I sighed. I didn't know how long I could keep this up for and hoped Rick would make his move sooner rather than later. I hadn't lost confidence, but a little seed of doubt had crept into my consciousness. I didn't dare ask myself the 'what if' question yet. It simply had to work.
CHAPTER 19
Zaphire
“I hate to admit it but Markus is damned clever. Replacing you with Vivian was a master stroke. No way Eliza is going to cloak from her, she sees through practically anything.”
I observed Zack for a moment. He looked worried and mighty pissed off.
“Humph,” he grumbled, not giving much away. “Markus is a master at everything, Zaph. That's why I admire him so much. But he can be such an arse with it!” he conceded after a while.
We were both struggling with our confinement and it had only been two days. Markus had lectured us again yesterday, well mostly Zack to be honest, about his clubbing and drinking. He was convinced it had contributed to his failure and was now adamant our grounding and no alcohol rule was to last for quite some time.
Zack had tried to reason with him, saying he had only been doing that when Eliza was in isolation and he was adamant it hadn't impaired his judgement at all. But it was a weak argument, because the fact of the matter was that we had ballsed up. Plus his arguing had done nothing but make Markus more annoyed. I had kept quiet. I didn't want Markus to forbid my relationship with Eliza, because he could if he thought it was necessary. And I trusted Eliza would get through this and see sense. We could be together again, and I wasn't going to endanger that by winding Markus up even more.
“I'm so bored already Zaph. I mean archiving! Really! I didn't even fucking know we still did that!” His whole body exuded frustration and exasperation. “And it's not just the fucking job; it's the fucking people too. I swear they're all dead on the inside.”
“A bit harsh Zack,” I couldn't help giggle a little. “I'm sure they're all quite nice really. You just need to coax it out of them. See it as a challenge. It will keep your mind occupied at least.”
“How's your job looking Zaph?” ignoring my suggestion.
“Just fantastic. What I've always dreamt of doing,” I answered sarcastically. Working in the office, doing administrative tasks was my kind of hell. The most exciting task I had was typing up reports as at least I kept a finger on the pulse as to what was going on in the real world. I had already come across a titbit of information that would at least keep my mind occupied.
“Did you know last week Rick was actually near Eliza and me? He was followed right into the village next to Alice's. He stayed one night but didn't go out of his room or meet anyone at all, then returned up north the following morning.” I thought about the feeling Alice had experienced. She had been right after all. Pretty intuitive for a Dullard.
“No! How come we weren't informed! That's a vital piece of information!” Zack jumped up and started pacing the room frantically.
“I thought it was a bit odd, because it was almost like it had been filed away without having been read. It was a one page report stuck inside a folder that had nothing to do with Rick's case,” I remembered.
“Do you know who tailed him?” Zack asked urgently.
“No, but I can find out. I will look into it tomorrow first thing and let you know.” A disconcerting feeling crept into my mind. “Do you think it has anything to do with Eliza's behaviour?”
Zack nodded, deep in thought.
“I don't know. It didn't seem like he contacted her and if he'd done so by phone, why travel all the way down there. Maybe he wanted to check her out, but was warned off and turned back? It's all a bit strange and I wonder who knows about it.”
“Should we ask Markus?” I wondered.
“Let's find out as much as we can and then contact Markus,” Zack decided.
I agreed. He had been clear about not wanting us involved in the mission, but if we had stumbled across something important he wouldn't deny us a meeting. We just needed to be sure first.
The following day I was keen to start work and my colleagues picked up on my change of mood instantly, making irritating comments to highlight that fact. I ignored them and immediately delved into the pile of stuff I did yesterday to try and locate the report I had spotted. My heart jumped a beat when I found it almost instantly. The person who'd written it was someone I recognised the name of, but I never really had come across. I decided to give Harish a call immediately, though I had to move out of the office so people couldn't overhear. I went into the toilet and checked each cubicle before making the call.
“Harish speaking?” a softly spoken man answered, his voice betraying a little curiosity as he wouldn't have recognised the number.
“Hi, it's Zaphire Mackenzie.”
“One of Markus' twins?”
Excitement spilled over into his voice.
“Yes. Can you tell me anything more about what happened when you trailed Rick down south?” I tried to be as to the point as possible.
“Err, nothing much happened. I didn't think it was important as my message was never followed up. I guessed you all knew everything about it.”
He was straight into self defence.
“No need to worry, Harish. I'm just tying up some loose ends. Do you remember who you gave the message to?”
“Err, let me see. It was a girl. Yes, it was a girl called Jessica. Can't remember her surname. I passed the notes to her to give to Markus and Zack directly.”
“Okay Harish. That's all for now. Thank you very much.”
My heart had started pounding so loudly I thought the people in the office next to the toilet might wonder what was going on. The door opened and I quickly ran the water and washed my hands vigorously. It was Selma from my office.
“Are you okay Zaphire?” she enquired curiously.
