2:3

"She can't be THAT freaked out from a phone call can she?" Mike thought to himself.

"So, what are we gonna do now?" Luke said, breaking Mike's trail of thoughts

"Pull up the contact list from her mobile, check who she made a call to last. Contact thatperson"

"Wait! You want to make a phone call to someone she knows? Are you mad?!"

"Luke, she's passed out there all alone! What in gods name do you suggest we do?!?"

"Boys! Play nice now..." a husky female voice interrupted.

Luke and Mike turned around instantly. Surprised by the sudden interuption by the woman that appeared.

"What seems to be the problem in here boys?" she said, walking swiftly towards the monitor. Luke offered her his chair. She sat down and tapped her feet. She was waiting for an answer.

"Our subject passed out about... 13 minutes ago. Mike here wants to call someone"

She signaled for Mike to approach her.

"Now why would YOU want to do such a horrible thing hunny?" she spoke into his ears. Everyword lace with sarcasm and danger

Mike kept silent

She ran her fingers through his hair, noticing his amazingly handsome features. She pushed him away and stood up.

"Gentlemen, what you SHOULD do is establish a secure line to the young lady living on the 9th floor and let her know that Emily here has tickets for her to watch Soo Kui Jien posefor Calvin Klien. The rest will fall in place."

They nodded silently.

"Don't do anything else. I'll be waiting for the report" she said sternly and walkedout of the room.

7 minutes later, Brianna was on her way down to the 6th floor thinking that she'll meet her idol soon

2:2

Emily shut the door hurriedly and latched on the aged old chain behind her. She pressed her ears on the door and checked the peep hole to ensure that no one was following her.In the taxi she'd tried many times to reassure herself that the phone call was just asilly prank by her friends. She looked so paranoid that the cab driver could not help but to ask if she's alright.

She poured herself a glass of vodka to clam her nerves. She'd almost forgotten how it tastelike, it's been almost 8 months since her last glass. She poured another glass. She knew that her councellor will disapprove, but at this point she didn't care.

The glass fell as a sudden shot of pain from her arm hit her. The pain was intense this time. Not the normal nudge or shots she felt. It made her cringe and fall on her feet. Her arm was throbbing,she was sweating with pain. She tried to yell but only moans came out. Her head was pounding so hard that it was about to burst. She dug her fingers into the arm. Applying pressure in hopes to release the pain. It was no use. The pain was too great. She dug so hard that blood started to trickle.She needed to call 911.

Emily limped into the living room trying to reach her cell. Her bag was on the couch and hercell inside. Every step she made felt like rocks tied on her feet. The pain was getting insanelyexcruciating. It made her vision blur. She reached her hand out for the phone but she knew she couldn't reach it. Emily fell with a thud on the floor. Everything went black.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Fuck! She blacked out!" alerted Luke

"What the fuck happened?" peered Mike from behind the monitor

"She seemed nervous from the moment she reached home. Looked as if someone was chasing herwith an axe"

"Luke rewind 7 mins. I wanna know what happened"

"Yes sir!" Luke moved his mouse around, tapped a few buttons on the screen and Emily's 7 minutes in hell played like a movie on the main screen.

2:1

"Crap! International reception my ass!" he clammed his phone shut with frustration

"What ya doing out here mate?" said a familiar voice

His heart skipped a beat. How long has he been there? How much has he heard?He had to hide his cellphone before Pete sees it. He slid it swiftly in his back pocket and retrieved a pack of ciggarattes instead.

"Nothing, just taking a smoke. 3rd one now. You?" waving the pack of ciggarates.

"Heard you talking to someone, thought you saw someone snooping around here and wanted to check it out"

"Nahh.. no one's out here. Who would be in this fucking place? Even rats don't breed here"

"Patience Mike, patience! We'd better be getting back inside now. Don't want the boys to be restless now eh?"

"Whatever, Can't a man smoke his fucking ciggarate in peace?" he threw his ciggarate away and followed Pete back inside.

They entered the double-storey house as silently as they could. They didn't want to wake Dominic aka DD the gate keeper up.No one is allowed out of the house unless DD says yes. Too late. DD was already up and staring at the both of them like a pitbull ready to attack.

"chill DD, only smokes eh?" Pete held up a pack of ciggarates followed suit by Mike.

"One more time and i'll port you guys!" snarled DD

"last time DD, last time" said Pete and they both headed upstairs

Mike tapped the door twice, waited a for two seconds and tapped it three times this time. The lock clicked open and bothof them entered.

"Ssup?! Where did ya go?" asked Luke with his eyes glued on the main computer screen

"What's wrong with everyone here? God! I went for a SMOKE! What!? I Cant smoke now?"

"Just saying man, you know how DD and the gang is about Us working leaving without telling them?"

"Whatever, I'm sick of thoose bunch of bafoons haggling us around! It was OUR freaking plan how did we end up working for by a bunch of low-life idiots?"

"Well Mister-i-am-too-good-for-this, IF you hadn't have gambled every fucking cent we had, we wouldn't have been here in the first place!"

