*Alejandro*
I had just stepped out of my car when my phone rang. I picked up the call immediately when Andrea’s name appeared on my screen.
I had been delayed as a result of traffic. Lucas got out from the other side.
“We are here, Andrea, sorry just give us…”
“We can’t find Austin,” her voice rang out from the other end. I removed the phone from my ear, stared at the screen, and placed it back.
“We can’t find Austin. We came together, but he’s gone. He’s not in the restaurant. I don’t know where he is. We’ve been searching over thirty minutes…” she was breaking down.
I stopped on my track, my entire mood flipping.
“What do you mean?” I began working, taking large strides. “When? How?” She didn’t respond; she just kept sobbing.
Noticing my change, Lucas asked, “Dad, what’s wrong?”
I ended the call, “Austin has gone missing,” I said, running towards the entrance like a madman.
I didn’t mind the curious stares I received immediately after entering the hotel.
I looked around, but Andrea was nowhere in sight. I tried to remain calm. I had to remind myself that I was the man here. I have to remain logical.
I don’t know how this happened; I have to be calm.
I kept chanting.
Lucas was behind me, and we walked to the restaurant section together.
I grabbed into the nearest waiter, “where is Andrea?” My voice shook as I spoke.
People mutter as they watch us. Lucas stepped to my side and gently removed my hands from the waiter’s shirt. The waiter looked as scared as anyone could be.
“The lady who is looking for her son? Where is she?” Lucas asked calmly.
“Well, she …” he stuttered, looking from me to Lucas. “Speak,” I demanded.
“Mr Costa?” A lady dressed in a body-fitted suit called out, and my gaze focused on him, demanding answers to my question.
“Where is the woman and the kid?” I demanded.
“Come with me.” She bowed to the customers as she led me away. She was probably trying to calm them down about the scene I had just created, but that was no business of mine.
“Where is my son? What happened to him.”
“Calm down, Mr. Costa. I’m taking you to your wife,” she said.
I didn’t correct her.
I didn’t say anything, and as if she knew how fast I wanted her to be, she walked fast.
She finally stopped in front of an office.
She pushed the door open and stepped in.
There were laptops on the table, and behind them were men in uniform. Andrea and Alison were by the side.
Andrea’s eyes were blood red. I walked to her and wrapped my hands around her.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It was me. I was so careless. I should have gone with him,” she sobbed in my shirt.
I didn’t know what happened in detail yet, but I hated to see her blaming herself. She loved Austin dearly.
Lucas walked to the security men and spoke to them.
“I left to use the restroom immediately after we arrived, and Austin came after me. I didn’t know he was behind me. When I got back, I was surprised he wasn’t with Andrea; since then, we have been trying to find him, but it has been to no avail.”
As Alison spoke, she was trying to hold back from crying. “If anyone should be blamed, it should be me. I should have known that he would follow me. No,” she shook her head. “I shouldn’t have gone to the restroom in the first place.”
I didn’t know what to say. If that’s what happened, we should have found him. This wasn’t the time to shift blame around; it was better to project such energy towards the search.
“There’s no footage of him leaving the hotel.” Lucas turned to me and said. My hands were still wrapped around Andrea, who was probably having her heart ripped out in pieces.
“We will find him.” I comforted her.
“Search again. If he has not left the hotel, why isn’t he here?” I yelled.
“Please find my son. Please,” Andrea’s voice was weak. Alison walked towards me and pulled her away from me. “Austin is fine. He’s a smart boy.” She reminded Andrea.
I walked closer to the table and spread my hand on it, staring into each laptop and TV on the wall one at a time.
Lucas would have the entire hotel searched in the next fifteen minutes. “Make sure to search each corner of the hotel, including the rooms,” I said.
Lucas nodded and left immediately, his phone was already on his ear.
“But sir, we have guests; we may not be able to search each room because we…” I turned sharply at her. She stopped speaking immediately. I can have this hotel wiped out of existence with a snap of the finger, so how dare she try to contradict my orders
“If a customer is dissatisfied, let him leave. You must find my son.” The lady bowed her head low as I spoke.
I walked out of the room and around the hotel, searching the restroom, the store room, the gym, the kitchen, and everywhere else I could find. He wasn’t anywhere.
My heart beat rapidly within my ribcage, but I had to assure myself that he would be found soon; there was no way we weren’t going to see him.
I had asked Andrea to stay in the room, but she had refused.
The hotel was shut down in fifteen minutes; everyone was evicted.
I walked back to the room; Lucas had just stepped in, too, “any news?” He shook his head.
I sighed, and Andrea’s crying increased.
I hated watching her like this.
