Chapter 12

• Before I could dwell on it any further, I heard the distinct tone of a dialing phone and a little voice saying, "Hello, Mr. Police. There's a strange man holding my unconscious mom outside our house. Can you—"
• My eyes widened at his words. I hurriedly called out, "Wait, wait! I'm not a strange man. Please don't call the police. I work with your mother. I'm Rafael Achilles Cordova. Maybe she's told you about how she recently started working on a project for my company."
• There was a pause before I heard a familiar click as he hung up the phone. Then, his head popped up in the lower window again with a hardened expression as he looked at me up and down.