Shame Of Maastricht: The Revelation of Misery - Marie N. Hallen (top rated books of all time .txt) 📗

brought three chairs and chained Kate, Stijn and Sterre to each of them once they sat down.

“What do you want from us this time?” Kate asked.

“Could you please be a little bit more patient?” the abductor replied. “I won’t ask you twice.”

Once all three victims were chained to their chairs and extra lights were on, two more people entered the hall. This was Mr. and Mrs. Dijkstra.

“Finally you are here!” Maarten said and sat down in front of them on the fourth chair brought by one of the men. “I guess you know the reason why we brought you to this place?”

“Is Luuk here?” Kate asked.

“It’s not very polite to reply to a question with a question, but in this case you are right, it has to do with Luuk. And yes, he is here. But whether he leaves this place dead or alive, depends on him.”

“What do you want from us?” Sterre asked without any note of fear in her voice.

“Young lady, I don’t really have anything against you as I have no idea who you are. But I suppose you are Kate’s friend which means you are also Luuk’s friend, and if Luuk wants his friends to be alright, he might do something for us. I don’t know if I can make it more clear to you.”

“You don’t know me either!” Kate intervened. “Just in case, we have already informed the police about abduction, so the cops are on their way and you will be arrested as soon as possible!”

“My darling, don’t you think such old and experienced people like us didn’t figure out such a possibility? Of course we did and we know what we are going to do in case if the cops really show up. But they won’t, and guess why? Because they are actually already here and it was them who met you and welcomed you to this nice place.”

“How come? What did you mean by that?”

All three men who were standing behind Mr. and Ms. Dijkstra, burst into laughter. Ms. Dijkstra turned and pointed at them.

“Look,” she said, “This is Ruben, this is Ruben and this is Matthijs. They work at the police and as you see they cooperate with us. Where would we get all these guns from? And we have much more stuff here. And in other places too. So whatever you try to do, you will fail. If you go to the police, you will not get any help. And of course we will always know about all your former and next steps as long as you share any information with the police. “Moreover, your phones are being tracked,” added Mr. Dijkstra, “So I guess you all know what this means, no extra explanations needed, right?”

Kate, Sterre and Stijn froze in astonishment. One year ago Kate would feel terrified, but today she didn’t experience any shock. It just became clear to her that she should fight her last fight before they all die. She was sure she would die this time but these thoughts didn’t bring her any discomfort apart from fear for Luuk. She was standing in silence without even looking at the criminals who revealed to be cops - or the cops who revealed to be criminals. What can she do for Luuk without making the abductors even more angry?

“I understand,” she answered calmly and finally looked ahead. “I understand everything, but what can I do now? What should we do for you? What do you want from us?”

“Glad to hear some adequate questions, ladies,” Mr. Dijkstra replied. “You will find out soon. But, it’s not you who is supposed to do something, but your husband.”

“Where is Luuk?”

“He is here, don’t worry. Why would we bring you guys here then.”

“If you need me, can you let my friends go?” Kate asked louder with more courage in her voice. “What do you want from them? Why do you need them here?”

“As I said, you guys don’t have to do anything. There is nothing you could do. Can you resurrect our daughter? No. Can you make us forget about our loss? I don’t think so. We need you here because Luuk is here and soon you will find out why, don’t ruin my surprise. You will see.”

“But you won’t like what you will see,” Ms. Dijkstra finished. “Let’s not pull the cat by its tail, bring our prince here.”

Bram and Martijn opened a heavy metal door behind their back which apparently led to another room where Luuk was detailed. A moment later they came back holding guns pointed at Luuk who walked ahead of them with his hands in handcuffs and a steel collar with a chain around his neck.

“Luuk, Luuk, are you alright?” Kate screamed and rushed to him, but Bram pulled his gun at her and Martijn made Luuk sit down on the chair where Maarten Dijkstra was sitting a moment ago.

“Step back! Stay in your place!” Ms. Dijkstra said. “We are not going to kill him if he behaves well.”

“What do you want from them?” Luuk asked once chained to the chair.

“What do you want, what do you want… Oh Lord, how I’m tired from hearing questions like that. Your name is Kate, right?”

“Yes”.

“If all of you behave well and listen to us, we’re not gonna seal your mouths with a tape or chain you or hurt you, but don’t test our patience. You guys can scream as much as you wish, but you will not be heard or noticed, no one will come for you, and yes, we have bribed the whole police department long time ago, so any kind of protest will be punished and you better don’t even ask us what we can do then.”

“So you are nothing but mafia,” Sterre tried to speak out for the first time. “Terrible.”

