The phone rang over the car's hands-free system. The sound was quickly smothered by the rapid reaction of Jonathan Beck, who feared that his prize would awaken from the din.
“Beck,” he answered.
Purdue memorized the name. An eloquent voice with an Austrian accent spoke over the speaker.
“You said you had the order ready to ship?”
“Yes, I do. But it’s not the order you placed the other day. I have good news,” Beck said next to Purdue, who listened keenly while deciphering the metaphors as they came. “I am delivering your original order instead.”
The person on the other side of the line paused before responding in a satisfied tone. “Which shipping address do we use? I’m in the United Kingdom this week, on business. You can deliver the package to my mother's house at the coast. You do remember the way?”
“Like it was yesterday,” Beck replied.
“Good. There will be someone to sign for the parcel when you deliver,” the voice concluded before he ended the call.
The car hummed along monotonously and Purdue's static physical position was beginning to agonize him. His back ached, his swollen face was on fire and he had a crippling headache threatening to split his skull in two. At a railroad crossing, Purdue parted his eyelids ever so slightly, keeping his frame absolutely motionless. To the side of the car holding him he saw a sign that revealed his location — the town of Stirling, about two hours' drive from Oban. Still, the information profited him nothing. More so, it would be better once he knew who he was being delivered to. The ‘why’ almost always pointed to money, but this time he had more to offer than money. Being a fugitive made him a very valuable asset, and a lucrative one at that.
More than ever Purdue missed his manor. He could do very well now with the use of his staff and his investigators, not to mention his technology, to track Nina's whereabouts. Not a nostalgic character by far, Purdue found that he pined for the simple days of fundraisers and academic award ceremonies. He missed being a stuck-up asshole who stole away the affection of board members' wives, flirted with struggling undergrads, enjoyed the attention of royalty and heads of state for his philanthropy, and having a visible career as explorer and inventor. He would never have believed that at some point during his life he would end up with a budget, not — so-temporarily destitute, and above all, curled up on a car seat that sported upholstery that had seen better days. He would never have dreamed that he would be a hostage on his way to being traded like fowl at a country fair. But his ever-present opportunistic positivity soon kicked Purdue into gear and he decided that he could let them have their way, or he could do what he was known best for — outwit those who tried to subdue him. However, that would have to wait until he knew the identity of his new subjugator.
The car swung hard to the right and Purdue knocked his head against the window, inadvertently uttering a yelp of alarm at the thump on his already throbbing skull.
“Oh, you're awake, Mr. Purdue,” the fake cop noted from the driver’s seat.
Purdue ignored him, but Beck just laughed. He was languishing in the fact that he practically had a treasure in his possession, only this one was not held by a chest. This treasure walked around bound in skin and possessed his own fortune and this presented a third option for Beck. Purdue could decide to make him a counter offer and pay him double what Karsten had paid him to kidnap the billionaire. That was a delectable notion and one Beck did not want to neglect, but he kept it to himself for now. Obviously he did not know David Purdue as well as he should have.
“Where are we going?” Purdue asked, pretending to be oblivious of the town while counting the streets and memorizing beacons. He knew Stirling quite well, but that too, was his enigma to conceal.
“That’s not for you to worry about, my friend,” Beck answered. “Just sit tight. We’re almost there. If you behave like a gentleman, we might loosen your cable ties a bit.”
“I don't care, old boy,” Purdue remarked and looked out the window, looking into his own reflection by the acquiescence of the dashboard lights and the negation of the darkness outside.
All he cared about was if Nina was also kept in the house of the caller's mother. He would trade himself for Nina's freedom in a heartbeat, yet he was beginning to worry about something pertinent to his abduction. Had they killed Nina? How else would this man, Beck, would he have needed to refer to an original order and the latest order?
Purdue's intelligence was not confined to science or technology. Re-running the phone conversation in the car gave him several hints as to the situation, but not tangible enough to act upon until he was certain. The two orders placed were clearly referring to him and Nina, but according to the discussion only he, Purdue, was now on the table; a most alarming thought.
Along the belly of the dragon that the River Forth resembled in its meandering beauty the car turned away from the main road. They had left Sterling. This had to be the picturesque village, he thought, where he had once donated a sum toward the Primary School in person. When they passed the familiar building Purdue was sure — he was to be traded in the village of Fallin, but to whom, he did not know.
Lightning blinked behind the curtain of clouds that only afforded the world a glimpse of their existence with every flash. Under the arch of an old black metal arbor, Purdue discerned the entrance to a neglected, empty yard. There were nothing but lost trees in the abandoned terrain of thorn bushes and wild grass. Parting the wild landscape, the small cobbled road they were on ran straight ahead toward nothing at all. It reminded Purdue of a residence in Finland he’d once visited with Sam and Nina, its yard appearing similarly abandoned until they realized that the house was simply rendered invisible by a trick of science.
“Wrong turn?” Purdue mocked, but he silently hoped he was correct in his assumption.
“You wish, pal,” Beck smiled. He rolled down his window as they stopped aside an amorphous ruin that could perhaps once have been a gate post. “Let's just get you to the party so that I can get paid.” Beck said, casually waiting for Purdue to make him a huge counter offer. He was sorely disappointed. Purdue sat silently, surveying his surroundings. Beck knew that his captive had heard him loud and clear, so he took Purdue's refrain as an answer.
Beck turned a dial on the strange old post and with one click turned it to the right. A small red light appeared below it and a moment later Purdue could hear a static sound as if Beck had turned on an old radio. He was quite correct. Over a speaker that was obviously well concealed Beck spoke to yet another unknown voice, much in the same fashion as his previous conversation on the hands-free set.
“Who is it?” an old woman's voice asked firmly.
“It's Beck,” was all he said.
“Come straight,” she replied, and a loud click followed to conclude their conversation. Beck waited for exactly ten seconds, counting them down on his watch, before he drove forward into the unknown darkness with only two headlights between them and utter obscurity. The car moved at a snail's pace and it concerned Purdue, because from his sense of direction they would now be heading straight for the River Forth. His cautious eyes glanced rapidly at Beck every now and then, but he seemed to know where he was headed.
Finally, Purdue could see the environment change ahead of them. The cobbled road became gravel, although the tall, dancing grass remained to both sides of the car. Above them the clouds were growing pregnant with the imminent storm, and he could see patches of the landscape only during those blinks of light courtesy of the lightning. In the brief light he could see the smooth surface of the river substitute the coarse land, a black snake sleeping in the soil of Sterling's keep.