Molly trembled upon seeing Mr. E, the man in black. Bo stared
at him.
"Mr. E? You mean you're the head of ENIGMA?"
Mr. E laughed. "Ah, the street rat has a brain. Most impressive," he sneered.
Bo wanted to rush Mr. E, but he saw the thin man with the gun. He tried to calm himself down.
"What are you doing in Redington?" Shirley asked the criminal mastermind.
"Yeah. Don't you have underlings to oversee your dirty work?" Blake asked angrily.
Mr. E shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. Still bitter that
we tried to blow up your father, Hewitt? I thought that you'd be
over that by now."
Blake gritted his teeth. "To answer your question, Holmes,
since this little job is being done in your hometown, I thought that I'd
supervise this operation myself," Mr. E replied.
"By 'little job,' you mean getting the ruby ring," Stink said.
"My, my, the class clown can do something other than make jokes!"
Mr. E mocked.
"I learn something every day."
He continued. "One of our current clients fancied that ring. He commissioned us to use any means to obtain it for him."
Shirley looked at Molly, who was petrified. "But why kidnap Molly? Why didn't you just steal the ring?"
Mr. E chuckled evilly. "Why, because of you, Holmes."
"Me?" Shirley did not understand.
"Yes, you." Mr. E started to explain. I kept a close eye on this city ever since the Mona Lisa fiasco, looking for an opportunity to clash wits with you once again. Then, ENIGMA was hired to obtain the ruby ring worn by King John at the signing of the Magna Carta. Imagine my sheer delight when I found out that Hardy's father owned the ring. I was also quite happy when I learned that Hardy was planning a fake kidnapping in order to get some much-desired attention. The 'kidnapping' did happen..."
"Except it was your agents who grabbed her," Shirley finished.
"Exactly, Holmes," Mr. E said. "You see, I wanted to observe you in action. I wanted to see if you are indeed like your great-granduncle Sherlock." He chuckled. "You didn't disappoint me, Holmes. Oh no, you didn't. Good work anticipating that we would get rid of the police's homing device and planting one of your own."
Bo was surprised. "You knew about our bug?"
"I anticipated it," Mr. E said. "In fact, I allowed it."
"What?" Blake said, astonished.
Mr. E laughed a little. "We couldn't leave Redington without meeting you first, Holmes. I wanted to see you myself, not to mention allow you the privilege of meeting me." He paused. "I also wanted to see if you would risk your life to save your nemesis. I had some doubts that you would, but you put them to rest, Holmes."
Shirley gestured around. "So all this was a test for me?"
"And you passed with flying colors, Holmes," Mr. E said.
Stink checked on Molly. She was staring at Mr. E and was still shaking. She looked at Blake. "Don't let him get me, Blake," she begged, leaning towards him. "Don't let him get me..."
Stink's blood boiled. "What did you do to Molly?" he demanded angrily.
"Well, well, the coward's developed a backbone," Mr. E said cruelly.
"You never cease to amaze me, Patterson."
"What did you do to her?" Shirley asked Mr. E.
Mr. E chuckled evilly. "After we captured Hardy, she was quite the little hellraiser. We tied her up and she still wouldn't stop telling us that she would make us pay dearly for our actions. We gagged her, and she still mumbled her threats. I was getting quite a headache from her insufferable whining and mumbling, so I decided to try a little experiment and have a little fun."
"Experiment?" Bo asked.
"To put it simply, I wanted to see if I could make our little attention-grabbing sociopath cry," Mr. E clarified. "I wanted to see if I could make her scream in agony. In short," he said with much relish, "I wanted to see if I could break her." He laughed briefly.
"Could the tormentor scream and suffer like the tormented? I always wanted to answer that question for quite some time now."
Molly had let go of Stink and was now leaning fully on Blake for support. Her arms were wrapped around Blake. "Don't let him get me..." she pleaded.
"Looks like you succeeded," Bo said in disgust.
"Oh yes," Mr. E said with satisfaction. "At first, we simply fed her only bread and water and let her out of the chair only to use the bathroom. She was still defiant. We placed a blindfold over her face, depriving her of her sight. She was still defiant. From there, we had to use...extreme measures."
"'Extreme measures?'" Stink did not like the sound of that.
