Stay Away (The Beocraftian Gambit - Book One)

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO: THE MASKED MAN

Kevin noticed nothing unusual when they arrived at De-Marie. Everything seemed perfectly normal—maybe too normal. They rushed into the hospital and quickly headed for room 231. When they got to that room, they discovered that the door was locked, and Alex tried to open it.

"That's odd." His eyes narrowed when it refused to open.

Suddenly, they heard a rustling noise from inside the room. "Someone is in there with her," he whispered to Kevin, taking out his gun from the holster, leaning against the door.

Soon, backup arrived; armed police officers trooped into the hospital, making loud noises with their feet. When they'd surrounded the room and secured the exit, Alex signalled to one of them to pull the door down.

The officer took the clue. Stepping forward, he fired at the doorknob and forcefully kicked the door down. Immediately, the rest of the police officers swarmed into the room with their guns pointed in all directions.

"Freeze!" they hollered as soon as they entered the room, pointing their guns at every corner.

Alex found Lena on the floor—alone, crouched in the corner near the bed, her body hunched and arms wrapped around her knees. She raised her head in fright when she heard the door burst open, her bloodshot eyes boring into Alex.

Alex looked at her with a puzzled expression, then turned to look around and found no one else in the room. He tucked his gun back in the holster and rushed to where she sat. "Mrs Lena, are you alright?" he asked, pinning his knee to the ground.

She said nothing—only uttered a scared whimper.

He tried to help her off the ground, but she shuddered at his touch. She raised her head to look at him, eyes swollen from crying and cheek wet with tears. She had a sore look on her face.

Kevin quickly rushed to help her off the floor. He gripped her arm and made her sit up straight on the bed. When he turned to look at her, he saw the fear that lingered in her eyes. She seemed scared out of her mind.

"What the hell happened to her?" Alex got closer to examine her. "Maybe the masked man did something to hurt her."

Kevin looked at her face, eyes narrowing at her. He observed that her eyes were wide open in horror and her hands were shaking. "I don't know, Alex. She looks like she'd seen a ghost."

He wrapped his arm around Lena, trying to calm her. "You are alright now. No one is going to hurt you."

Alex squatted, staring directly into her eyes. "The masked man—where did he go? Did he hurt you?"

His question was returned with a quivering stare.

Lena moved her gaze from him to stare at something behind him—something that caught her attention. Her expression became horror-stricken by whatever she saw, and tears welled up in her eyes. She kept staring at the wall horrifyingly, then raised a hand to point at it—trembling all over with fear.

They all turned to look in that direction. The armed men quickly point their guns in that direction, ready to fire at anything that comes into sight. But they found nothing.

"What's she pointing at?" Alex asked sceptically, eyes narrowed at the wall as he searched for whatever she was pointing at.

"Lena, what are you trying to show us?" Kevin asked, looking over at her.

But Lena's finger was still pointing at something at the far end of the wall. It felt as though she was staring at someone standing behind Alex. Kevin looked towards the wall that she was pointing at and found nothing there.

He pressed her arm down. "Lena, there is nothing there."

She grew persistent and kept pointing at something behind Alex. "No! The man who took my daughter is standing right over there," she finally blurted out.