LOST

Chapter 1

Alicia Wambu was pacing back and forth in her dressing room. She was still clutching her phone desperately waiting for Elsie to pick up. For fifteen minutes she had tried to contact Elsie. Strangely, Elsie was not picking up. It wasn't like her not to pick up her phone. They had agreed to meet earlier but she was nowhere to be found. Elsie felt a pang of fright and worry suddenly come over her.

The loss of her son, her first born, had left a hollow in her heart. He had been conceived after a long period of trying. After six whole years, seven dozen pregnancy tests and 4 visits to different doctors, Alicia was finally pregnant.

Mark's birth had been a joyous event to her and her husband, Tom. She had finally felt complete. Barely eighteen months had passed when Alicia got pregnant again, with a baby girl. Elsie was the cherry on top of the ice cream.

Alicia remembered that fateful night painfully. The whole family had just come from celebrating Elsie's eighth birthday. They were on their way home in their range rover sport at around 8.00 p.m. It was a dark moonless Sunday night and unusually, the road seemed deserted. As they approached an intersection, the traffic light turned red. Seeing no other vehicle around, Tom decided to accelerate and ignore the red light. All of a sudden, an over speeding 18 wheeled transit truck came from nowhere and hit their car at the side with full impact.

"Alicia! "Sonny, her producer, called out, interrupting her stream of thoughts. He was standing at the entrance of her dressing room, clearly impatient.

" It's three minutes to showtime. Go to the studio right now! "

" Okay. I'll be right there. "

She glanced at her watch: 9.57 p.m. Ever since she lost Michael, she had been overprotective of Elsie. She tried not to panic and assumed Elsie was okay. She was probably not near her phone, that's why she wasn't picking up the phone. A logical explanation, at least to her.

Alicia took a deep breath and prepared herself to go and anchor the 10.00 p.m. news. She had been the lead anchor for DNS for three years now and was enjoying every minute of it. She decided she would call Elsie after the podcast. She stood to leave the room when her phone rang. She picked it up.

" Hello! "

Silence.

" Hello! Who is this? "

More silence.

Alicia suddenly felt a chills run down her spine.

" E... Elsie?... Is it you? " She asked, getting afraid.

" Tread carefully, and you might get back her body . Don't fail to pick up my next call. "A deep scrambled voice said on the other end of the line.

" Where is she? I'll give you any amount of money you want, just don't harm her! "

She heard a long mocking laughter from the other end of the line.

" We are not driven by money. Tread carefully, Alicia. "And with that the connection went dead.

Alicia was now shivering restlessly in fear. She felt panic creep over her suddenly. She was rooted to the ground, not uttering a sound just dumbfounded, staring into the distance.

" Mrs. Wambu! "Sonny shouted from the entrance, startling Alicia.

" We have sixty seconds to showtime. Come on! "With that, he pulled Alicia by her hand outside her dressing room towards the studio. He could sense something was off but that could wait till after the show.

Alicia just followed him, absent minded, stumbling on her every step her mind entirely in a different world, far, far away.

                   ***************

Meanwhile in Hague,  Poland, Tom Wambu sat on his hotel bed looking over his case files. Being a hotshot criminal lawyer, he had never lost a case in his entire life and he wasn't about to start now.

This was his biggest case yet. Hague holds the ICC (international criminal court), an arm of the UN meant to deal with crimes against humanity, that can't be solved internally in the country.

His client Robert Willy, a billionaire, had been accused of creating deadly viruses in his research facilities that posed a danger to human life if released.

Tom was had no interest to find out whether the allegations were true, nor did he care. His only job was to prove his client was innocent.

Willy had the means of course. He was worth billions of dollars according to Forbes. He had a PhD in biochemistry and was quite influential in the field. He had contributed to the creation of some vaccines in the past. He also had several research facilities around the world. So if it was the means, he had them and the knowledge too, but that was no evidence.

Tom was overjoyed as he arranged the court files. This was his biggest payday yet.

His phone suddenly rang.

A blocked number.

" Hello! "

An eerie silence.

" Whoever this is, I have no time for jokes! " He bellowed. He then hang up.

He checked his phone and realised it was almost 10.00 p.m. Kenyan time. He logged into YouTube to watch his wife's news broadcast as he always did.

Alicia seemed shifty and uncomfortable as she read the news. This was strange and unlike her. Tom's instinct told him something was terribly wrong.

He scrutinized his wife's performance. He sensed an emotion of panic, fear and worry in his wife. He hadn't seen this in her in around ten years. Fear suddenly gripped him. He was startled by the ringing of his phone again. He picked it up. His hands shaking. He was uncertain but held it in his ear.

A blocked number again.

" Hello? "