The Ransom (Part 19)

By Jenny Taylor

20 hours later, Virgil shifts uncomfortably in his 'prison' bed. He'd been put back into the small dark cell about 5 hours ago, when the Hood's minions unstrapped him from his 'medical' bed, unwrapped him and removed the small amount of various wires connecting to the old medical machines, so that he can go to the bathroom to answer the call of nature and to put his clothes back on.

He still remembers that embarrassing, painful and humiliating experience that the villain's minions had put him through.

Flashback

Five hours previously.

Virgil has been feeling uncomfortable for several hours now although to him it felt like days due to the fact that he still can't see what's happening because of his blind-fold. His stomach has been growling for food and water.

His whole body, minus his head and neck, is painfully stiff due to the fact that he's wrapped up like an Egyptian Mummy, even though he can't see what he looks like, but he can feel that he's wrapped up tight and strapped down onto the medical bed.

At least being wrapped up in some blankets have, for the moment, protected his dignity because all of his clothes, which had been soaking wet and cold due to the water torture yesterday, has been removed from him so he can recover from that torture, but only for him to end up into another one in a few hours time.

And now there's this new feeling of uncomfortable is one that he can't ignore and needs to go, but how? How is he going to get to the bathroom when he's tied down like he is now? He sighed but he's desperate and he knew that there's no other option but to call his captors so that he can answer the call of nature.

"Hey! Can anyone hear me?" He shouted. There was no answer, he breathed deeply so he can prepare himself to shout louder, but before he did so, the door opened and a minion walked in and right up to the bed looking down frustratingly at the prisoner.

"What do you want kid?" He snarled, feeling annoyed fists on hips.

"I need the bathroom." Virgil said with a hint of desperation in his voice, ignoring the hated nickname that the minion had just called him.

"Heh, heh, heh. Nice try kid, you're not fooling anyone." The faceless minion laughed, crossing his arms on his chest.

"I'M SERIOUS!" Virgil shouted angrily, breathing heavily, his voice filled with desperation. "I NEED THE BATHROOM! Unless YOU want to clean up my mess!"

That did it, the minion stormed out of the room in disgust and the door slams shut, leaving Virgil alone again, shifting uncomfortably and desperate to keep hold until he reaches his requested destination.

After he was unstrapped and unwrapped, he remained blind-folded as they pulled him off the bed, his arms was then forced and pinned behind his back, which hurts like hell as he was half-led and half-pushed out of the medical room, naked and bare footed, along the cold metal corridor until they reached the bathroom, which where they released and pushed him in and caused him to fall face first onto the cold bathroom floor.

When he ripped off his blind-fold, which he now discovered that it was a bandage, he turned towards the door as he heard it being locked shut. He sighed as got up and quickly looked around the small, dark but clean room for the toilet so he can do his business.

After that he went to the wash basin to wash his hands and then used a warm hand towel to dry his hands. As he did so, he gives the room a proper inspection.

There was a shower cubical in the right hand corner and there was a wash basin and a mirror above it and a toilet backed up against the left hand wall. Some towels hanging from the radiator which is backed against the far wall and then there's a stool which had his now-dry clothes has been dumped on.

He sighed and frowned, running his hand through his dark chocolate brown hair looking down at himself feeling confused and humiliated, while he places the now used hand towel onto the basin. He turns and looks at himself in the mirror. Tiredness, sadness, stress, worried and hunger is all he could see in his reflection.

He stood looking at his own reflection for a while, that is until the voice of the one person that he NEVER wants to hear again interrupts his thoughts, through a hidden speaker.

"THREE options for you Tracy! Are you going to stand there all day as you are, you're going to get yourself dressed OR…" The angry voice of the world's most wanted criminal, The Hood, shoots directly down at his prisoner as he gives Virgil 'the options'. "I'll send my men in to force you into your clothes, BEFORE you are dragged back to your cell? YOUR CHOICE TRACY!"

And with that, the voice stops and a click noise indicating that the comms are switched off.

Virgil looked around in confusion and fear, trying to find out where the comms were and, more importantly, where is the camera. Even though he wants to find the offending gadgets which were watching him, the Hood's threat to have him dragged back to his cell, no matter what he looks like had scared him.

He heads over to where his clothes are and starts to get dressed. He clearly doesn't want to go through that humiliating experience of being dragged, let alone chained to his cell bed, naked!

That thought and having felt that dreadful and horrible experience had made him get dressed as fast as he could, fearing that the Hood's minions would come into the room at any moment to drag him away no matter how's he's dressed.

A few minutes later, he breathed a sigh of relief when finished tying his boot laces and leans back to the wall of the bathroom, while sitting on the floor, exhausted. Panic's over, well for the moment at least, as he breathes in order to calm himself down and trying to save his depleting energy before the nightmare begins again.

A few more minutes later, the door slides open revealing three faceless minions, to which one carried an old fashion police taser aimed at Virgil's chest while the other two moves to flank Virgil and grab his arms, pulls him off the floor and then thrusts his arms behind his back, causing the owner of the arms to gasp in pain.

The two minions held Virgil in position while the third puts the taser away and produces a blind-fold, Virgil looks at him in horror and fear. He wants to struggle, but with his arm pinned painfully behind his back, plus exhaustion and hunger there's no way that he's going to escape, so he stands there watching the minion as he walks behind him and places the blind-fold over his eyes, sending Virgil into the blackness of dreaded fear.

After the blind-fold is tied up tightly around the Tracy's eyes, making the said person hiss and howl in pain, which is about to get worse as the minions half pushed half dragged Virgil from the bathroom, through the cold metallic corridor towards his cell.

End of Flashback

Virgil sighs and frowns as that traumatic experience hours earlier still rushes through his mind, replaying over and over again, robbing him of his sleep, but given of what's happened and what's about to happen, he'll never sleep. He doesn't remember when he last slept.

Then his thoughts turned to the incident when the Hood punched him. He realises that he might have over-stepped his mark and he's paying the price by going through that horrible ordeal. But if that's the case, is the Hood going to go easy on him from now on?

He shakes his head, there's no chance of the villain going easy on him, especially when he accused the villain for his dad's demise, plus the clock is ticking and getting closer to that deadline, which that ultimate and fateful decision will be made by his only older brother, Scott.

He sighs again and looks up at his shackled wrists and then to the ceiling, before a long gurgling sound brings him down to his stomach. He hasn't eaten nor drank since his lunch at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2 days ago and he's feeling weak.

He knows that if his brothers decide not to save him, the Hood will order his minions to push him off the villain's ship and into the ocean. He knows that even though that he's an average swimmer (Comparing himself to his younger brother Gordon), his medical side tells him that, given his weakened state, he won't be able to survive long in the ocean.

Plus, who knows how the minions are going to keep him restrained before the dreaded fake death, which might turn into a real one. He sighs again, after a few minutes of silence then he decides that he should try and get some sleep for 2 reasons.

First; is to conserve energy as much as he could before the deadline. And second is that he needs to relax, stress and worry will keep him awake and will use up his dwindling energy reserves.

So based on that logic, he goes into a depressed sleep, shackled and chained to the metal bed, waiting… waiting for that dreaded deadline will change the lives of him and his family…forever!