A large, cavernous hole dominated the front porch of the apartment, taking up a couple of feet of the front door and backing into the apartment opposite. It was wide as well, at least two and a half to three metres wide, making for an impressive sight.
Dust, debris and all manner of things littered the site. Half the doors in the hallway were damaged and they could even see into apartments two floors below where they stood.
The main structure of the building remained intact though, the hole itself looking dubiously manufactured.
“What do you think did this?”
“A bomb I would say.”
“Shut up smartarse.”
“Well I don’t have a clue what did this, much less who, so don’t ask me stupid questions. Nobody mentioned this when we were back at Destiny.”
Catlin and Ursula’s relationship had soured significantly since leaving the facility, the bickering between them the only constant along their journey to reach Melbourne. Despite the squabbling though, they’d still managed to communicate with a measure of effectiveness.
“I think I can jump it.”
“That’s a big gap Catlin, I don’t know if you can jump that far.”
“We’ll I’m going in, we didn’t come here just to look at a hole.” She replied, swaying over the edge of the void.
“Well, just wait a sec,” she protested, until she saw the impatient look in Catlin’s eye and changed her mind. “Whatever, break a leg.”
Catlin poked her tongue out at her in response.
“Oh whatever, off you go supergirl.”
Catlin didn’t hesitate, she rarely did, she took a few steps backwards and then bounded forward towards the hole. She waited till she was right at the edge before making her leap and as such timed the jump perfectly, launching herself in the air and landing safely with a roll on the other side.
“Piece of cake,” she said standing back up. “Care to join?”
“I’m not as fit as you.” Ursula crossed her arms and gave her a sullen look from the other side of the hole.
“Ok, well I’m going to look around then.”
Catlin vanished from Ursula’s view, but after only a moment, called out excitedly. “Hey, there’s another apartment in here.”
“What?” Ursula replied, before hearing a door open behind her. She swung around to see the apartment next door opening, Catlin sticking her head around the door.
“They have interconnected rooms!”
“Great.” Ursula replied, moving over and joining Catlin at the second apartment’s door.
The two girls split themselves up, Ursula taking one apartment and Catlin the other. It didn’t take them long to look around as both had already been cleared, they re-joined each other near the hole in the floor.
“You find anything?”
“No, you?”
“I think one of the rooms was used to keep a hostage. There’s a chair with cut ropes and blood all over the place.”
“Gross.”
“I think that’s where they might’ve had the Viper.”
“Well he was showing in this location. Plus, the phone call was traced to here.”
“Anyway, what about you, find anything?”
“Looks like they had some sort of a computer operation setup in there, but it’s mostly been dismantled, looks like they left.”
“Reckon they had a thread setup in there?”
“No. That’s impossible.”
“So nothing.”
“Nothing we can use anyway.”
“Great, well what do you we do now?”
“If they removed the computers then that means they must have left the building right?”
“Well of course, we know that part.” she replied, regretting the incident where she’d called in aid from the government to capture the fugitives.
“Well maybe we can have a look downstairs, see if there’s any clues.”
“What clues?”
“Maybe they had a car park or something. Maybe there’s some evidence or something.”
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“Why do you think that hole is there, clearly it’s an explosion right?”
“Certainly looks like it, plus it looks controlled.”
“How so?”
“Look at it, almost perfectly rectangular, looks like a controlled demolition.”
“Hmmm … Well they packed up their gear right? So that means they were going to leave, but then there’s this massive great hole at their front door.”
“So what are you saying?”
“I don’t know, I’m trying to figure this out. Maybe they tried to escape that way but the government troops blew it up. Thomas said that there were two casualties, but others got away …?”
“I don’t remember hearing any chatter about deaths inside the building though.”
“Me either, but Thomas wasn’t exactly forthcoming with information at the time, was he?”
“No.”
“Well they ended up in the street right? Maybe they went out another way.”
“Where?”
“Like out the back.”
“There’s a back?”
“There’s some fire stairs near the window there.”
They both went to the window at the back of the apartment and noticed the fire escape, taking their time to look over it, down into the street.
“Catlin, do you see that?”
“What?”
“The cars.”
“What about them?”
“They’ve all got bullet holes in them.”
“Shit, you’ve got good eyes!” Catlin tried to spot the bullets holes, squinting down into the street below.
“I’ve worked at Destiny my whole life, it’s not the first bullet hole I’ve seen before.”
“Well, let’s go down and look.”
Quickly the girls backtracked the way they’d come and followed the trail from the apartment to the back alley. Once there, despite the failing light of day, Catlin saw what Ursula had noticed and more. The street was littered with empty cartridges and shells. The building walls had chips, pockmarks and holes littered along their surfaces.
“Looks like the aftermath of a war scene.”
