Readers Write In #744: The Kidnapping

By Bhagat Vikram

Embark on this adventure with Tom to rescue his parents. Will he succeed?

Chapter 1

One cold morning Tom was going shopping. He was surrounded by big and burly bodyguards. They took most of the space in his private Benz as they were large as elephants. And to make them more intimidating they carried AK-47’s. Now back to Tom, he was big himself. He was wearing an adult sized Nike Air Jordan s but even then, they cramped his toes a bit. His mother had asked him to go with  the body guard as sometimes they made a big mess of things. So, this time he was going with them. But the driver took the turn in to the forest. This made  Tom a bit suspicious. So, he decided to enquire the driver, “Alex, where are we going? Isn’t this the road to the forest?”. Alex replied,” Shut up! We’re not going shopping. We’re going to give you to the mafia”. Tom gasped. The mafia is the most notorious bandits in the world. Even the UK army was second to them. What’s more they had been out to get him for a year now. He heard his mother tell him, “ Wake up Tom. You can’t be late to school”. He woke up drenched in cold sweat. He tried to tell his mother, but she shushed him and told him to get ready to school. He was pondering over his dream while getting ready for school. As a result, he came to breakfast his buttons buttoned up wrong, his hair combed the wrong way and his socks on the wrong feet. His mother asked him what he was thinking about. He replied,” About my dream.” His mother decided not to press him more. At school he confided in his close friends. Their names were Parker and Allan. They told him that it was just a dream, and it would be ok. He could not concentrate on his dream as he had lots of tests. During lunch which today was burger fries and pickle, he thought about his dream. He was so concentrated on his dream that he spilled the contents of his burger. His friends started getting worried this was the first time he was so distracted . So, they went to their class teacher ,Hazel she was the most caring teacher in the whole school, and she was also the kindest and shortest. Today she was wearing a light blue dress which went well with her. 

Chapter 2

When Parker and Allan reached her room, she was checking their notebooks , she also knew something was wrong with Tom. His handwriting (which was the best ) had deteriorated .She was about to call Toms parents as he had been very distracted . Hazel called toms parents, but they didn’t answer instead the mafia intercept the call and this is what they told, “We kidnapped your parents. Come to park garden on Monday at midnight bring no one or they will be massacred .” Hazel was dumbstruck she immediately called Tom. When he found out he fainted his limbs moving in short fast movements. When he finally came around, he started sobbing in great big sobs. His brain suddenly got a wonderful idea though it was absurd It was an idea. His wonderfully absurd idea was to check if his parents were kidnapped or not . As a result, he went to home  early. The first thing he noticed was that the lights were on, he felt his hopes rise. But when he went in it was only his grandparents whose age was a mystery for themselves. His grandfather’s name was Roger is grandmother’s name was Mary. She was the one who had decided to give her entire wealth [leaving money to live] to Tom’s family. The funny thing was she won her money from the lotteries and only a little money was earned from work. Right now, Tom said to see the state she had been reduced to. Grandfather was in an even worse state. He had fainted 3 times as Tom  found out later. He rushed in without removing shoes he started showing and nudging to get in the middle of the circle. In middle of the circle was a note which at first looked innocent enough but when examined the red ink revealed itself to be blood. The note said , “We have kidnapped your parents’ Tom .If you want them back you must go to Park Garden on Monday at midnight. For exchanging yourself for your parents. If you are late or bring anyone your parents will be killed.’’ Tom knew he had lots of time as Monday was 3 weeks away. His grandparents told him not to surrender as it would break them . After hearing that tom got more determined to go and come back with his parents. Hiding his emotions tom ordered everyone to leave. His grandparents did not protest as he thought they would .They just warned him not to be dumb and left. Then he called Parker and Allan home .They reached sooner than he expected thy first consoled him. Then when he told them why he called them they gasped. He had called them because he had planned to go straight to the place where his parents were hidden and break them out with the help of Parker and Allan.

Chapter 3

He knew where they were because they had devised a plan in case any of them were captured since all of them would have extracted a very big ransom. A part of the plan was putting tracking devices in their clothes. At first, he thought the plan was akward. But now he realized the importance of the plan. They had made the plan after Toms uncle had been kidnapped. The ransom extracted by the kidnappers was enough to make Toms uncle live in their house for three years . Thankfully he was only 3 years old at that time. Now he took out his phone and opened the app specifically made to track the devices. When he saw the app it said, “Found.”

Chapter 4

Tom was overwhelmed .He decided to call his grandparents. When they reached his grandfather fainted again. When he came around, he revealed a secret to everyone .it was that he was a retired spy. Before he had everyone thinking he was an accountant . He also told that he knew were the devices were.so it was decided3 boys and 1 old man were going to rescue Toms’ parents. Toms grandfather also thought Tom , Parker and Allan how to use guns. Monday was still 2 weeks away.by 1 one week the 3 friends were able to use 3 types of guns.