The room must have reeked of sudden excitement and urgency and I still hadn't managed to calm my heartbeat down. I walked off quickly, mumbling something inaudible and nodding my head, unable to think of a believable excuse. I had to get to Zack. He'll explode when he hears his disgruntled ex-girlfriend is somehow involved in this. If Rick was made aware of us following him, it might explain why he didn't make contact with Eliza. Frustratingly, I had to wait till morning break, as the working hours were rigorously adhered to in this department.
CHAPTER 20
Eliza
No books had arrived. Part of the punishment. I'd given myself a couple of exercises to do to keep myself occupied. I'd got up to fifty four press ups when I heard someone approach in a hurry. It wasn't a scheduled visit. Vivian wasn't due back till tomorrow and it was nowhere near time for more food. I fleetingly hoped it was Zack or Zaphire but, the footsteps didn't sound familiar.
The door opened and no other than Jessica rushed in. My heart jolted. She took off her hoody and trousers and all I could do was stand and stare at her for a second or two.
“Wh... what...,” I started to stutter but was interrupted immediately.
“Don't ask questions. Listen. We have to be quick, Eliza. Take off your trousers and put these on. Take the hoody too and cover your hair. Here's my pass and the keys,” she ordered hurriedly.
I did what she said. My heart nearly exploded in my throat. This was it. This was Rick's move.
“Listen carefully as I will only say this once. Get out of the building as quickly as you can. Under no circumstances look up. Just keep walking. If someone tries to talk to you, cough and mumble your excuses. When out of the compound, turn right, take the first right and a dark blue BMW will be waiting for you. Lock the cell door before you go otherwise an alarm will go off when you open the exit door. Move. Now.”
She pushed me out of the room and there was nothing for it. I locked the cell door and walked. My body ached to run but I managed to contain it to a purposeful walk. I didn't want to alert anyone who happened to be monitoring the security cameras. The first obstacle was ahead. I held my card out in preparation for the scanner by the
door. There was no reason to be nervous as it should work; it didn't rely on eye recognition or anything, but my adrenaline was pumping and the nerves raged through my body. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't bump into anyone as the scent I emitted was intoxicatingly strong. In a crowd it wouldn't be so bad as it would at least take a little time to locate who was causing the stench, but alone in this corridor there would be no denying it was me, and would raise suspicion instantly.
The door reliably bleeped and clicked and I pushed it open, glancing quickly into the next corridor. No one to be seen, so I carried on walking quickly towards the lobby, which wasn't far away. I could see people through the next set of glass doors. It was relatively busy, which was good.
Just before I got to the door, a young man approached it and opened it for me, politely stepping aside to let me through. I mumbled a 'thank you' without looking up at him, but managed a quick touch of the hand to access his vision. All he saw was a hooded figure walking off, then the vision disappeared. I hurried into the crowd.
As if in slow motion I noticed him realise the suspicious scent hanging in the corridor, and I could feel his searching eyes looking for me in the crowd. I didn't look back, heading straight for the exit. I quickened my step slightly, getting my card ready again on approach of the door to the outside world. I picked up a slight commotion behind me, but kept stoically walking. The scanner was slow, but after what seemed to take an eternity it bleeped and I opened the door. I immediately took a deep breath of crisp outside air, blowing it out slowly in a vain attempt to calm my heart down and focus on cloaking my output of signals. I didn't want to leave an obvious trail, in case they were following already.
I turned right out of the door, kept walking and headed into the first road. True to Jessica's word, about a hundred meters on I spotted the blue BMW waiting for me. I didn't dare believe I'd made it until I was in that car. I could swear I heard footsteps running after me, but resisted wasting time by turning around and checking. I practically ran the last bit, grabbed the door handle, opened it and threw myself inside. The driver didn't hesitate and, wheels screeching, drove off. I glanced out of the back window but couldn't see anyone. If they had been following me, they'd lost me. Relief flooded over me.
I couldn't believe I pulled it off. It had only been about ten minutes since Jessica had entered my cell. I couldn't believe she'd helped me get out, but I was under no illusion she'd done it out of the kindness of her heart. She must have been contacted by Rick. Maybe even recruited. Had she sacrificed herself for him? She was stuck in that cell and she wouldn't be able to escape the consequences. Security will go up a hundredfold once they realise what happened, so another miraculous escape was not on the cards for her.
Shit. She could face the death penalty.
I wondered if she realised what Rick had asked of her. I felt sick to the stomach. My father was utterly ruthless.
CHAPTER 21
Zaphire
Finally the clock struck eleven. Coffee break. Everyone started to clear their desk and close their computer files readying themselves to go. I shoved my papers in a pile and rushed off to find Zack in archiving. He should be on his break too.
I peeked through their door window to see Zack looking horrendously bored, listening to one of the guys explaining the inner workings of an internal combustion engine, as far as I could gather through the thick glass. I banged on the door and Zack's expression was utter relief to have an excuse to go.
“Zaphy! Have you found something out?” he asked eagerly.
I pulled him across the corridor and into a small room. No CCTV to be seen. Excellent.
“You won't believe this. You'll never guess who took that message. Bloody Jessica!”
I waited for his reaction, shielding instantly. A wise move on my part.
“Little bitch! She never fucking passed it on, did she! Jesus, that's just one step too far. Undermining our mission just to fucking spite me. Let's get her,” he bellowed.
