Chapter 4

"Please ma'am, did you see a black Chevrolet SUV drive past this route some hours ago?" Emma asked an elderly woman who had just stepped out of a mall situated at the far end of the road Marcus and his abductors had taken.

"I just arrived here a few minutes ago. I think you should ask the lady at the counter", the elderly woman said and walked off carrying a bagful of groceries.

"A'ight, thanks", Emma replied and walked towards the entrance of the mall with Aiden following closely behind. They approached the lady at the counter and greeted her in the calmest tone they could muster. They had to appear as calm as possible to avoid suspicions.

"Good day ma'am, please did you see an old, black Chevrolet SUV drive past some hours ago?" Emma repeated the question to the lady behind the counter. She seemed to be busy with some calculations and took a few seconds to round up what she was doing before she looked up at the kids standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I had to clear something", and she smiled, "did you say an old, black Chevrolet?

Actually a lot of cars have gone by this morning and it'd be difficult for me to remember them all", and she smiled again.

Emma and Aiden turned to leave, disappointed when her voice stopped them,

"A Chevrolet? I think I saw one earlier this morning. But it sped past. Real fast".

"Really? Did you see how many they were in the vehicle? And did you see the direction they went?" Aiden was excited.

"I think I saw two men at the front of the car but I don't know if there were more at the back. They took the path leading to Taconic State Parkway. Hope there isn't any problem?" she blinked at them, expectantly.

"No ma'am. Thanks a lot for the information", and they both walked out of the mall.

"We have to go now", Emma said tugging Aiden along.

"What if it isn't them? What if it was just someone else?" Aiden whispered, trying to break free from Emma's grip.

"So what're you gonna do? Sit here and keep fantasizing or go back home?" Emma threw one of her usual disgusted looks at Aiden. Sometimes Aiden pissed her off but she just had to keep up with his attitude. What could she do? After all, he was her brother.

They both got on their bikes and rode towards the highway.

* * *

"Dear, what're you saying? The kids are missing, all at the same time? How's that even possible?" Mr Kinney was sweating profusely. He started taking off his jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. He needed to breathe. Mrs Kinney was pacing all around his office. She had almost ripped her entire hair off.

Just then, a call came in on Mr Kinney's phone. It was a strange number. He exchanged glances with his wife for a second and then went on to answer the call. It was a woman on the call,

"NYPD 19th precinct… 153 East 67th Street… Am I on to Mr Burdett Kinney?"

"Uhm… Yeah, that's me", and he looked at his wife who was standing right next to him. She was trying to get every detail of the call. Why not? Her three children were all missing at once and it was very unusual for the police to call her or her husband. This definitely had to do with her children, she thought.

The lady on the line went on,

"Your kids, uhm.. Aiden and Emma were at our station this morning to report that your son, Marcus was abducted by some criminals. Have you seen Marcus yet? We had to put a call across before further actions are taken".

Mrs Kinney snatched the phone away from her husband and started lamenting,

"I returned home this afternoon to find a note in my kitchen left by my kids, saying that they'd gone in search of their brother. Officer what is actually going on? My three kids are missing. What is happening?"

Mr Kinney had to take the phone from his wife as she was already in tears.

"Ma'am, please you have to do something about my children", he spoke in a tone that showed he was trying his best to remain calm.

"Sir, please can you drive down to the station immediately? We need to see you", the lady continued.

"I'm on my way this second", he said, grabbing his keys and jacket and rushing out of the office with Mrs Kinney at his heels.

* * *

Emma and Aiden had rode for a long while. They were both exhausted and it was getting dark.

Aiden thought of how they were gonna be spending the night outside in the wild and he laughed to himself. Their parents had never even let him have a sleepover yet. And here they were, outside, with no roof over their heads. He stopped to have a snack.

"I haven't eaten the whole day. I'm starving", he said and took a bite out of the doughnut in his hand.

"Yeah…. Split", Emma said, taking her backpack off.

"Huh? What d'you mean split? Take another from your backpack", and he kept on chewing.

"Listen Aiden, we don't know how long we're gon' be on the road. We have to be prudent with what we have here, okay?".

Aiden was reluctant. The doughnut was barely going to satisfy him and now he has to share? That would be killing him, he thought.

He split the doughnut in half but not without nagging. When they were done eating, they both sat there for a while without saying a word. How were they gonna spend the night? What would happen to them?

