Inside Man | ONC2023

18. Kidnap or Murder?

(Author's note: this chapter is dedicated to another new ONC friend, lyttlejoe and their mystery thriller for the ONC2023 Once Upon a Life. )

"You're kidding, right?" Rik was incredulous.

"Nope."

"It was Kam? Again? I thought he was in prison."

"Not any more, I checked the records. He was released six months ago for good behaviour."

Rik swore. "Fucking unbelievable!"

Paul was filling in the details of the last twelve hours as they made their way back to the cave entrance.

"And not only was he responsible for your kidnapping, I believe he was the one who paid Mikel to trap you. I don't have any hard evidence, but it makes sense to me. Otherwise, we have to believe you have two separate adversaries, striking within 24 hours of each other. And how likely is that?"

"Not very," agreed Rik. He hesitated. "Do you really believe this was a kidnapping attempt or... something else? I can't help wondering whether he intended me to die there."

Paul looked startled. "What makes you think that? Your father told me he'd received a ransom demand."

"There was no food or water and no disposable wristcom. I searched as best I could in the dark, but I couldn't find either. It's common practice to leave a disposable and pre-programmed wristcom with the victim, so that when the ransom is paid, they can communicate with their family to provide proof of life and identify their whereabouts. Even the last time I was kidnapped they left those, though they didn't intend any of us to get out alive."

"A bit of a gamble though, wasn't it? Leaving you there, alive? I mean, if he wanted you dead, why not just kill you at my apartment?"

"Perhaps he wanted to hit the asteroid from two sides. Get the ransom payment and then my death as well."

"I suppose that's possible." Paul sounded dubious. "Rather a chancy way of murdering someone though, I would have thought. If death was his object, he could have shot you in the first cave, rather than carrying you all that way inside."

"I guess so," but Rik was unconvinced. He thought the truth was, Kam didn't like getting his own hands dirty, he preferred to leave the job to someone else, or blame it on an accident. Just look how he had set up Mikel. If Paul hadn't found him, Rik thought he could have wandered around in the caves for days until he died from thirst, or a fall.

"At the very least, he certainly wasn't going to be too worried if I had a fatal accident."

They walked on in silence, until Paul recognised a rock feature he had seen on the way in.

"Not far now."

"Does your wristcom have any reception yet? Could I borrow it? I should call my Dad and let him know I'm safe."

"Good idea. I wonder if he's paid the ransom yet?"

Rik grimaced. "I hope not!"

The wristcom showed active, but Rik was only able to leave a message for his father. He tried a couple of times but was unable to reach him in person. Frustrated, he handed the 'com back to Paul.

"Sorry. That might be my fault," Paul told him. "He might be deliberately not taking my calls. He walked out on me when he discovered I was doing a job for Frank Yelt. There's obviously some bad history there." Paul glanced sideways at Rik, wondering whether he would pull away from him now too, but he merely frowned.

"Yeah, he and Dad avoid each other wherever possible. My cousin disappeared six years ago and I know that at the time, Dad thought Yelt was responsible. Yelt has a bit of a reputation for hiring hitmen to..." Rik's voice trailed away as he met Paul's steady gaze.

Rik cleared his throat and hurried on. "Anyway, Dad hired an investigator to follow up Owen's disappearance, but nothing came of it. The whole affair still causes bad feeling between them."

"I see." Paul was carefully non-committal.

Before things got any more awkward, they came out into the large chamber where the cave system had started.

Paul could see a patch of daylight coming from the small opening he had crawled through only a few hours earlier.

"We're here. There's the entrance to the cave, right there," he pointed. "Let me go first, I want to check it's safe before you go out."

"You're serious? You think someone might be outside waiting for us?"

"Probably not, but best to be sure."

"Should we send the drone out to have a look around?" Rik suggested.

"Good thinking." Paul reprogrammed the drone, turning off the light function and altering its trajectory and then directed it out of the cave. Both men crowded around Paul's wristcom, watching its progress on the small screen.

They got a brief glimpse of scrub and rock, with Paul's hovercar at the edge, before the screen went blank and they heard a pop.

"Well, that answers that," said Paul, grimly. "Someone shot it down."

He took a few steps back and slowly surveyed the wall in front of them from top to bottom. "I'm checking to see if there's another way out," he told Rik. "I saw some smaller holes amongst the rocks when I was searching, let's hope one of them comes all the way through..."

They spotted a couple of small patches of light, but one was too close to the main entrance point and the other looked tiny, too small for a person to crawl through without a lot of excavating.

Paul took out his stunner, checked it was set to "stun" and handed it to Rik. "Can you stay here and cover us? I'm going to explore a bit further along. I suggest you stand with your back against the wall, close to the entrance. Fire a couple of shots outside to let them know we're armed, then hold off. If anyone tries to come in, shoot first and ask questions later."

"Okay, I can do that." Rik took the stunner with a determined expression on his face. "Be careful, won't you?"

"Always," answered Paul with a smile, and headed off toward the one exit from the chamber that he hadn't yet explored.