The Cab Driver Series — The Kidnap

“If there’s not any endgame, we’re in quicksand. We take one more step, and we’re still there, and there’s no way out.” — Richard Shelby.

He guzzled shot after shot, dropping his head back and staring at the strobe lights as they jittered to the trashy techno music the DJ blared through the speakers. He hoped that if he traced the strobe lights with his eyes, the alcohol’s job to hammer down his sober brain would be easier. Jared was very happy that day, after all, he had completed five years at Moonlimited IT Solutions. It was also his birthday. To add a cherry on that cake, his promotion was only two months away. He was going to take over as a team leader of the Quality Assurance department. The youngest team lead of a department in the company’s history. This was expected of him anyway, he was an over-achiever since the college days.

Downing his 6th Jägerbomb, he returned to his sloshed peers as they danced to the DJ’s tunes. The clock struck one-thirty and the DJ announced the last song of the night. Moments later, following the rest of the crowd, the six team members walked out of the club. Rehan and Maggie lit cigarettes while Emily called her boyfriend to pick them up from the club. Emily’s boyfriend was their unofficial cab driver. “There’s six of us, I think I’ll book a cab,” said Jared. “Don’t be silly, you’ll fit in” replied Emily. “Are you crazy? And have you seen Maggie’s fat ass?” Jared retorted sarcastically, eyeing Maggie to catch her attention. “You asshole, I heard that.” Maggie countered, with the cigarette clutched between her lips and rolling her eyes.

Jared smirked at her. “Listen, I’m speaking practically. It doesn’t make sense squeezing in unnecessarily, I’ll just book a cab, it’s no big deal.” Jared attempted to convince Emily. “Alright whatever, just text me once you’re home.” Jared hugged them goodnight, one after the other. They left. Fuck! I need smokes! Jared thought, but it was too late as the car left the street. Eh, no big deal. I’ll just find loose cigarettes here somewhere. He began his little quest to find a cigarette seller near the area and walked a couple hundred meters.

Nothing in sight.

Torn between the conviction of finding a cigarette seller and the fiery craving of smoking, he decided he would walk a couple of more meters.

His tough luck never let go of his hand. He ended up in a dark, desolate street. The street light flickered, grasping for as much energy as it could to burn the bulb for a whole second.

He sighed and adjudged that its best to book a cab, go home, and get some well-deserved sleep. He reached for his phone in the right pocket of his denim and unlocked it with his thumb. He then opened the cab-hailing app and began to look for cabs nearby.

“50% OFF ON ALL RIDES TILL JULY 10TH!!! ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT. CLICK “APPLY” TO APPLY THE COUPON.” screamed the pop-up ad in the app.

Interesting, he thought, instantly clicking the coupon button like the consumer he was. He then clicked on Home as his destination and clicked Search Cabs. A tiny animated car popped up on the map with a tooltip on its head reading 9 mins away.

Headlights of a car turned on at the corner end of the street as if they had woken up from a long nap.

Jared turned right and all he could see was a set of luminous headlights staring him down. The sound of a car engine ignition erased the dead silence of the street he was standing at.

Moments later the car pulled up in front of him and the driver’s window rolled down. Jared noticed a man, possibly in his mid-thirties, wearing a buttoned-up checked shirt and a baseball hat. It was a silver 2006 Honda civic. He reached out for the door lock button and unlocked the back doors.

“Umm… Greg? Mr Greg?” questioned Jared. He gave a steady nod.

“I… I’m kinda confused, the map still shows you’re 7 minutes away?” Jared chuckled nervously.

“Yeah, my phone battery is incredibly low, so the app keeps crashing. I’m here! Hop in.” He replied in a mild tone. Jared opened the back door and got in.

“The code is 5–7-” began Jared, only to be interrupted by the driver. “I’m sorry man like I said my phone’s battery is low, can’t punch in the code. Don’t worry about it though.” Jared shrugged nonchalantly.

“The estimated fare on the app shows $15.50, just in case you were worried about the fare you know, cos of your phone.” urged Jared.

“Okay,” the driver replied.

“You gotta guide me to the address though.” he followed. Jared nodded in affirmation.

They got out of the lane and proceeded to the main road.

