Chapter Nine #2
Ben sat near Henry’s feet on the bed as Molson and Holly had the two visitor chairs.
Henry was still hooked up to the oxygen but a quick glance at his monitor showed he appeared to be improving.
Technically he was only supposed to have two visitors at a time and they were to limit their visits to allow Henry to rest.
“I wanted to let you know,” Henry paused to catch his breath as he spoke to Molson. “Tremblay said the debt was paid.”
“He did?” asked Molson in surprise. “I didn’t save Isla.”
“I don’t think anyone could. It was probably more about giving her the chance to survive,” guessed Holly. “No one knew whether the drug would work. It hadn’t been properly tested. The only way to get it for Isla was through you and your connection to Noah.”
“I’m glad it’s over,” Molson said as he reached out, taking Holly’s hand in his.
“Where did they have you? If you don’t mind me asking,” questioned Ben curiously.
“Honestly, I don’t know where I was,” shrugged Holly.
“The room was somewhere in a house. It was a bedroom that probably hadn’t been decorated since the fifties.
A bathroom was attached. They had glued a newspaper to the only window but I could hear traffic.
However, no matter how much I yelled, no one from the sidewalk or the neighbors ever did anything.
I think the house was abandoned and I don’t think anyone lived nearby.. ”
“You were there the entire time?” wondered Ben with a frown.
“Yes. I was locked in. Someone was always in the hallway. I had a television and could watch any channel I wanted. They gave me food once every day, usually take out,” shrugged Holly.
“They never hurt me. They never even talked to me.
The last day I was there was the only time they even came in the room.
Two guys grabbed me and a third drugged me with a needle. I woke up in the hospital.
“The worst part was seeing myself on television and knowing how worried everyone must be. Then they stopped showing my picture on the news and I started worrying that people weren’t searching for me anymore,” softly revealed Holly.
“We were always looking,” Molson reassured her.
A nurse came into the room to take down Henry’s vitals and check his temperature. While this was happening, Molson and Holly took their leave.
Ben took over the chair, waiting patiently for the nurse to finish. Once she had, he was about to suggest they video call Cora so Henry could see Adam when Ben’s phone started ringing.
He frowned as he looked at the phone number.
“Who is it?” curiously asked Henry.
Ben got up, shutting the door of the private room before returning to the chair and answering the call. “Ben. You are on speaker and my brother Henry is here. I can’t guarantee the room as it is a public place.”
“I already swept the room. There are no bugs,” dryly mentioned a man’s voice. “I hired a friend of a friend to be sure.”
“You always were paranoid,” sighed Ben.
“You were never paranoid enough. You should update your phones. The Feds can almost hack them now. The reason I am calling you is because I have put two and two together and come up with a pretty interesting answer,” stated the voice.
“Plus I left you a message asking why you torched the systems in my hotel,” came Ben’s terse reply.
“This is the hacker? The one who got in our computers?” questioned Henry with interest. He sat up a little straighter in the bed, intently watching Ben.
“The very same,” proudly declared the man over the phone. “Look. I didn’t realize it was your set up. I should have. I know that now, but Ben, it’s been so long since you and I have had any coding contact.”
“Mostly because I’m legal,” dryly mentioned Ben.
“And I sometimes blur lines. I get it, we drifted apart. Now, I’m guessing you want to know what happened,” easily replied the voice.
“You owe me so yes, I do want to know what happened. More than that, I want a name and a way to find the person behind all of the things that have been happening to the Ramesly family,” declared Ben.
“I don’t know if I can give you a name,” demurred the hacker.
“If you want your routers to keep functioning, you will cooperate,” parried Ben.
“You’re legal. You can’t do that and keep clean. The alphabet agencies would be after you and stuff you in a dusty basement somewhere to work for them,” responded the voice. “There is no way you are doing anything to my systems.”
“Try me. This guy tried to blow up my entire family. I’m not feeling charitable,” stated Ben firmly. When Henry was about to say something, Ben put up his hand, forestalling him.
“It was the same hotel as the bomb scare? I saw that on the news,” the hacker had a laugh.
“Oh boy. I’m in deep trouble. I didn’t know he was after you.
You are an old friend so I’ll level with you.
I don’t know his name. He acted through a company based out of the Cayman Islands.
The guy knows enough to cover his tracks business wise, but is a crazy psycho.
He kept saying he was going to inherit some mega pharmacy company.
Then he was going to take out everyone in the family and get their companies too because he deserved it.
He was bragging about being the biggest billionaire ever. Dude needed to chill.”
“How did he hire you? There has to be a payment trail I can follow,” Ben tried to keep the conversation on track.
“He gave me a farm.”
“What?” questioned Henry, wondering if that was some sort of computer code.
“The psycho gave me a farm. Land, crops, house, barn, equipment, all lock stock and barrel. He signed over a deed to me. It was in a company name, again through the Cayman Islands, but I’m betting his former neighbors might know who he is.
That sort of crazy doesn’t go unnoticed,” suggested the hacker.
“I’ll forward you the address. You can come down for the housewarming party I’m having in a couple of weekends, talk to the neighbors yourself. ”
Ben and Henry looked at each other in disbelief.