Ever since I downloaded a free antivirus on my computer things have been glitching out, and I kept finding apps and other things I didn’t personally download on my computer. Just yesterday, a number of texts came through saying my antivirus software was expired. This is when I became skeptical because I never entered any personal information on that site. How would they have acquired my number if I never typed it anywhere? I was going to bring my computer into the tech store in town when I got an email. It was from Amazon. As I call recall, the email read something like, “Hello Jayson, your purchase was successful and will arrive on April 10th.” I was very confused because I hadn’t been on Amazon in the last two days. When I went to see where it was headed and what it was, I realized it wasn’t my address. I immediately contacted Amazon to inform them that I never ordered this item. I was given a refund, and tried to take the credit card out. My suspicions were that someone was hacking my Amazon. This got me even more worried.
Fast forward 5 days and I got another email from Amazon. At this point, I disabled my credit card and changed my password totally. It was the same product headed to the same destination. At this point I was on alert because I knew I had been hacked.
Friday was a great day until night time. I enjoyed walking through Tampa and making my way through the city. After a couple of hours of running errands and eating lunch, I headed to the beach with my friend Brayden. Brayden was my roommate in college and we have been close friends ever since. We both graduated from USF last year. Brayden is a tiny guy and honestly has never intimidated me. As we walked through the busy city, the sound of riotous traffic and rushing cars filled my head. I didn’t even realize Brayden had asked me a question.
He poked me and asked, “What are you doing tonight?”
I responded in a startled manner, “Oh, uh, nothing. Do you have an idea?”
In a goofy tone Brayden replied with, “Well, you know the Rays play tonight and I got two tickets.”
It had been a while since I had seen a Rays game and I’m not the biggest fan of baseball. Basketball has always been my favorite sport. I’m 6’4 so it was fun for me to beat Brayden who’s 5’9 every time I stepped on the court. I love getting out and watching sports so despite not loving baseball, I accepted.
We made it to the beach and then I got a text. It read, “JAYSON HOWARD, FOLLOW THESE DIRECTIONS OR YOU WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES.”
Two ideas were in my mind at this point. One was that someone was being an idiot and pranking me. The other one was that something might actually be happening and I may have be getting tracked. I didn’t know what to think until a second one came through. This one read, “MEET AT THE BLUE HOUSE ON 22ND AVENUE IN ORIENT PARK TONIGHT AT 6 P.M EXACTLY.” Orient Park was possibly the most sketchy town in all of Tampa. Another one followed. “IF YOU EVEN THINK TO TELL YOUR FRIEND BRAYDEN HE WILL BE KIDNAPPED AND TORTURED.” This is when I lost my shit. It felt like my lungs had collapsed and every bit of oxygen left had vanished. My brain was racing, but I stood there motionless. I was shocked. I had no idea what to do and no longer thought this was a prank. Brayden was still waiting for me to get in the water and realized I was on my phone. Brayden walked over and grabbed the phone from my hands.
I quickly yelled, “Dude give it back now!” I snatched the phone from his hands but I feared it might’ve been too late.
Brayden then asked, “Who are you texting? Why is it in all caps?.”
“None of your business, let’s get in the water,” I replied.
After about 2 hours of listening to music and swimming in the refreshing ocean, I figured it was time to it wrap up. It was close to 3 and I was still trying to reassure myself everything would be fine with the whole messages thing.
“What time you do want to meet up for the game?” Brayden asked.
“Uh, not sure, I’m not feeling great.” I was clearly lying just because I was still unsure about what to do. If the texts were a legitimate threat, I didn’t want to risk Brayden's life. But at the same time, I was scared shitless.
“C' mon dude, don’t be a wimp. You’ll forget about it when we are watching Blake Snell throw a great game,” Brayden joked.
“I can’t, I have things to do and I don’t feel well, so just drop it.” I knew I had been rude so I felt bad. Brayden was trying to be nice but I was just an ass to him.
“Alright man, suit yourself, just thought it would’ve been fun. I’ll talk to you later when you aren’t so agitated.
I got home and scrambled to find my charger because I was at 3%. That’s when I got another text. It read, “IF YOU BRING YOUR PHONE OR A WEAPON YOUR FRIEND DIES.” I felt my stomach twist and chills ran down my face and neck. I started shaking a little and sat on my bed still not knowing what to do. The minutes ticked by like seconds, one after another vanishing as I still sit there motionless. Before I knew it, the time was 4:45. Orient Park was only 15 minutes from my house so I knew I didn’t have to leave for a while. I was going through all the possible outcomes in my head. I had no idea who I was meeting. The time was now 5:40 and my heart was already pounding. I grabbed my keys and threw on my sunglasses and hat. I started the car and started driving. When I reached 22nd Avenue I started looking for a blue house. I spotted it, tucked in between two dismantled houses that clearly hadn’t been occupied in years. The blue house had a rotting porch, the wood looked as though it couldn’t hold the weight of a small dog. The house was sketchy, to say the least, and I was now shaking. It was very dark in this part of the neighborhood. I stopped my car, took out the keys and held them in my fist like a weapon. Concealed, but ready to be used. I walked up to the door and knocked. No answer. I knocked again, and then from behind me I heard footsteps. When I turned around it was too late. Three men fully clothed in black with masks covering their faces stood in front of my car. One of them stepped forward and grabbed my arm. I stumbled back and hit his hand away. He signaled the other two over and whispered something to them.
