Jason had been in the bar for quite a while, but still no sign of Hannah. There were a lot of girls, including waitresses, flitting about, but none of them looked anything like her. He had scrutinized each and every face around, but to no avail. Wait! There was a new face that didn't belong there! The person didn't come in through the main entrance because Jason had positioned himself in a way that he'd be the first to notice a newcomer, unless... there was another entrance! He scoured the length and breadth of the place with his eyes, looking for a second entrance, but he found none. Suddenly, something caught his eye. There was a dark corner at the far end of the bar where someone had just stepped into and subsequently vanished. That must be the key to the second entrance! He jumped to his feet, ready to go investigate the corner, but then he felt his phone vibrating. On the screen, he didn't see a name or a number, but he answered it anyway, thinking it was his friend Tony, calling him from a tight situation.
“Hello amigo,” the voice sounded strange and yet familiar.
“Who's this?”, Jason asked as he sat back down.
“Your long lost friend. How do you do, Jason?”
“Who the hell are you, man? Identify yourself.”
“Oh I'll do that in a minute," the voice sneered. "By the way, I'm curious. Where's your daughter?”
Jason was up on his feet in a flash.
“Who are you? What do you know about my daughter?!”, he questioned breathlessly.
“Hey easy, amigo. She's fine, safe, but she won't remain so for long unless you cooperate.”
“Listen to me, Carlos...”
“So you know me now, eh? Haha... My brother for your daughter. You have 24 hours. Involve the Federales, she dies. Play any tricks, she dies. 24 hours, amigo.. clock's ticking. I'll call in the next 2 hours for further instructions.”
“Hey. Carlos! Wi...”
But the line had already clicked off.
Jason was confused. He thought he'd be more composed if he knew exactly what was going on with his daughter, but now, that was far from the case. He resumed his seat slowly, almost mechanically and ran his hand through his hair. He was suddenly feeling cold. Carlos had his daughter. This.. is.. not.. good. Not good at all! He didn't know what to think, but he knew he had to act and act fast. Then he suddenly remembered what had brought him to the bar in the first place: Hannah! Up he got and rushed over to the corner at the far end of the bar. He found a door. It was closed, but not looking very secured, so he pulled it open and was greeted by a blast of sun rays. He instinctively stepped aside and brought up his hands to shield his eyes. Looking outside, he found that he was staring at a busy road. No wonder he couldn't find Hannah here. The bar had two entrances! She must have entered through the front and gone out through the back and he had wasted all this time sitting and watching for nothing! Shaking his head at his utter stupidity, he went out into the street. Hannah was long gone, so something else had to be done. He decided to call Tony.
“Found the girl?”, Tony sounded confident of getting an affirmative.
“No. Lost her.”
“Damn it! How? Didn't...”
“That's for another day, Tony. I need your help. I just had a call.. guess who from.”
“Who?”
“Carlos Alvarez.”
“Uh! What the heck does he want?”, Tony fairly screamed.
“He's holding Chrissie, Tony.”
“Oh fucking baby Jesus in a freaking manger. What are you gonna do now?”
“He wants me to hand him his brother,” Jason said dryly.
“And lemme guess...”
“I'd rather kill him,” he sharply completed through gritted teeth.
“Right," his friend breathed. "Have you thought about what that would mean for Chrissie?”
“I'll rescue her.”
“Sure. And how do you propose to do that? I hope you won't say...”
“I need your help, Tony. This is important.”
“I know! I'm not dumb, but this has gone far enough. It's time to bring in the assistant director.”
“We don't need more people, Tony. Me and you, we're good enough.”
“Hey listen,” Tony whispered harshly. “Over here, the assistant director's about to go crazy. No one can find you anywhere and poor Owen is being prepared for sacrifice. I don't think I'd like to be the next candidate, so why don't you come in and we...”
“You wanna save your job or you wanna help me save a life.. my daughter's life? I'm not coming in, not until I find her. Now are you with me or not?!”, Jason roared in anger.
“But man, you make it sound so...”
“Answer me, Tony... with me or not?!”
“Fine! Fine! I'm with you b..”
“Great. I'll be in touch.”
“Whe...”
Jason had disconnected the call before Tony had the chance to say more. He promptly dropped the phone on the ground and smashed it with the heel of his boot. He had been ignoring calls from his colleagues for the past hour or so and he knew they would have begun tracing his cell by now. Pulling his coat tighter around him, he put on his dark glasses and crossed the road. It was time for direct action and Jason Raids was ready.