It was a cold evening. Adrian was home, huddled in a blanket on the sofa, watching TV when the telephone rang.
“Hello?”
“Is this Adrian McSkay?” a synthesized voice answered.
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I don’t answer to people who use fake voices,” he answered, irritated.
“You will once you listen to what I have to say. Twenty-eight million, one hundred and ninety six thousand, five hundred and twenty seven. Eight million, three hundred and ninety six thousand, five hundred and seventy three. Fourteen hundred and thirty. You are a detective. Be on time and you will save lives. If not, ten people die.”
“What do you mean?”
“Be on time tomorrow.”
Before Adrian could ask anything else, the caller had hung up. Adrian put his receiver down, a frown on his face as he tried to make sense of what the caller had said. He retrieved a pen and paper and jotted down the numbers the caller had given.
28,196,527
8,396,573
1,430
To a novice, the numbers may be meaningless. It was not so with Adrian. He smiled. He knew exactly what they meant.
It was half past two in the afternoon the next day. Adrian stood in the middle of a field, staring at the small GPS device in his hand.
28.196527
83.96573
Longitude and latitude.
Entering the coordinates online had shown him this location on the map. Of course, he had entered different variations of the same numbers. All of them had pointed to someplace in the middle of the ocean except the place where he now stood. It was only a few hours’ drive from his home.
1,430
The number referred to time.
‘Be on time,’ the caller had said.
Fourteen hundred and thirty hours. It could also be written as 2:30 pm. Well, Adrian was certainly on time. All he had to do now was wait for the caller to show up.
Adrian looked at the clock on his mobile.
14:31
02:31 pm
He felt something prick his neck. Before he could reach up with his hands to feel what it was, his head started spinning and he fell down on the grass unconscious.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