“This must have been where it happened.”
“What?”
“The firefight Thomas said had happened.”
The two girls followed the trail as it led them down the street until it appeared to end, no more shells or holes as they neared the alleyways end.
“I don’t get it.”
“What were they shooting at?”
“Looks like whatever it was crashed into this car here, see?”
“Yeah, and these marks on the ground, they looked like a car’s skid marks.” Catlin pointed to black streaks on the bitumen.
“They look more like drag marks, as if something pulled a car along. Here, look at the scratches in the concrete, what do you make of them?”
“Scrapes, from a car maybe, I’m not sure.”
“Do you think it crashed here because the people in the car got shot?”
“It looks like it, and those tyre marks might have been left after the clean-up crew took the car away. I guess the government cleaned up after their mistake.”
“I guess. There’s no bodies and no car, maybe they wanted to cover it up?”
“There’s blood here.”
“This must be it.”
“Hmmm, so what do we do now?” Ursula asked, “We’ve got no car, no link to the other people and no black man?”
“That was our only lead, I’d hoped we might find something of use but now I’m not so sure. The Viper was here too and we have no evidence of where he might be.”
“M
aybe we should head back to the apartment, look for some more clues.”
Catlin leaned back on a nearby car and folded her arms, “We don’t even know what we’re looking for, shit. Maybe we should just give up.”
“Give up!” Ursula countered. “And do what?”
“I don’t know, get out of here, go somewhere ... this place is bloody depressing. Plus, it doesn’t feel right without people around. This is a big city and it’s so quiet.”
“Hey!” Ursula snapped.
“What?” Catlin replied annoyed.
“We left my dying mother back there! You remember that!” she said, poking her finger into Catlin’s chest.
“Easy, I didn’t mean it …”
“Shut up! We left her for a reason and it wasn’t so you could give up ... understand!”
“Okay, okay,” she tried settling her. “Take it easy.”
Ursula couldn’t help herself, she let out the tears in a large outpouring of emotion, she’d been bottling her emotions up, but now they were spilling over the top.
The turmoil of having to survive and the constant fighting with Catlin had helped to distract her prior to this, but the thought that they’d left her mother, all the way back up there for no reason was enough to break her, she leant back on a nearby car and wept openly.
Catlin moved to her side, giving her comfort and trying to console her. She tried to think of encouraging words to soothe her but none came out, she didn’t like giving false hope. Certainly to her the situation seemed lost.
They had no lead on Suni and her team, nothing that gave away any information on where they might be. Added to that she also had no idea where the black man was, they were stuck with nothing. As she tried to calm Ursula, she found herself wondering what she was thinking coming here in the first place with so little information.
The futility of the situation dawned on her too.
“What now?” Ursula asked, pushing away her tears.
But Catlin gave no reply, Ursula looked up to see what was wrong and noticed Catlin distracted, her eyes focused on something in the distance. She moved, following her line of sight.
Silhouetted across the falling sun, a shadowy figure walked towards them slowly, almost nonchalantly. Ursula couldn’t quite make out his face but he was tall and slim, wore ankle high boots, a rounded hand hat and a designer suit.
“Cat?”
“Shhhh, I’m watching.”
The man walked straight up to them, tilted his hat, nodded and said, “Afternoon ladies.”
“Hi.” Ursula replied, acting like a typical schoolgirl.
“Ooh.” Was all Catlin could say as she saw the man come into view, noticing how beautiful he looked. The man was well groomed and she involuntarily found herself blushing, despite the heavy aroma of perfume permeating around him
“Having a nice day?” he said, walking past them.
“Actually …” Ursula blurted out. “Pretty crap.”
The man stopped and turned. “Really, now what could be so bad?” he replied genuinely, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat away from his brow.
Ursula couldn’t help herself, and despite a shy Catlin trying to stop her, she blurted out everything about her mother, being lost and trying to solve a veritable mystery.
“We’re not detectives you know mister.” Ursula said.
“Urrghh.” Catlin said, hand on her head, eyes rolling back. “Ursula! Quiet! We don’t even know who this guy is.”
“He looks fine. Nobody that good looking could mean us harm right?”
“We shouldn’t trust strangers.”
“Something the matter with you Ms?” the man curled his eyebrows up at Catlin, blinking a few times.
Catlin turned, the way he’d said the word Ms alarmed her, it was almost as if he’d done it deliberately. She looked at him fully now, taking in his appearance. His features were remarkably attractive and she found herself having to look away again, blushing.
She also noticed he seemed to be sweating quite profusely and thought it quite odd considering the temperature wasn’t hot.
“What’s a matter? Cat ... got your tongue?” he said, noticing how nervous she was in his presence.
