What the heck? How'd they get here so fast? Or even find the house? Jason stood up. Is his friend Saytarnia? Melissa's gaze was a hand on his back, questioning but supportive.
“Uh – I guess I better open the door.” He looked away from her and at her mum.
“Yeah, we should probably see who it is.” Pam nodded at him and led the way to the front door. She half opened it, blocking him from view. “Hello?”
Jason peered throughout the peephole next to her.
“Hi, we're from Ikea,” said a black man with long dread locks and a grin that sat unsteadily within his stubble. “We're here to exchange the wardrobe you ordered.”
Sin's friends … work in Ikea? A large woman with curly golden extensions and a young man with man with brown hair with barely suppressed grins carried a long cardboard package between them.
“The wardrobe –?” Some of the uncertainty left Pam's voice as she stepped back. “Sure. Come in.”
“Thanks, ma'am.” The man glanced at his companions. “Let's go.”
They entered the house dressed in navy blue overalls with white T-shirts, looking for all the world like ordinary hauliers. Until the door closed and the man in front turned to Pam.
“Sorry to intrude, ma'am, but could you tell us where he is?” The brightness dropped from his tone and face like a mask.
“In the dining room.” Pam glanced at Jason and showed them the way.
Melissa and Judy stood in front of Sinastar. Anticipation rattled across their expressions like wooden shutters in the wind.
“And there he is,” muttered the younger man with a smile that didn't hide his profound shock.
“Oooh boi, look at him,” breathed the woman in front of him. “His hair's even longer. Tasha's going to lose it.”
Their apparent leader stared down at Sinastar with a face so neutral it ended up betraying the intensity of his real feelings. Before Jason could ask anything, he spoke up. “Let's load him up fast and get out of here.”
Load him –? They placed the cardboard box on the floor beside the sofa and opened the top which hadn't been as taped down at the wrapping suggested. It now looked like a coffin.
“Whoa, whoa, wait –” He stepped forward as they reached for Sinastar. Alerted by his alarm, Melissa and Judy blocked the strangers' way as if they honestly believed they could hold their own against them. “Who are you –?”
“We don't have time for that yet.” Thee leader cut him off with a raised hand. “You're Jason, right?”
“Yeah.” He suppressed a sigh as the other two didn't try to force their way past Melissa and Judy, choosing to step back and let their companion deal with it.
“You can call me Dee. Where's the girl?” He glanced around the room. “He said there were two of you.”
So he was texting these guys too? Not just Judy? Sinastar didn't seem aware of the friction his text had prompted. Who else has he been texting all this time?
“She's – not here.” Their collective impatience reminded him of high school stairways, cigarette smoke, and Spearmint chewing gum. “We were looking for her but –”
“Okay. Change of plans.” Dee rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he had just taken off a pair of glasses and looked at the brown haired guy. “Rob, you're staying here in case she comes back.”
“Good thing I brought my Gameboy then.” Rob smiled passively. “How long for?”
“I'll call you. Sinja might know where she went.”
Sinja? How many names does he have? Jason rubbed his chest with a fist. What if Sinastar isn't even his real name?
“Ma'am, you're all going to have to come with us for now.” Dee turned to Pam. “I apologise for the inconvenience but we'll need to debrief you before we can let you back here.”
“Where to?” Pam exchanged disturbed glances with Judy. “I've got work –”
“Don't worry. It shouldn't take that long and we can contact your employer, if needed. For now, you just need to follow Lala here after we secured Sin-”
“Excuse me, but you're not securing anyone until we know who you are and what exactly you plan to do with all of us, including my patient.” Judy stepped forward with an alien yet welcome assertiveness to her aura.
Go get 'em, doc. Jason smothered a grin between his lips despite the tension.
“I'm sorry, ma'am, but that's –”
“I'm not letting you take him anywhere until I can confirm you know him and that he'll be safe with you.” She looked at Rob as he muttered the word patient with a confused expression and pulled her arm away from Lala who reached out to placate her. “Who are you and how do you know him?”
Dee stared at her for a long second, then pulled a phone out of his pocket. He tapped the screen and held it out to them.
“We work for an agency and we've been waiting for Sinja to get in touch for the last twenty four hours,” he said. “He asked us to pick him up around twenty minutes ago and turned on his location so we could find him. We're the team that was closest to your house when we got his message.”
Agency? What kind of agency? Sinastar's text loosened the grip anxiety had around Jason's ribs.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Loc on. Pick up now.