"That's ENOUGH! both of you! We are all in this together and we'll stay together untill the everything's over! Or I'll gunboth of you down myself now! Mike, shut up and go back to your station. Luke, get back to work" roared Pete from behind them all

Luke continued to monitor the codes and movements on the screen infront of him. Occasionally getting up to refil his coffeemug.The synchronized clock above them blinks at 1.37am. The night is still young, there were lots more to do. Mike arched his back,stood up and took a stretch. Staring that long into 6 different computer screens was tedious. But the job had to be done. By now,Pete was already fast asleep in the make shift bed-bench. They rotated in 4 hour sleeping order. Pete-Luke-Mike. At least two people are needed to monitor the screens at a time

1:2

"Goodness!! You're ALIVE! I thought you'd be chum in there! Praise the lord!"

"Enough with the sarcasm Greg. I have enough to deal with as it is! By the way, have you been camping out in my office this whole time? Don't you have nails to manicure or something?"

"My nails are perfectly manicured! Anyway, you areeee my best girlfriend. I'm worried about you alright!?"

"What you're actually worried is that you'll stop getting thoose freebies and shit. Not my ass!"

"Chill babe! What's with the attitude? It's not like the rest of the office is in here after knowing you walked into the lions den. FYI, thoose bitches out there are hoping to kill you as it is"

"I'm touched. Greg, do you mind? Just look at all these crap! Dammit!"

"Uh huh.. where were you anyway? 1 Week? I'm begining to think you really were at the Caymans"

Emily glared at Greg as he exited the room. She plopped down on her chair trying to digest all the sudden discrepancies in life. Her head throbbed with confusion. Her cut was burning with pain, she knew she had to go see a doctor. That will have to wait. She logged on to her email account. She wanted to clear some mails before trying to attempt the rest of the mess.

Yolanda & Greg popped in to tell her they were leaving already. Telling her to not stay up so late herself. It was now 9.15pm.

"Gosh! That late already?" she thought to herself. She decided to pack up and leave early. Yeah, in this industry 9.15pm is considered early. She knew she couldn't continue anymore tonight. Besides it's only a Tuesday. There are 3 more days ahead before Saturday. Going home early won't bite.

"Bzzzzzzz!!! Bzzzzzz!!! Bzzzzzzz"

>

Emily was startled with the sudden buzzing sound. Although she knew that it was only her cell on silent, but in the empty office any sudden sounds is still eerie. She rummaged through her bag in search for her phone.

"Bzzzzz!!!! Bzzzzz!! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!""Dammit! where the hell is that phone?!" Emily poured out the contents of her bag onto the table.

"Still no phone!? Erghhh!" She searched through her table and drawers. The buzzing sound ended shortly. Emily stood and stared. She then walked over to her guest couch, ran her hands through the back of the cushions. She strained her right arm, the good one of course. She swept deeper into the couch and finally felt something hard and square. "So that's where the little creep was hiding! Greg! I swear to god I'm gonna kill you tommorrow!"

She fished out the phone and slidded it open to see who was the culprit that sent her into a phone hunt. The screen showed 2 missed calls. She pushed the button to check the caller details but it now showed UNKNOWN.

"Ughh.. probabaly one of her friends from the radio station pranking her!" She slid her phone closed and returned to packing.

"Bzzzzzzzzzzzz! Bzzzzzzzzzzz!" Her phone started buzzing again. Caller ID "UNKNOWN". She grabbed the phone and pressed the answer button.

"Hello?! Who's this?"

All she heard were cracking and breaking noises

"Hello?? Can you hear me?"

The noises continued but she heard soft breathing on the other end

"How did you get my number? Hello?"

"Youuuuureee... Crackkkkk......Craccckkkkk.... Dannnngeeerrrr... Cracckkkk!!" the line went dead.

Emily stared at her phone. Her heart was beating faster and fear flooded her. She checked around to see if anyone in the office was around and pulling her leg. The place was empty. She grabbed her bag and hit the elevators.

1:1

Part 1

Emily entered her room exhausted and fatigued. All she wanted was to hit the showers and lie on her soft comfy bed for the next two-weeks. She dropped her clothes clumsily on the floor, grabbed a fresh towel from the drawer and headed straight for the showers. The touch of warm water on her tired skin freshened her. She wanted to stay longer but her caffeined abused body warned otherwise. All she could remember afterwards was the glaring red numbers showing 3.45 and she was fast asleep.

"Em! Thank god! Where in the world have you been? I've been trying to call you for the past one week. We're backed up on meetings, proposals, meetings and you've decided to pull a houdini on me?"

"Yolanda, what in gods name are you rambling about? I've only been asleep for 3 hours and you're hyperventilating on me? For petes sake Yol, the company ain't gonna crash after only 3 friggin hours"

"Emily, are you alright? It's been ONE WEEK. You pulled a MIA on us for 7 days honey. What are you passed out on the Caymans or something? Listen, Greg's paging me okay? Just drag your size 0 ass back into the office ASAP!"

The line went dead. "One week? How could it possibly be one week? I remember coming home and falling flat on my bed just last night. Why did Yolanda say it was one week? God! My head hurts"

Emily threw her cell onto the bed, stumbled out in search for the medicine cabinate. She needed an asprin. She walked groggily towards the bathroom. Something didn't feel right. Her head was pounding with her conversation with Yolanda. She knew she had to get back to work immediately.