THE LAST INSURGENT

ONE

'ONE

  2010

Adam paid for the confectionaries, produced a wide grin which was apparently for the cashier who grinned back. Unknown to her, that grin was a subconscious manifestation of the feelings of thinking about the lady waiting for him in the car.

He felt having her with him was surreal, after five months of melancholy, anxiety and painstaking search. He was not going to waste a single second; not even a nanosecond. It had to be done soon.

He stepped out the confectionary with nimble steps, gave the security man by the door a nod and smile, before dropping a note of money in his hand. The man had smiled, saluted and thanked him.

Adam walked to his parked car, opened the car door and slid in. He cringed.
He was so hyper he did not take note before he sat down. Where was she? Did she go for a recharge card? But she could have simply waited for him and they could get that along the way.
He glanced round but he could not catch a glimpse of her. He laid his head on the headrest, puffed air and then closed his eyes.

Just a three more weeks!
He opened his eyes. She was not back. He brought out his phone and dialled her number. It connected and rang. She did not pick it.
This was not funny.

He got out of the car. There was a tag at the parking lot that read, cars parked at owner’s risk. That meant there was no one assigned to watch over anything there but he had to ask a security man, “please did you see the lady that was sitting in that car go out?”

“ Yes. I saw her go down there.” He pointed a finger.
“ When was that?”
“ About ten minutes ago.”
Adam grimaced. That was about three minutes after he left her.
“ Thank you very much.”
He walked towards the direction abruptly, aware that a wave of paranoia was sweeping through him. This was a commercial area, with lots of people moving around, and it was just a few minutes after noon. There seemed to be no cause for alarm but after thinking of what happened a few months ago, he felt jittery.

“Hey, did you see a lady dressed in a green gown pass through  here, please?” He asked a man who sat before a bike.
“Yes, they just walked passed here.”
They?

“How many of them?”
“Two. She was with a man.”
Adam frowned. A man? Who was the man? Why was she with him or leave with him when he just went in to get her confectionaries?

It was not pertinent to ask more questions. From what the man had said, they were close-by. He went down the street, walking so fast. He looked left and saw a man looking shocked.
The man was fat, wearing shabby clothes. Instinct made Adam cross over the road and asked the man if he had seen her.

“Did you say she was wearing a green gown?” The fat man asked and Adam could feel that creepy sensation again.
“Yes.”

“I saw a man pointing a gun at her and they took her away inside a car! This kidnapping is so prevalent.”
Adam felt the earth spinning at an incredible speed, and seemed to be losing friction because he suddenly felt like he was going to slip and fall.
Again? She just returned one month ago for crying out loud.

He became confused.
“Which way did they go? When? How come nobody did anything? Why didn’t you shout?”
“The man seemed to be hiding the gun. People did not take note . I was too scared to shout because a similar incidence occurred and my friend raised an alarm only to be shot dead.”
Adam was so confused he did not notice when the man left him and walked away. He wanted description, he wanted the police to talk to the man, get clues.

He ran back to his car, trying to reach her on her phone, It kept ringing but nobody picked.
Why?
He called her father, and broke the bad news. He got into his car, started the car engine and headed to the nearest police station.