Frame-Up

By Abdulmenem Hamdache

Syd, a successful broker, finishes throwing a great birthday party and decides to sleep it off. When he wakes up in the morning, he finds himself kidnapped and on the FBI most wanted list for money fraud. He has become a magnet to criminals seeking him to conduct illegal activities. His only chance to prove his innocence is to break free from his kidnappers and then elude cops. But, alas, the danger is too great and the stakes are too high.

Product details
ISBN-10 : 1692292293
ISBN-13 : 978-1692292294
Publisher : Independently published (September 10, 2019)
Language: : English

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abdulmenem Hamdache
• Release date: Dec 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005964795

Abdulmenem Hamdache

I am a lecturer at the college level and fiction writer. I live and work in Lebanon.

Book preview

Frame-Up by Abdulmenem Hamdache

Abdulmenem Hamdache 2019 Copyrights

CHAPTER 1: In a tenebrous and spooky place, a convenience store sits. The area is by no means a tourist attraction. It's a stop for underworld activities. A drug dealer shows his wares to a group of prospective clienteles, and those whose customers didn't show up lurk in the dark, waiting for easy victims.Yet, the neatness and fanciness of the inside of the store makes it incompatible with the surroundings. Every now and then, the cashier glances around the store keeping an eye on the customers while he plays crossword puzzle. A lady comes up to the register. The cashier smiles. The lady smirks then she swipes her banking card in the machine.Live feeds of the lady is transmitted to a storage room in the back of the store, where a full screen picture of a surveillance camera monitors the lady punching her PIN number in the keypad. In front of the camera is Kyle: heavy smoker, undernourished around 120 pounds. He writes the lady's PIN on the back of a magnetic card, swipes it in a gizmo, and then puts it in a brown envelope which is almost full. It’s a humdrum thing. The surveillance system hooked up around Kyle is not an ordinary camera with a monitor, it's beyond that. It's a top-of-the-line multi-surveillance system connected to a high definition monitor, to a computer and to other gizmos and is used to monitor the customers. If it's too good to be true, maybe it's not. In fact, the system serves another purpose. It's to steal customers banking cards and PIN numbers. Suddenly, the door opens. Black and white guys stand at the door sealing it airtight. Kyle takes a long drag then crushes the cigarette with his shoe. He grabs the brown envelope and walks over to them striding over piles of merchandise cluttered across the room.They ride in a car and take a pitch-dark slum. No activity except for rats squeaking in the dumpsters looking for food. They stop the car behind a Grand Marquis. The Grand Marquis is parked with lights out. The driver of the Grand Marquis, Terry, a burly guy with a scar on his forehead steps from it, goes around and opens the back door. Two feet in buffed shoes emerge. Then comes the rest of the person. Votrop, deadpan, muscular with a frizzy hair step out. He smoothens out his Armani suit, and then faces Kyle.You got my ffing? Votrop says.Kyle yanks out the brown envelope from the back of his pants and hands it to Votrop. Votrop opens it and gives it a perfunctory look. He then lays it on the Grand Marquis seat. Votrop cues black and white guys. They grab Kyle by his armpits and drag him. Kyle tries to wriggle away, but he's outpowered.I gave you what you need. Let me go! Kyle says.Votrop gives him his back like he's hiding something. Votrop turns around with a .44 Magnum supplied with a silencer and positioned it at Kyle. Kyle hyperventilates.I'll let you go, but first I have to make sure you know noffing.Terry comes from the back and gags Kyle with a handkerchief. Votrop raises his gun and BANG...BANG, two shots in Kyle's chest more than enough to kill him. Kyle collapses. Black and white guys let go of him. Kyle is on the ground giving up the ghost. Suddenly, to the amazement of everybody, Kyle starts laughing.He laughs best who laughs last— Kyle says.What? Votrop says.It's all about who gets the last laugh—Votrop can't believe Kyle is still talking. He decides to go for a third bullet. Votrop cocks his gun. All Kyle can do is roar in laughter although faintly. Votrop pulls the trigger and shoots two extra bullets in Kyle's chest. The laughter stops instantly. Nobody shows any reaction. Votrop wipes his shoes then motions to all three to get rid of the body. Votrop gets inside the Grand Marquis while Terry brings a body bag from the trunk. Black and white guys wrap Kyle in it then toss him in a nearby dumpster.

CHAPTER 2: It's peak time in the Cosmopolitan brokerage firm. Phones are ringing off the hook. Reps are working feverishly at their computers trying to keep up with the high volume of calls. On the wall, there's a big digital screen displaying up-to-the-minute stock prices. Sheryl, a fifty some year-old secretary hardened with experience, is having a hard time picking up calls. Across from Sheryl