Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Second Chapter

As I faced the computer screen in front of me, excitement began to swell in my stomach. I turned on the computer and searched for my victim. I finally found the one person that might be foolish enough to help me:
Johnson Greene
Johnson was a retired FBI agent, single parent and a former cop. He would be keeping his eye out for another hacker like my brother, so he would be the perfect target. Once I gathered everything I would need from the internet, I waited until 12:30 and then pulled out the untraceable phone from my pocket. I slowly dialed the number and called him.
“Hello?”
“Is this Johnson?”
“Yes, it is. Who is this?”
“Do you have people in the room with you currently?”
“No. Who is this?”
“I’ll get to that later. You have a daughter. Her name is Madelyn, correct?”
“Why yes, did she get hurt? Did she get hurt?”
“Relax. Your daughter is fine, and will remain fine if you cooperate.”
“Don’t you dare hurt her!”
“Everyone will be fine, as long as you do as I say. There is an empty record building across from where you work, correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I would like you to clock out for lunch, and then enter this building.”
“Ok, is Madelyn safe? Let me hear her!”
I played the recording of a voice similar to his daughters.
“I suppose that’s fine. Madelyn, this is your father.
‘Daddy, help me!’
That’s all I can allow her to say right now.”
The silence that followed was excruciating. If I couldn’t convince him that his daughter was being held captive, my entire plan would have been for nothing. Finally, he spoke:
“Madelyn, your dad will save you! I’m in the old record store, now what?”
“Lock the doors.”
“Ok, done.”
“Please tell me everything you know about Cane, the hacker.”
“Cane was a hacker who gave away all of our information in order to help criminals. I think he did it for money. We eventually found him and took him under arrest. We arrested him in secret, because we didn’t want to give him a fair trial. He was wrong, and was punished for that.”
“Where is Cane now?”
“I have no idea.”
“What do you mean you have no idea? You’re an FBI agent; you must have some idea of where he is!” I was beginning to get pissed, but I collected myself and awaited his answer.
“I was never given that information! The director, Mr. Cole, is the only one who knows that! Will you let my daughter go now?”
I looked at my reflection in the monitor as I opened up the typed message.
“There is one last thing I want you to do. Please grab the pen and paper off of the old desk, and write the following message. Once you have collected the pen and paper and are ready to write, let me know.”
“Ok, I’m ready.”
“To whom it may concern: Life cannot go on for me. I cannot live without her. She was my only love, and the one who kept my heart safe. Without her, life developed into everlasting nothingness. She was my whole world, and ever since she died my world died too. I loved her, and now she is gone. So now, I must go too.”
“Ok, is that it? Is my daughter safe?”
“Please read me the last word of every sentence, I want to make sure you actually wrote the letter.”
“Concern, me, her, safe, nothingness, too, gone and too.”
“Mr. Greene, will you walk to the doors of the record shop and look out the window.”
“Ok, I’m there.”
“Do you see a man in a green trench coat?”
“Yes?”
When he said that simple word, I knew my plan had gone perfectly.
“You now have a choice. You will either be killed by this man painfully, or you can take the pills in the back corner of the room and die peacefully. Your choice, please choose now. If you try to leave, the man in the trench coat will follow you and dispose you. I have also sent a virus to your phone, as to where it will not recieve any incoming messages or place any outgoing ones, so you cannot call for help. Regardless of your choice, your daughter will be safe. What is your choice, Mr. Greene?”
I heard the noise of footsteps, and the opening of a pill bottle.
“That letter you had me write, was it to make me look like I committed suicide?”
“Yes. After all, your wife died only months ago.”
“P-please tell my daughter that, that I l-love her.”
“I will. Goodbye, Mr. Johnson Greene.”
I heard the phone collapse to the floor and ended the call. I proceeded to dial my assistant in this plan.
“Hello, this is Note.”
“Note, I won’t have to kill him, right?”
“No, that won’t be necessary. He chose to kill himself. You may keep the money I gave you, and the rest of the money will be shipped to your house.”
“Thank you, Note.”
“Goodbye.”
I ended the call and turned off my computer. As I looked out the window, guilt hit me and I shook my head. Now, not only was I a hacker, but I was a murderer. I was the scum of the human race, and I knew it. But they took my only brother, my only family away. The only one who understood, the only one who knew my life. He knew how father left us and mother committed suicide. He knew how our only uncle abused us and was later arrested for abuse. He understood my life, because he went through it too. They took away the only person I could relate too. I had to find him, and Johnson’s death was just a casualty.

An eye for an eye, as they say.

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