"Why did you let Mr Joseph embark on a tour with those students in such a time of bedlam?", Dominic raised his voice at the principal. They were in his office.
     "I too am not in support of this tour but my hands were tied.  Mr Joseph is the owner of the school and surprisingly, the students were so excited about the tour", the principal defended himself.
     "But you know those students are in danger under the hands of Mr Joseph", Dominic felt worried.
     "How? I don't understand", the principal stuttered in confusion.
     "Mr Joseph is not a good man", he said desperately, "And my sister is one of the students. She went on a tour without bothering to let me know", he felt namby-pamby.
     "Why would Mr Joseph want to hurt his very own students?", the principal was shocked by Dominic's words.
     A knock was heard on the door and it was opened before the principal could respond to that. In came the Lieutenant and Detective Rita.
     "How may I help you two?", the principal stared at them in wonder.
     "We're with him", Rita gestured, having a seat, "I'm his partner, Detective Rita."
     The Lieutenant who was already seated, introduced himself;"I'm Mr Donald, the Lieutenant Chief Constable."
     "Where did they go to?", Dominic questioned the principal.
     "They went to the national park just at the outskirts of the town...can't pronounce the name", he replied.
     "So if we get there, we'd be able to stop them from having any tour", Mr Donald leaned in his chair.
     "Yes! I think so", the principal shrugged.
     "I like your character. You're not as haughty as Mr Joseph", Rita smiled faintly at the principal who smiled unnaturally in return. He was more concerned about Mr Joseph and the students.
     Dominic went to the door. "We're going to bring them back away", he said.
     "Just inform me in case anything new happens", the principal said to him. Dominic left the office and shut the door. Mr Donald and Rita followed him. Rita bade the principal farewell who returned the greetings.
* * *
     The coach driver parked in front of a very small eatery. "Want to buy some food, give me a few minutes", he pleaded with the students and went down.
     Joseph looked behind and playfully asked everyone;"Who wants some street food?" They all expressed negative reactions to what he said.
     "The last time I ate street food, I suffered from stomach pains", Jonathan said to Samuel, feeling disgusted.
     Joseph laughed over it. "Street foods are really nice. I'm talking from experience", he said.
     The driver got into the coach with a well packaged food for himself. He kept it in his rucksack just beside Joseph. "I don't think it has reached up to five minutes", he chuckled.
     "Let's get going driver. The earlier we get there, the better", Joseph instructed him. The driver turned on the ignition and they drove off.
     Ben turned on his phone and observed the network reception was poor. He squeezed his face, displeased with what he had seen. He showed it to Grace and complained;"Network reception over here is poor...almost completely gone."
     "Our parents may not be able to reach out to us very soon", Grace felt indifferent about it.
     Tricia, who was listening to music with her earpods, took them to ask her friends what they were talking about. "What's going on?", she asked.
     "Woah!", she reacted quietly, checking out her phone, "I don't have network also", she felt worried.
     "Calm down guys! You don't have network and you want to go crazy? Every other person doesn't have network too", Grace looked at them feeling startled.
     "But how will I be able to chat with friends and play online games?", Ben kept a dramatic moody face.
     "And how will I be able to download new songs into my phone?", Tricia moaned.
     Grace covered her face and shook her head in disappointment. "The game addict and the music addict...I totally forgot!", she said vaguely.
     Meanwhile, Mr Joseph was only thinking about the execution of his plan. He smiled mischievously and said to himself;"Just some minutes left and we'd all be there."
     The driver noticed his strange smile and felt curious. "Why are you smiling Sir?", he asked politely.
     "Me?", he turned to the driver and giggled, "Can't one be happy and smile because of a tour?", he asked rhetorically.
     "I'm sorry Sir", the driver apologized and focused on his driving. Mr Joseph leaned in his chair and shook his head, smiling widely.
* * *
     Meanwhile, Dominic drove speedily on the highway so he could probably catch up with Mr Joseph and crew. Mr Donald sat on passenger seat while Rita sat at the back seat. A couple of police vehicles were following them closely.
