THE AUTHOR (COMPLETED)

CHAPTER 9 - OPERATION : SAVE ADIE!

That same day at Peak Corporation's parking space, Adie was walking to his car from work.

"I bet Jake is enjoying his time at the foundation." Adie wondered as he opened the door for the back seat of his car and placed a box full of important papers on it. Suddenly, he felt an excruciating pain on the back of his; someone had hit his head with something hard. Adie wasn't sure of what and who had hit him but he struggled to keep his eyes open. His head had collided with leather seat as he had fallen forward, partly inside of the car. Adie’s eyes fluttered close and then he blacked out.

Adie groaned as he blinked his eyes open. The first thing he noticed was the pieces of rope all over his body; he was tied on a chair with a piece of cloth on his mouth. Adie struggled but it was too tight, that he started to feel the numbing pain all around his body. The thought of him tied for hours now unnerved Adie. Fear started to crawl into Adie's gut as he looked around the place. All he could see was one yellow light bulb that flickered frequently. The cliché scene was so familiar to him- he realized he had been kidnapped!

Adie was suddenly bombarded of possible ways to escape. He shook his head as he remembered that he could actually call Jake, so he tried to reach out for his pockets. Adie grunted as he found it difficult to just actually reach for it, but in times like this, he couldn’t register how painful it was. Adie was just thinking of saving himself. After a few tries, he succeeded in reaching for his pocket, but to his shock, the cell phone wasn't there.

Adie lost his hope and couldn’t help but think it must be the end of his life. Unexpectedly, a shadow approached Adie, which caused him to snap out of his rather negative thoughts. Adie's heartbeat began to beat faster and he became even more aggressive to get loose from the ropes. He needed to get free!

"Poor you!" taunted a voice that seemed to be quite familiar to Adie. Not seconds later, he discovered that the voice came from a man who wore a black suit with a deceptive gentle smile on his face. Adie's eyes widened in disbelief as the shadow gradually became a full-figure; Belial, the angel who wanted Jake dead. But why was Belial targeting Adie instead?

"Surprised, right?" Belial approached Adie, sniffing him out.

"How I love the smell of fear!” Belial gracefully walked even closer to Adie’s crouched figure. “It's a very pleasant fragrant to my nose." Belial commented as he really seemed to enjoy what he smelled.

"The guy is awake!" shouted another voice, which made Adie turn towards the source of the voice, while Belial distanced himself, yet not too far.

"That's good. Take off the cloth on his mouth!" commanded another voice which came from a lady. Instantly, a masculine guy with a dragon tattoo on his right shoulder approached Adie and snatched off the cloth on Adie's mouth, which made him take a sharp intake of breath.

"Scared, huh?" commented the guy as he grinned at Adie before he stood beside him. Three more people approached him and Adie tried to glance at their faces but it was hard to identify them because the light was flickering- it was too dark!

"What's with having a cliché, dim, and flickering light bulb in every kidnap scene! No originality at all." Adie commented jokingly.

"You really don't change do you? Only you can joke in these types of situations." replied the person who wore a hooded pullover with a surgical mask.

“Do... Your voice is familiar!" shouted Adie suddenly since he had an idea who was behind the mask.

"Really? You know who I am?" The person almost sounded hauntingly.

"If I am not wrong, you’re," Adie paused, "Meryll the Janitress!" Adie boldly shouted. It had to be her.

"Wow! You got that right!" replied the masked person but moments later, she took off her mask and dropped her hood.