing them the texts he had gotten and discussing what to do next. Their opinions were divided. Jessica and Louis thought that they should involve the police, Donna was undecisive and Harvey refused.
"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into. What if it is a trap? What if they kill you?" Jessica said.
"And what if they kill Mike as soon as I show up with a bunch of cops in tow?" Harvey argued back.
"What if they kill him anyway!" She threw back.
"We are not calling the police." Harvey said. "At least not before I get Mike."
"Are you really going to go alone Harvey?" Donna looked worried.
"I could go with you." Louis offered.
Harvey shook his head. "It says come alone."
After some discussion it was decided that Harvey would in fact go alone and as soon as he had Mike and they were both safe he would call the police.
"What if they get away then?" Louis had asked. "You'll have lost all your money."
"So be it then." Harvey muttered. He was tired of defending his decisions to them. He knew that they cared about Mike, but he had to stop himself several times from throwing that in their faces, that the only thing that mattered was to get Mike back alive.
Donna was pale and unusually quiet. He needed to talk to her. Eventually it was only the two of them left in the room. It was seven and a half hours left until he would get Mike back.
"Donna." He said.
"I don't like this Harvey."
"I don't like it either. But what else can I do. You know he is in this position because of me. I owe it to him to do everything in my power to get him back. You know he would do the same for me."
"I know that Harvey. But I don't like anymore because of that." She wiped her eyes a little. He stroked her arm a little. She caught his hand in hers and held on to it for a while.
"Just be careful, okay." She whispered next. He promised he would.
After that they spent some time by his computer looking around at the map over Sunset Park.
"Do you think that's where they are keeping him? Do you think he is at that address right now?"
Harvey looked at the screen. "Probably not." He said. "It's a parking lot, they probably chose that place because it's so deserted."
But it was possible that they kept Mike somewhere close to the meeting spot. He yet again wondered in what state the younger man would be in. Would he be unscathed? Had he been fed?
When he looked at his watch it was seven hours left. He needed to get a car. It would probably take him about an hour to get there. That meant that he had to wait about five more hours before he could do something about this. The wait was excruciating.
He tried again to text back to the message, but it didn't work. He had no proof that Mike was even alive, and no confirmation about them getting the money. That sucked. He spent another hour at the computer. He spent probably an hour restlessly pacing around in his office after that. He tried doing some work after that, but soon realized that it was hopeless. He wouldn't get anywhere. Donna wanted him to eat something, but he refused. At least for a while.
He thought he would go crazy with all the waiting. He couldn't stop to think about Mike. What was he doing right now? Did he know that Harvey had paid ransom for him? Was he waiting like this as well, but for to be released?
He ate together with Donna. She tried to strike up a conversation, but he had trouble listening to her, so she soon gave up and they ate in silence. What would he say to Mike about all of this? He needed to apologize, that was for sure.
It was only an hour left now before he could leave. He had already decided to be there early, he wanted to be the first one there. He needed to check out the place first, if something were to happen, he wanted to be as prepared as he could.
He left the office when it was two and a half hours left. He rented some car and was at the correct address on hour before he was set to see Mike again. It was a deserted parking lot next to some closed warehouse. It looked like it had been closed for business for years. It was pretty dark since the streetlights seemed to be broken just at this spot, so he left the lights of the car on when he stepped out to look around a bit.
He found nothing. The whole street was empty, and he wondered if the kidnappers had been here earlier to check it out. It was perfect for what they were going to do, here they wouldn't be interrupted.
He was putting his trust to these people now. He had come alone and unarmed. Like instructed. They better hold up their deal. He had realized that they had no incentive of doing so. He had already paid them. They didn't need to come and drop Mike off. He counted on the fact that they would though. He didn't know if that was idiotic or not. He hoped it wasn't, but it was a gamble. He liked to gamble, but the stakes had never been higher. This time the stakes was another person's life. Mike's life.
He waited in his car for what felt like an eternity. Time grew closer and closer to nine. He kept checking his phone. What if they changed the location or tried to contact him in any other way? But nothing.
And then, nine a clock was there, but no other car and no Mike. Maybe they would drop him off somewhere and instruct Mike to find the address himself? He stepped out of the car and looked around, even called Mike's name, but nothing. He grew more worried as time passed. One minute turned to two and then three and no sign of Mike or anyone else for that matter.
But then! Seven minutes after nine he could hear the sound of a car coming towards him. He stood tense next to his car as a van drove past him, turned and then parked opposite of him. Harvey didn't move. The doors of the van opened, two men got out from the front seats, none of them was Mike. It took a while before they then opened the door on the side and three more men got out. Harvey's heart was beating hard in his chest. One of them was Mike! He recognized him at once.
-SUITS-