Fatal Alliances: Chapter 27

Granola bar?

Honestly, I didn’t know what to think. It seemed so utterly strange and out of context. Taking it from him cautiously, I looked at him walking back to the door where the other guy with the mask and cloak was. Was this laced with poison or something? Nevertheless, I ate it. The crispy-chewy goodness seemed as if I was eating the most exquisite thing ever. It was an odd gesture from the man but maybe he himself didn’t like the look of that soup anyway.

Just then the door swung open as a tall muscular Japanese looking man announced to me,

“You’re requested.”  

“What?” I asked in a strained voice.

“Come now.” He ordered piercing me a dangerous look.

Forcefully, I got up. Where was he going to take me? Clutching my wrists tightly he walked with me out the room and along the hall. The place seemed smokier, damper, and even nastier. As we were making our way to Takumi’s room I saw the man in the dark cloak and mask coming forward. Wasn’t he the same guard who stopped the woman from hurting me? He spoke something to the man who had been clutching me, causing him to release me. In turn the cloaked man took hold of my wrist yet strangely it wasn’t as tight as I thought it would be.

Takumi stood with a wine glass at the center of the room as we entered, the masked man stood at the side while Takumi neared me.

“What a pretty little thing.” He smirked as he touched my face and I automatically flinched back.

“Don’t touch me,” I warned.

“You look so helpless, Miss Greene.”

Ignoring that I asked, “So when’s this Michael Bronte guy going to be here?”

“In about a week. How unprofessional actually, I mean, first he told us to kidnap you and now he doesn’t even have time to meet you. It isn’t polite to make a lady like yourself wait.”

I rolled my eyes at his stupid play of words. Takumi drank the contents of his wine as he neared me.

“Oh, just get to the point you pig.” I breathed mad with annoyance.

“Point? There is no point my dear.”

Abruptly, he slammed me back onto the wall throwing the glass on the floor to the side. Broken pieces flew scattered on the tiled floor. His damp face edged the side of my neck.

“Stop it!” I pleaded as he pressed me back.

He was right, I was helpless. I couldn’t defend myself. I lost. No, I won’t. But my attempts of kicking him seemed futile when suddenly I felt his weight off me and saw a knife placed on his neck. A man stood behind him dangerously edging the knife to Takumi’s neck. That man, he was the same person who brought me here, the one with the dark black cloak and mask. In a swift moment, he threw Takumi off me causing him to hit his head severely on the edge of the table.

He wasn’t dead but he was unconscious. Blood gushed from his head like Niagara Falls. Panic stung inside me and fear erupted within me. I was about to scream when the man muffed my mouth with his hand. That moment I noticed something through his mask, his eyes. That scorching grey.

No, no it couldn’t be. I must be insane, but I don’t think I knew anyone with that same

intoxicating yet icy stare.

“Adrian?” I breathed, my breath still heavy as he took his hand slightly away.

Time halted. Slowly yet daringly I touched the mask on his face pushing it away. Vandermir stood still in front of me. It just seemed so surreal. I was actually afraid that this was a dream, that I’d wake up and he won’t be there. I’d wake up and find no hope. I was about to say something, anything even though I didn’t know what to say when he interrupted me. 

“Now isn’t the time to catch up, Miss Greene.”

He was right. I looked at Takumi’s unconscious body on the ground and felt a sick nasty crawl on my skin.

“He…..”

“You want to be here when he wakes up?” Adrian asked raising an eyebrow.

Obviously not. I wanted to be nowhere near that man for the matter. Until now I couldn’t find my voice, all I did was shake my head in response.

“Good.” He stated and pulled me along with him through the back door.  

It wasn’t exactly the way out of here, it was just another room going deeper inside the damp cold place.

“W-where are we going?”

“Shut up.” He ordered harshly and he looked out the corner of the wall into another hallway.

It was a strange place, there were doors after doors along that narrow hallway. Adrian suddenly opened one and took me in shutting it back. The room was small and dusty but not the worst I’ve ever seen.

“Wait here.”

“What?” I panicked afraid of being alone again.

“Didn’t you just hear me?” he asked impatiently, taking note of my hold on him.

“But Adrian I-”

“For God’s sake, I’m not going to leave you here Greene! So for once in your life just listen to me and stay here!” he seethed in frustration and left the room.

Leaning on the wall, shutting my eyes tightly while trying to calm myself, I heard a knock on the door about two minutes after Vandermir left. Abruptly the door flung itself open revealing two men in concealed faces and dark blue cloaks. Dread flared through me when I saw them. I saw those men already, they were the two that were in the room guarding, weren’t they? Still, they were dangerous.

“Stay away from me,” I warned pointing a finger towards them.

“Julie, it’s me, calm down.” A familiar voice breathed softly as he quickly took off the mask.

“Finny?”

“It’s okay, we’re here with you.” He said as he cradled me in his arms as if a parent would do

their child.

The second man standing behind had been Donnie. So all this time they were with me?

“We should go now. They have this place surrounded. It’ll go off at any time.” Donnie stated

impatiently.

“Surrounded? What would go off?” I asked confused.

“Let me put this in simple terms for you, kitten, the Po-Po is going to blow-blow this place, so it’s best if we Go-Go.” He smirked and exited the room.

“Come on,” Finny said and I followed.

I realized they knew the way because they chose all the exits where the least of the guards were. As I was leaving a room, I tripped on the foot of an oddly shaped table. Finny and Donnie were already ahead of me, I saw their backs though. When I was about to get up, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was one of the girls, the one who slapped me. Holy hell, she was here.

“You brat! What are you doing here!” she shrieked.

