Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Marcus took some aspirin and did his usual morning rituals. He then carefully cleaned the house looking for clues that would lead to those who kidnapped his family. He suspects the same person who had kidnapped Jane was responsible for his missing mother and sister. He cleaned the house thoroughly but didn't find anything. He sat on the couch he sat not up to 42 hours ago with Emily. He missed his sister, he missed her goofy nature. If she were here she would have made any other trouble he was facing lighter. She never comes out to declare her love for him, but she was always there whenever he needed her. Just like she had broken her savings to help me pay for the house rent, just like she had helped him get through his previous breakup, she had always got his back more than any other person he knew. He remembered when she first mentioned Cole, he felt uneasy about his younger sister dating. He had wanted too badly to scrutinise the Cole guy but Emiky had refused to introduce him. "I do not want you scaring all my boyfriends away." she had snapped at him.

"Hold on," Marcus said, standing to his feet. He remembered Emily telling him she would spend the day with her friends and then the evening with Cole. He went to his room and searched impatiently for his phone in the pants he wore the day before. He remembered he has one of Emily's long-time friends Angela's phone number. He dialled her number, and she picked up the 3rd ring.

"Hi, Marcus,"

"Yeah hi, was Emily in your place yesterday?" He asked, almost running the words over.

"Ye-yeah," Angela stammered. "She left by 6, and said she was off to see Cole."

"You know Cole?"

"No, he doesn't go to our scho–

"Do you have his number?" Marcus interrupted.

"No," Angela snapped, offended.

Marcus took a deep breath to calm himself. "Ange, I really need your help, Emily might be in trouble."

Angela sighed. "I'll text his number to you," she mumbled.

Marcus paced the room impatiently waiting for the text. He needed to know what happened. Emily had made it clear to him and apparently her friends that she was going to his house. He decided he would call Cole to see if she did make it to his place or not.

He dialled the number immediately after he saw the text. It rang with no response, he failed it three more times with the same result. He walked frustrated into the living room and resumed his couch.

He turned on the TV and sure enough, news about Jane's abduction was everywhere… Mr. Morrison had paid all military forces to help find his daughter. If the justice league were real, Mr. Morrison would have also made them join the search. Marcus sighed and leaned deeper into the couch. He wants to turn the world upside down so Jane would fall right into his arms. But he had to focus on his family. Her father is doing everything in his power to find his daughter, and besides that, he has sacked him, and unlike Jane who has the whole of Austria's army looking for her, nobody knows about his mother and sister. He knew better than to inform the police at this stage; for one, they are all set to win Mr. Morrison's price of 10,0000 euros, and secondly, he was starting to think Cletis might not have a hand in this.

Without meaning to, he dialled Cole's phone number again. It rang as usual, but this time, he heard something vibrating under the couch he sat on. He dialled the number again and had the same result.

He shuddered at the thought of the reason he thought Cole's phone was on the couch. "No she couldn't," he said out loud. Emily could have done what he thinks, and even if she would, she would be decent enough to do it in the bedroom, not the living room. He poked the sides of the couch till he found the phone. He had another line of suspicion when he found the phone. The phone wasn't anything a normal teenager or any person at all would use. It was an old Nokia, and more suspicious, it had only Emily's number in it. Whoever placed it there meant for him to find it. After a minute of pondering, he was able to clear a few things. Cole was part of the gang that kidnapped his sister, and the kidnappers are not necessarily interested in Jane or his family, they were trying to get to him.

Cletus hadn't had time to talk to his father since Jane had been reported missing. He waited impatiently at the airport for the plane to land and produce his father. They had barely discussed the details of kidnapping Jane, he didn't know why his father would do the work without involving him or at least informing him. The checked his wristwatch and tapped his fingers to the starting wheel making an unattractive rhythm. "Father should be here by now, what is taking him so long?" he whispered. On cue, the bsd door flew, Mr. Rodriguez Diaz threw his travel bag in, closed the door, and went to the passenger's seat. They drove in silence till they were off the airport street.

"Do you mind telling me why you kidnapped Jane without telling me?" Cletus blurted.

"What are you talking about? I thought you did it because you couldn't be patient enough for me to arrive from my little trip." Rodriguez hissed through clenched teeth.

Cletus's jaw-dropper dropped. "You had nothing to do with it?"

Rodriguez shook his head slowly. They drove in silence again trying to guess which other enemies Morrison and his daughter had that weren't dead or in jail.

"That bodyguard guy got fired, so he won't be an issue." Cletus thought out loud.

What he said seemed to stun Mr. Rodriguez, he stared at him. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Sure, sure," all those we planted as spies at the celebration said the same thing," Ckrtus muttered as though the information was really useful.

Unlike Cletus, the information seemed to strike a cord on Rodriguez. "Did Morrison blame him for his missing daughter?"

Cletus took his eyes off the road to look at his father, he wasn't sure why he seemed to be interested in the Marcus guy getting fired but he answered. "Ugr, no, according to the spies, Marcus had been irritating Mr. Morrison from the beginning of that day, so when one of the maids informed the Marcus guy about Jane's disappearance, he ran up the stairs to check in on her against Morrison's wish."

"That was why he got fired?" Rodriguez asked, utterly astonished.

"Ugrr… Yes father, what is wrong, why are you so interested in this Marcus employment?"

Rodriguez stayed silent for a while, he seemed to be coming up with hypotheses as to why Morrison would fire Marcus at a time when he would need him the most. "You do not think they told him about their relationship do you?" He asked thoughtfully.

"I do not know, but that would mean their relationship is serious."

"Of course it is serious." Rodriguez snapped.

Cletus scoffed at his father.

"What did Marcus do after he got fired?"

"I um… We didn't see the need to follow him after he got fired." Cletus stammered.

Rodriguez growled at him. "Make sure he is tracked to his house, as quickly as you can," he commanded.

"Yes dad," Cletus grumbled. "I think Marcus was just not doing his job properly…" he mumbled.

"Why would you say that?"

"According to the spies, he was downstairs the whole time taking all kinds of expensive wine, he seemed to have forgotten he had a job."

Rodriguez grimaced. "What do you expect from all these poor people, they all turn gluttons around good food."

"Or he could have kidnapped her…"

"What are you talking about?"

Cletus shrugged. "I am just saying, what if Marcus kidnapped her, so he could save her and then become the hero–just for the price he would get."

Rodriguez celebrated that for a while. "That is another theory, but first, let's know what Marcua is up to."

Mrs. Morrison didn't think she had talked this much in her entire life. She spent the night giving him reasons he cannot fire Marcus at this difficult time when they will need him, and this morning she was trying to talk him into seeing a doctor. He had been throwing up, his face was turning green and he was losing his strength.

"You will not be able to effectively find your daughter if you are not in good health Morrison, why are you being difficult?"

"I am–" he coughed for almost a minute. "I am not trying to be difficult, I need to find my daughter and that is that."

"Do you think Jane would want to see you sick, you do not look any better Morrison, you look worse. You need to see a doctor, and I am done asking. I will be calling Dr. Jasper, make sure you are ready by then." she said and left the room.

Mr. Morrison tried calling after her but he was seized by another wave of vomit sending him to the bathroom floor.