I had parked outside what had once been the stables and was now a building site. There was the boarded-up remains of Raj’s shop and just down the road was the Blue Moon. I took a deep breath and started to walk.

It was early evening, the club was quiet as I walked in, I walked to the bar. “You’re expecting me… I want my friend back.” Before I could finish my sentence a person was standing behind me.

“Come with me.” He gave me no choice as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the office behind the bar area. He forced me into a chair.

“Ah. You did come, I wasn’t sure you would.” The man smiled coldly. “You are clearly more stupid than I was told you would be. Now sadly the person you really want to see is not here, and my boss wants to see you also so you are going to be our guest for a short time. I would rather if you didn’t make a fuss.” I was about to say something when I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I looked down in shock as I saw the man behind me had stabbed me with a needle. I tried to stand up but found my limbs defying me, leaning on the desk I struggled to my feet but only managed to collapse to the floor.

***

I groaned, my head woolly, my arms and legs aching. Trying to sit up just brought waves of nausea and throbbing pain in my head so I remained on the floor for a few more minutes. Eventually, I dragged myself up to a sitting position, blinking to try and see in the half-light. I gasped as I saw the redhead sat in a chair opposite, bound with large quantities of rope. I staggered to my feet and approached her. “Kate…” I fumbled with her gag, my fingers still resisting my minds instructions, but I was eventually able to loosen it. The wad of material fell from her mouth and she moved her jaw, gasping.

“'manda…” Her voice was croaky and quiet. Her eyes flitted towards me. It took longer than I hoped to untie her, however she was soon free of the rope, she rubbed her wrists, trying to stand, however was unable to do so.

We were in an empty room, the walls made from plain concrete, there were no windows and a heavy steel door blocked our exit. I knew it would be pointless to try to escape, but it didn’t stop me trying to pull the door and slam my fists worthlessly onto the steel.

I sat down heavily opposite Kate. “I am so sorry you got dragged into this.” I looked up, she was staring at me silently. After some time the door opened, we both looked up as a man walked in.

“So you’re both awake now. My name is Patrick, I was Edwin’s, right-hand man. I always said you were wrong for him, a distraction. He became obsessed with you and lost his edge, which is why he is in prison now and I’m in charge of operations.” He turned to Kate. “I’m afraid you are totally innocent, however, a mistake has happened and it will need to be rectified. So, Amanda, I am going to ask you one question. Where is my money? You see I know that Edwin had a large sum in Bitcoin, I know that he had this stored in a digital wallet and now, looking at the tracking systems I know that those funds are no longer there. So, I am hoping you will tell me that you have my money.”

“Then you’ll let me go?” Kate stuttered.

“No, I am so sorry. You’ll be killed.” It was so ‘matter of fact’, it took a moment for Kate to register, but she then broke down.

“No!” I yelled, staggering to my feet. I approached him, ready to strike him. I was dragged down by one of the men who had been waiting outside the room. “You promised, you take me and let her free.”

“Oh, I am sorry… I understand what you demanded, but that will not be possible. You will give me what you owe me and then both of you will be dealt with.” He stepped towards Kate touching her hair. “She’s pretty, perhaps she can go where your other colleague went. There are people in the Middle East who would love to have a pretty redhead she may be worth something.” Kate pulled away from him.

“No…” I gasped. “Let her go, she knows nothing…”

“She knows enough to be dangerous to our organisation. So, where is our money? You can’t imagine how hard we had to look for you, how many people we had to hurt. All you do is create a trail of pain and destruction. We can destroy everyone you’ve ever known if we have to. Please, do not underestimate the scale of our organisation.” There was a knock at the door, one of the heavies stepped out before coming back in and saying something to Patrick. “Oh…” He smiled. “Now this is a surprise. A family reunion.”

I gasped as I saw Adam dragged into the room.

“He was asking questions at the club. I thought you might want to have him here.”

“Ah… Your brother?” Patrick gestured toward me.

I was infuriated. I found strength and stood up, leaping at Adam. “You stupid idiot!” I slapped him hard. “I left you for a reason! Oh for Christ’s sake, I told you I was going to try to get Kate but no, you have to follow me. You stupid, stupid man…” I broke down in tears as I realised what was about to happen. I had inadvertently doomed my brother as well as Kate and I. Trust him to travel the length of the country to try to save me, I was, to be honest, somewhat proud of what he had done for me, however, knew we would have only a short time

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