Chapter 69: Calling For Help

Chapter 69: Calling For Help Ewan was nonplussed. For a second, he thought Gianna was pranking him. Beside him was Sandro. They had been working on the company’s reports, noting ways to improve the stocks, and how to make the conference become a trigger for the growth of their company. "What is the matter?" Sandro asked, dropping the pen in his hand on the large file before him, as he noticed Ewan’s pale face. "What happened to Athena?" On the other side of the phone, Gianna was impatient. As were her other companions. "What’s the matter? Is he not saying anything?" Aiden queried, eyes flashing with intolerance. Gianna shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t understand Ewan’s silence either. Kathleen huffed, tired of waiting, and collected the phone from Gianna. "Hello...Mr Ewan..." Ewan was stomped for the second time in a row. This was the voice of the hacker; the hacker he had spoken to when his company had been in crises. Was this a joke of some sorts? He heard a shuffling static, and then a deeper timbre of the voice he just heard. Without question, he knew it was the twins. They had been behind the hack? But how? Was Athena using them? His thoughts were caught off by Nathaniel’s voice. "Hello, Mr Ewan, we need your help with backup. Can we borrow your bodyguard system, with Mr Zane’s? We tried reaching him first, but to no avail. Can you check in with him, and come with him now? My mother’s life depends on that. I’m trusting you on this one, this time around..." What six year old speaks this confidently? Ewan opened his mouth, but a croak came out first. "Hello.." The impatience that underlied the voice of the boy that might be his son jerked Ewan away from his thoughts. He can sit with his thoughts later. He thought. For now, he had to rescue Athena. "Do you have a location? Do you have a suspect?" A pause. "Yes, we have a location. We were able to track them down. But we suspect it’s the gang that had conspired to kill us sometime last year. So, we need backup. Can you be at our house in the next five minutes, with the back up? Can I trust you on this? And please don’t keep silent again..." Ewan nodded, swallowing his pride before speaking again. "I’ll be there." He hung up the call and stood up agilely from the chair. "Call our security team, the trained ones, and reach out to Zane too. Athena has been kidnapped. Her children were calling for help." Sandro was speechless. "Sandro! Work now, think later. Time is ticking!" The boy was counting on him. Ewan hastily pushed the files into the cabinets. Even though he suspected their innocence, he had to deliver this one time. He couldn’t lose face in front of the children. As he hurried out of the company, he called Zane. Zane, who had been debating on the reason for Gianna’s call, picked immediately. "Zane, organize your security details and meet me at Athena’s house in the next five minutes. Athena has been kidnapped." Before Zane could say anything, in respect to what he had just heard, the call ended. He looked at the phone, at the call log, and cursed loudly when he finally realized why Gianna had been calling him. "Damn it!" He kept shouting intermittently, as he sought for clothes to wear. His father, hearing his shouts, came into the room. "What’s the matter, Zane?" "Athena..." He spoke as he wore his trousers. "What happened to Athena?" "She has been kidnapped! Please organize the security detail, let them meet me downstairs." Herbert hurried out of the room with shock, knowing how precarious the situation was. Immediately he left, Zane tried Gianna’s phone again. It rang and went to voicemail. He called again, three more times, but there was no response. He cussed, punched the wardrobe, and hurried downstairs to meet his father. But who would dare kidnap Athena? Meanwhile, back at the kidnappers’ den, Athena was screaming. Heronica, the woman who had deceived her, was creating lines of latitude on her thighs with a knife. Athena was naked, safe for her bra and her panties. She felt so exposed, so dirty and helpless. At first she had borne the pain without as much as a grunt, but the evil woman who couldn’t be more than twenty years old, was more bent on breaking her. "So, you can scream, beautiful. Well, let’s go again my love..." Athena screamed as the knife dug deeper into the same slash point. If the girl continued, she might lose her life. She was losing a lot of blood. "Heronica, stop!" Athena exhaled harshly in relief at the reprieve from pain. Heronica got to her feet, and glared at the male who just stepped in. They looked like twins. "What is it, Heron?" Heron laughed, and glanced at Athena’s bloody state. "If you continue doing that, how can I have a taste of her? We men are hungry..." Athena inhaled sharply, as a tear pushed past her eyes. She held her tongue from pleading for mercy. There was no use. She just had to escape. But how? She looked at herself, noting for the umpteenth time, her bareness, except for the panties, and then... She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the cartoonish watch her children had given her last week. A thought nagged at her as she stared at the watch. Deciding to satisfy her curiosity, she bent her wrist to the side, aware of the twins arguing by the door. A red light was beeping at the latter edge of the watch. Athena held back a scream of joy. Hurry, my children! She had never been more pleased about being tracked by her children. For this, they could track her as long as they wished, when all this was over. She deftly returned her wrist to its former position, and maintained her cool facade. Help was coming. She only needed to stall her kidnappers from killing her. When Heron finally left the room, Heronica reverted to her. "Do you know how many men are in the compound? How many are waiting to have a taste of you?" Athena shook her head. Heronica licked her lips, and chuckled. "More than a hundred. You are going to be dead before they are done."