Kevin

I woke up after having a three-hour nap which I didn’t enjoy because of overthinking. I kept dreaming of Julia my whole sleep. A strong shiver hit my body every time I remembered that she was with those bastards. I stayed awake all night long thinking about a good plan to get my only daughter back. I missed her warm hug so much. I was ready to sacrifice my whole life just for her.

Checking my alarm clock, I noticed that it was four in the morning. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to call Joseph. We already planned to meet Jacob today.

“Hey, what’s up?” I yawned.

“I’m getting ready to meet with Jacob. Did you just wake up or what?” Joseph asked.

“Yes, I was having a nap. I’ll get ready in minutes.”

“Okay, see you later.”

I hung up then headed for the bathroom. I didn’t even have an appetite to eat anything. I turned on the faucet and splashed cold water across my face. I felt more awake and fresh, but my mind didn’t feel right yet. Thinking about Julia affected my mental health as if it was a drug. I had a throbbing goddamn headache all night long because of overthinking.

I turned off the faucet and grabbed a small white towel to dry my face. I needed to get ready as fast as possible. I didn’t want to waste a single minute. I quickly headed towards my room and grabbed a black T-shirt with a pair of jeans out of my closet. I checked the wall clock as soon as I changed my clothes. It was four-thirty.

Hopefully, I wasn’t too late for our meeting. I called a cab to drive me. It arrived in no time and it was a thing that made me appreciate the driver for it. I hated being late. I looked out the window. The streets weren’t so crowded and they looked boring. The weather was nippy and I started to shiver. Damn! I forgot to bring a jacket with me.

I climbed out of the cab as soon as I arrived. The cafe wasn’t too big. It was crowded with people. I called Joseph to tell him that I arrived.

“Joseph, I arrived at the cafe. Where are you?” I asked.

“We are on our way, just wait for us. You arrived too early though,” Joseph remarked.

“I didn’t arrive too early. You are the one who is late. We planned to meet at five o’clock and It is four-fifty now,” I giggled, checking my watch.

“Fine, fine. Mr. Perfect time. We will be there in a couple of minutes,” Joseph laughed.

“All right. I’ll be waiting for you,” I said then hung up.

I looked for an empty table then grabbed a chair and sat down. I was bored, so I fished my phone out of my back pocket and kept flipping through my photos with Julia. My cheeks were soaked with tears. She was such an innocent and kind-hearted girl. She didn’t deserve any of this, either her friends.

Time flew and finally my friends arrived with Jacob. I turned off my phone and stood up to greet them.

“Hello, Mr. Kevin. Nice to meet you,” Jacob greeted me with a smile as he shook my hand.

“Nice to meet you too, Jacob,” I smiled back.

“Did you find out anything new about the guys?” Jacob asked.

“Not yet,” I sighed.

“We reported them missing to the police and that’s the most necessary step. But we have to search for them by ourselves too. The police would definitely take a while until they find them. We should do something,” Seth explained.

“We should go to the places which they used to visit and ask people about them there. Maybe anyone saw them by chance in the past couple of days,” Joseph suggested.

“I couldn’t agree more. They used to go to the supermarket to buy their groceries. I also noticed that they sometimes liked to have a walk around our neighborhood every couple of days,” Jacob stated.

“So we can ask your neighbors if they saw them lately,” I said.

“Let me do this task, please. I would like to help with searching for them. I will ask our neighbors about them and go to the supermarket and ask people there too. I will do my best,” Jacob offered.

“We really appreciate it, Jacob. You just proved that you are their real friend. Thank you for your help,” Seth smiled.

“No problem. I will do whatever I can,” Jacob smiled back.

“What now?” Joseph asked.

“Maybe we can get back home now. Tomorrow we will see if Jacob knows anything new about them,” I muttered.

“Okay. I’ll start asking about them from now,” Jacob nodded.

We all got up from our places and exited the cafe. Jacob made a farewell then left. I stayed with my friends for some time to think of another plan.

“Jacob will ask their neighbors about them. We should think about another plan in case he doesn’t get any news,” I suggested.

“I agree with you. But what else can we do?” Seth asked.

I stopped walking for a second. They looked at me in confusion.

“Why did you stop? Are you okay?” Anderson raised his eyebrow as he looked back at me over his shoulder.

“Why don’t we go to our old hideout and search for them there?” I wondered.

“Kevin! Are you insane? We can’t go there alone. We have to think of a perfect plan. The cult consists of too many people and there’s just four of us. We can’t face them now until we have a solid plan. Do you want to put our lives on edge?” Anderson rebuked.

“Anderson is right. If they caught us there, they would either kill us or kill our children in front of our eyes. We don’t want that to happen,” Joseph added.

“Come on! Don’t act like babies. We can take care and stay cautious. We can sneak inside and make sure that our kids are there. The police would never discover their place. It’s too far and too hard to find. We are the only ones who know their place. What do you say?” I shouted, trying to convince them.

Seth huffed in confusion as he started to think. Actually, they all started to brainstorm and think about my idea. It was our only way to make sure that our kids were there and safe.