     "I think you should reduce your speed Dominic", the Lieutenant told him.
     "I'm sorry Sir but my sister is one of the students that man is with. The sooner I catch up with them, the safer it would be for my sister", he responded, looking very angry as he drove.
     "Don't worry Dominic. Your sister is safe and sound. I'm sure about that", Rita attempted to reduce his anxiety with her words. She placed her hand on his shoulder as a gesture for her care.
* * *
     They got to the national park and the driver parked the coach by the road. "Where did you say we should branch to?", he asked Mr Joseph.
     "It's the national park Sir! Turn to the right", Tricia replied to him excitedly.
     "Turn to the left. That's where we're having our tour", Mr Joseph instructed the driver, who immediately started the engine to drive into the road by the left.
     "But the principal told me the tour would be at the national park", Tricia felt confused.
     "Did he really do that?", Joseph simpered at her, "Maybe he didn't want you to know where the surprise place is."
     Tricia felt there was something suspicious about that smile of his. "Why do I feel this man has the intention of doing something bad to us?", she asked herself inwardly. Looking round and observing they were going deep into a thick forest raised the suspicion even more.
     "Don't worry dear. Where we're heading is also going to be a fun place", Mr Joseph looked back and smiled at her mischievously.
     Tricia looked at her friends, expecting they had also felt Mr Joseph's smile was strange. "You guys saw his strange smile?", she asked them.
     "Relax Tricia!", Grace gestured, "The principal wouldn't lie to me, he would have rather not told me anything", argued Tricia.
     "Why do you think we're being deceived?", Ben asked her with a playful gesture.
     "What sort of surprise would be found in such a thick forest?!", Ben patted on her shoulders, finding her paranoid behaviour quite amusing.
     Tricia remained still, trying to do away with her pointless suspicion. "Who knows? Ben and Grace could be right. Mr Joseph has always shown us love after all", she thought inwardly.
     "The next ten minutes or so, we'd be there", Mr Joseph said to himself. He turned on his phone and was very happy on seeing there was no network reception.
* * *
     Dominic drove into the national park premises and stopped by the checkpoint. The rest caught up with him and stopped behind him. The checkpoint was guarded by the police of another district. They were surprised to see police vehicles zooming into the national park.
     Mr Donald and Dominic both left the car to go speak with them. Rita remained in the car, watching them like a hawk. Some police officers behind came out of their vehicles but stood by them.
     Dominic and Mr Donald showed the police officer that approached them their badges. "I'm Mr Donald, the Lieutenant Chief Constable", he introduced himself.
     "Good afternoon Sir", the police officer bowed his head, "I'm Constable Solomon."
     "Did any school pay here a visit today?", Dominic inquired of him in a hurry.
     "Like on a tour?", asked Solomon.
     "Yes! In a bus or something", Dominic gazed at him.
     "No!", he shook his head, "No school has paid here a visit today yet."
     "You can't say that to me. The principal himself told me they'd be here", Dominic freaked out which triggered the other policemen on guard to get up with their guns.
     Mr Donald gestured for them to stay calm. "He means no harm", he said. He pulled Dominic towards himself and whispered;"Stay calm! Don't do something we'd all regret later."
     Mr Donald asked the policeman that stood just behind Solomon;"Joe's High School are meant to be here, aren't they?"
     "No", they all replied, some shaking her heads.
     "You could wait a bit. Maybe you arrived here earlier - they could still be on their way", Solomon suggested.
     "By the time we got the information, they'd already gone 30 minutes ago", Dominic replied to him.
     Solomon expressed his shock and turned away. "Then something is going wrong then", he alluded.
     "If I get to see Mr Joseph, I personally will strangle him to death", Dominic muttered.
     "Calm down Dominic. Let's assume their vehicle broke down or something. We'll just wait here for a while and see what happens", the Lieutenant spoke to him gently.
     Dominic said nothing but went back into the car, shutting the door hard. Rita knew he was extremely mad and did not want to be a victim of it by asking him what went wrong. Meanwhile, Mr Donald thanked the policemen on guard for the information given.