Chapter 5. Sent Back Home

Kate was surprised, but she shook her head immediately.

“OK. Smart.” Curly-head snorted.

He took another deep drag and threw his cigarette out of the window. And then he pointed at her with his forefinger and threatened her, “That thing since you said you didn’t have it, you’d better never take it out. Otherwise, you will end up like your friend…” He made a gesture of pointing a gun at her temple with his hand and pulling the trigger, “Bang!”

Kate shrank to the back of her seat but could not help asking, “She…did you…really kill her?”

Curly-head changed his face and said impatiently, “Better not to know too much.”

He pulled something from the front seat and threw it to her. She looked down. It was her shoulder bag.

“Get out.” After Curly-hair scrutinized her for a few more seconds, he released her.

Kate felt excited and pushed the door open. She jumped out hastily for fear they might reconsider. She walked fast at first, but as she got further away from the car, she simply ran.

The car didn’t drive away but stayed there until she lost sight of it at the corner. Curly-head went to sit in the front and took out his cell phone and called to report. “Boss. She has been sent back.”

“OK. Did you make the arrangement?”

“All set. We took extreme caution this time.”

The call ended. Buzz-cut started the car, and Curly-head took out the pack of cigarettes and gave one to him, helping him light it. And he lit one for himself, cursing, “Shit. Bad luck. What a moron.”

They had worked all night, and even hypnosis had been used. The girl had talked, but none of it was useful. They prick their ears up for a long time.

And finally, their boss concluded that these tricks only worked on normal people, but this one has a problem here: the boss pointed at his head.

That was to say, they had to play the game differently.

Kate ran up to the third floor in one breath. She took out her key and opened the door with trembling hands. She sat down on the floor as soon as she got into her room. Her roommate was not there during the day. The small room looked empty and spacious.

She sat there for quite a while, and when she got up to her feet, she felt a darkness come over her eyes and discomfort all over her body. It felt like she was drowning. When she wiped her forehead, it was wet.

Kate managed to walk to her bed, found some cold medicine, and swallowed it down with cold water. And then she laid down on her bed. The medicine took effect, and she soon felt herself slipping into sleep.

She slept deeply and only woke up once in the middle of the night. Her roommate was back. It was soothing to see a familiar face, and she closed her eyes again.

Kate heard her roommate saying something and wanted to get up, but her body was rooted in the bed. Her throat was dry and burned so much that she could not speak a word.

At last, Kate’s roommate woke her up. She was from Ohio. Kate said she had a fever and kept raving. Her roommate helped her take some antipyretics, and then Kate went back to sleep.

The next time she woke up, it was early in the morning. This time her cell phone rang for a long time. She put it to her ear and covered her head for fear of disturbing her roommate. She saw the number was her elder sister. Her sister cried on the phone, “Kate, come back home. Father is in the hospital.”

She was shocked. “Father? What is the matter with him?”

Her sister sobbed, “Some fatal disease.”

When Kate got outside, the sky was still gray. The city had not yet fully awakened. She took the bus to the supermarket, got something she put there, and headed to the railway station.

John caught her at the lounge of the railway station and gave her a bulging envelope with three thousand dollars. He said, scratching his head, “Not much, but it might help. Don’t be anxious to return it to me.” Kate was so moved that she couldn’t say anything. John patted her on the shoulder and said, “No need to say anything. We are friends.”