The biggest one then quietly said, “Make a sound and you’re dead. Now follow me.”
I followed him behind the house where I saw a large shed. They opened the shed door and we all went inside. As soon as I saw what was inside, I was met with a quick feeling in my head that left me on the verge on fainting. There was photos of me covering the wall, as well as information about myself. There were a few other people’s information too but all of them had something in common; pictures from our computer cameras. They were the hackers that logged into my Amazon and had messed up things on my laptop. Then they had all my passwords personal information written down. They were tracking me.
“We have a task for you,” added one of the men.
“Wh- what is it?” I stuttered.
“You must take this briefcase and deliver it to the address we message you,” one of them explained, “but if you tell anyone, your friend dies.”
“Okay, no problem,” I said while shaking.
“Deliver the briefcase on Tuesday and don’t open it,” exclaimed the largest man.
“Now leave and don’t speak about what you’ve seen.”
“Okay, bye,” I said in a hurry, as I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.
When I got home, I took 15 minutes to recuperate and understand what had happened. I ran inside and grabbed my phone. I saw I had a few texts from Brayden asking where I was. I told him to come over ASAP. It was 8 at night and I had already had enough action to prevent me from getting bored. Brayden then replied saying he would be there in 20 minutes. I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell him. He pulled in the driveway and came inside.
“Where the hell did you go?” Brayden exclaimed.
“I need to tell you something but you can’t tell anyone, I mean ANYONE.”
“Ok, what is it, man,”
“I got hacked and now these guys are tracking me and telling me to bring a briefcase to some location on Tuesday and I don’t know what the hell is going on,” I answered.
“What happens if you don’t deliver the briefcase,” asked Brayden.
“They said they would kidnap you and torture you,” I replied in a worried tone.
“What the hell man!” Brayden yelled.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let them hurt either of us and it will be fine.
“I still don’t feel very reassured,” Brayden added.
“I’ll text you in the morning,” I said.
I woke up the next morning to the sound of text messages, one after another, making my phone beep like a car alarm. Still half asleep, I yawned and grabbed my phone. When I opened the texts I dropped my phone and froze. There were pictures from the people of Brayden tied up in some dark room. He had a gag in his mouth and his hands and feet were tied up. I felt my heart start racing and body feel lifeless. They had sent a message with it saying, “WE TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL HIM, NOW HE SUFFERS.” The amount of guilt I had was unbearable. I had no idea what to do until I realized something. These stupid ass guys had put Brayden in the same shed I was in. I could see the pictures faintly behind Brayden. Although I was still scared and wasn’t sure exactly how to execute my plan, I had an idea of what to do. I was going to go to Orient Park at 9 with nothing but a knife to make sure they can’t track me. I would locate the shed and try to save Brayden while destroying the information from people around Tampa who are in the same boat as me. I would do it tonight.
The night came around and I got ready to save Brayden. I put on some clothes that didn’t stand out and grabbed a sharp knife that I used from time to time. I got in my car and drove to just outside Orient Park. I didn’t want them seeing my car. I walked for about 5 minutes until I saw the house and shed. I saw one man in the old house.
As I crept around the bushes I made sure to stay silent. I crept silently towards the shed where I could hear them inside. I had one idea. I grabbed a rock and chucked it at the big house to get them distracted. One of them walked out and that's when I made my move. I snuck inside and there was Brayden. He was blindfolded and gagged. I then heard the man coming back to the shed. I hid behind the door and let him walk in. I stayed as silent as I could. The man was holding a 9mm handgun. I only had one choice. I knew how to disarm someone after watching many YouTube videos about self defense. When the time was right, I ran up behind him, push the armed hand out of the way, knee his stomach and pushed him off securing the firearm. I aimed it at him and told him not to make a sound. I untied Brayden and tied up the man. We walked out of the shed and slipped back into the bushes. As we were creeping back, I saw the silhouette of a man standing near our car. He was tall and skinny. One thought went through my head, He might've slashed my tires. We walked closer and closer until the man was in sight. I told Brayden to break a branch and distract him so I could come in for the kill. I didn’t want to kill him, but it was our only chance.
“On the count of three go ok?” I whispered.
“Yes,” replied Brayden.
“Ok, 3, 2, 1, now,” I whispered.
He snapped a stick and the man's focus turned our way. He started walking over and I lounged from the bush and grabbed him from the back. I tried to knock him out but he started fighting back. This was making too much noise. He threw a punch but I ducked it and stabbed his neck. He stumbled back and grabbed his throat. As he collapsed, I told Brayden to get in the car now. I started the engine and drove off as fast as possible. When we made it back. We were both speechless. I ran inside and dialed the police and explained the situation. Brayden thanked me and we both sat there thinking about what could’ve happened.
“What the actual f#*%!” Brayden yelled at me.
“I have no idea what to do, what if they are still tracking us?”
“Go lock all of the doors and close the blinds,” Brayden said.
“Do you think I should destroy my computer?” I asked.
“It’s old anyway,” laughed Brayden.
I proceeded to smash my laptop and make sure there was no way those guys could track me anymore. I was way too worrisome to even open the computer again.
Two weeks later I was still recovering from what had happened. I woke up on a beautiful Sunday morning and checked my phone for messages when I saw it. A message in all caps saying, “THIS ISN'T OVER AND WE WILL BE BACK.”