Chapter 29: Made Trouble
Kate asked if they could ask the school to help mediate or call the police. It might be possible that they were blackmailing them.
Max’s classmate said no because if the school knew that, they would be expelled because their school had very strict discipline policies, and the guys looked to have a gangster background and they threatened that if they called the police, then they would cut Max’s fingers off.
Kate was shocked, but she composed herself and asked Max’s classmate to take her to meet them.
That afternoon, they met them in a restaurant outside the hospital.
They had three people, outnumbering Kate and Max’s classmates by one person. However, they carried a much stronger air.
It wasn’t time for meals, and there weren’t any other guests except them. And the waitresses seemed intimidated by these three people and stayed away.
The leading guy was in his thirties and was lean, with a buzz-cut. He was a sharp contrast to the other two guys coming with him. They were big and muscular, with sophisticated and vicious eyes.
Kate took a deep breath after sitting down. “I want to see my brother.”
The man laughed. “He is OK. We will take good care of him. As long as you bring the money, I will let you see him. I will let him go. He is intact. No one touched a hair on him.”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
Kate had to go for less. “Then can I call him? I need to hear it from him. How do I know if you are telling the truth?”
The man nodded at his guy. And one of them dialed a number and gave it to Kate. Kate said, “Hello.” And she heard her brother’s voice. “Kate.”
She suppressed her sorrow and said, “Max, it is me. How are you?”
Max was choked. “Kate, I am sorry. I made trouble.”
“OK. Let me ask you first. Did you hurt that person?” Kate looked at the man when she spoke, and he shrugged at her. Silence on the other side of the phone, and then he said with remorse, “I was trying to protect myself, and I picked up a stone…I didn’t expect…”
Kate closed her eyes. So they could not get rid of it this time. Max continued, “Kate, don’t agree with them. If they want my finger, let them have it. I didn’t kill anyone. They cannot kill me.”
After hanging up the phone, Kate paused a little and then tried to negotiate. “Two hundred thousand isn’t a small figure for people like us. You see our conditions. We could never raise the number.”
The man grinned. “Miss White, we are not blackmailing you. You have seen it yourself. My bro has been in the ICU for three days. How much does it cost each day, do you know? We offered two hundred thousand dollars because you are some poor students. For others, this could not be settled for less than 3-5 hundred thousand dollars.”
Kate and Max’s classmate went to the hospital earlier that day and saw that person lying in ICU with the oxygen mask on his face. They did meet the attendant doctor, who told them pretty much the same about the conditions of the patient as they heard from these guys.
Kate took another deep breath and smiled, “You have seen what kind of people we are. It is not that we don’t want to pay. My brother is in your hand. You do as you like.”
When she said this, she detected Max’s classmate shivering and gave her a quick astonished glance.
After the three gangsters left, Kate sat still in the chair until she heard Max’s classmate calling her worriedly. “Kate?”
She raised her head, and her eyes were reddened.
That boy pushed a cup of hot tea to her face and said, “You have a cup of tea, Kate?”
Kate took it mechanically and thanked him. She took a sip, and the hot liquid came through her throat to her stomach, and she warmed up a little.
Seeing her drinking the tea in silence, Max’s classmate said to her, “We are sorry for the trouble.”
But then he cheered up a little. “We achieved something today anyway. Now that the number came down to one hundred thousand, it is much easier. I will see if I can get something from my family…”
Her resolution in abandoning her brother worked, and they had reduced the offer by half. The deadline was not changed. Five days, money for my brother. Kate knew clearly, one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand made no difference to her. She couldn’t raise these amounts anyway.