Now she knew he was playing with her, she shot him a frightened glance but he only smiled casually back at her with all the confidence that a man of his beauty should have.
“Who are you Mr?” Catlin asked sceptically. “And what do you want?”
“Who says I want anything?”
“Why else would you stop to talk to us?”
“A man can’t say hello to two beautiful young ladies in the street?”
“We don’t know who you are, and the world has become a dangerous place.”
He leant forward and whispered to them, “I’m a friend.”
“How do we know that, you just walked up to us from out of nowhere?”
“Well that should be precisely why, how would I just happen upon you in the street at the very moment you arrived into town, coincidence?”
“What does that mean?”
“What do you think it means?”
“Have you been watching us?”
“Of course not,” he replied, taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat from his forehead. “But I must confess, I do know who you both are.”
“And how would you know that?”
“Well, you look a lot like your mother,” he replied, looking directly at Catlin. She was taken aback and lacked the words to reply. Ursula though, seemed intrigued by him.
“It would seem strange that we both happen upon each other at a time like this. Some might even call it Destiny.” He let out a laugh. “What is it that you are looking for?”
“Nothing!” Catlin cut off Ursula before she could say anything.
“Is that so?” he raised his eyebrows.
“We’re looking for someone,” Ursula confessed. “And don’t mind her, she’s got mental problems.”
“Hey!” Catlin objected.
“Funny you know,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Ursula asked back.
“I’m looking for someone also.”
“How is that funny?”
“We have something in common, we are both looking for someone.”
“Whoopdie doo mister,” Catlin said, with burgeoning irritation.
“So maybe we can help each other?”
“I don’t see how.” Catlin turned away.
There was something about his cockiness that unnerved her, she’d come across his type before. Men with looks, charm and the wit to get everything they wanted in life. From her past experiences with these kinds of men, she knew them to be only self-interested. Catlin quickly decided the man was dangerous and not to be trusted.
She thought of her fiend, Ursula, who contrary to her hadn’t spent time outside the confines of the Destiny facility. Consequently, she probably hadn’t come across charming, attractive men before.
“Hmmm,” the man mused momentarily before leaning back in his stance and turning away from them.
“Hey, wait!” Ursula said, wondering what he was doing making to leave already. “Ignore her, she’s in a bad mood.”
“Hmmm.”
“Actually, she’s always in a bad mood.”
“Hey!” Catlin objected.
“Who are you looking for mister?” Ursula asked, ignoring Catlin. “We’re happy to help you if you can help us.”
“Ok then, I came here looking for something someone told me was here.”
“I thought you said you were looking for someone?”
“I am.”
“Who?” Catlin queried.
“His name is Sousa.”
“Who’s Sousa?” Ursula stepped in, ignoring Catlin’s scepticism of the man.
“I don’t know, but my friend, he told me that he was the key and that I must find him.”
“Huh,” Ursula wondered, trying to ignore the tugs on her shirt from Catlin, trying to get her to stop talking to the man.
“And who are you two looking for?” he asked them.
“We’re looking for a black man, we …”
“It’s none of your business Mister.” Catlin cut Ursula off.
“Hey!” Ursula protested.
“Mister, there’s something very strange about you.” Catlin took a step back, pulling Ursula with her. “I think it best you be on your way.”
“And there is something very strange about you too Ms. Catlin.” he said leaning in and sniffing her in a peculiar way.
“No, you are, odd. Different,” she took another step back. “I can smell it.”
“Takes one to know one, doesn’t it?” he threw back at her.
“I’m outta here.” Catlin threw up her arms and started walking away.
“Is she always like this?” he asked, looking at Ursula.
“Catlin, come back.” Ursula turned and went after her, the man meanwhile took his leave and started walking off in the opposite direction.
Hey,” she called, grabbing Catlin by the shoulder as she caught up with her.
“Get off!”
“Hey, sorry. I was just trying to help.”
“Well I don’t need it.”
“Well what? The guy’s leaving, are we really just going to walk away?”
“Yes, that guy’s weird. We need to stay away from him.”
Ursula seemed to make up her mind, “Well I’m going after him.”
“Wait, what …” Catlin grabbed her arm, panicking suddenly. “You can’t leave me here!”
“There’s nothing here Catlin! That man knows something … that’s all I need. It’s better than doing nothing.”
“Ursula!” Cat tried to stop her with pleading eyes. “He’s dangerous, you don’t understand, you can’t trust him. I mean how does he even know who we are? I know he seems ok to you, but you don’t understand what people are like in the real world.”
“What!”
“You’ve been locked up in that facility your whole life, so you can’t. You can’t see the warning signals that I can, he’s no good. He might look all wit and charm but trust me, underneath that he has ulterior motives.” She pleaded.
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