“We need to get him somewhere safe with medical facilities as soon as possible,” Dee's gaze hardened. “So is it okay if we do our job now, ma'am?”
Judy's mirrored his stare. “And you're going to take us both in the same car?”
“Yes. Eventually. For now, you'll follow Lala once he's in the van –” He raised his voice before she could speak. “We can't leave here with an extra person without blowing our cover. I promise we'll keep him safe so please let us do what we came here to do and we can all get on with our day.”
“You said you'll keep him safe but you want to put him in a coffin?” Pam's eyebrows raised.
“It's a special coffin,” chuckled Rob. “For living people.”
“We'll open it again once he's in the van. He'll be fine.” Dee looked expectantly at both women. “Do we have any other problems?”
They're gonna take Sin. What if they're lying and they don't take us to the same place? They might be after Tara – no, wait. Sin called them even though he's like this. He trusts them so it should be okay if we do too. Jason couldn't get the image of Satara's fierce disappointment out of his thoughts. It's not like we have a choice. They're playing nice now but I bet they can make us go with them if they wanted to. What else can we do?
“Okay,” said Judy at last. “But if we're not in the same van in the next half an hour, I'm calling the police.”
“Deal. Neither of us want that.” Dee nodded at his companions as Melissa and Judy stepped aside.
They lifted Sinastar gently off the sofa and into the box. He barely stirred and fit inside it perfectly. Jason's stomach lurched as they closed the lid over him.
“Don't worry, boi.” Lala winked at him. “We've been trying to keep Sinja out of one of these for years.”
“Okay …” They seem like they care about him but Tara always says I trust people too quickly.
He wanted to hold onto the fake coffin as all three of them picked it up and manoeuvred it through the doorway. Sin …
“Dang, he's heavier than he looks,” breathed Lala.
Richie grunted, his face growing pink, while Dee looked at them over his shoulder, eyes connecting with each of them in turn.
“See you in a sec,” he said.
And then they left Jason's sight and so did Sinastar. Melissa's hand on his elbow made him jump.
“You okay?” she asked as her mum turned to Judy with the same question.
“Might've just made the most stupid mistake of my life,” he said with a caustic chuckle she didn't deserve. “But yeah, I'm great. You?”
She didn't say anything, only nodded as she removed her hand from his arm. He ventured into the hallway and watched them load Sinastar into the back of the Ikea van from behind the front door. First Tara and now Sin. We were eating burgers in the hotel yesterday. How we did split up so fast and why am I the only one left? Lala waved to him, then climbed into the van. His breathing hitched. Wait, wasn't she supposed to take us somewhere else?
“Hey …” Pam's fingers closed around his arm before he could run out. He spun around to face her. “What're you doing? They just –”
Were they working together all this time? The possibility landed like a fist against his solar plexus. Is that why Tara ran? Or did they do something to her before she could warn us?
“She's going to come round the back instead.” She closed the front door and let go of him. “They said we don't need to pack anything but you'll going to take the bag you came with, right? Let's go.”
He waited until his heart beat to slow down again, then joined them in the dining room. Melissa wasn't there and the place suddenly seemed huge. His pulse wouldn't settle. He remembered the time Derek pushed him into the deep end of a swimming pool. He hadn't learnt how to swim and the water held him gently before crushing him. He would have drowned if the lifeguard hadn't spotted him. He picked up the blanket, which was in the middle of falling off the sofa, before it touched the floor, his fist clenched in its folds. There's no lifeguard here.
“What's all that for?” asked Pam.
“They didn't say we couldn't take stuff, did they?” Melissa's bulging tote bag with a glittery, pastel rainbow designs on both sides hung from one shoulder. She pushed her phone into the pocket of her jeans. “We don't know how long we're going to be there for and I don't want to wear any of their stuff.”
Judy looked at Pam, her brow furrowed and face a little pale. “She's not wrong.”
Jason nearly jumped again as someone knocked the back door. Pam opened it to reveal Lala, who no longer had extensions and was now wearing a white trouser suit. She had an Avon catalogue in one hand.
“All ready?” She grinned and stepped back. “Let's get out of here quick. We can talk in the van.”
Pam and Melissa did a few last minute checks, ensuring all the windows and doors were locked, and that the cooker wasn't on. Once they turned the key in the back door, Lala led them out past the gate to a large white camper van parked close to the ice cream shop Melissa visited the day before.
Jason stopped. “That's not the same one.”
