Missing Link

by Varun Vashist

  After some minutes of walking, she finally calmed down. Carlson was right. Even if she meets Chris, how would she introduce herself: Hi, I am Kiara. I was undercover to find proof against your malpractices. But, now I am on your side and want to help find Sarah.

  There had to be some other way around. She made a cup of coffee and as soon as she took the first sip, she knew who could help her.

  "You know we are meeting practically every six to eight hours," Jake said in exasperation.

  "You are my partner," Kiara gave a sheepish smile. "And besides, you are the smartest agent, I have ever met."

  Jake looked at her, "What do you want? I hope it has nothing to do with me getting kicked out of my job."

  "I can't say that, but you will definitely get a kick out of it," Kiara acted smart adding to Jake's plight.

  Jake looked around. Margaret was continuously staring at them as if telling everyone how she had anticipated that they were going to end up together.

  "This isn't the right place. Everyone is looking at us," Jake tried to evade the discussion.

  "It won't take more than a minute, I promise," she pleaded.

  Jake nodded. He knew there was no way out.

  "The kidnappers want me to meet Chris Cooper and act as a mediator between them," she said as softly as she could.

  "What?" Jake almost yelled wasting her effort. She looked at his face in anger.

  Jake looked around in an apologizing fashion. All the four customers and the five waiters kept looking at them.

  "It's good that the place is empty otherwise they would have thrown us out," she said with a fake anger.

  Jake threw his hands in the air. "How are you going to meet Chris and even if you meet him what will you say to him?"

  "Yeah.. that's where I need your help. See, I can't meet him as my instructions are to work against him and not with him. So.." she paused for a moment.

  "So, what?" Jake raised his eyebrows.

  "So, you have to meet him on my behalf," she said while biting her lips.

  "You what…" Jake could not say much, "Are you out of your freaking mind?"

  With that, he left his breakfast and got up. He started walking towards the door. Kiara turned around and as her eyes met Margaret's eyes, she cursed her luck. Margaret gestured her to go after him. There was a delay from Kiara's side and that made her angrier. As soon as Kiara got up, Margaret almost broke into a dance.

  "Wait," Kiara shouted as Jake walked toward his motorcycle.

  "No way… no, no, no, no," he shook his head, "You are a crazy woman."

  "Will you even listen to me?" Kiara said in exasperation.

  Jake did not say anything. He kept looking at her, who is she? he thought; a maniac, probably.

  "See, I could have done this if I could," she looked around. "Carlson does not want me to get involved. You are my best bet."

  Jake knew she was not going to budge, not until he listens to her plan. He shook his head, cursing himself on conceding to her demands.

  "What is the plan?" he said in a defeated voice.

  Kiara gave him a winning grin, "Is this a safe place to discuss?"

  "Whole town knows you are interested in me," Jake said while rolling his eyes," The kidnappers are clearly not that professional, otherwise they would have known about you by now."

  "The guy following me may not be that smart, but his boss is,"

  "What do you mean?" Jake kept the helmet aside.

  "He is playing his cards cautiously. He has not said anything about the ransom. Still, he wants me to meet Chris and tell him that I am in contact with Sarah's captors. He doesn't want to let us know his next steps,"

  "Hmm. That indeed is curious. But, how can I help?" Jake asked the question for which Kiara was waiting.

  "Carlson told me that Chris may visit the factory this week. I need you to talk to him. You can use your contacts for that," she looked into Jake's eyes, praying for a positive reply.

  "It will be better if I meet him instead of my contacts," Jake murmured.

  "What? Did you just agree to my plan?" Kiara beamed.

  "No. Let me think over it," Jake turned the ignition on. "You know, I liked you more yesterday."

  All her hopes were pinned on this meeting with Chris and Jake was the one who could help her. She smiled and kept looking at him till he disappeared at the corner.

  Jake on the other hand was not in a mood to smile. He was fine as long as this was about the welfare of Kingston, but this ask from Kiara was big. This could easily be traced back to him. It was next to impossible to reach out to Chris and even if he was able to, what was the guarantee that he will respond positively to it. As far as he knew, Chris was a ruthless businessman. He was known to go to any lengths to achieve his goals. The diary clearly indicated that he had affections towards Sarah, but how deep were those? And, Sarah was clearly against his business ethics.

  What if he had to choose between business and love?

  He would definitely pick business over love. The thought scared him a bit. He stopped his motorcycle on the side of the road and started walking around frantically. He definitely did not want to jeopardize his career. But, he could not let Sarah lose her life.

  He had to be sure about how much Sarah meant to Chris. With that thought he looked around and got on his motorcycle.

  Kiara kept thinking of ways to help Jake get an appointment with Chris. However, she was not able to find a foolproof plan which irked her.

  She was still raking her mind when her phone rang. It was Jake. Her mind started running. Jake had told that he needs to think over it. What if he says no? No…no she had to convince him.

  "Hi Jake, before you say something, please think about the repercussions of not doing it," Kiara almost pleaded.

  "Wow! Kiara.. hold on. I am going to do it," Jake said softly.

  It took a moment before Kiara collected herself.

  "You must be thinking what a fool I am," she said with embarrassment.

