The heavy steel door opened, and Leon came inside with Blecher.
Blecher caught the strange smell of blood. And then he saw the bloody man tied to the chair.
Blecher was frozen suddenly. He turned to Leon for an explanation.
Leon started to explain immediately. “This is the investigative journalist who infiltrated your company. He was tight-mouthed and refused to say anything at the very beginning, so Santos taught him a lesson.”
“Still alive?” Blecher whispered.
“He was alive just now, but at this moment, who knows.” Leon didn’t care.
“I don’t want to get into trouble,” added Blecher.
Leon nodded. “Don’t worry. I will handle it. This investigative journalist will disappear in the way water evaporates. No one will ever see him again.”
“Fine,” Blecher said, and then he turned to the other chair on which Dai Li was tied. Dai Li was watching them in a panic.
“It looks like he is awake,” Leon said and took a few steps forward to get closer to Dai Li.
…
The steel door was opened from the outside. Then, Dai Li saw several people walk in and then have a small discussion with each other.
Afterward, a scar-faced man came over.
He should be the head of kidnappers. Dai Li tried to calm down and then he asked, “How much do you want as the ransom for letting me go?”
Being too nervous, or maybe extremely afraid, Dai Li’s voice was trembling.
“Ransom?” Leon was puzzled at first and then he laughed out, “Haha! He thinks we are kidnappers!”
Dai Li was surprised by his words. What does he mean? Aren’t they kidnappers? Didn’t they kidnap me for the ransom?
I must figure out why they kidnapped me! Thinking of that, Dai Li asked immediately, “Why did you take me if you don’t want ransom money?”
“We kidnapped you for money. But you needn’t pay the money yourself. Somebody has paid for you,” Leon said with satisfaction.
“Is someone paying to hire you to kidnap me?” Dai Li squinted his eyes and asked at once, “How much did he pay you? What’s my price?”
“You needn’t know,” Leon said coldly.
“No matter how much he gives you, I will double the price. Just let me go!” replied Dai Li.
The word “double” ignited the greed in Leon’s eyes. To him, it was very attractive.
Dai Li found that Leon hesitated a little. So, he continued, “Set me free and I will give you twice the money. And you can give your original hirer a refund. Tell him you didn’t complete the mission. You won’t suffer any loss. What’s more, you can make some money for free. Or, you can have all the money, three times the ransom in total. In short, I give you money and you let me go. And then we forget about it. Does it sound okay to you?”
“Mr. Li, I must admit that your suggestion is attractive. I am regretting that I did not come to meet you in advance. You are so unlucky. The hirer comes with me.” Leon squinted at Dai Li and then turned back to Blecher.
He whispered near Blecher’s ears, “Mr. Blecher, did you hear that just now? Mr. Li is willing to give me twice the money. But I didn’t accept. I kept my word. Maybe it’s your turn now to show your sincerity.”
“I will double the price, too. Come to my company to get the other half of the money tomorrow afternoon,” replied Blecher, gnashing his teeth.
Blecher knew clearly that one who accepted such a dirty task must be money-oriented. If he was stingy, it might make Leon set Dai Li free for the money Dai Li had promised.
Dai Li is still troubling me at this moment! I have to double my expense! Blecher stared at Dai Li bitterly.
Meanwhile, Dai Li was staring at Blecher, too.
Is this guy the hirer? I don’t know him. In fact, I haven’t even met him before. Why did he ask people to kidnap me? What’s the problem between us?
Searching in his memory, Dai Li was sure that he had never seen this guy before.
Blecher walked up to Dai Li. Smiling with scorn, he said, “Coach Li, I never thought our first meeting would happen like this.”
“So, you are the hirer? I don’t know you. Who are you? Why did you hire people to kidnap me? In what way have I hurt you?” asked Dai Li immediately.
“You didn’t know me before, of course. But you’ll know me from now on. My name is Blecher,” said Blecher. He observed Dai Li’s facial expression, only to find Dai Li totally confused.
