The Hidden Treasure

~55~

Hyejin's eyes felt like they were glued shut. Her head felt fuzzy and her arms hurt from being stuck behind her. Her legs wouldn't move, though she wasn't sure it would make any difference if they could since they felt like lead anyway. She heard a voice across from her and while her eyes stayed closed, her ears were on high alert.

It was a male voice. It sounded annoyed and agitated. She wasn't sure if it was the same guy who had been waiting for her outside of her building, but they probably were working together. Hyejin forced herself to lay perfectly still as she listened to what he was saying. He was most likely on the phone since she only heard one voice.

"Look, I have her. That's all I signed up for. No! If you want something like that you can haul yourself down here and do it. I've already stretched my neck out far enough. Yeah. Whatever." She heard him sigh and stay silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Remember our deal? When will you make the transfer? What does that mean? You break our deal I will find you and break you, you hear me?! Do it by five or I go to the cops. No, honey, you're the one who should be worried."

Hyejin heard him growl and then the clunk of something hitting a solid surface, probably his phone on a table or something. A door opened and Hyejin heard a second set of footsteps. It was getting more difficult to remain calm.

"Why hasn't she woken up yet?"

"How would I know? You were the one who gave her the drugs. I thought you knew what you were doing."

"I do. But I'm used to sticking needles into people's pets. Not actual people. Maybe I miscalculated her weight. Cameras add ten pounds, so maybe that picture...hm."

Hyejin heard the footsteps approach her. Someone squatted down beside her and a pair of cold fingers laid themselves on her neck. She fought with her mind to remain still.

"Hm. Still alive." A relieved sigh was followed by the person standing and walking away. "Have you talked to the client?"

The first man answered, sounding irritated again. "Yeah. I just got off the phone with her. They'll do the transfer by five this morning. I told her if not, I'm dropping this chick off at the nearest police station with a note pinned to her with all that idiot's info on it."

"How did we end up with this job anyway?"

"That girl is crazy. She was telling me to mess this chick up.  I can't do that."

"Mess her up? Like...? Whoa. She's not paying us enough to do that."

"Exactly! Which is why I told her to get down here and do it herself if she wants it done. She doesn't want to get her hands dirty so we won't have to worry about seeing her ugly self."

"Well, I guess we wait. Want to grab some food?"

"Can we leave her alone?"

"Yeah. Just lock up. She won't be able to move much when she does wake up."

"Hm. I don't feel good about that but who cares, right? As long as we get our money it doesn't matter to me if she runs off or not." The two men laughed and a door opened and closed, their voices growing fainter as they got further away.

Hyejin's eyes slowly opened and her blurry vision took a few minutes to clear. She begin to take inventory of the rest of her body; what could move and what was still being held under the influence of the drugs she was given.

She looked around the dimly lit space. This was some kind of RV or something. She squeezed her eyes together and then opened them again. Her hands were zip tied together and then wrapped in duct tape. Her feet had been subjected to the same treatment. She groaned seeing tape wrapped tightly around her shoes. They might be ruined.