The young man snorted and fell silent.
The
group moved on, checking the other rooms, all cluttered with junk, none seeming capable of hiding a full–grown adult
Maxine thought, ‘Cleo just texted me recently, she must be fine. How could a grown person just vanish into thin air? But if she isn’t in any of these
rooms…
The manager opened the door to the final room, barely concealing his irritation. “This is our last room. If you can’t find anything here, then you’ve officially turned this place inside out.”
His tone grew increasingly irritable. He thought anxiously, ‘There goes my year–end bonus with these people barging in today. And if they dig up anything else, I’ll surely kiss my job goodbye.
Maxine stepped into the room, which stood in stark contrast to the others, instead of clutter, it held only dust–covered furniture. As she glanced around, she noted the thin layer of dust coating everything. ‘This place hardly seems fit to hold anyone,’ she thought.
The manager watched her enter. “These rooms are all slated for renovation, that’s why everything’s piled up in here.”
Maxine glanced around the mostly empty room, her eyes suddenly catching on a wooden cabinet tucked away in the corner.
The wooden cabinet was also draped with a dust cover, but the scuff marks on the floor around it looked peculiar, suggesting it had been moved
recently.
Maxine stepped forward and pulled off the dust cover, revealing a relatively new cabinet. Noticing the marks on the floor, she waved the officers over. “Give me a hand here,” she called.
The officers stepped forward and heaved the cabinet aside, revealing a gaping hole in the wall behind.
The discovery sent a wave of excitement through the group. Maxine was about to duck into the opening when a police officer behind her grabbed her arm. “Hold on,” he cautioned. “There might be someone inside. Stay behind us.”
The two officers pressed against the wall as they advanced cautiously. Suddenly, muffled cries came from within.
Maxine’s pulse quickened. ‘That sounds like Cleo!‘ she thought.
Sure enough, as soon as the two officers poked their heads inside, they shouted urgently, “Come quick! Cleo is here!”
Maxine rushed inside and found Cleo bound and dumped in the corner. A police officer removed the gag from her mouth.
Cleo coughed a few times, then said to Maxine, “You finally made it. I never thought you’d see my text.”
After being untied, Cleo flexed her wrists and ankles, exhaling deeply in relief. “Those damn…”
Cleo looked like she was about to curse, but remembering the cops were right there, she bit back the words. “Those bastards tied me up outside for two days,” she said, catching herself. “When they saw I couldn’t get away, they just left. Thank god I bought this watch.”
Cleo lifted her wrist, revealing a smartwatch hidden under her sleeve. “Bought this thing just for kicks, it takes SIM cards, so I slipped my spare one in,” she said with a tired smirk, “Those idiots only took/my phone and totally missed the watch on me.”
Cleo slumped to the ground with a heavy sigh of relief. “Thank god I remembered this smartwatch, or I might’ve starved in this damn place.”
Cleo said while rubbing her sore wrists, “Those guys were just some low–level thugs they pulled in at the last minute. They weren’t they realized no one was watching, they just took off. I’ve been starving here for nearly two days.”
Maxine helped Cleo to her feet. “How did they bring you here?”
y pros. Once