That was it. I was tired, tired of being mentally and physically abused by this thing standing in front of me. No one ever spoke to me like that, made me feel inferior to them in such a degrading manner. I wasn’t going to take this nonsense on anymore. It was enough. I wasn’t helpless, I never was, it was all in my head. I mean, if I can smash her face once, I can certainly break it again.

“You little piece of-”

“Oh shut the hell up!” I madly erupted as I took an old wooden walking stick up and swung it vigorously on her face.

She screamed in pain and held her nose while slumping on the ground. I kicked her on the head- that was for digging into my skin. I kicked her on her stomach- that was for physically hitting me. I smacked the stick on her stomach- that was for spraying me with that horrible burning liquid. Grabbing her on her hair I yanked her up towards me. Forcefully I swung the stick again on her face. Blood oozed out her nose- and that was because I just don’t like her. Pushing her back down on the ground I straightened myself up. I could have hurt her more, I could damage her more, I knew I was capable of that but I held myself back. I wasn’t going to stoop to her level and besides dying would have been too easy a punishment for her. Instead, I took a deep breath.

“Have fun with that nose job, babe.” I chuckled.

Turning around, I saw Donnie looking at me quite shocked.

Huh, maybe beating a girl with a walking stick wasn’t so pretty of me.

“What?” I shrugged as I held the stick up, “It was self-defense.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He breathed.

Wasting no more time, we managed to escape through a back door. The cool fresh air felt like a miracle to me. I thought I wouldn’t be able to experience this again, the calm kisses of the midnight breeze. Donnie and Finny stood silently with me at the back of the old isolated building.

“What’s going to happen now?” I asked.

To answer that question a car suddenly pulled up to the side of us. Ricardo rolled the glass down and held a firm expression, “Get in.”

Donnie quickly sat at the front while Finny opened the back door for me to enter first. A sudden thought ran through my mind. Wasn’t Adrian supposed to be here as well? Where is he?

“Finny…Adrian…” I began.

“He’ll be here Julie, get in quickly.”

“But-”

“He’s fine.”

With that, we entered and he shut the door tightly. Ricardo drove away from the building but still kept it in sight. What were they doing? Didn’t they even know that Vandermir was still there? As they all stepped out of the car I quietly did as well. There was this certain calm, so death threateningly peaceful yet eerily maddening. Taking deep breaths, I tried to keep myself together when suddenly a loud explosion occurred. I jumped at the sudden blast and accidentally bumped into someone from behind.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little fire Greene.” He said in his usual velvety voice.

“Adrian…you’re here.” I sighed.

“Hmm, how odd, you sound quite concerned.” He smiled with subtle amusement.

“I’m not I just-”

“Vandermir what the heck were you doing for so long? You were just supposed to set the bomb in place, find her and get out!” Donnie interrupted madly.

“I had to look into something,” Adrian replied.

“Wait, you set that bomb in place?”

“We just did what the officers asked us to do Julie, they needed our help. Those people were dangerous anyway.” Finny inputted.

I wasn’t sure what to think right now, he was right. Those people were dangerous. And maybe what happened was for the best.

“I- I just want to go home. Take me back home. I don’t want any part of this again.” I said in frustration.

There were just so many things running through my mind right now, flustering it. The perplexing question of why exactly Adrian came here. I had a gut feeling that he knew about this whole Michael Bronte business before anyone else yet he played along with everyone else that they just came here to find the unknown persons responsible for Mr. Dawnly’s death. There was more to this situation than meets the eyes. Did he just bring me here because he somehow knew that the leader of the Sovereignty Cult had wanted to meet me? Maybe that’s why he didn’t leave, maybe he wanted to be there and meet Bronte as well.  And why would that Bronte guy want to meet me anyway? Perhaps it was something concerning the partnership, it must have been. I mean, what else would it be?

“She’s right we should leave. There’s nothing for us here anyway. That problem is over, now we can put our full attention back to finalizing the deal with Rocillie.” Ricardo stated.

Vandermir seemed to contemplate on that for a while yet nodded slightly as he got in the car. Our drive back was surprisingly fast, although we used a private jet to head back instead. I had actually been on one before, with Mr. Dawnly when he insisted on me to attend some golf event in Australia with him and his friends. I silently smiled at that memory, that man was so full of life, of joy. He was such a peaceful man with a pure heart yet his faith was unbearably unjust. When we went in I quickly showered and changed, it felt pleasant to be clean again, freed from the filth of that horrid place.

Finny slept on the couch while Donnie and Ricardo sat opposite Adrian and me at the table. Ricardo of course occupied with reading a book while Donnie was looking at some racy magazine. Sitting at the window seat wasn’t probably my best choice when it came to my fear of heights. Still, I wasn’t going to be a bother to anyone again. Especially if it involved asking Adrian to get up so I can move to another seat. Taking a small breath, I turned to face the side of Vandermir who was using the laptop.

I realized that he was such a work addict. He never gave himself a break. At a time where everyone was trying to relax, he was looking at the stock market’s current stock prices. To be honest, I still didn’t understand him. I felt more puzzled by his attitude now than I ever was. He was such a confusing man. And personally, I wasn’t so sure I could trust him. He was so secretive and kept things to himself. If he could not even tell the people who care about him, even his own blood Ricardo, about the whole Tokyo business he knew more of then who was I? I knew I asked him not to lie to me and technically I never asked him anything yet. Maybe it was because I was afraid he would tell me a lie and I would know it. I don’t think I could face that, someone lying to me about ‘not going to lie to me’. No, I couldn’t handle that. It would seem like such a small issue yet it wasn’t, it wasn’t a little issue to me. But then again, he did come back for me, right? Shouldn’t I at least be grateful to him for that? And what about the things he said to me? Could he have really gotten my signature that easily and finished my part on the partnership? That’s the only reason we’re stuck with each other right? My head just ached thinking about all this. I was tired, too tired.

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