“Can I have your phone real quick? Need to text my girl, she panics when I’m unreachable.” the driver pleaded. “Sure,” said Jared, handing him his phone.

The driver pulled the car to the side and opened the inbox. Hovered his thumb over the message box, eyeing Jared through the rearview mirror. Jared’s attention was dragged away by a building construction going on, on the opposite side of the road. A Coming Soon! sign by McDonald’s was planted just outside the construction site. Yeah, that’s what the world needs more, another McDonald’s sighed Jared.

A text popped up on his phone, “Hey, it’s your driver. I’m here.” Greg quickly pressed the trash icon and deleted the message.

“Was that your girl?” Jared guessed. “Yeah, told her I’ll be late.” Greg replied as he handed over the phone to Jared and thanked him.

They moved ahead. Jared pondered if he should initiate small talk. “You’re from around here or did you move here from somewhere?” queried Jared.

I’m from here. You?” revealed Greg. “Moved here five years back for a job. Been here ever since.” Jared replied.

His phone buzzed, it was a notification.

Your ride has been cancelled.

Jared was perplexed. “It….it says my ride is cancelled?” He faltered as he asked the driver.

“Oh don’t worry about it. It is probably because I didn’t register your ride. The app automatically cancels the ride if it’s unregistered for some time.” Greg explained.

This explanation failed to dissolve inside Jared’s head. His heart began to cloud with an eerie feeling. “Just so you know, the area you were standing in earlier has got a bad rep. A lot of murders, mugging, that sorta stuff. You were lucky I was nearby.” Greg commented, cracking a half smile.

Jared was disconcerted. He tried to calm his anxiety by humouring the situation. “Yeah? Well, what if you’re a mugger? Or worse, a murderer” he sneered.

“Oh yeah, sure I could be! And you would be an easy prey because you trust too easily.” Greg humoured back as he stared at Jared’s face through the rearview mirror.

Being gawked through the mirror made Jared feel unpleasant. There was something about his eyes, the way he stared him down. He could see Greg’s pupils run 12 o’clock and back to 6 o’clock as he scanned Jared’s face.

“I am so glad you were out there looking for a cab” Greg paused for a few seconds and tittered, “I really need the money for my rent this week.” he disclosed as he looked straight into Jared’s eyes.

Okay this is super weird thought Jared. Calm down, you’re only a few blocks away. A couple of more minutes and you will be home. He tried to tranquillise his anxious brain.

Greg started humming the tune of Killing Machine by Judas Priest. Tapping his thumbs on the steering wheel to match the rhythm of the heavy metal song.

“I got no face no name, I’m just a killing machine. I cut the population down if you know what I mean…” he muffled the lyrics.

“I do what I do because I can’t do nothing better You do what you do, just defending yourself” he continued, as he tapped his thumbs on the wheel harder. Greg could feel Jared’s eyes on him, he looked in the mirror, straight into his eyes, “I got no face, no name, I’m just a killing machine” and smiled at him.

Jared bit his lower lip apprehensively and broke the eye contact, staring out of the window. “I…I think you can just….just pull up to the left. My apartment is right there.” he struggled to weave words together as they fell out of his mouth. He pointed out to a random building on the road.

He placed his left hand on the door’s lever to open it.

The doors locked.

Jared noticed Greg’s index finger on the auto-lock button. He started struggling to open the door, twisting and jerking the lever. An immense sense of dread streamed down his veins, running his blood cold.

“G-Greg! The door…” he stuttered.

The sound of a gun cocking came from the front seat.

Jared’s eyes fell on the cup holder of the driver’s seat, he could see Greg’s right hand holding a Glock. The shiny black weapon shimmered as it rested on top of the cup holder, clutched between Greg’s palm. The light from the streetlight opposite the road made the Glock’s lustre more apparent.

“Stay the fuck quiet. Don’t you dare make the mistake of screaming? You scream, and you’re getting this cap in your head. You hear me?” threatened Greg.

Dismayed by the horror, Jared’s face turned pale. His mouth was wide open, eyes cemented on the Glock, and sweat broke down on his nape.

“YOU HEAR ME?” Greg knocked emphatically.

“Y-yes…yes…” Jared gasped. “Take whatever you want man…j-just don’t kill me please…p-please!” begged Jared as he raised his arms above his shoulders in terror, looking into Greg’s eyes.