Emma was more concerned because she was the older one and it was her responsibility to look after Aiden. After all, Aiden wouldn't even be there if she hadn't taken such a decision.

She stood up and looked around as though she had in mind what she was looking for. She peered hard as it was dark and almost impossible to see a thing.

She bent over, picked up her backpack and asked Aiden to follow suit. They both walked towards an old bike store.

They knocked on the door and an elderly woman opened up for them.

"Please can we get a place to rest our heads for the night? We promise to live at the set of dawn tomorrow", Emma pleaded.

The elderly woman who looked to be in her late sixties wasn't convinced. What were kids their age doing out at that time of the day without a guardian?

She stepped aside and let them in anyway.

"So what're you kids doing out here at this hour?" the aged woman asked, bolting the door behind her,

" Where're your parents?"

Aiden was looking around, trying to take in all he saw. She probably owned the store, he thought.

She had a mattress at the far end of the room and other household items.

Things must have been difficult for her and she decided to move into the store.

There were old bikes all around the place.

Aiden was still peeking around when Emma spoke up,

"We're kinda lost. We are new around here. Just came by to visit our uncle and decided to go for a walk. We couldn't figure our way back since it's dark already. But we definitely will get around by dawn", she stuttered trying to make sure she didn't spill the truth.

"What about your cellphones? Why don't you put a call across to your uncle so he can come get you?" The woman continued, still unconvinced by the kids' story.

"We don't have any phones on us here", Emma lied.

The old woman took one last glance at the two helpless children and showed them to a corner of the room where they could lay down for the night.

Emma and Aiden turned off their cellphones to really make the old woman believe that they had none on them.

As they laid down to sleep, Emma had a lot running through her mind. Aiden was soon fast asleep but Emma couldn't sleep the whole night. She just stayed up, keeping a watch over Aiden in case the old woman tried something funny.

* * *

"Switched off? Their lines are switched off! Where're my children? Burdett, we can't just sit around doing nothing. Our kids are out there in the middle of nowhere by this time of the night. This is ridiculous!" Mrs Kinney yelled, looking at her husband.

"Listen, you have to calm down. I know we have to do something but not tonight. The cops are out there already. We have to wait for morning, then we'll think of what to do next. You need to catch some sleep now, okay? You're really stressed", Burdett gave a long sigh.

"How do you expect me to sleep, Burdett? Just how? Do you even realize what's going on? Our three kids, all missing at once. Three children!" She cried.

Burdett moved close to her and drew her into his arms. She leaned in and sobbed softly.

"Hey Carla", he called her softly, "what if the kids are at your mom's?. We can go check that out tomorrow, okay? But you need to rest now".

This last statement made Carla calm down. She had hopes that her kids were with her mom and that is where they would be heading at the first light of dawn.

* * *

Emma had woken Aiden by past 5. They had decided to sneak away before the old woman woke up, if not she would insist on taking them back home and that would disrupt all their efforts. They felt really sorry, having to leave that way after the old woman had rendered such help to them but they couldn't help it.

They hit the road and rode on for a very long while. They only stopped for a while when they saw a chaotic scene just outside a grocery store.

The cops were outside and a young woman was crying. It had been reported that the grocery store had been robbed earlier that morning by three guys.

"Emma, did you hear that? Three guys. What if it was them? Marcus's abductors", Aiden called behind Emma who was walking towards a young man standing across the street.

"Good morning sir. Please what went down here?" Emma asked.

The man looked down at the two kids and smiled,

"Good morning dear. There was a robbery here and they took all the money she….", he said pointing at the lady who had by now, stopped crying and was discussing with the cops,

"..... had on her", he concluded.

"Okay, thank you so much", Emma said and asked Aiden to wait for her.

She slowly moved over to where the lady was standing with the cops. She got as close as possible to the lady without being noticed and tried her best to listen in on their conversation. She was able to pick out a few things and from the lady's description, those were Marcus's abductors.

"Which route did they take?" One of the cops asked.

"They drove off to Vandam street. Looked like they were heading for the amusement park".

On hearing this, Emma ran off to meet Aiden. They both mounted their bikes and drove off, towards Vandam street.

* * *

"You're up already?" Burdett said, stretching and rubbing his eyes. Carla was already dressed. She was anxious to see her kids. She barely even slept at night and it was obvious because her eyes were all red and swollen. Burdett was not impressed by the way she looked. She was really stressed out.