  "No, I don't. In fact, you convinced me of doing what is right," Jake replied. "And, now I need your help in achieving that."

  "What help do you need?" Kiara asked immediately. She was too eager to hear a definite yes from him.

  "I want to make sure if Chris's feelings about Sarah are strong enough for him to help us," he said. "What if after all this effort he declines to help. We may lose our jobs and may not be able to save Sarah either."

  "You are right. We have to ensure our safety first. Only then we can ensure Sarah's," Kiara said thoughtfully.

  "I researched a bit about Sarah. She lives with her mother. Her father passed away five years back. I need you to reach out to her. Maybe the mother knows what the daughter knows. I will message you the number," Jake looked at the sheet in front of him." She may open up to you easily compared to me."

  "Will do that. It will definitely help,"

  "Just do us a favor. Don't try to grill the lady too much," Jake requested.

  "I know what I am doing. Don't worry," Kiara squirmed a bit.

  "Did you get my message?" Jake asked.

  Kiara removed the phone from her ear and looked at it, "Yup, it's there."

  "So, let's get back to work then," Jake wanted to stop the conversation before it moved from official to personal. Before Kiara could thank him, he disconnected.

  "You can be a real jerk sometimes, Jake," she grunted.

  Jake was right; it was better to concentrate on the work at hand. She looked at the number and then thought about what she should ask Sarah's mother. She thought of various opening lines, but nothing sounded convincing. She had done a lot of investigations and knew how difficult it was to win the confidence of someone whose family member has been kidnapped. Getting someone to open up face to face was a lot easier, but to convince someone that you really felt sorry over the phone was going to be a feat of sorts.

  She took a deep breath and dialed the number. There was no response from the other end. This made her feel a b
it disappointed. She thought of waiting for five minutes before calling again. While sitting and contemplating what she should ask her, she glanced at the report lying on the table. Suddenly she remembered something. She pulled out the diary page that had arrived the previous night. She read it and smiled; now I know how to get the information.

  "Hello, who is this?" a trembling voice came from the other end. Kiara was relieved that her call was picked finally.

  "Mrs. Edwards, you don't know me, but I can help you find your daughter," Kiara said in a firm voice.

  "Who are you? Are you one of the kidnappers?" she asked with a frail voice.

  Kiara berated herself for being so direct. She composed herself for a moment. So much for all the practice she had done.

  "No, I am also a student just like your daughter. I am doing a project similar to hers. I have some information about Sarah. But before sharing it with you, I need to know something from you," Kiara clarified.

  "I am not falling for that trick. I know now you are from the media. I am going to disconnect now," she shouted with all the energy she had.

  "I know Chris is in love with her and that's what started all of this," Kiara said before Mrs. Edwards could disconnect hoping that Sarah had confided in her.

  There was a momentary silence. Kiara checked her phone, but the call was not disconnected.

  "How… how do you know that?" she said in a low voice.

  "Because, the kidnappers have sent me the pages of Chris's diary," Kiara explained.

  "The diary, of course… why are you helping me?" Sarah's mother asked, still unsure of Kiara's intention. Though Kiara knew she was getting close to something.

  "They want to blackmail Chris and they want me to help them,"

  "Oh my God! Is she all right?" she questioned with fear in her voice.

  "I don't know yet. But, they will not touch her till they get what they want from Chris," Kiara assured her.

  "What do you want to know from me?" Sarah's mother asked the question Kiara was waiting for.

  "Just one thing; how much do you think Chris loves Sarah?" Kiara asked with bated breath.

  "Even if his feelings towards Sarah are half of what she feels about him; he would be madly in love with her," she said while sobbing.

  Kiara was in a shock hearing her words, "But, I thought she rejected his proposal knowing what he did at his chemical plant and that's why she was coming here to expose him."

  "She will give her life in a heartbeat for Chris. She can never think of harming him even in her dreams,"

  "Then, what happened at the farewell party?" Kiara asked with surprise.

  "The only thing she said was that she had a fight with Chris over his work ethics; something he should have told her first. After that, she left. Then suddenly, the next day the paper she was working for called her and threatened that she should go underground because the Cooper's believed she was the one who leaked their secrets to Richard." Sarah's mom said with anger.

  "What?" Kiara was surprised.

  "She was the last one to whom Chris talked about the diary," Sarah's mom said, "She felt betrayed that Chris felt this about her. But…"

  "Mrs. Edwards, are you OK?".

  "Yes…. But when she got the diary pages, she knew Chris loved her equally. This further devastated her. Maybe if she had not brought the work ethics talk during the party, everything would have been fine. Finally, she thought that the least she could do was to finish the project. She thought of going to Kingston and help people with what she had seen."

  "Whom was she going to meet in Kingston?" Kiara asked, hoping for a positive reply.

  "She said that she had not decided. But, she will call someone once she reached Portland,"

  "Oh. And did she call you after reaching Portland?" Kiara asked as her hopes of finding a clue dashed.

  "She did, but I was not at home. The only message she left was about her reaching safely and nothing else," she said ruefully.

  "Anything else that you remember?"

