Kiara nodded and took a deep breath, "Do you know someone at the Portland office?"
"Yeah, I know quite a few agents over there,"
"Is someone whom you can trust completely?" she asked further.
"I suppose," Jake said, "What are your intentions?"
"I want you to find out who is working on Sarah's case. You need to call that agent and tell him that you have some information about her. But, you will give it only to Chris. The agent should inform Chris about this and convince him to talk to us," she said in one breath and looked at Jake in anticipation.
Jake almost spilled the wine," What! Are you out of your mind? Why would the agent help us? What if he tells his superior?"
"That's why I asked, if you can trust someone? Even if somehow their bosses come to know, we should not worry. We have the information. We are not telling a lie, right?" Kiara reasoned.
Jake knew she was right about that part. If they are caught, they can share everything to save their skins. However, he was not sure whether Harrison will let this go, "What if Harrison comes to know?"
"You can blame me for everything," Kiara was getting desperate. She knew without Jake's help nothing was possible.
Jake got up and started walking across the room. He was not too sure how it was going to work. "Isn't there another way where we don't have to involve anyone else?"
"Only if we had Chris's number. We could call him directly. But, I am not too sure he will take it nicely. I can't tell him my identity meaning he can think of me as one of the kidnappers. He may inform the investigating team who will in turn find out that I am undercover working against him or…., "she paused for a moment.
"Or?" Jake looked at her in anticipation.
"Or an agent from Kingston calls another agent. Tells him about the information he has. One agent will definitely take other agent's words. The Agent working on this case is definitely under pressure now that we know Chris is in Portland because of Sarah. The agent will jump for any rope that you throw. His whole life depends on it. He has direct access to Chris and whatever he will say, Chris will believe. After all of this, I will call Chris. He will not only take my call, he will also be willing to help," Kiara explained the plan again.
Jake still had his doubts. He started walking across the room again.
"This is a foolproof plan from your end? If anything goes wrong, I will take the blame," she reiterated.
Jake knew Kiara was right. They did not have any other option.
"You understand that if this goes wrong, tomorrow will be your last day here and probably mine too," he repeated his doubt one last time.
"I understand that. But, if Chris goes back, it may well be the last day for Sarah too,"
Jake took a deep breath. He knew the odds were against them. But, if they were able to pull this, they may save a life.
"I will call my friend Robert tomorrow. Let's see how it works out," he finally agreed.
Kiara smiled and got up, "I knew you would do what is right."
"I have to prepare every sentence that I am going to speak to him, though,"
"That's why I told you to call him tomorrow. You need to think over it tonight," Kiara replied.
Jake nodded his head. There was a knock at the door. "That must be Paul. He may get scared seeing you here."
"Won't he ask why you ordered for two?" he asked.
"I will make something up," she pointed towards the bedroom.
Jake grunted and went inside reluctantly. Kiara waited for a moment and opened the door.
"I was about to leave," Paul said while looking inside.
"Oh, sorry. Actually, I was inside talking to my aunt," she said loudly adding to Jake's misery. "My mother called me and told about her yesterday. She lives in one of the cottages on the old hospital road."
"Yeah, I have seen that old lady. She came here a couple of years back,"
"Yes, yes.. that one," Kiara confirmed.
Jake punched the wall with anger. Paul looked in that direction.
"I need to check on her. She is really old," Kiara said and took the tray from Paul.
Paul glanced in the direction of the bedroom, "Give my regards to her."
Kiara nodded and closed the door. Jake heard the sound and came out at once.
"Paul has given his regards to you, Aunt," Kiara said before he could say anything.
"You are going to pay for all this torture," he fumed.
"I am paying for the dinner," Kiara kept teasing relentlessly.
Jake looked at her. He knew the only way to end the discussion was to keep his mouth shut. He pulled the chair near to the center table and started eating. Kiara could not control her laughter and started laughing hysterically.
Jake looked at her, rather stared at her. Kiara kept laughing for some time, but when he did not turn his gaze, she started feeling awkward.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Your Aunt gave me an idea,"
"You mean that you gave an idea to yourself,"
Jake raised his brow, "Do you even want to hear it?"
Kiara nodded. Jake was indeed very serious.
"What if Sarah's mother calls instead of me? They won't stop her from contacting Chris," he looked at her.
"That's quite brilliant, actually. She could tell that the Kidnapers have approached her. But, she would disclose everything to Chris," Kiara said thoughtfully, "She can tell Chris to contact us. That way only she and Chris will know about our existence and no one else will even know that we are behind this. You have outdone yourself, Jake Carter. I know we are going to rock together as a team."
Jake heaved a sigh, "Let us close this case first."
Kiara nodded and then realized something, "Wait a minute. So I am the one who is going to make the call and I will be the one whom Chris will call."
Jake nodded while chewing, "This food is good."
"Don't change the topic," Kiara held his hand, stopping him from eating, "You are not going to do anything?"
Jake pushed her hand, "I am the one who made the plan workable. Doesn't that count?"
