Lights Out (9 page)

AUGUST 8: 7:30pm

The second hand on the metal analogue wall clock ticked loudly. It
was 7:30pm and Ryan had already been sitting in his apartment staring at the
clock for thirty minutes. He found the waiting almost unbearable. It was as
though time itself had suddenly decided to slow down, teasing him as each
second ticked by. He was sure that the sound of the clock was becoming louder
and louder with each tiny movement of the hand. It was the only sound that he
could now hear.

He shifted his gaze to the palm of his hands. They felt clammy, so he
rubbed them on his trousers, all the while listening to the deafening noise of
the clock.
Tick
tick
tick
. His apartment felt eerily quiet. He stood
up and started to pace across the floor, stopping in front of the hall mirror.
He considered his clothes. Everything was black tonight. From his black rubber
soled shoes to his trousers and long sleeved t-shirt. He even wore black socks.
Just like she said
, he thought to
himself.

He continued down the hallway to his bathroom and turned on the
cold water
tap, cupping his hands underneath, he let the
water slowly fill them up, then he splashed the cold water across his face. The
unexpected coolness of the water forced him to take in a sudden short breath,
which immediately sharpened his mind. He was grateful for the change in
temperature and welcomed the feeling as his skin prickled. He lifted his head
and looked into the mirror considering the reflection before him.

The lighting was bright and harsh, highlighting the purple rings that
were visibly forming under his eyes. Ryan could feel his empty stomach churning
and swirling, partly from nerves, and partly from hunger. If he ate something
now, for sure he would be bringing it up again in no time, so he tried to put
the thought to the back of his mind.

Turning off the tap, Ryan straightened up and dried his hands slowly
and thoroughly, taking time over each finger and palm until he was sure there
was no moisture left. He careful replaced the towel on its hook and looked
again at his wristwatch. It was 7:35pm. Ryan’s stomach somersaulted again,
lurching every time his thoughts drifted back to earlier that day. He replayed
the scene once again in his head.

AUGUST 8: 3:30pm

‘So what do you think we should do?’ Ryan asked, his voice low.

Lily sighed heavily and shook her head. She cast her eyes down to her
cold coffee and played absentmindedly with the teaspoon, stirring the brown
liquid around and around in the cup as though she would find an answer inside
if she stirred for long enough.

They had been sitting in the café for over an hour now talking.

Ryan had told her what he knew so far. Rob had just seemed to
disappear from work, followed by the terrifying phone call. He’d tried calling Rob’s
cell phone several times. It just went straight to voice mail. Ryan’s gut
instinct was screaming at him, but at that point he just didn’t know which way
to turn and whom he should go to. Lily had been his obvious choice to call.

It had been made very clear to him by the caller that he was not to
discuss anything with the Police. But Lily knew Rob better than anyone. She was
his safe option, and she was willing to be there with him.

Lily suddenly tapped Ryan’s arm causing him to look at her. Her face
had stiffened a little and she was staring straight ahead at the café entrance.

A pale faced Chinese man walked slowly towards them. He was wearing a
black suit, and black tie. Ryan looked at the man with vague recollection. He
wracked his brains trying to place him. Where had he seen him before?

He had almost reached their table, when Ryan suddenly remembered. He
had been sitting at the restaurant window when he and Lily had been on their
dinner date. He now recalled the pale face, sitting alone with just one table
setting. A stab of fear gripped Ryan as he realized that it was not a
coincidence that he had been there that night. He looked across at Lily, his
face now filled with concern as he tried to work everything out in his head.

Lily gave the man a silent nod of recognition, and Ryan watched as he
took a chair from the next table and positioned himself facing them both across
the small wooden coffee table.

Ryan kept his eyes on Lily, the knots in his stomach twisting
uncontrollably, telling him that something was terribly wrong. No one spoke.
Ryan looked between Lily and the new arrival and finally broke the awkward
silence between them.

