Devil's Redemption

Claire

14th March

Claire Temple lost track of time. She struggled to breathe against the cloth that was tied around her mouth and nose, muffling her cries for help. All she could do was take ragged breaths that gave her enough oxygen to survive her predicament. Moving her hands or legs wasn't an option as they had been tied up tightly too. The surroundings were pitch black and she couldn't see a thing.

What was she expecting, anyway? She was lying constrained in the boot of a moving car. Of course, everything was pitch black.

As the car moved along, she was thrown about in gentle rocking motions as if she was a baby rocked in a crib. At times, she ended up in an uncomfortable position and she had to struggle her way out of it, no thanks to her bound up hands and legs. The sound of wheels and smell of grease was heavy inside the boot and somehow, those only made her feel more frightened and anxious. Resigned to her fate, Claire decided not to struggle anymore.

With the possibility of her escape out of the equation, her anxious brain moved onto self-reflection on the event that had led to this crisis.

I should have seen this coming! God! I was so stupid!

It had begun exactly thirteen days before.

Her hospital had admitted a patient named 'Ryan' who had been shot on the right shoulder and she had been assigned to his ward, to take care of him. As soon as she saw him, she had been very suspicious of the patient and had double checked his records to make sure he was legit. It seemed that he really was legit.

It was all bullshit.

She had treated him with utmost care and somehow pulled out the bullet that had struck him. A cop had also interviewed the man to take descriptions of the person who had shot him. Everything seemed alright.

Until some men came to visit 'Ryan' that night.

Claire had overheard them talk about some illegal drug trafficking in the city and she had turned to the only people she could trust. Nelson, Murdock and Page, the infamous attorneys who had an expertise in handling cases like these. Theirs was the only firm that was ready to take up such minor cases and bring them to the limelight. She had met with her friend Matthew Murdock and Franklin Nelson to discuss what had happened. She wanted legal advice before she lodged a complaint to the men in blue.

Another reason why she decided to turn to them for support: As soon as she talked to those two, 'Ryan' was beaten up in the middle of the night and forced to confess for his crimes by "The Devil of Hell's Kitchen" and he was arrested by the cops.

It seemed that the man's name, in reality, was Anthony Williams and he was the twenty one year old son of drug-lord Godwin Williams who worked with the criminal gang Kitchen Irish. He confessed to meddling in a lot of drug peddling activities and was allowed to stand a trial before he was sentenced to several months in prison.

Normally speaking, that should have been the end of the story. But this was Hell's kitchen, New York. Everything was complicated around this place.

Tonight, seven days after the trial, as she had been working the late shift in the hospital, she was kidnapped by six armed men who tied her arms and legs, threw her into the boot of their car and started driving. Somehow, they made sure they weren't spotted by anybody. There was no way a cop would come to her rescue.

But someone else could.

Just before the men had laid their hands on her, Claire had managed to send an emergency text to her friend Matthew Murdock. Now, she just had to wait for him to find her.