"That's really smart," Kiara rolled her eyes.
Now it was Jake's turn to laugh. He tried to imitate her laugh while holding his stomach. Kiara looked at him for a second and then started eating. Jake laughed for a minute or so, but when no reaction came from Kiara, he felt stupid and stopped. Kiara looked at him and both burst into laugh.
Chapter 10
"Thanks for the food," Jake said while leaning on the door frame, "Let me know if you need anything."
"It's going to be a long night for me. Not only I have to think what I should speak to Sarah's mother; I have to tell her what to say to Chris," Kiara said thoughtfully.
"You will do fine. Don't worry,"
Kiara nodded. There was a momentary silence. "Good night," Jake said and left.
Kiara heard the sound of his motorcycle engine breaking the quiet of the night as she stepped inside. She thanked her stars that Paul did not inquire about the motorcycle.
The night was indeed long for Kiara. She kept thinking about how to approach the whole thing. She had to first convince Sarah's mother that she could help. She was not too sure if Sarah's mother was too fond of Chris and will agree to speak to him. Maybe she has to scare her a little. With that thought, she looked out the window. The moon had reached its apogee.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Kiara looked at her phone as she took the last sip of coffee. She had to give some confidence to Sarah's mother before she could ask for any help. With that thought, she dialed her number.
"Hello," a voice came from the other end.
"Hello Mrs. Edwards. This is Kiara,"
"Did you get any information about my daughter?' she asked immediately.
Kiara did not know what to say. There was no development since the last time. The delay in her response made Sarah's mom's heart sink.
"Oh.. Did something happen to my baby?" she a
sked, the words barely coming out of her mouth.
"No..No," Kiara said immediately, "It's just that I need your help in this case and I don't know how to ask for it."
"Of course, I will help. Why are you hesitating? Don’t test an old woman's patience," she pleaded.
"I told you last time that we need to contact Chris,"
"What about that?"
"We were planning to contact him through the agent who is working on this case. However, we are not sure whether he will help. In case he informs his superior in place of Chris and the kidnappers get alerted, Sarah may get in danger,"
"Then, you got to find another way. I want my daughter back at any cost," she asked firmly.
"That's why I called you, Mrs. Edwards,"
"What is troubling you? What do you want from me? I will do anything for my daughter," she sensed something wrong, but still tried to assure Kiara.
"I want you to call the agent and ask him to let you speak to Chris," Kiara said and waited for the backlash.
"I don't understand. Why can't you call instead?"
"Because, you are the mother. If you tell them that you want to speak to Chris and no one else, they can't stop you," Kiara explained.
"I don't want to talk to him. He took my daughter away from me," Sarah's mother said in anger.
"It's our only chance and if this is of any comfort to you; Chris has come here only for her,"
Sarah's mother started to sob as she understood what Kiara had said. She disliked Chris because of Sarah's kidnap, but she also knew that he loved her more than anything else in the world.
"Mrs. Edwards, are you all right?" Kiara asked. She wanted to take her help but if that was going to affect her emotionally then she had to think of something else.
"What should I tell him?" she said making Kiara's face lit up with joy.
"Thanks Mrs. Edwards," Kiara's excitement knew no bounds, "You tell him about me and the information I have. You give him my number and tell him not to tell anyone about this."
"Whom should I call?"
Kiara gave her the number that Jake had shared with her. She kept the phone aside and thanked her stars. Sarah's mother had given her the hope she wanted. She was still far from Sarah's release, but at least now she was moving in the right direction.
Kiara had never liked delegating her work. If it was up to her, she would have not involved anyone. She was not even sure if Mrs. Edwards had the courage to do this and even if she does, whether she would be able to do as Kiara wished. The only way to know whether it went well was to wait for Chris's call. Neither she nor Jake could confirm it any other way.
Another thing that was bothering her was how to contact the kidnappers. How to intimate them that she had made contact with Chris? No one had called her or met her. It was a good thing that she had interpreted the diary pages; but what next.
However, this was something that should have bothered the kidnappers more than her. It was they who were losing time. Did that mean that they were aware of what she was doing? The thought made her a bit nervous. Was someone around her who was telling about her actions to them? It was in fact very strange that they had not given any deadlines. It was a one way street.
She started thinking who could that be?
Since she had come to Kingston, she had met a handful of people.
Jake was the one who knew everything. But, he couldn't do that. At least, his history said otherwise. Paul was the one who was bringing the notes from the kidnappers, but, he was too naïve to spy on her.
There was no chance of Margaret or Harrison or Perry doing this. Margaret seemed a nice, typical small town lady. Besides, she would easily find out if she was being followed by Margaret. Harrison won't do it himself even if he knew anything about it. Perry may be feeding them information about her and may know that she was approached by the kidnappers. But, beyond that, he wouldn't know anything.
The more she thought, the more confused she became. She was pretty sure that her moves were known to them. Otherwise, they would have approached her, threatened her or maybe at least followed her. Even the mystery man on the motorcycle was there to threaten her through Paul and not directly.