Which Roger thought was enough .The places were toms’ parents were kept were 1 a supermarket. 2 a museum. Each of them was a 15 drive away. Thankfully Tom family owned the museum, so they didn’t have to go through the metal detectors. So, they went to the museum first. Tom Parker Allan and Roger each had a pistol. They asked the security guards if anything suspicious had happened. The security guards replied, “No Sir. Nothing has happened.” But one replied, “last night I heard a lot of struggles near the back gate.” Tom realized this was either his mom or dad .He was elated . They decided to search the whole museum for Tom’s parents. Behind an important statue day found  trap door which blended in perfectly with its surroundings. They found it by mistake when toms drink fell on the trap door tom wondered why it sounded hollow, so Roger tried to open it but to no avail. Then they checked footage for anyone going behind the statue. They did see one person go behind, but it was just a baby.

Chapter 5

They checked the footage of the night camera and got results. At night 12:00 someone had broken in dragging a gagged person behind them and had gone into the trap door. Tom decided to take immediate action, but Roger stopped saying, “No Tom we mustn’t act rashly.” Tom was fuming but he agreed .While this was happening Parker noticed that a group of tourists were sneakily listening to Tom and roger who weren’t exactly speaking in shushed voices. Parker leaned a bit towards Tom and told him this he also told Roger the same. Roger tuned to face them and said , “If you are quiet done listening to us, please tell us what you’re doing.” They replied, “We are sorry, but we may be able to help you on this.” Tom was surprised who were these people and what did they know? Roger told them to continue they did “We are the best friends of Angela and Mike(that was the name of tom’s parents).Last night when we were driving past the museum to go home, we saw people wearing red t shirts dragging big shape .we assumed it was construction workers on the night shift, so we just drove on. But turns out we were wrong.” Tom felt all his suspicions about them ebb away. And now he also knew why they looked so familiar .Tom invited them into the private lounge room to talk about how they were going to rescue Tom’s parents. They were happy to come in and discuss. They first introduced themselves as the Smiths. They were a family of 5 their names were William Smith Joanna Smith James Smith Haddock and Anna Smith. Tom introduced himself Parker Allan and Roger. Roger knew them already because they were also in the spy organisation. He asked them to help them with the mission they agreed gladly. William and Joanna pulled guns out of their bags and distributed them. Then they sounded the alarm throughout the museum which said, “Please evacuate .Government business happening.”

Chapter 6

But the security guards were told to stay. Once everybody left The Smiths Tom ,Roger ,Parker and Allan went into the trap door. It led  to a flight of stairs which just went down. But the whole place was booby trapped. So, they tested each tile with a stick. But even then, they weren’t very safe. But William and Joanna had tricks up their sleeves some of them involved machines but some of them also involved common sense. Once they reached reach the place where Toms parents were kept, they realised that it was protected by a puzzle which if I answered wrong would trigger a bomb blast which would blow up the whole museum. So, they decided to first check what the puzzle was about. Near the puzzle a note said , “answer wrong and both the hostages will be killed.” Alerted by this tom told them , “Whoever is solving the puzzle be careful .I don’t want my parents to die.” Everyone promised to be careful. The puzzle was a puzzle a riddle the riddle was  “I come from a mine and get surrounded by wood always. Everyone uses me .what am I?” Everyone was stumped .Then tom took out a tiny pencil and started to fidget with it .Then William got a brainwave but just to be careful he thought it over and over again .The brainwave was that the answer could be pencil. It made sense come from a mine -graphite comes from a mine. Covered in wood – the graphite was then covered in wood. And everyone must have used a pencil at a time. He told it to the others. Everyone thought about it for some time, and they all agreed. He typed the answer into a keypad that had opened after ten minutes of waiting in there. When the bomb started smoking everyone started to worry, they thought that it would any way blast .but then it just stopped smoking and the door behind it opened and they could all see a gagged woman .Tom didn’t let his hopes rise because he knew very well that he had underestimated the mafia. But when he saw the woman up close, he went to the ninth heaven. He knew this was his mother even though she was knocked out and gagged .He rushed to her just to be tripped by his shoelace. Then he fell on his face and felt pain rip through his face. Ignoring it he got up and continued rushing forward. Then he saw what they had done to her she was beaten black and blue. A small part of his brain thought she was dead. But the rest of it thought this something the doctors could fix. Ignoring her wounds, he lifted her and turned back to leave.

