The Mystery of the Ophidians

Chapter 17

Recap: Rachel is a software engineer. She came to Blue Hills Maine for a vacation. But she keeps finding snakes in her room. Studies show they're not native to that area. She thinks someone is putting them there. She wants to find out who. She gets kidnapped when she is finding out more information about the snakes. She is taken to a Trent warehouse. Trent warehouses are all over Maine but they are currently abandoned. There are 2 men (Rob and Bob) there who were directed to kidnap her from an unknown 'boss'. She escapes. The men find out and cover all clues. When the police arrive they think she's lying. Alfonso Lytle is a strange man who seems to follow her. She gets into his room in disguise and sees an e-mail. She hacks into his account for more details. She returns from one such hacking experience when there is a snake in her room. A mysterious 'trench coat' man who booked a room in the hotel but only sleeps in the hotel arrives and helps her. 

Currently:

The men had taken the snake away and left. Rachel had taken a cab to the abandoned warehouse (Trent warehouse). It was evening and she wanted to find some clues before dark. She remembered the hissing noises she had heard the last time she was there. The email from Frederick Gretrate came to mind. "We ship snakes" Maybe they were shipping them to Trent warehouses? But why? She shook her head and walked in. Her shoes made almost no noise as she carefully looked around. There were crates everywhere she looked. Then she heard footsteps. She hid behind a large crate. There was a loud noise coming from it. She pushed away her fears and tried to listen to any other details.

Two men walked in. They were both bald. She remembered them! They had kidnapped her that time! "Rob, I don't like this job very much. I mean its a wrong thing to do." Bob said. 

"Well we can't quit now,"

"What did that girl do to him anyway? He's trying so hard to kill her."

Wait, which girl? Rachel thought. Was it her?

"I don't know. We just train the snakes. We get paid for it. He gets his benefit. We're equal."

"But why does he want to kill her?" 

"I don't know! Do you think he'd tell me? We just do the work and get the money. Now stop asking me questions. We still have to train a few more snakes for the boss."

Who was the boss? The other man stayed silent as they did their work. 

Suddenly one of their phones rang. They both walked out talking on the phone. She slipped out of her hiding spot. There was a snake in a cage with its eyes glued to a picture. Just then the men came back. They picked up the picture. One of the men walked out while the other stayed behind. He put the picture behind his back. The snake's eyes reduced considerably. She carefully took a look. The man suddenly pulled out the picture again. The snake leapt at the picture trying to get at it. It was obvious that the snake had now been trained to hurt the unlucky person in the picture. 

So they were training the snakes to harm particular people!

But who was the person in that picture? She wanted to help them. These people meant business. This was serious business she was dealing with now. It wasn't just sneaking in her room. It was snakes being trained to harm and possibly kill people. "So what's the new plan?" Rob asked. "The boss said it's enough of harmless stings and planting them in rooms. He said it's getting real now. He-" the man stopped and pursed his lips together. "What?" Rob asked curiously.

"-wants to kill her once and for all." he said with a sigh.

"WHAT!?" Rob said, his voice full of anger and shock. 

They were going to kill! Rachel's heart began beating faster than she thought possible. She wanted to help this girl or lady. But who was it? It couldn't possibly be her, could it? She had never done anything wrong to these people. The men walked out leaving the picture behind. She crept out and looked at the picture. Fear crept into her. Her eyes widened and her heart began pounding erratically against her chest so hard, it actually hurt. Her brain was pounding as well now. Her head swirled and raced. A pounding headache began to rise. 

It was said sometimes shock could paralyse a body. That wasn't the case for Rachel. If possible it was moving faster. Her heart was pounding faster, her brain was thinking more, her headache was increasing, and her feet were running as fast as she could to get to the cab. She got into the waiting cab and reached the hotel in a while. But her brain was still back where she looked into the eyes of the person in the picture. 

She had seen those eyes so many times...., her head was still not able to cope and giving her a killer headache. She closed her eyes but that picture lept returning to mind. The eyes, the position, when that picture was taken, and worst of all the snake's reaction when it saw her.

A/N- Hi guys. Just wanted to say hi. That's all.....