"He's not in the wardrobes either" the other man informed. "There could be an explanation to this. He may have not entered the room. Clearly, he might be in the other room, with his foster parents."
"Did Number 2 inform you he saw the boy walk into his room?" the man with a deep voice asked, irritated. "Yes sir, he did, but he might have miss-saw," the other man said, before shutting up.
"Look here Number 5, don't spit nonsense if I did not tell you to talk. Let's work under the assumption that the boy had known that we were after him, so we check everywhere in this room, you go check downstairs, he might be hiding there, while I stay here just in case he tries to sneak into this room" the leader ordered, prompting the other man out of the room.
Then there was silence. James began breathing laboriously, desperately trying to breathe silently. "Listen well Mr James, wherever you are, I'm not going to harm you, mark my words. All I just need is something your dad might have planted in your head, that's all" the man with a deep voice spoke, looking around for any movements.
James was already beyond terrified to speak. His head began to ache and his hands began to shake a little as he desperately prayed for Martha to come to get him. "Mr James, I am only telling you this because I was told to get a payload from you, either dead or alive. But because I don't like to kill little kids like you, I would make sure you live as we take that thing" he added.
Ten seconds later, when the goon heard no response, James could hear the man standing up from his bed and reloading what appeared to be a gun. "James, if you do not come out of your hiding place in 15 seconds, I would kill you, the moment I set my eyes on you." The man with a deep voice raised his voice.
James wanted to climb out and surrender himself, but he knew better than to surrender his life to this heartless goon, so he stayed put.
[Your heart is beating dangerously, so I am going to slow down your heart rate from 91 bpm to 53 bpm] the AI said, though James did not even hear what the AI said because of his fright.
"14 seconds"
James gently knocked to the wall opposite him, but the knock didn't make any sound, he then gently whispered towards the wall "Aunt Martha" he tearfully said but he received no response.
"10 seconds"
James began to change his position as he spread his limbs wide, so he could face the goon and maybe, just maybe he could run out provided he had enough space and time to do that. But while he was shifting, his leg knocked on the wardrobe door, alerting the goon.
"There you are" the man with a deep voice smiled. James began hearing footsteps coming closer to him. James was at the brink of fainting from his fright. "I gave you a chance, but you blew it, because of your foolish decision, and now, you are going to die a painful death," he said as he stopped in the front of the wardrobe.
James could bear it no more because he got dizzy and slowly drifts to unconsciousness.
[Initializing GUI engine]
[initializing engine successful]
James woke up in his neural space. He looked around his surroundings confused. "Am I dead?" he asked.
[No, you are not James. You just passed out] the AI replied.
"But the bad guy got me, I was supposed to be dead" James queried.
[You were almost found by the goon, but your cousin saved your life] the AI said.
"Wait, my cousin? Who was that, and why would someone come at---" James could not finish his statement when his surroundings became blurry, and then he woke up to reality. "Wh-where am I," James asked weakly. He could see the blurry faces of John, Martha and Esther with worried looks.
He noticed he was wearing a white gown, and he seemed to be in a hospital. The bright light above hurts his eyes as he desperately tried to shift away from the source.
"Oh, thank god you are awake, thank god" Martha breathed deeply in relief. James could see tear lines on Martha's face. Martha must have been crying for a long time, but wait a long time? How long was he out, and where was he?
"Where am I," James asked again, already regained full consciousness. "James, you are in the hotel's healthcare unit. You passed out inside your wardrobe, so we brought you here. James, I'm so sorry." Martha said tearfully.
"For what aunt?" James asked. "For making you stay alone in that big hotel room. God, I'm such a bad mother" Martha scolded herself. "No aunt, I was the one that begged you I wanted to be alone, but it looked like it was not worth it, given the fact that I almost died," James said.
"But how did you know? How did you save me?" James queried. Martha sighed deeply, looked into the eyes of James, and began explaining "When we all departed to our hotel room, I decided to ask each family to vote on where we are to go next, and of course, you are part of the family.
"But by the time I reached your door, it was already opened, thus I became suspicious. To confirm my speculation, the intruder had forgotten to remove the pin he used to pick the lock open, so I ran to call security. When we arrived, we met you already unconscious inside an opened wardrobe, so we took you to this healthcare unit." Martha said, with tears threatening to fall.
"The intruder was nowhere to be found, so the security didn't pursue the matter again." She added.
"I think this was a close call for James, and he's no longer safe to stay here, so we leave first thing this morning" John, who have not spoken for a while, said.
"Yes, we do that. I don't know the reason they were looking for James, but whatever it is, we are not leaving him alone in that room. James, you are staying in my room, until we leave this morning" Martha finally said, moving closer and hugging James tightly.
After he left the healthcare, he and Martha both walked back into the hotel. Terrifying memories began flashing in the mind of James as he shuddered painfully. Esther held his hands and smiled "It's okay" she whispered, causing James to sigh in relief. He has a family that loved him, so he felt secure.
A few hours later, the Harts began to pack their luggage and signed out of the hotel, then took a cab to the airport. After some paperwork, they landed on the plane going back to the US. James looked outside the aeroplane's window and sighed. This was the most traumatizing time of my life, he thought.
He could not believe he survived another incident—again. The explosion incident, the aeroplane's incident, and now the kidnapping incident. He began to get curious about his forgotten self. Who was he actually? Who were those people looking for him? Were they working for his father? Many unanswered questions were floating around James' mind as he drifted up to sleep.