" Hello.... Is anyone there? Who's playing this prank on me?"
" Is anyone listening? Please, someone untie me... Damn it, someone come! I have a very important meeting to attend! "
The man was tied to a chair, his face covered with a black cloth that blocked his vision. He appeared to be around 35 or 40 years old, wearing a white shirt and black pants.
" Hello, someone, please...Cough
"Someone answer me! Why the hell was I kidnapped like this?" The man was exhausted from shouting, his throat starting to hurt, and his voice beginning to crack. He had been yelling like this for nearly five hours and had realized by now that he had been kidnapped.
"By kidnapping me, you've shot yourself in the foot! My people will come looking for me and find this place. If you want to save your life, let me go quickly. I promise I won't tell anyone about this kidnapping, and I'll leave quietly." He felt like someone must be listening to him and tried to reason, but there was no one else in the room. The room was empty except for two chairs.
"Fuck it..." The man was now getting angry. He had been pleading for hours, but no one responded. He knew he was being watched closely. "By kidnapping me, you've made the biggest mistake of your life. Do you know who I am? I'm the head of military security! If you don't let me go right now, I'll wipe you and your family off the face of this earth!" He started issuing threats, his anger reaching its peak.
And then, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The sound grew louder and louder, and—
CLICK
The door opened, and a young man, about 25 years old, stood before him. He was well-built, with a perfectly maintained physique, a handsome face, and dark hair—someone who could easily be mistaken for a superstar.
"W-Who are you? How much money do you want to let me go? Name your price, and I'm ready to pay," the military security head, asked the stranger standing in front of him.
"What's that, Mr. Carter? You've already decided what I want?" the young man said in a confident, booming voice.
"I've seen plenty of kidnapping cases. Most of the time, it's about money. So, you must have kidnapped me for cash. Tell me, how much?" Carter explained his theory.
"Wrong," the man interrupted immediately.
"What do you mean?" Carter asked, confused.
"I don't need money," the stranger replied.
"Then what do you want?" Carter asked seriously, his mind racing with guesses. If the kidnapper didn't want money, maybe he was after classified information, or perhaps this was the work of an enemy nation. But all his guesses turned out to be wrong.
"I just want you," the young man said.
A chill ran down Carter's spine. "H-Hey, I'm not what you're thinking! I mean, sure, I'm handsome and unmarried, but I'm not interested in men!"
"Fuhahahaha! That was a great joke, Mr. Carter!" The young man burst into laughter at Carter's panicked remark.
Phew...
Carter calmed his wild imagination, quickly realizing he didn't need to worry about that, and the man wasn't thinking along those lines.
"Haha... Okay, can you clearly tell me what you want?" Carter asked again.
"I told you, didn't I? I want you," the man repeated.
"For what?" Carter asked, now serious.
"To survive the chaotic days that are coming," the man explained.
"Alright, fine. I'll work with you to avoid jail time. Let me go now," Carter said, finding the kidnapper's words a bit strange.
"Mr. Carter, I don't think you understood me..." the kidnapper began, but Carter interrupted.
"Yeah, I get it. You meant to kidnap someone else and grabbed me by mistake. You don't want to go to jail or face any consequences, right?" Carter explained the story he had pieced together.
Sigh....
Mr. Carter, you make so many wrong guesses. Listen to me carefully, and then tell me your theories," the kidnapper said, mocking Carter slightly.
"..." Carter stayed silent.
"Mr. Carter, how do you think this lovely world of ours will end?" the kidnapper asked before continuing.
Carter found the question odd and began to think the man in front of him might be insane. He controlled his emotions, recalling his military training: no matter the situation, keep your mind calm, give yourself time to think, and understand the situation clearly.
"Maybe an atomic bomb, a natural disaster, or an alien attack," Carter offered as his guesses.
"Hmm, you're right; any of those could end the world. But I don't think so," the kidnapper replied.
"Shit... this guy is really crazy. How do I convince this lunatic to let me go?" Carter concluded that the kidnapper was a deranged man, evident from the bizarre question he asked.
"Alright, tell me, how do you think this world will end?" Carter wanted to understand the kidnapper's way of thinking to gauge whether he was dangerous or not.
"Humanity itself will destroy this world," the kidnapper shared his perspective.
"Well, you're right about that. Humans are the ones who've invented such powerful weapons," Carter agreed, nodding at the kidnapper's statement.
"Hmm, they've built them, sure, but I'm talking about something else—"
"Can you please take this cloth off my head? It feels weird talking in the dark," Carter interrupted.
"..." The kidnapper didn't say anything. He stepped closer to Carter and removed the cloth from his head.
"Ahh... That's better. I can finally see some light," Carter said, showing no signs of nervousness. Instead, he looked at the kidnapper's face with confidence and asked, "Who are you?"
"Ohh... The moment the blindfold comes off, the interrogation begins," the kidnapper joked."Tell me, who are you? What have I done to you to make you kidnap me?" Carter pressed, trying to figure out who had the audacity to kidnap the head of military security.
"My name is Lex Winchester, and you haven't done anything to me," the kidnapper introduced himself."Then why did you kidnap me, Lex Winchester?" Carter asked with complete seriousness.
"The reason is simple: I need you to work under me in the days to come," Lex explained his motive."Are you seriously so delusional that you're asking the head of a nation's security to work under some nobody? Listen to me, I have a crucial meeting with the president today. Let me go now, and I swear I won't do anything to you," Carter said.
"I know all about the subject of your so-called meeting," Lex said with a smirk.Carter was stunned and shouted, "Who's the traitor that told you about this meeting?!".
"There's no need to yell. No one told me anything," Lex said, laughing at Carter's reaction."I don't believe you. There has to be someone who leaked this highly classified information to you," Carter said, his face full of disbelief.
"Believe it or not, just know that I know everything—about the meeting and about the days to come," Lex said, chuckling mysteriously, as if the entire world was under his control.
"He's just bluffing to trick me into spilling the details of my classified meeting. Hmph, trying to make a fool out of me!" Carter felt a surge of pride in his cleverness, thinking to himself. "What do you know about the meeting?" he asked aloud.
"There's an unknown, highly dangerous virus that was detected in a patient at City Hospital a few months ago. The patient was immediately quarantined, and research was conducted to develop an antidote, but it failed. The doctors secretly informed high-ranking military officers. Hmm... what was that classified detail the world didn't know? Oh, right—it was something like, 'Find and eliminate every patient with this virus, no matter where they are. If this virus spreads, it will wipe out humanity.'"
Gulp.... Carter started sweating profusely.
"And so, you started hunting down those infected patients. You found about 500 of them, killed them, and burned their bodies. You even quarantined their family members. You thought the virus was completely eradicated. But yesterday, you got a call informing you that the virus isn't gone. And today, in that meeting, the president is going to order the military to take action," Lex paused, observing Carter's reaction. Carter's face had turned pale with shock.
"H...how?" Carter stammered, his face still frozen in disbelief.
"How? Well, I told you, didn't I? I know everything—everything you know, everything you don't know, and even what's coming in the days ahead," Lex Winchester said, letting out a mysterious laugh.