"Are you sure he wanted us to come right now? It's not even noon yet," Kelly said as the jet slowed to a halt.
"For the fiftieth time, he said it's urgent. Here, you can read the cablegram again!" Sabrina slapped into Kelly's hand a folded square of yellow paper, which she quickly opened up. Her lips moved as she read the message to herself.
"'Diablo Island'? I've never even heard of this place," Jill frowned over her shoulder.
A short distance from the plane, a jeep was parked in the tall grass. A man wearing sunglasses stood leaning against it, and the instant all three of them stepped off the jet he rushed over to them. The jet rolled off across the field again, the roar of the engines growing quieter and quieter.
"Hello, you must be Mr. Townsend's people?" They nodded.
"My name is Malcolm Case," he introduced himself. "I'm Mr. Townsend's client, or yours."
"Ah, glad to meet you," Sabrina said, shaking his hand. "My name is Sabrina Duncan, this is Jill Munroe, Kelly Garrett." They smiled politely.
"It's hot out today, why don't we drive and talk? My lodge isn't far from here." He ushered them towards the car. Sabrina walked around to the passenger seat and Kelly and Jill climbed into the back. The jeep turned in a circle and drove back on the same tracks in the grass that it flattened on its trip over.
"Thank you for coming so quickly, I apologize for such short notice."
"No trouble," Sabrina replied. "What is it exactly that you'd like us to investigate?"
"Well," he said, "I happen to be a collector of these rare artifacts, and it seems a number of them have gone missing."
As he continued to explain, the car's path wove through trees and turned around a rocky hill, bringing a small building into view. He parked in front of it and turned the car off.
"Here we are."
They walked into the building and he offered them three stools to sit on.
"So Mr. Case," Jill said. "Can you show us where you've kept these artifacts you were talking about?"
"Malcolm," he corrected her. "Please call me Malcolm. And yes, I was about to suggest just that. Through that door is the room where I kept them, and where they were taken from. Now, what I would like to do is to get each of your first impressions. I want to see if you notice what I did, if you think anything is strange. So you will not influence eachother's thoughts I will ask you to step into the room one at a time and tell me what you think. Is that all right? Who would like to be first?"
"I'll go," Jill volunteered, standing up from her stool.
"Fine, right this way." He led her to a door on the other side of the room and opened it for her. "We'll just be a moment," he said over his shoulder to Kelly and Sabrina.
Jill stepped into the room, and he followed and shut the door behind them. She looked around the room, which appeared to be basically the same as the one they had just been sitting in.
"This is the crime scene?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "Look very closely, tell me if you notice anything unusual."
"There seems-" her words were cut short when he suddenly seized her from behind, clamping a damp cloth to her face. "Mmmff!" she struggled, grabbing his arm and trying to pull it away from her, but he was too strong and didn't budge. Her hands reached out, trying to claw at his face. A strange dizzy feeling overtook her after several seconds, and right as her eyes drooped shut she finally recognized the familiar smell of chloroform.
Malcolm caught her as she fell limp, her head hanging back awkwardly. He laid her down on the floor and tucked the cloth into his coat pocket. Straightening up, he composed himself, smoothing his clothes and running his hand over his hair, and then emerged from the room once more.
"Alright, Miss Munroe has given me her opinion. Who's next?" he asked cheerfully.
Sabrina joined him. The door shut and Kelly was left in silence, wondering what was so important to observe in that other room. She examined her fingernails. After a minute he came back out, standing in the doorway.
"Last but not least?" he smiled.
Kelly returned the smile and rose from her seat, walking over to him. She stepped inside the room, wondering why this time he did not bother closing the door, and then she saw Sabrina and Jill on the ground.
A wave of panic swept over her and she turned to Malcolm, but it was too late. She even thought herself strangely calm as he held the cloth over her nose. Her hands tugged halfheartedly at his arm, already too weak to make any real effort. There seemed to be plenty of time to think things through.
Chloroform, she identified the smell. Then Sabrina and Jill must not be dead.. they sure look like it though...wwhat'se going.. to dooo? The room spun sideways and faded to black.
