Lee stopped the pickup truck at the beginning of Victor's street and stepped out of the car with Yang.
"We'll let you drive alone from here, just in case they are keeping an eye on your house. We'll come from behind the house".
Victor nodded and slid into the driver seat. He continued down his street and stopped in front of his house. Not a living soul could be seen or heard in the street but the guys were right, that didn't mean that they didn't have someone on the lookout.
He walked up to the front door and opened it. He quickly went out back to open the door as Lee and Yang were already waiting.
Lee motioned to Victor to not speak as he and Yang took out their bug detectors. Within minutes the small house had been searched and no bugs had been found. It was a good sign.
"We're clear. You can go get the paperwork in your safe", said Lee to Victor.
Victor nodded and went upstairs. Lee nodded to Yang giving him the signal to follow Victor. It wasn't that Lee didn't trust Victor but you could never be too sure.
In the meantime, Lee walked and had a look around. He came to what must have been Victor's office and his attention got caught by a picture frame on the desk. He walked over and sat down in the chair. He slowly took the frame in his hands and looked at it. He looked at Kate. She was still as beautiful as ever but you could tell that she had lost her glow, her happiness. He could tell that the weak smile she gave was a façade, just to save appearances. He hated seeing her like that, she who always had such a joy of living, who always laughed and smiled even in the toughest moments.
"Is that Kate"?
He looked over his shoulder to see Yang at standing behind him.
"Yes it is".
"I see why you fell in love with her. You can feel her beauty both outside and in from the picture. Even though her eyes are lifeless. A woman should never lose that twinkle in her eye".
Lee sighed. "I know. I hate seeing her like this. I can't believe Victor would do that to her. But I'm going to do everything I can to bring it back".
He placed the picture frame back on the desk and stood from the chair.
Victor was waiting for them in the kitchen.
Lee and Yang headed out the backdoor. "We'll meet you at the corner of the street. Whatever you do, do not stop to talk to anybody and hide the paperwork underneath your shirt".
Victor nodded. He didn't know if Lee was this cold with him because it was part of the job and he was trying to keep his emotions separated from it all or if he really just hated his guts. If it was the latter, he couldn't blame Lee; he was a monster and wondered how he had been able to look at himself in the mirror these past years.
He locked the door behind Lee and Yang and headed to his office. He opened one of the drawers and rummaged through some paperwork. When he found what he was looking for, he closed the drawer and headed out the front door and into the pickup. As planned he picked up Lee and Yang at the corner of the street, allowing Lee to get back behind the wheel and they drove of direction the headquarters.
Kate's eyes flickered a couple of times before she was able to open them slightly. She was nauseous and had a terrible headache. Her arms and legs were tied to a chair and as she finally looked around, realized she was in a semi-dark room with no windows. Aside from the chair she was sitting on, there was nothing else. It took a while for her eyes to see clearly. She closed her eyes again as she started to feel the room spin slightly. Maybe it was best if she just went back to sleep. Whatever they had injected her was wearing off but had not done so entirely.
"Hello Kate. How are you feeling"?
She opened her eyes and searched the room. Whoever was talking to her was in the room, the voice was distinct, not like a voice heard through a speaker. But she could see no one. There were enough dark spots in the room; she couldn't even make out a door anywhere.
"You know, I usually don't like it when I ask a question and don't get an answer. How are you feeling"?
Kate swallowed. She didn't want to speak to this man but from his tone of voice and comment, she felt it was best not to get on his bad side, not that it would change anything as to her outcome.
"I'm nauseous and have a terrible headache. What did you give me"?
"You don't need to worry about that, the remaining side effects should wear off shortly".
"What is it that you want"?
"Well, I wouldn't worry about what I want. I've already given my instructions to your father. What I would worry about if I were you is how long it is going to take for him to get me what I want".
"Why is that"?
"Well let's just say that the more time it takes him to bring me what I need, the more you are going to be praying for these side effects are the only physical pain you are feeling".
She lifted her head up and stared straight ahead, she didn't know if it was out of defiance or out of courage.