One thing was clear, though. The person behind all of this had clear ties with the Coopers. He knew that any clue whatsoever could lead it to him. That's why he did not want to contact her directly.
So, how was he keeping an eye on her? She looked around the room to see if it was bugged. But, it was a futile exercise. Most of her planning was done outside the house.
She was moving around when she saw her phone lying on the table. Was her phone tapped? The thought sent a shiver down her back. Chris was going to call on her number and if her doubts were right, it will ruin everything.
But, then it looked like a farfetched idea. It had to be something else. Someone, who was in constant touch with her, may be keeping an eye on her.
Who could it be?
She had to be alert the whole time. Maybe, someone from Chris's office was also involved in it. Someone whom he could trust will all his secrets. Maybe he had told the kidnappers that she had not contacted Chris yet. Maybe that was the reason they had not reached out to her for the next steps.
By now, she had confused herself. She did not even know which of the theories could be right. The best thing was to wait for Chris's call.
Kiara spent the whole day looking at her phone. However, there was no call from Chris. She checked it multiple times for network and battery. By evening, she was getting paranoid.
Paul brought her food, but she was too excited to eat anything. After half an hour, she thought of at least eating something. It would keep her distracted for some time also.
As she was putting the dishes in the sink, the phone rang. She ran in excitement almost tumbling over the side table.
All excitement went away as she saw a familiar number on the other side.
"Any news?" Jake asked anxiously.
"Nothing," she said ruefully.
"Maybe Sarah's mother could not muster the courage to call him,"
"What now?" Kiara had given up all the hope.
"We will go with our original plan. I will call the Portland office tomorrow," he assured her.
"Ok," Kiara gave a terse reply and disconnected. Jake knew she was disappointed. The best thing was to leave her alone.
Kiara heaved a sigh and moved to the bedroom. She could not believe her luck. But, then approaching such an influential person was a farfetched idea from the beginning.
She turned the lights off and closed her eyes. Suddenly, her phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen. She had received a message from an unknown number.
"Please, call me on this number immediately"
Could this be Chris? She thought and dialed immediately.
"Hello, this is Kiara, I got a message from this number," she said in anticipation.
"Hi Kiara, this is Chris Cooper," a low voice came from the other side.
"Mr. Cooper!" Kiara could not hold her excitement. "What took you so long?"
"Mrs. Edwards told me that she did not tell anything to the agents. I suspected they may want to know what was happening and may be tapping my phone. Besides, I believe even the government may be tapping my call post all the ruckus we have created in the market. Somehow, I was able to steal this phone, but it did not allow me to make calls thanks to the credit limit. Also, I did not want to call in the day raising further suspicion."
Chris had indeed thought this through. And, since he was telling her everything meant he already trusted her to some extent. Well, that is a good start; she thought and turned the lights on.
"I believe you have some information about Sarah?" Chris asked." And, I will take Mrs. Edward's words that you are helping without any bad motives."
"She is right. I have no other intentions," Kiara said at once, "Please listen carefully what I am going to say and please don't be judgmental."
"What is it?"
<
br /> "I am a student doing a summer project in your factory. The kidnappers believe that my project is similar to Sarah's and started sending me the pages of your diary…"
"My diary pages?" Chris exclaimed.
"Yes, I believe Sarah was carrying them," Kiara explained.
"So, she indeed had access to my diary. I thought she was being framed," Chris said ruefully.
"But, I still believe she is being framed," Kiara said in defense.
"I don't understand,"
"The kidnappers were known to her and in all probability you also know them. That's why they are not contacting you directly. I don't know how Sarah got those pages, but, I don't think she had the whole diary. Otherwise, they would have blackmailed you for your secrets and not for your affections towards her. Sarah was keeping those pages because you had confessed your love in them. It was the only keepsake with her that reminded her of your love," Kiara said in a single breath.
There was a momentary silence. In fact, Chris had nothing to say. He felt a pain in his heart; a pain that reminded him of what he had lost.
"I shouldn't have written it in the first place,"
"Whatever has happened can't be changed. But we can bring her back safely with your help," Kiara tried to alleviate his pain.
"What do you want from me?"
"I believe the epicenter of all this is in Kingston," she said, "Someone has a bone to pick with you. It can be anyone. All the town people are against you and your factory. And they want me to negotiate with you. I can't do it in Portland. Just like you, I am also being followed. If I leave Kingston now, it will raise suspicion. I want you to come here. Besides, I believe Sarah may be held captive in Kingston."
"On some other day, I would have not agreed to this. But, I am desperate now. I will make the arrangements and leave immediately," he said in a measured tone.
"Not like that, Mr. Cooper. I have a plan," Kiara said immediately.
"What plan?"
"I Know you are one of the smartest persons in America, but I need you to follow my plan completely," she stressed. She knew Chris was used to give directions to others and making him follow her plan completely was going to be a difficult task.
Missing Link Page 12