He then added, “It seems that you aren’t familiar with me. Let’s put it this way. I have a pharmaceutical company and one of my representatives whose name is Derrickson once visited you. So, do you recall him, Coach Li?”
“You are the boss behind Derrickson!” Dai Li realized at once.
So, that Derrickson wasn’t a disguised journalist trying to find out my secrets. He was a real representative of a pharmaceutical company. But he insisted that I have a new performance-enhancing drug and he wanted to buy it. Did they kidnap me for that imaginary new drug? Dai Li guessed.
However, he decided to ask, “Why did you kidnap me? I am running a physical training center and have nothing to do with pharmaceutical companies. I don’t think I have ever annoyed you, have I?”
“Coach Li, haven’t you understood? I am taking you as a hostage for your new performance-enhancing drug. Give it to me and I will set you free. Otherwise…” Blecher smiled evilly.
“I told Derrickson many times. I really don’t have the drug,” said Dai Li innocently.
“You don’t have it? Then what’s your explanation of the fact that all the athletes you’ve trained made great progress?” Blecher asked dismissively.
“That resulted from scientific training methods and the athletes’ efforts,” Dai Li said. “I am a coach. It’s my job to strengthen athletes through training.”
“Then what happened to Jimmy Aylwin? He has been retired for three years, and he is 34 years old. But he is doing as great as a 24-year-old boy. Justin Alexander, who was banned for so long, took only a few months to recover to his condition before the ban. And Shawn Ford. If he were able to run so fast, he would have gotten numerous championships throughout these years. How could he be totally refreshed with your training? Don’t you provide them with illegal drugs?”
“I don’t!” Dai Li shook his head immediately. And he said, “Aylwin ruled the 400m race before. Alexander was once the flying man in the world who was only second to Kittell. They are all the greatest talents in the sports world. It is normal for them to be faster than average people when we take their physical talents into consideration. As for Ford, he was born with a leg length discrepancy. And I just taught him a way of running with his leg length discrepancy.”
“Do you think I will believe that?” said Blecher coldly. “Coach Li. We all understand what’s happening. I don’t think we need to beat around the bush.”
“I swear to God that I have no such new drug,” Dai Li said, more innocently. He added, “I know you may not believe me. But think about it! I have been taken by you. Why should I lie to you? Given my situation at this moment, I would give the drug to you if I really had it.”
“Would you? I think you are so stubborn!” said Blecher with a cold facial expression. “It’s your final chance now. Will you give it to me?”
“I can’t give it to you! I don’t have it!” Dai Li replied sadly.
“It seems that our talk has to be ended. You are going to take my words as a joke if I don’t show you some violence,” Blecher said and walked back to Leon.
“Santos, you are an expert of interrogation. I give him to you. Make him hand over the new performance-enhancing drug,” said Blecher.
“No problem, Mr. Blecher. Please go out for a cigarette and have a rest. I will handle this,” said Santos easily.
…
Blecher and Leon left the room. And only Santos stayed behind with two strong black men. Santos had a leather case in hand, and one of the two black men carried a pistol on his waist and the other took out a long gun.
Dai Li was still tied up there. He was extremely worried. He felt that death was approaching.
This is a dangerous situation, probably a fatal one. Kidnapping is a felony. The sentence may be many years. Normally, the kidnappers are not willing to let hostages see their faces. But these guys don’t care about all that. And Blecher showed me his face and name. It seems that he isn’t worried about me calling the police.
So, there is only one possibility. He doesn’t plan to let me leave alive. He is going to kill me, so he doesn’t care about whether I know his name or not. If I really had that new drug, I would be killed the moment I gave it to him.
But if I don’t give it to him, they will torture me. And I will be like that guy! Dai Li looked at the bloody man tied to the chair nearby. He still hadn’t moved. It seemed he was dead.
I am going to die. There is no way I can get out of this. What should I do?