"Well you can forget about it. You'll never get what you are asking for. I'd rather die than to know that you have some sort of experimental weapon at your disposal to kill innocent people. My father will never cooperate with you".
"Oh trust me he will, whether you like it or not. Besides, killing you won't be of much help to me. I think we'll have no issues in finding ways to incite him to cooperate sooner than later. You seem brave now, but soon you'll be begging him to hand over what we want".
Kate swallowed. It didn't take a genius to know what he was talking about. She could handle pain, that she knew but to what extent? Could she handle hours of torture? How long would she resist? Even if her father didn't give them what they wanted and she ended up dying, nothing proved that they wouldn't go after her father or anybody else who had access to the weapons. It seemed almost a no-win situation. Unless.. Unless Barney Ross was everything Lee had ever set him out to be.
"Let's see now… You have a few more pleasurable hours left, so relax and enjoy them while you can".
She heard the sound of a heavy metallic door close and realized he must have left the room. There was nothing she could do but sit there and wait for her fate.
"How did it go"? asked Barney as they came back.
Lee walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of beer and twisted the cap open. "Uneventful. Not a single bug found at his place and he's got what we need. How about here, have we progressed on their whereabouts"?
Barney nodded. "Yes, since we knew we were looking for either Asia or Europe, Toll Road has managed to use that information to continue his investigation for the trace. So far we have ruled out Asia and he's working on Europe. We should be able to have a better idea by morning and then when they call back, we need to try to keep them longer on the phone".
He turned to Victor. "That is going to be your job. You are going to have to try to have them on the phone at least three minutes. We need to find something that will throw him off balance and have him needing more than 3 minutes with you. Let's look at what you brought back. Maybe there is something useful in there and on top of that, I'd like to start investigations on who has been having access to this information".
Barney and Victor sat down together and started looking at the file of documents. Still with his beer in hand Lee walked to the back to find Gunnar.
"Gunnar, assuming that they flew 7-8 hours to Europe and you'd want someone to sleep the entire time, how much time do you think we have left before Kate wakes up"?
Gunnar thought for a moment. "Considering they probably drugged her on the plane and that they wanted to make sure that they had enough time to transport her to the final destination point, they must have used something pretty strong. How much would you say Kate weighs"?
Lee shrugged. "I don't know, when we were together, I would say she was around the 120 lbs. I saw a recent picture of her at Victor's; I think she is still in that range".
Gunnar closed his eyes and you could tell he was starting to calculate as he moved his lips in silence. He then opened his eyes and looked at his watch and shook his head.
"I'm sorry to tell you this Lee but I think that time has come and gone".
Lee's eyes opened in shock. "What? Are you saying she's most probably awake already"?
Gunnar nodded. "If not already awake, it's only a question of an hour or two at the most".
Lee threw his beer bottle out on the street and went back inside.
"Barney, we've got to act fast. Gunnar says that we have at the most 2 hours before Kate wakes up if she's not awake already".
Seconds later, Victor's cell phone started ringing. Toll Road gave him the thumbs up and Victor answered.
"Hello"?
"Hello Victor. I hope you have what I'm waiting for? Kate sends you her greetings. I'd pass her to you but I don't think she would be very convincing at this time. On the contrary, she would probably dissuade you to cooperate and we can't have that happening now can we? So Victor, where is the SXT-76"?
Victor was shaking. "I..I… don't have it yet. I need to wait until later on to go into headquarters and get it. No one can access the building during the night".
The man on the other end of the line sighed.. "Not good. Not good at all Victor. I thought I had made myself clear on the importance of time. Kate is really not going to like this at all".
"Please, please don't hurt her. There is something you need to know about the SXT-76".
"What"?
"It's not finished. The prototype is not finished".
"Not my problem. Finish it and if I was you, the quicker the better. By the way, you can expect a delivery in your mailbox in the next couple of hours. It should be quite entertaining".
With that he hung up. Both Lee and Victor were in a decomposed state. The countdown had started and at that moment in time, there was nothing either one of them could do to help Kate.
If one thing the man had said on the phone was right, was that time was key and at that moment it was their worst enemy!