“Don’t worry. We are not beginners. We all remember how exactly to sneak into a place and get out without being caught. Just imagine yourselves joining the cult again,” I winked.

“I think we have to use our old skills again,” Joseph chuckled.

We couldn’t call a cab because we didn’t want anyone to discover their place, so we went to a cars’ dealership and rented a car for ourselves. It was a large black BMW. It was comfy and fitted us all. We were anxious more than ever because we weren’t sure if we could do it successfully. I crossed my fingers and prayed that we could sneak inside without being caught by anyone. It was too dangerous.

After six hours of driving, we finally arrived. The place was too far away from the city. We got out of the car and gathered to walk together.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“Kind of,” Seth replied as he swallowed hard.

“Don’t act like a rat. Pull yourself together like a man and let’s go,” I smirked.

We all walked slowly side by side. The hideout was five minutes away. We couldn’t park our car near them so as not to get discovered, so we had to walk this short distance. We finally reached the place, but my mouth became wide open as soon as I saw it. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“It isn’t the hideout,” Anderson snapped.

“Calm down. We should get inside and see what this place is,” I whispered.

It was a huge mansion with a beautiful golden exterior and a big garden with colored flowers everywhere. There was an electronic gate and a large fountain on the right. Three large bulldogs were on the left protecting the mansion. Thankfully, we managed to pass by them without getting eaten. We headed for the front door and rang the doorbell. It was fancy and the whole place was insanely breathtaking. It was impossible to be the hideout.
A servant opened the door for us. His face looked so familiar to me. My heart skipped a beat as soon as I realized him. I never expected it.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“Caleb?” I asked him in shock.

I could see that my friends realized him too. It was so noticeable on their facial expressions.

“Kevin?” The servant asked, looking at me with his green eyes.

“Yes, It’s me. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I’m a servant here. I work for a very rich businessman now,” Caleb stated.

“A servant? What about the Black Cult?” I asked.

“It’s a long story. Hold on, I will go out with you because I don’t want to be seen by my boss here. He always becomes so angry when I talk to people in the doorway,” Caleb explained as he walked outside the mansion with us and closed the door.

He guided us to the garden and we continued our conversation while walking there.

“So, what happened?” Anderson asked.

“The heist day which you left the Black Cult on, my wife and son somehow discovered that I was a cultist. I don’t know who told them until now. My wife collapsed when she found out. She left me and went to live with her parents. She even refused to let me see my son. My whole family hated me for this. I couldn’t bear being far away from my wife and son but she never forgave me. We got divorced afterwards and I haven’t seen them since then. That’s why I left this damn cult too. They were the reason for losing my family. I decided not to murder or steal again. I got a lot of different jobs. I travelled here and there all around the United States until I had a chance to work for one of the richest men in America,” Caleb sighed.

“I’m so sorry, Caleb. You didn’t deserve any of this,” I said as I rubbed his shoulder for comfort.

“It’s okay. I changed my identity and name to not get caught by the cult. I needed to change my whole life after what I went through,” Caleb remarked.

“I guess that It’s good for you, but what about our old hideout?” I asked.

“I heard them before planning to demolish it and establish a brand new one far away from here. After you escaped, they were terrified and they thought that you would report them to the police, so they had to change their location. They built a new one in the north of Chicago in an abandoned place near the forest of Glen Woods. That’s what I remember. After six years, this businessman decided to build a mansion for himself far away from the city. So, I told him about this place and he liked it. Why do you want to return to the hideout anyway? They would torture you without mercy if they discovered you’re here.”

“We have to do this. They kidnapped our children to take their revenge for Jason’s father,” I stated.

“Oh crap! This is horrible. What are you going to do?” Caleb gasped.

“We have to face them and save our kids,” Joseph muttered.

“You should take care. They are now stronger than ever. I heard that they started to kidnap random people and brainwash them in order to convince them to join the Black Cult. It’s not that easy. They have hundreds of new members now,” Caleb warned us.

“Don’t worry. We thought about a good plan already,” Seth said.

“Best of luck, guys. I’m really so sorry for this.”

“Thank you, Caleb. It was nice seeing you again after a long time. We have to meet each other again,” I smiled.

“I would love to. Where did you go after leaving the Black Cult by the way?”

“We moved to San Francisco to be as far away from them as possible,” I said.

“Nice city,” Caleb giggled.

“We have to go now. See you later,” I said with a smile as I shook his hand.

We left and got back to our car.

“Should we go to their new hideout now?” Anderson asked.

“Not now of course. We have to get ready first. Tomorrow we have to wear armors and bring our guns with us. We can’t face them unarmored. Caleb said that they became stronger now,” Joseph said.

“Yeah, you are right. We have to go back home now. Tomorrow we will plan everything,” I agreed.

Seth drove every one of us to his home then he drove to his. Thankfully, He dropped me first because I was drained and I needed to sleep. The next day was going to be hard and we should take care more than ever. The next day, I would bring my daughter back to her home. The next day, hope would grow inside of me again after such a long time.