Chapter 11 - When Nightmares come true...

'How long have I been running?' Robert Miller kept asking himself as he ran through the woods. 'Five hours?' the boy hardly realized that he ran not more than half hour. Not having run this far and this fast, soon he dropped down exhausted 'I don't find a road in this damn forest. No clue where I am. Will I ever reach anywhere' the boy was breathing heavily as he sat and leaned back on a tree. Sweating all over, dry throat, the boy badly needed water. 'I should have taken with me the coke the old man gave me. I should kill those who killed my mother.' the boy murmured but couldn't hear his voice from his dry throat. He closed his eyes and wished some one got him out of the woods.

"son of a bitch" Robert Miller felt a heavy blow on his right cheek and fell on the ground. 'What am I hit with?' before the boy could figure out, another blow on his right arm and a kick on his back succeeded. The boy slowly raised his face. Nick was standing with a baseball bat in his right hand. As he raised his bat again, Josh ran towards the boy "Better not kill the boy. Mr. Clark wouldn't want that to happen" Josh grabbed the bat from Nick's hand.
As Nick and Josh pulled the boy from ground, the boy was no longer conscious. The boy had a bleeding forehead that hit the ground. Besides he had a bleeding nostrils and mouth.
"Will he be alright?" Josh asked Nick a bit scared.
"I don't know. He deserved it". However, Nick was also a bit worried that the boy might die. Their task was only to kidnap the boy and release him when his customer wanted to.
"Lets take him to my house and see if we can save him by any chance" Josh said and signaled Nick to help him carry the boy.

*
"You better listen to me, It is all because of you" Nick shouted at the old man.
Bob kept staring at the boy who lay on the floor unconscious.
"Why would you beat him up with a baseball bat. You are a cruel bastard" Bob replied.
"Shut up, will you?. I have always told you not to untie him without us being around. It is your stupidity to do that. Your favorite customer Mr. Clark is unhappy today because of your stupidity."
"You still haven't answered my question"
" **** ***" Nick silenced the old man with a few more asterisks that followed.

Mr. Clark was clearly unhappy with the way things went. "I never wanted you to hurt the boy. Didn't I tell you? How would I ever entrust a task on you guys again"
He earlier had asked them to drop the boy near his house by midnight. Now considering the boy's condition, he asked them to pick James at Marcy's restaurant and drive him blindfolded to Nick's house. Get the money transferred and drop them blindfolded back at a street near the local hospital.


*

It was 8 p.m and still the kidnappers haven't called James Miller who was eagerly waiting to hear his son's voice. As time passed by, James was getting more and more worried about his son.
"Did they call?" Mike entered and closed the door behind.
"No. Where is Charmaine?"
"She is driving back to Folly Island."
"Folly Island? Why, what's the matter?"
"She thinks, she can hack into the kidnappers account and revert our transfer after we get the boy"
"Very funny!" James sounded a bit irritated. "Just ask her not to do anything stupid till we get the boy"
"She assured me that"
"Where have you been so long?"
"We were checking flight tickets for her to fly to Folly Island. Bad luck. She had to drive."
"It is already 8.30 and I still haven't heard from them. I wish, my son is alright"
"He will be, do not worry"
Silence prevailed in their house which was soon broken by the ringing of the telephone.
James picked up "James"
"Listen, I am sorry that I can't arrange for you speaking with the boy"
"Why not? Is he alright?"
"Yeah, he is. But there is slight change in plans. It is all considering your son's life"
"But you promised, you will arrange for me speaking with my son. Is he even alive?" James' voice broke and he burst into tears.
"He is fine. Just unconscious. Listen, I want you to come and wait by Marcy's near your house now. Some one will pick you up and take you to where your son is. You can transfer the money online after seeing your son and we will drop you both home. You better be on time. You probably have to rush your son to an hospital. We aren’t doctors"

"He is unconscious? What happened?"
"Better this be your last question. Your son tried an escape and he pays for it. Will see you at Marcy's" he hung up before James could ask him to give him some first aid.
Standing by James' side, Mike could hear both their conversation.
"My son is unconscious" James dropped on his couch, tears ran down his cheek and couldn't stop weeping.
"We better rush. No time to waste. I will drop you by Marcy's and then drive to the hospital. I better keep the doctors prepared." they both rushed to the garage.


*
'Bitch! She didn't even pick up my 3rd call or answer my voice message. ' Charmaine cursed Lucia Mabel as she drove her way to Folly Island. 'Still a couple of hours to Folly Island, now I've already got 2 speeding tickets.' Charmaine cursed her bad luck. But these tickets didn't make any effect currently in her speedometer.. She contined atleast 20 mph above the the speed limits.

An hour later, another siren and colored lights made her pull over to the shoulder.

"Officer, this is an urgent situation. Please consider my.." Charmaine pleaded but the officer gave her the 3rd speeding ticket. "Your driving licence will be invalidated from tomorrow. You can take the driving test in your state again after 6 months. Safe journey, Madam" the officer went back to his car.

An hour later Charmaine was in her office, running her queries on the databases behind U-shop application. As Lucia had mentioned, the AIB account had not made any transactions, which meant he has not shared any identity. But he was a registered user. Which means he has setup a password for this account in U-shop.
Charmaine believed in her thesis so much and as per her second principle it is highly likely that he has used the same password in AIB international.


Time to pull the password. Now she ran queries on the password database.
Charmaine stared at her screen with all excitement.

Fetching Password for account 930923927734829965443824
please wait...