Jane stepped into the room. “Boss, I had checked all the cars that left the hotel in the last hour.” Jane had come along with the men who were outside, waiting for further orders.
My chest heaved up and down, and I threw Andrea a look. She placed her head on Alison’s shoulder.
There was no way a five-year-old boy would disappear from a hotel, and no one had noticed; well, that’s unless someone had taken him away.
“So what’s the update?” I asked Jane, “Nothing yet,”
I dug my nails into my palm. “I don’t care how you do it; find my son,” I spoke in a low but dangerous voice. She bowed and stepped back.
I don’t care how they do it if they have to flip the world all over to find Austin.
Andrea’s makeup ran along with her tears. She paced around the room barefoot, and her hair looked like a bird’s nest.
She shook her head and then ran out of the room. I went after her.
I had never seen Andrea look so disorganized. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes looked crumbled.
She looks unkempt for someone who had arrived at this hotel for dinner not less than an hour ago.
She ran towards the restroom, pushed the female door and stepped on. I heard the door of each cubicle open and close, her steps quicker.
I stood at the door and watched her step out. I am sure she didn’t even notice I was standing by the door.
She stepped into the male cubicle and checked, but nothing.
She was about to walk past me when I pulled her to me.
“They can’t find him; what should I do? There’s no way he would have disappeared from the entrance to this place.”
There was just a short hallway and then a turn before anyone could find the restroom, so there was no way Austin would have disappeared.
It finally occurred to me that there was no footage of this place.
I hugged Andrea, her head resting on my shoulders.
“There is no way that he can get lost. There’s no way he would disappear. My son is smart, and he won’t ju…”
Her remaining words were swallowed in sobs.
She raised her tear-streamed face to look at me and said, “Do you think that may… maybe someone…” she sniffed in. “No, that’s not possible.” She dismissed the thoughts without completing her statement.
I carried her in bridal style and walked back to the footage room.
I can’t say I haven’t thought about the possibility of someone behind Austin going missing. It was just that I didn’t want to entertain the thought because no one would do that
I had no enemies.
It can’t be Dave; he loves Austin too much to pull this on him.
It can’t also be Nora because she doesn’t even know about Austin.
I placed Andrea on the couch where her phone lay. “We’ll find him. Trust me.” I said.
As I walked to the security on the other side and moved my gaze to the side, a wall clock which seemed too old for such a hotel ticked slowly away.
It was already five minutes past eight.
“I want to see the footage of the restroom,” “we don’t have security there for the sake of privacy.”
Damn that.
What nonsense privacy.
“How about the hallway close to it?” The man didn’t say anything; instead, his fingers danced around the keypads.
“There’s nothing. I guess that the CCTV camera had stopped working.” He said.
“But it has been working all this time,” the man said, going ahead to give it a second try, but there was nothing.
I looked at Alison, “I’ll be back. Take care of her.” I said I didn’t want her going around and opening doors.
Before I stepped out, I turned and said, “Please get her a bottle of water; she needs it.”
“All right,” Alison said and stepped out after me.
I walked out of the hotel, to my car. I placed a call to someone that can help, “Austin went missing; can you trace him?” I asked.
“Yes, on it already.” I had given him a bracelet. But it wasn’t just any bracelet. There was a tracker installed on it.
“It seems he is heading towards the outskirts of the town.” The voice said.
I clenched my fist. I still couldn’t figure out who would do this. I had not wanted to entertain this thought, but it seems I should have. I regret not calling Caleb immediately when I found out Austin was missing.
But as always, I was two steps ahead.
“Send location immediately,” I called Lucas and told him about the recent findings. I asked him to stay back with Alison and Andrea.
“I want to come with you.”
“That would have been nice if we not have two other women to watch. Someone has taken Austin; we don’t know what this person wants or who this person is, so we need to be on our toes.”
“Fine. Bring him back.”
“Look out for Andrea,” I said and ended the call.
We set out immediately, following the directions that had been provided. I sat behind the wheels, Jane on the other side.
I tried to stop her from coming, but she insisted, telling me she was a skilled fighter.
We kept driving for hours. The tracker had stopped moving. The person has not moved. I was glad, he’ll find Austin soon. We covered a two-hour journey in just one hour.
When we got to the location Caleb had stated, which was a warehouse, it was empty. However, there was a car placed in the middle of the warehouse.
I stepped out of my car and stepped towards the car.
It was empty.
I opened the front seat and found Austin’s bracelet there.
Fuck.
This was to mislead us. We were already over two hours drive away, and it was fruitless.
I walked back to my car, and so did the other men who had come with me.
My phone rang just as I ignited the car engine. It was Lucas. “We have a problem. Andrea is missing.”