The City's Treasure Hunter

Chapter 3 - You Got Mail

I opened the letter and it read:

"Dear Jack,

Sorry, I completely forgot! I sent my messenger with this if you have seen them. Just so that way you know it isn't me! Now, about your parents. You have three days to get me that ruby and drop it off at the shipyard. Warehouse 7 if you don't mind. Take too long on the third day and I shall kill them. I hope you understand that I am in a big hurry. I'll leave you to it! Your parents lives are in your hands.

- Sincerely, Your Parents Kidnapper"

Great! Now I have a timeline. The sooner the better then. I planned on going at midnight to just scope things out. "What does it say?" I jumped at the sound of Harry's voice. "I forgot you were here." I hand him the letter. "Thanks, I value you too." I swear, he can speak fluent sarcasm when he wants to. Although, that's only in those situations. Ping. That was my phone saying I got a message. It was from Des. "Hey, what's the company you're you have to go into today for the errand?" Hm, does she have an idea of what to do? "Noinic Inc. Why? You going to check the site also?" It didn't take long for her to reply. "Never heard of the company, so it must be a small one according to the U.S. I take it has security cameras? Tonight message me when you'll be going on the errand." She has some sort of plan.

"I take it she wants to help by disabling the cameras for a time being and making it seem that they're working. You said she was good at that, yeah?" Harry was reading the messages over my shoulder. "Really? Snoop much? Yeah, she's great at that. She did that to my computer once." I remember that day. What happened was I started getting a bit angry because I was losing at a game then all of a sudden my screen froze and I started hearing Des giggling in our call. Then it came back and I had won the game. No clue how.

"Yo, Jack, you good? You seem to be in another universe and have forgotten your parents have been kidnapped. Which I kind of am freaking out about." Harry seemed a bit irritated because I wasn't freaking out and calling the police. "Trust me. I am freaking out. When I freak out I turn calm. It's scary sometimes." I then turned to head into my room. I pulled up my map and taped it up onto my wall. I put a pin where Noinic Inc. was. Hopefully I'll be able to find a pattern in either the buildings or in what I am stealing.

"What are you doing?" Harry followed me into my room and was now sitting at my desk where I was actually testing some theories of great inventors. "I'm going to keep track of the places that they need me to go to." I answered his questions swiftly. I continued to study the mark, circling every big corporation with a black marker. "Black marker means possible targets considering what we've been given right now, red means what we've stolen from." I then grab my notebook and start writing things down. While I have a pretty good memory sometimes, I want to keep things as accurate as possible. I tend to write down things that bother me. It helps me cooperate with it all. I may be calm on the outside, but I am freaking out. I need my parents back ASAP. Everything I do is to help them live in comfort. I love them. They're probably the only people that I truly love. Don't get me wrong, I care for my friends, but I love my family. I'm an only child and they understand me the most. I can't imagine life without them.

"Jack, are you okay?" Harry noticed that I had started tearing up. I quickly turn away and wipe my eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine, why don't you go home and come back at twelve?" Harry then got up, gave me one last concerned look and walked home. "I have about three hours...what to do..." I then got on the computer and messaged Des. "Hey, you still up? Can you call?" It wasn't long before she was typing. "Yes. I have some news for you." I then called her. "You're crazy for still being up." I told her as soon as she answered. "Jack. I'm crazy for getting tickets for a plane to you." She told me. "Wh-what?! Aren't they like near $900? You're only 14! How the hell did you get them?!" I don't believe it. "I hacked into the nearest airport, got myself a fake identity, got myself a ticket and passport, and now I'm scheduled for a flight in three hours." She was serious. "What about your parents?" She couldn't leave them, could she? "They've been kidnapped an hour ago. Then I was told to go and meet up with you. Whoever kidnapped your parents kidnapped mine too, now we need to get them back." I can't believe this is actually happening. She's actually coming over to visit me. "Des...why do they want us of all people doing this?" I don't know anything except that whoever took our parents want us working together because of our expertise. "I only know that it's because of what we're good at. Now, what exactly did you want to talk about?" I honestly didn't know what to talk about. "I just wanted to talk to you. Honestly I'm freaking out because I'm now home alone and there's a chance of the kidnappers coming back, even if they needed me to steal something." I heard her sigh over the call. "Ok, wanna play a game or something then? I'll leave in two and a half hours, and I'm already packed. I also got about two or three hundred to take with me." Good. I'll be alone for only thirty minutes. "Sounds good, let's play something. Maybe a puzzle game?" Then me and her played for about two and a half hours until she left for the airport. I know this is going to back fire on us all. I need to wait for maybe twelve hours for her to get here.