“Lily, what’s going on?” Ryan murmured.

The Chinese man spoke before Lily could respond.

“We have spoken before
Mr
Harper. I’m sure
my voice is familiar to you?”

Ryan heard again the same cool tone that he had listened to earlier
that day. It was still as threatening and it chilled Ryan to his core, causing
him to shiver involuntarily.

Ryan remained silent, not sure of himself any longer, not sure of
anything.

“I’m very pleased that we have finally been able to meet.” The
Chinese man continued to speak to Ryan as though this was just a social
meeting.

Ryan’s mind was racing. None of the past few hours had made any sense
to him. He couldn’t fathom why this was all happening. Why he found himself
sitting in a café, with a woman that he thought he was having a relationship
with, his closest friend disappearing without trace and sitting opposite a
total stranger who was successfully intimidating him. Finally Ryan spoke again,
he needed to understand. He needed it all to be explained to him.

“Where is Rob, is he OK?” Ryan was trying to remain calm, but the
strain in his voice was audible.

“Your friend is quite well. But it’s time that we explained to you
why I’m here and why you are here.” He said to Ryan. “You have something that I
need, and you are going to help to me to get it.”

Ryan sat quietly waiting for him to continue.

“Just in case you had any
stray thoughts of contacting the Police or the Bank, I’ve brought this along to
show you.”

Ryan watched as he slipped his hand into the inside pocket of his
jacket and produced a Polaroid picture. He slid it across the table to Ryan.

Ryan looked at the image before him. It took only a second for the
reality of what he was looking at sink in. His mouth dried up immediately and
his heart began to pump adrenaline through his body.

The grainy Polaroid featured Rob sitting on a metal chair in the
middle of an empty well-lit white room. He was wearing his work shirt, no
longer white and crisp. It was now crumpled and covered with a mixture of dirt,
and what Ryan assumed could only be blood. His trousers and shoes had been
removed, leaving him in just his boxer shorts and socks with his legs bare. His
feet and ankles were taped with silver duct tape to the chair legs. His hands
had been taped to his thighs rendering him helpless. Rob’s nose was bleeding
heavily and Ryan guessed that it was probably also broken. His lip was swollen
to the point of splitting and his left eye was black around the socket, with a
cut above the brow. His hair was messy and hung down across his other eye. He
was reluctantly looking toward the camera, clear that he had been told to do so
under duress.

Ryan’s hand shook slightly as he passed the Polaroid back across the
table. Alarmed now, he looked at Lily for help.

“Did-did you know about this?” Ryan muttered quietly. He looked into
Lily’s eyes, hoping that she would be as horrified as he was at the sight of
their friend, severely beaten and clearly distressed, that he would see the
same fear that now gripped him.

Almost before he had finished saying the words, the truth of what he
had hoped he wouldn’t have to face collapsed completely when he saw the
affirmation in her eyes. She knew. The realization made him feel sick and for
the first time, since the pale Chinese man had entered the café, Lily’s tight
grip on Ryan’s arm slackened. For a fleeting moment Ryan thought that she
looked almost sad, then she straightened her back and slowly removed her hand
altogether from Ryan and answered his question.

“Ryan” she spoke softly and slowly now as she tried to choose her
words carefully.

“I knew about Rob. But I didn’t know that he would be treated so
badly, this was not part of the plan.” This comment she flung across the table
accusingly, before returning her attention back to Ryan.

“You need to do everything that he tells you to do, and I guarantee
that Rob will be released, unharmed, as soon as it’s all over. I’m sorry Ryan,
but you have no choice at this stage”.

For a brief moment Lily’s eyes began to moisten and she quickly
blinked back the hot angry tears that threatened to spill. She was angry and
emotional. Angry that Ghost Face had put her in this position, and that she had
allowed her friend to be hurt unnecessarily.