  There was a momentary silence, "No.. I could not speak to her again. It's been three days. My poor baby. She already had such a miserable life; first losing her father and then her love. And, now this has happened to her."

  "Don't worry Mrs. Edwards. Police will get to the end of this case," Kiara tried to assure her but she was inconsolable.

  "We are not that influential and this is directly related to Cooper Industries. I don't think the police will help," she stopped for a moment, "Maybe if Chris pressurizes them. Please reach out to him."

  "That's what I am trying to do. I just need one help from you. Don't tell anyone about our call," Kiara said," The Kidnappers want to speak to Chris. If anyone else tries to meddle; the situation may get out of hand."

  "I will never do that to my daughter," she said in a frail voice.

  "I will keep you informed Mrs. Edward. You have helped a lot. Take care,"

  She threw the phone on the couch and held her head in her hands. The situation was much different from what she and Jake had interpreted. Sarah was made a scapegoat and a bigger enemy than Richard for the Coopers.

  Well, at least now Kiara knew their chances of getting help from Chris had increased. They were having all the information needed to earn his trust. The only question was how to reach out to him and that too without making any noise.

  Jake was playing with his phone while staring at the computer screen trying to devise a way to meet Chris.

  Suddenly, he noticed Harrison coming his way.

  "Sir," he said as Harrison crossed his cubicle.

  "Yes," Harrison said in his gruff voice.

  "I saw in the news today that Mr. Cooper is visiting his Portland headquarters. Do we have to make any arrangements?" he asked with fake urgency.

  Harrison looked at Jake's face. Jake thought his act was up. Harrison was going to ask why he was so interested. He was still thinking about it when suddenly Harrison's face turned a bit gloomy.

  "Yeah… I checked. He is returning from there itself," he was dejected.

  "Oh.. I see. Then we need not worry," Jake said immediately.

  "Yeah. You are keeping an eye on that girl, though,"

  "Absolutely, Sir. No information will go out," Jake assured him.

  "Hmm, anything else?"

  Jake nodded, "Nothing, Sir,"

  Now it was Jake's face that turned gloomy. The entire plan was based on the fact that Chris would be coming to Kingston. And now everything had come to naught. The whole planning, the whole investigation; everything was wasted. He grunted in anger and threw the pen on the computer screen.

  He thought of informing Kiara. Though, a part of his did not want to call her. He knew that she was not someone to take defeat in her stride. She would think of some other crazy plan.

  However, there was no other option. He picked his phone and scrolled down till her name came up.

  Chapter 8

  Kiara had analyzed her discussion with Sarah's mother, three times. Her initial reaction of pity towards Sarah had taken a back seat by now. She was now planning to reach out to Chris and the only way she could think was if Jake gets a chance to escort him once he visits the factory.

  With that thought, she picked her phone and scrolled down to Jake's number; oblivious of the fact that her plan was not going to work.

  Jake tried calling her at the same moment she was calling him. Both the phones were engaged. They tried again, but with the same result.

  Kiara thought of calling Jake after some time and started analyzing the case again.

  After fifteen minutes, Kiara thought of calling Jake. This time she tried his desk phone. But, no one responded. This irked her further. Where has he gone?

  She thought of calling on his cell phone, but as she was about to dial she heard a knock. She looked at her watch. It was too early for dinner. That ruled out Paul. Then who could be this?

  She took her 0.38 and pulled her sleeves to cover her hand.

  There was a
nother knock; this time more pronounced.

  Kiara opened the door and got aside. She saw a man entering and before she could realize it was Jake, she hit him in the neck with all the force she could muster.

  Jake fell down with a thud hitting his head first. Kiara was taken aback realizing who it was.

  "Jake, Oh my God! I am really sorry," she apologized and held her hand out.

  Jake got up holding his head, "What happened? You saw me through the peephole. Didn't you?"

  "I did, but it is a bit dark out there and this is the first time I have seen you without uniform," she said while looking at the body hugging jeans and white T-shirt.

  "So, it's my mistake then?" he grimaced, "You are a crazy woman. You know that?"

  Kiara did not know what to say. All she could do was to scrape whatever ice was in the refrigerator and create an ice pack.

  Jake looked around while applying ice to his neck. He looked at the mess that Kiara had created. Kiara noticed that and tried to think of something quick.

  "Someone broke into my house," she blurted out.

  "What?"

  "Last week," she said sheepishly. Jake looked at her face and both burst into a laugh.

  "Don't make me laugh. It hurts my neck," he said while trying to contain his laughter.

  "Why have you come here? You will blow up my cover," she complained.

  "Well, we were not discreet earlier either. You meet me daily in the open. Why do you think your cover has not blown yet?" Jake asked while putting the soggy ice pack on the table.

  "What are you implying?"

  "Well, everyone has seen you with me umpteen times. Even if they are not smart enough to think that you may be undercover; they should be at least threatened by the possibility that you are feeding me the information about the diary," he said. "But they haven't done anything about it, why?"

  "Only if they are convinced that Harrison has assigned you to help me with the project and I have no other tie ups with you. And, also the belief that I am not competent enough to turn the tables on them," Kiara said thoughtfully, "That's why they are not afraid of me giving information to you."