24/7

A Message

•~• Nic's POV •~•

"Jay... you've been quiet since we left the island..."

"This is my fault."

"No. Faulkerson... Jay.. you need to stop thinking that."

Moments after Jay received word about Seb's abduction, he made a flurry of phone calls. Within just a few hours he has mobilized his entire security force, a batallion of private investigators and even enlisted the help of the military to help in the search and rescue of his young friend.

He also hasn't stopped blaming himself for what happened.

"Yes. If I hadn't run away like a frightened little animal. If I hadn't gone into hiding. If I had stayed visible! Seb would be safe."

"You were hurt too! You needed time to heal and regroup."

He suddenly turned to face me.

"You were more hurt than I was, Nic. Listen, I don't regret taking you to the island. We both needed the break but..."

I wrapped my arms around him as I burrowed my head into the nook between his neck and shoulder.

"You don't have to explain. I understand, okay? I get it. The thing that I have a hard time accepting is the way you're taking on all the blame. That's unfair to yourself and seriously stupid. And you, Mister Faulkerson, you are anything but stupid. In fact, you are a very, very smart man."

I felt him smile against my skin.

"You're just saying that because you like me."

I gave him a playful slap on the arm.

"What do you plan to do when we get to... uhm.. where are we going?"

He straightened up to face me again.

"To my other home. It's somewhere in the outskirts of the metro. It's more isolated and inside a gated community. It's also nearer to where Seb and his parents live."

I nodded and took out my phone.

"Who are you calling?"

"Katrina, my second in command. We're going to help you find Seb. You'll need every available eyes and ears you could get on this."

He nodded and took my hand in his before going back to looking out the window, deep in thought.

Just as I was wrapping up my call, his phone rang.

"It's Sam."

He put the call on speaker.

"Jay. I'm sending over a video that was sent to us in a thumb drive. Building reception downstairs said it was brought in by one of those bike messenger services."

"Go ahead, send it to Nic's phone. Have you watched it?"

"Yes. Jay... we know who took Seb."

His grip on my hand tightened as his whole body tensed.

"Who?"

My phone pinged. I immediately launched the messaging app and played the video.

Jay took my phone and with a few deft swipes had the video playing on the car's viewing screen.

The video was grainy and started with a shot of a crying Seb, curled up on his side on a dirty mattress on the floor.

"Putangina. Nic, si Seb. Hold on buddy, hold on. Help's on the way."

I squeezed Jay's hand.

The video flickered, went black for a few seconds and then came back on just as the camera focused on the hooded figure as it sat cross-legged on a wooden chair.

"Show your fucking face, you sniveling sonofab—"

As if he heard Jay's voice, the man on the video sat up straighter and removed the hood of the jacket that was obscuring his face.

Then he spoke.

"Hello, Jay. Long time no see."

The next thing I knew, Jay's fist smashed onto the car's viewing screen, and I watched dumbfounded as he cradled his head in his hands and cried.

*•*•*

Author's note: Bitin, I know. Sorry. Day 2 of the Really Terrible Migraine. Hindi kayang matagal nakatitig sa phone screen. Bukas ulit hopefully.