“Save the dramatics”, Ryan said harshly. He turned his head toward to
café counter. He couldn’t bear to look at her. He suddenly felt like such a
fool. He took a few deeps breaths and when he spoke again, he was calmer.

“What do you want from me? What do you need me to do?” He managed to
get the words out this time without his voice cracking.

Ghost Face’s mouth formed a thin smile.

“Good” he almost whispered to Ryan. “You may have just saved your
friends life.”

“You,
Mr
Harper, are going to help us to break in to the World Asia Bank”.

Ryan blinked once. His mind now trying to process what had just been
said.

“W-what”, he stumbled quietly over his own words. “What?”
incredulous, he repeated himself again a little louder this time. “What!” Then
taking them by surprise, he laughed out loud.

His laugh echoed across the café, making people turn and look at the
three of them sitting around the table, perhaps enjoying a good story or a
joke. But it was no joke. Ryan could see the seriousness in their faces.

“How am I supposed to do
that?” He looked first at Lily and then Ghost Face, whose thin-lipped smile had
quickly disappeared leaving behind a deadpan glare.

“It’s very simple
Mr
Harper, you have two
things that I need”. He said, his voice steady and calm with his customary
trace of coldness.

“Firstly your hands, or, more precisely, your fingertips, and
secondly your security access. ”

“Oh” Ryan muttered weakly.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of the Lights Out Campaign. It’s been busy
gaining popularity over the last few months. We’ve been following it closely
and helping it along where we can. They have successfully managed to enroll all
major buildings and businesses across the City to join their campaign. Your
Bank is one of them. And tonight, when the lights of Hong Kong go out at 8pm
and we are all plunged into a City of absolute darkness, we will enter the
bank, and we will break into the vault using your security access.”

Ghost Face continued, almost breathless now. “If you do everything
that we say and we are successful, then we will release your friend alive.”

“And if I refuse? Or-or
if we fail?” Ryan already knew the answer, but he needed to hear it out loud.

Ghost Face leaned in so close to Ryan that he could smell his warm
stale breath, making Ryan recoil slightly in his chair.

“If you refuse
Mr
Harper, we will first
torture you until you give us the access codes, cut off the hand that we
require, and then kill your friend. If you prefer it that way.”

Ryan was unable to mask his own feelings of despair as he reluctantly
agreed to do what he needed to do, to save Rob. His heart was now pumping so
hard that he feared that they could hear it beating outside of his body. He
knew in that very moment that he had been stripped of any choice. The
responsibility of what he was going to have to do, and the thought that he held
his friends life in his hands, started to descend heavily upon his shoulders.

He refused to allow himself to wallow too deeply in self-pity and
started to consider what lay ahead. Questions now started to pour into his
already busy head with a multitude of potential obstacles and concerns.

“Since the attempted breach last week we have tightened security
everywhere. Even I can’t simply switch everything off whilst you do your
thing.” He looked at Lily now,
trying to fathom her involvement in this.

“Lily, you know this. You installed everything, but now that it’s all
in, we manage it all ourselves. If I try to mess with the security cameras,
sensors and alarms, everything will be recorded. The date, the time, who
changed the
settings.
It’s impossible to change
without one of the alarms being raised.”

Ghost Face spoke now, his face shining with excitement.

“Ah, all good questions
Mr
Harper.” He
said. “Your good friend here, Lily, has taken care of everything.” Ghost Face
moved his gaze to Lily then back to Ryan, enjoying the moment.

Ryan had been well and truly played. He thought back to his first
meeting with Lily and tried to dissect it. He remembered that she had shown
mild interest in him, but had still been reserved, even a little demure. She
certainly hadn’t thrown herself at him. It had been Rob that had massaged their
relationship, pushed him to call her, thought it was all a great idea. Ryan
couldn’t believe his luck that she had even been interested in him. Now he knew why. He had been such a
fool, so easily deceived.
Poor Rob
.
Ryan suddenly thought. This was so much worse for him.