“Yes, young lady, you can call it whatever you want, but in general, you are right, we are banal mafia and we do have a lot of contacts not only with our “colleagues”, but also in law enforcement authorities etc… We have weapons, we have technical means and resources, we have protected premises no one will access… So if we decide to find someone, we will,” Mr. Dijkstra explained and moved closer to Luuk. Ms. Dijkstra also stepped towards Luuk, took one more chair and sat down next to him. Luuk turned his head and his eyes flashed with hate and anger.

“Kate, do you understand it was your husband who killed our daughter?” Nienke asked her.

“Yes I do.”

“Did anyone force him to do it?”

“Yes.”

“Who was it?”

“Bas.”

“Oh really? And how did he do it?”

“He told him to kill me or Lotte.”

“And?”

“He did what he did. I’m sorry to say, but he chose me. I didn’t ask him. I really didn’t. I know what happened, can not be fixed by any means and you can’t have your daughter back. But I was sure he would choose. I’m so sorry. Please forgive us. I know you won’t though. But...”

“Enough, enough,” Nienke interrupted her and started crying. “It’s just words. Maybe you wanted it. Maybe you didn’t. But one fact remains unchangeable - it was you who brought this on her head. They managed to spot you, they were following you on your way to his house. And you knew she was there. And when they got their hands on you, they also took our daughter!”

“They kidnapped everyone!” Kate denied.

“They kidnapped you, Luuk and our daughter. Luuk was always a coward. He failed to protect Lotte from the very beginning. If he managed to fight back at the threshold of his house, no one would get abducted. But this happened. And still it was you who brought them there. If you didn’t decide to come to his house and make drama, if you didn’t bring your ass there, things would be different now and Lotte would be alive.”

“Is this why you hate me?”

“No, I don’t really have anything against you although I do believe there is your fault too. What happened, has happened. You weren’t the smartest one, as you didn’t even notice a suspicious car behind your ass. But well, as I said, you don’t matter in this game.”

“It’s Luuk who deserves punishment. This is why we brought you all here. To witness his demise or redemption. Nienke, you can tell them directly. These poor people still wonder why they ended up here,” With these words Maarten got up and took a gun from the table. He loaded it and pointed at Luuk.

“Well, listen here, guys. To be honest, we are not full of empathy, as you can see. You, Luuk, are the most hateful person in this world. I could murder you with my own hands and I’m not afraid of being jailed after doing this. Even if I were sentenced to death. But death is not always a solution. It’s not a solution for you. I won’t let you get away so easily. Do you love anyone in this world, Luuk?”

“Yes I do.” Luuk replied and looked at Kate. She remained silent but nodded at him.

“Who do you love most, Luuk?”

“I love my family.”

“Good. What are you capable of to protect your family?”

“If you touch them, I will kill you.” Luuk shouted.

“You are chained. You have no weapon. You are unprotected. You are miserable. We have guns. Your family is in danger. The police are not on your side. And you still think you can do something?”

“I will try to break this chain, then I’m gonna break the chair and then I’m gonna take the shatters and stab you to death.”

“Brave enough.” Nienke agreed. “You can try to do it but you will be shot at once. 5 people with guns around you. And think about your “family” ha ha ha!”

“Luuk, your situation is very difficult,” Maarten added. “Ok, listen to me. You are responsible for Lotte’s death. I’ve been thinking about how to get revenge and I came up with the solution. I want you to live with it every day. You will remain alone. And you will suffer every day. Eventually you will kill yourself. If you want to survive, you have to kill Kate. Choose your way to kill her, it’s up to you. I want you to murder you with your own hands just like you murdered Lotte.”

“I’m not going to do that, you old madman! I would rather shoot myself!”

“You are ridiculous. Well, here comes the surprise. If you don’t kill your wife, I will do it myself anyway. And her death will be much more painful than you can even imagine. I will put her into agony. And I will make you watch. You will watch your wife die unable to do anything. After that I will kill your father and your mother too. And you will watch them suffer. I will choose the most painful way for them to die, don’t even doubt. In the end, I will torture you to death. Everyone will die, and this young lady too, no matter who she is. In fact, I don’t even know. I don’t even know her name. But you... You have no choice.”

“I guess the worst situation is when you have no choice,” Nienke commented, “Nothing is worse. But you actually have a choice. If you kill your wife, we will let your father and this young lady go. After that you can try to kill us and call the police. I’m not sure if the police come here, but if you kill us, we don’t care. After Lotte died, we didn't live anymore. We only live for revenge. I don’t care if you torture us. But I want you to kill your wife. I want to deprive you of everything you love. And I want you to live with it. Forever. Or you can kill yourself.”

Sterre and Kate suspected that Lotte’s parents would build a wicked revenge plan, but their idea of punishing Luuk was beyond cruel. These people were relentless and the conditions seemed