Chapter Fifteen: Who are we, the Hardy Boys?
Hami wasn't Chuck's bodyguard, but that didn't stop him from feeling bad for his kidnapping. While he'd been chilling in a trailer on set, Chuck had been kidnapped. Hami expected Ron to be upset when they got back to the hotel. As soon as he reached his room, which had been fully cleaned and the furniture had been replaced, Ron sat down and turned on the TV.
"Do you want to order room service or Uber Eats?" He asked.
"That's what you're asking right now? Your friend was kidnapped from this room. DO you want to call the hotel manager, or the police?" Hami wasn't used to being the one to suggest the police. Due to his previous job experience, you usually call a cleaner, or you just clean your prints and leave. But you don't involve the cops.
"They said bring a million dollars to the convention, Chuck will be fine until then," Ron said nonchalantly.
"So you're just going to assume he's okay, and give these people a million dollars?" Hami realized he was yelling, but he couldn't stop himself.
"Yeah," Ron said. "What's the problem?" Ron had no idea what happens to people who are kidnapped. Hami used to have to deal with those people. Ron didn't know if these people were torturing him. Hami knew all the different ways they could torture him.
"Nothing, I guess. You stay here, I'll go... check on Kiki." Hami needed an excuse to leave the room. He didn't want to be around Ron. He couldn't protect his body from what he might do to him.
"Good, ask Kiki if she wants to go out to eat." Ron turned the TV to the adult movie channel and turned up the volume.
Hami left Ron's room, and he walked down the hall and down the stairs. He didn't think about where he was going; he just needed to walk. He thought about walking around the building or walking around downtown, but then he remembered seeing a sign for the hotel Gym, so he went there, took off his suit jacket, and walked on the treadmill.
Hami was mad at Ron. What he had said about not giving them a dime to save his mother had really hit him. Hami often thought of what he would give to see his mother again. Obviously, Ron's mother was different, and that was his business. But it was still very upsetting for him. He realized this was the main reason he was so upset. That and feeling a little bit responsible, if there was something he could have done. But he thought about it a little more.
Chuck and the women were there when they left, and Hami and Ron had spent all day on set, but how would people be able to come in and kidnap him? This hotel was the safest in the city, which is why Donnie got Ron a good deal. Unless the staff was on the take?
Tiffany had mentioned a van going missing, or a truck or something. Apparently, there had been other drama on set, but Tiffany didn't really expand on that. Now Hami was regretting not asking more questions. Maybe the issues on set are tied to the kidnapping. Was he seriously going to have to go Nancy Drew on this? Maybe he should involve Kiki and make it a Hardy Boys mystery.
Hami looked at the timer on the treadmill. He'd been walking for 15 minutes. He had thought through so many scenarios and thought out so many ways to find more clues, but one thing he couldn't understand. How would they get him out of the hotel? Hami got off the treadmill and headed upstairs to get Kiki's thoughts on all this.
Lucky was finally quiet. He was sitting in Kiki's arms when Hami walked in. Kiki had given him the spare keycard that was supposed to go to Ron. Ron was the one who was paying for the rooms, so technically, he needed all the keys, but Kiki was not comfortable with him having a keycard for her room.
Hami gave Kiki the rundown of the phone call that happened on their way home.
"Why didn't you roll the divider down?" Kiki said when Hami was done. "I would have loved to hear that call.
"I took the call seriously. I didn't want to risk rolling any windows down." Hami realized how stupid that sounds, but that was his line of thinking at the time.
"Well, they sounded very professional," Kiki said sarcastically. Hami shouldn't have told her about the fumbling with the phone and voice modulator. "Didn't you say they kept forgetting the accent they were pretending to have?"
"I knew they were bad at it later on, and the more I think about it, the more it doesn't make sense." Hami got up and started pacing. Lucky flew from Kiki's arms and walked behind him. "We should ask the hotel manager for footage. And then we could see if Chuck left or if they smuggled him out somehow."
"That's a good idea," Kiki said. "But Ron didn't want you to get the cops involved, so he probably doesn't want to involve the hotel staff."
"We can look into it on his behalf." Hami stopped pacing, and Lucky flew off the ground and up to the top of his cage.
"I guess so, how about I go and ask the hotel manager, and you go in there and keep him busy. I'll let you know what the hotel manager said." Kiki got up and gave Lucky a pet on the head. "I'll be right back, Lucky!" Lucky squaked happily.