“Wait a minute Zack. I think you need to go to Markus with this. This is too big for us. She may have other reasons, besides being spiteful. What if it's more than that?” I urged.
“What. You mean she might be involved with Rick? No way. Fuck it. You're right. We need to see Markus immediately. Fuck archiving. You with me?”
He waited for my response. He had given me the choice to withdraw and he wouldn't mind. He would do it by himself, not blaming me for pulling out. I had done my bit as far as he was concerned and wouldn't want to force me into something I wasn't prepared to do.
“What the hell. Of course I'm with you. Let's go.”
“Zack. Your shift has started.”
A little knock on our door preceded the warning.
“Yeah. Err... Stefan. Could you cover for me for an hour or so?”
The young man's face darkened. He wasn't willing to comply with Zack's request. I felt Zack's irritation rise. He stood up tall and looked bloody imposing. Face hard as stone and eyes throwing daggers. He might have been temporarily demoted to archives, but there was no arguing with his natural authority. Stefan's attitude changed rapidly.
“Of course, Sir. No problem,” he mumbled as he scuttled back to his office.
“Well done brother,” I whispered, though slightly annoyed that I couldn't hide my admiration. He really didn't need the encouragement.
We rushed to Markus' office, but on the way I noticed something was off. Weird vibes emanated from the lobby. Confusion and stress mixed with adrenaline was in the air and a man was asking several people questions, looking extremely hassled. My instinct took over and I grabbed Zack who had noticed something was up too, but was so keen to get to Markus, he wasn't fully tuned in. I made him stop and listen.
“....hooded girl....something's wrong. I can feel it... did you see..”
I couldn't quite make out what the young man was asking or telling everyone, but I knew it was important. I got an overwhelming sense of determination to investigate. Did I catch a little whiff of Eliza? No, I couldn't have. She was in her cell. I turned to Zack.
“We need to find out what's going on here. I feel this is something crucial.”
He was reluctant. I pressed on.
“Trust me Zack. My instinct is rarely wrong. It won't take long.”
I walked resolutely towards the guy who'd caused my interest to pique, hoping Zack would follow. I felt him hesitate but then was behind me grumpily sighing.
“What the fuck. You better be right,” he grumbled.
“Hey, what's up mate?” I directed myself straight towards the fellow. He looked round, with a slightly panicked look on his face. I recognised him now. He was slightly older than us but I remembered him from school. “You're Archie, aren't you?”
I tried to make him feel a little more at ease. He was clearly struggling, looking at the both of us in bewilderment.
“You're Zaphire and Zack.”
“Yeah. We know who we are,” Zack responded rather sarcastically. “But why are you causing bad vibes, dude. Tell us what's happened.”
Patience and tact weren't his strong point.
“That's what I was trying to find out. A girl with a hoody came out of that corridor just when I went in. I didn't recognise her scent but the stench she left in there was unmistakeably adrenaline mixed with fear and guilt. She was up to, or had been up to something bad, man. She moved so quickly that before I had put two and two together she was out of the door. I ran to go after her, but by the time I was out I couldn't see her anymore. I tried to follow her scent, but it disappeared, mixed in with everyone else's odours out there. I was just trying to find out if anyone had seen her and sensed it too.”
“Thanks. We need to look at CCTV and check the log. Did she use a card to get out?” I enquired urgently.
“Yeah. I think so?” he nodded, slightly unsure of himself.
“Come with us, please.”
We made our way to the front desk and got Olivia, the receptionist, to alert sec
urity. They soon checked who had left the building in the last half hour, and the name just before Archie came up as Miss J. Summers. Zack banged the desk with his fist.
“What the fuck did Jessica do?” he growled.
“This is weird. We need to let Markus know now. We'll access the CCTV footage there,” I decided.
CHAPTER 22
Eliza
We'd been driving for about four hours. The driver hadn't said a word, ignoring all my questions, so I'd given up and just looked out the window watching the world go by. I tried to sleep a little, but the adrenaline in my body stopped me from being able to relax enough. Anyway, it was good to be alert as I could keep an eye on the road signs and work out exactly where I was.
The car finally came to a stop after we'd been driving around in a town called Bradstone. I'd never heard of it, but I knew from other towns mentioned on the signs that it was located somewhere in the North East. The house we parked outside of was situated in a slightly dilapidated residential area on the outskirts of Bradstone.
The driver got out of the car and had a good look around before opening my door and gesturing for me to get out. Once I was out he held my arm and gently but forcefully encouraged me to walk up the garden path towards a dark looking house, its foreboding appearance not helped by the dark brown curtains being drawn. He let us in; the dank smell from the corridor greeting us hit me like a suffocating blanket and made me feel most unwelcome.
He seemed to be unaware of the awful impression the house made. He took his coat off and swung it over a chair, turned the light on in the sparse kitchen and filled up the kettle.
“Brew?”
I nodded. I was parched.
“Y' must be hungry, lass.”
I nodded again as he got some bread and butter out. He showed me a cupboard full of cans of soup, baked beans and whatnot.
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