He quickly got off the bed and went into the shower. In no time, he was out and dressed. They both drove down to Carla's mom's.

"Mom. Good morning. How're you doing? I hope you're taking your medications?" Carla asked, taking a seat right next to her mom.

"Well I'm tryna do that. I get dizzy at intervals but it's fine. How're my babies? You didn't bring them along? Having them around these days would…. " She was interrupted by Carla,

"What do you mean by 'how are my babies'? Ain't they with you? What's going on?"

Carla's mom got confused. She didn't expect any of this.

"Hey, Carla, you're not kidding, are you? Where're the kids?"

Carla stood up hastily, " Momma", that was what she called her mom when she was a kid, "the kids left for school yesterday and are yet to return. I came home yesterday to see a note saying that they, Emma and Aiden, had gone in search of Marcus. I'm confused. I thought it was a joke. Probably they came by at yours and didn't tell me". Carla was by now, pacing about the room. It was filled with the smell of freshly squeezed pineapple juice.

Burdett had been quiet all along, observing the whole situation. Carla didn't wait for her mom to ask further questions before she stormed out of the house, leaving her mom in absolute confusion.

* * *

The room in which Marcus was tied was dark. He hadn't eaten anything since his abduction. He was about to sleep off when Fregley pushed the door open with a loud bang. This frightened Marcus.

"Who's there? Please don't hurt me", he cried, shaking vigorously. The blindfold he had on didn't let him see even the littlest beam of light.

"What d'ya think you're doing? Thinking you're in your daddy's house?" And he laughed.

Marcus was helpless, he didn't have a slightest idea of what was coming.

"Please just let me go. I promise I won't mention anything to anyone. I'll keep shut. Just please".

"Listen kid, you ain't leaving, okay? Your fate is undecided yet, but going home to your family isn't an option. And hey", he said this, bending over to Marcus, "have you thought about starting a new life in another country? I know you'd love…."

Marcus's phone beeped. He had had his phone on him all the while.

"Kid, whaddya got there?" Keith asked in his black American accent. He was not a black but he loved mimicking everything about them.

"Is that a phone?" He went on, tugging at the pocket of Marcus's pants.

Emma had dropped a beep flash across to Marcus. Well, that was a very foolish thing to do because now, that had gotten Marcus into a bigger problem. Keith threw the cell phone across the room and it got smashed against the wall. He threw a punch at Marcus which was supposed to black him out instantly.

"We have to go. You two", Fregley said, gesturing at Keith and Mackey, "bring him along", he said and made for the door.

Marcus was untied and just as he was about to be carried, he gave Mackey a push, which sent him crashing down and made a run for it. Mackey was still trying to get himself up while Keith chased after. Marcus had no idea where he was running to but he just kept on moving, regardless.

Fregley had heard all the noise and by the time he got to the room, Mackey had just been able to pull himself up. He chased after the others.

Marcus couldn't go any further. He got on the ground and gathered as much bush around him as he could. This did the trick. It made him undetected by Keith who ran past. Soon, Fregley came running by. He stopped just next to where Marcus lay. Marcus tried as much as possible not to make a sound. Fregley slowly started walking away and that was when Marcus got stung by an ant. He made a shuffling noise beneath the bushes. Fregley turned to the moving bushes but the noise had ceased. He made to leave but on a second thought, he went for the bushes, pulling Marcus up.

"I've got him!" Fregley called out to the others. They came running along.

Mackey lifted Marcus to his back and carried him back to their vehicle. Keith quickly brought out a tranquilizer which was injected into Marcus. This made him drift off to sleep instantly.

Thirty minutes went by and Emma and Aiden arrived at the building the abductors had just vacated. They were exhausted and sat down to rest for a while. Aiden stood up from where he sat and started moving around, searching for nothing in particular. He made his way into the room Marcus had been locked. Nothing seemed right about the room. First, the chair and ropes which looked like someone had been tied and next, the broken phone laying across the room.

"Emma, get in here quick", he called out.

Emma rushed in, wondering what was wrong. She needed not be told that something was up. The broken phone was Marcus's, yes, she thought. That means they had been there.

"Aiden, we need to keep moving. They should be close by. We can't lose out, not now that we're so close to them", she started walking out of the room.