The Master of Deception

Chapter Five

*Quick Recap*

"I coming up" I call out. As I put my head through the opening, I see that there are many men in black around and one of them has their gun trained on me.

*Recap over*

I climb out slowly. Shit, shit, shit! Now what? We should have known that they would have someone on the lookout. I look at Druv and see that he is on his knees, his gun some feet away on the ground and his hands are tied back tight. 

One of the men steps forward, his eyes focussed on me. Internally I'm freaking out but put on a defiant expression. 

"Veronica..." The way he said my name brought goosebumps. 

"How do you know who I am?" 

"Of course, I would know. You were a thorn in my side for as long as I could remember."

"I don't even know you."

"But I know you," he said his gun was on my cheek now moving in slow circles. My breath was shallow and I was shivering in fear. He turns to the men behind him. " She's Allister's girlfriend! Always around him. I had to wait so long to get him alone long enough to put an end to him. 

He killed Allister. I look at Druv, silently begging him with my eyes for help. I can see him struggling to get out. I hope he does. 

"Well now, this is a complication. Maybe I should have killed you as well. This whole affair would be over sooner. If you could follow Allister's body here. Somebody else can too. So now, I've to figure out a way to make sure your body is never found. Or they could find me too."

He killed Allister. And Druv and I are next. What was I thinking. 

 "Get them on the boat!" he tells his men. We are roughly pushed onboard and then into a room in the hull. One of the thugs brings a foul-smelling liquid in a glass. "Bottom's up!"

I shake my head stubbornly. They haven't tied me but I don't think they want me to be a nuisance either. If I'm right, drinking this will just make me unconscious. 

"Drink it!" Druv tells me. I look at him in surprise but he has hard look on his face. His hands are still tied so they are holding a glass to his mouth. He drinks it and I follow is lead. All of them, but two leave. The two stand outside the door presumably to guard us. 

"Why did we drink it?" I ask Druv. 

Druv shrugs his shoulders, "I had a hunch."

"A hunch? You are risking everything on a hunch?"

"I'm a cop. I trust my instincts or I wouldn't be where I am. Listen to me, people like them, love to see their victims suffer. The death is slow and horrible. They torture you. All that he said about the police finding them, sounded like a whole load of BS. I know this gang. They don't care about the police. They don't have a problem killing someone who upset them without a second thought. Yet they didn't kill us. I think they were just trying to scare us. I don't know why or what. Maybe they need something from one of us. Either way, we're on a boat, probably in the middle of the sea by now. We can't go anyway. So let's play along, figure out what is going on and use it to our best advantage" he says reasonably.

"So what do you think is going to happen next?" I ask Druv, untying him. I can't believe they were careless enough to not have me tied. Not that it is going to do us much good.

"I warned you not to come," he yawns. "I told you it was dangerous!" He lays back comfortably. I'm feeling the effects too and soon we're both knocked out.

*** 

I don't know how long we slept. But when I wake up, Druv is already awake. He motions towards the corner where I can see some stale food on a plate. Good, I'm starving. He looks on with an amused expression as I wolfishly gobble down the remainder of the food until there is nothing left. I am still hungry.

"There's no way out of here." He tells me."There's water all around. Even if we try to escape that way, we will be shot before even jumping overboard. And I doubt you can swim with that hand of yours. Besides, we have no clue where we are heading."

I thought we were going to play along. Now he's looking for an escape. "I can swim without the use of my hands. I'm a state-level gold medalist in swimming. You saw me the other day." I remind him.

"Ah! A fair sight that was! " I stuck my tongue out playfully at him. We were in a do or die situation, and here we were joking? "We need some sort of distraction! Do you have anything on you that could distract them"

"Well, they didn't unarm me. So I still have my phone and my pen camera."

He looks at me strangely.

"What?", I ask.

"You have your phone?" he asks somewhat incredulously.

"Yeah, but look, no network."

"That's okay. Delete everything from your phone and give it to me. I have an idea"

"Tell me!"

"It is not full proof but it's the best option we have. Let's record our voices in it and play it out loud after we knock out the guard stationed outside. The recording would make the others think that we are still inside. We will use the distraction to get out from here. It will be some time before they notice us gone."

It is not a great idea but worth a try. I give him my phone, thinking how dumb they were to not take it from me. 

"Okay. I need you to start crying like you're in pain" I nod and pretend to cry. It wasn't that hard, I actually was in pain. Druv heads to the door banging it and asking the guard to get some painkiller for my wounds. It works and the guard enters the room to figure out the commotion. In no time, Druv takes the guard out and we leave after playing the recording made earlier.

The boat is moving. Unfortunately, we can't even see the silhouette of land anywhere and have no idea which direction to take. We jump off since we can't afford to waste time contemplating.

The water is freezing cold. I feel Druv brush against me. At least we are free, I think. We start swimming in a random direction. We keep swimming. The pain gets worse with every stroke. I stop and float on my back, fighting back tears.

"We can't stop. We're too vulnerable here. Let me help." He supports me with one hand and together we try to swim.

" Look there!" he says and I tilt my head to where he is pointing. An island. Just a little further. We let the waves do the job for us now. They push us closer to shore.

"Stop! Druv, we have to stop!" I call out.

"What happened?" he asks concerned.

 " Look! I don't think we can go any further."

"Shit!"