The beeping sound was too loud, it started to irritate the sleeping Noah. He wanted to throw it out of the window or just smash it till the noise stopped. He tried to open his eyes, but they were too heavy. Groaning in despair he tried harder, this time the faint light strained his eyes. He blinked twice trying to adjust to his surroundings. It was an unfamiliar room. His throat felt extremely dry and his body was exhausted. He attempted to get up, but pain shot through his body making him lie down immediately.
After a few seconds of taking deep breaths, he moved his right hand searching for his phone. But he touched something else. He immediately turned to his right with much trouble to find a girl sleeping on a chair, while her head was on his bed. Her white coat indicated that she was a doctor. He made an effort to wake her up. But he was too tired and his eyelids weighed a ton. He fell asleep again in an instant.
.....
"Yes, everything is fine, Ian. Mr. Carter is still unconscious." Aria assured him once again. This was the third call from Ian for the day. Since the day Noah was left in Aria's care, Ian had made sure to contact her at least five times daily.
"What are you doing?" he asked from the other side. Ian was going through the video recording of Marcus, probing for some loose ends.
"I have come to the canteen to grab a bite. One cheese sandwich please." Ian heard her order.
"Don't worry his keepers are just outside his ward. They will call me if there is a situation."
Suddenly a commotion ensued in the canteen. Two burly men in black were frantically searching for something.
"Where is Dr. Aria West?" the guards questioned a nurse. The nurse's eyes went wide and she quivered in fear. She had never seen such fierce-looking men.
One of the guards asked again, this time a little gently. "Have you seen Dr. West?"
The nurse pointed towards the counter and ran away in fear when their gaze left hers. At one glance, Aria knew they were Noah's men. As soon as they saw Aria standing near the counter, they hurried towards her.
"Dr. West," they breathed.
"Wow, wow, wow. Calm down, folks. What's the matter? You just scared that poor nurse."
"It's the Boss. I mean Mr. Carter. You need to see him, it's urgent. Please come with us." One of them spoke, panting.
"Aria, what happened?" Ian asked perplexed. He had heard the guards speaking to Aria on the phone. His imagination ran wild instantaneously, fearing the worst.
"I don't know. I'll call you back."
"Aria. Aria." Ian yelled, nonetheless received no response. She had disconnected the call.
"Is everything all right Mr. Davis? Master Martin is going to arrive soon." Ronnie informed looking at Ian's panicked face.
"I am not sure Ronnie. We will have to wait and see." Although Ian was scared, he knew Noah was out of danger.
"Maybe Noah's woken up. That's great then." He presumed.
Ian had stayed at the Underground Base for the last four days, pressuring Marcus for more information. But Marcus had stayed mute, all their methods of torture deemed useless on him.
Ian had informed his other friend, Joshua Martin, who was vacationing in Canada, about Noah's condition.
Ian, Joshua and Noah were friends since childhood. Although they were once strangers, an incident in the past had created an everlasting bond between them.
Once Joshua heard about Noah, he prepared to return to the country. However, his plane was canceled because of extremely bad weather. After three days, when the weather finally cleared, he boarded the plane without further delay.
Meanwhile, Ian had managed to collect all possible information on Marcus. As Marcus had confessed, his bank account had received a cash transfer of 1 Million USD several days before the murder attempt. Besides that, he couldn't obtain any details about the account from which the money was transferred. It was a dummy account and had been closed after the transaction was completed.
There were neither any loose ends nor any leads. He could only wait for Joshua.
Ian sighed. He had been sitting in Noah's office for a long time. His shoulders had become tense and his neck ached.
"How I wish I could get a Thai massage." He could only wish. He was having a migraine, the incident had taken a toll on his health.
He dialed Aria's number, only to go to voicemail. "I hope everything is alright."
The door to the office opened abruptly, with a bang and Ian did not have to guess who it was.
"Joshua."
"The one and only."
"How was your flight?"
"It was boring. I flirted with the air hostess, but she was already married. It was a waste of time, although she was interesting. There were not many beauties on the plane, you know. Oh, I hate flying on a private plane. By the way, have you managed to get a girlfriend at least now?" Joshua teased.
Ian ignored his question. "Are you not going to ask about Noah?"
"Nope. You are sitting here, in the Underworld Base, instead of being at the hospital. I assume he is out of danger and in safe hands."
Ian smiled. "Have you managed to track down the account details?"
"Are you doubting my skills, this genius hacker's skills? God, people cannot recognize talent at all." Joshua wiped his nonexistent tears.
"Stop being melodramatic." Ian glared at him, making Joshua shut up. He placed a folder in front of Ian and stretched his legs on the desk.
Ian opened the folder only to seethe in anger. "Caroline Turner."
"Do you know her?" Joshua asked, yawning.
"Yes, she is Noah's girlfriend."
Joshua straightened himself, now listening to Ian with utmost interest.
"Noah had a girlfriend! When did that miracle happen? It looks like I missed out on a lot of things while I was vacationing. Damn. Anyway, why would she harm Noah? What was her motive?"
"I am wondering the same. What would she gain by harming Noah?"
After a few moments, Joshua stood up and walked towards the door. "Get up you lazy bum. We have a mystery to solve."