“They're going to join us in this one, don't worry,” said Lala as she opened the side door for them. “We wouldn't fit in the other van and this one's got snacks.”
“I'm sold.” Melissa glanced at him as she climbed up into the van. “Wow, it's great in here.”
Pam and Judy went in after her and the expectation on Lala's face shifted to curiosity. What if we're walking right into a trap like idiots? Still winded by his earlier thoughts, Satara's brusque way of staring down strangers and questioning everyone suddenly made a lot of sense.
“What's his favourite food?” The stupidity of the question blocked his throat but he forced it out anyway.
“Whose?” Lala tilted her head but didn't laugh at his suspicion. “Sinja's?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm, it's been a while but he always used to have noodles. With chicken.” She patted her ample stomach. “Boi, are you trying to make me hungry? We haven't had lunch yet.”
He shook his head. Lots of Asian people like noodles. They're the ones who made them. “What about his favourite drink?”
She snapped her fingers at him with a knowing glitter in her dark eyes. “Ginger tea with cloves and cinnamon. He said it was good for the blood and it always made the room smell like my mum's tea cake.”
So they do know him. He paused in the middle of pulling himself up into the van. “Thanks. I'm so-”
“Don't ever apologise for taking care of your friends, boi.” She nodded with a heavy smile. “No one should get angry about that.”
“You came back.”
“'course I did.” Jason stepped forward to stand at Sinastar's side, glancing furtively at him. “Why would I leave her with a guy I don't know?”
“I understand.” Sinastar smiled.
“You're not angry?”
“You're looking out for my cousin, your friend, and making sure she's safe.” Sinastar shook his head. “Why would that make me angry?”
“That's true.” Jason dipped his head and smiled back as oxygen crept back into his abandoned lungs. “Thanks anyway.”
“No problem, sugar.”
It really was nice inside and looked a lot more luxurious than it did on the outside. Melissa, Judy, and Pam sat at the back of the van where short dull yellow curtains with a red and green flower print covered the windows. A bunk bed covered the wall on his left as he approached them.
“We'll be up front.” Lala leaned in and pointed towards the driver's compartment. “Knock the window if you need anything.”
“Okay,” he said and she closed the door. “Now what?”
“You might want to sit down before they start driving,” said Melissa. The tightness of her tone was definitely his fault. “Unless you want to go to sleep early today.”
“Right.” He sat in a corner of the box-like seating area. The pale yellow cushions beneath and behind him were surprisingly plush. I should say sorry but that's too awkward.
“Unexpected vacations are nice.” Pam forced a laugh. “Right?”
“I was planning to take time off anyway,” said Judy with a smile that was just as superficial.
The small window up at the front of the van slide open and Lala's voice came from the passenger seat.
“If any of you brought your phones, you're going to have to turn them off, babes.” She scrunched her nose at them and watched as they obeyed. “Sorry. I know you'll be bored but they're Dee's orders.”
Orders? I doubt they're working for a recruitment agency somehow. Jason held up his hands. “I don't have one. Sin told me to leave it at home.”
“Yep. Sounds like something he'd do.” She turned to the driver. “Told you he's still got it.”
“'course he does,” mumbled the other person with light brown hair. “He's Sinja.”
“True.” Lala laughed. “We should go so you can see him and stop sulking already.”
“I'm not sulk –” The window closed and cut off the rest of the driver's protest.
The engine started up and the van bounced a little as it left the curb. Melissa and the others got comfortable and started talking, carefully skirting around topics related to their current situation. Jason leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.
Please take us back to Sin and help me find Tara. I can't do this by myself.
<><><><><>
“Where's the girl?” he asked as soon as the other person answered his call, mismatched eyes narrowed at the camper van as it pulled away.
“Ehhh?” The one on the other end of the line dragged the word out as if surprised. “She isn't with them?”
“Stop your nonsense,” he growled, stalking down the road in the same direction. The other pedestrians avoided him and instinctively didn't look at the darker, marred skin that covered one side of his face. “Why didn't you tell me which one you wanted to watch first?”
“But they're both important to me, Sarge.” A fake sob slipped into the speaker's tone. “How could you make me choose between them like that?”
“I'm following the van.” He turned into the secluded path that could have taken him to both the Cunning house and Melissa's home. “You can find the girl yourself.”
“As you wish, my darling, dearest –”
He hung up and stepped into the circular, black portal rimmed by silent flames that awaited him, vanishing faster than the eye could follow.