Chapter 7

Tom herd them shouting madly at tom to turn back and come .When he turned back, he saw what they saw a big black snake. But instead of coming for him as he hoped it was going for them then tom realised it was time to use the gun .he took it out and took careful aim. Then he shot .The snake didn’t stand a chance but on the other hand the sound ,since this was a small place was deafening. They all covered their ears for some time trying to get the ringing sound out of their ears, except for tom’s mother. Then Roger took control. He lifted toms’ mother, and he climbed back up the stairs back to the trapdoor. And went out. Once they went out tom realised, he had been holding his breath for a long time. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Then tom tanked William and Joanna for helping them. They just thanked him for saving all of them from the snake. None of them realised how much time they took for the rescue. When they started it had been 9 in the morning now it was 12 in the afternoon. The smith family came with tom and his friends to tom’s house. There the kids of the smith family demanded a blow-by-blow explanation of what happened. So, tom (because for some reason he was the only person still left with energy) gave them the explanation and told them to remember it because now he too was tired out by their questions found an empty bedroom and went there to drift off into an uneasy sleep. When he woke up, he heard gunshots and madly grabbed for his gun and shot a mirror. The crash got the others  to his room also holding their  guns tom explained what happed , they answered that it was just Parker and Allan trying to wake him up. They apologised and went off to do some target practise. Since tom woke up, he realised it was no use trying to go back to sleep, so he brushed and went to have breakfast (which was bacon and egg ). Then he too went to do some target practise in which time his mother had been sent to the best hospital which they could reach in ten minutes .Tom got good news when roger came hobbling and running as fast as he could. “Your mother ,Tom is opening her eyes.” Said he. This made Tom feel elated he asked roger “Can we go there now ? ” Roger said no ,unfortunately he was right they had more pressing matters to attend to. Like the plan to rescue Tom’s father .Then Joanna called them in for a meeting in which William and Joanna decided to help them rescue Toms father. The smith family kids were outraged.

Chapter 8

They were outraged as this was the second time, they had been denied an adventure. But William made their wish for adventure disappear by giving them all a good and proper telling off. Then they started planning in  earnest on how to rescue tom’s father. Then Roger, William and Joanna told tom and his friends to go and practise shooting with all three types of guns. They obliged and went off to practise. Then they sounded the bell for lunch to which everyone answered to and came. During lunch they explained the plan which was straightforward and simple. The plan was.

find out in the supermarket were was toms father hidden rescue him if needed, abandon teammates otherwise NEVER lose sight of their teammates take him to the hospital

Tom didn’t agree with the “if needed abandon teammates” part. They didn’t like it either, but it was only for a very hard circumstance.

Chapter 9

The next day they checked the app to check if Toms’ father was still in the same place as he had been hidden in before .Toms father was still in the same place, so they decided to carry out the plan. When they reached the supermarket, they realised that it was the supermarket everyone bought household items from they included Toms’ family. The cashier recognised tom and asked what he wanted tom excused himself and went to the cashier and whispered something into his ear. The cashier’s face was painted with horror. Then he made an announcement saying, “Everyone please exit the shop a top-secret rescue mission is going take place, so we request you to exit the shop and not spread this around.” Once everyone went out, they started to search for the place where toms father could be hidden, or a secret passage could lead to Toms father eventually Roger became so impatient that he kicked a shelf containing chips which didn’t fall but instead the ground 5 foot to the right of it opened. The hole was big enough for 2 kids to go down it the same time or one thin man and on medium sized man to go down it at the same time .So first Tom and William went down followed by Parker and Allan then then Joanna came and last of all Roger came. The tunnel was like the last one, small and claustrophobic .they followed the winding tunnel for 5 minutes then they reached a cave they suspicious because there hadn’t been one booby trap all through the tunnel. When they reached, they didn’t see a bomb like the last one instead they saw laser criss crossing all around the room and on the other side of the room a part of the wall had been hollowed and a gagged figure(toms’ father)had been stuffed. This time Tom got the idea on how to get his father out of there his idea was to send 2 people into the room they would avoid the lasers reach the other side of the room and then they could manoeuvre Toms’ father across the floor lifting him if necessary. The idea was pretty good and so everyone agreed. There was a moment of silence before they decided who to send into the room, they chose tom and William to go into the room as they were strong enough to lift Toms’ father and they were very agile. Then roger pulled out some chips he had taken from the supermarket before they entered the passage. Now he distributed one packet of chips to everyone and told, “This may be your last snack Tom and William .Be careful in there.” Everyone wished them good luck and then thy went into the room.

Chapter 10

Tom was sweating from the heat the lasers emitted. He spared a glance at William who was not off better than him. When they both finally reached the other side those few liked 157575748784599090934935690560496 eternities, they had a brief discussion on how to manoeuvre Toms’ father across the room of lasers .then they dragged hours seemed and lifted Toms’ father out of the hollow he seemed comfortable in and put him on the ground and got ready to pull him. Then they slowly pulled him across at one point William smelt the smell of smoke and realised that Toms fathers’ sleeve was on fire and then he quickly pulled him a bit to the other side .Then they reached the last few metres and then they had to lift Toms father across when they reached their friends tom was so exhausted that he fell asleep for an hour he woke up. So, they had lifted him back to his house and as a result he woke up in his bed. After he woke up, he went to the hospital in which his parents were in and was overjoyed to see at least his mother was waking up though he was getting impatient about his father and then when he went to the bed in which his mother was in she was sleeping and as he didn’t want to disturb her he decided to  go to the supermarket and pay the bill of the chips they had eaten he went there to find his friends basking in the glory they were getting from the customers. And he decided to go and pretend to be angry at them which sad to say didn’t work and Tom felt safe to think that nothing like this would happen again in his lifetime.