The siren blew as they all parked their cars around Charles’ house. They had even called the fire trucks to put out the smoke and fire that had been caused by the explosion. Charles sat at the back of the ambulance as they ran a quick check up on him to be certain he was okay. “You are fine sir. You weren’t affected in any way.” One of the paramedics informed him. “Thanks.” Charles responded in a low tone. Just when he wanted to celebrate one of his biggest wins, this calamity befell him, and worst of all, the man who had abducted James had not gotten back to him, since then. “Mr. Lincoln, do you perhaps know of anyone who might have a grudge on you that could have done this?” One of the cops who walked up to him, questioned him, while holding a note in his hand. “I don’t have an idea. It’s more like I’ve gotten rid of the enemies who let themselves known that they are my enemies. Right now, I have no idea.” Charles spoke, sounding really broken. “Alright, we’ll ensure we get to the root of this, Mr. Lincoln. You don’t have to worry. We’ll find Mr. James.” “Please try your best. I don’t want him getting hurt.” Charles pleaded. The cop nodded, and then left to meet the others. When they were done examining the house, they placed a caution tape around the house and then drove back to the station. Charles knew he had to move out to another house, and that wasn’t a problem as he had enough funds with him, to do that. But then, he hoped deeply in his heart that James would be found, anytime soon, and he would be in good shape. ~ About two weeks had passed, and the cops had not found anything on James. Every time they felt they had a lead, it always led them to a dead end, which made Charles feel very depressed. He sat in his living room, staring into blank space when his phone rang out loud. It was a strange number, but because of the incident that happened with James, he had been answering calls from strange numbers, hoping it was going to be about James, but they never were. “Hello. Charles Lincoln on the line.” He spoke out, dryly. “Good. Finally, it’s time we meet.” As he heard that familiar voice, he sat up, and his ears were ready to listen to every single thing the man had to say. “Where’s James? What did you do with him? Why did it take you this long to get back to me?” Charles questioned, without pausing to take some necessary breaths, “Be calm, Charles. By the way, you’ll get the answers to your questions when you come over to the location, I’m going to send to you after this call. You are to come alone with a bag of thirty million dollars. Remember, you are to come alone.” The voice warned, and then hung up without hearing what Charles had to say. As he hung up, a text came in for Charles. He was to come to a silo, which was certain to be an abandoned one. Where else would they be able to carry out an indecent activity if not an abandoned place? He quickly put a call through to the cops as he knew he would be a fool if he didn’t inform the cops about the recent happening. In about an hour, a few cops came over to his home, and they discussed about the location and other things that needed to be discussed about. “Alright, so we’ll be putting a tracking device in the bag which you’ll be giving to them. That way, we’ll be able to track you to wherever you are.” One of the cops spoke out, and then gave Charles the tracking device. “Thank you so much for this indulgence.” Charles appreciated them, feeling immensely grateful. “It’s our job, Mr. Lincoln. By the way, please avoid anything that would make you fight or argue with the captors, no matter who they turn out to be.” They advised, and Charles nodded, letting their advice sink into his mind. Soon, he got ready to leave, and then let out a deep breath as he walked out to his car. He hoped in his heart that the mission was going to turn out successful as it would leave a scar in his heart if James died because of him. On getting to the silo, he walked in and looked around. It looked really empty and there was no one in sight. “Hello?” He called out, and the only response he got was his echo. “Hi, Charles.” He heard a familiar voice, and that made him turn towards the sound of the voice. “Vera!” he exclaimed in a low tone, with his eyes widened in shock. “Yes. It is me.” “Why…Why? Why did you do this? You mean you’re part of those who abducted James? James whom you worked with? Who cared about you? And even found it hard to let you go after your dismissal at the company.”“Will you shut it! You have nothing good to say. Besides, I don’t care about whatever anyone thinks of me, at this point. You left me when I was alone, and I never did that to you, so to hell with you and those you love.” Vera shunned him, staring at him like she could actually pierce him if her eyes could spit out daggers. Charles couldn’t believe his ears. Vera looked and sounded completely different. He couldn’t even trust that she might not do anything bad to him. At this point, he wasn’t going to be surprised if she killed him right at this spot. Then she collected the bag from him harshly, and checked to see if it was truly money in it. She smiled wickedly, and zipped up the bag. “That’s what you asked for. Now, where is James?” As he asked, he heard footsteps, and then turned around to see whoever was coming. To his shock, it was Tyson and Carlos, dragging James who had been bruised all over.