“How am I not supposed to interfere?” I question Lemon, pacing around the length of the drawing room I’d found myself in after entering my father’s residence. There is nothing different about this house than any other night. The ambient lighting is soothing and bright at the same time, the electric fireplaces start as soon as anyone enters a room with one thanks to fancy schmancy newfangled sensor technology because my father has to be extra that way, and the security team is milling around the estate. The housekeepers had come and left, judging by how squeaky clean everything is. Those people are really stealthy, and I’d only met them once or twice. They come in daily and make sure the house is at its best and then leave without a sound.Nothing is different. It feels as large and impersonal as it was the day before yesterday and the day before. Although it felt more like home since I came to live here, it was still sterile. But I’d grown familiar with it, and for a while, I’d been t
The perky, bubbly receptionist at the office of Salvador, Priestly, and Erikkson seems to have been replaced by another woman. I actually pause upon seeing her, because never in my life had a seen a person, much less a woman, look so severe.It’s not that she doesn’t look beautiful, she is, but there is something so icy and aloof about her that I can’t help but stare for a moment. Her black hair, pinned behind her head seemed to have such a volume that I could positively say it was long when let down, and her dark eyes ringed with eyeliner and long lashes contrasted with her pale and sharp cheekbones like night and day.She scowls as soon as she catches sight of us, only for a moment before smoothing her features into what could be called polite, but with an undercurrent of disapproval. I wonder what that’s about, and then realize that I must probably look like shit. I just threw on whatever clothes I could find and ran my fingers through my hair before running out of the house with L
“Richard!” Erin the receptionist cries out, “Oh, thank the heavens, you’re here.”“Yeah, I could say the same,” Richard Erikkson looks like someone had barfed in his cereal at the moment. His eyes snatch on me, and his expression worsens, “Christ, what the hell is going on here?”Shaking myself out of the shock, I holler. “That’s what I’d like to know as well, Rick because your receptionist just called my friend here an Impure! I didn’t realize you were employing racists over here in this office of yours, and I certainly don’t appreciate having my friend treated this way. We’re here for a serious issue, Mr. Erikkson, and this is not helping things.”As soon as I get that rant out, I feel tons lighter. I still cannot believe what just happened, because it just seems so bizarre. Richard Erikkson looks like he’s about to tear his perfect hair off his head, but then thinks better of it, and sighs like a man with great troubles.“Erin, get out of here,” he orders without looking at the wom
To be honest, Rick Erikkson did look like a man who’d know a guy. I mean, he is a suave, deceptively young-looking lawyer who’d had some riveting wins in the court, who was known for his tendency to look into a legal battle with a totally new perspective and win cases so fast that it bewildered those that watched the whole thing.Not to mention how much of an enigma he was to most people, including myself I had a feeling that Gerald knew things about him that no one else in this world did, but then again, Gerald seemed to know a lot of things. So did my dad for that matter.One day I’d sniff out that secret, but not today. Today, I have to follow Rick Erikkson as he guides us through the lanes and sub-lanes in the southern district of Clandestine City.“You know,” I pipe in, “you could’ve just asked the man to come and meet us at your office.”“Well, that’d be awfully rude of me, wouldn’t it?” Rick throws over his shoulder blithely, taking yet another turn into the alleys with the eas
It really was Mal, in the flesh. He stares at me as if I’m a ghost, and I stare at him probably in the same manner. This is the last place I expected to see Mal of all people because I had been under the impression that he lived in Empire City. And he was a business major. I had no idea that the man was talented in the ICT field, because he never gave the impression, much less said it out loud.And him having connections with Rick Erikkson of all people? What kind of a twilight zone had my life fallen into lately?!Erikkson was the one who breaks the silence at last.“I’m sorry, do you know each other?” Erikkson asks us, his own expression sporting surprise.“Um yeah,” Mal replies, actually blushing under the scrutiny, “we go to the same school.”“Oh!” Lemon cries out, “You’re the Mal that called Jace to ask him if he’s alive just two days ago, aren’t you?”Mal’s attention focuses on Lemon, at who he raises a brow, “um yes, that’s me,” he looks at all of us, flitting from face to face
Mal said that he could tweak the voice modulation in the recording we had in order to make it more natural, so we could see if the voice belonged to someone I knew in real life.And so, he uploaded the video into a program and waited for it to increase the pitch to something natural. In the meantime, he asks us, “So, would you guys like some tea or anything while you wait? I’d offer you coffee, but you agitated enough already that I’m afraid you might start bouncing off the walls even without it.”“No thanks, I don’t think I can stomach anything at the moment,” I inform him, staring at the sound modulation program as it slowly loads. “How long will this take?”“A several minutes.” Mal says before turning to Lemon, “What do you say, citrus? Would you like some beverage?”“Okay, Citrus sounds way looker than Lemon does,” Lemon muses, “maybe I’ll start using that instead.”“That would be a good choice. Where I come from, I’m considered somewhat of an expert in nicknaming people,” Mal bra
“Okay, okay, everyone stay calm,” Mal orders as the phone starts to shiver in my hand. I clutch at it tightly staring at the new email on the dashboard. I know what it must contain. It has to be another video of my lower being tortured because the sadistic fuck who kidnapped her wanted to hurt us both in the worse way possible for some diabolical reason. It had to be something that would rattle me as well as anyone looking to the core. “Jace, buddy, what are we going to do about this?”“I…I should click on this,” I tell them, although my hand does not move to accomplish that action. My rational thinking, which seemed to have escaped me as soon as the email came, seems to return to me because I add in a steadier voice, “But what would the police say?”“You said that the email was rigged to self-delete after the very first click, right?” Mal asks, and I nod.“Yeah, that’s what happened to the last one, I think this one is the same as well.”“It would be stupid to let it slip,” Erikkson
“Yep, it’s a link,” Mal confirms what we’re all seeing, huddled around his computer with bated breath, clicking away on his keyboard. His screen was divided into two parts, and one had a complex program that I guessed was opened for the purpose of tracing the video. I knew basically nothing about coding despite taking one computer science class in my first year, so I couldn't say what exactly he was doing. Also, I am more interested in the video.As before, it takes about two redirects before fully loading, and as before the black-clad figure in a mask sits in front of the camera. And just like before, seeing that makes a chill run down my spine.“Well, hello,” the modulated voice says, sounding oddly polite, “We meet again.”“Crap, this is so creepy,” Mal mutters, fingers flying over his keyboard.“I hope you enjoyed my last performance. Coraline was not, of course, thrilled with the way things continued, but you and I both know that she’s so hard to manage at times, don’t you Jace?”