Mr. E laughed malevolently. "First, we restricted the amount
of food given to her. If she still complained, we'd tell her that
if she failed to cooperate, she would never see her parents again.
If she was still defiant, we'd untie her and throw her into a big iron
box with a little window slit, locking the door. Her gag was removed,
but she still wore the blindfold. Oh, she tried to be brave the first
time she was locked in, but eventually she started crying in that box.
She
banged on the sides, pleading for us to let her out. She screamed
in agony. Oh, it was all sweet music to my ears." He chuckled
with evil joy. "It took maybe four to five hours to break her, but
she eventually broke. From that point, she's been more...cooperative.
She never said a word. If she made even a little peep, she got thrown
into the box. Even when she was trying to behave, we always made
excuses to put her in the box. It was good fun." He laughed
wickedly.
"If she whimpered, we put her in the box. If she cried, we put her in the box. If her stomach growled, we put her in the box. If she chewed too loudly, we put her in the box. Now and then we removed the blindfold. If she saw us, we put her in the box." He laughed again. "It was all good fun. Hardy's been having trouble sleeping. In fact, she was asleep for thirty minutes before you came in. That's the longest she's ever slept ever since we kidnapped her."
"This guy's sadistic," Bo whispered to Shirley.
"You twisted creep," Stink muttered under his breath.
"Please. I merely removed that tough, ruthless facade of hers. She's a lonely, vulnerable girl without it, starving for attention." Mr. E watched as Molly tried to hide behind Blake, still shaking. "Ah, this is truly a wonderful sight," he remarked with pride. "The great and terrible Molly Hardy quaking in fear before me. Doesn't it please you, Holmes, to see your nemesis, your sworn enemy, so full of fear?"
Shirley looked at the terrified Molly. "No, it doesn't," she replied gravely.
"My dear Holmes, I'm shocked!" Mr. E sounded astonished. "After what Hardy has done to you, you don't approve of what I've done to her?"
"No one deserves that type of treatment," Shirley remarked. "Not even Molly."
Mr. E laughed a little. He sounded amused. "Ah, Holmes, we are indeed equals yet opposites. We are both rather brilliant. We are both outsiders. Then, the differences surface. You show mercy and compassion to all, even your enemies. I prefer to destroy my enemies. You dedicated your life to shining the light on the darkness. I dedicated my life to creating the darkness."
Shirley stared at the ENIGMA leader. In her whole life, she never really knew someone who could be so truly evil. She always thought that Molly was closest thing to pure evil. At this moment, her belief changed.
"Well, enough talk," Mr. E remarked, sounding bored. "Time to end this little game."
The lights quickly came on. Before Shirley and the others could react, eight muscular men in blue berets, blue uniforms, blue hoods, and goggles leapt out from behind the encompassing crates and surrounded them. All of them pointed a hi-tech rifle at the five kids.
"What the...?" Stink cried out.
"I believe it is time to say sayonara to you all," Mr. E declared. "I need to deliver the ruby ring to its new owner, and I must cover my tracks."
"You're just going to shoot us?" Bo asked.
"Of course, street rat," Mr. E answered. "You see, I can't have any more problems with you, Holmes, and Hewitt in the near future."
"Still bitter about the Mona Lisa, Mr. E?" Blake asked.
Mr. E responded by laughing evilly.
"Oh man. This can't be happening," Stink whined.
"My apologies, Patterson, but you weren't supposed to be here. I was going to settle a score with the three young detectives and dispose of my bait only," Mr. E admitted. "You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"You never intended to release Molly," Shirley said.
"I have the ring. She served her purpose. I don't need her anymore," Mr. E said. Shirley looked at Mr. E's henchmen. All of them were still aiming their rifles at her and the others. They were still awaiting the command of their leader to fire.
"For the record, Holmes, those guns are normally set on 'disintegrate,' but I've decided to be...nice. The guns are set so that when you are shot, you and your friends will be reduced to a recoverable amount of ashes," Mr. E revealed. "It saves your families the trouble of burying you or cremating you themselves."
"You're all heart," Bo said.
"Of course, chances are you'll end up in one big urn," Mr. E mused.
"After my men shoot you, your ashes could get mixed up." He looked
at Shirley. "Game over, Holmes. Any last words?"
END OF PART EIGHT