RESCUE TEAM

Maxwell hurried out of his car and rushed into the headquarters of the secret service he worked for. The director and a few of his colleagues were already inside, speaking solemnly about something.

"What is going on?" he asked the director.

Mr. Thomas Finn, a well built man in his early forties, was the director of The Defense Intelligence Agency. He was a tall man.

"There is a situation. The senator's daughter has been kidnapped," he informed.

"The senator's daughter... Was that not Shirley Blakes, the nation's fairy?" he thought.

"Okay... But this isn't exactly in our jurisdiction, is it?" Max asked. It was taking all of his willpower to hide his anxiety and worry. Why was he so worried about this girl? He had no idea!

Even though it was the senator's daughter that was kidnapped, they didn't usually take care of situations like this, hence his confusion.

"She was kidnapped by terrorists. The very same terrorists that have been terrorizing our country. What do they call themselves again?" The director paused, creasing his eyebrows as he thought.

"The vandals," Amy, one of Maxwell's colleague, said.

"Yeah... The Vandals," The director agreed with a nod.

"Okay, so these people, have they asked for a ransom yet?" Maxwell asked, ending with a sharp breath.

"That's the problem, they are not demanding for any ransom," the director replied.

"So what do they want?" Shawn, another colleague, asked.

"They want a USB drive that the senator has," the director said, deliberately being vague.

"Let me guess, the contents of this USB drive is confidential?" Maxwell asked, his lips curved upwards to form a smirk as he folded his arms against his chest.

"Exactly..." the director responded slowly and Maxwell nodded.

"We can't give the USB drive to those terrorists, we would be putting the entire nation in danger if we do that, and we have to save Shirley Blakes," the director said.

"Oh really? Or you just want to use Shirley Blakes as bait to catch these terrorist?"

Maxwell spoke, anger seeping through his voice. Even he didn't entirely understand why he was suddenly so angry.

"Maxwell," the director called, his tone soft. He approached Maxwell and placed one hand on his shoulder.

"You know that we have to try..." he said.

"And Shirley Blakes? What if she gets hurt? You know they can easily kill her if they suspect a thing!" Maxwell said, his eyes now angry.

"She won't get hurt," the director said.

"Can you guarantee that?" Maxwell asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't but you can... That is why I would be putting you in charge of this operation," the director said, and then stepped back to return to his table, but not before tapping Maxwell twice on his shoulder.

There were at least eleven people in the director's office. The director and Maxwell included.

"The ten of you are the rescue team to rescue the senator's daughter," the director said as he sat on his chair, facing the rest of the people in the office.

"Okay sir, what is the plan?" Maxwell asked.

*******

Shirley was having a hard time breathing. Her chest felt so stuffy that breathing was hurting like hell.

She was sitting in a dark room, tied to a chair. Her mouth was gagged even though there was no blindfold over her eyes. 

She was no longer crying. After giving herself a prep talk that crying was not going to help her present situation, she had managed to stop her eyes from producing the liquid, tears. Now she just sat there in the darkness hoping that her father would come save her. And soon too...

The image of Emily getting shot wouldn't leave her head. She couldn't help wondering if Emily was okay. She suddenly felt angry, this was all her father's fault!

The door of the dark room suddenly creaked open and light flooded in from outside. Light from some florescent bulb. 

There was a sudden flipping of a switch and the dark room became, well, no longer dark. Shirley didn't know why but she heaved in a sigh of relief. But then she saw the lady approaching. She was no longer wearing a mask or a hood so Shirley could see her face.

The lady was in a black leather jumpsuit. Her blonde hair was parked to a ponytail. And she was damn beautiful. Her emerald green eyes was almost enchanting. It made Shirley wonder why such a beautiful lady would be doing something so dirty as kidnapping.

Shirley observed the room, it was almost empty, save for a few furnitures, mostly wooden chairs in one corner of the room.

The lady brought a chair and placed it in front of the chair Shirley was tied up in. She was wearing a smirk, curved ever so slightly, as she sat down on the chair. She had turned the chair so that its backrest was facing Shirley, and then she sat down, resting her arms on it as her legs spread on either side of the backrest.

"Your father is going to try to play smart with us, I know... He would get the police involved and send some people to rescue you... But he would have no idea that he is just doing exactly what we want him to do..." the lady said, ending with a short laughter.

"I have plans for you sweetheart, don't worry, I won't kill you, at least not yet..." the lady said and stood up. Shirley could only eye her as she started to make her way towards the door of the room.

"I will let one of my brothers bring you some food, I am sure you must be starving. Make sure you eat to your fill. You are going to need all the energy you can get to get through these next few days," the lady said before walking out of the room.

Shirley drew a sharp breath. Did the lady just say that she wanted her father to come rescue her? Did that mean that it was a trap? And if she listened to the lady's words clearly, she had sure implied that she was going to kill her, eventually.