Something tickled Jill's shoulder. Rousing partially from her sleep, she swatted at it with one hand, brushing off an insect. Wait, why was her shoulder bare? She opened her eyes and frowned, squinting in the bright sunlight. With a gasp she realized that she was completely naked. Alarmed, she sat up quickly, triggering a pounding pain in her head. Her entire left side felt itchy and prickly, as she had been laying on the ground here for who knows how long. A few leaves and some dirt stuck to her skin on that side, and she brushed them off.
Raising her head, she looked around in all directions, growing increasingly upset. Where were Kelly and Bri? And more importantly, Malcolm?
Finally she spotted on the ground a few feet away a small green drawstring bag. She leaned over, picked it up, and pulled open the top, peering inside cautiously.
Sabrina pulled from her bag a small metal device with a single toggle switch on it. Turning it over in her hands for a minute, she gave up trying to identify what it was and reached back inside. There was a canteen and a small plastic packet. She opened it up and sniffed it. Beef jerky? She frowned. Being very thirsty, she picked up the canteen again, unscrewed the cap, and raised it to her lips. She hesitated a moment, and then, figuring she'd already been drugged, took a sip. It was only water, and though slightly warm, it tasted pure and crisp. Satisfied, she took a few hearty gulps from it. After replacing the cap, she pulled out of the bag the last of its contents, a piece of paper folded in half. She opened it up.
"'As you may have guessed already, you were not really brought here to solve a mystery, though you are here to solve a problem for me. I used to be quite into game hunting. I spent a great deal of my time hunting on this very island, and over the years I have grown tired of it. You are here to provide me with an entirely different kind of prey. Do not worry - you will not be harmed, as I will not be hunting you in the traditional sense. Though I am armed for self-defense, I will not be using any kind of weapon against you.
Upon your capture, I intend to use each of you to satisfy my own personal needs. When I am finished, I will return you to the lodge where you may relax and no longer be a target.
I have provided you with a small supply of food and water, and an emergency tracking device. Should you find yourself in any kind of distress or danger, switch it on. Your location will appear on my radar system and I will put the hunt on hold and come to your aid. However when the situation is cleared up, we will resume after a fair amount of time.
My hunt will begin at sunrise.'"
Kelly blinked, rereading the paper a fourth and fifth time. 'Personal needs'? She frowned. As she thought of Malcolm's unattractive, wrinkled face and pot belly, she hoped 'personal needs' didn't mean what she thought it did.
Judging by the sunlight it was later in the day, maybe 4 or 5 o'clock. If she could just get back to that lodge, she thought. There was a phone and a radio in there, if she could get to it while Malcolm was out, all three of them would be saved! With a plan in her head and the bag in one hand she began to walk. Of course she was walking in the direction she happened to be facing, but it didn't really occur to her. She tiptoed carefully at first, pebbles and twigs pricking her soft, bare feet as she crunched over them. After a while she paid no more attention and walked normally. Almost normally, at least, seeing as how she'd never been on a naked trek through the wilderness.
She passed trees and bushes and rocks and even a small stream, where she stopped to refill her canteen. It was getting dark and Kelly hadn't come upon anything, so this seemed as good a place as any to stop for the night. Trying to hide herself from view, she curled up behind a bush, using her bag as a pillow. Though she was tired, she was absolutely not sleepy and her eyes stayed open and alert all night. If it wasn't so pitch black she would have kept walking. She froze every time she heard a leaf fall to the ground, imagining Malcolm standing over her...
Jill had begun to walk again as soon as the faintest light of morning lit the trees. Now she crept through the trees in the dim morning light, being cautious even though the sun had not officially risen. Where was everybody?
Sabrina had to pee. Even though there was nobody around that might see her, at least she hoped, she crouched behind a bush. As she was peeing, she heard a twig snap loudly. She stopped quickly and held in the rest, which is hard enough to do when you're not in a panic. The silence rang loudly in her ears as she listened hard.
After a minute or two passed, she felt no danger anymore and resumed peeing. The warm liquid felt so good as it drained out of her and splashed on the ground, leaving her feeling more relieved by the second. She wiped herself with a leaf and tossed it back on the ground. Just as she stood up, she heard a loud crunch of leaves and froze again, half-crouching. Her eyes darted around.
"Bri?" she heard from her right side. She turned quickly and spotted Kelly peeking out from behind a tree several yards away.