Greg let out a wicked chuckle as he looked back at Jared. “I love this! I love this so much.” Greg continued chuckling.

“I have been at this shit for so long I think I’ve started smelling fear. And I love the face you people make when you’re helpless when you know death is near. How close? You don’t know that. Uncertainty. Unpredictability. Will I kill you? Or will I just mug you and throw you on the street? I can hear your thoughts, Jared, and this is so common. If I had a penny for every time I saw that exact look on someone’s face.” said Greg as he moved the gun away from the cup holder and placed it on the dashboard.

“Now sit back and don’t move,” he said, starting the car.

As disorganised as Jared was, he had to collect himself and try to get out of the car.

Greg’s words looped inside his head. Will I kill you? Or will I just mug you and throw you on the street? Jared exhaled as he wiped his sweaty face with his palms.

He rubbed the corner of his eyes, his tears mixed with sweat. He then placed his shivering hands on the edge of his seat, clasping it hard.

This helped relieve an ounce of tension. The door is a lost cause, I cannot break it. The window? I can try breaking that. Escape ideas popped into his head.

He looked around the backseat, trying to find something to break the window with. There was nothing except a half-empty plastic water bottle stowed inside the bottle holder on the right door.

With only a plastic water bottle in his arsenal, he assembled the courage to just use his elbows. He moved about a foot to the right, inaudibly, locked his left elbow and gave a swirl, making a loud bang on the window.

“WHAT THE…” Greg alarmed. He noticed Jared’s foolish attempt at escaping.

“Are you serious?! Stop that, come on, you’re embarrassing yourself, and me.” Greg muttered in disappointment.

Jared pretended he didn’t listen and kept thumping the window with his elbow, struggling to make a crack.

“You dumb motherfucker” groaned Greg as he adjusted the rearview mirror to Jared’s legs, picked up the gun from the dashboard, anchored the position and shot his right foot.

Jared screamed. He held his right leg by the knees and started wailing.

He could see his blood trailing down the checkered car mat, filling up in small squares. He cried as he tried to lift his leg up and his toe fell out from a hole in his shoe.

He continued to wail. “Stop fucking crying and listen to me. This will all be over soon. Quit your dumb tricks and just sit back quietly. You so much as move an inch now and the next bullet will be in your fucking head. Try me, bitch, I’m not fucking with ya.” Greg threatened furiously.

Jared covered his crying mouth with his left palm, cowered, and continued sobbing.

“You shouldn’t have done that Jared. You’ve pissed me off, YOU’VE PISSED ME OFF!” Greg roared.

The car stopped at a traffic light.

Seconds later, an SUV pulled up adjacent to them. Jared sensed the sound of the brakes and haltingly sat upright. He looked to the left and from what he could see, it was a family of four.

A man at the driver’s seat, his wife sleeping beside him with the seat reclined slightly. Two kids at the backseats. One of them was asleep and the other was playing with his Hot Wheels toy car, moving the car forward and backwards on the window, bored out of his mind.

There’s not much the kid could do in the middle of the night anyway, especially when half of his family is asleep and dad’s driving.

Jared kept looking at the bored kid, thinking if he could take him out of his misery. He quietly raised his right hand, which was soaked in blood and waved calmly at the kid.

This caught the kid’s attention. His eyes, which were glued to the toy-car now shifted towards the helpless man in the car. Jared looked at the kid, turned his head to the right and looked at the gun on the dashboard.

You so much as move an inch now and the next bullet will be in your fucking head.

A tear rolled down his eye, his lips quivered. One scream, one bang at the window and it could probably save him. The man in the SUV would notice Jared’s condition and something could happen. This was the chance. Now or never.

Jared softly placed his right hand on the window, without breaking eye contact with the kid. The kid moved back and looked towards his father. Jared lip-read the word, “Dad?” and noticed the man turn around to attend his kid.

The traffic light turned green.

Greg switched the gear and moved forward.

Jared’s heart sank, as he accepted his fate. He soon started to feel woozy, the blood that left his body had created a small pool on the car mat. He laid his head back and closed his eyes, hoping to not wake up.

The story continues at The Cab Driver Series — The Escape