The Hunt

3

Jose was driving towards the Starbucks, nervously drumming the steering wheel while listening to Thunder by Imagine Dragons, trying to take his mind off of his friend's frantic voice over the phone. Once he saw the shop in sight, he relaxed a little. And then he saw her.

Ren was in the parking lot, fighting with what looked like a really tall blonde-headed man. Was that what she was calling about? He couldn't be too sure.

He swerved into the parking lot, turning off the engine and hopping out of the car to reach his best friend.

"Ren!" He shouted. "I'm here! I'm finally here!"

The blonde-headed man turned to see Jose coming towards him and he scowled, dragging Ren behind him towards his car.

"Hey, stop!" He yelled. "I'll call the police!"

He did not seem to care as he shoved her into the car against her will, slammed the door shut, climbed into the front seat, and drove off.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jose called out, shaking his fists as he tried following the truck in his pajama pants and soccer slides. But eventually it lost his sight. He whipped out his phone and dialed the police.

"Hello, what's your emergency?" The bored-sounding operator said on the other end.

"My best friend has been kidnapped!" He said frantically, beginning to walk back towards his car. He ran his fingers through his tousled locks of raven-black hair. "Look, I just need you to send some police cars over here and track the guy down who took her."

"Kid, people aren't officially missing until they're gone for at least forty-eight hours."

"I don't care! It's not like that!" Jose exclaimed. "She was literally dragged off by some strange guy and was put in his car and he drove off."

"Was it a relative who kidnapped you friend?"

"What?" He shouted, not believing what he was hearing. "No, of course not! The kidnapper guy was American and looked like he was from California and my friend, Ren Tanaka, is Japanese. They look nothing alike."

"Look, kid, if this is a sick joke, you can get a serious fine for this."

"I'm not joking!" Jose exclaimed. "You know what? Never mind. I'm sorry for bothering you." I ended the call before the operator could answer back.

I'm just going to search for her myself, he thought. I am going to find her. Let the hunt begin.

***

Jose had spent the last six hours trying to call relatives and friends of Ren, hoping to find some kind of clue to lead to where she went. He swept through her apartment, glancing at everything and anything that could be a possible lead.

He checked through her phone (which she left at the Starbucks) and scoured through her texts, emails, all of her settings, phone calls, but got nothing except for a few questionable recent calls that had an unknown ID.

Jose was taking a break, sipping water out of his cup, when Ren's phone rang.

He dashed to the kitchen table where it was as if his life depended on it and saw an ID labeled: "mom."

"Hello?" He asked at the other end.

"Ne, Ren --" she began but quickly caught herself -- "Oh, hello. Who is this?"

"This is Jose, I'm a friend of Ren's. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Tanaka." He said politely, itching to get to the subject to why she was calling.

"It's nice to meet you, too. I was wondering if you knew where Ren was. She was supposed to meet us for lunch like she always does and she's not here." She sighed. "She normally wouldn't miss unless it was something severely important."

Jose bit his bottom lip. What should he say? He knew Ren was kidnapped by the mystery man and that she was missing, but should he tell her mother? Would it complicate things even more? The police operator didn't believe him. Would she?

"She's ... out. I'm watching over her apartment and she left her phone by accident. But I can deliver a message if you'd like. Do you want me to tell her something?"

"Sure," Ren's mother chirped. "Can you please ask her why she missed this? Do you know what she's doing?"

"I don't know," Jose lied, shrugging.

"That's not like her," she said worriedly. "Ren is usually so thoughtful and considerate that she tells us everything."

"Yeah, it's weird," he agreed. "Look, I gotta go, but it was wonderful getting to meet you, Mrs. Tanaka."

"Likewise," she replied. "Thank you for picking up the call."

"Thank you for calling. Goodbye." He pressed the red button and he turned off Ren's phone.

The doorbell buzzed loudly and a few shuffling noises were made before a few envelopes slipped into the slot and onto the carpeted floor. Jose picked them up, scanning each of them until he found one with his name on it.

He stared at it questioningly and ripped it open, tossing the rest of the envelopes onto the coffee table in the living space. Then his heart stopped. His breathing became shallow. He swallowed, staring at the paper in his trembling hands in awe.

"What the ...?"

Dear Mr. Jose Gonzalez,

Stop searching for me. Your friend is already in enough trouble. You will only be making it worse for her by stepping in. I leave the choice to you:

Stop searching and walk away with your life.

Keep searching or you're next.

The Kidnapper

And then his phone rang.

He nervously picked it up, speaking into the receiver with a trembling tone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Jose Gonzalez."

"Who is this?"

"Who is it? Is that really the best you can guess? I am The Kidnapper, you idiot."

His heart caught in his throat and he nearly choked. "Huh ...?"

"You heard me. You just finished reading that letter and you clearly look surprised, from what I can tell. Did I scare you, Jose Gonzalez? Did I make you stand frozen in place? Did you stop breathing for so long that you had to remind yourself to take a breath?"

Jose was silent.

"Listen, kid. You better stop searching for her. Or you're next."

"Next ...?"

"Yes. You will be my next target to eliminate."

Jose found that he could form no words.

"Sleep well tonight, Jose Gonzalez. It may as well be your last."