Chapter 353 Dead or Alive
At night, an orange cab with a Shanghai registered number plate drove near to the entrance of the Beijing-Shanghai expressway.
In order to avoid any accidents, Courtney and Fiona got out of the car when they were about five kilometers away from the meet-up point. The driver gave them a weird look, and several times, he stopped himself from saying something.
“Keep the change, sir.” Passing a 100-dollar note to him, Courtney stopped him from staring at them judgingly.
“Thank you.” Taking the note, he advised in a kind voice, “Please watch out, ladies. It’s not so safe in the northern part of the city. Do you live here?”
Hurriedly, Courtney nodded. “Yeah, we live not far from here. The roads ahead are a little tricky for cars. Thank you.”
Only then did the driver leave.
Under the blanket of the night, the streetlamps on the road in the wilderness lit up, but there was no one to be seen ahead or behind them. Turning on her navigation app, Courtney held Fiona’s hand and found their way to the old, abandoned power plant by the river.
“They’re here, boss,” a subordinate reported, his voice echoing through the huge building.
Soon, the sounds of footsteps coming downstairs could be heard, and a man walked downstairs onto the concrete floor of the old factory. Every step he took caused a big stir in the dust, and it swirled around under the dim light.
The moment Felipe came downstairs, he saw Courtney standing next to Fiona, and his face immediately turned sour. “Didn’t I already make it clear that you should come alone?”
“I don’t know the way.” Staring at him righteously, Fiona added, “She’s just here to accompany me. Stop your nonsense. I’ve already brought the money; where’s Oliver?”
“He’s at a place where he should be.” With an icy stare in his eyes, he swept his gaze past behind Fiona. “Where’s the money?”
From the pocket of her jacket, Fiona took out the check for twenty million. “It’s here.”
At the sight of the check, Felipe looked angry. “Are you playing me, Fiona Duncan?”
“Who’s playing you?” The look in Fiona’s eyes became sharp. “Twenty million is right here. On the other hand, are you trying to go back on your word? If you do that, I’ll perish together with you and tear this check to pieces. You’ll get nothing then.”
“Do you take me for a fool?” His face was stony and furious at the same time. “If I take the check now, you’ll alert the bank after you bring the boy away. Not only will I not get any money at the counter, I’ll even be arrested on the spot by the police in an ambush. You guys really planned it out beautifully, huh?”
“What do you mean?” Fiona asked, not understanding what he meant yet.
“I want twenty million in cash,” he answered firmly, his voice echoing back and forth in the empty building.
Hearing that, Fiona shook with anger. “You didn’t mention that in the beginning. Plus, how am I supposed to bring you twenty million in cash? Are you crazy?”
“That’s easy.” The iciness in his eyes deepened, and he laid his eyes on Courtney. “One of you will stay here while the other will cash out the money once the bank is open tomorrow morning. If I don’t see the money, you guys can forget about seeing that boy as well.”
“You’re an a*shole, Felipe Foster!” Fiona was so mad that she almost lunged forward to fight it out with him, but Courtney held her back firmly.
“Okay.” Courtney agreed in her stead. “I’m staying here, and she’s going to cash out the money. But I have a request. We need to know if Oliver is dead or alive.”
Not knowing who she was, Felipe gave her a once-over. “Who do you think you are to speak terms with me?”
“Me?” Courtney’s eyes were indifferent as she concealed her identity, saying, “I’m an employee at the hostel and just as good as Oliver’s half-sister. If you don’t show us how he’s doing, how will we know if our twenty million will be exchanged for a corpse or a live person?”
The rationale in her statement was a little terrifying, making Fiona’s heart shudder. Tightening her jaw, she glared at Felipe while shouting in anger, “If there’s so much as a scratch on Oliver, I won’t give you a single penny from this twenty million.”
Meanwhile, Felipe was flustered and at a loss because of these two women. In addition, he couldn’t get the money at the moment, and that added to his frustrations. After walking around in a circle, he kicked a subordinate next to him. “Go and bring that boy here.”
Upon that, the skinny blondie scrambled to his feet to bring Oliver downstairs. A few minutes later, Oliver was brought from upstairs.
Very roughly, the blondie threw Oliver on the floor. Oliver stumbled, plopping on his butt on the floor before swaying around a little and slumping forward. From Courtney and Fiona’s angle, they could see that there was a layer of white frost on his brows as he shivered from the cold and didn’t appear to be conscious either.
“Oliver!”
Both of them called out to him a few times, but received no reply. Anxious, Fiona asked, “What did you do to him?”
“You can only blame his body for being too weak. He became like this because he can’t take the cold. This has nothing to do with me,” Felipe answered impatiently.
From the very beginning, Courtney felt that there was something amiss. Both of them were already here, and in order to get the money, there was no need for Felipe to hide or cover Oliver. From the looks of it now, something must have happened to Oliver.
“What happened to him?” Courtney asked persistently.
“Watch your tone when you speak to our boss, b*tch,” the blondie interjected. “This boy can’t take the cold and started running a fever after a night in the cold. Are you going to blame us for this?” he said loudly.
“Shut up.” Felipe gave him a fierce stare.
“Why didn’t you send him to the hospital?” Because of her panic, Fiona actually asked such a dumb question.
Usually, the kidnappers would be considered kind for not killing the hostage, so of course they wouldn’t go to the extent of attending to the hostage’s fever.
As expected, Felipe looked solemn. “Cut your crap. If I don’t see that twenty million before noon tomorrow, he can forget about his trip to the hospital; I’ll send him into the river so he can have an early start in his next life!”
Even Fiona knew that this was no time to negotiate because the other party was extremely ruthless, and the fact that Oliver was lying on the cold ground now made her heart wrench. Hence, she could only agree to his request and head into the city to withdraw the money with one of his men.
The night was long. It was shortly after midnight when Fiona left, so there was still quite a long time to wait.
The walls of the factory were ventilated on all four sides, and Courtney stood about twenty feet away from where Felipe and his men were. As she really couldn’t bear that they let Oliver lay on the ground, she said, “Help Oliver up and let him sit on a chair.”
The blondie who interjected earlier glanced at her. “Is he the prime minister or something? Why should I bring him a chair?”
With a stony face, Courtney replied, “It’s so cold, and you’re leaving him to lie on the ground. I don’t think you’ll say something like this should anything really happen to him and you guys can’t get the money.”
Hearing that, Felipe, who had been silent the whole time, peered over. “Shut up and just get the chair.”
A look of dismay washed over the blondie’s face, and he reluctantly went to bring a broken chair over. Propping it on the load-bearing wall, he then helped Oliver up and put him in the chair, leaning him against the load-bearing wall.
Maybe they were worried that he might fall off, so they simply used some rope and bound him to the wall.
Eyeing Courtney, Felipe couldn’t help but doubt her identity from the moment they met as she appeared so calm and composed. “You said you’re an employee at the hostel, but why have I never seen you before?”
